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This is the Drive with Josh Graham podcast. We're internet sensations, guys. Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons, 3-7 on WSJS. Welcome to a Wednesday Drive. It is WSJS, New Stonk Sports for the Triad, where after a week of paternity leave, it's great to be back in the saddle here with you.

Last Tuesday evening on election night. Baby Daniel Graham was born. Sarah Bradford and I, we're just over the moon. We appreciate all the kind messages we've received from many of you, listeners and viewers, over the last week.

However, I do not want to be the host that talks too much about his kids on the show because. Frankly? That's not why you guys are here right now.

So let's get to football. The Carolina Panthers have arrived at their bye week. And with seven games to go, This team is exactly where the front office and realistic fans wanted them to be at this point in the season. They are right where they're supposed to be. They've already won more games than a year ago.

Carolina? Three and seven? Seven more weeks. of football left for them to play after this buy. That's what progress looks like.

Progress is you were the worst team in the NFL last year. You're not going to be the worst team in the NFL this year with the changes that have been made. They're on track to meet expectations. Let's go back. Go back in time to the offseason.

Let's go back to the month of August when we were talking about expectations for the Panthers. Here's how we said it: it was on a scale. We had This is what an underwhelming season would look like for Carolina. We had what expectations? Being met would be we had what exceeding expectations would be.

Outright failure would have been one, two or three wins. Underwhelming season would have been four wins. Meeting expectations would have been five or six wins. That's where you're likely going to end up. That's what we said in August.

And an would have been seven, eight would have been out of this world. overachievement.

So, Carolina is likely going to win two, maybe three more games the rest of the way. And that would place you at five or six wins. Exactly where this team. Is supposed to be where you would like to see them after winning just two games last year, the type of progress you'd like to see at quarterback. Bryce Young, he's made strides over the last three games.

A couple of touchdown passes and a tough place to play in Denver. Then consecutive wins against the New Orleans Saints, including a game-winning touchdown drive. Made some big throws on that drive. The win against the New York Giants in Germany. And looking forward, Bryce now has a bye week.

Bryce has Jonathan Brooks and Adam Thielen being added to the equation. Going to get healthier on the offensive line.

So hopefully, that continues to look like progress for Carolina. Here was Dave Canalis. Going into the bye week on The progress that he's Seen in Bryce. I just see weekly improvement. I see a guy that's been engaged in the process the whole time, and to just watch him grow from one week to the next, come out there with confidence, you know, to execute and just the whole processes of it, which, of course, the more you play with guys, the more you get used to just the me to you factor, the throwing and catching things, you know, the operations and all that stuff.

So, you know, I'm just really proud of the way that he's attacked this. It's easy to forget that Bryce Young is a young twenty three years old. Pun intended. He was born he wasn't born in December He wasn't born in late November. He was a July baby.

twenty three years old. Turn twenty-three right before the season starts. You don't think that because of him being in the fishbowl that is Alabama? There Two years as a starter, and he's the number one recruit out of California. Slightly ahead of D.

J. Uyanga-Dalay and C. J. Stroud, who are also from Southern California. Like all these expectations, this guy's been on our radar screen.

Or Five years now, maybe even more than that.

So It's easy to think this guy is. Is closing in on 30 or might be over the hill soon. No, he's still such a young prospect. And he's got seven more games to continue showing growth. And this might be the most important thing.

That we've seen through Seven games and why, or through 10 games, and why Carolina's in a place that you would like them to be if you root for this football team. The Panthers have the right infrastructure in place. This is the first time we've been able to say that under David Tepper. What's been annoying For the first six seasons or so of Tepper's tenure, Are the arranged marriages between the head coach and the GM? It was, well, Matt Rule's hired, and Marty Herney's kind of a lame duck.

Now Herney's fired and here comes Scott Fitterer and Matt Rules, the lame duck. There goes Matt Rule, and here's the new coach and Frank Wright.

So this offseason was the first time they cleaned house and said, you know what, we're going to bring two people together that know each other, that are designed to work concurrently with each other. No lame ducks. And He hired Dan Morgan. Who brought in his guy that he had worked with for a long time in Seattle, Dave Canalis. Dave Canalis showing some things offensively, some creativity we did not see from Thomas Brown or from Frank Reich last year.

Sewing some good signs and progressing. This offense and developing some of these younger players. And speaking of those younger players, Dan Morgan, this is the most exciting rookie draft class that the Panthers have had in over twenty years. I'm feeling pretty sure. No, you have Legette, who you hit on.

We haven't even seen Jonathan Brooks yet. Trevin Wallace has made plays. JT Sanders looks like a dude. Jalen Coker, you got as an undrafted rookie. There's a lot to like, and Dan Morgan rebuilt the offensive line by adding Robert Hunt.

And Damian Lewis.

So the infrastructure seems to be right. And you're seeing progress from Bryce. And there's still seven games left to go for him to prove some things. And you've already won more games than you did last year with seven to go. As Carolina sets at their bye week, that is all sign for optimism for Carolina.

On X at WSJS Radio, if you want in. That's where we're streaming video in addition to YouTube and Twitch. Will Dalton, the executive producer of this show. has been keeping this chair warm? Hosting a couple of times.

It was the six-man of Tario Basketball B Dot hosting yesterday. If I didn't know better, I'd think you guys haven't missed me at all. Fix, fix, fix, fix. You know, it is nice to get back to the norm. It's nice to kind of get things feeling normal again and.

back in my chair over here, all nice and cosy.

So let's say let's do the thing. Yeah. Let's get to college basketball.

So Duke lost to Kentucky last night. Oh my god. Whoa. No. The overreaction machine all over the place.

And W. D. What do I remind you of any time you're surprised by the reaction to a Duke loss? What is it that I tell you every single time? You're like, whoa, look at all these people who are mad.

And Yo, look at the reaction to Duke losing a game. People, it's not so much I hate Cooper flag. They hate Duke. It never ceases to amaze me how much people hate Duke. Yeah.

They do. And here's the thing. I don't hate Duke. I like Duke just as much as I like North Carolina, as much as I like Wake, as much as I like NC State. And people conflate that with being a air quote Dukey.

Why? Because I don't hate Duke. And you notice when people say good things about Duke, because in your mind, saying something good about Duke is sacrilege. To some people who might be listening to my voice right now.

