Speaker 1: It's time for Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: Holy crap, I don't know who the hell we think
Speaker 2: when we are.
Speaker 3: Get off our show, idiot. The kids are crying or
Speaker 3: trail off. The countries are screwing it up. Gold Play
Speaker 3: Inner Murals, Brother, gold Play Inn Murals.
Speaker 2: They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're really not.
Speaker 3: Who's the kid here? Who's the kid here? Are you
Speaker 3: kidding me?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 3: Here's Nick Coffee?
Speaker 2: All right, good afternoon, and welcome into a It's Wednesday,
Speaker 2: right Wednesday edition of Coffee and Company here on Sports
Speaker 2: Talk seven ninety, fueled by Thornton's as we take you
Speaker 2: up until six o'clock. My name's Nick Coffee. The company man.
Speaker 2: Mister John Alden is alongside today, and I'm coming to
Speaker 2: you live from Charlotte, North Carolina. John. As far as
Speaker 2: I know you're back at the I mean, I don't
Speaker 2: know where you are we're communicating, but I assume you
Speaker 2: or in your cave, right, that is true.
Speaker 3: I'm in the company man cave.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's what I just wanted to make sure you know.
Speaker 2: We can't see each other and I just want to
Speaker 2: make sure you're you're you're in your safe space, which
Speaker 2: I know that the company man Cave is in fact
Speaker 2: your safe space. Are we sounding okay?
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're sounding good.
Speaker 2: Okay, I assume so. But you know, it's been a
Speaker 2: while since I've been in this type of a setting
Speaker 2: for the show. And what I mean by that is
Speaker 2: that I'm not actually at the West End. I mean
Speaker 2: i am, but I'm not. You know, I'm not down
Speaker 2: on Radio Row. I am up here in my hotel room,
Speaker 2: and there's a reason for that. But I'm here because
Speaker 2: of the ACC Basketball media days, which is technically what
Speaker 2: I think most people would refer to it as. However,
Speaker 2: the ACC, when it comes to their branding, they're still
Speaker 2: going with, you know, the ACC tip off at one point.
Speaker 2: I think they call it Operation Basketball. I've not seen
Speaker 2: any marketing material that is, you know, labeling it that.
Speaker 2: But that's why I'm here and got here earlier today,
Speaker 2: and I don't Usually I've got some like really interesting
Speaker 2: stories to share about my travel adventures. I don't have
Speaker 2: that today. However, you know, I do have a couple
Speaker 2: of things I'll share about my journey here to to Charlotte.
Speaker 2: North Carolina. But this is the fourth, maybe fifth time
Speaker 2: I've been to this event. And I remember coming once
Speaker 2: when Rick Patino was the coach. I came twice when
Speaker 2: Coach Mack was the coach. So I guess this is
Speaker 2: this is my fourth time, and every year it's just
Speaker 2: a reminder that the ACC is really not, you know
Speaker 2: what it what it once was. And I'm you know,
Speaker 2: and I'll explain to you in just a second as
Speaker 2: to why I'm not down on Radio Row, which they've
Speaker 2: got a nice setup for me. They've got a little
Speaker 2: a table that is just for us, well just for me,
Speaker 2: I guess. And when I say us, it's it's because
Speaker 2: it won't just be me Tomorrow. Tomorrow we're gonna have
Speaker 2: Pat Kelsey on the show at four o'clock. He'll join
Speaker 2: us live from Radio Row. And also we'll have at
Speaker 2: some point, I don't know when, but we will have
Speaker 2: Javon Hadley as well as Chucky Hepburn on the show
Speaker 2: to join us. And you know, I'm gonna try my best,
Speaker 2: and I got some time. I got I got a
Speaker 2: little over twenty four hours to get prepared, and I'm
Speaker 2: pretty much prepared. But I'm gonna try to make these interviews,
Speaker 2: mostly the ones with the players, you know, I wanted
Speaker 2: to make. I want it to be not what they
Speaker 2: get at every other stop along the day for them
Speaker 2: when they're you know, stopping in here and there throughout
Speaker 2: the West End and talking to you know, a beat
Speaker 2: writer from here and there and all that. But anyways,
Speaker 2: we were all set up and I'll explain myself. So
Speaker 2: here's what happened. I landed today earlier this morning at
Speaker 2: like eleven o'clock, got my rental car, and I wasn't
Speaker 2: gonna do this, but I'm just gonna do it. John.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm an open book. We talked about it yesterday, right, Like,
Speaker 2: there's some people that don't love that I at times
Speaker 2: talk a lot about my personal life on the show,
Speaker 2: and I've you know, I get it. Like it's not
Speaker 2: that I think I'm I have such an interesting life
Speaker 2: and such an entertaining life that I'm just you know,
Speaker 2: eager to share it with you as if it's going
Speaker 2: to be super entertaining. But you know, I got a show,
Speaker 2: I got three hours to talk every day, and we
Speaker 2: talk a lot of sports. We're gonna do that today.
Speaker 2: Trust me. We got a lot on the docket today,
Speaker 2: if you will. But my morning was interesting because I
Speaker 2: got up, my flight left at like six o'clock, and
Speaker 2: in fact, my flight boarded at six a m. We
Speaker 2: took off at six point thirty. It's American Airlines, a
Speaker 2: direct flight from Louisville to Charlotte. It's money. In fact,
Speaker 2: let me give you a random thing that I honestly
Speaker 2: wouldn't have even remembered to tell you. But here I
Speaker 2: am reh, you know, reliving my morning with you guys.
Speaker 2: So John, I get on the plane. I walked to
Speaker 2: my seat twenty three C I think it was my
Speaker 2: was my seat. I get my my you know, my
Speaker 2: carry on bag that's got all the equipment, and I
Speaker 2: put it up above my seat and I sit down,
Speaker 2: and you know, I get my air pods out. I'm
Speaker 2: getting ready to start a movie that I'm gonna watch
Speaker 2: while I'm on the plane. And then all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: you know, to to the to the right of me,
Speaker 2: you know, sitting in the aisle seat to the other
Speaker 2: side of me, just so happened to be one of
Speaker 2: my close friends fathers, somebody I've known for thirty years.
Speaker 3: What are the chances of that right, sounds like the
Speaker 3: beginning of a movie.
Speaker 2: Honestly, yeah, I mean like I didn't you know, I
Speaker 2: didn't even well, it could be a cool movie, like
Speaker 2: who knows, you know, maybe uh, maybe we end up
Speaker 2: having an adventure and now he's he's here for we're
Speaker 2: both here for work. But it's obviously different works different, Like,
Speaker 2: you know, he's not in the in the business that
Speaker 2: I'm in. But I mean, what are the chances of that,
Speaker 2: you know, you get on a plane, you you sit down,
Speaker 2: and to your right just so happens to be somebody
Speaker 2: that you've known forever. Like it's one thing if we're
Speaker 2: just at the airport and see each other and run
Speaker 2: into each other at six o'clock in the morning. Nonetheless,
Speaker 2: we're on the same flight and we're sitting right next
Speaker 2: to each other. So that that I felt like the
Speaker 2: day was gonna be the day was gonna be good.
Speaker 2: It was a good way to start my day. So
Speaker 2: shout out to Big Tim Ridley. His uh, his son
Speaker 2: is little Tim, who I grew up with and is
Speaker 2: still a close friend of mine. So you know, we
Speaker 2: we you know, it wasn't like I was on the
Speaker 2: plane with strangers. I was on the plane with somebody
Speaker 2: I've known for a long time.
