Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ACC SQUAD - ACC Football's Controversial Championship Format: A Breakdown

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

The ACC is shaking things up with potential changes to its football championship format and the expanded 12-team college football playoff. How will these shifts impact the Florida Gators and other top teams? Dive into the debate as Alex Donno, Jackson Holzer, Isaac Shade, and Kenton Gibbs explore the implications for college football and basketball. Key figures like Jim Phillips and rising star Cooper Flag are at the center of this discussion, with insights into Duke Blue Devils' championship potential and the randomness of March Madness.Join the conversation to uncover how these developments could redefine the landscape of college sports. Don't miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Is the ACC football championship game find the way it is, or does the commission need to turn it upside down? Let's bring in the squad. You're talking ball with the ACCC squad, sponsored by game time. From Florida State to North Carolina, from Syracuse to Miami, and from NC State to California, it's the local experts of the locked on podcast network, bringing you scoops, breakdowns,

and the most comprehensive preview of the upcoming ACC weekend. Hang on, it could get loud, it could get heated, and it will definitely be fun. Squad up, you're part of the ACC squad. Shout out to the everydayers and welcome into the ACC squad. I am Alex Dono from Locked on Caints. We got Jackson Holzer from Locked on Syracuse, Isaac Shade from Lockedon Tar Heels and Locked on College Basketball. We'll talk some basketball.

So I want to make sure to throw that in. Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack. We're available free wherever you get your podcasts. We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown podcast. or your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app,

create an account, and use code, locked on college for $20 off your first purchase. On this episode of the squad, we will talk some hoops because Cooper Flagg has everybody talking. Basically, they'll rename ACC Rookie of the Week, the Flag Rookie of the Week award. He wins it every single week. How far can the Duke Blue Devils go with a primarily freshman team?

We'll talk about this college football playoff, which has come to an end. if we like the 12-team format, which could get bigger or if it took too much away from the regular season. But guys, a new idea for the postseason. So ACCC Commissioner Jim Phillips, comments that were relayed to us by Andrea Adelson of ESPN, is apparently doing some brainstorming, right? Because we saw, you know, SMU who lost in the ACC championship game, folks were sweating it out. Will they get into the playoff? They ultimately did. A lot of people thought they should not have gotten into the playoff. Remember, they won the regular season.

So Jim Phillips has has thrown out the idea that, hey, maybe whoever is first seed in the ACC after the regular football season, maybe they don't play in the ACC championship game. Maybe they just sit that week out and we let number two versus number three go at it in the ACC championship to make sure that top team gets into the playoff. I know Kenton and I already don't like this idea. We'll talk. about why but jackson holes or i'll let you buy the first round do you think jim phillips is on to something well i appreciate the brainstorming because brainstorming's good you want to come up with ideas but that doesn't mean every idea is a good idea this is that is stupid okay so you're going to have

the two versus the three for a championship with the one sitting out so so who who becomes the ACC champion then. So, so in our scenario here, SMU, I get is the regular season champion. They're the one, but they don't play in the conference title game. So then you have in, I guess from this year, it would have been Miami versus Clemson. Yeah. What? And also, I think this is also stupid because the committee's not as stupid as you think. You think they're just going to be like, oh, like, we, we, we, yeah, we see what you're doing. guys like they're going to know exactly what we're doing here so i would only kind of be in favor of it if every other conference was going to do the same thing yes but if it's only the acc then i don't

see the college football playoff committee honoring the aced title game i just they'll just be like fine we'll take the one seed and yeah your conference champion will be illegitimate and we won't care well and i think that's the point of doing it jackson is like i and i I'm not even, I'm with you guys. I'm against it, but I just want to try to put my shoe, my, my Jim Phillips shoes on and see if I can figure out what he's talking about. I think the goal would be, like in basketball, the way the NCAA tournament is,

is each conference gets to determine how they figure out who their automatic qualifier is for the NCAA tournament. So I see this at, you know, going back to the SMU argument and Coach Lashley, what he said, I think they're trying to do this as a way to protect their automatic qualifier. and like if this is our team that's going to be in, this is our actual conference champion and the team we're sending to the CFP.