Now, the good news with this basketball game, Duke losing to Kentucky in the Champions Classic. By the way, The Champions Classic is a joke. Can I I get it's funny. You have Duke, you have Kansas, you have Kentucky. Those are championship programs.

Champions, right? The hell is Michigan State doing there? Bet you could stay. And the Big Ten altogether has not won a championship since 2000.

So it's like, we got Duke, we got Kentucky, we got Kansas. BAAAAAAA Man, we got Michigan State. I guess that's the ISO factor. Right. One title 25 years ago.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Duke's loss to Kentucky could not be any simpler to analyze. The Blue Devils missed way too many open looks. That was The There was one stretch in the second half.

They were one for 11. They shot four of twenty three from three. They lost Cion James and Malowatch in the second half of this game that allowed Kentucky to get back in it. But there is an angle to this game where you could say, hold a minute. Duke has all these young players.

They're this crazy young and they went four of twenty three from three. And they lost two players. In the second half, and they still were a play away from winning it. That's scary.

Some jumped on me. Oh, old takes exposed Josh Graham said that Duke's scary. They are. Yeah. I didn't pick the team to win the ACC because I do think they're going to have games like this.

They are young. But. There isn't a team in college basketball that's scarier than Duke. There just isn't. No guy smaller than 6'5?

Got a 17-year-old who's the best player on the floor? What are we even talking about here? That seems scary. But getting to Cooper flag, he tried to do too much late in the game. Final three possessions went through him.

First one went well. He had the and one. You're tied at 72. And then he turned over the basketball the final two possessions.

Now, give Andrew Carr some credit. Shout out to the former Wake Forest basketball player, probably the one guy that Wake lost. this offseason that they really badly wanted to keep. He defended Cooper pretty well in the stretch run. He had some big buckets, some big assists.

He might have been the best player in a Kentucky uniform last night. But the reality, again, is. This is going to happen to this Duke team. John Dreyer told us this when he sat down with us in Charlotte. He said, It's this schedule was not put together for us to go unbeaten.

It's by design. That Duke has a team this young, this inexperienced. And a non-conference schedule that's this difficult because he feels The problem with young teens is they're not ready in time for March.

So, how do you get them ready? High-level games like Kentucky, like Arizona on the road next week. Like Auburn, a top ten team coming in in the ACC SEC challenge. Right. They really loaded up the schedule.

And John Shire. Last night. Said he was, he left last night's game encouraged. I feel more optimistic tonight losing than I did even before. Because you find out in this game the character of your team, the heart that they have.

And this team's got a lot of heart. They kept coming at us, making shots, and we didn't answer. We just kept answering. And came down to one more play at that. And give them credit.

Tip your hat to them. And for us, we're going to grow and learn from this. I promise you that. Cooper flag is seventeen. He does not turn eighteen until december twenty first.

And he was the best player on the floor last night. If he doesn't turn it over those last two possessions. They win the game probably. They went four of twenty three from three. and still could have won that basketball game.

It's a simple game to break down sometimes. No need to overthink it. This is it. You ready? All right, hold on.

All right, do it, do it. All right, listen up. It's the drive with Josh Graham. We have two pairs of tickets to give away. Wake Forest facing USC upstate tonight, a game we'll talk about.

Fifteen minutes from now, perhaps. We'll have some news to share with you related to Wake Basketball when we get there. 336-777-1600. All you have to do is give us a call and tell us something. Good.

And the tickets for tonight's seven o'clock tip at the Joel are yours. The way we give away those tickets, if it wasn't made obvious already. is by playing weekly positivity. Oh Yeah Fat Guy. And a little Colour.

But I take it you haven't watched Tommy Boy yet? No, I've got to watch that tonight. Unbelievable. Weekly positivity. Presented by Biscuit King.

Uh Three three six seven seven seven 1600 is the phone number. I can't think of anything good to share for weekly positivity. Oh, really? Nothing. Uh oh.

My wife my wife just texted me that. The three of us are in the car listening to you right now. Which means her Will o' the dog. And uh, oh yeah, my new son. Hey, Daniel Graham.

So this might be the first time that... Daniel is hearing his dad. Do what he does. And that means this is his first time hearing WD, too. That's true.

Hi. What do you gotta say?

So that gets Baby Daniel. We love biscuits. I'll meet you soon, baby. DG. Baby Daniel.

That's it, baby Daniel. We need to figure out nicknames. Gotta work that out. Let's go to Beth, who's in Greensboro. Hi, Beth.

My Josh. Congratulations, first of all. There's nothing like it, having a new baby. in your arm than in your life. And Hell, Sair Bradford.

Congratulations. You can tell her right now because apparently she's listening with my dog and with baby Danny. And Willow, the dog. And Sarah, it was really good to see you guys at the game that night like a month or two ago. And I you I didn't even know you were pregnant.

You're a beautiful, beautiful, slim girl.

So you carried it well. Anywho, sorry. But hi, Sarah Bradford. And Josh Graham and Will Dalton. Hi.

WD. Hello. I just wanted to say, well, that's pretty much. weekly positivity right there, honestly. I think so.

I think that's pretty good. I think you covered a lot of ground there, Beth. And I appreciate you saying the nice things about my wife. I'm sure she appreciates it as well. There goes Beth and Greenspril.

Hi Will H. Hey John, we do have Another pair of tickets. for wake basketball. Three, three, six, seven, seven, seven. 1600.

Mike writes in. No need to yell. See, that's what weekly positivity is for. If I'm like loud. and obnoxious and gregarious In one segment, the next one.

Clappy. Pretty quiet. Where we talk like this. That's it. Yeah.

Tell me something. Good with you. Or Good.

So, I'll tell you something good.

So, as you know, I went to um Wake, Michigan, at the First Horizons Coliseum on Sunday. The building previously known as the Greensboro Coliseum, yes. And to that point, It was, you know, I was expecting there not to be any more Greensboro Coliseum. uh logos or or signage or anything like that. And to my surprise, I looked at the top of the Jumbotron where it said Greensboro Coliseum.

And even though the letters It's not like lit up like it was before, it's still there. It's like our flag. It's still there. What do you mean, our flag? Like our flag.

Oh, it's still there. Oh, like the national anthem? The Greensboro Coliseum logo is still there.

So the signage on top of the Jumbotron, it turns out trying to get that signage removed is more difficult than you might think. Yeah. But I don't know man, even though it's a different name on the building. I wish I was at that game Sunday in this sense. It.