Speaker 1: So from assuming you said said hello to mister big
Speaker 1: tim Oh, we sat right next to year.
Speaker 2: We talked. Yeah, mean we were you know, yeah. I
Speaker 2: mean again, like I'm on one, I'm on one side
Speaker 2: of the aisle, He's on the other side of the aisle.
Speaker 2: We're both in row twenty three. So yeah, we uh
Speaker 2: we chatted for a little while. And I will admit
Speaker 2: I did fall asleep. It was very early once the
Speaker 2: once the flight took off, but you know that was
Speaker 2: a good way to start today. Well, then, my wife
Speaker 2: and I have this rule where if we fly and
Speaker 2: we're not with each other, we call each other before
Speaker 2: we take off. It's not that I have like a
Speaker 2: paranoia of like the plane's gonna go down, but I
Speaker 2: still you know, when you get it, you know, you
Speaker 2: actually do have a better chance of dying in a
Speaker 2: car wreck than a plane wreck. I mean, it's weird,
Speaker 2: you know, the stats and facts actually prove that, but
Speaker 2: you know, being in a plane just it's a little
Speaker 2: more scary because you don't do it as often, and
Speaker 2: you get in your car every day and drive, and
Speaker 2: you know, it's just part of your life. So I
Speaker 2: called my wife and she didn't answer, and I just assume, well,
Speaker 2: it's because she probably didn't hear her phone. It's very early,
Speaker 2: you know, no big deal. But I texted her and said, hey, honey,
Speaker 2: I'm about to take off. Love you. Well, I land
Speaker 2: texted her, called her nothing. So I'm kind of thinking, okay, well,
Speaker 2: maybe she's in the shower getting ready for work. Because
Speaker 2: when I landed, I mean it was in fact, I
Speaker 2: didn't land, yeah, I got I think I landed like
Speaker 2: eight fifteen, So at that point she usually is getting ready.
Speaker 2: So no big deal. I go and get the rental
Speaker 2: car and I make my way to the actual I check,
Speaker 2: you know, I go to the desk at the rental
Speaker 2: place and give them my information and all that, and
Speaker 2: then I make the long walk to the actual garage
Speaker 2: to get in the rental car. And I'm thinking to myself,
Speaker 2: before I take off, I'm gonna call my wife once
Speaker 2: again just to see, you know, hey, just to tell
Speaker 2: her I'm here, just to check on her. Well, I
Speaker 2: couldn't get a hold of her, so sure enough, I'm thinking, okay, well,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe, you know, maybe she just isn't hearing
Speaker 2: her phone. Maybe she knew that she missed my call
Speaker 2: but didn't have the chance to call me back because
Speaker 2: she you know, one thing I do, and I do
Speaker 2: a lot of things, as you know, as a dad,
Speaker 2: but I'm in charge every morning of getting the kids
Speaker 2: to and from where they're going, whether it be school, daycare.
Speaker 2: This week, it's fall breaks, so my daughter she's going
Speaker 2: to different places, my son's going to daycare. But for
Speaker 2: the last you know, however long we've been working together
Speaker 2: in this afternoon show, I've been I've been responsible for
Speaker 2: getting the kids up and getting where they need to be,
Speaker 2: and I love it. So, you know, I'm thinking maybe
Speaker 2: she's a little preoccupied because she's getting the kids ready
Speaker 2: and just hasn't had a chance to call me. Well,
Speaker 2: then it gets to be like nine o'clock and I
Speaker 2: still haven't heard from her, and I reach out to
Speaker 2: the person who's supposed to be watching my daughter today
Speaker 2: and she's like, I haven't heard from him. You know,
Speaker 2: I texted somebody who knows my wife. Haven't heard from her.
Speaker 2: So I'm freaking out, like I'm I'm I'm won't, I'm
Speaker 2: not gonna, I won't leave the airport because I'm like back, yes, yeah,
Speaker 2: and it's just me being a paranoid weirdo. Like most
Speaker 2: people would have been like, who gives a damn. She's
Speaker 2: probably oversleeping. Nothing I can do about it. I'm in
Speaker 2: another state. And I don't mean to say like I
Speaker 2: didn't do that because I'm such a great husband and
Speaker 2: I am better than anybody else. I am a paranoid
Speaker 2: person and I fear the worst at all times. So
Speaker 2: I'm at the airport in this rental car and I'm
Speaker 2: calling people and I finally I finally got a hold
Speaker 2: of I finally got a hold of my my in laws,
Speaker 2: my wife's grandmother, and I call I was like, hey,
Speaker 2: you know, I hate to do this, but like I
Speaker 2: can't get a hold of her. Nobody's talked to her.
Speaker 2: I imagine she's overslept, but I'm but I'm scared, like
Speaker 2: I'm worried. And throughout the entire time, I never really
Speaker 2: felt like this was, you know, a scary situation, but
Speaker 2: still like I, you know, I was, it wasn't usual.
Speaker 2: And also she needed to get up so she could
Speaker 2: go to work and take her If my son's not
Speaker 2: a daycare at a certain time, then he can't get in,
Speaker 2: and then we got to find somebody to watch him.
Speaker 2: So and I should have mentioned this initially. Her her grandmother,
Speaker 2: my grandmother in law, lives like a mile away. She's
Speaker 2: just down the road from us. So it wasn't like
Speaker 2: I had somebody, you know, do a wellness check from
Speaker 2: you know, miles away. And sure enough, as soon as
Speaker 2: she told me, like, hey, I'm about to pull in,
Speaker 2: do you have the garage code? That's whenever my wife
Speaker 2: called me and was like, hey, overslept, I'm like, you think,
Speaker 2: goodness gracious, she scared the crap out of me. So
Speaker 2: I was thinking, Okay, this may not be a thing,
Speaker 2: like I may not actually even get Charlotte, Like I
Speaker 2: may just you know, walk back, book a flight, come
Speaker 2: home because I'm scared to death of something that's gone wrong,
Speaker 2: or you know, God forbid, I have to come home
Speaker 2: because something's happened. But she, you know, she said she overslept,
Speaker 2: and you know, that made me, you know feel what
Speaker 2: you know, not not that you know, Actually, John, you're
Speaker 2: you're you're not that you're not a newly wed anymore,
Speaker 2: right like you yeah, you're not a newly wedd anymore.
Speaker 2: I mean you're not, like, it's not like you've been
Speaker 2: married for you know, twenty years. But no, you're not.
Speaker 2: It's not a new thing anymore. Do you like at
Speaker 2: times like do you do? You keep score on stuff?
Speaker 2: And if you don't know what I'm referring to, then
Speaker 2: then then I know the answer. But if you are
Speaker 2: thinking about it, then I know that you know what
Speaker 2: I'm talking about.
Speaker 3: I think I know what you mean.
Speaker 2: She's scared. She scared me, and I wanted and I
Speaker 2: wanted her to know that she should feel bad for
Speaker 2: scaring me. So like, you know, not that I wanted
Speaker 2: to feel bad like she should. You know, Yeah, but
Speaker 2: does that makes sense?
Speaker 3: Like I hate throw I hate to throw my wife
Speaker 3: under the bus she does what do you.
Speaker 2: Think I just did the last ten minutes?
Speaker 1: I'm I'm kind of I'm more like I feel like
Speaker 1: on not on your wife's sides, this isn't really a
Speaker 1: sad thing. But I tend to have more of the
Speaker 1: uh not realize I should answer the phone type of
Speaker 1: thing or you know, you know, check in those types
Speaker 1: of things. I'm more I'm the one who gets the
Speaker 1: talking to if that yeah, you're.
