Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ACC SQUAD - PROFESSIONALS are taking over College Basketball | Should the ACC be WORRIED?

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

G League and NBA veterans could be headed back to college—are NIL and transfer rules ushering in a new era of ACC basketball? The ACC Squad crew debate the impact of Charles Bediako rejoining Alabama from the G League and Amari Bailey’s attempt to return to NCAA play after 10 NBA games. Is college hoops poised for true free agency, and how could this seismic shift affect college football and the entire ACC landscape? The roundtable breaks down ACC men’s basketball at the midpoint: Can anyone challenge Duke for the top seed, and which teams will secure those coveted double-byes in the conference tournament? Bracketology projections suggest as many as nine ACC squads could go dancing. Plus, with SMU and Cal rising, can Miami cement itself as the class of ACC football, or will another dark horse crash the championship race? Don’t miss this heated, insightful debate on the future of college sports. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We now have a player that has played in NBA basketball games trying to come back to college. Could we be seeing G League players at an ACC team near you? Let's talk about it. 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 ACCC, 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. There, what's up? Happy Thursday. It's February 5th, 2026. Welcome in to this edition of the ACC squad show. Got a great crew of hosts today, Jackson Holzer from Locked on Syracuse, Brian Smith from Locked on Seminoles, KG, Kenton Gibbs, half of the dudes behind Locked on Wolfpack. I'm Isaac Shade, host of Locked on Heels. We are, elated to be with you here at Locked on ACC squad, all part of the Locked On network now the number one sports podcast network out there. Special shout out to all of you everydayers who have joined us. Check out all the brand new Everydayer club information.

This episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the app, create an account, and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase. Here's where we're headed on the show today with this wonderful quartet of good looking gentleman. if I don't mind saying so myself. We're going to be talking about G-League players and NBA players coming back to play in college basketball. Might we see that in the ACC? Might it happen in other sports?

Could we see it in college football? Also, we're going to check in. We're at the midway point of the ACC conference play in men's basketball. We'll look at bracketology because it's February now and we can do that. Who's on the bubble? Who's getting in? And then we're going to wrap up. Mr. Brian Smith, he's wondering.

The SMU and Cal have something for Miami on the football field next year. We will look at that. Boys, tomorrow, Friday, opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Lindsey Vaughn, about to ski on a ruptured ACL. I don't know how that's going to happen. Which of us would make the best Olympian? That's my question as we talk about G League players. I don't do any of the winter sports for very obvious reasons.

I mean, I played hockey growing up, so maybe me. I was about saying. I can actually ice skate better than I can roll a skate. So there's that. All right. We're on Team USA. Hey, hey, listen, don't put me out there, okay? They're going to embarrass me.

I'm not sure. Summer Olympics, I can do a little something for you know what I mean. But winter Olympics, I can be the 12th guy on the bench on the basketball team. You know what I mean? I'll be the best cheerleader. You know, Jason Taylor was salty about having to cheer. former ACC player John Stato. He was salty about it.

Me, I'll be happy to pass brown the water. Here you go, bam. The seat warm for you if you need a step. Okay, I'll just make sure, brother. That's incredible. Can't wait to see it. Go Team USA. Let's knock it out the park.

All right, boys. Charles Bettyaco is back playing for Alabama after having played in the G League. He got a 10-day temporary restraining order. They were going to have a hearing. That didn't happen because of weather. So we got another 10-day. Eventually, we'll actually get to this hearing. In the meantime, he is playing.

playing for the Crimson Tide, who were one and two with him in the lineup. Oh, by the way. But now we get news that Amari Bailey, a player who has actually played in 10 NBA games, is trying to come back to play college basketball next year. Fellas, would you be okay with a player that had been in the G League or even a step up, a player who had played NBA basketball games playing for Will Wade's basketball team? Is it my team? Sure.

Jackson, would you have it on your? team. You damn right I would. I want to win. Our team hasn't made the tournament in five years. You're telling me I can get an NBA player on the team. Absolutely. Why are we trying to play God here? As long as it's allowed, I don't have a problem with it. Do it. This man has no shame. No, no shing. No, no shing. You are. I want to win. You are. I want to win. We have no scruples besides you should win your games. Hell no, I wouldn't be happy with an NBA player playing for Will Wade and NC State. You know why?

As Will Wade is cutting down the nets as NC State goes to the final four with an NBA player leading the charge, you're not going to be happy, you're going to be sitting your crime because an NBA player was the one who led NC State to the title? If an NBA player led NC State to the title, I would expect, I would talk about how shameful it is to start. But at the point where we realize, all right, this is happening, I just got to deal with it, fine. He's on a team.