But so that the committee doesn't jack with them in case they lose the conference championship game like SMU did this year, this is our way of saying this team is our champion. They've won. They're going to the CFP. And so that the committee doesn't jerk their chain, we're going to have the championship be the second and third place teams. That said, I'm with you guys. I don't think it's a good idea. but I think that's where he's coming from.

Moving from fear like this is crazy. Moving from this level of desperation, moving from this level, whatever happened to competition, whatever happened to, hey, I want to win it all. I want to go out there and prove my medal. I am the best of the best. And I'm going to show it every time you give me an opportunity.

I'm going to seek out extra opportunities to show you just how bad of a man I am. What is this? Oh, our conference needs to have somebody. And in order to assure that somebody goes, we'll do some weird aggregate thing. This ain't no day of soccer. The games don't end zero in America.

What are we doing? What is this? If you're the winner, if you're the champion, if you're a true champion, you show up in the playoffs. You show up in your conferences, conference championship, and you make it happen. All of this trying to gamify,

system and all that listen ain't no need for that you know how you can game without a system lace up those cleats get on the field and win some game don't know and i don't say brainstorming ideas for a reason you know what we say on locked on acc we do the knowledge jim phillis clearly did not do the knowledge when he came up with this idea there was no knowledge done here now there's another go ahead well i was just going to say like actually reading the article It's funny because it's this idea that gained all the momentum and all the, because it's because of the lunacy of it. Commissioner Phillips also proposed an idea of like having the top four teams play in like a semi-final sort of situation where on the last day of the regular season, which means then you got to back up what you do with all your rivalry games and all that.

That's for another. But talk about having the top four teams play on the last day of the regular season, one, four, two, three. And then those two winners play in the ACC championship. And so I really do think he's just spit. balling, spraying all this stuff out. He talked about how they're going to talk more about it on their coaches call next week. And it's just because, again, the other one is so crazy and out there that it's the one that gained traction.

Well, and I want to talk about that, hold on. I want to talk about that four team idea, which is like kind of the exact opposite of the two versus three. Yes, thank you. But here's, and here's, if the ACC were to do that, a couple of thoughts, if they were to decide, hey, we're going to make the ACC championship. Now, now it's a four team tournament, right? My initial thought is that sounds like a phenomenal money grab because you get two extra games out of ACC championship weekend.

You probably extended to a full week in that series. So a tremendous money grab. But then my other thought is we can completely stop ever using the phrase student athlete again because you already, guys, you already have an expanded playoff where you might have to play in now three games just to get through and win the CFP. and they might extend it even further because it could become a 16 team playoff pretty soon. So you're telling me on top of a potentially 16 team college football playoff, you're also going to create a four team tournament for a conference championship. That sounds like you're potentially adding, what, five, six extra games? I don't think that's what he's talking about, though, Donno.

I think what he's saying, the way I interpreted Commissioner Phillips is he's saying, on the last day of the regular season, you do this and you like you backdate all the, And so I think what you would, here is what I postulated in my head is then you, like, you have that. But the other team's final regular season games is like five, six, seven against eight, because they're not playing for anything, right? I would imagine they're talking about doing something like that. We're not talking about adding another extra game on top of everything else. So then what do you do with rivalry week?

I was just about to say. You got to back it up. Where does that fit into the schedule? Exactly. That's the problem. Do you back it up a week? What do you do? what you could do is you could just get rid of a non-con game.

If you get rid of a non-con game and then say, all right, we're going to do a four-team tournament instead. Well, then it fits into the schedule. You can do it even before Rivalry Week. Don't make me say it. Don't make me be the guy that gets called non-patriotic today. Just go on Army Navy Week. What are we doing here? What does an answer that's right here.

