On To Notre Dame

This is the DRIVE Podcast with Josh Graham. I love it. I need it.

Couldn't live without it. You can hear the DRIVE weekday afternoons, 3 till 6 on WSJS. News Talk Sports for the Triad. Wake coach Steve Forbes. He'll be our guest today. Give it all that happened during and after his team's win against Duke.

Make sure you're here a little bit later on around 5.35 for our chat. But let's just get right into it. The national story from Wake Duke was what happened to Kyle Filipowski and this debate that's ongoing about court storming.

However, on this show locally in the triad, that conversation can wait. And we must talk about the game first. Because it is hard to overstate the significance of that win for the Demon Deacons. That was the program's best win in at least a decade. You have to go pre-Manning.

You have to go pre-Bezdelic. Go back to 2010 probably when Dino Gaudio was the coach and probably their last NCAA tournament game which, if memory serves, was an overtime win against Texas. That was 14 years ago.

But given how bad things were in the 2010s and how good things were in the 2000s leading up to that run in 2010. You could make the argument that Saturday's game was even sweeter than that NCAA tournament victory. Saying that it's been such a long time since we had something as validating as this if you were a Wake Forest fan.

Maybe you go back 20 years ago. Chris Paul on the team advancing to the Sweet 16 the last time the Deacs were there in 2004. Looking at the details of this, it was Wake's first sellout in 7 years. It's the largest crowd in the history of the building.

Which was erected in 1989. And they beat a top 10 team in the country. Oh, I'm just so happy to be Duke.

That's a pretty good combination of things. And that win should clinch an NCAA tournament spot for Wake Forest. Which is fitting because, kind of like they haven't had a sellout in 7 years, it's been 7 years since they've made the field. John Collins and company losing in the first 4 in Dayton.

But don't just take that from me. Wake Forest is a tournament team. Here was John Shire after the game saying it's kind of ridiculous it took Wake Forest winning this game to convince a lot of people what many in the league already felt and knew by watching the Deacs that this team belongs in the field of 68. This win shouldn't have validated them being in the tournament.

You're going to tell me if we won by 2, if we bang in a 3 to win, all of a sudden they're not a tournament team. I think we need to have some common sense. And what are we following? Are we following the metrics? Are we not?

And if we are, it shouldn't even be a discussion. I appreciate that from John Shire. Especially that. The condescending, dismissive laugh. Very Regina George-esque from Mean Girls. You can't sit with us. We wear pink on Wednesdays.

You're now a plastic. Unless Wake goes 1-3 down the stretch, collapses, loses the first game in DC, they're in. They're into the tournament. And the manner in which Wake won this game was incredible. This is the biggest bummer about what happened to Filipowski. And we all kind of saw it in real time. I yelled at Connor O'Neill.

Couple of seats over from me at the game. As soon as Flip was being carried off, I said to him, Darn it. This is going to be the bigger story. This is going to take away from an incredible game.

That's what I told Connor. It was the game of the year in the ACC. But no one's going to remember that because of what happened in the court storm. Duke hit 11-3s, shot over 50% in this game. And the reason Wake won was they countered by shooting 70% in the second half. 7-0 to win this game. There were 14 lead changes. Neither team led by more than two possessions. The entire way. You find me an ACC basketball game that was better than that one was.

And it's hard to overstate the significance of it from a Wake Forest perspective. You can reach out to the show on X at WSJS radio or call us. 336-777-1600. If you're going to call the executive producer of this show though, Will Dalton, please be respectful. Don't stampede and trample over him. Give him time to do his job. Even if WD might initiate the contact. Don't fight back. Be respectful. Let him get to the tunnel.

Let's go to Mike Enelkin. Mike, when WD took your call, you didn't push him in the back or anything, did you? No, I didn't.

I didn't storm his area. Glad to hear that. What do you have on the game Saturday? I just thought it was a shame that, and you've already said this today, Wake Forest played, I thought, one of the best games they've played in a decade. Yeah.

At least 10 years. Salas was NBA style magnificent. Carr and Hildreth had great second halves. We weren't great on defense, but we were good enough. And I do think that we should be in the NCAA tournament.

