Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ACC SQUAD - Potential College Football Playoff EXPANSION | How this impacts the ACC

Episode Date: April 30, 2026

ACC football faces a seismic shift as talk of a 24-team College Football Playoff heats up. Is this massive expansion a win for the sport, or just a cash grab that threatens classic rivalries and dilutes the value of regular season matchups? The ACC Squad debates the true motivations behind playoff growth and spotlight the risk of losing college football’s unique intensity. UNC’s stunning fall continues as Bill Belichick’s regime fails to deliver—no Tar Heels picked in the NFL Draft, sparking questions about his fit and future in Chapel Hill. Shifting to basketball, Duke emerges as the clear ACC favorite, but can Miami, Virginia, or a resurgent Florida State disrupt Jon Scheyer’s dominance? The squad breaks down transfer portal shakeups, NIL dynamics, and why tournament experience may decide who rules the ACC hardwood next season. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There seems to be momentum to pick it up for a 24 team playoff with even some coaches endorsing it as well. But is this as terrible as idea as we think it is? Of course it is. You're talking ball with the ACC squad. 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 ACCC squad. Well, welcome to the Lockdown Squad show here this week, and we got a very nightcap-esque show for you today. We got Jarvis, we got Kenton, Brian Smith, JJ Jackson here with me today. Coming up on the show today, Bill Belichick had zero players get drafted in this year's NFL draft. We'll talk about that. Plus, Duke seems far in a way to be the favorite, the way too early favorite, to win the ACC title in basketball. So who can reasonably challenge them for that spot as the basketball season comes through its offseason.

But first, everybody's floating this thing around. Seems as if there's going to be momentum toward it. Rhett Lashley even endorsed it publicly this week for a 2014 playoff. Kenton, since you were the last one here, you get to be the first, get the first crack at it. The last shall be first here. How bad of an idea is a 2014 playoff? In the words of Cat Williams, I want to be first, last. I want to be, you know, but no, in all seriousness,

you know, when you're talking about a 2014 playoff, let me ask you this, has anybody, if anybody on this show, if you have ever had a moment where you thought 24 different teams could win a national championship in football, go ahead and raise your hand. Say aye, anything. Oh, okay.

I'm hearing a moment of silence. I'm in the thumbs down from JJ. So, you know, this is a situation where I'm not against the idea of expanding and giving more teams an opportunity and all that if that was truly what was happening. What will happen instead is we'll be litigating and negotiating and arguing whether or not a four or five lost SEC or Big Ten team belongs in. And we still won't be including teams from a group of five that have, you know, 11 in I'm sorry, 11 and 1, 12 and old seasons,

they still won't get included at a ridiculous volume. They'll get one, K. They'll get one. But that's my point. That's my point, Jarvis. If we're going to do 24 teams, at least put some winners in that thing. Don't tell me,

what they beat everybody, except the four really good teams in their conference. So every time they play the non-playoff team, they look like they tails don't need to be in the playoffs. Look like we got ourselves an answer there. So I think 24, it's a ridiculous number. it really and truly is. And this also marks what is very likely the end of conference championship games.

Because you've got to expand this thing out one way to other in terms of the weeks. And that is the biggest travesty of it all. Even beyond getting it, well, does a four-lost Texas belong to being? You know, when Archmanning gets hot. Arts is a great name for him for reasons that I will not go into on there. But the reality of this thing is I'm sitting here saying, you are not going to see more good teams in. We're going to be arguing about, well, you know,

Wisconsin's really good this year. You know, they're as physical as anybody. And they only got blew out by Oregon and Michigan and Ohio State. But other than that, they're great. Foolishness. I mean, all this is about, it's about money, man. Like, can we just be keeping it a book?