Speaker 2: Living in the moment. Yeah, and I and I'm just
Speaker 2: you know, I'm a I'm a paranoid person in general,
Speaker 2: and you know, it's just my nature. But you know,
Speaker 2: I kind of felt Long story short, what I was
Speaker 2: getting at with this whole thing is like, once I
Speaker 2: did realize she was okay, it was like a victory
Speaker 2: for me one because you know, for a brief moment,
Speaker 2: I was worried something happened in my family because you know,
Speaker 2: I'm a lunatic. That's just how my mind works. But
Speaker 2: also it's like, well, you know, now she knows how
Speaker 2: much I care. Now she knows that, Like, you know,
Speaker 2: I was willing to just get back in the car
Speaker 2: and or get back on the plane and come back home.
Speaker 2: So anyways, like it was a it was a weird
Speaker 2: morning all in all, but I got here, I got
Speaker 2: situated the hotel where I'm at. You know, they, you know,
Speaker 2: I guess it's because of the event that's going on,
Speaker 2: they let me check in early, which is really rare.
Speaker 2: I was thinking that I would be potentially on the clock,
Speaker 2: like hey, they're gonna let me get to my room,
Speaker 2: They're gonna let me check in, and it's gonna be
Speaker 2: like right around the time when the show starts, and
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have like all my luggage. I mean I
Speaker 2: don't have I don't have a lot of stuff. I'm
Speaker 2: only here for two days. But I was thinking, like
Speaker 2: i'm here, I'm gonna be the guy in Radio Row,
Speaker 2: you know, like with my neck pellow from the plane,
Speaker 2: like looking like a bum, you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: Like I don't have any place to stay. I'm just here.
Speaker 2: I'm living on Radio Row. Like that's what I kind of,
Speaker 2: you know. I was worried about that, but they let
Speaker 2: me check in early. And then I thought, okay, the
Speaker 2: commissioner Phillips, he talked, and I'm thinking, I gotta get
Speaker 2: some lunch. I haven't eaten. So I end up going
Speaker 2: to uh end up going to Buffalo Wild Wings that's
Speaker 2: just down the just a block away from where we are.
Speaker 2: And I've got like a tan pullover on and sure enough,
Speaker 2: i pick up a wing and I just you know,
Speaker 2: dropped it right on it. And like I'm thinking, okay, well,
Speaker 2: like maybe I can get a wet nap and you
Speaker 2: know and clean off my but not look like a bum.
Speaker 2: So I decided to make this this the safe move,
Speaker 2: and that was getting all the equipment set up to
Speaker 2: do the show down there today would have been a
Speaker 2: little bit of a time crunch and I would have looked,
Speaker 2: you know, I would have been wearing a hoodie that
Speaker 2: you know, or a pullover that has you know, buffalo
Speaker 2: sauce all over, which would have made me look unprofessional.
Speaker 2: So I decided to do the show from the room today.
Speaker 2: But it has been quite the experience thus far, just
Speaker 2: kind of you know, I mean, it's a new world
Speaker 2: here in the ACC, and I'm kind of glad I'm
Speaker 2: saying this here in my hotel room. Not that people
Speaker 2: would like come up and you know, punch me if
Speaker 2: I was saying it in front of the other ACC
Speaker 2: people that are here covering it. But like today was
Speaker 2: a real visual reminder for me that, like the ACC
Speaker 2: is a basketball league, it still has some big brands,
Speaker 2: and louisll' is one of them. They have been good
Speaker 2: in a while, but like Louisville is still a program
Speaker 2: that even if you are well aware of how bad
Speaker 2: they've been recently, you would still say historically they are
Speaker 2: one of the bigger brands in the sport, not the biggest,
Speaker 2: and obviously, you know, you can't stay down that long
Speaker 2: as far as how bad they've been lately. But I
Speaker 2: just you know, I came here. The first year I
Speaker 2: came here was in Ricks might have been it was
Speaker 2: Rix last year. It was a year Donovan Mitchell, and yeah,
Speaker 2: Donovan Mitchell's last year. They were a really good team
Speaker 2: by the way. They just ended up getting upset in
Speaker 2: the second round by Michigan. But I remember being here.
Speaker 2: Maybe it was just because I was younger and it
Speaker 2: was the first time here. But you gotta keep in
Speaker 2: mind we're talking Roy Williams, Mike Skueshsky, Jim Beaheim, Mike
Speaker 2: Bray and by the way, Tony Bennett, and these are
Speaker 2: people that you know have been there since. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's not like and even Rick Betino, to be honest
Speaker 2: with you, but all these coaches I just referenced, I mean, hell,
Speaker 2: Tony Bennett still around and the others have just recently departed.
Speaker 2: But it was a star studded event and the and
Speaker 2: and you know, you could you could absolutely feel as
Speaker 2: if you were at a conference basketball media day and
Speaker 2: and nobody would would would give any thought to question
Speaker 2: you if you said, the ACC is the superior league
Speaker 2: in basketball, And you can still maybe claim that when
Speaker 2: it comes to like history and brands and you know, reach,
Speaker 2: But then again I don't. I mean, I think it's
Speaker 2: just Carolina that really commands a national audience. Carolina and Duke.
Speaker 2: I guess those are the only two. But like you know,
Speaker 2: there's two ways to look at it in the now.
Speaker 2: In the moment, I'm looking at it as an opportunity
Speaker 2: for Pat Kelsey and his team to take advantage of
Speaker 2: a league that you know isn't very good, and that's
Speaker 2: not what you want. You don't want your basketball conference
Speaker 2: to be. I mean, you don't want your conference in
Speaker 2: any sport to be you know, subpar. And it's not
Speaker 2: the worst league out there. But like being here and
Speaker 2: just kind of seeing what this event was five, six,
Speaker 2: seven years ago to what it is now, it's just
Speaker 2: a reminder of like the league has fallen quite a
Speaker 2: bit now. These events aren't what they once were, like
Speaker 2: it used to be. I'm talking an entire area of
Speaker 2: the Hotel Radio row. Now there's probably ten of us
Speaker 2: that are going to be set up doing shows. And
Speaker 2: I'm not kidding you. I'll go through and look and
Speaker 2: I'll give the Courier Journal credit. They've they've got a
Speaker 2: set up here. I don't know who's here working for
Speaker 2: them for the CJ, but every other like placard that
Speaker 2: is sitting up on each of the tables. And by
Speaker 2: the way, you don't have to have a you could
Speaker 2: be here covering the event and not have like a
Speaker 2: setup like that because you know, you may not be
Speaker 2: doing anything live or doing any video interviews or anything
Speaker 2: like that. But you know, it's just Carolina Schools to
Speaker 2: cover this because it's relatively close. And you know, I
Speaker 2: thought about it, like, hey, would it be worth you know,
Speaker 2: coming and covering this? And I thought, you know, it's
Speaker 2: Pat Kelsey's first year. I happen to think that they're
Speaker 2: going to be one of the better teams in the
Speaker 2: ACC this year, and you know I could make it work.
Speaker 2: So why not? Right? So when I say there's two
Speaker 2: ways to look at it, here's what I mean. It's
Speaker 2: not good big picture that the ACC has has taken
Speaker 2: humongous steps backwards in a really quick amount of time.