I got to root for the guy. But I would make it very clear. His tail belongs in somebody's league. Sorry, go play in La Liga El Balancesto over in Puerto Rico. Go play for the New Zealand boomers or something like that. Go somewhere else, dude, because this is one of my biggest problems, and I'm going to keep it to sports the best I can. But this is a societal problem and that we keep telling people,

there are no consequences to your actions. the reason that everything was supposed to be the way it was in it if you enter your name in the draft it is called foregoing your eligibility you have the option there but you take something else and here's the thing i'm not a believer in punitive punishment or saying like oh you made a bad decision when you were 19 you can never come back in anything like that however there has to be some sort of states to making those types of types of of decisions. And this isn't just me saying like, oh, well, this is because the NCAA wants it that way. No, I believe that everybody at some level should have to answer to and hold a count

to. I've made a big decision. I have to deal with how it goes. And this is one of those things where if we're allowing pro players to come back three, four years later, we're never going to get all of the things that we have with rampant free agency, basically, year-to-year free agency of all the best players in college football and basketball will never get it under control. If we can't even get this aspect that is by far one of the worst out of the way, which has already been decided on a billion times. Brian, where is the line for this thing, right? Like, because right now there is a player who is played in the G League playing for Alabama.

The player, Amari Bailey, who has played in NBA games, is not playing in college as of right now. He's exploring the possibility. where would you draw the line at like how we adjudicate who could come back and who couldn't is it as simple as what kenton said like if you forego your eligibility you're done and you can't come about like what is the line for you i don't have a problem with them saying i'm going to test the NBA waters and put my name in the drug they can have a clause where you can come back right good with that as soon as you get paid you're professional that's how i look at it like in that league and i get the nail part Because the counter to a lot of people would be, yeah, but they're getting paid in college right now. So is it the entity that's paying them? Right. And so how would you define that then? Well, here's the problem with it.

It's two parts. Number one, the NBA, the money in NBA is just grotesque. Like they get paid quite a bit, but it's still on a whole other level. And the G league, you don't go to class. Your life's different. And then the other part, there are certain teams. We all know who they are in college basketball. One host here who lives in the state of Missouri.

I won't mention his name, covers that team. They're willing to go a little extra to get some of those players. I have a feeling if this gets opened up, it'll be even more one-sided on the haves and halves-nots. Let's just go get an NBA player. We need a wing forward. But my question is, where does it stop, right? Like, that's my biggest question. I know what just happened in my home state of Michigan?

High school players can now get NIL. So should I, 30-year-old Kenton go back to Kastak? Because they just lost in the state championship. They may need me to go stop Catholic Central. They may need me. I know how to beat them. I did it twice. Did you finish your high school education?

Well, but Jackson, we can always, they're getting paid now. They're basically professionals. So why can I go back? Yeah, we can have a, let's go to court. This is going to, this stuff, it may be unprecedented for basketball. And if it drags into football when you got NFL, I think that is going to, it's a certainty that that's going to happen. some point guaranteed. It happens in hockey, though, because there is a rule in hockey where

players can go play in the NHL at a very young age for a few games, get their feet wet, learn what the NHL is like, and then go back. Really? Yes. And I have an example for you. His name is Owen Tippett. He's currently in the NHL right now. He plays for the Philadelphia Flyers. He was drafted by the Florida Panthers, and I want to say 2017. That year, he plays on a professional tryout basis for seven games. He doesn't do anything in those seven games. Actually, he stored a goal. He stored one goal in those seven games.

He then goes back to major junior hockey to further develop. But he does have that experience of playing seven games in the NHL. So this concept is not completely unheard of. It's just unheard of for basketball. And the idea of an NBA player coming back is shocking, but it does happen in hockey where young guys can go test the league for a little bit and then go back. Maybe that's the solution in all of this. Jackson, in hockey, can they go back to college or is it they can go back to juniors?

They look back in 2017, but now college and major junior are regarded as the same. Okay, okay. Because you can go, because they're now both being paid. so you can go from one league to the other, whereas back then you actually couldn't. At that point, Major Junior was considered a professional league because they were paid in that league. So it could be different now, but I know that it did exist in hockey, and I do wonder if it still exists, but it's not an unheard-off concept for a player who's 17, 18, 19 years old to go play at the highest league professionally ever for a few games

and then go back to a junior league where you're not playing against NHL or NBA. or whatever players anymore. All right, KG, Jackson just opened this can of worms. Right now, we're only seeing it on the basketball side of things. Is there a world where this extends to the gridiron? Do you see that happening if we continue down this slippery slope? Oh, it's about to extend as soon as we end this show. I got Coach Russing's number.

