Pack A Punch

This is the Drive Podcast with Josh Graham.

Now you're talking my language. You can hear the Drive weekday afternoons three till six on WSJS. We're on a Tuesday Drive. It is WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad, where we heard from both Dave Canales and Dan Morgan from the Combine in the last couple of hours. We'll play some of their comments and react to them in just a bit. But first, it's been three days and there are still media talking heads talking about Wake Forest Duke from Saturday and Court Storming and Kyle Filipowski and all the same stuff. Meanwhile, who is Wake Forest playing tonight? Notre Dame.

That's right, Steve Forbes. They play in South Bend and the Deacs are on serious upset alert against the Irish. The ingredients are all there for Wake to have problems. Most notably, there is a real human nature element to what we're going to see. The Deacs are coming off the win of the season. The best win the programs had in more than a decade, maybe two decades. It was the biggest home crowd ever.

They rolled the quad. Wake beat a top 10 Duke team. It's been the talk of college basketball. Now they're facing Notre Dame. Notre Dame. At nine o'clock on the road, they're facing a team that's currently tied for the second fewest wins in the conference.

Notre Dame. We saw this with North Carolina after they beat Duke. They lost their next game at home. Wake's been a bad road team this year. Not average, not mediocre, a bad road team.

They are two and seven this year. Here are their two wins, W.D. They won in Chestnut Hill at Boston College and they beat Damon Stoudemire's Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. They've won those two road games.

That's it. They've lost to these non-tournament teams. Georgia, Florida State, NC State. Other than the Georgia Tech blowout, they haven't looked impressive in any road game.

So why should we expect that, following the Duke win, to be different all of the sudden? Plus, the Irish, they've been playing sneaky good ball. Notre Dame.

Steve Forbes mentioned it on our show yesterday. Notre Dame's won three of their last four, including a win over Virginia Tech, who's pretty good, and they beat Louisville at the Yum Center by 20. They have the number two defense in the ACC.

Four of Wake Forest's five lowest scoring outputs in ACC play have come against the top four defensive teams in the conference. They haven't faced Notre Dame yet, but against Virginia twice, against Duke, against the top defensive teams, against Clemson, or pardon me, they haven't played Clemson yet, but against Virginia, against Duke, certainly. Now you've got Notre Dame that can present some problems for you.

Notre Dame. It looks like an upset. It smells like an upset.

It feels like an upset brewing. Nine o'clock tonight. Wake Forest. Who are they playing one more time? Notre Dame. Notre Dame. You can reach out to the show on X at WSJS radio.

You can call us 336-777-1600. The executive producer of this show is Will Dalton, who looks annoyed with me because we haven't talked about R.J. Davis and the Tar Heels yet. It's live action, Tracy. How about that? Patience, W.D. 42 of them. It's only been a few minutes on the show.

We'll get there in maybe five, ten minutes. Let's talk Carolina Panthers right now. The NFL scouting combine starts this week and both Dave Canales and Dan Morgan met with the media earlier today.

Here are three takeaways from what they had to say starting with Morgan. Maintaining the defense is a priority. This is not surprising considering Dan Morgan's background, but among the things he said about the defense, they will explore all options to keep Brian Burns a Panther. That includes the franchise tag that Carolina has another week to try and figure out a long-term contract with Brian Burns before they have to use that franchise tag.

The expiration date on tagging a player is March the 5th, if memory serves. They want to extend Derek Brown. Dan Morgan says they've already had preliminary conversations with Derek Brown's agent Drew Rosenhaus about figuring that out ahead of Derek Brown's final year on his rookie contract and Dan Morgan wants to keep Frankie Louvou around.

Here was Dan on Louvou. We have all intentions on re-signing Frankie. We love Frankie. He embodies what a Panther is. He's tough. He's got that dog mentality that we talk about.

Nothing's guaranteed in this league, but we are going to try to extend him. During Dan Morgan's comments, did you see him blink? He blinked a couple times. Breaking news, Dan Morgan did blink. Put it up on the ESPN scroll, bottom of the screen.

Dan Morgan blinked during his press conference today at the NFL scouting combine. That's the important information that we have. Let's get to Dave Canales. Dave Canales has developed a plan for Bryce Young. He wouldn't go that far on what that plan is, but this is what he had to say.

I have had a lot more chance to really dive into some film since the last time we've talked. I have a specific plan. Can't wait to put that into play, but again, we're not talking about a guy that there's a big fix for. You're looking at an accurate player, a really smart player.