When you see that court design. It just fills you with something. When you see that Greensboro court design, Those colors are the baseline. Puts a special feeling in your belly. It's it's always Greensboro Coliseum, no matter what they say.

You can take the name off the Coliseum. You can't take the Coliseum out of the Well, the building. Guess you can't. You can't. Uh-huh.

I also made a Costco run last night. Is that why you're wearing a Costco hoodie right now? It's not. I just haven't worn this hoodie in a little while and, you know, it's comfy. It's a little colder today.

Oh, it is. See, I dropped Willow the Dog off at. her hair appointment. She had a haircut today. She was very excited about that, sprinting to the door, and it looked really.

Really nice out. From outside, and I did not look at the weather.

So I wore my Orioles jersey that I have on right now outside and I got pretty chilly pretty quick. It is. It was like forty degrees this morning. That's good. What did your Costco run have to do with anything?

Well, so so I um You know, I've been working on my gaming room, my man cave setup in my new apartment. And that I made some good strides on that on my off days. And. Uh I wanted a new chair for my desk. I wanted one of those nice gaming chairs.

Oh no. Oh yeah. And I found one. Don't do that. I already done it.

I I found a a nice one at Costco. A person of the opposite sex. How do I explain what it is, or just how do I explain why I have one? Yes. Yeah.

Well, it's just a nice loungy chair that like it has like Like the backrest goes like all the way up.

So you wouldn't say this is for gaming. This is for comfort. That's how you would explain it to her. It's a very comfortable chair. It's got armrests.

That's it. This is a comfortable chair. You would not describe it as a gaming chair. It'd just be, oh, this is just a comfortable chair. No, it's a gaming chair.

It is. And it was, and listen, it was on sale because they keep the cost loads over there.

So it got a good deal on it. What are on the walls in your Uh man cave. What do you want? To be put on the walls. It will be, like, I've got some Star Wars movie posters that are gonna go up and be framed.

And I also have some Game of Thrones banners that are gonna hang from the walls, too.

So we're gonna do that. That's not a man cave, Will. It is. That's a boy cave for the sake of the city. No, please.

Boy cave. Sure, whatever. mine. And that's been Akley. Positivity.

Jay Austin writes in. Uncle Elect WD. Yeah. Okay. Baby was born on election day, and I could not care about the election results enough.

Honestly, I we were preoccupied. You were. We might there might be time for story time a little bit later. You know what? I have teams written down for Graham's grades.

But it's Wednesday, so no one cares about Graham's grades from over the weekend. Cool, Josh. You've been out for a week. We haven't been. Got it.

So instead, what I'm going to do is I'm going to put together Graham's grades. For The last week in change of having a kid.

Okay. That's what I'm going to do. It's very creative. I'm going to recalibrate my list. Graham's grades.

It's going to be Having a kid edition. And that might serve the purpose of story time. Maybe we could get to that a little bit later on. Make sure, if you haven't already, you're subscribed to the podcast. Search the Drive with Josh Graham.

iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify Anchor, wherever you get your pod.

So if you missed David Glenn, Another DG, or Darren Gant, both of whom are going to be on the show and have the initials DG. You can you can listen back to that and In addition My brother, he joins the show in about a half hour to share his pick for this week. Definitely something that you should take into account. Since betting is legal in North Carolina because every team he's picked This year, not only has won, but has won convincingly. Most recently, the Philadelphia Eagles.

It is impressive.

So. We'll have him join the show in a bit to share what his pick's going to be this week.

Somebody, it was almost down to two, Will. It's still three people remaining.

Somebody took the Chiefs this past weekend.

So we thought it was going to go down to two, and then whoever blocked that fuel goal at the end had different ideas. Tough. Yeah. Survivor pool. Uh It's not every day in pro sports.

That you face a team, a new franchise. for the first time ever. The Carolina hurricanes are going to do that tonight. The Kanes are at the Utah Hockey Club. Tonight.

Nine o'clock puck drop. Kanes at the Utah Hockey Club. Yeah. This might not be getting the attention it deserves. But Carolina's been the best team in the Eastern Conference through a month in the season.

So You might not think it because it's like, Josh, New Jersey has 24 points. The Florida Panthers, the defending champs, of 23. Carolina has 22. How can you say Carolina has been the best team so far?

Well, here's how. Carolina has twenty two points in fourteen games. Florida has played seventeen. The Devils have played 19. Five more games, only two more points than the Kanes.

So the Canes have been the best team in the Eastern Conference so far. Out west The Winnipeg Jets, this might be the best story in hockey right now. The Winnipeg Jets, have you seen this? I have not.

So the Jets. have played 16 games this year. Do you know how many out of those 16 they've won? Uh Uh all of them? The answer is fifteen.

Okay. Fifteen and one. 15 and 1. That's pretty good. What in the 2015 Carolina Panthers are the Winnipeg Jets up to?

And it might be the prophecy being fulfilled. Remember, Paul Maurice got emotional on the ice. After winning the cup, he said the only thing that would make this better is if the Winnipeg Jets figured out a way to win the Cup next year.

Well. 15-1, the Winnipeg Jets. And out west, the Canes will face the Utah Hockey Club for the first time ever later tonight. This time. Let's get the show going!

It's the drive with Josh Graham. This is a true story. Last night, I literally had my phone open. And had typed Darren Gant's name into my phone to text him asking him if he'd like to be a DG joining this show with David Glenn set to join as well. I added a DG to the world and Daniel Graham last week, this being my first show back.

And I forgot to actually send the text. And then Darren texts me: Hey, thanks for the tickets to the Deteske Truck Band Show that he went to last night. And at that point, I felt I don't want to text immediately what I had in my drafts here to Darren, or he's going to feel guilted to have to do this interview.

So instead, I waited a little bit before firing off the text that I ultimately had. All of that to say, Darren, who has his sweet mane of hair in the bye week, fresh off the Germany trip. How was the show last night? Show was great. Those guys give a good show.

I mean, but you knew that. I mean, it's a good time. As somebody who grew up at the time I grew up in, hearing somebody who reminds me an awfully lot of the Allman Brothers, you know, singing with a little soul, they're out there with a 12-piece band on this tour.

So it's a good time. They're playing again tonight. I was tempted to go. I was torn. I'm planning a little vacation of my own for the bye week, but Iron Maiden is playing in Charlotte tonight and Todeski Trucks again.