And we're all like, oh, no, we don't. Just go on in Amy week. Nobody cares that much. Oh, we get to see the two service academies go and fight each other to 24, 23. Oh, nobody can mess with the safety of that. Just do it that week. Do it that week. You don't got to move around the schedule.

We still get to work the wheels off the dirty foot. I mean, our teams still get to play each other on rivalry week. And, you know, all the good things still happen. I don't know what the problem is there. But there are other rivalries outside of North Carolina and North Carolina State. I mean, that's what I'm saying. And that's what I'm saying. If you play the Army Navy

Week, it doesn't affect anybody. So Army Navy Week is the start of your four-game tournament, and then the regular conference championship happens on the regular conference championship week. You see what I'm saying? Like nobody has to move anything in that case. But to Donald's point, these

boys are going to be broke up and tore down. There's a reason that football does not play 30 games a year like basketball. Okay? There's a reason. All right, by game number 25, we'd all have a bad case of the shakes and something that doesn't resemble young men who are healthy and strong. So I'm not sure that the answer is adding in an additional game on top of what is already, like Donald said, a potential 16 game season. Well, we just had an extended season come to an end, guys, because we had the first 12 team playoff. The Ohio State Buckeyes, and I give Notre Dame credit, because,

They made it a game at the end. I was thinking this one was over by halftime, but Ohio State prevails against Notre Dame. So you crowned the national champion this year in a team that, you know, in the previous format, uh, wouldn't have gotten there. Um, I actually liked the way the 12th team playoff played out,

but I see a lot of folks complaining that, hey, by expanding the playoff, you invalidate the regular season. I want to know if anyone feels that way. You want to keep it locked right here, my friends. We're only getting started. at Alex Dono here from locked on Cains and locked on ACC.

Kenton Gibbs from locked on Wolfpack and locked on ACC, Isaac Shade from locked on tar heels and locked on college basketball. Jackson Holzer from locked on Syracuse. Keep it locked right here to locked on ACC. Therapy is a game changer. It can help manage stress, improve sleep, and communicate more effectively. But finding the right therapist in fitting sessions into a busy schedule can be a challenge. That's where Talkspace comes in.

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make sure for your next listen, you check out Lockdown College Football. Spencer McLaughlin, I mean, I'm sure, you know, a national championship game that was like Christmas Eve for him or Christmas morning for him, whatever. I mean, that was incredible college football season just came to an end. So make sure you check out Locked on college football, available free wherever you get your podcast and available free on YouTube. Guys, I loved the extended playoff this year. You know, I think it's, I think it's really cool that the teams who got those first round buys ended up all, you know, losing coming off. that by week. You know, you crown a champion that was, you know, down in the dump seven weeks ago after losing to Michigan. People wanted Ryan Day fired and look at Ryan Day now. I mean,

incredible sort of Notre Dame losing to NIU and getting to the championship game. So, guys, I loved every second of it. Now, the counter argument that I've heard is, you know, college football has always had the most meaningful regular season, no room for error. Now you have some room for error. Any of you not like the 12 team, which may soon expand, by the way, to 14 or 15? Do the NFL playoffs negate the regular season? Do the MLB playoffs negate the regular season? What about the 18 month long NBA playoffs? No, we're still all in. We're tuned in for every game. You know what? Actually, I will say, I think the NBA playoffs do negate the NBA I was going to say, I think the problem with baseball is that now every team's trying to

win 85 games, but I get your point. Right. Right. Yes. The NBA, I'll buy that one. But let's just stick with the NFL same sport. The NFL playoffs do not negate the regular season. In fact, we've added more regular season games, right? Because we love it and it's a money grab and we're all in. And anytime there's football on, we're going to watch it, even if it's a meaningless bowl game on December 37th or whatever we're doing. We're all going to tune in because football's on. So no, it doesn't negate it for me in any way, shape, or form. In fact, I think the storyline of We lost in Northern Illinois, and then we were the national runner-up is even more intriguing than anything else that could have happened. We'll talk about this maybe in a minute, but my bigger issue is still the seating, not the elongated playoffs.