Like, this is all about money. This is a money grab. And this is what makes me want to throw up. Because, like, 12 teams is too much to me. in my humble opinion, like, because that 12 team is probably never going to win a national championship. It probably never going to get to the doggone semifinals. Like when you think about it from that aspect, I don't think that, you know, we should be

expanding it in order to just to say you're expanding, like, just because the only thing you can explain to me that makes sense is that, hey, you're not trying to get teams in, that can actually have an opportunity to win it. You're just trying to get enough teams in so you can renegotiate the TV contract. that you got with ESPN. I don't know. Still trying to figure out how they're able to pay for all this stuff. But anyway, and Stephen A. Smith, I just don't understand how that thing works. But anyway, I think this is one of those things where instances where they kind of just,

somebody needs to be a grown-up in the room and say, hey, guys, we're making enough money. We got $200 plus million that come from the conference championship games. Let's continue to get that bad. And then, you know, do the 12th team playoffs and just going to. about our way. Everybody get this money and going about your way. But let's, let's just stop for a second and just say, hey, man, oh, we're trying to get, we're trying to expand the playoffs because, hey, we want to be able to get everybody a chance. No, yeah, y'all just want this bad. That's all. I absolutely agree with Kenton. I absolutely agree with Jarvis. And let me add to it.

Why Lashley and everybody that's on that cusp want the extra spots, it will make it a lot lot easier for them to keep their jobs and for them to get the bag. Now, Lashk is a really good coach. By the way, he's a really, really good coach. I think he'll have a chance to go to playoff. It's 12th. He's kind of an outlier. But there are a lot of guys in that 12 to 24 range that are giving the golf clap right now. They're giving the golf clap right now. They're not going to get fired because at schools that are more of the eight and four variety and they have that nine and three, 10, and two season. They only got to make the playoff one time and they'll get a contract extension.

And Kenton just remind me, how many of those extensions aren't guaranteed money? What's that number? Is it, is it this number right here? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. They get paid when they get that extension. They don't care. That's it.

It's about money. It's less non-guaranteed contracts. It is follicles and hair on top of your head and my head combined to still work. There's nothing, nada, zil, chill. Yeah, 24 is just a crumbed. Crazy number. Like that's so, I mean, just to think about having to format this to get it down to your best team when it's been kind of clear in college football history throughout the course of the

season, the best team finds a way to prevail. Once you get into championship moments, sure, sometimes you're in a 14th playoff. You could have the 3 or the 4 team get it done, but it truly would never get that much larger than what we've seen here recently. So 24 is absurd. And at that point, all of this is a money grab. Jarvis, to pushback, I was going to say to push back on your point that 12 is too many, remember Miami got into the playoff as the 10 seed last year and made it all the way to the national championship.

So I think you can find nine or 10 that could reasonably win a championship, but you ain't going to find 16 and you're sure as hell are not going to find 24. Here's the other big picture point in all of this too. at what point do you consider point of diminishing returns? And at what point are you going to be playing too many games? The season already takes way too long. And we're already going to be playing a national championship in the middle, or actually really to the end of January.

I think next year's championship game is on January 26th. That's too long for a season that already starts at the end of August. So you're going to put more attrition on these people's bodies. You're already going to have teams in there. that have no business winning a national championship. So you're going to make your teams that can win a championship subject themselves to even more fatigue and attrition and body blows. At that point, you're just hurting your own product. And to me, that's the big overarching reason why 24 is way too many.

By the way, because of what you just said, and you're right about the diminishing returns, what do people get pissed about when they spend a lot of money on NBA tickets? They're going to see a small player. People not playing. And guess what's about to happen in college football? I'm not trying to, and I get it. No way. It's going to hold on the level.

It's coming. No way. Players are not going to sit out of the playoffs. I'm talking about regular season. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay. And you know what? To that end, and this is my like biggest gripe with the 2014 playoff.

The beauty of college football, it had something no other sport had. There been in a fairer. teams that lost five, six games and went on to win a Super Bowl. In basketball, March Madness, we've seen teams that barely made a conference tournament make it to the final four. It's good. It's great. It's a good time. Basketball is the best of seven series. So even some of the damn playoff games don't mean that much. College football used to me every single game. It was everything. I remember West Virginia having one of the best seasons we had ever. seen in their program's history, Dave Wonst,

say, hey, how about I ruin that? How about I make sure that y'all don't go to a national championship? And that changed the course of many lives forever. If we work under this current premise, a lot of games that meant so much that the game with Michigan, Ohio State, when I grew up in Troy Smith was the quarterback Ohio State and Chad Hennie and you had one versus two. And it was like, oh, we buttoned heads, we're going at it.