Speaker 2: Like I can't I mean as far as the hierarchy
Speaker 2: of college sports when it comes to the conferences, like
Speaker 2: can you think in John you're younger than me, so
Speaker 2: maybe you're the wrong person to ask, but historically speaking,
Speaker 2: conferences like, there's not been many or any conference, whether
Speaker 2: it be basketball or football that you once looked at
Speaker 2: and said, Wow, that league was really great and then
Speaker 2: it just you know, fell off and it wasn't it
Speaker 2: wasn't even relevant.
Speaker 3: No, it feels like it's coming spurts.
Speaker 1: Obviously, you mentioned the ACC kind of had their moment
Speaker 1: for a few years, and I believe after that the
Speaker 1: Big Ten kind of had their moment and then each
Speaker 1: of the league's not that they fell off, they're just
Speaker 1: not at the they're not the top tier year in
Speaker 1: and year out like you do get with the SEC
Speaker 1: and football.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're and I don't think there is an say
Speaker 2: that's a good question, not that you asked the question,
Speaker 2: but I'm thinking I'm thinking out loud here when it
Speaker 2: comes to the question, what is the equivalent to the
Speaker 2: SEC and football?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 2: What? What in basketball? Is the SEC in football? And
Speaker 2: I'll be honest with you, I think it used to
Speaker 2: be the ACC. I mean you're talking about Duke Carolina, Syracuse.
Speaker 2: I mean Virginia won a national championship. Louislle won a
Speaker 2: championship right before they joined the league.
Speaker 3: You can almost say the Old Big East before it employe.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, no doubt. But then a lot of those
Speaker 2: schools in the Big East that were great they joined
Speaker 2: the ACC, So yeah, you know that. You know, I
Speaker 2: actually think that that's a you've given me, you know,
Speaker 2: you mentioning the Old Big East reminds me of just
Speaker 2: how this league you to be so loaded. And I
Speaker 2: think he and I don't, by the way, I don't
Speaker 2: think there is you know, an exact like perfect comparison
Speaker 2: because the SEC and football. I mean it, historically it's
Speaker 2: the dominant league and that's really never changed, to be
Speaker 2: honest with you. But the closest thing to it, I
Speaker 2: think probably would have been ACC basketball, or maybe the
Speaker 2: Old Big East before it blew up like whenever. You know,
Speaker 2: the league was a league, but even at that time,
Speaker 2: it wasn't as if you had a ton of title winners.
Speaker 2: It was just you had a lot of really, really
Speaker 2: good teams. So it kind of makes me sad. But
Speaker 2: then again, I look at this as an opportunity for
Speaker 2: Pat Kelsey in year one to go out and be
Speaker 2: one of the best teams in this league. And I'm
Speaker 2: not telling you for certain that that's what's gonna happen,
Speaker 2: because I don't really know. I mean, I have you know,
Speaker 2: I think they can be and I have no problem
Speaker 2: in saying it. It's not like I'm this.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: This is not a backhanded compliment. This is not you know,
Speaker 2: this is just the truth. One of the reasons why
Speaker 2: I feel like Louisville can have a good enough year
Speaker 2: to where they can find themselves in the tournament and
Speaker 2: I don't know, maybe get a decent seed, is because
Speaker 2: I think they can actually have a really good record
Speaker 2: in league play, because one, they've got good pieces and
Speaker 2: I could see them being a good team, but also
Speaker 2: flat out I don't think the league's any good. Let
Speaker 2: me give you an example. I got, you know, whenever
Speaker 2: I was walking out of the hotel to make my
Speaker 2: walk to get lunch, John Shire got out of a
Speaker 2: big suv almost as if like he was being transported
Speaker 2: by like the FBI or something. And you know, he
Speaker 2: just doesn't you know, he doesn't have the the and
Speaker 2: it's not his fault, like this is I'm not taking
Speaker 2: a shot at John Shire. And this isn't even about
Speaker 2: John Shire. But it's just an example. Like when Roy
Speaker 2: Williams and Patino and Shoyzhsky and those guys were around
Speaker 2: like they had a presence about him where you felt
Speaker 2: like you were quite literally among basketball royalty. And there's
Speaker 2: really nobody here that has that presence because pat doesn't
Speaker 2: get here till tomorrow. I don't think I'm joking, but
Speaker 2: you know, hopefully he one day becomes, you know, one
Speaker 2: of the all time greats. But that was just a
Speaker 2: really poor attempted humor on my part. But my like
Speaker 2: in coaching is different now, like the larger than life
Speaker 2: coaching figures, Like there's still a few of them out there,
Speaker 2: Like Patino is still around, but you know, not really
Speaker 2: because he's at Saint John's and like they don't even
Speaker 2: have a fan base and they're in the Big East,
Speaker 2: and nobody's gonna watch him play unless like they make
Speaker 2: a deep run in the tournament. Caliperry, but like he's
Speaker 2: having to rebrand at Arkansas. Bill self is still you know,
Speaker 2: an elite coach, but I wouldn't even know I consider
Speaker 2: I would consider him the young guy among that elite
Speaker 2: tier that was around for a long time, and all
Speaker 2: those guys moved on. So I think the day the
Speaker 2: days of like just being this dude who everybody wants
Speaker 2: to play for because you're just an elite coach, Like
Speaker 2: you're a larger than life figure. You are a superstar
Speaker 2: in the grand scheme of things. There may be some
Speaker 2: coaches that potentially get that type of vibe, but now,
Speaker 2: like you.
Speaker 3: Got to be a player's coach.
Speaker 2: It's not about you. You got to be Hey, I'm
Speaker 2: all about my guys. I'm all about nil, I'm all
Speaker 2: about you know, doing it's best for the players because
Speaker 2: it's all about them, because you have to do that
Speaker 2: now because that's you know, the game has changed. So
Speaker 2: you know, all in all, I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 2: And again we're gonna have pack Kelsey on tomorrow four o'clock.
Speaker 2: You know, the ACC this year, I think it's wide
Speaker 2: open outside of really two teams, I guess, and that's
Speaker 2: the big Dogs. That's Duke in Carolina. And as we
Speaker 2: discussed earlier this week, Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated, you know,
Speaker 2: he's he thinks Louisville's the third best team, and he
Speaker 2: you know, I'm pretty sure he's right up mentioned that.
Speaker 2: You know, he thinks there's actually a gap between three
Speaker 2: and everybody else also clearly a big gap between one
Speaker 2: and two in Louisville. But you know that's exciting to me.
Speaker 2: Can I tell you how it was more starstruck to
Speaker 2: see John Who would it be? John Fantom? I mean
Speaker 2: the love mister John, the Field of sixty eight. They're
Speaker 2: here doing their live show. You got I always forget
Speaker 2: this guy's name, Terrence Oglesby. Is that is that right?
Speaker 3: He's right.
Speaker 2: He was on the call with Rob Douster, who's also here.
Speaker 2: The Field of sixty eight crews here in you know,
Speaker 2: in full and they were doing their live show, and
Speaker 2: I thought about, like, you know, walking up while they're
Speaker 2: live on Twitter and YouTube or whatever. I don't know
Speaker 2: where they're streaming, but I was just going to be like, hey, John,
Speaker 2: you know, can't get an autograph, and it would have
Speaker 2: been very unprofessional for me to do. But you know,
Speaker 2: I've known, like I'll put it this way, I've known
Speaker 2: John Fanta and I've been and I've been cool with
Speaker 2: John Fanta before he became the new big brain of
Speaker 2: college hoops. So it's good to catch up with him.