I wholeheartedly disagree. I couldn't agree more. Yes, the playoff cheapens the regular season. But who gives a damn? Who cares? Oh, we didn't get to see Dave Orsted upset Pat White and that in their season. Oh, how terrible life would have been without that. Nobody gives. See, moments like this make me want to stretch how far Jarvis can edit stuff out. Because stuff like this just ticks me up. Who cares if the regular season doesn't matter like it used to? Who cares if the bar for whether or not to the best team is no longer the most perfect team?

I don't give a damn. You had to get on the line. You had your opportunities. Line it up and make it happen. Period. Period. People are saying, well, this bigger playoff will just give blue bloods and great teams an opportunity to lose a few games and disguise themselves as a Cinderella. No, no.

What happens is everybody gets a chance. Everybody gets their chance to win every game that you have and make it meaningful as you want to make it. And if you lose a game, guess what? That loss ain't the end of the world. You got to show up again. You got to do it again. So, again, I don't see why we're lying about this chief. in the regular season? Yes, it does. But I'm not watching a week three game between, you know,

Notre Dame and the school for the differently able. I'm just not doing it. I don't care. That's just not something I want to see. And if that upset happens and the team still gets there, more part of that team. Because again, the regular season being the most important, being the end-all, be-all, the B-CS way of doing it, where it's like you have to go undefeated and the teams that you beat have to be good too. I think it's deeply flawed and unfair. This system makes you align it up and show it. I think the college football playoff this year accomplished exactly what it was supposed to accomplish, and that is finding out who truly is the best team in college football in a given season.

Because you had 12 teams. And under the old format, guess what? The team that won the national championship this year would not have been in the playoff. There's no chance Ohio State at 10 and 2. as not a top two team in the big 10, we're going to make the college football playoff in a four-team format. But you know what? Because there are 12 teams,

it does give you a little bit more margin for error. And therefore, you have more of a likelihood of finding out who truly is the best team in the nation. If you go back to last season, all right, there were seven teams who had a legitimate case for that 14 playoff. Seven. And two of those teams, I thought had a legitimate chance to win the national championship.

that did not make the playoff. I'm excluding Florida State because without Jordan Travis, they weren't winning it, okay? Even if they had them, they could have won it, but they didn't. Ohio State last year could have won the national championship game. They legitimately could have won the whole thing, but they didn't get a chance to.

They could have won it. Who was the other team? Oh, yeah, Georgia. Georgia, the number one team in the nation, the entire season. They lose one game, the SEC title game to Alabama. They get left out of the country. college football playoff. That team could have won the whole thing in a 12-team format.

So I think the 12-team format is perfect. It's perfect. It gives you more of a likelihood of finding the best team in the nation, which is exactly what it did this year. Ohio State got it done. And to tell the point, while we're not like, while we can agree on whatever it does to the regular season, it feels like it also, because of the extra margin that you have, it probably incentivizes more brand-name non-con games, right? Right, because it's like Oregon and Georgia can play, and it's not the end of the world if you drop that game in week one or four, 18, whenever it is, right? Because it's like, that's all right. They recognize this is two of the best teams of the nation.

We go back and do it again. And I think that's also a win. And I was just about to say that. I need to have it acknowledged that while some people say it cheap as the regular season, everything comes with its tradeoffs, right? If you want to make your car lighter and faster, it'll be worse than accidents. That's just the way that things work. That's just how these types of things happen. And one of the tradeoffs that you get here is you get, okay, do you want to risk it to where you play a soft schedule and you have to be perfect?

Or you schedule another big name, another blue blood, another, hey, this is a really good team or should be and take that opportunity of, hey, I can get myself a top 10 win here. I can steal me a top 10 win as opposed to say, bring me Western Carolina with all due respect to the catamouts. bring me Villanova. Why are they, that's not a football school. What are we doing here? Bring me, oh, I don't. Basketball school right now, Kenton, honestly. Yikes.