I still think we may have to win them all in order to be so because we still don't seem to get a lot of respect for last four ends. Mike Enelkin, I'll stop you there. I'll stop you there.

If they go two and two down the stretch and they still don't get into the tournament, you and I are going to riot. How about that? I'll lead the charge. How about we storm the court? That's it. You and I are going to storm Joel Coliseum Court running around with no security guard saying, where is Leonardi? That's what we're going to do, even though he doesn't pick the field. He doesn't do that. That's us doing the sarcastic laugh.

Thank you so much, Mike Enelkin. Can I say one thing about that? Can I say one thing about that? The John Shire laugh? Well, that and all the others. That's what makes the show, the John Shire laugh, the Steve Forbes well, the J.C. Horn.

Send that cash out, family. I love those. I'm about to bust out laughing every time y'all play one of those. I'm sure there's some I'm leaving out. Yeah, I think you're leaving out the one that transitions us away from an awkward conversation of talking about storming the field. There we go.

Thank you, Mike Enelkin. Do this, man. Please, somebody.

God, a ton of them. I can do this all day. You definitely could.

I can do it with concerts. Your Tar Heels are in action tonight, W.D. They are. Let's talk about them, because ahead of their big Monday matchup with Miami, it sure looks like North Carolina is going to win the ACC's regular season. This weekend completely flipped it. Obviously, you had Duke losing at Wake. Duke and North Carolina were tied for first place going into the weekend. And for the first time in 12 years, Carolina won at Virginia. That eliminates Virginia by all intents and purposes from winning the ACC. They only have three games left, and they're two games back of Carolina.

That's just not going to happen for them. The Tar Heels, meanwhile, their next three games, they're at the Smith Center. And all their opponents are not NCAA tournament teams.

Miami tonight, NC State Saturday, Notre Dame next week. If they win all three of those games, let's just leave it there. They have four games left. Obviously, the finale is at Duke. If they win those three home games against non-tournament teams, they will have guaranteed at least a share of the ACC regular season title.

Which, by the way, is enough to claim a title and hang a banner, which they will do. Like, just for it to be a shared title, W.D., that would require for Duke to run the table. Like, if Carolina wins the next three games, Duke, just to get a share of first place, would have to run the table. And this is what they would have to do. They would have to win at NC State.

Mike Enelken probably appreciated that. Virginia at Cameron, and they would have to beat North Carolina. That's three of their remaining four games. Which one of those is a gimme? Tell me, please.

That's not easy. So, Carolina is, they're going to win the ACC this year. We just don't know if it's a shared title or an outright title. And here's the thing, it wouldn't be right for anyone else to win it. They're the right team because they're the most deserving team. They got the ACC Player of the Year in R.J. Davis. They got maybe the Coach of the Year, he'd have my vote, in Hubert Davis.

They're both, this is the part that's crazy. They've beaten the four teams, the four other ACC teams that are going to make the NCAA tournament. They've beaten them all. Beaten Duke, beaten Virginia, beaten Wake Forest, beaten Clemson, it little John Colosseum.

Okay! This is the best Carolina team in five years. And they're going to win the ACC this year. That's what I believe we learned from over the weekend. Brendan Marks on the phone with us from The Athletic. The story today is a timely one because it probably is the hottest debate not just in college basketball, but across sports today. Should court storming be banned or at least made safer, it's a tough challenge.

Brendan, I'm fine chatting with you over the phone because those watching on video are enjoying, while you're with us here, the Brendan Marks meme throughout our conversation, which always puts a smile on faces. The question that's the crux of your story that you wrote alongside your colleagues with The Athletic. Is it possible, without taking draconian measures, some of which were suggested by Jay Bilas earlier today, to stop court storming? Not unless we're going to suddenly be enlisting the Monstars to work security at every college basketball game. Logistically speaking, there is no way, if hundreds of college-aged students are going to try and rush the floor, there is no way to stop them.

Again, like you mentioned, the draconian measures, I've heard a couple of different things. I've heard make them stay on the court and give them all a citation. I've heard make the home team forfeit the game they just won. I've heard the home team should lose a home game the next season as punishment. I heard Cam Newton put him on the floor and have him fist fight everybody.