Speaker 2: And you know, I have ran into a few people
Speaker 2: that I recognized from over the years covering ACC hoops,
Speaker 2: and there's some sids that you know when I've gone
Speaker 2: to road games that you know, they remember if you
Speaker 2: travel to go watch a team play on the road.
Speaker 2: And then you know, not to say I'm the only
Speaker 2: one to do it, I'm sure many many others have
Speaker 2: done it, but like they remember that, like you know,
Speaker 2: they know if you are somebody that has been you know,
Speaker 2: I've gone to see Louisville basketball play three times at Pittsburgh,
Speaker 2: which you know, to me, it's fun and it's kind
Speaker 2: of what I do. But you know they remember us,
Speaker 2: and that's that's what makes me happy. So all right,
Speaker 2: let's get to a quick break. We'll come back on
Speaker 2: the other side. Keep this thing rolling along. We will
Speaker 2: talk some football. We're gonna be joined coming up here
Speaker 2: at right around four o'clock by Kevin Sweeney, a football scoop.
Speaker 2: We'll get his thoughts on what I say. Kevin Sweeney.
Speaker 3: That's the basketball guy.
Speaker 2: Zachary, Yeah, I'm in basketball, Moe. Zach Barnett football scoop
Speaker 2: is going to be our guest joining us here a
Speaker 2: little bit after four o'clock to talk some football, and
Speaker 2: we'll keep this thing rolling along. I've gone way too
Speaker 2: long for a break here, so let's go ahead and
Speaker 2: take a break. It is Coffee and Company. We are
Speaker 2: fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. I'm
Speaker 2: sure there are other cities that both claim to be
Speaker 2: the something city, and you know, maybe they've never really
Speaker 2: had it out to see who truly can claim that
Speaker 2: they are the you know whatever city. But Charlotte is
Speaker 2: known as the Queen City, and I kind of feel
Speaker 2: like I hear that more than I hear Cincinnati being
Speaker 2: called the Queen City. But I also know that Cincinnati
Speaker 2: calls itself the Queen City too, Like who's the real
Speaker 2: queen city?
Speaker 3: And you have two queens?
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't you know, that's a good question.
Speaker 2: Honestly don't know the answer to that. I mean, I
Speaker 2: just you know, I'm looking here at all, you know,
Speaker 2: everything in my hotel room and then a lot of
Speaker 2: the stuff I saw in the airport, like it's the
Speaker 2: part of their branding is Queen City. But yet again,
Speaker 2: maybe it's. And I wouldn't know this if I didn't
Speaker 2: live relatively close to Cincinnati, and I've been there many times.
Speaker 2: It's not that far away. But you know, if I
Speaker 2: was from Cincinnati and I came to Charlotte and I
Speaker 2: saw them branding themselves as the Queen City, I mean
Speaker 2: I would. I mean, I would take it up to somebody.
Speaker 1: Louisville's known as the Derby City and also the River City, right,
Speaker 1: but isn't Maybe I'm wrong about this.
Speaker 2: I mean, there could be so many of the River City.
Speaker 2: We're Derby City more than anything. Now, one thing that
Speaker 2: we do. Maybe this is somewhat of a comparison. And
Speaker 2: I don't really know the specifics. Maybe I'll look it
Speaker 2: up during the next break. But when I think Florida Lee,
Speaker 2: I think of New Orleans. Yeah, but we also have
Speaker 2: like there's something that Louisville does, Like I don't know
Speaker 2: if we've kind of used it here and there, but
Speaker 2: like there's been some branding, some marketing stuff over the
Speaker 2: years with the City of Louisville that has used that
Speaker 2: as well. And I'm sure it's because of some kind
Speaker 2: of his storical connection. I don't know, But you know,
Speaker 2: am I in the Queen City or am I in
Speaker 2: the city that's posing as the Queen City? I don't know.
Speaker 2: Maybe I'll ask Pat Kelsey tomorrow because he's from Cincinnati,
Speaker 2: maybe he could he could stand up, you know, for
Speaker 2: his hometown. All right, it is Coffee and Company, and
Speaker 2: we are fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: I'm coming to you live from Charlotte, maybe the Queen City,
Speaker 2: maybe not, but it's the ACC basketball tip off. The
Speaker 2: women's day concluded earlier today. In fact, I think it's
Speaker 2: concluding throughout the show today and then tomorrow it'll be
Speaker 2: press conferences from all the men's coaches, and of course
Speaker 2: we'll have Pat Kelsey at the podium. That'll be I
Speaker 2: think right around two forty five, and then at four
Speaker 2: o'clock he'll come on the show, and then I believe
Speaker 2: in that same window, I think four o'clock is basically
Speaker 2: just going to be tomorrow where we talked to Case
Speaker 2: and Prior or not Case and Prior, but Javon Hadley
Speaker 2: and Chucky Hepburn. And it's not that i'm you know,
Speaker 2: forgetting the names of the guys. It's because you know,
Speaker 2: I just I don't think they announced until yesterday who
Speaker 2: was going to be representing. Maybe it was Monday. Who's
Speaker 2: gonna be Rep. Ping U ofl here at the at
Speaker 2: the conference media days, and usually it's you know, it's
Speaker 2: team captains, guys that have been around a long time.
Speaker 2: And I don't know if they've announced team captains yet
Speaker 2: for Louisville, I'm not even sure. I Pat Kelsey's a
Speaker 2: team captain guy. And let's be real, I think you can,
Speaker 2: like if you you know, I'd say most teams, like
Speaker 2: ninety nine percent of teams out there do, in fact
Speaker 2: name team captains. I know there's there's some rare situations
Speaker 2: where like they don't do that, But with Louisville's roster
Speaker 2: being entirely brand new pieces that have mostly all come
Speaker 2: from different programs with one true freshman, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 2: you can, like you can in the off season and
Speaker 2: in the early stages of practice, you can do some
Speaker 2: things to really kind of stand out as a leader
Speaker 2: to where your teammates would vote for you. But you know,
Speaker 2: it would make sense if you literally waited until like
Speaker 2: the day before the season started to like name a captain.
Speaker 2: I mean maybe you would worry about some emotions involved
Speaker 2: to where somebody thought they would be the captain and
Speaker 2: then they weren't. But then again, like it's not as
Speaker 2: if you like, these guys have never played together until
Speaker 2: the last you know, five six months by the way,
Speaker 2: real quick, John, Just just to get your thoughts on this,
Speaker 2: wouldn't you agree? And if you don't, it's fine. I
Speaker 2: don't want to persuade you here. But when it comes
Speaker 2: to being a team captain, I feel like a coach
Speaker 2: naming you a captain is certainly an honor if you're
Speaker 2: a player, But I feel like all team captains should
Speaker 2: be voted on by the team.
Speaker 1: No, yeah, that's a good I've never really thought about
Speaker 1: that because so here's an interesting example. Whenever I was
Speaker 1: in high school, I was named soccer team captain, but
Speaker 1: I believe he was by the coach. I'm sitting here
Speaker 1: doing a flex right on a team that was they're
Speaker 1: still talking about that amount exactly.
Speaker 2: But John Allen the team captain from for the abilities
Speaker 2: to charge your soccer.
Speaker 1: I kind of like that, though I liked the idea
Speaker 1: of voting. I don't know if I'm not a team
Speaker 1: captain back in high school if that were the case,
Speaker 1: But who knows.