But you get my point, you know, like it incentivizes. So while some may argue it cheap as the regular season, to me, this incentivizes saying, because if we look at the teams that got in that would not otherwise, did all of those teams not play massively great teams in terms in terms of who they lost to? State lost to Oregon, the number one team in the nation. Ohio State lost to Oregon, the number one team in the nation. Michigan, we get it as a rivalry is a little bit different. And Notre Dame's loss wasn't great either. But everybody else who lost, lost two great teams.

Penn State's only loss was to Ohio State and Oregon in the conference championship game. So the teams that got in, by and large, Texas's losses were to Georgia. Nobody had these a bunch of losses where it's like, well, damn, you lost the multiple six and six teams. and we're supposed to let you in? Sorry, Granny. Banbo is never going to make it. But that's the point. It incentivizes playing great teams.

Yeah, and also, I don't, to me, it didn't cheap in the regular season. Like, I actually, I disagree with that concept. It changed what you look for in a regular season because, yeah, in the old days, right? Even before the 14th playoff, yeah, certain teams, if you lost one game, your season's probably a wrap. So people think it cheapens it because that's no longer the case. But at the same time, guys, I mean, now. Now, trying to figure out week to week who we're going to be in those top 12 spots. I thought it made the regular season more meaningful for the teams that were on the fringe of that.

I mean, over the final couple of weeks, we're all wondering, hey, is, is Miami going to be in the top 12 this week? Alabama, South Carolina, you know, which G5 team can sneak in there, which is really never something we used to talk about. So, I mean, yeah, it changed the parameters of what makes the regular season meaningful for certain people. For me, I didn't think it's cheap in the regular season at all because so many more teams had an opportunity to try to get in that top 12 and maybe a little extra exciting this year, the first year of it, because we didn't really know how the committee was going to handle it. Right. Because, I mean, it came down to after the conference championship game, we really had no idea

were they going to put SMU in or not. Like they set that precedent and I hope they stick with that precedent. But I want to talk a little bit about Isaac's point. You talk about the seeding. Isaac, I think they're probably going to do something about that because most people were unhappy, but how would you like to see them come up with the seeding here from here on out? For sure.

For me, it's just basically like, let's take the seeds in seed order, keep the automatic qualifiers, but they don't have to be like the top four don't have to be one, two, three, and four, right? Like, yes, like Arizona State should have been in because they won the big 12th. but they should not have been a top four seed with a buy. That's ultimate, like, just to put it as simply as I can, seed the teams in the order they are. Alabama, who they were 11 in the actual ranking, right,

still gets bumped out because of this. But it's just, it's a reassembling of how the teams would have been seeded this year, if that makes sense. I don't hate that. That's basically basketball. And I'm definitely fine with that. I'm definitely fine with that, but I will say this. The only thing I oppose that people are mentioning in that type of scenario,

to me, a conference champion should still get the home game. If you can win your conference championship, there should be something of a reward for that. There should be something said, yes, you may not be as high of a seat as this other team. But you know what? Damage and won your conference, and even though that team may be great,

they may be world beaters, they may be gangbusters, they still got to come to your crib and take your food off your table because you won your conference championship, you earned the right to have them have to do that if they're going to advance. That's just my opinion.

I am fine with receding and not having one through four all be conference champions, but I never want to see those teams who won their conference championship have to play in the way game to a team that did. To me, that's just it reaches of unfairness. And it's going to be a similar situation of what we saw in most of the bowl games back in the day. When people were talking about, hey, Michigan lost in the Rose Bowl, where they had to go out to California to play USC. Of course, there's a little bit of a disadvantage there. Hey, Iowa lost in the Sugar Bowl,

but they had to go down to New Orleans and play LSU. Of course they're not going to have a good time there. Hey, this team lost to Florida and the Orange Bowl, you know, so on and so forth. I think that the teams who are conference champions, words are fighting me, but I got hands to. The teams that are conference champions should have a situation where they get their home. I don't really agree with that, but I can compromise on it. How about that?