So I was like, do I push it, go two nights in a row? But I may be getting too old for this. Here's a true story. You mentioned the hair. I'm walking through Munich the other day.

And, you know, taking a tour of the city with my wife, seeing the sights, doing the German tourist thing, and this man says. Hello there, you, sir, with the long hair, you look like you like rock music. Our band is from Estonia. You should come see us. He was right, you do like rock music.

I do. I I was profiled in Munich and they were successful. Taking football related matters off the board, what was the highlight of the Germany trip? Just the experience, I mean, just the vibe. I mean, I don't want to, I've been in Germany for all of about 69 hours in my life, so I don't want to, you know, act like I know everything, but it seems to be some kind of synergy between the American South and the Bavarian South.

I mean, Munich is in the southern half of Germany. You know, schnitzel is basically chicken-fried steak, all right? These things, take a piece of meat, pound it flat, bread it, fry it. That is schnitzel, okay? Our people have been doing this for centuries, all right?

But there is a very welcoming vibe there. The German fans were super passionate. I love the fact that in-game, they start singing these songs and then they cut the music. And the Germans continue to sing. It was brilliant.

I mean, these people are having a good time. But I did a little cultural exploration. I walked into a neighborhood bar down the street from our hotel and looked at the bartender. I said, Pilsner, and he said something that I assume was the amount of money he wanted me to give him. And I handed him the card, and he said, No, minimum twenty card.

So I said. Two pills there? And he said three.

So I stood there and had three wild brows, and their logo is this cool bear. Get a load of this. Wow. This bear is like. Carrying a trident, looking like he just kicked Poseidon's butt.

But we just stood there drinking Bavarian beer and listening to Rick Springfield and Toto. Eighties classic rock is big in Germany.

So I was perfectly at home. That's awesome. Darren Gant, he's with us here. Getting the football. Since you're at the buy, it's a good time to self-scout, to self-reflect on what's happened so far.

The Panthers, they've already exceeded their win total from last year. They seem to be right where you want to be in terms of expectations going into the season, but focusing on the infrastructure. We talked about. Back in February, how important to not have an arranged marriage was for the first time under David Tepper. Having A GM that hires the coach and it happened at the same time, that being a novel concept.

It seems that's working well. What has impressed you the most, either about something that Dan Morgan's done in his approach to build this team or Dave Canalis? Like, what is something tangible that they've shown you that's impressed you?

Well, I think Sunday's game was a little bit of a microcosm for what's happening here. I mean, did they need overtime to beat a 2-8 football team? They did. Did they give up a 10-point fourth-quarter lead in the process? They did.

But the way they won that game, if you squint, you can sort of see a personality. You can see the kind of team they want to be. You know what I know what they did? They lined up and they ran the ball, and they did it. Behind $150 million worth of guard that they signed in free agency.

They did it. By handing it 28 times to the back in Chuba Hubbard, who they just extended to be a core piece of the future here. You know, they did it by throwing it around on the perimeter to a first-round pick wide receiver, an undrafted guy. I mean, and on defense, They knew they had to fill in the blanks with a lot of veteran guys.

So they go out and sign A. Sean Robinson, DJ Wanham, Josie Jewell, among others. And you saw all of those guys make plays during the game.

So, I mean, it's easy to imagine. I mean, they are still three and seven. All right. Let's not pretend this team's going to miraculously go on a playoff run. Spoiler alert, second half of the season, much tougher than the first half.

But you can kind of imagine. When you add Derek Brown back in, when you figure out who your long-term center is, do you bring back Corbett or Christensen, or do you take a flyer on K-Mays, who's played pretty well in the last couple of weeks? Do you spend your first-round pick on a pass rusher, a wide receiver who can go get it? I mean, they need speed on this offense, but you can kind of see this thing coming together. other than the uncertainty that exists around that one spot in particular.

Darren Gant with us here. I was trying to think the last time I was this excited about a draft class that the Panthers had when you consider. It's Xavier Lagette. Trevor Wallace has made some plays. JT Sanders has really come on.

Coker, of course, he's undrafted part of the class. We still haven't even seen Jonathan Brooks yet. And the first. Class that came to mind. Was the class that Josh Norman was taking in the fifth round, but then the rest of the picks weren't the most impressive.

I think that was. The uh the draft that Kelvin Benjamin was taking in the first round.

Okay, that's not the bar was set by Dan Morgan's own draft.

So, yes, you showed Dan Morgan, Chris Jenkins, Steve Smith, boom, boom, boom, in the top three.

So, that's it. Is that the answer? Is that the answer that this is the best class since then? Yeah, that's the well, you know, the O2 draft was also quite good. Julius Peppers, Deshaun Foster, Will Witherspoon.

You know, when you can nail three spots like that, you feel pretty good about things. 2000, was it seven? O-Tah and Stewart? No, no, seven was when you traded the Durrell Rivas pick to the Jets and took John Beeson, Ryan Khalil with those two picks. That one worked out for both sides.

So they've had some good ones. This appeared, the early returns are pretty good. I got it. They're getting production out of a lot of these guys. And I'm curious to see.

Speaking of old hands, I mean, with Brooks coming back, we get seven weeks basically to see what he's got to offer. Is Archuba Hubbard and Jonathan Brooks? Stephen Davis and Deshaun Foster, or Stu and D'Angelo? I don't know, but they've done this two-running back thing before with some pretty good results. I'm going to make a confession that I've never made before to anybody, but I'll do it now because you brought up the 07 draft.

I should have remembered what happened there because I'm 13 at this point, and I feel comfortable saying that and making you feel old that way because now I'm in my 30s and I have a kid. You got kids, they're dog years. That's how they do.

So you can't just say, oh, you're this young and whatever. I'm 13. and I wanted them to take the tight end out of Miami so bad. that when they didn't take Greg Olson, I cried. I cried.

I was 13. I was mad. I was an emotionally attached Panther fan at that point before, again, I became an adult and dealt with these people in person. But yeah, I wanted them to take Greg Olson so badly. And they took John Beeson.

And then little did I know that Greg Olson would then become a Panther, have a great career in Charlotte, and I get to know Greg Olson a little bit in the media, too. It's not bad. By the way, here's a tease for you. Coming up soon on Panthers.com and the Panthers YouTube channel. A very special cart talk with J.J.

