You Did Ruin Hunter's Dinner

Yes, Josh Graham has opinions. There is nothing that entertains the audience and the masses more than me being bothered. And yes, he's got attitude.

Really, none of the game made sense to me. And that's exactly why you love him. When this all gets sorted out, I think you and me should get an apartment together. You're on The Drive with Josh Graham. We've made it to a Friday drive. It is WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad, where this Football Friday comes on the heels of ACC Basketball Media Days in Charlotte.

We had a terrific time in uptown, but it's good to be back in our Winston-Salem studios. So how about we talk some pigskin? It's weird that this is going to sound like a hot take, but no, the Carolina Panthers are not going to get punked by the Atlanta Falcons at home. This is not going to be a route as many Panther fans are bracing for.

And here's why. There's a good case that last week's game in Chicago was an aberration, an outlier. You're more sensitive to the outlier and the aberration because we watched Frank Reich and Thomas Brown last year. What they tried to do offensively and it looked a lot like that.

But what Dave Canales is doing shouldn't be linked to that because he wasn't here for it. Don't forget, Carolina led 7-0 in the game. It was a fumble and a turnover on downs that really led to that game getting out of hand. Carolina had a decent game plan and then it was completely uprooted by an uncommon amount of injuries.

An uncommon amount. Guys going down left and right, two on the offensive line. Xavier LeGette in the receiving room. You lose to Davian Clowney on defense. They were just falling out left and right. Tommy Trimble at tight end.

It was uncommon. This is going to be different. You're going to have more bodies on Sunday, even though it does look like many of those guys who were hurt on Sunday not going to play in this game against the Atlanta Falcons. But even be that as it may, it's about the staff being able to put a game plan together and knowing who's going to be out there going to result in it looking better. And it's a divisional game at home. There's a lot of familiarity between these teams. Carolina, they've had some recent success against the Falcons. The Panthers actually have won the last two meetings against Atlanta in Charlotte. The last two games in Charlotte between the Falcons and the Panthers won by Carolina. That includes one of two wins the Panthers had the entire season a year ago. So it's a divisional game.

It's at home. The Chicago game likely an aberration looked a lot different than what we saw the previous two weeks. And with all of that said, Atlanta is still going to win the football game. This game in Chicago, it's going to look different, but the result is going to be the same. A loss for the Panthers. If it's close, we still don't know how Dave Canales is as a game manager.

We don't know how what type of buttons he presses in key spots. We just haven't seen it. The closest thing we saw to it was Cincinnati and Carolina lost that game in the margins. So until we see Dave Canales win a game in the margins, it's hard to know that he can do that with regularity, especially against the team that's won its last two games against division opponents. The Falcons beating Tampa and beating the New Orleans Saints. The Falcons win this game Sunday, but it's a watchable game. It's not an embarrassing game.

It's one that is one in the margins. The Falcons 24, the Carolina Panthers 20. They're not getting punked though.

Hear that a lot from Panther fans. No, that's not what we're seeing Sunday afternoon in Uptown. The drive being broadcast on WSJS on X Twitch YouTube streaming video. Search the drive with Josh Graham on those platforms. Be sure to subscribe, however and wherever you are listening or watching. We greatly appreciate that. Will Dalton, he's the executive director of WD&I sporting the ACC hats that were given to us at Media Days. He's got more of an ACC basketball rope hat. I'm a big fan of the rope hat.

I'm liking this. Shout out to TC Gammons. He's a Winston-Salem State Ram, works for the league, hooked us up with this. If you're watching on YouTube, Twitch and X, you can also see there's Carolina Hurricanes gear on Y. The Carolina Hurricanes open their season up tonight. The Tampa Bay Lightning are in the top. And unlike the last few seasons, the Canes, they begin the year flying under the radar a bit. Look no further than Stanley Cup odds.

If you were to look, this is courtesy of DraftKings. The Carolina Hurricanes, well last year they were the preseason favorites everywhere. Going into the playoffs, they were the favorites to win as well. Right now, they're tied for the seventh best odds to win the Cup. 14-1 odds. That means you'd make $1,400 off of a $100 bet if the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup this year.

That's how big of an underdog that they are right now versus last year. Carolina, the reason that is, they're replacing some key players, specifically four guys that they're going to miss. Jake Gensl, who will be on the other side of the ice tonight. Tebo Taravainen, who we've seen with the Utah hockey team. Shea, Brady Shea goes down to Nashville. Brett Pesce, you miss him on defense as well. And with those four guys gone, Carolina now is not this incredibly deep team where you don't have this high scoring, high point guy on the roster.

You kind of just spread it all around in a system and by committee. No, now Carolina needs to shift things. Maybe you don't roll two power play lines anymore because you don't have the depth for that. Maybe it's just one power play line that we're going to see tonight. And really, over the span of a season, Carolina is going to need each of their four offensive stars to take a step in terms of production. Maybe it's a 100 point season for Sebastian Ajo who hasn't hit 90 points in a year. Andrei Svechnikov, he's been on base to score 40 goals in a season, which would put him in a class with Eric Stahl and Jeff O'Neill as the only Carolina Hurricanes to ever have 40 goal seasons.

This would be a pretty good time to have that as he enters his prime. Seth Jarvis, you get a huge payday. The same goes to you. Marty Neches, you're going to get more opportunity.

You stay in Raleigh. You were hinting that you wanted more opportunity to score and to beef up your points. Well, here's that opportunity for Marty Neches. And then defensively, Jacob Slavin going to have to play more minutes. They can't have a drop off from Brent Burns who turns 40 years old in March.

That's what it is. Like, Carolina can be just as good as they were a year ago without those four players. But they're going to need their stars to just carry a heavier load collectively in order to get back to that standard and have a shot at winning the Cup. Because we know in that sport, all you got to do is make the playoffs in order to have a shot to win the Cup.

And you have a real shot to do so. A good start feels necessary for Carolina. It's key for Carolina. With Tampa's home opener being postponed, it was supposed to be a home at home between the Canes and Lightning. Game two of that tomorrow in Tampa with that being postponed. After tonight, Carolina will next be in action on Tuesday against the Devils at home. How about a 2-0 start before you go on your annual long road trip because the North Carolina State Fair is in town across the street? It's a six game road trip this year. It'd be pretty good with some of the negative, not so positive vibes surrounding the Canes right now. If you can open things up tonight on a high note and be in great shape, be 2-0 going into that road trip that starts in Pittsburgh next week. Also beating Jake Genzel, that would be pretty nice as well. But the season, it starts tonight and the Hurricanes, it does feel like they're flying under the radar. Just a little bit.

And that's probably, oddly enough, what Rod Brind'Amour would prefer. You can chime in on the show at WSJS radio on Twitter slash X. Our YouTube chat, it's open as well. Let's see what David says. How does the great Josh Graham eat his steak? Well, medium or rare?

I thought unusual questions was earlier this week. Yeah, I know the answer to this. Medium rare. And with no salt. That's true. When you go to a place, it's almost defensive to them to add stuff to it. No, if the place is awesome, asking for salt almost feels like it's in a similar category as asking for steak sauce. You don't need the steak sauce if the steak is good. Well, to be fair, you should put the salt on before you cook it.

Well, that's what I'm saying. They're not asking me about preparing my steak. I think they're asking, how do you order your steak? I see.

But medium rare is how I do it. Looking at the lineup that we have for today's show. We have Will Pelagic, voice of Charlotte FC, that will join us later this hour, his weekly visit on the show.

High school football tonight. We have Regan Regan hosting West Forsyth in Pofftown. Dave Pulaski. Puff-off town.

Puff-off town. Dave Pulaski will be in studio to tell us about that. He'll be with Drew Brackett, WD, getting you ready for that six thirty pregame seven o'clock kick on WSJS. We have some leftovers from ACC Media Day.

Afton Reed, Hunter Salas together for an interview might be the first time they've ever done an interview together, sitting down with us. Tony Bennett, the great coach at Virginia and the first guest that you'll hear from today. When the head coach of the Tar Heels, Hubert Davis, sits down with us for an interview, we've got to play for you that interview.

We play it for the people. You'll hear what Hubert had to say. Next on the drive.

The drive with Josh Graham. Hubert Davis. Anytime he makes himself available to shows, always prioritizes us, WSJS, at events such as Media Day because he was born in Winston-Salem.

He's often said that when, unless North Carolina is playing the Demon Deacons, he roots for the Demon Deacons. He was born on Patterson Avenue. His mom worked at the old, what is it called? No, it's the Wells Fargo building still. It used to be the Wachovia building that we call the former WWE wrestler Val Venis building.

If you know, you know. But we sat down with Hubert Davis at ACC Tip-Off in Charlotte. Here's how that conversation sounded.

Hubert Davis was kind enough to join us here. I'm trying to figure out what it's going to look like on the floor. Believe it or not, I actually want to talk basketball with you today. Is that okay? That's great.

I love it. It's weird. We're at Basketball Media Day. All I hear from coaches is nobody wants to talk about basketball. I don't know. Is that kind of the sense you get?

Yeah, I do. Well, I like talking about basketball. Let's talk. When you're describing the way this team's going to look, everybody on the floor can shoot. Fastest team in the country.

I'll be honest. The first thing that came to mind was the team that you guys played in the NCAA tournament last year in Alabama. Fast pace. Three-point shooting.

Get up the floor in four or five seconds. Is that what we should expect to see from your team this year? Well, you know, there's a number of things. The foundation pieces from the previous years will never change.

It will stay there. Our commitment to rebounding. Getting after it defensively. The value in the ball. Taking care of the basketball.

Dominating points of the paint through post and penetration. Obviously, without Armando there, there will be tweaks, pivots, alters, and changes in how we do that. But I am excited about the possibilities and the versatility of this team and the athleticism that can allow us to accomplish those things.

In some ways, very similar to previous years, but also differently than previous years as well. Hubert Davis with us here. Cade Tyson. The way that he fits into this. I think I saw a stat that he's over 50% shooting on corner threes.

Like, what analytics? I'll take that. I'm not going to stick him in the corner, but he can shoot anywhere on the floor. Yeah. It's just, and then with Jalen's piece of it, how much of your job, especially now in college basketball, where things feel like year-to-year, is tailoring style to personnel versus the other way around?

Well, it is. I told you the foundation pieces that I believe in has been tried and tested and proven successful. I'm not budging from that. Our commitment to rebounding, defending, putting max pressure on the rim, that will be consistent every year. The pace at which we play, that's consistent.

But you're right. With the different personnel every year, you're going to have to tweak, pivot, alter, and change and be able to do that. It's nothing different than what Coach Smith did, Coach Guthridge, Coach Daugherty, and Coach Williams. From the standpoint of terms of tweaking and pivoting to your personnel, a major difference is that change in those tweaks and those pivots probably have to come more frequently because of the transfer portal, because of NIL, because of the changing of what your team could look like.

Last week you mentioned Elliot Coudeau had him... shooting this offseason. Do you find most difficult to develop or easiest to develop? Like what type of traits do you look at and think, oh, he doesn't have that now, but I feel most comfortable we can develop that? Well, one of the things that I feel good about, not just for myself, but our entire staff, is our commitment to skill development. For us to be the best team that we can be, each individual player has to be the best that they can be. So we spend a ton of time at developing strengths and weaknesses with each individual player, how we're going to attack those weaknesses to make them strengths and make the things that they do well even better. So our individual development piece is at a high level, at an elite level. I think one of the things to continue to get teams and guys to buy in on is the importance of rebounding and the importance of the little things, the small details that make big things happen, the box outs, the catching with two hands and passing with two hands, talking on defense, setting aside an illegal screen, those types of things that are most impactful to winning.

And those are things that you have to consistently preach and talk about in practice to make them habits. You've got big, neutral site games in Charlotte and at MSG. You go to Lawrence, Kansas this year. Has the net at all and the emphasis on that in spring meetings affected the way you think about non-conference scheduling?

No. People ask me about the non-conference schedule. For me, the four years I was at Carolina, nine years as an assistant and now four years as a head coach, I haven't seen a schedule any different. You always say you want to be the best in the country. Well, to be the best in the country, you've got to play the best in the country. And so going to play at Kansas, playing the Maui Invitational, Champions Classic, Jumpman Classic, ACC, SEC Challenge. Home and homes are new, though. You don't see a lot of that. That's something that I wanted to do.

Why is that? One, to give our guys the experience of playing an early season game in a historic place like Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas and North Carolina have never played in a regular season. And then they're coming to the Dean Smith Center the next year. So I think that's pretty cool. And that's something that, you know, kids and us as coaches, we remember those experiences for the rest of our life. And that's something that we want to do. We like to compete.

Let's close with this. I know I just I said I just stayed a basketball, but in a month and a week, my wife and I are expecting our first child. Congratulations. Thank you so much.

It's awesome. I know you have players and you have kids of your own that go through this process. What's the most candid advice you can give to somebody who might be, not might be, will be expecting in a month and change? That it gets better every day in every stage. There's different stages and that you will always be dead and they will always need you.

It doesn't matter once they're a toddler or if they get their license. You always love them. You always care for them.

You always worry about them and you will always be their dad. And that's the really, really cool part about it. Yeah, we're very excited. And I think about you when I get on Patterson Avenue. I go to church now, a church that was just built on the road that you grew up in Winston-Salem. How often do you still think about Winston-Salem? I do.

I think about it a lot. My mom is buried there in Winston-Salem. And so I go see her frequently and that's where I was born and that's where my mom is. And so Winston-Salem is very dear to my heart.

And anytime I get a chance and opportunity to hang out with mom and go back to Winston-Salem is something that I really enjoy. Hubert, thanks so much for doing this. Good luck this year.

Thank you very much. He was never voted most likely to succeed. You're such a loser. But then again, were you?

The very concept is unimaginable. I'm never in favor of rapid fire answers. Maybe quicker answers than usual just because we have a lot of things to throw at Will Pelagic, the voice of Charwood FC. He's got the gear on. I love that jacket. It's a great look for those watching on YouTube, Twitch, and X.