I don't really agree with it. I think the reward of being an automatic bid into the playoff is enough because you can be one of those teams where you really weren't one of the 12 best teams like a Clemson this season. But you did win your conference and therefore because you won your conference, you get to play in the college football playoff over a team like Alabama because you won your conference. I think that in of itself is a reward. but you know what i can compromise on kenton so that that's okay i can compromise but i want to know how would it be fair to say oh well they didn't you know they didn't deserve that or whatever when what the hell did texas earn up to that point who had texas beating up to that point the only that we saw the play in the top 10 put the wheels off in place so what who are we to say oh

your conference championship has less valor than a win over vanderbubbubb basically kenton what i'm saying is that your system is better than the current system, but I still don't think that's the ideal system. I would rather what you're proposing than what it is right now, which is we're guaranteeing them the top four. We're just going to give them an automatic buy. And I think that's kind of stupid. I think we can change that. They say if nobody's happy, it's a good compromise. So I guess it's a pretty good compromise. And I will say, nobody would be happy with your system, Kenton. That's what I'm not going to be happy. Nobody would be happy. If we can get Jackson and Kenton to even somewhat agree on something.

We agreed in the last time. We all agreed that the other idea is stupid too with the ACC. That's true. We'll talk a little college hoops when we come back here on the locked on ACC squad. You know, freshman-led teams don't normally win national titles, but

is the DNA of these Duke Blue Devils and Cooper Flag? Is it just different? We're not done yet on the ACC squad. I'm certainly not done yet with game time. I mean, guys, this is my spot for getting tickets and attending NFL playoff games, it's an experience like no other, the energy, the excitement, the connection with other fans. It's unmatched. I remember the thrill of seeing

my first playoff game. I'm old enough to remember the last time the Miami Dolphins won a playoff game about 24 years ago. I go way back going to these playoff games, guys. It is absolutely thrilling. And you're going to find the best tickets, the best features, and the best prices at game time. Game time makes it even easier to create those unforgettable moments with their new feature game time picks. It filters out all the fluff and shows you only their best deals on great seats. So you can focus on what matters being there. I just use game time picks to grab Orlando Solar Bears hockey tickets the other day. We got the best possible deals. Take the guest work out of buying tickets with game time. Guys, I love the panoramic view from your seat you get in the app

before you buy. Take the guesswork out with game time. Download the game time app. Create an account and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account in redeemed code locked on college, all one word, for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Thank you so much for making the ACC squad, your first listen and your first watch today. Make sure you check out all of our other shows, make them your next listen.

Check out Jackson on Locked on Syracuse. Jackson like me, unfortunately, on Locked on Cainz. Not a whole lot of basketball to talk about right now. We're pretending it's still football season in these parts. That's never the case, though, for Isaac Shade, who hosts Lockdown Tahrhills and Lockdown College Basketball. And Kenton Gibbs, of course, who enjoyed that final four run with Lockdown Wolfpack this past season.

Now, guys, as ACC enjoyers and as college basketball officinados, we're certainly enjoying what Cooper Flagg is doing with the Duke Blue Devils. It is unreal. Duke is up to number two now in the nation. I'll let Isaac buy the first round on this one. Do you view Duke freshman-led team as bona fide championship contenders? I mean, you have to, but are they going to get that done this year?

I 100% view them as that. Will they? Like, they are the betting favorites right now at our good friends fan do. Let me just plug that. And part of that is because for me, the best team in the nation season long has been Auburn. Like the SEC folks, if you're just tuning into college basketball, the ACC is. absolutely stupid this season. But Janiy Broom, who's been the frontrunner for national player of the year, just went down with an ankle sprain about a week or so ago. He's missed Auburn's

last two games. And in that same, literally the same night that happened, Cooper Flagg drops 42, right? And so it's like that has kind of shifted now, and Duke is the frontrunner. And a lot of people now are viewing Cooper Flag as the national player of the year frontrunner. So for me, it is essentially between Duke and Auburn and Iowa State. Those are my top three teams right now, but Duke 100% has the DNA, the personnel to get it done because it's the high-level freshman, but because Duke brilliantly surrounded them

with transfer upperclassmen who are like role players along with this that understood the role they were coming into play. And when you get that buy-in, that's what's working. And to speak to your point a little bit here, There are multiple guys on that team that, like you said, the elder statesmen on that squad are not the stars, but they know that they can star in their roles. That's what you get. That's how you get the wins. That's how you get a team that's like, damn, man, everybody's on the same page.

Everybody's doing what they're supposed to do. Everybody knows it's Cooper Flag is Common Malach. I don't, sorry if I'm pronouncing that name wrong. Malawat. Malawas. It's Flag and Malawats. Everybody knows they are the stars to, you know, not, no pun intended, they're the stars to watch. Those are the two that everybody wants to see.

But the other guys have to come along and say, you know what? My job is to feed them. My job is to set a tough screen for them. My job is to do the dirty work to keep Cooper Flag clean so that he can do what he does, get his sporty without having to be the guy that's diving for every loose ball, getting stitches and all that type of stuff. That's not his role. That's not what we're going to have him to do because he can do that, but we can't drop 40. I don't have that in me. So, you know, that team, they seem to be destined for great things.

And there are two things that translate in March. We've seen it time and time again, and we saw it last year, experience and guard play. Duke has both of those at a very high level. Seems like they'll be just fine. There's just another, there's one more thing, too, about March that I love. And it's randomness. It's just completely random. I mean, you never really know,

but you have to consider them a national title favorite. That's the whole point of this. Yes, they are a team where their stars are underclassmen. They're freshmen. Cooper Flagg's great. He's a freshman. You know what? Guess what?

Freshmen can lead teams to national championships too. It's happened plenty of times before in college basketball. And I just look at Duke across the board and I'm like, where are they weak at? Like, where's the weakness? I would look, look, I watch college basketball games, but I don't watch every single Duke game. So Duke fans, I mean, feel free to chime in the comment section right now. I mean, where are they bad at?

Where is something that you're like, man, we're going against Duke? This is where we can take advantage of them. Because I look across the board and I'm like, they can shoot, they can rebounds, they store, they defend, they got some more protection. They don't turn the ball over a ton. What do they do wrong? So, I mean, yeah, I mean, there is the randomness of March. madness, but they're absolutely a tournament favorite. Yeah, I mean, truly, four of their top five

scores are freshmen. We haven't even mentioned con canipal's name, who's actually the number two scorer on this team with Tyree's Proctor being third. And that's where that experienced guard play comes and that Kenton's talking about. And it's funny because when you look back, I think the previous national freshman that people think about before Cooper flag is Zion. That 2018-19 team for Duke didn't ultimately win the national championship. And part of it was that role understanding. that Kenton talked about. That team, when it got down to it, Zion Williamson should have been the dude with the ball in his hands over and over and over again. But there were times when there were certain Duke players that wouldn't understand that role, right? And like for some reason, Zion is not taking all those shots down the stretch. It feels like this Duke team gets that differently and in a different way. So you don't have RJ Barrett trying to be the hero when it should be Zion like that 1819 team had.

And like we were saying, man, this defense, this team is long and massive, and they disrupt everything. So even on days when the shot's not falling, Duke's defense shows up. Championship front runners, national player of the year, front runner and Cooper Flagg, and certainly the ACC's best hope at a national championship this year. I want to send a huge shout out and thank you to everyone who made the ACC squad your first listen and your first watch today. Make sure to smash that thumbs up button if you're watching us on YouTube and subscribe on any of the channels. you're watching this on. Make sure you subscribe to the audio versions on Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your pods. Jackson Holzer from locked on Syracuse, Kenton Gibbs from

locked on Wolfpack and locked on ACC, Isaac Shade from locked on tar heels and locked on college basketball. I am Alex Dono from Locked on Caines and Lockdown ACC. We will talk to you guys next time on another episode of the ACC squad on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.