Jansen and Greg Olson, in which Greg Olson. And I kind of with our intermediary sort of solved a years-long You know, feud's probably a strong word, but Greg goes deep on the origins of the former internet feud between Darren Gantt and Greg Olson. I love that. D G? Thank you so much for making the time, my friend.

I'll see you in a press box, I'm sure, sometime soon. Yeah, Mazzletop. Congratulations on the new one. Hope everybody's doing well. Enjoy sleep in restaurants.

Those are things you want to enjoy for a long, long time to come. Your attention, please. This is the drive with Josh Graham. I thought it'd be fun. Rather than me doing Graham's grades for All the games that I haven't had a chance to talk about.

From over the weekend? Being out due to paternity leave Monday and Tuesday. Rather than doing that, since you guys were here while I was out, I would assume. I thought it would be fun to do. Graham's grades.

The last eight days since my first born child was born. Right? Baby Daniel. Thought that could be fun. Jotting down some things.

We'll see how that goes in just a second. But apparently Joey and Thomasville's on the line. OG listener of the show, and he wants in before we do so. Joey, go right ahead. Yeah, Josh, I won't take too long.

I just want to say, first of all, congratulations, man. Thank you. As a father of four. Grown children, now there's nothing like witnessing the birth of your child, and what a miracle from God that it is. But I wanted to tell you, and you're probably more prepared than I was, okay?

My first child was a girl, my second one was a boy.

So just I just want to give you two heads up that you may already know. With the boys Get ready to be prepared when you take off that diaper to change. Already has happened five or six times, maybe twice today. Maybe twice today. I think I left at noon today to go to work, and I think we were on outfit change number five.

Okay, so you got it done now. Got it.

The other thing is with my daughter, She was a little bit older. You know, she wasn't an infant. She was a little bit older, but still, I mean, less than a year old. And my wife owned a gift store. She was working on a Saturday.

So I'm watching her and she's kind of sitting in a seat having a bottle. and I'm watching T V and all of a sudden A scene from The Exorcist happened. She vomited and it literally like went across the room. And I'm scared to death. And I called my wife, I'm like, oh my goodness, what is going on?

She's like, it's okay, it's okay. It's called projectile vomiting. It is not uncommon It's okay, just clean it up and all that. If that happens. They're not possessed.

It's normal. Just a heads up. Yeah, W.D. still hasn't seen the exorcist, so he has no idea what you're talking about. But I do know what you're talking about, Joey, and I appreciate that.

Thanks so much. Yes, sir. There goes Joey in Thomasville. Let's. I'll tell you what my last week has been like through the grades.

In Graham's grades. Every week is a test for your favorite sports teams. Is this a test? Who passed the test? I don't know.

Who dropped the ball? I don't know. Josh Graham has the answers. This is right. What?

Time for Graham Scrape. It's fun hearing that imaging in the context of what we're about to do. Who dropped the ball? Who did great? Who did poorly?

Talking about. Eh, having a kid. Hmm. Uh, last week.

Okay, let's skip through this A through F. Hey. My wife. WD, this is something you might learn one day. And I think anybody who's had a kid can vouch for this now.

You should. Should love your wife. Yeah. And I did before we had a kid. After you have a kid, you love your wife even more?

Because Mothers When they're having kids, turn into actual superheroes. Like You will be in all. Of what it takes in order to bring life into this earth. Onto this earth.

So it. Couldn't it be anything else other than my wife that is an A? And I was in awe. Watching what she did last week in order to bring Baby Daniel to the world. B.

Willow the Dog. W D Immediately As soon as she walked into our house. On Saturday morning. Willow bypassed me. I hadn't seen her for four or five days.

And sprinted to see Baby Daniel, jumping on baby Daniel, kissing on baby Daniel, was super excited to see baby Daniel. Immediately, right away, Willow the Dog became BFS with Baby Daniel and protector of Baby Daniel. Like, I'm not kidding. Within an hour of Willow the Dog being back in the house, I'm holding Baby Daniel on the couch. And Willow, with her mouth, holds a blanket on top of Baby Daniel.

That's incredible. I shared a picture with you. of them both on their backs. On the bed, we went for a walk later that night, and she's growling at people that she normally would be greeting because they got close to the carriage that baby Daniel's in. When Baby Daniel's crying, when I'm changing Baby Daniel.

Willow turns on me? Starts barking at me? Like, you know I'm on the right side here. It's like, no, no, no.

So that's the only reason it's not an A. It's a B. It's because Willow the Dog has already turned on me in favor of Baby Daniel. But yeah, that's one of the cool, special things to see. How, uh,.

Willows become the protector of uh Daniel. Having my parents First grandchild. This is a C. How could it be a C?

Well, I might have might have told this story. My sister Her due date for their first child. was November the 8th this past Friday. Ours was November 20th.

So my parents We're all last week in Myrtle Beach. hanging out with my sister 'cause they're expecting their their child, right? But then ours shows up two weeks early on Tuesday. If you're my parents, what do you do? Like, do you bail on your sister now or on your daughter to go see the first grandchild?

Or do you stay with it? They stayed. We said. Be there for them. Maybe Daniel will be here when you guys are able to get here.

So it's great. Yeah, we got the first grandchild. But what made it tough? It's twofold. Number one, They haven't been able to meet grandparents yet.

Because My sister. She had her baby on Sunday, and related to that, Sunday happens to be Sarah Bradford's birthday. Oh boy.

So now. Sarah Bradford shares a birthday. It's not just her birthday anymore. She has to share it with. Maybe Oscar.

Who is? My sister. Uh Congrats to her. Yeah. Their son.

But yeah, we had the firstborn kid. Grandchild. Yeah. The 24 to 48 hours after baby Daniel's born. Oh.

Okay. I got this text message from a couple of guys. They don't tell me this before I get to the hospital. It's just from guys who. Our dads.

Enjoy your little cot in the corner of the hospital. Ha ha, that's No, they weren't kidding. It's like, I'm sitting there and we're there for two nights, and, you know, and we have this very nice room. that the baby's born in, but then they need that room for other Births to happen, so we're getting kind of moved out of there like right away. And hey, Chick-fil-A closes in 10 minutes.

If you wanna go get Chick-fil-A, do that. And it's like in the golden hour after our child's born.

So I'm sprinting to do that. And You know, you're in the hospital and these people do such a great job. Uh at Baptist in Winston-Salem. They do. But There's just a cavalcade of people rolling through into your room.