Speaker 2: Dude, I'm not. I'm not even kidding like I felt,
Speaker 2: and I still to this day, many many years later,
Speaker 2: I'm about to be that guy that's about to throw
Speaker 2: on his letterman jacket, Like I got voted team captain
Speaker 2: three years when I was in high school. I thought,
Speaker 2: and to this day, I still feel like that was
Speaker 2: Like I'm very proud that that that my teammates thought
Speaker 2: that of me.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean, we sound like Uncle Rico
Speaker 3: right now, put your letterman.
Speaker 2: Jacket on, too, man. Well, you know, we'll. I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't mind going back, and I don't mind going
Speaker 2: back in the past.
Speaker 1: Ever named to the North Bullet Hall of Fame or whatever.
Speaker 1: Wasn't that you were on the docket from that a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago or something?
Speaker 2: Are you? Are you making a joke?
Speaker 3: No, I'm not making a joke.
Speaker 2: Do you hear the sirens? I do hear the sirens.
Speaker 3: It's very faint, but I do hear the sirens.
Speaker 2: I feel like you might be making a joke. I
Speaker 2: found out four days ago that I am going into
Speaker 2: the North Bullet of Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3: No Dead Series did not promise. That's a coincident.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'll get to it later as far
Speaker 2: as you know, And maybe I won't because, like I know,
Speaker 2: nobody gives a flying rats ass about that at all,
Speaker 2: but you know, he brought it up. So yes, I
Speaker 2: got I got the call last week that I'm going
Speaker 2: to be going into the North Bullet High School Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame. And I'm very very honored that I'm you
Speaker 2: know that that that they're you know, that they're gonna
Speaker 2: include me. So I kind of when you said that,
Speaker 2: I kind of feel like somebody like.
Speaker 3: Put you up there, steal the thunder.
Speaker 2: But honestly, I don't even know, like I don't even like,
Speaker 2: you know, here, I am thinking, like people are talking,
Speaker 2: you know here Nick Coffee is gonna go in the
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame, Like you know, that's not real life.
Speaker 2: That's not real life. So just I guess, so you know,
Speaker 2: what a coincidence that you thought to bring it up
Speaker 2: whenever I literally just you know, just found out. So anyways,
Speaker 2: I'm not even sure where we were going. Didn't No,
Speaker 2: you didn't. I think you know it's me who ends
Speaker 2: up you know, in a different zip code out of nowhere.
Speaker 2: That's kind of what happened here on the show. But
Speaker 2: I think I was talking about the guys, you know,
Speaker 2: bringing the uls bringing with them for media days. I
Speaker 2: don't even know if these I mean, I don't know
Speaker 2: if these guys are captains, maybe they already would make sense.
Speaker 2: I mean, Chuckie Hepburn's been a captain. He was a
Speaker 2: he was a he was a starting point guard at
Speaker 2: Wisconsin every year he was there, and I think he
Speaker 2: played there three years maybe or was it two. I
Speaker 2: think it was three, And I'm pretty sure he was
Speaker 2: a captain at least the last two years. So he's
Speaker 2: been a captain, he's been a leader. Javon Hadley, I
Speaker 2: don't know if he had a leadership role at Colorado,
Speaker 2: but obviously he's a guy who's played a lot of
Speaker 2: college basketball. I believe this is his fifth or sixth
Speaker 2: year removed from high school. So maybe these guys are
Speaker 2: captains and we'll find out. But either way, we'll have
Speaker 2: them on the show tomorrow and I am looking forward
Speaker 2: to that, all right. Uh, sticking with with basketball here,
Speaker 2: let's go to the text line five oh two sixty
Speaker 2: five three zero seven ninety again, five O two sixty
Speaker 2: five to three zero seven ninety. That is the ln
Speaker 2: N Federal Credit Union text line. I didn't even have
Speaker 2: to give the number out yet. And you guys are
Speaker 2: already filling the text line up. So I certainly appreciate that,
Speaker 2: but and I'm glad somebody did because I'm not even
Speaker 2: sure I would have brought it up today and it
Speaker 2: wasn't It wouldn't have been because I'm trying to like
Speaker 2: ignore something that is a you know, potential negative talking
Speaker 2: point in regards to the Louisville basketball program and Pat
Speaker 2: Kelsey's recruiting. But I'll just read it word for word
Speaker 2: here what it says. I got your first question for
Speaker 2: PK Nick. How about you ask him how he lets
Speaker 2: a kid from Jeffersonville, Indiana, with an offer to go
Speaker 2: to Louisville who grew up a big Louisville fan, commit
Speaker 2: to Northwestern. Make it make sense? First of all, if
Speaker 2: I was to ask him about that, he wouldn't be
Speaker 2: able to answer, because you're not allowed to talk about
Speaker 2: any recruit until they've I mean, as a recruit, you
Speaker 2: can't talk about a player until they've signed with your school.
Speaker 2: And I don't know, I guess can you maybe you
Speaker 2: can talk about a kid who signed elsewhere after the fact,
Speaker 2: because you know that's not tampering. That's like you know
Speaker 2: that the kid is signed, but yes, that is news
Speaker 2: that came down earlier today. Tray Singleton, who is a
Speaker 2: four star recruit from Jeffersonville High School, where you know,
Speaker 2: that's where John Olden was born, That's.
Speaker 1: Where it's who's your roots are Technice Jeffersonsville, Born in Louisville,
Speaker 1: But I did grow up first eleven years of my
Speaker 1: life in Jeffersonville.
Speaker 2: So you know, I'm gonna try my best here. And
Speaker 2: again I'm not kidding, like I knew this happened today,
Speaker 2: and I you know, when I saw the news, I
Speaker 2: wasn't surprised because I just knew he wasn't coming to Louisville,
Speaker 2: and I thought to myself in the moment, like, hey,
Speaker 2: maybe I should get prepared. But like I'm I'm going
Speaker 2: to on the fly here, try to give you my
Speaker 2: thoughts to where it doesn't sound as if I'm just
Speaker 2: making excuses for this coaching staff when it comes to
Speaker 2: basketball recruiting. Trey Singleton, by all accounts, is a lifelong
Speaker 2: Louisville fan who you know, didn't have much on the
Speaker 2: you know, as far as offers, like he had a
Speaker 2: good summer and now he's like a borderline top one
Speaker 2: hundred recruit. And like Louisville offered him a scholarship, so
Speaker 2: clearly they had interest and they wanted him. They had
Speaker 2: him in for an official visit. I think he was
Speaker 2: on campus for an official visit. Might have been for
Speaker 2: the Louisville football seats, an opener, so for him to
Speaker 2: not end up at Louisville, but yet he ends up
Speaker 2: at Northwestern, I mean, I guess I understand why there
Speaker 2: are people who think, like, wow, how we lose recruits
Speaker 2: who grew up around here that love Louisville that are
Speaker 2: going to Northwestern. I remember that guy who kept just
Speaker 2: would not stop telling me that Northwestern's coach Chris Collins
Speaker 2: needed to be the next Louisville. I bet he's having
Speaker 2: a day today. I need to check my Twitter mentions.
Speaker 2: I bet he's probably dunking on me. But again, like
Speaker 2: it's a new world, everybody like, let me ask you,
Speaker 2: this top one hundred recruit a kid from Jeffersonville. And
Speaker 2: I'm gonna try my best also to not make it
Speaker 2: sound like I'm, you know, taking shots at this kid,
Speaker 2: because I'm not. Like he's clear. There's no scenario you
Speaker 2: could make the case that Louisville didn't want him, They
Speaker 2: offered him a scholarship, they had him in for an
Speaker 2: official visit within the last month. This is not a hey,
Speaker 2: we passed on him, We don't want him. It's not that.