That was something I heard too. I mean, none of those things are going to happen. You know, league is never going to actually put a program in a situation where they're worse off.

You know, it's never going to be a situation where the ACC is saying, wait for us, we know you just had one of the best wins you've had in the last five or ten seasons, but sorry about that court storm, we're taking the W away, good luck making the NCAA tournament. That's just never going to be the case. And so, you know, I think realistically you're talking about ways that you can improve the process, ways you can mitigate some of these situations from happening. And again, there's a lot of, you know, common sense practices on how to do that.

On X, at Brendan R. Marks, read his stuff in The Athletic. My position on court storming and field storming is some version of this. I don't think we lose really anything by getting rid of it. It's like when people suggested, when coaches get rid of suits, we're going to lose some allure or some type of decorum, and nobody really misses the thing. And I think about Duke and Alabama specifically. I think, I mean, aside from Sean Dockery hitting a half-court shot 18 years ago and students running on the court at Cameron, students don't run on the court at Duke. You don't do it after wins, and I don't think the fans lose any type of an experience by that happening, or by that not happening.

Alabama football, I guess they're just a bunch of fuddy duddies down in Tuscaloosa not having any fun because they're not able to storm the field after winning any of their games at home. But let me put it to you. If you can snap your fingers, Brendan Marks, and get rid of court storming today, what does the game lose, if anything, by doing so? Yeah, well, you know, I would probably come out on the reverse side of it as you, Josh. You know, I don't know that we necessarily lose anything, but I do think that court storming, you know, for students, for fans, I would imagine that if you polled any random court stormer who was at Wake Forest yesterday, you know, I have a colleague whose son goes to Wake Forest who is part of it, that's a moment that that kid's probably going to remember the rest of his life.

So, you know, I've never been in one of those situations. My New York Jets don't necessarily elicit court storms. But if you are to get rid of those, you know, you are removing, I think, one of the more identifiable visuals in college athletics.

You know, I think back to last year when Tennessee finally was able to beat Alabama, and they carried the goalposts into, you know, a nearby body of water, and they were dragging them all through town. Like, those are experiences. Those are memories.

Those are the things that you're missing out on. So, you know, for me, I think it's really two conversations. It's do you want to ban court storming or do you want to try and find ways to make it safer? Personally, I fall towards the latter side in trying to figure out ways where students can still have those experiences because I do think that they can be meaningful and lifelong.

But obviously, player safety has to come first, and that's something where we can't be compromising. Two top four matchups in the ACC over the weekend. Wake beaten Duke, North Carolina winning for the first time at JPJ in 12 years. What do you feel most confident is true after this weekend? That Wake Forest is an NCAA tournament team or that North Carolina is at least going to win a share of an ACC championship? Ooh, that's a good question because I feel pretty good about both of them.

I'm actually probably going to go with the latter. I'm going to say that I think there's probably still a better chance that North Carolina ends up winning the league. You know, the Tar Heels are at home tonight, going to have shorthanded Miami. You know, and then the last three games are NC State, Notre Dame, and obviously on the road to Duke. And, you know, even if they were to go and lose that game at Duke, they'd have a share of the league title.

So I think that that one is – I'm not going to say ironclad because obviously anything can happen. But to me, as much as I do believe that Wake Forest is an NCAA tournament team, and I firmly believe that Wake Forest is an NCAA tournament team, at this point if they didn't get in it would be kind of shocking. There is still – there are a couple of hurdles for the Demon Deacons left on their schedule. It's a tougher schedule.

You know, you do have to go to Virginia Tech. I think that's a game Wake can't afford to lose but probably would rather win. Georgia Tech again at home, that's a feisty game. Clemson at home in the season finale, that's a feisty game. And like, you know, if Wake Forest goes 2-2 in these next four games and then loses its first game in the ACC tournament, I would be concerned at that point. So I think both things are probably going to come to fruition. But just because of the remaining schedule, I feel probably more confident about North Carolina right now.