You can't ever get any sleep.

Somebody new walks in. And they just look at you like they just want to talk to mom. They just don't even acknowledge you in the corner. They don't, you don't have the information that we want.

Sorry, we're just going to talk to mom.

So, yeah, the 24 to 48 hours when you're in the hospital, not the greatest for dad before you ultimately get home. F. My swaddling technique. Not good? And also.

Word to the fellas, okay? I People have known that I'm expecting our first, that we were expecting our first for months, six months almost, right? And every single time I tell somebody this, usually the response is. Get ready to not sleep. Ho ho ho.

As if that's helpful. Which it isn't. And by the way, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. We're doing fine here. You're a night owl, too.

That helps. But. what they should have told me. What would have been productive to tell me? Hey!

Maybe practice the swaddling technique. Because That might be the difference between your baby sleeping for the next five hours or three hours. And baby waking up every 15 to 20 minutes. Oh.

Okay. It's not only technique, it's key. I was not told this at a time. And so First night. At four in the morning, I'm standing there in the dark with my iPhone out watching on YouTube swaddling technique.

Okay?

So, my technique, it's getting better, but it's an F. It's an F because you guys F'd up and didn't prepare me for having to be good at swaddling. There you go. That's Graham's grades for having a kid. I still think it's such a great flex.

What, the due date thing? That you That we beat my sister. Yeah. You flexed the schedule. You flex.

You flex the dude. You wasn't planned for that to happen. No, but it's just the way my brain. That was where my brain. You flexed the schedule.

Oh, yeah. It's weird. Such a great thing you can have now.

So there's Graham's grades. Shout out to my sister again, and to her husband, Juan, and baby Oscar. Who was born in this past week as well? Like I said, it's been a crazy time in the Graham household. As Of now.

Getting to Tonight's basketball. It's not just Wake Forest that'll be in action. NC States. has coastal Carolina. WD calls it the Grayson McCall Bull.

That checks out. The ramp up It's continuing for the Wolf Pack. They They're facing a subpark coastal team. Coastal, the last time the chance they were in action, they lost in Greenville, America over the weekend. State They've taken care of their business.

Won by 31 points against USC Upstate, beat Presbyterian by a ton as well.

So they've won the games that they're supposed to win to start the season. This is their third game of the year. And they should really be 5-0. Before They get the Final Four rematch with Purdue. Colgate, maybe they could provide a scare.

At Lenovo Center. Then it's William and Mary. State should be 5-0. They should be. And then it's Purdue.

It's Texas They have um m Florida State, and then a week after that, they go to Allen Field House to face Kansas.

So, if NC State's not 5-0 going into that stretch, they're going to have some problems. And This is the kind of schedule. See, for state. Just like it's beneficial for Duke, who we'll get to in a minute. To have the schedule they have for an inexperienced team that needs to be tested.

Lot of talent, but inexperienced. This is the kind of schedule the Wolfpack needs. You have some continuity with Michael O'Connell and Jaden Taylor and Ben Middlebrook's back, but so much that you have to replace DJ Horne, D. J. Burns.

And new pieces to do so, that having this ramp up, this five-game ramp up, I think it's a really good thing for the Wolfpack before you get a. Purdue team that's Zach Ediless, and Texas, and Kansas, and those types of teams, and then conference play. Beginning. But that ramp up, it continues for the pack against Coastal Carolina this evening. Before we get into ACC Basketball Matters.

This music can only mean one thing. David Glenn with us, NC Sports Network. Be sure to follow his stuff. Darren Gant, a guest today. You're here today.

No, Dave Gorin. I I j I didn't realize it until B Dot pointed this out to me yesterday while he was doing the show, that I named my son Daniel which has added Another significant DG in my life. I hope you're okay. not being the top spot DG in my life anymore.

Well, Josh, it's great to join you as always. I especially love joining you now that I get to give you a super dad title. And not only am I not offended by being dropped a bit in the pecking order, I'm honored that I share DG with Daniel. And remember, it's been a great tradition because there was a point in our time knowing each other. Where Dino Gaudio was the head coach at Wake Forest, we had another DG.

Dave Gettelman was the GM of the Panthers, we had another DG. Of course, we all love Dave Gorn, one of the wonderful people in the entire sports media world.

So man, with Daniel in the mix now, Daniel Graham, I'm just excited to have him as part of the DG club. And I can now share the story, we'll do it in just a little bit, about. There's a story regarding in A soon-to-be Hall of Fame basketball coach in the ACC and my son. That's a lot of fun that you got to witness firsthand about a month ago. We'll get to that.

A little bit later on. Let's get into basketball though. I got a phone call this morning from somebody within the sport that I trust. And the phone call was Here we go again. Duke loses to Kansas, or pardon me, to Kentucky last night.

North Carolina loses at Kansas. And they're already saying. We're giving them all the ammunition they need. Groundhog Day all over again. We're going to get knocked down a peg.

They're going to cite nine conference play. The ACC is going to get dogged. How important do you believe the next three weeks are for ACC basketball and specifically these marquee nonconference matchups in shaping the reputation of the league? I think it matters a lot, but I would put an asterisk on what has happened so far because Duke and Carolina are really good, and they're not the teams that are going to need the benefit of the doubt come selection Sunday because they're not going to be near the bubble, right? It's other teams, and let's quickly mention that Wake Forest just beat Michigan.

Remember last year the Deeks had four or five shots. A quality non-conference opponent. And really only got one of those four or five. And they ended up needing more of that on selection Sunday, more than that. And that's why they fell short of Steve Forbes' first NCAA bid.

So, awake or another team outside of Duke and Carolina winning some of these head-to-head matchups, to me, it's infinitely more important. For those middle-of-the-pack ACC teams to win specific games, than it is the broader narrative. Of you know what does the ACC really have to offer? That narrative does matter some, and you can't have too many bottom-dweller teams to weigh a league down the way Louisville and others did the last couple years. But I just really think that the specific head-to-head matchups are what matter most.

And we not only have that wake win over Michigan, but we've got Clemson going to a really good Boise State team this week. We've got Virginia Tech getting a pretty good Penn State team this week. We've got Florida State taking on a pretty good Florida team this week and others. Wake at Xavier this Saturday. There you go.

So the. I get we have to follow the broader narrative. It matters. But Come Selection Sunday, man. It's about...