That game was to determine who's going to tell you. the National Championship. One of y'all going to win that football game and the other is going home or going to a lesser bowl game. This 24 teams, I mean, what games actually means something in the regular season at that point? It dilutes them. Absolutely. And I think, you know, you lose the storylines too, right? Because everybody won't talk about their Auburn team. JJ, I know you're familiar with Jason Campbell and all those boys, man. Everybody was like, man, why did those guys win that thing, man. You know, it's just, that's what you lose about college football, the lore and the rivalries, like guys jumping from team to team and playing in Oklahoma,

then guys are jumping to Oklahoma State. I was listening when y'all guys were talking about cats going from NC State to North Carolina, man, what is, what are we doing? Like, y'all are you go jumping all over the place. Yeah, just, just stop, man. We're just losing so much stuff when it comes to, like, the pureness of college football. Man, I don't mind cats getting getting paid, don't get me wrong. Like walking through that doggone parking lot, player parking lot of Georgia Tech, man, I get very envious, KG.

I see guys driving for a range of raptors and stuff. I was like, man, I've been trying to buy a Raptor for the past six years. What's going on here, man? But, you know, that part of it, the playoff aspect of it, the elites that have to get into, to be able to get into the playoffs, especially when those are a four team. like, you know, two team, all that stuff, man.

Why this team they get in? Why that team are getting in? All that stuff is a part of college football and like the base, the being of it. Like, why it's so important and why so many people love it? I just think that, man, the more and more people push for more, the more, like you said, it's going to get diluted. It's going to get diluted.

Here's the one problem, though. You and I and all of us here on this show can scream to the high heavens that a 24 team playoff is a terrible idea. And it is a terrible idea. But you know what our stupid you know what's are going to be doing when that 2014 playoff comes around? We all going to be on our couch is watching that. It's not the same. And this is why we're going to be contributing to the same idea we are saying right now is a terrible idea.

But it's because we get paid for this. Okay. We got to do this. We got to, you know, we ain't we're making no hundred millions. that Jarvis said he walked through and saw a Raptor and got jealous. You see how low those aspirations are? He didn't say to New Year's. He didn't say a AMG.

He said, I saw a raptor and thought, why not me, God? I'm a simple man, KG. I'm a simple man, baby. You know, I don't ask for much. I'm like, come on, dog. I'll take a use, baby. You know what I'm saying? It may be used, but it's new to you.

It's new to you. It's new to you. Brand new, Dad. No doubt. What you mean? Oh, bad. Brian, JJ, go ahead. I think we've shut it all.

Yeah, I mean, it just, it's hard to make sense of 24 teams. Yeah, I don't think it is either. I'll watch because I like football. I'll still be cussing the people that's created it during the whole process. I guarantee that as well. Yeah, and, you know, in today's digital world, it's still, the social media is still going to be buzzing about it. And everybody's still going to be watching it because in America's society,

you dangle football in front of us, we're always going to watch it, especially if it means something, because we can never get enough football. I mean, it makes sense for a business standpoint why you would do it from any other standpoint. It's just an awful idea.

Oh, coming up next, just getting started here on our squad show, ACCC squad show and Locked on Podcast. Coming up next, Bill Belichick, he got North Carolina, no draft picks. I can't really say I'm surprised. Coming up. Workplace chaos,

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This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. All right. Welcome back to our locked on ACC squad show. Grayson Singleton Jarvis Davis. Kenton Gibbs, J.J. Jackson and Brian Smith all here with you. So gentlemen, North Carolina brought Bill Belichick in to hardly make a bowl game and to get no players drafted. And can't really say I'm surprised.

Yeah, you can't really say I'm surprised because there were people outside of North Carolina saying that Belichick was bringing in a group of five dudes and nobody else wanted to touch. The whole thing's been a tire fire ever since. Jarvis, start with you, man. That's going on at Chapel Hill, man, with Bill Belichick. Bill Belichick has lost his fastball, curveball, change-up, splitter, everything. He's lost it, man. The bank cannot evaluate talent. When in the last time, Bibb, like, y'all,

y'all know his track record from a draft standpoint? It's terrible. Before he got North Carolina, North Carolina, awful. It was terrible. He has it, he doesn't have it anymore. He think he's too smart for what's going on. Everybody like, oh, yeah, we like this guy. You think he's the best?

No, I like this guy right here. I can work with him. No, no, it doesn't work like that anymore. Brian, Bill, Belichick, Brian, whatever your dog on name is, it doesn't work. He doesn't have it. He doesn't have it anymore. He's lost it. And for North Carolina to bring him in

to think he was going to do anything different, they need a dog on to wash their feet. That's all. That's all they need. I think that they need to give them an extension. I think they need to give it more time. He's a young spring chicken. He hasn't had, no, no, no. Think about this. Think about this.

Think about this. who's been recording for locked on for the shortest amount of time here? Who's been recorded for the shortest? I would guess, Grayson. Grayson, how long you've been recorded for locked on? About nine months. About nine months. Okay, so you are under Bill Belichick in terms of how much experience he has

coaching in college by about three to four months. Everybody else on this show has more experience working for locked on and Bill Belichick has coaching college football. That's just a fact. That's a fact. In any capacity, by the way, not just as a lot. head coach as a GA, as an assistant, as anything. He just needs more time, guys.

When they said, we're turning this into the 33rd NFL team. He meant it. He meant it. We just got to give him and Lombardi time because Bill Velacek, you know, all right, not to take my NC state glasses off. Obviously, this was a foolhardy move to begin with. And this is just a fruit to that, right? When you do foolish stuff, a hard head make for a soft behind.

And that's what's happening right now. The UNC Tar Heels are finding out just how Salt the Behind gets because the reality is Bill Belichick, like you said, last time we saw him, the game looked like it passed him by. And people said, you know what would be best to put him in a college game that's changed even more than the NFL has changed. And he'll somehow build the plane as he's flying. And we saw that that coaches staff right with nepotism, guys who have never coached in their lives before. We saw that the on-field results were God-awful. Somehow you started Gio Lopez over Johnson, even though every time Johnson was in the game,

their offense finally understood the concept of a forward pass. And even defense, which is supposed to be his specialty, could not piss a drop last year. So, again, the NC stater in me says, give him a lifetime deal, okay? He'll figure it out eventually. He's the goat coach. The ACCR in me says,

get this embarrassment out of you. It's not good. going to get better. You know, it's just not. Let me make one correction before you guys go as well. They did not make a bowl game last year. I said hardly made a bowl. They did not make a bowl game. Let me just go on a. Let me make that correction right fast. All right, y'all go ahead. Go ahead, JJ. I was just going to say, so just last week, Bill Belichick turned 74 years old. This is, this is an old man that's been around football a really long time. Just that alone, I would expect his, you know, just his name and weight alone to carry some significance into the NFL and have teams be like, you know what?

I want to draft this guy because Bill Belichick has taught him something in the one year that was there. And that just didn't play out. Let me throw some numbers at you. In the NFL draft that just concluded, there were 15 non-power conference schools that had at least one player drafted. and North Carolina had nobody. North Carolina big time program out of the ACC, zero draft picks. Meanwhile, there were 15 non-power conference schools

that had at least one draft pick, including Toledo, Navy, and North Dakota State that had multiple draft picks. And you're telling me that this North Carolina program has fallen off so far. So, I mean, Bill Belichick has running into the ground so much that no one is willing to. willing to draft these tar hills to the next level.