I'm going to call Fran Brown right now. I know that I have the sack record at Cashton, but I need to extend it out a little bit longer. Since they pay it folks now, I want to get paid to play. again you know 30 year old out there beating up on 14 to 18 year olds who would love it no but in all seriousness is there a world with this extensive football absolutely and here's the thing jackson with all the respect to hockey and everything that they have going on it is an extremely violent sport and i acknowledge that and the the risk there are very present like that's that's not something

that is is i'm going to ignore however it is not as publicized what's the what's the college hockey version of the Naismith award? What's the college hockey version of the Heism? It's not as publicized, but it does happen. So all I'm trying to point out is that while it sounds nuts, it's just a concept that college basketball, like, we're just not, we don't understand it because we've never seen it before. But I have seen it before in hockey where an 18 year old is going to play seven games in the NHL and then he's going back to play major junior, which is the equivalent of playing college. Because it's just a may, it's just a tryout. That's That's all it is. I think in the case of Bailey, didn't he play like three or four years ago?

At UCLA? Yeah. Yeah. That to me is a little bit more that that is more egregious. Because he predated. He played three years away. No, no, no. No, he only played one year in college. No, but when did that year occur? 23, 24. Oh, come on. Now he's played. So he's been two years out. Oh, no, that season. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to say. That that's, that's more insane to me. me the fact that it's been two years since you've played college basketball. If you were to do it honestly in the same year, I would be more okay with it because I think it's just a way to try out and then come back. But that's the thing. And in football, when you see this, it's going to be bad

because when you think about the math of college football and you think about the math of the NFL, the math doesn't matter for there to be spots for all these guys. Everybody was making fun of Trinidad Shamblish for trying to come back and all that. And I'm like, he's just the first. of what we're going to see a very big wave up. We're going to see a bunch of him, a bunch of T.J. Finley's, a bunch of people who are praying and hoping and wishing. Just give me one more year somewhere. I know I can get another year somewhere to not only play the game at a high level,

but to get paid to play the game at a high level, because after this, I'm going to have to go learn enterprise rental car. That's what I'm avoiding right now. And here's the thing. I'm not mad at that, right? I would be lying to you if I said that, you know, if I was healthy enough and everything, I just didn't have the ability to go to the league. I wouldn't have taken extra years in college.

I'm not going to lie to y'all like that. However, this is, it gets to a point where, you know, we can say, oh, well, college football lost this, that, and the third out of its deal and out of what makes it college. But how do we do it? How do we functionally say this is still college football? football, when we have free agency, when we have pros coming back, when we have all of these things in terms of basically players becoming millionaires overnight and where conferences are across the country to where we know academically, how do you deal with the rigorous Stanford

while having to play three games on the East Coast in the middle of your season at minimum? How do you do that? So you're looking at a very different situation to where this is unrecognizable to anything that we have ever learned about college sports. And at this point, again, like I always say, everybody needs to sit down and do a little collective bargaining. Because at this point, if you allow pros back, just call them pros. Just call it, hey, this is something in between pro in high school.

It's semi-pro, but this ain't college sports. There you go. No, it's not college sports. So I agree, well, you should probably, they should collectively bargain and just have these guys go on contracts and that's that. And there you go. got to get to. We can't, we can't continue to moonlight pretending that there's amateurism and professionalism altogether. It's just not going to work. All right, boys, great conversation,

love the input. We got to check in on the ACC basketball slate because we're right at the midway point of the season, nine games in, nine games down for most of the teams in our conference. Who's going to make it to the tournament this year? I can tell you right now, there's going to be a lot more teams than last year's four ACC teams that made it in. And can anybody catch the Duke Blue Devils. We'll head there coming up in just a second. I'm Clea Butler, host of lockdown women's basketball. And this is Mazda's women's basketball snapshot, celebrating the work no highlight real can ever capture. Number one ranked Yukon dominated Tennessee 96 to 66, turning a halftime tie into a historic win and avenging last season's loss by delivering the largest margin in the

rivalries history. AZ Fudd had 27 points and Sarah Strong added 26, as the husband The Skiskees remain perfect on the season, reminding everyone why they are the reigning national champions. In the Big Ten, number two, UCLA rolled past number A, Iowa, 88 to 65, powered by 22 points from Angela Dukalage, and a huge advantage in the paint, staking their claim as a national threat. These moments are earned off the clock, those long before the lights ever come on. The sweat, the fakes, the doubt, the scrapes, and coming back for more every time. Mazda puts that same drive into every detail. Wins define the moment.

Putting in the work, that defines you. There's more to a Mazda because there's more to you. We're rolling on the ACC squad show. We got a great quartet of dudes in here today. Jackson Holzer from Locked on Syracuse, Kenton Jibs, Kenton Gibbs, good grief from Lockedon Wolfpack. I like the KJ, Kenton Jbs of it.

Brian Smith, our guy from Lockton Summit. I don't even know where that came from, Kenton, but apparently it's a soft G for your name. today for some reason. You guys, if you've not checked out the brand new everydayers club, you can find that link in the show notes for all of us. Go check it out. It's a great way to get invested even more with all of these great shows. All right, we got to do a ACC midway point check-in in college basketball. As we look at the standings right now, obviously it is Duke on top of things.

By the way, I should mention we are recording this before Wednesday night's action, which there's three ACC games, BC at Duke. no worries there probably. Pittsburgh at Virginia. Cab should have taken care of that one. And an interesting game for Kenton, NC State at SMU. Tough to go to Dallas. Boopie Miller is a dude. Obviously, you all listening to and watching this know the outcome of that. Duke leads the way right now in the conference, followed by Clemson, UVA, NC State are the top four. Again, pending NC State's result on Wednesday night. Then North Carolina and Miami tied for fifth at six and three. Louisville has fallen to five and four there right now in seventh.

Then you got Virginia Tech and SMU, again, pending that result. That's kind of the top half of the conference. Fellas, I think it's probably safe to say we don't anticipate anyone catching the Duke Blue Devils unless anybody wants to push back on that. All right, great. So my question to you then is who rounds out the rest of the top four and gets those double buys in the ACC tournament? How do you see it all playing out down the stretch?

Well, I don't see it shaking out too differently than the stands right now. I mean, don't get me wrong. I do expect there to be some movement. I wouldn't be super shocked if we see a little bit of movement, but I'm not expecting a much different top four to five than what we're seeing right now in terms of Clemson has played as tough and regular defense under coach. I mean, we knew Brownell as a repetitive choker. And this year, he's choking the life out of offenses.

That team just plays a slow, gritting, grind, nasty, ugly style of basketball. That's how they want to make it. And that's how they've been winning a ton of games. Virginia and what they've been doing. I think it's a little bit of a surprise how good they are in year one. Don't get me wrong. I know people were high on Oldham and all that. And some people in NC State Lamp, oh, I want him overweight and that,

that man has put on a coaching clinic in Charlottesville. And, you know, ultimately what he's doing down there, You got to give them credit. You got to give them love for it. Will Wade told you all, year one for NC State, top four in the conference, NCAA tournament appearance. That's what he said. And he appears to be a man of his word so far.

So, I mean, ultimately, can Louisville get hot, start hitting those threes again and do what they need to do to move up very possibly? Obviously, UNC is always going to be right there, you know, in spite of whatever coaching deficiencies people believe they have. You've still got one of the biggest and most talented front courts in the nation. So at some point in time, would I be surprised to see them sneak into the top four? Not really, but I don't see a ton of movement happening in that top six or seven teams. I'd be shocked if there was anybody outside of that group to jump in.

And I'd also be shocked if there was anybody outside that group or in that group that dropped completely off the radar in terms of coming the last week and a half of the season or not playing for a double-bye. I think you have eight teams for four spots. I think the line of demarcation pending the result of NC status SMU, it actually is SMU. And if SMU loses, which we obviously know the outcome of now, they'd be four and five in the conference. And I would eliminate them from being a top 14. So I think it would be at that point seven teams for four spots. Duke is guaranteed they are no doubt going to finish top four. I think Carolina is going to get screwed.

Not in the sense that they deserve better, but because Carolina has to play Duke twice. And so if Carolina slips up in both of those matchups, they're stuck now at five losses. And I think they would pretty much have to run the table from then on out in order to finish top four. So it's tricky. I mean, can Louisville get hot? Couldn't happen to a better program, Jackson. Couldn't happen to a better program. Shucky darn.

It's not going to be Syracuse. I'll tell you that much. They stink. By the way. It's not going to be Florida State, Brian. We both heard. What's you got, Smith? The bigger game for Carolina is not.

Duke. It's three days later against Miami. They absolutely have to win that game if they want to finish the, and they're going to make the tournament, not saying about tournament. