Next Greensboro (11-1-23)

This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast. Three internet sensations, guys! Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons, 3 to 7 on WSJS.

Welcome to a Wednesday Drive. It is WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad, where college basketball is going to be played this month, and tons of turkey is going to be consumed. That's right, it's November the 1st, which means it's time to check in on something that we bookmarked way back in July. This summer, as it related to the Carolina Panthers, we said truthfully that Bryce Young's development would be more important than wins and losses this year, and that by the time November rolled around, we'd have a good idea how that development was going. Well, even though it hasn't been really flashy at any point, we're starting to see signs of Bama Bryce, and when you dive into all of his games, it's clear he's getting better every single week.

So let's go through it real quick. Pre-Seattle, his first two games. Remember, he didn't play against the Seahawks.

He didn't do all that much. He was around 150 passing yards in both games. Ever since then, he's cleared the 200 passing yard mark. He had two picks in his debut against Atlanta, hashtag ProDeak. Jesse Bates had both of those interceptions. He had a key fumble against the Saints on Monday Night Football right after Carolina had forced a turnover. He wasn't really good in those first couple of games. Then he missed the Seahawks game, which was because he sustained a totally legitimate ankle injury, totally legitimate, even though we don't know how he hurt it, when he hurt it. Bryce doesn't even know that. He never wore a brace. He never really limped. And it would be completely beneficial to Bryce's development and the Panthers if he did not go on a short week to the West Coast and playing Seattle.

But yes, a completely legitimate injury that he had, suggesting otherwise, would be a farce. Then he came back against the Vikings, and he ramped up in the last four games he's played. Season high, 78% completion against Minnesota. He had 200 passing yards for the first time. Did have a key fumble in that game too, though, so it wasn't all perfect, but 78 completion and clearing 200 yards.

That's a positive step in the right direction. He had his first multi-touchdown game against Detroit the following week with three touchdown passes, a season high in passing yards, but he had two picks in those games, or in that game, so still did some things that were negative, but we're seeing more and more positives. Bryce heading in the right direction. Can you have a game without turnovers, Bryce, against the Miami Dolphins? Despite the fact he was constantly pressured, he did not turn it over in that game, but it did have a touchdown pass in it, and the numbers looked pretty good, over 60% completion. Then on Sunday, no turnovers for the second consecutive game, 71% completion, and a game-winning touchdown drive. This is Bama Bryce starting to become comfortable in the NFL with the play calling, with the speed, delivering things through your helmet versus through a play sheet, or with sideline signaling, things that he has to get used to at the NFL level, and you should expect that development to continue Sunday against the Colts. The Colts currently have the worst pass defense that the Panthers have played so far this season. They're ranked 25th against the pass, and Carolina's at home in this game, and Bryce will be dueling against Indy's backup quarterback, Gardner Minshew.

The next step for him is a 300-yard passing game. The offensive line is starting to get him more protection, even though Iki Iquanu has not looked very good at left tackle. You got Austin Corbett back, which is a big deal. You got veteran Calvin Throckmorton back at left guard. Carolina shoring things up on that offensive line. The healthier that line gets, the more that Bryce plays, the better the performances are going to look. And week to week, we're seeing positives from Bryce and Bryce playing better than he did the previous week.

That is the best sign, more than anything, of this season being a success for the Panthers, how he's performing more than the 1-7 record, or the 1-6 record. On X at WSJS Radio, if you want to chime in, that's where we're streaming video. In addition to YouTube and Twitch, Will Dalton, the executive producer of the show. We've got weekly positivity later this hour, which is good, and tickets to three shows that you can pick between that we will give away in that segment.

What shows are they, W.D.? I mean, we're just loaded, man. We got Sam Hunt. He's going to be in Greensboro next...

Some country? In April. You got Iron Maiden going to be in Charlotte in November. Next week.

Next week. It is November. It is. It is. That's not country. Gotta get used to saying it. That is not country.

No, it is not. And then you got ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd together. Also not country. Also not country, but they will be in Greensboro next March.

Lot of variety to pick between. Got that right. Later this hour in weekly positivity. I'll be honest, when the first college football playoff ranking dropped last night, it was legitimately surprising that the committee didn't put either Georgia or Michigan at number one. But here's the thing. It's right that they didn't. Because even though Ohio State isn't the best team right now, I'd take Washington. I'd take Michigan against anybody right now. I think those are the two best teams pound for pound, not Ohio State. Even though that's the case, the Buckeyes still deserve to be number one, and here's why.

They've earned it. And we accept this in other sports. Just because you have the best record, just because you have the best mark in the rankings or in the standings, does not mean that you're the best team. Take the NBA. Perfect example of this.

This is kind of crazy. In the last three seasons, the team with the best record in the NBA didn't even make it to the finals. Best record in the NBA in the regular season did not make it to the NBA finals. And that's a sport we think of not really having much parity. And that's happened five of the last six seasons, too, if you want to go back further. When you look at what Ohio State has done, what they've done on the football field is more important than the eye test.

Your resume is more important than your reputation or the eye test. And that's something that was driven home by NC State AD Boo Corrigan, who once again chairs the board for the college football playoff. Here he was last night. Obviously the big win at Notre Dame, the win over Penn State. Top five defense. They've got difference makers on offense across the board. Marvin Harrison Jr. is an elite player.

And as we looked at it, you know, we came to the conclusion as a group that Ohio State deserved to be the number one team. Does Boo Corrigan ever have a voice? Ever.

Always sounds like he needs to clear his voice every single time I hear that. Ahem. Excuse me. Nobody has a resume as good as Ohio State. Nobody, to Boo's point, has a top 15 win.

And the thing that is truly elite, that is truly great about this Ohio State team, they have a couple of things. Your wide receiver in Marvin Harrison Jr. Early front runner to win the Volitnikov award, by the way. Now who might have an effect on that? Yours truly.

Really it's a three-horse race. It's him, it's the guy I watched up close in Baton Rouge, Malik Nabors, and Keyon Coleman at Florida State. Those are the three guys that are really up for that award. But that defense, it's truly great. When I look at this Georgia team, what is truly great? What unit is elite, singularly elite about this Bulldog team?

I don't see it. For FSU, I have some problems with it as well. For Ohio State, that defense, that wide receiver, we know that's absolutely elite. I guess FSU can say that with Keyon Coleman. Washington is the best singular win of anybody. Beating Oregon head to head since Oregon's ranked sixth right behind the Huskies. But Washington then played with its food last week against Stanford.

So they deserve to be five. The big inconsistency and disappointment to me from the first ranking last night is that Florida State was not placed either second or third. If you're going to go as far to put Ohio State number one, which is earned, nobody has two top 15 wins. Wins against Penn State and in South Bend against Notre Dame. How do you not take the next step in putting FSU at number two? They have two wins better than any of Georgia and Michigan's wins. At Clemson and beating the holy heck out of LSU by three touchdowns. That's a top 15 win, but unlike, say, the wins that Notre Dame had, or part of me, that Ohio State had against Notre Dame and Penn State, which came down to the very last play in South Bend and then to the fourth quarter against Penn State, Florida State smoked LSU by three touchdowns. And then you go on the road and beat Clemson?

That seems deserving of me of number two and number three. And the fact that the logic that boo lied out makes so much sense for Ohio State being number one, it makes less sense that Florida State is at number four, which is the only problem I really had with the rankings last night. You're on the drive with Josh Graham, WSJS. Really happy for this guy. One of the best hoop analysts out there. We've talked to him several times for his college basketball analysis for the field of 68. Former Clemson hooper Terrence Oglesby joining us, who is the newest Charlotte Hornets studio analyst for Bally Sports.

So a lot to get to. T.O., I'm going to let you old school choose your own adventure. You want to get into ACC hoops or you want to get into the Hornets first? I'm on an ACC role right now because I'm battling everybody on Twitter, because I said the ACC is the second best conference in college basketball. So I'm on one, Josh.

If we could stick here, I would like to stick here. Let's do that because, unfortunately, because of Kenny Payne's team the other night, I'm starting to have bad thoughts in talking about how the net can be skewed and starting to get some memories of what the last couple of seasons have been like, how the bottom of this conference has kind of ruined some teams from a metrics perspective at the end of the year. If the ACC is, in fact, the second best conference, how many teams does that mean make the NCAA tournament this year? I wrote down a list of ten teams that I think could make it. Now, that list, after my top five, my top five are Duke, Miami, Clemson third, North Carolina fourth, Virginia fifth.

I've stolen them up. I have Wake Forest, NC State, Syracuse, Pitt, and Virginia Tech. Now, the last five give or take whatever order, but I can't find a reasonable argument against them, except for Syracuse who has Red Autry who's never coached. So there's ten teams that are viably looking to make the NCAA tournament this year. I can't find a way to pick against them except for the fact that you've got Kenny Payne over there with a dumpster fire of a program in Louisville that's killing everybody else. I'll be honest, Josh, I'm a very positive person.

You've known me, what, two, three, four years now on a personal level? It's rare that I get negative, but if Kenny Payne makes it to Christmas, Louisville should think about joining Conference USA again because they're not taking anything seriously. So you can't do that and lose to a Division II team after you've completely revamped your roster after a terrible first year. And then after the game, say two things. One of those two things was, hey, one of my guys needs to rebound more and he didn't even play. And the other one's saying, we're not going to have enough talent to beat other teams. You're in Louisville.

Like, what kind of perspective are we doing here? I was blown away with the fact that they lost. You know what? I take that back.

Not blown away, wildly disappointed. I can't also say that second thing when you're playing a D2 team that's picked eighth in their conference. Yes, you should have more talent to beat those types of teams, but you said Wake Forest was at the top of that group, of that second group in your rankings. What is the case?

You said you can't make a case against them. What is the case for the DXB and an NCAA tournament team this year? I just think Cam Hildreth's one of the more underappreciated guards in the league. I think he's big. I think he's strong. I think he's a good counter to what is such an athletic league, especially among ACC back courts.

He's not the fastest guy in the world, but he plays with tremendous pace. His jump shot is gradually improved. I really like him as a player.

Andrew Carr returns. Hunter Salas is starting to generate some buzz. He's kind of the next guy to step in and play for Steve Forbes and generate some momentum for himself. And Forbes does a great job of taking some of these, I'm not going to say broken parts, but I'm going to say less utilized parts at other places, bring them into his system and make those guys play really well. To me, losing Bobby Klintman obviously hurts, but I think if you look from top to bottom, that roster is the most talented roster as a whole he's had since he's been there, and they've been mighty close before.

I think they're a bubble team, an 8-9 type situation, but I think it's certainly possible. We're being joined by Terrence Oglesby. That's a lot of college basketball for good reason. The season starts next week. Duke actually has an exhibition in about an hour and a half against UNC Pembroke. Later tonight, the Charlotte Hornets had the Houston Rockets. You are the newest studio analyst for Charlotte Hornets basketball for Valley Sports. And Brandon Miller right now is the leading scorer among rookies, and it looks like the Hornets made a pretty good pick at number two.

I might need to apologize to Mitch Kupchak if things continue down this path. No one I heard said that Brandon Miller was going to be a bad player. A lot of people had preferences for Scoot Henderson over Brandon, and that's the camp that I fell into, but what has most impressed you about what Miller has done so early on in his NBA career? That he's a leading scorer among rookies in the NBA and he's done so without dominating the ball. I think that's the biggest thing that you look at with young players as far as how can they be a part of the game without dominating everything that they do. And a lot of these rookies like to over dribble. They get out of rotations defensively. They don't do a good job of getting to the right spots.

He's done all of those things. And Steven Clifford, he's an older coach now. He doesn't love playing rookies, especially at the end of games. He's throwing Brandon out there. And I think that says a lot about the young man.

It also says a little bit about the lack of veterans that you have at that position that can really contribute. But all of that being said, his ability to play without the basketball, pick spots, operate in transition, score for himself, and he showed a little bit more creativity in the second half. He wasn't as efficient in the second half of the last game against the Nets, but he showed some creativity as far as creating for himself when he needed.

And he's still figuring it all out. And he does it within the flow of the offense. He moves the basketball. He does all those things that coaches love. And he has been pretty efficient in doing so. Yeah, the thing that stands out to me when I watch is, yes, you knew that some of the shooting was going to be there, albeit I didn't expect 40 percent or more from the field and from three in all three of the games that he's had so far.

But it's kind of what you said. He's somebody who can contribute in other ways and not just hog the basketball. You talk about the chase down block that he had against Brooklyn on Monday and the lob to Mark Williams. He's doing a little bit of everything. You had the turnover in the first game where maybe he's doing a little bit too much, but there hasn't been so much of that. He's finding ways to contribute other than just hitting threes.

Yeah, that's exactly right. And you want to play a lot your first year in the NBA, do some of those other things, because a lot of times you have your superstar in place. LaMelo Ball is considered their superstar. He hasn't played like a superstar early in the season, but he's also coming back from ankle injuries. So if you want to play a lot, you do all those other things because you're not really sure how much that ball is going to come toward you. And he's taking advantage of it whenever it has come to him. But I think the trust also comes from his teammates seeing that he's doing those other things and he's being involved. And because of that, you've seen the benefits early of basically him not focusing on scoring, him focusing on doing everything else, and the scoring has kind of followed suit. Who's your favorite player off the bench for this Charlotte team, if I take Brandon off the board?

Oh, that's a tough one. They're not exceptionally deep right now, especially with some suspensions going on. And Teo Maladon has done some nice things. I'm not quite sure he's a number two point guard in the NBA. I think he's closer to a number three, maybe fourth point guard. Ish Smith, whenever he gets back, I think he's going to help loads, just because he's going to get them in spots.

He's going to understand what they're trying to do offensively. Didn't you go head-to-head with Ish in college? Yeah, yeah, and that says a lot. That says a lot.

That says a lot about Ish's age, and it says a lot about my age. So, no, I think he's going to help be a second, third point guard. They really need Neelikina to come back. I think Nick Richards, I was really high on him initially as a backup five. He has shown a propensity for foul trouble, and he has shown a propensity to get out of position a little bit. So I'm interested to see how these guys develop going forward, because they are still extremely young. And let's be honest, too, you know, with Brandon in there, along with Gordon, P.J., you want to throw a rosier and ball, you have a small ball five guy situation where it's like, well, we should be able to compete with certain teams. But it also makes it difficult, because Mark's one of your better players. This team right now, optimistically, seven, maybe eight deep. If they're able to get some guys to come back from suspension and everything clears up that way, I would feel much better about it. But as of right now, Brandon's the obvious choice.

After that, it gets a little foggy. What is the biggest difference between covering the NBA and covering college hoops? The NBA, it's much more player-oriented. You know, you can just focus on just what a player does. You're looking more at individual tendencies as opposed to what a complete team does. For example, like I know that the team likes to play Ben Simmons at the five. Well, the best thing about that is he's matched up against opposing fives, and he gives people fits, because defensively it's really hard for fives to stay in front of him.

So Ben Simmons makes that team go. Well, to contrast that point, you look at somewhere like Clemson. Well, because these guys are only here for four years at max, really, I have to look more at what Coach Brownell likes to do, what's kind of been his tendencies. And that's kind of more the storytelling piece, his style of play, what he does compared to what other teams in the ACC do. So that's kind of been the biggest difference. College is more coaching emphasis and oriented.

You do have some great players, obviously, but when you get to the pros, it's much more player-oriented. Let me drive that point home to close things out with Terrence Oglesby, who's joining us here. I don't know if Hubert's going to do this, but in his exhibition, there were four guys who started that.

I nodded and said, yep, that sounds about right. You had RJ Davis, Armando Bacot, you had Cormac Ryan and Harrison Ingram who were starting it. Yes, that guy was in the lineup. And then they started Paxson Wojcik as the fifth starter, not Elliott Cadeau. And the thought crossed my mind, oh, wait, Hubert has had four of the same starters the last two years. He hasn't had a five-star player incoming come into his program. He's not going to start Paxson Wojcik the first game of the year, is he?

Because you know how this thing works. It's going to be a problem in terms of getting more guys to come in if they see that Paxson Wojcik, a guy who just transferred from Brown, is starting for the Tar Heels over Elliott Cadeau. Again, I don't know if he's going to do that, T.O., but am I right to start thinking that might be a concern if next Monday night he's starting Wojcik over Elliott Cadeau?

I've always been told that the best players should start. There's no doubt in my mind, and I love Paxson Wojcik. I think he's a good player. I think he's a good player. I think Elliott Cadeau is potentially a great player for what they're going to do. And let's be honest, last season there was not a whole lot off the bench for North Carolina.

So if you want to bring Elliott Cadeau off the bench to kind of revive and revamp an offense, or not sometimes, but if you fall on hard times, you could inject a little lightning bug into your offense to see what happens. I could see that. Who knows what Hubert's going to do. I'm not going to try to read that man's mind.

Sure. We'll see. Monday, I'm just saying, they scored 117 points in that exhibition.

Elliott Cadeau looked pretty good. I'm trusting that man with the lineup, and we'll see what lineup he puts out there on Monday night. But I just know how recruiting works, and five-star players like to be out there on the floor. And I got a feeling if Cooper Flag's playing at Duke next year, it's not going to be Jalen Blake's getting the start over him. Right. That's kind of where my thought process is.

Just my thought. Okay, T.O., congrats again, man. So happy for you. Thanks for doing this. I hope to see you sometime soon. All right. Sounds good. Thanks, guys.

T.O., Terrence Oglesby, field of 68, Valley Sports, joining us on WSJS. That's where I'm at. I'm not saying it's a problem yet, because it isn't. But we can agree, W.D.

Preemptively, we're talking about this now. If Monday night, Carolina opens up, and it's Paxson Wojcik starting there at point guard, not Elliott Cadeau, that's a problem. It is a problem. Well... And not a problem in the sense of, oh, is Elliott Cadeau actually that good? I think he is.

So do I. I think we can see that. What the heck is Hubert thinking in that regard if he starts the same lineup he did in the exhibition for the game Monday night? Well, I would imagine the reason that Hubert would justify doing that... If he started. If he started, or if Paxson Wojcik started over Elliott...

Correct. He would probably be in his mind thinking, all right, I'm just giving Elliott Cadeau some time to get with the college game. We're just going to ease him in there. I don't like that.

I don't like it either, but I'm saying... That is a better answer than, you know, seniority. No, I genuinely... Paxson Wojcik's been around longer. I think Hubert would be like, oh, this is all part of the plan. We're just going to ease him in there, because they know how good he is. But we're just going to ease him in there.

That's what he would be telling himself. Okay. I mean, I don't agree with it.

You're wrong. Put him in there. He's good enough. Let's go.

But I'm telling you, that would be probably the reasoning. Just trying to get ahead of this. Not saying it's going to happen, just saying, we saw the lineup on Friday night, and he was not in the starting five. The Drive with Josh Graham, only on WSJS. Call us now. 336-777-1600.

And tell us something good. If you do that, your choice of tickets to go see Iron Maiden in Charlotte a week from today, ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd in Greensboro next March, or Sam Hunt next April in Greensboro. Almost said next Greensboro. I don't think there's another Greensboro.

I don't think there is. Is there another Greensboro in the United States? You know what? We can find out. I don't know. Is there another Greensboro other than Greensboro, America, right here in the state of North Carolina? I'm sure there is.

I just don't know what state. You're probably going to pull it, and it's going to be population 1400 in Mississippi, and it's going to be Greensboro, Mississippi, or something like that. But if you want tickets to go see Iron Maiden, or ZZ Top slash Lynyrd Skynyrd, or Sam Hunt, 336-777-1600, right now we lift morale across the Piedmont by playing weekly positivity. Oh, yeah. Think, think, think.

It's the thinking man's game. 336-777-1600. Give us a call and tell us something good. Weekly positivity brought to you by Biscuit King.

Four locations, three in Lexington, one in High Point. Tomorrow morning, or tomorrow for lunch. Get yourself a God-normous biscuit from Biscuit King. Hi, Will. Hello, Josh. Did we learn anything about other Greensboro's in the United States?

Totally just hit my head on the microphone. That's not good. Apparently there are eight cities named Greensboro in America. What states? I'm still looking into that. I think there might be one in Alabama, actually. Oh, that was my second guess. I know it. I'm still expecting that there is a Greensboro.

I have them right here. Greensboro, Vermont. Bra. Greensboro. Greensboro. Greensboro, Pennsylvania. Wow. Greensboro, Maryland.

Oh, I knew that. Greensboro, Indiana. Greensboro, Georgia. Greensboro, Florida. Florida. Florida, Greensboro. I don't like that there's so many in Greensboro, Alabama.

Those are imposters. We have the actual Greensboro. Maybe we all understood Forrest Gump's. Misunderstood Forrest Gump's accent, and he wasn't saying Green Bow.

Instead was saying Greensboro, Alabama. Wow. Wow. Maybe. Maybe that's possible.

Probably not. Let's go to Jim in advance. Hi, Jim.

Yes. Hey. Tell me something good.

Okay. I went and took my granddaughter trick-or-treating last night, and we had a great time. She got a lot of candy. She was dressed up as Tinkerbell, and I was dressed up like Pharaoh. So you were dressed like a Pharaoh. It sounds like it was a little bit cold last night to be dressed like a Pharaoh, Jim. It was.

It was a little arid, but we made it. Okay. So a lot of candy. What was the... How much candy did you take off of her for monitoring duties?

I didn't take any from her, but I got some from the places where they just had the balls sitting out there. Oh, man. It is so great for parents and for adults that want the candy that are with the kids, that they have the balls out there. It's just outstanding. You're absolutely right. Jim, thank you so much for the call. Let's go to C's in Winston. Hi, C's. Josh, what's up, good brother?

Oh, man. So good. What's happening? Well, let me tell you what is very positive for me and my Philadelphia 76ers. We finally got rid of the James Harden drama.

Wow. That is good. How good is... Or how good is your team going to be this year? I don't have my Sixers coming out of the East, unfortunately. I picked the Boston Celtics. Are you with me on that? I'm liking what I'm seeing out of Porzingis, but if he can stay healthy all season, they definitely got a shot. Okay, C's. Thank you so much for sharing that with us.

I'd be happy to if James Harden wasn't on my team. W.D., tell me something good. Well, in the spirit of Halloween, I saw something last night that really lit me up.

What's that? So one of our favorites is Ryan McGee. He's one of our favorite guests we have on. That's right. And I saw last night he was dressed up as Darth Vader. It was quite the suit. It was. And he had a lightsaber? He did. He said, come to the dark side because we have chocolate.

Wow. So that was good. I got to knock him, though. He had the bowl in the other hand. Didn't look like he was handing out big bars. Oh, he didn't have any big bars? I didn't see he was handing out the big bars.

I think it was the smaller bars that he was handing out. And I'll tell you something else really good. Good? Good. Now that Halloween is behind us, we are that much closer to Christmas.

You know? And I love it. December is here and yes, it is starting to feel like it.

It is. Outside I will point out, I love this time of year. I love the holidays. I love the sports that come along with this season, too. So I agree. That is a very good thing.

And another good thing is that, as I quoted at the top of this, you're going to be watching blue chips for the first time next week to commemorate the start of college basketball season. What was that, Ian? What was that, Connerio? W.D. needs more of a thinking man's picture. Think, think, think.

It's a thinking man's game and a thinking man's picture. Oh, and I just got a text from Kevin Harlan. He's going to be calling Panthers Colts on Sunday, so I'll get to see Kevin. He says he never gets to come to Charlotte, so he's happy to do that. And that's good. Kevin Harlan.

Wow. It's Charlotte. And that's been Weekly Positivity. I mean, really, if you think about it, he was supposed to be here doing Monday Night Football, but they were doing that Monday Night doubleheader, so he went to Pittsburgh. Why on earth would he ever be here to do a Hornets game?

The Hornets, they're not exactly on TNT all that often, so he's not here for that. And he usually does AFC games. How often is the AFC in Charlotte?

And he's a part of one of the top crews they have, too. So how often are the Panthers good enough to warrant having a crew broadcasting your game? So Kevin Harlan being in the building Sunday, that's... If you're watching on TV, he's so good, I'm almost upset that I'm going to be at the game. I'm not going to get a chance to listen to Kevin Harlan on the call.

That's how good he is. You might have noticed the calendar has flipped to the month of November. And don't look now, but two weeks from today, the Greensboro Swarm will be tipping off their season at the Fieldhouse.

Go to GSOswarm.com for tickets, their home opener two weeks from today. Team president Steve Switoa is with us now. Steve, because of what we've seen from Brandon Miller in the first couple of weeks in Charlotte, or I guess the first week in change, there seems to be a lot of excitement around the organization right now. What have you liked about his start?

No question. I mean, first of all, thanks for having me, Josh. And we're great to partner with you all this year. He's been really playing really, really well. I just think with the overall ownership majority change this past summer, just brings a different energy and excitement and a lot to do. Construction, renovations on both sides of the coin for us and the Hornets. But man, he's playing really, really well. I believe the first three, at least the first three games at home, knowing we played tonight in Houston. What has been your impression of new ownership, the two co-owners, and what that might mean positively for you guys in Greensboro?

You know, just a separate, a different set of eyes. Rick and Gabe have been fantastic. They have sat in every week on leadership meetings at the senior level. They're very engaged, as you probably know, and have listened to a more recent podcast by Sam. They want to be great stewards, be great in the community, and we want to win.

And they want to identify what they can do to help us get there. And they've been really great to work with, very impressed with their engagement and just overall opportunity to get better on and off the court. It is a worthwhile podcast to listen to with Sam Farber speaking with the new co-owners of the Charlotte Hornets. Busy week for Sam considering the basketball, but also he, in Southern California, broadcasted some guys named C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young's games, and they met in Charlotte on Sunday. But getting back to the Hornets rookie from Alabama, prior to the season starting Steve, Steve Switowa with us, Greensboro's former president, was there something you saw or were told that gave you the early sign that he was going to be pretty good? Well, you know, again, as you know, I don't have that insight. I'm not on that on the basketball side, but just watching him and, you know, just in just our coaches in front office talking about how athletic he was and how he can run the floor and plays various positions.

And oh, by the way, you can shoot the ball, too, right? You've seen that in the first three games. But I don't believe we're going to see him in Greensboro. You know, he's too high of a pick and he's playing really, really well. And if he comes, great. If not, you know, he's going to continue to work on his game. But so far, so good.

Everything that I read. I was at the game Friday night and just an athletic talent. I found Steve Switowa's with us here for tickets to swarm games, including those great seats they have courtside.