He's aware of what's happening and we got to build the whole thing around him, the whole offense around him of something that we can really say this is our identity and our core. Exactly what you want to hear Dave Canales say about Bryce Young. Canales was hand-picked to elevate Bryce to get the most out of him.

They're not hedging at all. No, Dave Canales understands his success as the Panthers coach is going to be dependent on how Bryce Young is developed and let's hope for the Panthers sake and for Bryce's sake and for Dave Canales sake, he's right that there is no big fix that needs to be made. Just protect him better. See the jump he takes from year one to year two. He's such an accurate player as he mentioned there. Dave Canales has developed a plan for Bryce Young and speaking of protection Iki Iquanu is expected to stay at left tackle for the Panthers.

Here's more from Dan Morgan. Set in a firm pocket so Bryce can step up. I think that's really important to us right now. You know I think Iki the plan is to leave him on the outside at left tackle. I'm excited to see him develop under the new regime, the new offensive line coaches.

You know I'm excited for that potential. This is the right call because they've invested so much in him. Top 10 pick from just a few years ago.

It's too soon to bail on him after just a couple of seasons. As we learned in that decade plus of wilderness we've seen at left tackle since Jordan Gross retired, left tackle is a harder position to solve than quarterback is. There are fewer great left tackles than there are great quarterbacks and they don't hit the open market. You can't find that on free agency. So if you're gonna move off of somebody you've invested a lot in, hey let's just bump them in the guard. Well who are you gonna put at tackle? Who are you going to find that wants to go play for the Panthers that at a premium position you can plug right in there?

Because if that solution was there I'd be all for it. But we don't know if Iki can't get there. We don't know that yet. A lot of bad things happened last year. Seemed that there wasn't a great fit with this offensive line and the scheme that they were trying to run and you had 12 different starting offensive linemen last year, that's not ideal. So it's smart to run it back in year three and not to bump in the guy who took sixth overall to guard just yet. Those are the major takeaways from what Dan Morgan and Dave Kanawa said in Indianapolis a few hours ago that they're gonna maintaining the defense as a priority and figuring things out with Brian Burns and a long-term deal with Derek Brown as well and re-signing Frankie Louvou. Dave Kanawis having a plan for Bryce Young already before off-season programs really have begun for the Panthers and in protecting Bryce Iki Iquanu is going to stay at left tackle. All right we've spent enough time without getting to the topic that WD is wanting to talk about.

Staring lasers through my head right now. RJ Davis turned in a historic performance last night. A performance that might not have just clinched him being ACC Player of the Year but might have put his name literally into the Smith Center rafters. That's next on the drive. And now on with the show.

Showtime. Back to the drive with Josh Graham. We'll get back to Wake's game at Notre Dame 15 minutes from now when the voice of the deke Stan Cotton joins us presumably from his hotel room in South Bend. But let's get to last night's action or I should say last night's live action from the Smith Center. RJ Davis is a guy who has spent his entire career in somebody else's shadow. Even though statistically he was the best player during North Carolina's final four run in 2022 Caleb Love got the shine. Caleb Love had the poses. Caleb Love hit the iconic shot to extinguish Coach K in New Orleans.

Caleb overshadowed RJ Davis and often took the big shots at the end of the game that we've seen RJ take this season. Armando Bacon. Armando.

Our guy. A lot of the conversation this year as it relates to recognition and honored jerseys have been should Bacon be in the Smith Center rafters? Can they change the criteria and mold something new in order to get Armando up there amongst Carolina's greats? Meanwhile RJ Davis is having a season that plain and simple as of last night should put his name up in the rafters. He's the next Tar Heel to receive a Smith Center banner.

Which kind of fits again what his career has been. Often forgotten about but the heart and soul of this team. We've felt for weeks that he had ACC Player of the Year locked up.

Nobody's doubting that anymore. He clinched that sucker last night and he could be first team All-American. Certainly second team. Now for those who don't know if that were to happen and it is those are two criteria to get a banner at the Smith Center. Like the criteria is first or second team All-American first or second team All-American or ACC Player of the Year or Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four or Gold Medal for a US Olympic team. Those are the criteria in place.

He's checking at least two of those boxes. We'll see what happens in the NCAA tournament this year. It's been a while since Carolina has had a player's jersey honored. The last one was our friend Joel Berry who had his jersey go up.

Last night is going to be a performance that is remembered. 42 points. Nobody has ever scored more points in a game at the Smith Center than RJ Davis last night.

Think about that. Think about all the guys who've worn a jersey and played in the Smith Center since 86 or 87 when that building was built. Nobody has scored more than RJ Davis. No Tar Heel in any game any place has scored more points than RJ did in a Tar Heel uniform the last 50 years.

Shimon Williams had 42 in 1998 but nobody has scored more than RJ. The last time someone scored 40 at all in a game for North Carolina was over a decade ago when Harrison Barnes didn't show. And people still talk about what Harrison Barnes did in the tournament against Clemson. That's still something that's mentioned offhand by Tar Heel fans. Hey remember when Harrison scored 40 against Clemson?

That's how people were going to talk about last night. Remember when RJ dropped 42 on Miami? Here was Hubert Davis on RJ's game after the win.

We needed every bit of his 42 tonight. He was fantastic. I told him after the game that I've seen a number of performances here at Carolina and also the NBA. Very few have I seen the type of performance that he had tonight. I was really proud of him. And his commitment to stay here.

I mean he's you know with to be here four years you know in a time where there's so much change. You know his commitment to this team, this program, and this community, and this university is is something that should be celebrated. Steve Kirschner has been the sports information director PR guy for Carolina basketball for over 30 years now. And we have a joke in the industry given how good he is at his job. Kirschnuggets are often handed out where he finds stats that are kind of kind of cool.

Like some of the ones that I shared with you. 42 the most in the history of the Smith Center. No Tar Heel has scored more in a game since you know the early 1970s.

This might be my favorite Kirschnugget. RJ Davis outscored his North Carolina teammate. He scored more points than the rest of Carolina combined. The last guy to do that in a Tar Heel uniform?

Some guy named Mike Jordan. 1983. RJ Davis's career is worth recognizing and honoring. Without Caleb Love anymore we've seen RJ get the spotlight in a way that he's deserved for years but is certainly getting now. Hubert mentioned him staying around a legit four-year player.

That's worth recognizing. RJ was the best player during that final four run. The Baylor game certainly is what a lot of people will remember but the Coach K Cameron game that I was courtside for? He was the best player on the floor that night and there's still another chapter.

What's going to happen in March with RJ? RJ had this to say about his career after the game. It's all glory to God of how my career has been going since freshman year. Just kind of staying down waiting my turn and for me to have a performance like that tonight just means the world to me.

I feel like I could have had 50 but I missed free throws and whatnot. I just felt good. The ball felt good.

The shots felt good. I suppose it's fitting I got my Final Four hat on from 2022. My buddy Matt who was at the game last night texted me Josh King of Kirkland-Graham. Got my Costco gear today. Went to Costco today. Had the baggie of chips with me. Oh boy.

Made it work. What a day. What a day. Let's get to some thoughts on last night's game.

Ed in Winston-Salem once in. Ed, what was your takeaway from North Carolina holding on against Miami behind RJ Davis's 42? Yeah, you covered just about everything I was going to talk about RJ.

What I want to talk to you... Oh, I pulled an M&M B-rabbit situation from 8 Mile where you're just going to hand the microphone back? That'd be great. Yeah, anyway last night hats off to Miami and their coaching staff. They had two starters out Josh.

Yeah. 28 points and we give up 14 three points. Ingram and Ryan are two from 14.

We shoot 57% from the free throw line and we still win the ball game. So I mean I'm happy about that but I'm just disappointed about you know what the stats that I just gave you and in the games coming up here in the future they're going to definitely have to tighten up you know the three-point shooting and also the free throws but getting back to RJ last night that was he definitely locked up ACC Player of the Year and in my opinion right now unless he falters he should be first team All-American. And if even if he's second team that's still another criteria again to put his name in the rafters I think he's the next Tar Heel that's going to get that distinction. WD is going to be at North Carolina's next game against NC State on Saturday.

Let's go to... Oh, this is interesting. Let's go to Curtis who's in Winston-Salem. I've heard a lot of people wanting to talk about Kaitlyn Clark because of how great she's been this year but especially the last few days since Saturday where Kyle Filipowski gets hit in a court storm.

Kaitlyn Clark had that as well. What do you have for me Curtis? Am I on air?

Oh you're on air! Okay listen I know Kaitlyn Clark she's a great basketball player. Yeah.

I love her. Uh-huh. But ain't nobody ever gonna beat Pete Maravich's record. Nobody ever.

No in my eyes. He didn't play but three years of varsity. He never got to play NCAA tournament. Yeah. No three-point line. That too. And he holds a 44-point average for three years. No three-point shots.

That's see that's the key piece. Thank you so much for the call Curtis. You were on air and you you got the point that needed to be made there and allowed for me to add this note that once upon a time Curtis and I'm sure you know this that NC State wanted Pete Maravich.