It's insane. Look who he brought in as his general manager. Michael Lombardi, who is the worst, one of the worst general manager you can ever possibly bring in to help you try to bring some recruits in. And then he's, and that's all he's a terrible dog on broadcast. Yeah, I said, I'm sorry. I don't, I don't mind throwing Darts, man, because he's just one of those guys that just doesn't really have a good understanding as to what a good player looks.

looks like in today's world. I just don't, he hasn't proven it. He didn't do it when he was, when he was actually a general manager in NFL. And for him, for Bill Belichick to think that he can hire him to bring him down in there and say, hey, hey, man, come to bring somebody to talk to these 18-year-olds and get some of these 18-year-olds here and see what these guys in the portal looking like. And then you bring in all these group of five school guys and think you're about to just go out here and win some football games in the ACC. if they're just thinking just sweet. It ain't sweet.

It's not sweet. So, yeah, man, it's just the arrogance. It's just the arrogance just coming from Bill Belichick. So it just makes me just want to just throw off in my mouth. The only thing I can remember from Michael Lombardi and Smitty, I'm going to let you take it after this. But the only thing I remember from him, even being on air, was when he told Warren Sapp,

yeah, we overpaid for you. Warren Sapp said, your defense went from 30 second in stopping the run to fifth in the lead when I was. there. So seems like you got what you paid for plus so. And I'm like, wow, a GM that don't even know his team got better. Yeah, that seems like a great guy to bring in and evaluate. I don't know. Help me with that one. I don't know. But take it away, Smitty. The only thing I'll say is I work deep in recruiting seven on seven, under Armour camps, all that. Kids are not going to relate to Bill. And I'm being so kind. I know you're shocked by that.

But I mean, age jazz matter. Well, they have a hard time adjusting to me. I'm 52. He's 74. That's just not going to get it. You would like to join Husson, though. I'm not saying, it makes you wonder why he's dating somebody he is. Well, you know, he relates somewhere.

He wants his wallet. I mean, that's the only thing there is. That's garbage. Let me. Money hundreds are all shit. Let me, let me give you all some numbers right fast because the ACC, actually put out the most embarrassing part of this. The ACC put out that the conference had 38 players drafted.

Boston College had four. Duke had three. Georgia Tech, NC State, Stanford, and Wake Forest at two. Cal, Florida State, Louisville, Pitt, and SMU. Each had one. That's 13 schools out of the conference, if you include Miami and Clemson, who each had nine. 13 schools out of the conference.

And the University of North Carolina, who brought in Bill Belichick and Markle, my Mike Lombardi, and got nobody. To me, that's the most embarrassing part of it all, is that you brought in a celebrity coach who at last check was drafting kickers in the fourth round when he was the GM in New England, and you got no players drafted. That's just embarrassing, not just for the conference.

That's embarrassing for the institution. But it gets worse. you consider the fact that the manifesto that he wrote before he became the head coach at the University of North Carolina included a vast increase in their NIL funds. So it's not even like he's out there shaking this change cup saying, please, somebody, help again. You know, I'm always going to root for my cast technicians. And my boy, CJ Sadler, no, went over there, but make a good decision.

Get out of that national letter of intent. Go somewhere else in the shadow point. No, but in all seriousness, I look at this team. and I say, y'all are too resource. You are too well resourced to have this much Becklessness in your program. You are not a program where Syracuse, I get it. With all due respect to Fran Brown, I get it.

They shaking that change cup up there by every report I've heard. Boston College, as much as I can't stand Bill O'Brien. He's the greatest fail-forward guy I've ever seen in my life. If I could fail forward in the Dayton world the way he does in jobs, me and Meg would be together in no time. In no time. Hey, hey. But say you, you got a chance now.

You know what I mean? Hey, yeah, man. We're going to make it happen. You know what I mean? In words of bread to source, we want to bet on it. But no, in all seriousness, you know, it's a, it's a moment where I'm saying to myself, you've got everything that you need in terms of infrastructure and all that. It's on your coach and your GM to get it done to bring in those top level players and they're not doing it.

And the worst part about it, you have the money to just overpay. that's what's happening right now in college basketball in the portal. I've seen multiple coaches who don't have the players they want. They're like, all right, well, I got the money. I'm going to put out $4 million for a guy who doesn't have any offers anywhere else over two. I know that for a fact. I ain't going to say nobody, but I know that's how it's going down. And the fact that UNC couldn't even do that right is like, what do y'all want?

What do we expect this to get better anytime soon? No. Not until they fired. Absolutely. He's made the, there's, there's not many people that you bring in of celebrity status like that, that make the program that much worse. Like, I've never seen this before. It's hard to do. Absolutely. It's hard to do. It is hard to do. You know who's not a joke? Duke Blue Devils basketball, man. The right. Sam Blue. ACC. champ. Hey, JJ, I'm coming to you when we come back because Duke and the way too early rankings released by On 3 earlier today is by far in the way the highest rated ACC team. So who exactly can challenge them if anybody for the ACC crown next year?

We'll talk about that to close up the show next. All right, back here on the locked on ACC squad show, Grayson, Jarvis, Kenton, JJ, and Brian Smith all joining you here today. So On 3 released its way too early college basketball rankings as the transfer portal cycle is starting to hit its end. and it's the Duke Blue Devils and everybody else right now. As a matter of fact, the next highest rated team, I believe is Virginia at number 11. And then you've got to go all the way down into the 20s to find Miami and Louisville as the other ACC representation. So, JJ, I'll come to you, locked on Blue Devils guy. How much better than everybody else in the ACC is Duke right now?

Yeah, I think it's still a sizable gap, which is kind of crazy to think about. and it's not to diminish what other teams have done in the ACC. I think it's simply just to Pat John Shire on the back, once again with this roster that he's been able to build, retaining high-level talent. He had two players that turned down NBA money, most notably Patrick Gungby the second, and then Dom Masear to come back to college for another season.

Caden Boozer took a step up down the stretch at the end of the year for Duke. I know he had that last second turnover in the Elite 8 game, but this is a guy that I'm betting my money on to improve. Caleb Foster comes back. And then, oh, yeah, you go out and you get the number one transfer portal player available in John Blackwell, who scores 20 points a game for Wisconsin. He's a near 40% three-point shooter. And I'm still going.

I haven't even mentioned the number one recruiting class that they're set to bring in with Cameron Williams and Duran Repi Jr., Bryson Howard, just to name a few of those guys. So, I mean, the talent is just different. And what's been awesome to see out of John Shire lately is that throughout the course of the regular season, he finds ways to win. I mean, you can count on one hand the number of conference games that Duke has lost in the last two seasons combined, which is just silly in a conference that's been dominating basketball for so many years. I know basketball's been on a downturn. It's great to see these other teams improve, and I do think by and large, the ACC has gotten

better, but because Duke continues to even raise their standards, it's just not, other teams aren't catching up to them at that same rate. In the words of everybody in Charlottesville, who's back? Mr. DeRitter and company in that front quarter going to have something to say about Duke being far and away the best program. And I know a lot of people will hear that and say, wait a minute, Ken, Virginia got the wheels whooped off them every single time. Them and Duke lined it up last year. I don't disagree. I don't disagree, right?

I will give you that. And the last time they played in the ACC championship game, that was the only close game that they played. played last either. I'm not disagreeing with that. However, number one, I love Odom as a coach. I think that he's one of the up-and-coming stars in the coaching ranks. Congratulations, Virginia. You found your next guy. You found your next Tony Bennett. He's going to be there. He's going to be great for the next 15 to 20 years. Good job there. But they have so much size. And not only do they have size, they play hard as hell, man. Those big dudes run the floor like nobody's business. If UVA could get themselves some guards, which in the portal, they've done a good job.

I know they're pick up out of UC Irvine. Is it supposed to be that spark plug type of player? But if they could just get themselves better guard play, they are really in contention to be something dangerous because they just drag out seven footer after seven foot or after seven foot or after six, nineer with a plus eight wingspan. And you're just sitting there like, where the hell are y'all getting all these giants from? What is going on? Like this is that Virginia team, I think with their front court and their size, they give anybody trouble, including the mighty, mighty Duke Blue Devils. I think one of those guys, one of the guys that can probably potentially take down Duke or at least challenge them. How about John Lucas at Miami?

We know Miami got the bag. They got it all. They got something so sorrow in the transfer portal. And they're working on some big time recruits for the 20, the five-star kid for the 2026 class. So, yeah, this is, like, yeah, Duke is clearing them, and obvious that school. But, like, look at the jump from what Miami did, made it one year. They went from the beat bottom of the conference to third in the ACC, man. Like, I would love for Georgia Tech to do something crazy like that.

But, you know, hey, we're about to wait around for a little while for that. But, but, yeah, I think John Lucas is a guy coming from Duke. Good coaching. He's coming from. What better person to, to, to, to, you know, what better person to, to, challenge Duke than a former Duke assistant. And I think John Lucas in Miami, I think they got the, they definitely got the money to do it.

So, yeah, I think you can pull it up. I have two predictions. Number one, Duke will eventually win the national title next year. Number two, I think that Florida State will be the next new team that kind of steps up. I'm not saying they're going to be great, but they've got a coach that cares with Louts. It's going to help the conference raise up. JJ talked about it.

It's getting better. Florida State being down did not help the conference. very much the last few years. They're going to be better. I'm not saying they're going to beat Duke, but it wouldn't shock me. They're going to beat somebody. They'll beat Carolina or Virginia

or somebody next year that they probably shouldn't. And that's the kind of thing. We need Georgia Tech to take another stuff up, et cetera, in the league to make it better. Sounds like Miami. Everybody already made points about that. They're going to be better. Grayson, is SMU going to suck next year?

Are they going to be competitive? What's going on there, man? No clue. Absolutely no clue. They have. Hey, man. Hey, man, it is, it is crazy, it is crazy times trying to figure out what's going on in the transfer portal. And I'm trying to pump as much positivity as possible.

But here's the thing. They haven't hit a home run in the transfer portal. They brought in a 19 point per game score from Tulane in the form of Rowan Brumbaw. They've got some pesky defenders and some athleticism out of the portal. But they haven't done anything spectacular in the portal. So they could be, they could be as good. They could win. you know, 19, 21 games, or they could fall flat on their face and Andy Enfield could get fired

at the end of next year. Both of those things are certainly a possibility. So I really don't even know. You guys made the Miami points and I was hoping you guys wouldn't because Miami to me is the team to watch. We know what Virginia is capable of. But Miami in their first year with Jay Lucas took such a step forward that you have to wonder, do they take a similar jump in year two? And at that point, they're competing with Duke for the ACC title, not just in the regular season, but in the conference tournament as well.

And the last thing I'll say about this, too, is it not get to the final four and win a final four game or bust for John Shire? Because you look at their retention, you look at the guys that keep bringing in, you look at the high school classes, they keep bringing in. At some point, you cannot keep losing in the most fantastic ways possible. because two years in a row on the biggest stages, they have found the most spectacular ways to cough up games against Houston. They can't get the ball in bounds. They end up losing the game. Against Yukon.

I know he's a freshman, but Kate and Boozer panics and throws the ball away. So that's two years in a row where you've got freshman heavy teams that panic in the worst possible situations and you find a way to blow it. So at some point with the players that you keep bringing in, with the players that you keep getting to come back, you have got to figure out a way to win a final four game if you're John Shire. Otherwise, at some point,

we got to start looking at him sideways too. I'll add to that and go the year prior to the Houston game that you're alluding to. I ran into one Mr. KG and the NC State Wolfpack in the elite eight the year before where Duke had a double-digit lead against a double-digit-seated NC state team and found a way to not one, not one there.

these points are totally fair. I would just simply counter and reminding people that Mike Shoshchewski is the best guy to ever do this in the sport. And across 42 years, he only won the thing five times. And over 42 years, he only made the final four 13 times. So it's hard to win six consecutive games in the format that this tournament is. And now we're adding more teams to the tournament to make it go that way. It's not always the best way to, you know, crown a champion, so to speak. But Brian pointed out earlier. Duke's going to make it happen at some point. We'll be back on top.

I'll be happy. I've had sights on six since 2015. I think it's coming. The one team also I want to give some love to, fellas, before we got to get out of here, is I'm with you on Jay Lucas. What a climb they had. I really do like the NC State hire,

coming back in the family, getting the guy there to hopefully build off what's happening there. But Jerry McNamara, going back to be the head coach at Syracuse, after what he did at CNN. He's played with Carmelo Anthony and was a part of their 2003 national championship winning team. He's got the Jim Beheim DNA. He keeps Kai and Anthony on the squad for another season.

Now that he's going to be another year older and more mature within the program and a couple of top recruits that they got coming in, I hope for the state of the league that Syracuse is able to turn the corner. And then I am a big fan of what Luke Lauchs was doing down the stretch. Florida State played Duke tougher than anybody else with that one point game that they had in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament.

So, yeah, basketball is in a really, really good spot. I'm just saying Duke's still at the top. And if you're coming for the king, you best not miss. I'm going to say this before we get out of here, Duke's recipe is drastically undercut by NIL. And I know what you're thinking. What? That doesn't make sense. Duke has very deep pockets in NIL.

It's not a what Duke can't get. It's what other teams can't. You see, what happened from NIL. They lose to teams that. are older and more experience and those guys are top guys who know they won't be in the NBA one day. Why is that different from Duke? Duke's top guys, they come do their one little year dance and then they're going right on to the NBA as opposed to Yukon's top guys who've been in the program for three to four years as opposed to Michigan's top guys who were, I mean,

Yaxel was what, 23, 22, something like that, like the old, the stars. Talking about being guarded by 18-year-old. Listen, the stars of these older teams in the regular season, it's a lot different and you can kind of find your way. But when the games get tighter and it starts to get to that real deal, one game elimination environment, there's something to be said for that experience, which by the way the Duke is constructed, they de facto will never have at the same clip as a Michigan or a Yukon or et cetera. But again, that's outside the conference. In the conference, they can out athlete us all.

to a point where it's like, somebody, please, save us. They are Thrag, we are the regular Viltramites. But in the rest of the nation, you know, you got a couple of aliens out there. You got a couple folks willing to put the scourge virus on them to catch what I'm saying. I know y'all saw who won rookie of the year in the NBA. And I know y'all saw who was the runner-up rookie of the year in the NBA.

I mean, how'd that work out for him in the tournament? How'd they do? No, we didn't win the championship. You're right. Ketting, you're right, K. And just, hey, we're building, we're building great players. Again, I do believe, I do believe that y'all have an excellent program. I do believe that, like, there is immense value the way y'all do it.

And you kind of can't. You're trapped in those golden handcuffs to where you can't stop recruiting top players. All the time, man. And it's in the comments, like, what are you, are you not supposed to say yes to the best players in the sport? No, I'd rather not have you come be a part of the team. Exactly. It puts you in a very interesting scenario where it's like, I can't let go of these. top players, but I do need experience in clutch time.

Where's the balance? Who knows? Yeah. And to your point, KG, and we'll get out of here, that's what's made college basketball and college football more interesting, is that other teams can. Other teams can go get some of those players, and you can't just stash a bunch of five stars on the back end of your roster anymore. And JJ, the last thing I'll say on this is your point's very interesting that you can't

just say, well, he hasn't made a national champion. because it's hard to do. Yes, it is. But how he hasn't made a national championship is the wild part. It's the how, not just the fact that he hasn't. Yeah. Anybody else got anything before we get out of here? Oh. Okay. We're right. Check can't coast no more. Hey, one more you, one more you of Bill Belichick. And we got to we got to put the deuses on that experiment. We went we went from laughing so hard that we couldn't tell if we were recording or not recording at the very start of this thing to a great finish down the stretch here fellas what are we doing on the squad oh my goodness hey man maybe next week kenning gibbs will be on time and we'll get a better start to the show today but appreciate y'all appreciate y'all making us your first listen of the day for jarvis davis kenn and giz brine smith and j j jackson i'm grace and singleton check us out at ac c squad next week we'll see y'all take it easy