Do you have enough wins? Mostly, do you have enough wins? And what are the quality of your losses? And that's where just specific games end up mattering most. Getting into Duke.

I feel bad a little bit for John Shire, where expectations are set. Or how Prior years for the Blue Devils have been defined towards the end of Mike Kzewski and the beginning of John Shire. It almost seems like Duke doesn't get credit for making a Final Four because they lost to North Carolina in that Final Four. It feels like that the Zion team is viewed as a failure because they didn't go to the Final Four. But then again, the Elite Eight isn't all that bad and you lost to a really good Michigan State team by a point.

In 2018, you lose in the Elite Eight when Grayson Allen had a shot lip out against Kansas that would have advanced the Blue Devils to the Final Four.

So when you start thinking about it, it's, all right, two Elite Eight appearances in a Final Four trip. That's. In three of the last six tournaments that we've seen, a lot of teams would kill for that kind of resume, including Duke going to the Elite Eight this past year, Duke winning the ACC the year before that. Is it wrong the way that Duke's being framed this year with Cooper flag on the roster that almost feels like Final Four or bust? Is that fair to John Shire?

Probably not. I do think the overwhelming majority of fans, casual or passionate, do place the most weight on what happens during March. And I personally take a broader view. And John Shire as a third-year coach already has that ACC title you mentioned. But let's already start with the March.

Let's start with March, actually. I'm glad you said that. Like, a lot of people characterize the last five, six years as a failure for Duke in the tournament. And I say, A failure is Kentucky not getting out of the first weekend since 2019. Duke getting to three elite eights since 2018.

I'm sorry, in a Final Four. I can't classify that as a failure. I'm with you. I mean, I have asked some of my worst critics over the years: are we really going to get to the point where we're calling 350 plus schools failures? And we're only going to say one or maybe four if you draw the line at the final four.

Only four had successful seasons out of 350 plus. Like everybody's entitled to draw the line wherever they want to draw the line. I just want to live in a world where we get to celebrate a broader definition of excellence. Yeah. Because that's how I think we should treat each other as human beings.

An ACC title matters. You know, Hubert Davis finishing in first place in the ACC. I know it's only the regular season title, and the official title is the conference championship. I get it, but it's still worth celebrating. I mean, excellence in a great league over 20 conference games.

That's a hard thing to accomplish. And barring ties, only one team gets to do it.

So I think. You know, John Shire certainly knows how he's going to be viewed from the outside, and that's going to be overwhelmingly based on does he win the ACC title and does he get to the Final Four? But all these teams, Josh, the bottom line and what makes it fun, I think, for us is that if they grow Duke in Carolina, they have a chance. If this tournament started today, I don't like either the Devils or the Heels chances. Because they have to grow into better versions of themselves.

Duke mainly because of its back court, Carolina ma mainly because of its front court. But they in both cases already have a lot of quality pieces, including guys like Cooper Flagg and Con Knipple from that freshman class at Duke. David Glenn with us here at NC Sports Network. You do such a great job of Keeping tabs on the entire league on getting eyes on what we've seen thus far. I'm interested if somebody's.

jumped out to you, made a great first impression to you over the last week. And a team that maybe hasn't left the greatest first impression. I know for me. Granted, I've been a dad for eight days, so haven't watched everybody. I did catch Louisville against Tennessee on Saturday and didn't.

I was disappointed by what I saw on their home court at the Yum Center. Credit to Tennessee for winning the game, and they still have some guys back from that team that was so good last year, but Louisville, you expect a little bit more from them at home. I did watch Clemson last night. You mentioned that big Boise State test for them coming up this weekend. I like what I've seen from them.

Who jumps out to you in terms of a positive first impression and a negative one? Real quickly, at the bottom, I don't think Boston College is going to be very good. I don't think Georgia Tech is going to be very good. I don't think Cal is going to be very good. I don't think Stanford is going to be really good.

I don't mean like the Louisville of the last couple years bad. I just mean if we're looking at teams that probably are not realistic shots at the NCAA tournament, you can start with four or five at the bottom. At the other end, obviously, beyond Duke and Carolina, where even though they've both lost a game, I see far more good than bad for the Heels and the Devils. I would say the Pitt Panthers of Jeff Cable. They are off to a 3-0 start.

They have a returning guard in Jalen Lowe, who's really good. Ishmael Leggett's a veteran. They got the Florida State transfer big man, Cameron Corhan, to play in the post. They have the Diaz-Graham brothers are back. They have Zach Austin as another super sixth man type guy.

They have another transfer named Damian Dunn, who's kind of that grinder, gritty, nasty player that Jeff Capel likes to have in his rotation. And then also on the positive side, I would say the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. There have been times, and you're great. You're extra great with your analysis of the Deks because you see them so often. But there have been times in Steve Ford's tenure where I loved their offense and did not love their defense and rebounded.

And I really think what left them short in some of those wonderful years, man, like watching Alondis Williams and Jake LaRavia and some of these other transfer portal whisperer guys that Steve Forbes has gotten. I love watching the Deeks play. But when you need the rebound and you need the stop, that's where the deeks have often fallen short. Trayvon Spillers, the app state transfer. He's a grinder, man.

Like, he's got a little edge to him. He's going to dive for that loose ball. He's going to get that rebound. He's going to help that double team, right? And he was a first-team all-Sunbelt guy for the Mountaineers.

So it's not like we're surprised if you've seen him play before. But just seeing him fit so well to go with a superstar like Hunter Salas, to go with a quality big man like Efton Reed, and a grinder veteran in the backcourt like a Cam Hildreth. I just really love that starting lineup. They have a little bit off the bench. I went into this season high on the Demon Deacons, and now I feel even better about putting the Deks in that top tier in the ACC behind Duke and Carolina.

We said this at the time: the one player that Wake Forest lost that they wanted to keep was Andrew Carr. And we saw why last night against Duke. But the way they've tried to replace him is by committee. Where Trey Spillers does things that. Omaha Baloo does not, and Omaha Baloo does things that Trey Spillers doesn't.

And I think that combination so far has looked really good. And I think. Juke Harris. We don't see a lot of freshmen coming in and immediately contributing for Steve Forbes' team. There isn't a large track record of that.

He's been a pleasant surprise and If you get anything out of Ty Johnson this year, Um, the transfer from Louisville, I think that's a bonus. Eight guys played against Michigan. That sounds about right for Wake. If you can add a ninth guy, I think it's Ty Johnson into the rotation, but we'll see as conference non-conference play progresses. What exactly that rotation looks like.

Let's close with football, DG. What storyline Narrowing our scope to the state of North Carolina, are you most interested to follow over the next? Three weeks, couple of weeks left in the regular season. It's got to be either Duke or Carolina. It's so strange to say because we're in mid-November.

But Mac Brown could either have at Carolina the best season of his six years. Meaning part two, his second tenure, or he could finish five and seven. I mean, so the difference between nine and four with a bowl victory. Which, of course, if you got to 9-4, that means you beat NC State and you ended the three-game losing streak head-to-head to the Wolfpack. That means you would win your bowl game.

The Heels have lost four straight bowl games under Mac Brown. The difference between how it would be perceived if you were 9-4 with a bowl victory and a win over the Wolfpack versus 5-7 and missing the postseason entirely in Mac Brown 2.0, that's not like a shades of gray difference. That is a night and day difference.

Meanwhile, Duke is 7-3. That means if you win out. Or, yeah, if you win out, you get to 9-3 in the regular season. If you win a bowl game, you're 10-3 at Duke. In your first year with the Blue Devils at a school that's only had one 10-win season in the history of the program.

I mean, that would be an astounding accomplishment for Manny Diaz, especially given the timing of his hiring. Where you remember a lot of Duke quality Duke players left in the transfer portal, and Manny Diaz didn't have a lot of time to bring in. He got some, but didn't have as much time as his contemporaries and competitors to build through the transfer portal. If somehow he gets to 10 and 3, man, or even if Mac Brown gets to 9 and 4. Those would be seasons worth celebrating in a college football season where, frankly, Josh, we cover this at the North Carolina Sports Network.

We have thirty three NCAA football teams if you add up all the different levels. There's a chance that none of them win the conference title. 0 for 33.

So I'm looking for any seasons worth celebrating wherever we can get them at Duke or Carolina or anywhere else. Trying to think what the 10-win season in Duke history was. And I've always been told that if it's a question about Duke trivia, it's either 89 or 42. I'm going to guess 89. No, because you have to remember that seasons were shorter back when Duke was great in the distant past.

So it's actually one of Coach Cutcliffe's seasons. Oh.

It the answer's not right. Wow. I assumed it was Spurrier in eighty nine. Yeah, no, he taught. I think Spurrier only won eight or nine that year, 89.

And back when Duke was a legendary football program, way, way back, remember, those regular seasons were like nine or ten games long, so it was a lot harder to get the ten wins. The answer is 2013, where the Blue Devils lost to Jameis Winston in the ACC Championship game over a decade ago. David Glenn, it's good to see you. Buddy, DG? How about it?

I don't know if we're going to call. Baby Daniel, baby DG. I don't know if we're going to do that. But if we do, we'll be thinking of you a little bit. Thanks so much for doing this.

Thank you, brother. Congratulations to you and Sarah Bradford. Welcome to Daniel. Uh to this great wide world we have. There goes DG, and before we take it to the house, a quick bit of story time.

W D is aware of this story. D G was aware of this story. I shared it on social media last week. It's just too good not to revisit. in this format.

Uh it involves the birth of my son in ACC basketball.

So If you've been listening to this show, watching this show for The better part of this year. You might have known that. My wife and I decided we weren't going to learn what the gender of our Child was. We decided we weren't going to learn that. We could have learned as early as June, maybe July, early July.

We decided, you know what, there are not enough great surprises in the world. Let's. Have a great surprise. But due to a mix-up about a month ago or so, Nothing nefarious, nothing. Mistakes happen.

They do. We my wife sadly learned the gender. She didn't intend to. She decided to tell me because I asked her, hey. I'd like to know, I'd like to be on the same page with you.

She shared what the gender was with me over a nice dinner in Winston-Salem. And she asked, hey, could we still keep the gender a secret between us? Let's not let anybody else know. It could be a surprise for everybody else. And at dinner I said to her, Sarah Bradford, I'm going to say.

I am not going to tell a single soul what the gender of our kid is. It's going to be between us. And Tony Bennett. And she started to laugh because she loves ACC basketball and she went to Virginia. Thought it was a good joke.

It was a nice special moment for us. Except I wasn't kidding. At that point, I had started to, the wheel started to turn because it was a week before ACC Basketball Media Days. That I get a basketball. WD helped in that process of me finding a Virginia basketball.

Yeah. I Thought I'd run into Tony Bennett, have a little bit of a relationship with him, seen him at Cranky's in Winston, I've seen him at Camino Bakery. His daughter went to Wake, and I've had him on several times in the years that we've done this show. I wanted to turn. you know, something good, uh turn a bad situation good.

Benefit from the fact that we now know, do something nice for my wife.

So I thought, how about we let Tony Bennett know? That we're having a boy. and have him sign a basketball to now baby Daniel. Ran into Tony Bennett in the hotel lobby in Charlotte. The day before, he had all the media stuff that he had to do.

DG was a lot closer to Tony than I was, even though I knew Tony pretty well. And DG helps set the stage. I tell them the story. And he said, Yeah, I can absolutely help you with that. And I thought it was just him being nice, but it would just be one more thing added onto his to-do list the day after.

So at 8:30 the next morning, we're set to meet and he's going to come on the show. He sees me across the room, Tony Bennett, calling me. Claps his hands and walks over and says, Where's the ball? Where's the ball? He's super excited.

And so I tell him. The baby's it's a boy, and his name's Daniel. And he signs the basketball. And uh He writes on the basketball: Daniel, welcome to this wonderful world. God bless Tony.

He bennett. And he did a nice video for my wife, too, that we recorded, and I shared with her when she opened the gif. And uh A week to the day after that, Tony Bennett retires. And I'm sitting with my wife and Yeah. uh at our uh breakfast table.

And we're watching the press conference. And in that moment, I thought, oh, this would be a great gift to give my wife on her birthday, which was Sunday. That was ten days before our expected due date, but then, as we know, Baby came last Tuesday. I have this big box that it's in. And I thought it would be nice.

For her to open it up, the gift that she opens up when she gets back home from having our first child when we get back to the hospital. Is this gift from Tony Bennett? And it was a really special moment.

So thanks to Tony Bennett. That was really cool. And. Yeah, it's something that we're going to cherish. It's a really neat thing.