You can go to GSO swarm dot com. You know how important continuity can be and alignment can be when it comes to the swarms relationship with the Hornets and Jordan Serum camp. He's now been around for a few years in Greensboro and you've been in Greensboro long enough to have worked with Steve Clifford during his first tour of duty in Charlotte. So I'm sure there is a relationship there. Ideally, how involved or attentive should the head coach be with what happens in Greensboro?

Or is that something that should just be left to management? Well, I think there's a lot of synergy and communication back and forth from here to there and vice versa. You know, with Jordan certain camp starting his third year with us, Cole Teo is now the new GM this this season. There is constant communication with that group, whether it be Cliff, Mitch, Buzz, Larry Jordan from from the Hornet side to Cole and Jordan on a daily basis.

Whether it's players that we're working with here that they're looking at and working with and vice versa. As you know, there's a lot of movement with our roster back and forth, and especially with the third two way added this season. And as you are very familiar with a player that played in Carolina, Leakey is one of our three two ways.

And so constant communication, as you know, similar sets offensively, defensively. There's nothing that Charlotte is not running that Jordan is not aware of and working on that on a daily basis. You mentioned Leakey Black. He was he's a two way. And Roy Williams was sitting court side on Monday night in Charlotte.

Cameron Johnson was also on the floor from the net. So it just made sense for Coach Roy to be there and see some of his former guys. Get tickets to go see the swarm two weeks from the night or beyond that, because I'm already seeing game one is a sell out of the fieldhouse, which is really a good sign. And it was announced, as you mentioned this week, that Leakey Black's on the training camp roster for the swarm.

How much buzz has there been around Leakey potentially playing for the swarm? Any time you get a local player that played in Carolina, Duke, State, Wake Forest, I think that's an automatic buzz for us. Right. No pun intended. You know, he's well known.

He's well liked. You know, we have a number of Carolina fans that are excited to see him. And that just adds to the as you mentioned, the excitement of opening up.

You know, it's actually year eight, seven, really year eight because of the bubble season. But as you mentioned, we're sold out for our school day game on Wednesday, the 15th of November. And then we come back 17 and 18 with games back to back with Friday night, Saturday night at 7 p.m. And, you know, we have a lot of different new things related to our building in regards to the renovations that you are aware of. That we had a behind the scenes peak last week with some all the major TV stations. And it was incredible what they were able to capture. But we're looking forward to that.

We could see it. It's really cool as you're driving there close to stadium, you could see some of the stuff going up with the swarm. And you should check out two weeks and a couple of days from now when you talk about that first back to back in Greensboro. We've gotten to know Leakey ever since he was in school in 2018. Since I arrived here in 2018, Leakey has been around.

So that's people love him and people are going to love him with the swarm as well, including your people who work in your office. It's cool thing that we're going to have regular visits from you guys as well. You mentioned the partnership that we're going to have.

Thank you for that. And Steve also, I really appreciate you coming on. But next next time we're talking Steelers too. Hey, you know, we're home for a couple of days.

See family. And as you know, we have season tickets. But but, you know, the more important thing, too, that we want to make sure that the renovations, new video board, new court, a lot of player development renovations to our back of house that have really added the opportunity to grow and develop our players on on the court. And, you know, if you happen to come down, we have now five goals instead of the main court and extensions to that court itself and the new video board and the plunge pool from a recovery perspective. These are all important assets and elements that we want to continue to grow our player development here in Greensboro and also add to our fan experience. And so that twenty three by 15 or 16 large video board that people will see for the first time on November 15th, I think it's going to really enhance our overall in-game experience as you are aware of.

I can't wait to see it. And Jordan Serkamp, I've been telling him we need to get out the Hopsburger bar sometime, hang out, make this thing happen. He said as soon as the swarm season starts, we'll be able to figure that one out. Steve known you for a while now. Look forward to getting to know you better and being out there in a few weeks.

Hey, it's crazy to think it's the month of November. GSO swarm dot com if you want to get tickets. Thanks so much for the visit. Thanks, Josh. Thank you all.