If Pete Maravich wanted to go to NC State his I think dad was an assistant coach but NC State didn't admit him academically so his dad then went to LSU where Pete Maravich then played and broke a record that probably is never going to be broken to your point there. WD we've got both the Carolina Hurricanes and the Charlotte Hornets in action tonight. Both teams are in the Midwest and they're on the road. The Canes. They're in Minnesota. They've lost their last two games a couple nights ago against Buffalo and overtime. Eight o'clock start for the Canes in Minnesota. Also at 8 p.m. the Hornets are in Milwaukee. Charlotte five and one since the deadline.

This would demonstrate WD. I'm still not at the point where I say they're pretty good. I'm not at that point yet. But they can get there this week. If they win the night I'm there. If you beat Indiana and beat Milwaukee on the road then that's fine but right now four of the five wins they've got against teams with losing records. Atlanta, Utah, Memphis. Teams that aren't really good at all. Portland without Sharp, Scoot Henderson or I'm forgetting one.

Former Virginia Cavalier Malcolm Brogdon. That would demonstrate that they're pretty pretty good if they can win eight o'clock tonight at Doc Rivers Milwaukee Bucks. Live from South Bend. Hey another team playing in the Midwest.

Wake Forest Basketball. The Voice of the Deacs. Stan Cotton will join us to add some perspective to this Demon Deacon team and what they're doing.

We go out to South Bend next on The Drive. By god that is Stan Cotton's music. The Voice of the Deacs joining us from the road. Nine o'clock tip.

Nine bells for Wake at Notre Dame. Stan how thrilled on the note of westerns. How thrilled were you to learn WD will watch Blazing Saddles for the first time tonight?

It's you know WD just sit back and soak it all in big fella. This is an iconic film and when it gets down to the beans and Mr. Taggart just get ready. It's good. It's good. I love it. Great choice by the way.

50 year anniversary for Blazing Saddles this year. Stan before we look at the game tonight fill in the blank for me. Wake Forest win against Duke was the program's greatest win since?

Steve Forbes was hired. He told us that before the game. That you know it's probably the deal. You know and I think the last time that Wake had beaten a top 10 team was Duke a couple years back in a triple overtime game. So you know it's a big four game. Obviously Duke as Bobby Cremins used to say Duke is Duke and it's just you know it's a game that Wake needed so badly.

They really did. They just you know they've stubbed their toe a couple of times on the road and this was one of those that would make you forget a couple of those road games that Wake was up 10 or 12 and you know it didn't really in like real in like you know state. NC State was one of those. Pittsburgh was one and so that certainly helped that but you still got to figure out you know a way to go get it done tonight. But the win over Duke was certainly a big one and I think Coach Forbes would agree that it was the biggest since he came to Winston.

You've seen Wake basketball at its best. So how did Saturday's crowd hit you? How did it compare to the crowds that you remembered once upon a time? You know it was you know really reminded me of a lot of those skip processor years when the tie-dye nation was going strong and you know walked into the arena and all those shirts on the seats really added to the buzz in the building that was already there. And then when the folks started to file in and obviously the way the game ended and all you know the big storm afterward. I know you guys have talked about that a lot but it was just I can't remember that much energy Josh being in that building since skip had the Deacs rolling pretty good. I don't know if Mitt Shaw wants me to give away his ideas for free but he looked around the Joel before everybody filed in and said I have an idea let's paint the lower level seats tie-dye.

Well that would take some money that maybe only Mitt has. I don't know about that idea but you know it just looked great. It really did. You were in there early I know and saw a lot of that and everything about that particular day was pretty good from start to finish. I got there three hours before the game and it was in the parking lot right next to the Coliseum off of Deacon Boulevard there and I heard this commotion looked up and there were all those students. I hadn't really thought about it you know that they'd been camping out all night long and so it started for me there in the parking lot. Then you get into the arena and even though it's empty there's still a feeling in the building and then you see the seats and then it just it built from that point on and obviously it was a really high level game right from start to finish. Two really good teams I thought going at it and you know Wake was able to make some plays down the stretch that Duke made in the game just you know week and a half prior at Cameron indoor so good day for the Deacs no question. Do the security staff protect the radio broadcast? You know not a hundred percent. You know we're in an odd location as you guys know you know you come down the weight bench then you wrap around the baseline we're there on the end line and that last throw in by Duke I had no idea who had the ball.

I couldn't see them. The crowd was so filled in from my left shoulder all the way across the baseline there I had no idea and then obviously the you know it was work just for us to get the postgame show done there in that area with all the fans still on the court while we were doing it so it was it was a good kind of a crazy I know there was a few issues there obviously at the end that that have been talked over as we've said but it was it was a lot of fun certain certainly a lot of fun. Voice of the Deacs, Dan Cotton with us.

Steve Forbes was with us yesterday. He says all games kind of scare him. He also thought he should have pulled the Bill Belichick tactic and answer every question by saying Notre Dame. Notre Dame. Notre Dame.

We're on to Notre Dame. He said he's concerned about this game and I'm concerned about this game. You mentioned the road troubles and there's the human nature element of this too with 18 to 22 year olds. How concerned are you about it since you're on the planes you're at shoot around you follow this team? Yeah and they look the same this trip as they always do.

They always look focused in. Their workout today at Purcell was pretty intense. No, it really was and you know coach was talking to him after the fact he says look you just you got it it's going to it's going to take 40 minutes you're not going to knock them out you know neither team is going to knock the other out by the first media timeout or the second you know it's going to take 40 minutes and I was listening to the show early and you were talking about Notre Dame it's one three out of four and it was a one possession game their last game the loss on the road against Syracuse and you know prior to that they lost seven in a row prior to this four game stretch here so you know they're you know really young team first year head coach they're starting to put it together they play really good defense they're at home and you know Wake has just not been able to to to get it done away from Winston-Salem so you know it's just you got to go get it you know what's going to give it to you certainly this time of year so we'll see but but all the indications are positive the digs look good sound good healthy all those good things and you know we'll see if that turns out as my buddy Larry Sorenson would say Wake is your buddy Larry Sorenson would say Wake is due to play really really well on the road and and take one home put on your Laney Hope meteorologist hat for me very quickly it's a little rainy here in Winston-Salem but it's looking like it's about to be 60-65 degrees how are things I hear South Bend Indiana's lovely in the winter well you know I've been here before where you you just didn't want to be here but it's like 72 degrees here hey but they're talking about by the time we get out of here tonight really high winds with some potential tornadoes in the area and they're supposed to be snow on the ground tomorrow here so 72 today snow tomorrow I'm just holding you know holding my breath at the dates you can get the job done tonight get out before the tornadoes come in the snow tomorrow and when I get to my car tonight at three in the morning it'll be what 55 60 degrees and that'll be good so we'll see Stan Cotton get a nap before uh you know I this was a thanks for the invite I didn't have a whole lot to do this afternoon and this killed what 10 minutes so good for you Stan well nine bells we'll be sure to listen thanks so much for spending the time with us from South Bend you bet guys always a pleasure thank you it's one of my favorite times of the week weekly positivity time where we lift morale across the Piedmont by telling people things that are good and to entice you to share with the Triad we have concert tickets for you to win Dan and Shay will be playing Greensboro Dave Matthews Band will be playing Raleigh if you'd like to go to either of those shows give us a call right now 336-777-1600 all you have to do is give us a call and tell us something good in weekly positivity oh yeah I am so tired tired of playing the games W.D. 's gonna watch Blazing Saddles for the first time tonight and that's good biscuit king also good they sponsor weekly positivity W.D. I feel like at times we talk too much about the biscuits at biscuit king this is the part where you say biscuits but they also have fluffy pancakes delicious made the order omelets juicy fresh made burgers and your favorite sandwiches served with their famous seasoned fries four locations in Lexington and High Point biscuit king where should we start let's go to C's who's in Winston C's tell me something good that I finally got over COVID man I was talking to a friend yesterday that just had COVID and was not feeling great but I'll tell you what once you get over it C's once you get over it though it's such a good feeling wouldn't you agree I definitely will okay well C's I'm glad to hear you're feeling better what's the first thing you did once you started feeling normal like did you like work out in a way you weren't able to or go to a certain place real food finally instead of just soup okay what's the first real food meal that you had oh no what was it what was your first real food meal I had a chicken cheesesteak wow that is cheesesteak wow that is big time with or without that's what I gotta know cheese like are we talking cheese whiz on this cheesesteak is that what we're doing that C's in Winston Salem let's go to Jennifer who on my screen it says Winston with a U in it for some reason I assume that means Winston is that right WD yes I'm typing a lot over here I misspelled sorry about that Jennifer and Winston joins us Jennifer tell me something good so my husband and I in 2024 we had decided that we were going to do something this year to help the homeless we have a lot of homeless in our area so with the rain today we went out and we bought some new ponchos and went around our area and handed out some ponchos that is very good thank you so much for doing that what gave you that idea what gave you such a heart for the homeless well the area that we live in you know we when we drive around like within a five mile radius to where we live we see so many and it just makes me so sad every day and you have to appreciate what you have and to be able to help out other people that is very good and for that I think uh you and yours deserve some concert tickets so I hope you enjoy that thank you so much so much you're very welcome that makes me feel very good WD tell me something good with you so as we know I'm a caffeine addict yeah I like coffee you do and you know when I come to work here I like to get coffee usually at some point or twice during the day sure and not to knock anybody or anything but I'm we've got a k-cup machine in our break area there and I'm just not a big fan of the breakfast blend coffee positive they have they just don't do it for me so you're taking shots during weekly positivity I'm afraid that was a slight jab don't mean to but it just doesn't where's the good part I'm getting to it it's just those k-cups don't quite do it for me so you went to Costco earlier today and I went to Costco on Sunday and I needed to get a bag of coffee for my for the house but I also saw these cold brew a 12-pack of cold brew coffee they had there and I thought you know what I could get that and instead of having k-cups that just don't quite give me the punch that I want I can just have these I got one right here right there yeah yeah wow that's that's the punch there it is that's the punch oh yeah let's go to Stuart who's in Greensboro hi Stuart hi Josh I hope you're having a good afternoon I am I hope you are too tell me something good something good happened last night at the Smith Center RJ Davis scored more points than anyone else in the history of that building and that was good that I would say he played good he was very good uh that's outstanding we'll get to the Tar Heels in just a bit thank you so much Stuart for allowing me to include that tease a bit oh Willow the dog got a haircut I know I saw she's very floofy has a bow in her hair she's so flipping soft and that's good wow the part that's funny to me I don't know if this should be funny but it is they cut her bottom too like the uh like the hair off her bottom oh so it makes it easy to you know pick up what you need to pick up points yes but Willow is not used to that at all so she gets home and then she just starts dragging her butt her new butt on the ground at my house she's everywhere she doesn't know what to do with her butt that's it because she's like my butt feels exposed right now because someone just cut the hair off my butt new butt new butt let's go to uh Jason who's in High Point hi Jason hey how you doing let me think about that I'm doing good tell me something good with you uh first time calling uh since I moved down here been listening to your show constantly can I guess can I guess where the accent comes from by all means by all means New York yep Long Island let's go let's go welcome welcome Jason thank you for listening absolutely thank you and uh my good deed that I've been doing is uh donating plasma there you go that's it see you're contributing to your community already Jason absolutely thank you so much for sharing share and call and say I do appreciate listening to you guys it makes my car rides home very much uh relaxing and more enjoyable and that that and good that that means a lot more than you know thank you Jason in High Point and that's been Weekly Positivity our buddy Darren Bhatt is now with us voice of ACC Baseball etc good time to be subscribed to that podcast voice of USA Baseball ECU Basketball High Point Basketball a professor at UNC a the lottery boy does so much Darren does and you can include Greensboro Swarm Basketball tomorrow which means in honor of that we have a pair of tickets to give away to Swarm Basketball tomorrow so if you go you can say hi to Darren be like hi Darren I've got an unusual question to ask you in person you could do that at the Fieldhouse Jordan Sorenkamp gonna be our guest on tomorrow's show from the Swarm Darren this is a completely usual question given all that I just outlined here do you ever say no to anything uh that it's a fair question um thankfully I'm at a point now where like I get offered to do stuff that it's kind of hard to say no to right like I've never called NBA G League games before why would I say no to that um yeah I mean I guess there are some things I say no to but most of the time it's it's a good offer so you are Jim Carrey and yes man that's you you you you are saying yes you're learning jumper that's it's you on the guitar congratulations uh how about in the spirit of that let's give people the the tickets to the games we also have tickets to the games this weekend too right we do okay so if you can't make it tomorrow night you can go watch the Swarm this weekend at the Fieldhouse all you have to do is call in and ask us a sports question usually it's more fun when it's not a sports question it's an ask us anything type of segment 336-777-1600 is the phone number unusual questions time last week guys everybody made it out that I got mad at Josh and I left the press conference that's not right I thought it was an unusual question and it's okay it's time for unusual questions with Josh Graham and if you're wondering what constitutes an unusual question 336-777-1600 I'll give you an example last night I watched seven for the first time in a year or so what's in the box the whole deal is that your unusual question no the question is this that is a that is a very um dark movie but I love that movie so this is right up Darren Vaught's alley like I'm just throwing you meatballs here oh I don't even know the exact question but I'm I'm the chamber's full I know that what is the darkest movie that you love the most to re-watch because to give you a second to think for your answer seven might be the answer for me just because the last 30 to 40 the last 30 to 40 minutes the moment that Spacey arrives it's just let's go from there on out what's in the box and Brad Pitt and the conversation in the car the only other movie I think could be in the conversation against it is Silence of the Lambs like re-watching those movies I re-watch them all the time just because Buffalo Bill is a fun person to impersonate oh yeah was she a big old fat person yeah she was a big girl sir it's a that's a pretty good buff yeah it's pretty good that was WD's favorite character too was she a big old fat person yeah she was she was a big girl uh what's your answer I've got such a hard time narrowing this down but I've I'll give you some like the big board all right I got like four I think in my brain Ed Norton stars in two of them actually American History X is one of these no these I'm gonna I'm a little off the board you I'm a little off the board with these have you ever seen Death to Smoochie yes with him and Robin Williams very dark I had that I think my parent I think my parents bought that because I loved Barney as a kid and they thought it was like a fun movie like it was a VHS at my house growing up something else I've found fun to do lately by the way is just refer to the 90s as the late 1900s that always puts a smile on my face it was the late 1900s and we had Death to Smoochie on the VHS tape Death to Smoochie is one of them mainly because it's like children's tv special characters who are involved in like back alley stabbings and and mobster type stuff yeah the other one that Ed Norton is in is called Leaves of Grass it's named after Walt Whitman Walt Whitman collection of poems right he plays a pair of twins which you know me I'm a twin advocate I love it yeah so they are like diametrically different people one moves away from home and gets his PhD and is like a philosophy professor at Alabama the other one stays home and runs like an underground marijuana dealing business I'm surprised you're going this deep cut I thought it was going to be Eternal Sunshine and Manchester by the Sea and Let's Call it a Day because I know how much you've loved Manchester by the Sea but those those aren't as dark though like Manchester by the Sea is as bummer as it gets that's pretty bummer dark and bummer or different you know what I mean I'm making I'm making the distinction okay that's fair let's go to the those are the two Ed Norton's I got one more okay what's the last one because this is my wheelhouse Observe and Report this Beth Rogan movie that is basically a Paul Blart mall cop parody I took I took my family to that on Christmas not a good idea almost as fun as taking them to uncut gyms I did it to them twice not not great on my part let's go to Aaron in Greensboro Aaron what's your unusual question okay I got this one for you Josh uh what is the most awkward or strangest interview that you've ever done thank you so much uh I think I might have brought this one up before where Dave Clausen just was a lot of things happening yeah a lot of things going on and he uh I think was walking into the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and they had a bowl game in Memphis or no it was Birmingham pardon me and they were playing Memphis and he just said after like three or four minutes of talking he's like I think I gotta go bye just hung up Dan Bonner did that to us one time on the DG show oh one time I forgot that Dan Bonner was booked on the show and we had someone else and Dan Bonner called and Robert Walsh didn't know who Dan Bonner was and he was gonna he was saying to me Josh is some guy named Dan Bonner Dan Bonner said he's supposed to be on the show right now some guy named Dan I'm like um it's a good impersonation and what's great about that is just this is the miracle of divine intervention um the guests we were supposed to have that segment flaked that happens maybe like once a month maybe every other month the time that Dan Bonner called our guests flaked and we're like oh yeah I know we just promoted this other guy but Dan Bonner hey what's up hey Dan but Robert Walsh I wish that was something I could have discussed with Dan I don't know Dan's the best by the way I love Dan Bonner yeah but Robert Walsh didn't know who Dan Bonner was so he felt that some guy was pretending to be a guest on the show at this time there you go uh what is your unusual question Darren I thought about this traveling to and fro uh I was in Jacksonville over the weekend to cover the Jacksonville college baseball classic for d1 baseball it was streamed exclusively on d1 had a lot of fun with Kyle Peterson doing those games and on my way back I flew southwest on my way back packed flight packed flight I'm in group C number 50 or whatever I'm like okay middle middle seat so I'm in the middle seat all right put yourself in my shoes you're in the middle seat all right you get both armrests right is that the question right uh I don't think so I think you get no armrests probably I am entitled here's my thinking is I am entitled to both armrests if I'm in the middle seat you window guy you got the window you've got an armrest right there next to the window where you can maybe even like lay your head if he gets snoozy aisle guys got his own and he's got the leg room it's only fair that the middle seat gets both armrests and if I was on either side I would be happy happy to give the middle seat both of those armrests see this seems so rehearsed or Darren's just the greatest broadcaster ever that I feel like he's had this conversation with strangers on a plane he's like actually I get both these armrests because nope had never done it in my life and you know I fly a lot it occurred to me on yeah yesterday I think you're right I think I think you persuaded me I think you're I think you're right on this I think you are wd you better believe I'm gonna prepare I'm gonna start having a power point and like just pull up an ipad and flip through it for the people on either side of me wd doesn't have enough movies in his catalog to have a take on the darkest movie he's flown halloween dark no you've flown five times your entire life so I don't think you have enough perspective for for that opinion either so I'm just gonna put the ball on your court now and have you ask your unusual question so I saw today that apparently they're doing a remake of American Psycho this that would qualify as being a dark movie by the way this is this is you know what god that's in the conversation we gotta put another big board now for me that's yep that's do you like do you like Huey Lewis in the news hey Paul so anyway that the question is what is your favorite remake of a movie or are you just one of these people that are so adamantly opposed to remaking things sure sure not like sequels remakes like this we're remaking the movie correct okay yeah can I interject quickly sure the book that that movie was based on by Brett Easton Ellis by the way totally different I mean it's it's the same story but it's a different experience because like it's so much more so much more elaborate his like quirks and stuff totally recommend like if you enjoy the movie read the book American Psycho get all the live action remakes out of here all of those they can beat it the sports ones Bad News Bears Longest Yard they can beat it too I think the answer to the question for me probably is A Star is Born just because I think I really like that movie with Gaga and Bradley Cooper and I think it's better than Streisand and Chris Christofferson even though that was a remake of a older movie it was the third time it was remade right or the second time it was remade I I appreciated that movie and you saw me sing karaoke a song from that movie with somebody's wife because the husband requested it at his request any any remakes come to mind man I know I don't have any that come to mind everything's everything's like twisted around or sort of like revamped into a limited series now like I liked High Fidelity High Fidelity with Zoe Kravitz but the original was the original was so good let's get to one more caller let's go to Beth in Greensboro Beth what's your unusual question hi Josh um hi there how are you guys AWD hello Darren so my unusual hi my unusual question I'm an OG Darren I'm from the very beginning and I don't know this so the unusual question is what was the unusual question that you asked Roy Williams Josh oh this is good okay thank that's an excellent unusual question that's an excellent unusual question so it was COVID it was three years ago it might even be this week like the anniversary three weeks ago that this happened and during COVID it was weird the COVID season you could play a certain amount of games and sometimes a game would get canceled because the team had COVID they couldn't play in the next week so you quickly would try to schedule somebody and North Carolina scheduled a Marquette team that wasn't going to make the tournament Steve Wojcickowski was still coaching the team and I just didn't see the value in it like why did you schedule this team that's not going to help your resume at all and if you lose could actually hurt you and so the question was asked like hey what knowing now that you guys have lost this game I think the way I put it was now that you guys have lost this game what do you say to those who suggest that that you shouldn't play this game and because of zoom you put yourself on mute and it's not like a back and forth like you're in the room and if someone misunderstands you can't clarify Roy took it as me asking if you knew you were gonna lose the considering the result piece would you have scheduled the game which of course was not what I was asking he's like if I and he went on to say like man if I thought we were gonna win I scheduled the damn Lakers I would schedule the bro he went on right and he stormed out and then I get an angry call remember we were talking about curse nuggets and Steve Kirchner who's the best over there got an angry call from him it's like what were you doing I'm like oh well that wasn't what I was asking oh you were asking that got it so then the next press conference they play Syracuse and I don't even think they win the game I think they lose the game and I'm on another zoom press conference and he's sitting in the carrier dome and I'm just sitting there like not asking any questions I didn't want to get in the way again and the press conference before it ends like Roy goes is I don't even know Josh is in here Josh you in here like they just lost the game so well people think I'm mad at Josh I'm not mad at Josh just always an unusual question and that's okay that's that was the gist of it I love that it has it has lasted long enough as the bit of unusual questions that there are people who obviously like like her listen regularly shout out Beth who don't know that's incredible Darren you're incredible thanks for being here watch hey where could people watch you tomorrow night swarm basketball espn plus they got the delaware blue coats a lot of familiar faces from college basketball in the area past do that swarm tomorrow night at the field house we'll chat with jordan cernkamp on tomorrow's show acc baseball etc a great time to subscribe to that pod and see what's going on in the acc spoiler quite a bit Darren we'll talk to you next week cool sounds good see you guys