Speaker 2: But these types of recruits are not guys that you
Speaker 2: live and die by anymore, and really they never were.
Speaker 2: But you know, the optics here kid in your backyard,
Speaker 2: kid who has Louisville in his you know he's a
Speaker 2: Louisville fan. Like, yeah, the optics aren't great, but again,
Speaker 2: this is a new world, Like you don't like, there's
Speaker 2: not as much pressure to go out there and get
Speaker 2: this kind of guy because it's a much bigger get
Speaker 2: for Northwestern than it is Louisville. And if you're recruiting
Speaker 2: and you're being genuine when you talk to these young men,
Speaker 2: he's gonna know that he's a much bigger deal in Northwestern.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's just the truth. Now, it doesn't mean
Speaker 2: that like louisll didn't really want him, but like they
Speaker 2: probably didn't prioritize him in a way that he wanted
Speaker 2: to be prioritized. And that was the noise. As soon
Speaker 2: as his visit concluded that he just didn't necessarily feel
Speaker 2: the love. So you know, he's the highest ranked recruit
Speaker 2: in Northwestern history as far as recruiting rankings go when
Speaker 2: it comes to like the Internet. So we're going, we're talking,
Speaker 2: you know, basically since these Internet recruiting services, these databases
Speaker 2: have existed, Tray Singleton is the highest ranked recruit to
Speaker 2: ever commit to Northwestern, and he did choose Northwestern not
Speaker 2: only over louis but also Virginia and Purdue. So, you know,
Speaker 2: if you if we lived in a world where the
Speaker 2: portal didn't exist and that like you really had, like
Speaker 2: if the only way for you to genuinely build your
Speaker 2: roster and develop talent and develop teams was to get
Speaker 2: freshmen who are either really good right away or guys
Speaker 2: that you know, have a lot of potential that you
Speaker 2: can develop, then this would be a really big red flag.
Speaker 2: This would be a real head scratcher. But we're not
Speaker 2: in that world anymore. Like, this is not somebody you
Speaker 2: put the full court press on. This is not somebody
Speaker 2: that like you make sure doesn't get out of your backyard.
Speaker 2: And it's not to say they didn't want him, Like
Speaker 2: I'm trying to balance it and not talk out of
Speaker 2: both sides of my mouth because if they would have
Speaker 2: landed him, would have said, yeah, good, get top one
Speaker 2: hundred caliber player you know from around here. Maybe he
Speaker 2: develops into a really good player. But like, if you're
Speaker 2: a high if you're a high level coach, and I
Speaker 2: think Pat's high level coach me more so, if you
Speaker 2: coach a high level program, you know that you will
Speaker 2: have the ability with NIL and with your brand and
Speaker 2: your visibility to compete in the top tier in the portal.
Speaker 2: So you're gonna utilize, like, you know, it would make
Speaker 2: no even if this kid, like let's just say this
Speaker 2: kid ends up being really really good at Northwestern and
Speaker 2: in three years he's like a eighteen and eight guy
Speaker 2: every night. You know, some may say he's the one
Speaker 2: that got away, But if it came down to like
Speaker 2: nil investment coming out of high school, it still would
Speaker 2: have been a bad investment putting a bunch of and
Speaker 2: I'm not even saying this kid shows Northwestern because of NIL,
Speaker 2: but like he wanted to be wanted a little bit more.
Speaker 2: It sounded it sounds like and I think Louisville clearly
Speaker 2: told him that they wanted him, but like he you know,
Speaker 2: and you know, I know somebody on the staff up
Speaker 2: at Butler that recruited this young man as well that
Speaker 2: kind of said the same thing that like, if you
Speaker 2: weren't like really really like making sure he was well
Speaker 2: aware that you, you know, you're program's livelihood depended upon
Speaker 2: him being there, then he didn't want to talk to you.
Speaker 2: I mean that was word for word what I was
Speaker 2: told by somebody who was part of the recruitment for
Speaker 2: him up a Butler. And you know, more power to him.
Speaker 2: The young man can do whatever he wants, but he's
Speaker 2: not the caliber recruit that any high level program would
Speaker 2: bend over backwards for, because again it's a new world.
Speaker 2: You know, top one hundred caliber players used to be
Speaker 2: considered big time gets, and they still are to an extent.
Speaker 2: Because if they're picking you over you know, the other
Speaker 2: really big programs in college basketball, that's a good sign
Speaker 2: for you. But you don't, like, you know, it's you
Speaker 2: don't have to have those guys now, like I think
Speaker 2: a lot of coaches will. In fact, in fact, John
Speaker 2: Shire talked about this. I think it might have been
Speaker 2: last season that like, moving forward, they may only bring
Speaker 2: in it duke maybe two three freshman a year and
Speaker 2: Duke's not a good example because even before the New
Speaker 2: World they were still getting the elite guys. But like,
Speaker 2: if you are a program that I mean, Louisville is
Speaker 2: a good example to be honest with you, Like Louisville
Speaker 2: could could land a high four star, low five star
Speaker 2: guy and it wouldn't be like the biggest shocker in
Speaker 2: the world. It's not like, you know, they're picking Northwestern
Speaker 2: as a five star recruit or something like that. But
Speaker 2: if you know that, like you know, this guy in
Speaker 2: the previous world would have been a really good player
Speaker 2: for you potentially in three years because you developed him
Speaker 2: and he had some real raw talent like that, That's
Speaker 2: just not where we are anymore. Because here's what happens.
Speaker 2: Those guys they don't want to sit and wait. And
Speaker 2: realistically speaking, this kid may this kid Tray Singleton may
Speaker 2: sit and wait wherever he goes. But at Louisville, you
Speaker 2: know if pack Kelsey's gonna utilize you know, because he's
Speaker 2: got to you know, he's got to show proof of concept.
Speaker 2: As I mentioned before, like these elite freshmen are gonna
Speaker 2: come play for him and commit to him. I think
Speaker 2: he's gonna have to show that he's not only been
Speaker 2: a good coach at Charleston and a good coach at Winthrop,
Speaker 2: He's gonna have to show that he can win at
Speaker 2: a high level here and the only reason he hasn't
Speaker 2: been able to do that yet is because he hasn't
Speaker 2: coached a game. So again, this is one of those
Speaker 2: things where I choose to believe that both things can
Speaker 2: be true. Yes, Louisville wanted him, and you know he
Speaker 2: didn't want to come here, but also on the other side, like,
Speaker 2: I don't think that Louisville basketball, like nothing changed today
Speaker 2: with the future of louisvill basketball because this kid committed
Speaker 2: to Northwestern over Louisville. The optics aren't great, but again,
Speaker 2: Northwestern programs of that caliber are probably going to start
Speaker 2: getting those kind of guys that they never used to
Speaker 2: get before because the higher level programs like Louisville aren't
Speaker 2: going to be as willing to off you know, to
Speaker 2: go all in because they know that they could, you know,
Speaker 2: go get it. They could go get two players in
Speaker 2: back to back years, different guys with one year to
Speaker 2: play that'll probably give them more than what this young man.
