SAWWWWWWL (5-8-23)

So glad to have you! On a Monday drive, you are listening to WSJS NewsTalk Sports For The Triad, where the NFL just confirmed the reports we read last week that the 2023 schedule is going to drop Thursday night. Even though we already know who the opponents are, the placements of the games should be a strong indicator of determining when the Carolina Panthers are going to start Bryce Young. It's inevitable that he's going to start. We just don't quite know when. And we heard Scott Fitterer and Frank Reich say over the last week and change, Andy Dalton right now is the starter.

Bryce is going to have to earn it. And those are kind of the things that you have to say. When the schedule is released Thursday, that's going to be a strong indicator. And there are two things that you should be keeping a close eye on in regards to the early part of the slate. Defense and destination. Those things both matter. The two D's. Defense and destination.

Starting with the destination piece. It's a lot easier to bring your rookie quarterback out when he's playing at home, not having to deal with crowd noise versus if he had to go to New Orleans. If game one was in the Superdome, especially considering Andy Dalton played for the Saints this past year and he's a veteran.

Or if you had to go to Seattle, who's one of the opponents this year, and you're playing that on the road. If you have that two out of your first three games, let's say, that's probably a bit daunting to expect a rookie quarterback to thrive right out of the gate versus if, say, the opener was against the Houston Texans at home. It's a little bit more manageable to start Bryce Young right out of the gate in terms of defenses. You don't want Bryce Young the first time he steps out there to be facing a lot of exotic blitzes and some of the best edge rushers there are in the sport. So there's a big difference in how manageable it is if, say, you're facing the Atlanta Falcons right out of the gate who do not have a stud rusher that you have to be that worried about versus, say, if you open up against Micah Parsons and the Cowboys.

Or if you open up against Daniel Hunter and Zadaria Smith with the Minnesota Vikings. These types of things should factor into the puzzle when your bye week is. If they have a bye week early on in October, week four, week five, week six, it's easy to look at it and say, Bryce, you're going to sit for the first month and change and see how Andy handles things in the meetings. You're going to see how he handles himself as a veteran, as a starter, learn the ropes from him, so to speak. And then once the bye week hits, you're going to have two weeks to get ready for your first game.

And you can handle it that way. You can roll him out a lot slowly, a lot more slowly, and have a developed plan if you have an early bye week. We'll learn all of that on Thursday.

Those are the things you should be keeping an eye on. And Carolina's in this type of position where they can pick and choose rather than just throw them out to the wolves because they signed Andy Dalton. And Andy Dalton understands the assignment. Andy was part of the top 30 visits for all of the quarterbacks Carolina was considering with the number one pick. They signed Andy Dalton and Dalton signed with Carolina after they traded for the number one pick, not before. He knows what he's being asked to do. He's done it before, a couple of years ago. Andy Dalton was the guy that brought along Justin Fields after Fields was taken in the first round.

So he gets it. But you can also win with Andy. You look at what the NFC South is right now. Frank Reich is going to be asking himself the question, which quarterback gives me the best chance to win right now?

And it's not a cliche. He means it because the NFC South is up for grabs in a way I don't think I've seen it over the last couple of decades. That's what we're looking at this year. The betting favorite in the NFC South right now is the New Orleans Saints somehow.

Send me that cash out fam. Oh, cause they got Derek Carr. How daunting. The Atlanta Falcons are after that. Then it's the Panthers. That division is up for the taking. So they're going to want to play the best guy right out of the gate.

He is a good insurance policy to have. Scott Fitterer was talking about this very thing with Mike Florio, a pro football talk, reiterating what Frank Reich said, where Andy Dalton is the starter right out of the gate. This was Scott on the handling of Bryce Young. We're going to rely on our coaches and the, you know, Jim Caldwell, Frank Reich, Thomas Brown to decide when it's right. We don't have a timeline. We're not saying, Hey, this guy's going to start the first game or we're not going to play him at all this year. When the time is right, or we felt like he's got enough in the mastery of the offense, where he can go out and operate this and be successful. That's when he'll be out there.

We went outside to Andy Dalton for a reason. He played as a rookie. He's got a lot of experience.

He understands his role in, you know, we can play good football. If Andy's the guy to start the season and he's the starter right now heading into the season, then he'll be the guy, you know, who would say it's open open competition, but Frank did say, Hey, Andy's our guy right now. He'll walk into the season as a starter. And then as you know, the young guys compete underneath them.

Then they'll go in when they're ready. The schedule will determine when Bryce Young becomes the starter. I think it's going to be clear what the best path is for the Panthers and for Bryce based on how the schedule looks Thursday. What type of defenses you're facing early on, where the bye week is, how many home games out of the gate versus how many games on the road you're looking at.

All of that should factor into the equation. On Twitter at WSJS radio. That is where we're streaming video and where you can chime in on the show. Streaming video in addition to YouTube and Twitch.

Looking specifically at the YouTube viewers right now. Thank you for all those subscribers that we picked up in just a two, three day span that forced me to wear what I got on right now. These overalls that I'll be wearing all week this week. WD, how do I look? Oh, you look like you just got out of Merle Fest. Yeah.

I mean, not bad though. It's going to be a little warm this week. Yeah. But I mean, we're already closing in on three 50 so we'll Dalton is the executive producer of the show taking your calls at three three six seven seven seven one six hundred.

This is interesting. In the ACC basketball off season, third teen starters have entered the portal and transferred elsewhere. Thirteen basketball starters in the ACC. Six of those thirteen starters transferred from one ACC school to another, including two yesterday that are the two most significant ACC transfers we've seen this off season. Clemson adding Joe Girard from Syracuse and this one, the most fascinating of all, Miami adding Matthew Cleveland from rival Florida State.

Let's start with the Clemson piece of this. Joe Girard was the sixth leading scorer in the ACC. When you talk about high volume three point shooters, you're talking about Girard. Cormac Ryan, we said probably attempted too many threes with Notre Dame at six threes per game. Joe Girard shot seven threes a game and was at a 38 percent clip from three point range. That is high efficiency.

That is high volume. And they already have P.J. Hall coming back. Who's an all ACC guy and Chase Hunter and Alex Hemingway. This team had a double bye in the ACC tournament this past year. Still didn't make the NCAA, which is a joke.

But you got that back and you're adding Joe Girard and you're adding Jack Clark from NC State, who is one of the best players off the bench, best six men in America, or at least in the ACC. Clemson having a really good off season. In fact, NC State and Clemson might have had the best off seasons in the portal among ACC teams this year. The Matthew Cleveland piece is fascinating, not just because it's a rivalry we're talking about, but the last time we remember watching Matthew Cleveland do something of note for the Seminoles was when they rallied back against Miami and he hit a buzzer beater from three and did the whole you up, you down hands. Well now you're a member of the Miami Hurricanes, which just went to their first final four.

And we know they have a great collective down there. So I'm sure Matthew Cleveland, he's going to be doing all right. I thought he would have been the best wing option for North Carolina, even better than the guy they landed Harrison Ingram from Stanford.

But here's what's appealing about Miami in addition to the NIL, obvious attraction. We know that Isaiah Wong is off to the NBA. We know Anthony Miller's off to the NBA. Norchad O'Mear and Nigel Pack, they are testing the NBA waters, but both have decided to maintain their college eligibility, which means they both can come back.

They'll have to decide sometime this month. Let's assume they come back. A big three of O'Mear, Nigel Pack and Matthew Cleveland is one of the best big threes in the ACC right now. They instantly become a contender again along with Duke and maybe Virginia looking towards next year. And I'll even throw Clemson into that pie now that they added Joe Girard, which is a huge ad. But this is the most surprising reaction I've seen to the news. When I talk about those six, you know, ACC to ACC transfers out of the 13 starters that decided to enter the portal, some are surprised by this.

Why should you be? Like if you are a player in the ACC who is transferring, wouldn't you want to transfer to a school you know a lot about? Campuses you've already visited, fanbases you've already experienced, personnel that you've already seen on the other side. And the same works for coaches. You'd want to recruit it because you know more about the players that you've had to scout. You know more about what they can do because you watched it with your own two eyes against your own team. So it makes too much sense. I look at it a different way.

Too much sense that we see more ACC to ACC transfers than otherwise. I just tried to cross my legs and I succeeded with the overalls on. But it was a chore that took three quarters of the commercial break and amid the news and weather updates there to make that happen. Wearing overalls this week because we got a hundred subscribers in just a couple of days after it took a month and a half to get 200 subscribers. Maybe later in the week we can discuss if there's something else we can do if we get to 500 or 1000.

Let's pocket that for now while I deal with this current discomfort. A lot of great things happened over the weekend in sports. To recap it the best way we know how we attach letter grades to it in Graham's Grades.

A through F we begin with the very good that we saw over the last 72 hours and there seems to be an obvious choice. A Charlotte FC on Saturday night we got the entire radio station crew together and we'll talk more about the specifics of that experience a little bit later on plus a little bit later on this hour your chance to win tickets to see the number one team in college baseball. Wake Forest for the first time ever ranked number one in the country. Charlotte FC though five goals were scored in this match.

A lot of excitement. Charlotte netted three of them winning the game three to two. It was a good environment at Bank of America Stadium and Charlotte FC hasn't lost a match at home over the last four matches that they've had over their last four home matches. It was great. W.D.

had a great time his first time out there. We'll spend more time on Charlotte in just a little bit. The Orioles Braves series. The only reason it's not an A is because I'm an Orioles fan and the Orioles ended up losing. They lost in 12 yesterday and on Saturday it looked like they had it in hand but because one of our better believers our setup guy pitched two days before that thirty five pitches Brandon Hyde wanted to have him on the shelf so they went to another guy and that other guy of course gave up a pinch hit two run homer that quickly turned what looked like was going to be a 4-3 win into a 5-4 loss. The Braves we knew they were going to be a legit World Series contender this year and they looked apart they have the second best record in baseball right now. They were at home they probably should have won the series but the fact that Baltimore hung with them the way that they did tells me that the record they have is legitimate and W.D. they're going to get a chance to prove how legitimate that is because tonight marks the start of a three game series with the Tampa Bay Rays for Baltimore. O's Braves that was a really fun series it's alright Braves fans we'll just see you guys in the World Series. Well oh boy even it up then well you can have this series. You sound like a Yankee fan right now.

Yeah you can have this series in May well we'll take the one in late October early November. C. A little bit of sarcasm there I'm an Orioles fan I know where we are in the food chain. The Carolina Hurricanes are a C. They're up two games to one. They packed out PNC Arena on Friday night it was great to be there for that.

But then they got blasted yesterday. Three nothing in the first and then early on in the second it's four to nothing you're making a goal tending change and you end up losing this hockey game. I turned it off going into the third I didn't want to watch anything more. So when I saw the final was eight to four I was all right fine. And the reason it's a C. is well whether you lose two to one or eight to four only counts for one for the Devils and you're still up two games to one with the chance to go up three games to one if you can win tomorrow night in game four. Everything that Carolina wanted to do is still on the table part of the plan. We got more hockey in a bit. But the Hurricanes they're a C it's meh. The Wells Fargo championship.

It's an elevated event with an elevated purse. So you think that one of the bigger names would win it and you've got Xander Shafley in the final group. But aside from that who was really all that close.

Adam Scott was kind of lingering there for a little bit. Wyndham Clark wins his first ever PGA Tour event and there really wasn't that much drama at the end. So you don't get a big name winning it and you don't really have that much of exciting final round either which is not both those things are the things you're not looking for if you're running a golf tournament and you're being obvious about it or being honest about it.

However Wyndham Clark would be an awesome guy to have win the Wyndham championship later this year in Greensboro. Let's let that be so. F. It's only one team this could be. The Toronto Maple Leafs are an F. W.D. I want you to picture the mindset of a Toronto fan. Hockey is life there. The way that soccer is everything.

It's like all of our popular sports rolled into one in terms of popularity in Europe. That's what the Maple Leafs are in the city of Toronto. Even though the Blue Jays play there even though they have the Raptors that the ball the Maple Leafs dominate and they haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1967. They haven't been to a Stanley Cup since the early 1990s.

You have to go back a really long way. Find the last time that that happened. And here you are with a very good hockey team taking care of business in round one. And you don't have to face the Boston Bruins in round 2.

You got the miracle of draws. You don't have to face Boston in round 2. I mean you have home ice in a series against an ATC the Florida Panthers. They have to come to your place for two games.

It's everything you want. They lose both the games at home. They lose their last two in overtime including last night's game three. You're down three zip to the Florida Panthers after you caught the biggest break ever of not having to face Boston. That you might just be cursed. You just might be cursed Toronto. Wow. I'm kicking myself for not listening to Toronto sports radio all day today just to hear what those phone callers sound like.

It's like polite Alabama football fans on Fine Bomb show after a loss. Pow! I don't know who Canadian Paul is.

I hope his name is like Saul to make it people close. Well listen here. So that was a tough one a tough one for I don't know why I made him sound like the little boy in Willy Wonka. Uh huh.

Have you seen Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory? The newer or the older one? Either. I love the newest one or the newest one with Johnny Depp. That came out 20 years ago. Uh huh.

The old ones a lot better than that. Anyway that's been Graham's Greats. Now all I can picture just super polite Canadian sports talk. Saul we might need we might need a goaltending change you hoser. This isn't working eh? It's really tough. Saul!

It's really tough eh? I have a golden ticket. What a time it is to be a sports fan in the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Wake Forest baseball program was ranked number one in the country today. It is the first time ever since those polls existed that Wake has been number one.

It's incredibly special. If you know your ACC history you might remember that the Deacs won the ACC's first ever national championship in baseball a couple years after the ACC's founding in 1955. They were first. I don't think until Virginia won a national championship in 2014, 2015 that the ACC had another ACC baseball championship or a national championship for one of its baseball programs.

You can double check me on that but I believe that's accurate. And Wake Forest hasn't been to Omaha since 1955. This might be the year that that happens.

So that's incredibly special. And by the way we have a pair of tickets to give away tomorrow courtesy of our friends at East Coast Wings and Grill to watch Tom Walter's group face UNCG. So it's Winston-Salem versus Greensboro. Billy Godwin is the head coach at UNCG.

Knew him when he was East Carolina's manager back in the day. They made the NCAA tournament last year so it's gonna be a good game. Good midweek game tomorrow. It's not to say that UNCG doesn't have a shot. Let's not forget Elon knocked off Wake Forest in a midweek game just a few weeks ago.

But Wake Forest is number one. W.D. how should we give away these tickets? Any ideas? Anything fun? Or are we gonna do the call of number five type deal? It might have to be a call of number five deal. You want to go? We got him.

Then I'm gonna make it as inconvenient for you as possible. Yeah. Caller seven. Caller number seven.

336-777-1600 is the phone number. If you'd like to see the number one team in the country tomorrow night play for the first time in their history as the number one team in the country tomorrow night against UNCG caller number seven at 336-777-1600 and this is the behind baseball thing or inside baseball thing that the audience can't see but maybe you can see on YouTube. We only have like three for phone callers in the audience we only have like three different pots so that means you have to go through each of these a couple of times and then get another to come in so however you figure that out behind the scenes W.D.

we'll let you do that. So how do I get to a seventh caller? Oh you got you clearly haven't been an intern taking calls back in the day. You got to tell them hey your caller number one sorry hey your caller number two sorry hey your caller number three and then see open those lines back up I'm coaching you how to do radio behind the scenes so caller number seven caller number seven they that's going to be your winner for wake baseball tickets tomorrow and I'd like to know the callers name at the end of this. Okay this is ridiculous. Just gonna let W.D. go through this.

If I really wanted to make it easy and be on brand I'd say hey they're the number one team in the country. How about caller number one? Nope seven. Two to go.

Seven. So W.D. is now trying to talk to me while fielding calls and I think there's a you might have your winner out of one of those over there.

I think he's finally figured it out. What's the name of our winner W.D.? Tell me his name. Show your face. We want to see your face. Brought to you by East Coast Wings and Grill.

So that's one reason why things are fantastic being a sports fan in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. What's the name of our winner? Caller number seven reveal yourself.

Who is caller seven? It's Bethan Greensboro who has the impression. Yeah. That's fantastic. Congratulations Beth. Thank you. And also I've got another good one. Cornersville.

Oh is that Stephen A. Smith? Wow. I appreciate you Bethan Greensboro. Enjoy the game tomorrow.

There she goes. Huge fan of the show that understands all the drops that are in front of W.D. as well. Now getting to the other reason why Winston-Salem it's a great time to be a sports fan in Winston. The Carolina Thunderbirds can win a championship tonight. So it's a best of five commissioners cup. If you haven't been following this the Carolina Thunderbirds have just been a wagon this year and we've been happy partnering alongside them.

At home at the annex Friday night and Saturday night packed houses. They won both those games handedly which means this is where it stands right now W.D. It's a best of five series. They're up two games to zip which means if the Thunderbirds don't lose three in a row on the road they will be champions. Which they won't.

Well don't jinx it now. But I just knocked on wood so there you go. You don't have any wood in there. You have to tap the door. Go go tap the door. Go tap the door.

Going to say things like that. Unbelievable. People out in the lobby probably have no clue why I just knocked on the door. It's new out there. You know they have the show on out there they probably do.

They'll figure it out. Just so I'm very irritable today because got these overalls on it. It's uncomfortable. Shout out to the Carolina Thunderbirds. Best of luck tonight. What a time for the city of Winston-Salem and really for North Carolina hockey as well. I was at the Canes game on Friday night and it was.

Thank you for that. I was at the Canes game Friday night and I can't tell you how many people came up to be asking Hey dude how about you Thunderbirds. You're not at the Thunderbirds game tonight. Oh the Thunderbirds say about the clinch. Everybody's fired up about the Thunderbirds and about the Carolina Hurricanes as well. There used to be this thing 10 years ago when I was just about a dozen years ago when I was breaking into sports radio around here.

One of the number one rules we were told. Don't talk too much about hockey is what we were told. People don't say that anymore because people get the sport they follow the sport and it's a special thing to see both the Hurricanes and the Thunderbirds doing their thing. The coolest thing that happened this weekend across the country though happened in L.A. on Saturday night where Bronny James announced he had committed this is LeBron's son to USC. He chose USC over Oregon. Obviously LeBron has that partnership with Nike and you know a great relationship with Phil Knight that's his alma mater and Ohio State which is the school that LeBron still roots for. That's the college that LeBron roots for. Bronny chose USC and remaining in Southern California and this is number one great for college basketball. How many times are people just going to watch USC basketball to see if LeBron sitting courtside or to watch him. I'd love if they play at Cameron this year. How cool would that be to get Coach K and LeBron sitting next to each other at a game getting USC on the schedule that'd be really super cool to see. It's great for college basketball for that reason. He's a name that people will want to follow.

We'll see if the productivity matches the how noteworthy his name is. But then you had LeBron's reaction after beating Golden State in game three. This is a post game interview he did with the L.A. TV station that carries the Lakers and he took it in a different direction. One of the best days of my life. First of all congratulations to Bronny on his decision he made. I'm super proud of him. Our family is proud of him. For me personally it's even more special to me because it's the first time someone out of my family to go to college. Obviously I didn't go to college either. So it's just a proud moment to see my son go to college.

He's the first one to go to college in my family. Super duper proud, super emotional, but just super duper excited and happy for his journey. Today was a proud day. I couldn't lose today no matter the outcome of this game I couldn't lose today personally.

Pretty cool. Jim Phillips. Hey is that alliance still a thing whatsoever or did USC and UCLA bailing nuke that? I have tremendous respect for Commissioner Phillips.

We can't play that drop anymore. Josh Pazner he's no longer I don't know if he has respect for Jim Phillips anymore now that he's not in the ACC anymore. He probably wouldn't say that. I don't know but Jim Phillips hey if that alliance is still a thing can we figure out a way to get USC on some ACC schedules? I'm asking for a meet.

That'd be something I appreciate. Pretty cool that Ronnie James is going to be playing in college basketball and playing at USC. Our friend Wes Durham. Haven't heard from him in a while. Back on the show with us. Noted fan of the singing jingle joining rejoining us in the triad. Do I have that right? Is that the right title for you Wes?

Noted fan of the singing jingle? Yeah I'll take that one. I'll sign up for that. Understood. A lot of stuff going on. I've been great just you know I think college sports, college basketball would be great and media partners as well to fully embrace the month of April the way that the NBA approaches July given all the stuff that's happening because 13 ACC basketball starters over the last month have entered the portal and six of the 13 that have found destinations have transferred within the ACC and Joe Gerard goes to Clemson from Syracuse over the weekend. We learn about Matthew Cleveland as well transferring from well this is interesting Florida State to Miami after beating them at the buzzer just a couple of months ago and when I look at these two rosters Wes these are both teams that had double bys in the ACC this past year we'll have to wait on Norchat O'Mear and Nigel Pack to see if they will choose to return to college or after testing the waters to keep their name in the draft and I think the same applies to PJ Hall but PJ Hall, Jack Clark who came from NC State, I mean Alex Hemingway, Chase Hunter, these rosters in either case look like they're ready to roll with the additions of Gerard and Cleveland are those the two biggest ACC basketball transfers to date right now? Yeah don't forget don't ever undersell that we had kind of our first unofficial unauthorized trade in the ACC when Middlebrooks and Clark moved within 90 minutes of each other. I mean I don't recall I don't think we ever got the official release from Greensboro ratifying the trade with Clemson and NC State or if there's some condition to the trade. NC State got a player to be named later. Yeah Brad Brownell or Kevin Keats gets a home game later in a row, who knows but you joke and we joke about it we laugh about it but and it's funny I just talked to an athletic director this afternoon about the portal and we were measuring impact in portal like okay in basketball if you have let's take a number seven guys in the portal okay if you have seven in the portal how many high school guys can you then go recruit you know what what are you what's your tack going to be because I guess what I'm getting around to is I think both John Shire and Hubert Davis said during the course of the basketball season that they had to look at the composition of their 13 scholarships every year right and I think that we've now come to the conclusion after watching this portal go down again that we have to assess how many kids are actually going to be on scholarship every year in major college basketball because for a coach at a major institution or even a mid-major institution to put 13 guys on scholarship is probably going to come back to haunt him because not everybody's going to end up being happy and somebody's going to get in the portal right at the end of the day I mean the numbers themselves Josh have been staggering now for a couple of years and the percentage of conversion like the most horrific number is going to come out at some point that you know some abstract number let's just say 1800 and some kids were in the portal at one point and only you know 54 or 57 percent or whatever the number is of those kids found homes so the other 40 odd percent hypothetically just walked off on their college education wow yeah and I don't care what anybody says that's a tragedy that's a tragedy to what they had for free at one point and elected to walk off on it because Uncle Claude thought they could go get more minutes playing somewhere else since you brought up the coaches comments about composition of roster could you see like we see coaches benefiting from coaching in the extremes in college sports like the way that Virginia plays its pace or maybe a good example in football would be the way that Mike Leach the late Mike Leach played football for all those years at Texas Tech and then at Washington State and most recently at Mississippi State could you see a high major coach looking at the way he constructs his roster and say I'm just not going to recruit high school players I'm only going to recruit through the portal I think it'd be dangerous but sure why not I mean what's Deion Sanders getting ready to try and do that's going to be a fascinating instrument okay let's just say that was basketball 60 out of his 85 scholarships are gone is that right from last year like 69 or something like that that's right some crazy number okay so what's the percentage I don't have calculator in front of me 69 into 85 what's that percentage that is about six out of eight or maybe now well about six more than two-thirds so yeah two math majors here let's let's ratio that to 13 scholarships yeah so is that replacing nine of your 13 scholarships about that okay so now all of a sudden Deion Sanders is blessed if he were coaching basketball at Colorado bless but if he were he'd be looking for nine guys Steve Forbes got six two years ago and Steve Forbes is a genius at this how many is Kevin Keats landed five this offseason so far Kevin Keats let me again I'm going to say that you and I've cited this discussion I think in one semblance before Steve Forbes is junior college acumen is perfect and Keats and Kevin Keats is junior college prep school acumen is perfect not a coincidence Kevin and the other thing Kevin Keats and Steve Forbes both have that I think is critical is they have mid-major low division one experience one-bid leagues CAA Southern Conference those things I think all that plays into it I'll tell you another guy who I've got a ton of respect for for the way he built his team at the low division one level is Tim Kraft at Gardner Webb he'd be a great guest for you to have on talking about the former pirate assistant he is and Tim Kraft is a guy who can he talks about the division two portal players I think he got the leading scorer at Catawba last year who was the freshman of the year in Conference of Carolinas to transfer to Gardner Webb and play for him he got two guys from Belmont Abbey to transfer I think that's the I hate to say this because I'm old enough that I grew up on the old college basketball right those days I'm afraid Josh are gone and look we didn't have a cat we didn't have you know I guess there was a possibility at times that you know Dontress Stiles was thinking about potentially going from Carolina to NC State right mm-hmm well that didn't happen he went to Georgetown and it's fun to joke around about a guy going from one rival to the other we just saw it Matthew Cleveland the reverse bones McKinney I think is how that is described well get ready because one day somebody at Duke's gonna go to Carolina oh vice versa we just saw Matthew Cleveland you just saw that's what I'm saying you just saw Matthew Cleveland so is this good for the problem so you're talking about product stuff and what the coaches perspective of things are from a basketball fans perspective like the people listening to our conversation right now is this a good thing talking about you know the ACC players first off being allowed to transfer within you know the ACC can't take it back don't don't come at me with well that's gonna stop though no no no I don't think it's going to but now that we know what it is though like I think this is it makes things exciting and knowing guys can come back because of NIL when before they be leaving like these are juicy storylines for us to consume as ACC basketball fans right yeah sure yeah but it you know we're almost out of the bonus years we're almost out of the Mark Emmert Oprah win for you everybody gets a car years okay because we're we're running out of those after next year next year is the last year of the bonus year for sports but remember when he handed out without acknowledging or checking with the institutions on their scholarship monies if he could hand out for years they just handed them out well that you remember that yeah yeah yeah this is the last year coming up so we won't have the Mark Emmert bonus year you know to kick around anymore so you'll have to play you'll have to play your five you'll play four and five if you want a red shirt but you know you can and then see we'll also go back to the portal technically unless you graduate see that's the other part too you have the grad transfer so what you see now is this proliferation of schools that are creating one-year graduate certificates oh yeah at their institution because like I'll tell you and next time you have Roddy Jones on ask him how close he was to not getting into NBA school at Georgia Texas play quote his last year okay North Carolina was not an automatic I am Mac Brown I think has talked about you know we haven't been able to get guys necessarily as grad transfers because we could not get them into grad school well that now schools have and imagine this we've created these grad certificates so they can have grad transfers here's the other thing you don't ever hear about anymore when's the last time you heard somebody flunked out oh yeah I don't remember the last time we heard that yeah it used to be every year there was somebody I cracked up a group of people a week ago at an event and I said by the way anybody flunked out lately everybody just shook their head and started laughing said no nobody's flunked out but boy cats have changed for the price though haven't they no doubt well we've had guys we've had guys change the dress this year simply on the dollars too and I think we've got to be real Josh the number one thing I would say to fans and a longtime ACC fans especially the ones in your market and in the state of North Carolina is we got to get comfortable with getting uncomfortable because I'm afraid that's just what this is going to be at least for a while West terms with us here while I got you see since you are a voice in the NFC South for the Atlanta Falcons you talk about the experiment experimenting we're seeing in college basketball the experiment the Carolina Panthers just took it number one in the sense of how short and how thin Bryce Young is it's talked about bandied about quite a bit well he's the number one pick in the draft and the NFL schedule is going to be released on Thursday so I just starting here how much do you think the the placement of these games knowing the opponents we know the opponents right now but we don't know the placement how might that impact the way the Panthers choose to handle Bryce in terms of bye week in terms of opponents early on doesn't have an impact you think started starting week one starting he's a savant he's really good now okay I mean that will love us thing was absolutely hilarious when that came out by the way I'm by the way do you get a day and a half out of that inside sources yeah ready yeah that yeah read it good my source of will let us not be in the guy was running just running into Scott fitter at in Knoxville when will let us through three interceptions and threw for 98 yards against a so-so secondary and that being the only time he saw will love us in person that was my son I'm gonna I'm gonna offer you this I would let Bryce young and I'm also by the way I jokingly today at a charity golf event told somebody I think about the Panthers will play week one yeah because it's been a long time since Atlanta opened with a division game and the last time they did at home so I wouldn't be surprised if we're week one in Charlotte I would I would say this I think you're gonna see Bryce young week one I think he will win the job in training camp and I'm kind of excited that look I thought they gave up I wouldn't have traded DJ more it happened but you've retained all that you had defensively I still feel like defensively you're really good but I'd let him go week one and I'm not saying that if they if they do or don't play Atlanta I'm just saying that because I think that's the way you got to treat it I saw it happen with Matt Ryan and he gave Atlanta 13 and a half great years here and I would say that's exactly what Charlotte should do and and Frank Reich's the perfect guy to do it with I think he's got a veteran staff who can process it I know Dom Capers is involved in that defensive plan which is huge I would say let Bryce young have the ball week one absolutely no question I would it'd be pretty exciting if they look he's a savant you go and watch him look at the plays he made at Alabama in the Bill O'Brien formation packages and by the way I think that had a lot to do with him being selected one because that offense is exactly what Frank Reich's gonna do so I don't think the jump for Bryce young is nearly what the jump is gonna be for some of these other cats like Anthony Richardson's jump is huge Shane Steichen is a really good coach but I think you're talking about a bigger jump for Anthony Richardson than you are Bryce young I think CJ Stroud will be terrific playing in Houston by the way but I would give young the ball absolutely week one no questions asked in my opinion West Durham no questions asked it's Robinson the ball in week one in Atlanta by the way we're gonna let him touch it yeah a lot in week one it was funny as soon as Bijan Robinson was the pick we were at Steel Hands Brewing across the street from the Coliseum for an event draft event and there were a handful of Panther fans that like audibly winced when Bijan Robinson was the pick just thinking about how many yards Bijan is gonna go off of this Panthers defense on the next few years well look Atlanta is no secret but what Atlanta can do now that they really haven't been able to do since the glory days of Ryan and Turner and Julio Jones and kind of Devante Freeman right yeah is Atlanta has not been able to formation you into a trap and now they can Oh Michael Turner that's another Panthers killer don't forget don't forget six seven Mack Hollins on one side six five Drake London on the other and the you know this you know this unicorn Kyle Pitts in the middle ACC legend North Carolina legend Mack Hollins you mean Mack Hollins was a beast he was there's nobody more excited than me West Durham it's good to hear your voice and I hope to see you sometime today the Diggs are Diggs number one today and call number one in the country Wes yep I'm excited to be I'm excited to be part of the ACC network coverage of the ACC baseball tournament Durham let's party like it's 1955 Wes get George get George Greer Bobby Miranda get some of the old Diggs from that ACC tournament remember they used to just sledgehammer the ACC tournament every year yeah we're gonna get Rhett Louder oh yeah we're gonna get all these cats it's gonna be like get the George get the what's the script bill scripture let's get the bill scripture photos ready to go and you got to throw more than 120 pitches if you're a starter that's the red louder is gonna look great in a big league jersey with the flow he's got yeah just don't ruin when Trevor Lawrence is envious of a kid's hair it's a good point it's a good point West Durham from Cartersville as is Trevor Lawrence thanks thanks for the shout it's good to hear yeah see you later there goes West Durham 20 we could talk for hours do NASCAR fans wear overalls to races I've been to races I've never seen NASCAR fans wearing overalls but I'm wearing overalls right now because I lost that bet with all of you that subscribe to our YouTube channel if you haven't already search the drive with Josh Graham on iTunes Apple podcast Spotify and anchor but we're talking about the YouTube channel for now however and wherever you are listening or watching we appreciate that in the reason I asked that question in the context of racing this is a historic month that we're looking at for racing here in the state of North Carolina yes you've got booming gray which got fired up in the last few weeks and right here in the triad but up the road less than two weeks away you've got the 17 year drought that will end of NASCAR races not being run at the old racetrack at North Wilkesboro and you have the all-star race so that should be a biblical crowd that they expect out that way in just a few weeks and then after that not much time the rest between then and the coca-cola 600 which is firmly planted on that Memorial Day weekend that we look forward the week after that and here to talk about it with us is NASCAR superstar Kyle Busch Kyle there aren't many more first things to do for you left given how long you've been in the sport but running a race at North Wilkesboro will be one of those things in less than two weeks time what excites you the most about the all-star race yeah no thanks appreciate you having us on it's um you know it's a unique opportunity there with the all-star race at North Wilkesboro and you know you got to commend Dale Jr. SMI and all the guys on the collaborative effort to revive that track and bring it back so you know it's a place that's been dormant for a long time and you know I remember the days of watching it on TV with Earnhardt and Bodine or Earnhardt and Gordon or you know Terry Lebani and the Iron Man car Jeff Gordon won the last race there so you know it's pretty cool to see that place come back and you know that no no asphalt's been paved on that place for a long long time for as long as I know anyways and the drivers that have tested their fault said it's gonna be like racing on ice so we're gonna have our hands full yeah I think you're talking about the late 1940s early 1950s to find the last time that that's been paved I saw Dale Jr. said a couple months ago that he's not gonna be racing it and obviously you have like the the four that are gonna be there from Hendrick Motorsports anyway have you tried to needle Dale at all to figure out a way for him to be a part of it um no not really um you know I I think he's I I thought he was gonna run the late model race on Wednesday but uh as far as him being a part of the the all-star race I think he's sort of um you know given up the cup aspect of it and of course too you know uh any of the big teams are only allowed to have four cars anyway so um you know it wouldn't be a Hendrick car that he would be able to race but overall um I don't know he would he didn't even race there I guess back in the day so man that's uh that's an interesting one yeah there was that race last year that was special before the the all-star announcement where you brought out the late model you know number three sundrop car and they had a big crowd out for that you made your first visit there before they started running races I don't know were you part of that group that snuck out to catch some of the late models or something like that or tell me about visiting North Wilkesboro for the first time yeah the first time I visited there was uh for a commercial shoot actually so um you know it was it was at night time so I really didn't get a chance to look around or see much of the area it's pretty dark out there uh during night time but you know it was uh just cool to kind of hear the old sounds there was the the old fine board was still rotating just from the wind and you could hear it kind of like screeching you know the old rusty sound of a of a the fine board making circles you know so it's kind of funny to hear that they also told me and showed me to the um the car lift that takes the winner's car up on top of the roof and the infield uh still works to today so they're I'm sure they're pumped about being able to utilize that again for the winter this time hopefully Kyle Busch oh that'd be really great if it were the case with us here on WSJS you've got that race and then you also have the coca-cola 600 later this month too you're from Las Vegas and Vegas has the reputation of being this city of tourists and transplants but the more I talk to people who are from there it's actually a pretty cool sports town the way that they follow the fights and UNLV and all of that and it's only growing with the golden knights and now they're going to get the Oakland A's in just a few years but let's keep it with you growing up in Vegas what was your sports fandom like what did it look like Kyle yeah I mean I was there obviously before the sports teams came on the scene so for me you know I grew up in Vegas being a Denver Broncos football fan you know they're from not too far up the road in Colorado there so you know it seemed like all my buddies were Cowboys fans or Chargers fans or 49er fans you know so I was like I don't want to be one of those guys and then I ended up meeting John Elway who came to town one time and signed autographs and was able to meet him and became a fan of the Broncos and so just kind of been that way ever since but it's really cool to see you know the Raiders come to town as you mentioned the A's looking to come to town so it's going to be unique for the city you know it's certainly grown over the years with drivers myself Brendan Gaughan, Noah Gragson, my brother of course too you know who have come out of there as well as you know other sports superstars like Andre Agassi and you know you've got Bryce Harper a couple other baseball guys too so pretty cool to have that yeah it is pretty cool Kyle Busch joining us here do we still got you Kyle yeah I got you okay last thing for you on that note so around here and I grew up in the state of North Carolina full disclosure so you obviously have all the history in your backyard I was talking to Ryan McGee about this actually recently the Memorial Day weekend it was just you know firmly planted in the calendar as being perhaps the best day on the sports calendar for race fans there is when you talk about the Indy 500 and you talk about the 600 I don't know if that's a North Carolina centric thing or if it applied to you growing up and getting into motorsports but what does the 600 and really that Memorial Day Sunday mean to you no I think it's really cool any motorsports enthusiast always tunes in early in the morning watches the Monaco race and then tunes over to the Indy 500 and then the Koch 600 so I remember those days as a kid growing up watching all three races for years so you know I still try to do it even to today you know I try to get up in the morning and watch a little bit of Monaco and see that although it's more of a just a historic watch than it is and it's from an entertainment perspective you know they don't really race a whole lot or pass a whole lot there it's really tough and really narrow but overall I just enjoy the Indy 500 seeing those guys run around there they're they're devil daredevils in their own right it's cool to see that and then of course we get a chance to go race in the Koch 600 at night Kyle really do appreciate the time soak in what's going to be a really special weekend and just a couple of weeks we'll look forward to seeing you out on the track.