We'll ask Steve Forbes about this in just a bit. But the game you left out is the human nature classic, tomorrow, Wake at Notre Dame. Wake's only got two road games this year – or two road wins this year. After the Duke win, going to South Bend. Just let's keep an eye on that. Let's just see what happens when we get there. Since we both – since we've got you here on the phone, Brendan Marks joining us on X at Brendan R Marks.

I couldn't – since we were both on the phone during an Adam Gold interview last week, I couldn't tell if we were in agreement on a friendly putter's bet. But the next time you're in town, we will grab some grub, whether the tab's on me or you, and we'll save you a plate. How's that sound?

That sounds good to me. I think we could probably move that affair up to Washington, D.C. for the ACC tournament. Or Charlotte for – maybe in Charlotte even for the NCAA tournament. We'll be there.

There's going to be a lot of opportunities for us to get that in. Hey, good to hear from you, Brendan. We'll see you sometime soon. Absolutely, appreciate you having me. Wake coach Steve Forbes will be our guest 15 minutes from now. Too bad there's nothing to talk about. Of interest when Coach Forbes drops by. That should be good.

Make sure you're here when that happens. This is the most frustrating thing about the court storm that happened at the end of the Wake Forest-Duke game. The reaction to it was the most frustrating thing. That was the lowlight of the weekend. Now, if Kyle Filipowski was significantly injured, that would be the lowlight. But if it were a serious injury, I have a feeling we'd probably know about it by now.

Shire said today that there was a chance he could practice. Kyle Filipowski spoke with us after the game. That probably doesn't happen if it's super serious. It could have been, not minimizing that way. But because it's not deemed to be super serious, the reaction to Flip's injury was the lowlight of the weekend for several reasons. Number one being, there are so many people who have blamed Filipowski for what happened. He didn't get off the court quick enough. He tripped the fan. He initiated contact. He isn't really hurt. Those types of things.

Let's address all three real quick. He didn't get off the court quick enough? Why should he? Why should he have to? He's the one that just played 40 minutes of a basketball game. Exerted a lot of energy in doing so. Why shouldn't he be able to take his jolly sweet time to get off the court?

As if he full out sprinted, it still would have been enough time for him to get out there before fans ran past him. Number two. Oh, he initiated contact. And? I'm not saying he didn't.

I don't know. I've seen all the angles. I've seen all the video. But let me acknowledge it. Let's say the worst possible thing that Wake Forest fans have alleged of Kyle Filipowski is true.

Oh, Flip saw this guy coming and he was upset and just wanted to wail on him or initiate contact or trip him up or whatever. Let's say that's true. I'm not saying it is.

Let's say it is. And? Kyle Filipowski. See, my dad is a huge Baltimore Colts fan. And in the 70s, there was a linebacker named Mike Curtis who was most remembered, even though he was a really good player, for one time a fan ran out on the field.

And you know what Mike Curtis did? He debt that fan. And his reasoning was the field is the player's space. The stands are where the fans belong. If you get in my space, I'm going to take you out. That was Mike Curtis's argument.

I tend to subscribe to that. If Kyle Filipowski cold cocked punched this fan in the face, I'm still probably sided with Kyle Filipowski. Because Flip doesn't know this person that's running past him. Why is this person in his space?

Why is this person in his face? I'm not blaming the fan either. There's no scenario where fans should be in arm's length on the court of Kyle Filipowski. That should not be a thing that's allowed to happen.

Oh, he initiated contact. He isn't really hurt. Oh, so since he wasn't really hurt, everything's good, right? When somebody gets hurt, given now we have the Flip incident and Kaitlyn Clark in the last month, it will have been too late for us to do something. Now that we have all this evidence of this being dangerous.

Like for us, if someone does get significantly hurt later, because we've done nothing to try and stop this from happening, it will have been too late. But it never ceases to amaze me how much people hate Duke. I thought when Coach K left, that would dissipate.

Because John Shire's likable. Like he's humble, he's classy. Even before he went on his rampage, I hadn't seen him that heated before. But even before going off on the court storming on Saturday, he spent a minute and a half talking about how great Wake was, and he doesn't want to take this away from Wake. And Wake deserves to be in the tournament.

He did it even after Wake Forest lost to Cameron last week, advocating for Wake. Like, what's dislikable about this Duke team? If it was RJ Davis who got taken to the floor and had to be carried off in North Carolina, there are going to be people wanting to end the Wake Forest basketball program today.

Like they're certainly not going to be blaming RJ. But since it's Duke and it's Flip, we're seeing a lot of that. It never ceases to amaze me how much people hate Duke. And when K was there, it was the worst. There were things that K would say that if any other coach said it, it wouldn't be a headline. But since K did it, oh, it's a national debate that we're having. Why? Because people hate Duke.

Call it what it is. And the other reason why the reaction to Flip's injury was the low light of the weekend. It's a giant bummer that nobody nationally is talking about the game. And that was predictable. I was sitting next to a few scouts, sitting next to some media folk, and as soon as it happened and I saw Flip being carried off, I just thought and I even said to him, now this is all we're going to talk about.

This is going to be the story. And that's a shame because that was the best game of the ACC season this year. Duke shot over 50%, hit 11 threes. And the reason Wake Forest beat them was because they shot 70% in the second half. There were 11 lead changes in this game.

No team led by more than two possessions in this game. But no one's talking about the game. It's because of what happened at the end.

And that is the biggest shame of it all. And if you're a Wake fan saying, oh, Josh, come on. Duke, you sound like a Dookie, yada, yada. Here was Steve Forbes after the game who said that he's against court storming. I didn't see what happened at the end.

You know, I hope he's okay. I don't like court stormings. I never have. I've been a part of those before as a coach.

They just don't feel safe. And I'm sure the next time that happens we'll do a better job of taking care of that situation. Somebody writes in, do you blame Wake Forest?

Yes. Wake Forest blames Wake Forest. You just heard Forbes there say, we need to do better. John Curry apologized for it Saturday night.

Nobody thinks that's acceptable. But we'll bring it up to Steve when he joins us in just a few minutes to see if that position's true post Jim Phillips statement and post ACC statement or Wake Forest statement that came out on Saturday. But the reaction to Flip's injury, that was the low light of the entire weekend.

On X, WSJS radio if you want in on the show, however and wherever you are listening or watching, we appreciate that. Cam Newton has a much better reputation today than he had at any point during his playing career. He just continues to collect wins. And yesterday, I don't think anybody's going to call him a soft pretty boy anymore. Remember that used to be a thing? Darren Gantt had the saying about Cam. Cam Newton makes people stupid. Probably should have put it on a t-shirt.

A lot of people would buy those t-shirts. Cam Newton makes people stupid. Stupid enough that during that seven on seven camp or whatever it was yesterday, six people thought it'd be a good idea to take Cam Newton on.

Not smart. Cam Newton beat all six and his hat didn't even adjust off his head while doing so. But oh, he's soft, the outfits, the shoes, the scarves, the hats. Hard to say that after he took on six guys and then what about his day? Now, to be clear, he never should have gotten that label in the first place. We're talking about a guy that literally got hit by a dump truck, broke his back.

I broke my back, spinal. And played 11 days after that. I think ran for a touchdown, threw for a touchdown against the Browns. That's the definition of tough. A guy who played with a torn up foot.

The foot was such. In 2019. Like that guy should have never gotten that label but certainly doesn't have it anymore. And he's had a successful start to his media career.

Over the last year, he's been putting out stuff. We called this back when he was playing that this guy will have a great media career if he pursues it. He would be great. Don't put him in a booth but maybe on a set. Maybe make him like Strahan.

Get some entertainment coverage, some pop culture that you get him involved in too. The game manager's comment, that blew up. Turned out Cam was right on that when it came to Dak Prescott. And probably Brock Purdy as well. A national network. I'm stunned that a national network still hasn't picked him up yet.

Looking at you Amazon. That's a place that could probably use him the most. Hey, bump up that coverage. Because he has the bona fides. He's a quarterback.

He's a former MVP. He's interesting. He dresses well. He's handsome.

What else do you want? But the biggest change in his reputation might be locally amongst Panther fans. See, a lot of people who aren't from here have the assumption that Panther fans all love Cam Newton. That's not true.

That's not true. Like he was polarizing around here. When Bomani Jones, Bomani Jones once told me that Cam was the most polarizing player in the NFL that he's been around. I'm like, even more than Brady? Yes, even more than Brady. More people are divided on that. Have an opinion on Cam.

Love him or hate him. Never really in the middle in a way that you don't even see with Brady. People around here, some couldn't get past the outfits and the dances and the first down sign and all of that.

Couldn't get past that. We took those calls early on in this show's history. The last two years that Cam was in Charlotte. He was not universally loved.

Until now. And we saw that when people went after him for the game manager's comment. Panther fans in full force wanting to defend him.

And why does that happen? Well, it seems like after the last few years of David Tepper being the Panthers owner. With concerts. People might have taken for granted how good they had it with Cam at quarterback. Few David Tepper seasons and people might have realized how good they had it when Cam was their QB. His reputation is better than it's ever been in his post playing career. Wake coach Steve Forbes will come join the show to talk about the win against Duke and all the stuff surrounding that.

Next. Fresh off beating Duke. Wake Forest basketball coach Steve Forbes has joined our show. And Steve, the game had 14 lead changes. Your group withstood 11 Duke threes and them shooting over 50 percent by shooting 70 percent yourself in the second half. To beat a top 10 team before the largest crowd in the history of Wake Forest basketball.

With so many good options to pick between. What made you most proudest about that win Saturday? Well, thanks for having me, Josh. There's a lot of things that made me proud.

But, you know, just kind of rewatching it late last night, just maybe the second half. I was really proud of the way Cameron Hildreth defended. They tried to run a backdoor play on him. He snapped his head textbook, threw his arm out and stole it. He stole the ball from Roach. It led to a Boopy Miller layup. He made a big three in the corner against his own. Made some free throws. Really just made some plays in some high pressure situations.

Obviously, Hunter was elite the entire game. Andrew was unbelievable in the second half. Got us off to a great start. Boopy got us off to a great start at the game. And, you know, Efton was solid the entire game.

But I would tip my hat to Cameron for what he did late in the game. We saw how Wake students celebrated on the quad. Was your wife, Janetta, equally as excited? How do you celebrate personally? Well, you know, things have changed a little bit since her situation as far as how we celebrate.

But typically we just go home. You know, I just came home and spent some time with her. I had a couple of friends in town, my agent.

And then Tom Conrad, who's from Johnson City, used to be working for the Wizards for a long time. And then I went up to Fratelli's and had dinner with my agent. You know, but I ran into a lot of people. I ran into Efton's parents, Efton's mom and him. Andrew's parents were there. Just a lot of fans that were excited. It was pretty low-key.

You know, we do have a lot of games left to play. What was the order at Fratelli's? Did you get a steak the size of your face? Well, I'm a steak guy, you know, because I'm from Iowa, as you know. And I like mine to move a little bit when I eat. So I think it was medium rare.

I have to try to kill it before I eat it. Steve Forbes is with us here. Obviously, Kyle Filipowski's injury was a big story. You said after the game that you don't like court storms. Wake Forest and the ACC seemed to echo that position with statements they put out Saturday night. What was your reaction to those statements?

And have you spoken to John Shire about what happened? Well, first of all, you know, and I made this very clear after the game, no one, I mean no one should be on the court until the opposing players, coaches, staff have been given the opportunity to leave the court and exit the bench area. End of discussion. That wasn't the case on Saturday, and I personally apologize to John after the game. I felt like what happened to him and his players and his staff was just unacceptable.

And anyone who thinks they're somehow at fault is 1,000 percent incorrect. And so, you know, I read the statements. I was upset about it. John and I were talking, I mean, I didn't even see, you know, I just out of the corner of my eye, I saw it happen. I was focused on the game and talking, you know, talking to John after the game when it happened.

It was unfortunate, and I hope that, you know, I hope the flip's okay. And I told him that on Saturday. You refused to say publicly, despite how many times we ask you, that you deserve to be into the NCAA tournament, saying that's not your area of expertise.

So rather than ask you again and getting the same answer, I'll just play this answer from John Shire instead when I asked him about it after the game Saturday. This win shouldn't have validated them being in the tournament. You're going to tell me if we won by two, if we bang in a three to win, all of a sudden they're not a tournament team. It just, I think we need to have some common sense. And what are we following? Are we following the metrics? Are we not? And if we are, there shouldn't even be a discussion. Seems reasonable to me. Do you agree with John? Again, it's not my area of expertise, you know.

I don't know. I mean, I just, there's so much that you have to do as a coach. You know, so many things you have to have your hands on.

That's just not one that I really understand totally to say yes or no. I do appreciate John's comments. And I, you know, I value my relationship professionally with John and his staff. And that's why it was really important to me following the game that he and I, you know, talk about what happened.

Steve Forbes with us here. Semi-related to that, over the last week, you called out ESPN's Joe Leonardi, not for his bracketology projections, but for comments he made about the ACC in recent years. In past years, you've spoken about the conference's need to have somebody go to bat for the league on television. But personally, what responsibility do you feel you have to defend the league the way that you have lately? I mean, I think that's just a personal thing, you know.

I mean, I don't think anybody, it's anybody's total responsibility to do that. I'm not pointing my finger at another coach or, hey, it's your job. I just felt like that was something that I wanted to say. I'm not saying, I'm not going to be the spokesman for the league, but I thought it was just a very unfair thing to say and not factual, specifically about the players. If you want to call me out as a coach, fine, I'm a big boy. But to really go after our players, I just thought that was wrong and not factual. And so I just felt like it was something I needed to say. I don't think it's going to really matter, but I felt like it just, you know, we needed to defend our players, and that's what I did.

Let's push it ahead. Tomorrow you play Notre Dame. It feels like nobody wants to talk to you about Notre Dame tomorrow. Given what Saturday was and the fact that this is on the road, how much does tomorrow scare you as a coach? Well, every game scares me, and I knew this would be a hard game when I saw the schedule come out.

You know, no matter what. And so, you know, I've known Coach Shrewsbury a long time. He's got his team playing at a high level. They've really won three of their last four.

Could have won four in a row. I'm shooting to three really well. Made 24.

What did I write down here? I think they've made 24 of their last 48 threes. That's a lot. You know, it's hard in your first year when, you know, you're not doing great as far as maybe getting in the NCAA tournament or the AC tournament. But to keep your team playing that hard and play together and play with purpose, that's a credit to him and his players.

And I'm not surprised. And I know that it's going to be a really hard game, and it's an important game. I felt like maybe today I would just come on and just do like Belichick did. And every question I get, Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Notre Dame.

But I knew I couldn't do that. Because I am watching on Apple the dynasty. Pretty good.

Uh-huh. Anything good so far? I haven't seen it. Pretty good. Pretty good.

You need to watch it. I love Andy Kaufman-like humor where it would have been great if you just came on here today and every question I asked, yeah, well, we're on to Notre Dame. We're on. Notre Dame. Well, that's great.

You know, speaking of that, see, Sean Clark, last thing. Sean Clark, App State's coach, he told us that Thursday nights are sacred during the football season. He and his wife watch a movie every week on Thursday nights. Sarah Bradford and I, during basketball season, we still watch The Bachelor on Monday nights.

That's like our thing. Like, do you have – it seems like you watch – still figure out a way to watch some movies and shows. Do you have, like, a set-aside time, hey, this is some time I'm going to spend away from basketball? Yeah, it's usually late.

I'm a night out. You know, especially on the road, like the night before the game, I sleep pretty good. So if it's like a 9 o'clock game like Tuesday, I try to stay up late just so I can sleep a little longer.

And so I'll watch something there. Maybe Sunday night. Just depends what time I get home. We have to practice on Sundays because of our schedule.

So it just kind of – it's hit and miss. You know, like during the season when the voice is on, maybe that's the one thing Janetta and I will watch together if we have time. It's kind of long, but we like music. So yeah, it's just kind of whenever I can find the time.

Steve Forbes, congratulations on the win Saturday. Thank you so much for doing this. And I don't think I'll see you the rest of the week. You got some road games and then you're back at home and we're going to be doing our show from Georgia Tech Wake Forest next Tuesday night at the Joel.

So we look forward to that and we'll talk to you then. Thanks for doing this. Notre Dame. Notre Dame.