Speaker 2: And it's no offense to him It's just he's a freshman,
Speaker 2: and freshmen don't impact the game the way they used
Speaker 2: to unless you know, we're we're talking about top ten,
Speaker 2: top twenty guys, and he's not that. I quick break
Speaker 2: will come back on the other side, keep it rolling along.
Speaker 2: It's Coffee and Company we are feel about. Thornon's coming
Speaker 2: to you live here in Charlotte on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: Luke Comb's here as I come to you Live from Charlotte.
Speaker 2: Coffee and Company field by Thornton's here on Sports Talk
Speaker 2: seven ninety. Luke Comb's a North Carolina native. I don't
Speaker 2: know if he's from Charlotte. I think he's actually from
Speaker 2: I think he's from close to where app state is
Speaker 2: Boone Boone, North Carolina, which of course they were one
Speaker 2: of the I mean, of all the cities that were
Speaker 2: just you know, completely devastated by the floods from Hurricane Helene,
Speaker 2: Boone was one of them. So he's doing all I
Speaker 2: In fact, there's been a ton of marketing material, rather
Speaker 2: be billboards or all kinds of stuff throughout the airport,
Speaker 2: even in my hotel here that you know, are highlighting
Speaker 2: different things that people are doing to raise money for
Speaker 2: those that you know, lost everything because of the flooding.
Speaker 2: In fact, it's not as if I can, you know,
Speaker 2: since it from just you know, I've only been here
Speaker 2: for ran you know, for maybe five six hours, and
Speaker 2: I haven't gone anywhere other than my hotel once I
Speaker 2: got here. But it is downtown and just talking to
Speaker 2: people at the airport, talking to the lady who helped
Speaker 2: me at the at the rental car place. There's a
Speaker 2: lot of people from areas of North Carolina, Western North
Speaker 2: Carolina specifically that have that have come to the Charlotte
Speaker 2: area because you know, their home is is either you know,
Speaker 2: ruined no more or it's just you know, it's not
Speaker 2: you know that they don't have the infrastructure. They have electricity,
Speaker 2: they don't have you know, water, that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: So obviously Charlotte being one of the Charlotte's got to
Speaker 2: be the biggest city in North Carolina, I would assume, yes,
Speaker 2: I'm not even sure what would be second, maybe maybe
Speaker 2: le you know, and then Carolina is weird though, because
Speaker 2: they've like the area, the tree ad is what they
Speaker 2: call it. It's huge, but it's not one city, it's
Speaker 2: three of them. It's Raleigh it's Durham and and I think, uh,
Speaker 2: I think it's Raleigh.
Speaker 3: Durham and Green wins Salem.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Winston Salem's in there too, so like collectively that
Speaker 2: that area, the region essentially is is huge. But Charlotte's
Speaker 2: clearly the biggest city, and they've got you know, a
Speaker 2: lot more hotels than most cities, I would assume. So
Speaker 2: I'm sure there's a lot of folks here trying to
Speaker 2: put put life back together, which I'm sure there'll be
Speaker 2: people in Florida doing the doing the same thing. I
Speaker 2: have not. I mean, I was paranoid as hell at
Speaker 2: the airport today just thinking that even though my direct
Speaker 2: flight from Louisville to Charlotte is not going to be
Speaker 2: in any area that is going to be hit with
Speaker 2: the you know, the actual you know, hurricane type stuff
Speaker 2: that's going to be all over Florida and the other part,
Speaker 2: you know, other parts of the world. With Milton, I
Speaker 2: keep forgeting the name.
Speaker 1: Yeah it's Milton. I always it's supposed to hit until tonight. Right,
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm wrong about that, So.
Speaker 2: You know, from from where I am, it shouldn't be
Speaker 2: a big deal. But I just don't I don't know, man,
Speaker 2: I have this worry that, like, you know, you can
Speaker 2: be in you can be in a city that is,
Speaker 2: you know, twelve hours away on a drive. But just
Speaker 2: if airlines are dealing with issues because of one region,
Speaker 2: one area is having such bad weather, you know, you
Speaker 2: got to keep in mind, like all that that that
Speaker 2: they could still they could still impact you when it
Speaker 2: comes to travel. So I'm sure I'll be okay tomorrow,
Speaker 2: fingers crossed. But you know, I have had some worry that,
Speaker 2: like it could get so bad in Florida that you know,
Speaker 2: maybe the plane that's coming to get me to take
Speaker 2: me back to Louisville won't make it or something. I
Speaker 2: don't know. Hopefully I'm okay, But I remember being in
Speaker 2: Chicago years ago, and this is I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: makes sense, but it's something I'd never thought about before,
Speaker 2: and I'd never experienced it before. But my connecting flight
Speaker 2: to come back from I believe Kansas City was in
Speaker 2: Charlotte or I'm sorry, in Chicago, and I was at
Speaker 2: the ol'd Hair Airport, and you know, it was the
Speaker 2: closest thing I've ever had to like experiencing a real
Speaker 2: nightmare scenario at an airport and what I mean is
Speaker 2: like where you feel like, Okay, I'm either going to
Speaker 2: have to like walk to a hotel and hope they
Speaker 2: have a room or just sleep here. And it was
Speaker 2: because weather was not great. But more than anything, it
Speaker 2: was because the President was flying and I didn't realize.
Speaker 2: And it makes lital sense that, like if the president
Speaker 2: is flying, they're not allowed to have as many aircrafts
Speaker 2: in the air because of security. So like my flight
Speaker 2: from Chicago to Louisville was what forty minutes for something
Speaker 2: an hour at most. So when they're gonna just cut
Speaker 2: flights and tell people to rent a car and drive,
Speaker 2: that was one of them. But because of weather, like
Speaker 2: there weren't rental cars. But yeah, fingers crossed. I've not
Speaker 2: had a bad experience in an airport in any way
Speaker 2: compared to some of the things that you see. When
Speaker 2: it comes to bad experiences, I can tell you this,
Speaker 2: you won't have one at Jefferson Animal Hospital because they're
Speaker 2: here to take care of you and your pets. I mean,
Speaker 2: they're not going to take care of you. They don't
Speaker 2: treat you, but you know what I mean, you care
Speaker 2: about your pets are Therefore, if they're taking care of
Speaker 2: your pets. They're taking care of you. Again, it is
Speaker 2: Jefferson Animal Hospital. They've been around for forty four years.
Speaker 2: Since nineteen eighty they've been open twenty four hours, three
Speaker 2: undred and sixty five days a year, with a doctor
Speaker 2: on site in case of an emergency. So keep that
Speaker 2: in mind, but don't just keep it in mind for
Speaker 2: an emergency. If you have not been taking your pet
Speaker 2: periodically to get checked up and just to make sure
Speaker 2: that they're healthy and they've got you know, they got
Speaker 2: a good bill of health, then now's the time to
Speaker 2: do something. You know, now's the time to reach out
Speaker 2: to the Jefferson Animal Hospital. Give them a call Fibo
Speaker 2: two nine hundred pets, or you can check them out
Speaker 2: online at Jefferson Vets dot com. Again, it's Jefferson Animal Hospital.
Speaker 2: All right. We got two hours that we'll come back
Speaker 2: on the other side, reset some things, and then we'll
Speaker 2: bring in the one and the only mister Zach Barnett
Speaker 2: of FootballScoop dot com get his thoughts on that Vandy upset,
Speaker 2: What these upsets that happened last week mean for the
Speaker 2: playoff race and some other things. We always have a
Speaker 2: good conversation with Zach So that's coming up next right
Speaker 2: here on Sports Talk seven ninety Hang It