No Charwood FC to listen to this weekend, but the regular season finale before playoffs. This is my favorite bit of the team gear that they've ever come out with, by the way. This is the Anthem slash travel jacket. It is honestly one of my favorite things they've come out with. It's outstanding.

Shameless plug. So how firmly is Charlotte FC planted into a position for the playoffs? They have got one foot strongly in one position.

They could go one way, they could go another way, or they could stay stationary. They're sixth right now going into the final game of the season a week from tomorrow. A win and a New York City loss would put them into fifth. A loss and a New York Red Bulls win would put them back to seventh.

A bunch of other stuff happening basically keeps them where they are. If they draw or if they lose, it becomes a little bit more convoluted. But in all likelihood, their position would be sixth. They would take on Etsy Cincinnati in the postseason in a best of three series that gets underway in two weeks. But the dates and times are still to be determined.

And as we know about decision day, there's a lot of moving and shaking that can take place. Thankfully for Charlotte's sake, a lot of that is more about seeding. There are a couple of teams that are trying to still fight for their playoff lives. The Eastern Conference is the only one of the two that actually doesn't have all nine of its teams fully qualified. They've got four teams battling for two spots. One of those teams is the team that Charlotte will play on next Saturday, which is D.C. So I like that the drama part is somewhat over for Charlotte FC, but it does not mean that their game isn't important and seeding could be all important when you think about the team you're playing. Right now, if Charlotte FC plays the team that they're currently not up against, it's probably the most favorable matchup. If they moved up, honestly, Josh, they're playing a team that's on better form right now with Orlando.

So there's a lot of kind of people who are wondering, hey, maybe if you just can stay where you are. But as we know, a lot of times it's not quite up to the team that's involved in the final day of the season. You're a Met fan. Dave Pulaski is a Met fan who will be here in studio in just a bit. Dodgers, Padres tonight. Who do you want to see in the NLCS? So I'm going to give you the I hope whoever they have come out of the game tonight, they play 15 innings and they exhaust all their pitching.

And we have a position player on the mound and we have one of those marathon finishes for a game five. I still think the Dodgers are the tougher out for me. I was a guy who actually wanted the Padres over Milwaukee in the opening round. I think either guy is going to be tough.

I don't want to touch the money and say I want one over the other. I hate to be a Dodger of the answer. But like I said, the biggest thing that I want is is one of these teams feeling like they went through a total dogfight in order to get to the LCS. Yeah, because it's easy to point to the Padres and say, OK, well, they had a lesser regular season than the Dodgers did. Muscle growth injury now you have to think about because their pitching is somewhat messed up. Yu Darvish is throwing tonight, so you're not going to see him for the first couple of games of the LCS, which starts on Sunday. But then with the Dodgers, their pitching isn't exactly quite figured out either. Do we know if Tyler Glass now is going to throw in the NLCS? I don't.

So there's yeah, there's some flaws with both of them. The good news is that your team is still playing. Sure. Charlotte Hornets basketball. Should I should I start like planning for June now? Like what, John Solon, like should I should I start like, you know, penciling him in into the All-Star lineup? I keep trying to tell myself it's preseason with Solon, but he's looked better than expected. I'm not going to sit here and say that he's not still a bit of a flawed player, but the three point shot is there, which I didn't think that we'd realize. Yeah, people stop sending me to John Solon's three point numbers compared to Giannis' three point numbers.

Yeah. Like, again, these are preseason games. And also, I mean, stop it.

Just let's not do that. I will say the lower half from a strength standpoint is probably a lot better than I gave it credit for coming out of the draft. I still think he's put the put the ball on the floor game is still a bit of a work in progress and his defense is a work in progress. But I think you're working at a higher base for a lot of people who thought that he was going to come in here completely raw.

There are some things you can work with early. I'm very curious to see how it translates to the regular season. The Panthers aren't going to get punked Sunday, are they? I think they got punked, but I find it hard to believe they win the game.

I agree with that. They're playing a team that's in very good form right now and they themselves are not. And that's the part of it that, you know, the one thing about the National Football League, you'll get one or two results where you look at it at the end of the day and say, huh? And I'm not saying that the Panthers aren't capable of putting forth that, but it'll have to be because of blind hope and not because of anything we've seen, particularly in the last two weeks. I think that they are a better team than the one they beat with Las Vegas. I think they're a better team than the one that they lost to last week with the Bears. I'm not so sure they're better than the the Bengals because I think that the Bengals might have come in a bit of a desperate team and they might have figured things out. But at the same point in time, their offense against the Panther defense is a significant mismatch given the playmakers, given their ability to run the football with Bijan Robinson, and also just given the fact that Carolina, outside of one week, has shown a real inability to limit the big play.

And also just based on the fact that right now you've got about seven guys down from an injury standpoint, from a starter perspective on defense, that's a hard thing for the Panthers to have to overcome right now. So what you're telling me is maybe hold off on firing off on Jalen Coker 10-1 any time touchdown odds? The minus six might be a tantalizing number for you. That is your money. That is not my money.

No, I think we said this yesterday. You know, if you actually want, if there's one thing I would bet on in this game, one thing. Chubo Hubbard, 100 yards. I will bet on Kirk Cousins over one and a half touchdown passes. That's fun. That would be good.

That would probably be the bet. The one thing that would give you hope as a Panther fan, Kirksey does like to throw the ball to the other team now. He had three picks. As long as he has two touchdowns, I win. He had a game last year as a Viking against the Panthers that he didn't quite cover himself in glory.

Minnesota still won, but he had one touchdown, two interception game, and they won despite him. Kirksey hated I didn't see you in Charlotte this week at media day. Will you be there Sunday? Do you get to see me Sunday? I will see you Sunday. Well, then that's it.

And so will I. They don't let me out for the ACC events anymore for reasons that are beyond me. That is a that's a Jeff Rickard question. I defer all of I defer all those questions to him. I think he'll be there too on Sunday.

So you can ask him yourself. Yeah. You should bring me some Charlotte FC gear. Keep stores open on Sunday. There's Willie. We can go down and visit together.

We can walk down there. They're going to show the boys of Charlotte FC whoop logic. They're in the playoffs. No game this weekend.

Their regular season finale is eight days from now. Before we get to Dave Pulaski, a couple of basketball stories we haven't hit on yet. Those were the voices of Cameron and Caden Boozer announcing today on social media. They will be following in their dad's footsteps going to Duke. So after the Cooper flag show this year, there will be something exciting to look forward to next year in Durham. I've seen a lot of the North Carolina fans say, oh, they never win with all these freshmen. And Roy Williams, to his credit, when he was there, Hubert has said this too. Not going to knock Duke for bringing in those kids because we tried to bring in those kids.

We tried to do it. So many of these same Carolina fans who will say these things, if Caden and Cameron Boozer today decided to commit to North Carolina or change their mind today and said, you know, I might want to play in Chapel Hill, North Carolina would probably be okay having their services. Also, we need to get to this Jim Phillips piece of sound. Jim Phillips, it's pretty clear he deserves some credit. Jim Phillips deserves some credit. He deserves some recognition because the things we've asked him over the years to say and to do, he's now starting to say, and hopefully it's going to lead to action when talking about his television partner, when talking about the coverage of the ACC and being more public and saying that more needs to happen, that they need to get more from this arrangement. Phillips is acknowledging that now he's saying this.

This is courtesy of our friends at OVS and Gileo yesterday. In the end, are we doing enough publicly, right? And we have the network, which is great, but it's beyond the network. It's about the partnership we have with ESPN and getting on First Take and getting on Get Up and getting on Sports Center and making sure that the hits during the pregame show or halftime shows of college basketball and ESPN, they're talking about the ACC. So that to me is more on me and Amy and our communications group to be out there in a more visible way.

Thank you. Thank you for acknowledging that's part of your job. This is literally what we've been saying for years. And if Jim Phillips had not told me that he's heard us say these things privately for years, I wouldn't say that I just think it's a coincidence that we say these things and then it comes out of Jim Phillips mouth. No credit to Jim for listening and advocating for the ACC because what he's talking about is true. This is the root of the fine bomb problem. Josh, why do you pay so much attention to the fine bomb?

Josh, we shouldn't even care what he has to say. No, the problem is ESPN has this massive platform that's a lot bigger than the ACC network and a lot bigger than the SEC network. Paul fine bomb's the face of the SEC network. The SEC has a similar arrangement with the ACC or pardon me with ESPN that ACC has with ESPN as well. When Paul fine bomb appears on all the shows, those massive platforms get up that he's talking about.

First take. He's called SEC analysts, SEC network hosts. He's called college football analysts. And then what he spouts is SEC propaganda.

That's what he spouts. And he's a hit man for the SEC crushing all the other coaches in all the other leagues. And he does it under the guys and under the masthead that reads college football analysts. So what Jim Phillips should ask for, hey, we have this great roster of talent that you're allowing us to pay, that you are paying for the ACC network.

How about you promote them? How about we see Eric McLean on the shows? How come we don't see Mark Packer? How come we don't see EJ Manuel, any of those people?

They're perfectly, when talking about teams that are in the top 10, Clemson's in the top 10, they're playing in Winston-Salem tomorrow. That should be what Jim Phillips is advocating for. Bringing in Joe Leonardi, he has a big platform on college basketball. He can influence some people with his bracketology. Bring him in the spring meetings.

Try to get in good favor of these people. It's really smart. It's smart. And I'm glad he's saying these things. Now stepping into our studio is Dave Pulaski, voice of our high school football game of the week. In a few hours, you'll be hearing West Forsythe face Reagan and the town Hayes-Permar calls Puff-Offtown.

Shout out to the folks at Pufftown. We know. We'll see how it goes tonight.

Seven o'clock kick, 6.30 pregame. You got your Met gear on. What's your excitement level for the Mets? They're already through to the NLCS.

Yeah. I mean, what a ride. This has just been incredible. The last month, I mean, the fact that I, the only Mets game of course I went to, they lost was in Atlanta that Tuesday before hurricane Helene blew through and altered the schedule, which in a roundabout weird way ended up making it even better because you had that Monday final day of the regular season and the comeback to win game one of the doubleheader to make the playoffs.

And then what they did to Milwaukee in the, in the wildcard series and then Philly. It's just, it's been magical. It's been so much fun. I said this to you before, this is the most fun I've had watching Mets games in 25 years.

And it's just, it's just so cool. And right now, I mean, I don't want to say that they could beat the Padres or Dodgers, but they could. Who do you want between the two? I'm more worried about the Padres. I think you're right. Is glass now not going to pitch in the NLCS?

Yeah, that's the thing. I'm not sure what the Dodgers have in terms of a starting rotation and when you get deeper into the playoffs here, especially coming off of a five game series, the Mets have to have the edge there because Maniah has been solid as a starter. Quintana has been great as well. Severino has been solid. So I mean, they have a pretty good three man a way to go and they have, you know, could I Sanga who can even throw 50 pitches as he threw in game one, he was pretty good with the exception of Schwerber in game one against Philly. So the Mets have the arms to get it done and now it's going to come down to a question of the bats.

So I'm more worried about that Padres lineup top to bottom than I am the Dodgers lineup. Does the excitement you have with the Mets outweigh the Jets debacle where they fired a coach? Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, the Jets is in the rear view right now.

It's like, all right, well, the Jets are being the Jets. We'll worry. We'll deal with that later. You say that. Let's enjoy the best run while it is. And you're pointing at my cane stuff, wanting to talk hockey. I'm like, you're complaining about your hockey team. Like Islanders last night to Utah.

Yeah. I have an Orioles team. It gets swept.

You have a team in the NLCS. You're complaining. Typical Northeasterner. Yes. That's how we do things here. And we bring it with us to the South.

Yeah. Let's get to the game we have tonight. What most interests you about West Forsythe, Reagan tonight? The similarities between the two teams.

They're both foreign too. They both started out the season two and oh, then ran into rough patches with their non-conference schedule. And then the beginning of their central Piedmont conference schedule, West Forsythe lost big to Weddington, the defending state for a champion. Then in the conference opener, lost against Mount Tabor. Meanwhile Reagan, they lost their starting quarterback for the season in their non-conference win over Mooresville. Then they get blown out by Grimsley blown out by East Forsythe, and then they bounce back when their next two games and they're currently four and two as well. So lots of similarities, both teams overcoming adversity, both teams bouncing back, both teams relying on their defenses to get things done.

So it's been an interesting run for both of these teams and now they could be in some prime playoff positioning if one of them gets a win tonight. There was an announcement a couple of days ago from Hugh Tucker and the North Carolina High School Athletic Association that they're going to push back the playoffs a week in the wake of Hurricane Helene damage. Did that surprise you at all? What did you find interesting about that? No, it didn't surprise me, especially because there's precedent for it. We went through that six years ago with Hurricane Michael down east and affecting the, oh was it Matthew?

Yeah. Hurricane Matthew affecting the area down east in Wilmington and everything like that. So they moved the playoffs back that year by a week and they were able to get everything in without a hitch. I'm not surprised it's the right thing to do, especially in this situation where you have a lot of those mountain schools that are pretty good. I mean, not only are you just hoping to prolong the season for some of these programs and maybe get some revenue back flowing for some of these teams that really need it, but you also have the Mitchells and the Mountain Heritages that are legitimate state contenders and Mountain Heritage is undefeated this season. So they're a team that's a force to be reckoned with in 1A. That's going to be a big contender for Mount Airy and trying to keep their winning streak going when they get to the 1A playoffs. So it's the right thing to do to push the playoffs back by a week. I think having the championship weekend, the weekend before Christmas is not going to be that big a deal. And I think for the teams around here that when we get into the playoffs, I think they're going to enjoy having that extra bye week to get healthy after going through seven straight weeks of playing football.

Very few do the amount of preparation you do for high school football. Seven o'clock kick for West Forsyth, Reagan tonight, you even talked to the coaches before to get ready for this. What's the best nugget you could share with us that we might hear sometime between seven and nine o'clock tonight? Yeah, well, Reagan's won three in a row in this series that they won 35-26 in Clemons last year. It was a one-sided affair prior to this recent stretch. It was all West Forsyth, but these teams are meeting for the ninth time in the last seven years.

Wow. And those previous eight matchups, 4-4. So it's going to be in a lot of close games. We had a double overtime game one year in Pofftown where West Forsyth ended up outlasting Reagan in that one. There's been some wacky finishes in this series, a lot of close games, and these two schools are only separated by 10 miles. So it's going to be a blast. It's going to be a big crowd, perfect fall weather.

You can actually see your breath in the air when you're going out at night. So I mean, talk about football. This is what it is. Dave Belaski, have a great call tonight, my friend. Will do. Appreciate it. Now comes the moment that you have all been waiting for.

All right, whenever you're ready. This is The Drive with Josh Crayer. We didn't visit with a lot of players at ACC Basketball Media Days, but we caught up with Caleb Foster, hashtag the rebirth of Caleb Foster with the headband.

R.J. Davis played grammar school with him. That was a ton of fun. And then we couldn't pass up on the opportunity to get Hunter Salas and Efton Reed together for a chat. This is again from ACC Tipoff in uptown Charlotte. Enjoy that conversation. What's better than catching up with one Demon Deacon?

How about two? Efton Reed, Hunter Salas, our guests here at ACC Tipoff. Who has the best Steve Forbes story? Ty App will be joined us last year and he told us a story about how Steve threw up on a kid on a plane one time.

That's going to be hard to top. Okay, I don't really got like a good story, but I got like something that's crazy. So, so coach Forbes has definitely been like, I say he recruited in Omaha before. So he actually recruited my barber and my barber played for him like back home in Omaha, which is crazy. Like he, he can tell you this story and um, I just remember when I went to the portal, I used to get, be getting my haircut and I'd be sitting down, chopping it up with my barber and he's like, yeah, like go play for coach Forbes.

Like he's a really good coach, that, that, that. So that's crazy. That's crazy. So the barber in Omaha played for Steve Ford. Yeah.

He was, I think Forbes was, he was a JUCO coach at the time. So yeah. Yeah. But I love that. Yeah.

Good luck after. All I got is he worked at McDonald's. I did not know that all that had to be the pitch with you being a former McDonald's all American. That's it.

Looking to kick burger King's ass saying that Steve Forbes has said a few times, okay. This is why I'm very excited to catch both of you guys because we need to get the story straight. We need to figure out what Canon is of how you both ended up at Wake together. The story has been told to me that Hunter is on his visit looking at Wake and dropped Efton Reed's name to Steve Forbes.

Is that how that worked Hunter? Well, it wasn't like I dropped his name. It was more so like, I forgot how you came up into the conversation.

It was more so we were, we were at breakfast. I remember this and his name did come up and it was more so like, he was just like, yeah, like I want to like, even like we'll, we'll go to war about the waiver and all of that. Like I really want to, Oh, so Steve was like, Oh, I remember when he beat the brakes off of us at LSU the week, the year before.

Yeah. Cause we did play in a little tournament. We played with the championship. No, it wasn't Atlanta. It was in Florida. Oh, that's right.

It was a sunrise Florida. Yeah. Cause I think I had like 16 and they were like, who is this kid? So yeah, we did definitely got the win over that. It was a good, good time. My guys are LSU man.

Shout out to the boys, man. Is that one of your better games you had at LSU? Probably. Yeah.

It's funny. WD doesn't this fall right into the trend that we looked at where we see guys who go into the portal and then we look at what their career highs were. And usually it's against the team that they had Malik Brown at Syracuse. I was there that night at Cameron where he had a career high. I'm like, that guy might play at Duke. Now he's at Duke, Jayden Zachary, Jayden Zachary in the ACC tournament went nuts against Clemson.

Where's he at now? Just saying. Trayvon Spillers killed us. Yeah. I was there for that. I was there for that. Oh my God.

I'm just saying these coaches, it might not be that complicated. I watched this up close. I like that. You don't forget that. Okay, so Efton, you had no idea. Did you know that Hunter was visiting Wake Forest?

Not initially. Like I seen the flicks and stuff like me and him was talking on the phone and so I seen the flicks. I was like, Hmm, interesting. Interesting.

So then my high school coach actually called them and stuff. So he was like, Efton, what do you think about Wake? I'm like, I like it.

I like it. What was, what's good. So then Hunter Hunter called me. It was like, yo, you visited? I said, yeah.

He was like, yo, slide. This is how the portal works. So it was kind of crazy, but I mean, shoot, I loved it. I love to visit. I mean, I traveled all the way from Spokane to Winston-Salem too. So it just felt like family, man. I felt like I could just trust Forbes with my life and that's what I did and hey, look where it's got me. So I'm just blessed.

I'm blessed he even took the opportunity on me. How do you guys discuss team expectations? I feel like honestly, like, I mean, like how we discuss it, I feel like we really don't discuss it. It's also just like, like a thing, like we just, we have expectations that are just set throughout practice. Like when we first had our team together, we knew that we could be a really good team and we just kind of stuck with that expectation in itself. It's almost like a, like a social norm. Like it's the standard, you know, like you, you get initiated with the, with the culture and with the coaches and you act a certain way and everybody's just agreeing to the social norm.

Etsen Reed and Hunter Salazar here. When you see NC State go to the final four and you were a couple of plays away from sweeping those guys, Hunter not bringing up the final minutes of that game in Raleigh, not going to do it, even though I just did. Does that give you more belief about what's possible when you beat Clemson, when you beat NC State and you see where they go? It's not more belief. It's almost like we knew we were good, you know, we know we could do that.

We just didn't, we weren't consistent enough for the committee to say, okay, we want them in the tournament. So, I mean, we know we were good last year, you know, we were a couple of plays behind, but at the end of the day, it just comes down to crunch time, you know, are you going to get that 50 50 ball? That's, that's how I perceive it.

Yeah. I feel bad. I think I might've ruined Hunter Salazar. I hope I didn't ruin this interview by breaking up the game in Raleigh, but I think I ruined Hunter Salazar's dinner when we were having the, we were at the national championship game. And I pointed out that Jeff Anderson, the guy who threw you out of that game was doing the championship game. I might, I might've ruined his dinner that night.

Sorry about that. That was, that was crazy. That was a crazy game.

It is. So what was playing with Chris Paul like? Oh, I mean, definitely just, he got a lot of wisdom. I say that's the biggest thing. Just being able to learn from a guy like that is special for sure. Just being able to see how he reads the game, his feel for the game and just, you know, being able to try to implement that into my game as well. So definitely just being in the gym with him this summer is special for sure.

I don't think I didn't notice when Wake put out the video that Chris said, Ty Johnson's too fast for him. Yeah. Yeah. That was, yeah. That was a hundred percent true.

I witnessed it live. Yeah. Ty is, Ty is definitely going to be one of the fastest guards in the country and by far just, just like how he pushes the ball, how he can get downhill at will. I mean, he's really one of the like legit, one of the fastest guards in the country.

Yeah. We haven't told him to slow down sometimes. I've played a lot of fast guards, but I mean, this is year four for me now.

You know, my second, my second school. So I've seen a lot of different guards. I mean, he's really one of the fastest guards. This is school three for after he's seen stuff I've seen, I've played with some fast guards too.

EG, XP. Come on now. Come on now. Uh, I'll say this playing against Chris, did you ever get one-on-one did you ever have to guard Chris?

Did you ever have to guard you? Oh, for sure. But I mean, his, like his approach to like when we were playing, it wasn't more so he was trying to like get off and score stuff like that. Like he was just more so trying to fit into like how we were playing and he was just playing off of us. But I mean, definitely it was one-on-one situation where I'm trying to attack him.

I mean, that's just how I compete for sure. Uh, Hunter Salas with us here, Efton Reed with us as well. How much fun are days like today, man? It's amazing, man.

To get out here with y'all, get in front of y'all, see all the teams, see everybody here. It's good. It's exciting. Cause you know, this is how good the ACC can be. So I'm excited.

Honestly. It makes you want to, it makes me want to play right now. Like let's, let's suit up. I mean, you guys are going to be in the league, so get ready.

You'll have some of us in the locker room hanging out. Exactly. Right?

Right. Hunter, Efton, thank you so much for making the time for us. Appreciate you. Thank you for having us, man. Super cool. Efton Reed, Hunter Salas together, having those guys play off of each other.

You can see the chemistry there. It's very cool. If you want to find a lot of the content that we had for ACC Basketball Media Days, search The Drive with Josh Graham on YouTube or go to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to our podcast there. Search The Drive with Josh Graham, and you can find those links all over the place.

You can find them, whether it's Spotify, Anchor, all those spots. What are you smiling about? You did ruin Hunter's dinner. You did?

Yeah. You were there. Hunter's... I won't say the name of the restaurant, but we were having our watch party where some listeners had rolled up, and I see Hunter there eating dinner, and I couldn't help myself when I noticed that Jeffrey Heinese Anderson threw him out of the game, and Raleigh was working the championship game, so I was walking past him, and I'm like, good to see you, Hunter.

Hey, what's up, man? You notice he's on the sideline over there? Is Heinese what they call him?

What? No, but he just has... He runs with Heinese. It's like his thing. I have to keep an eye on that this year. If you just type in Jeffrey Heinese Anderson, you're gonna find him.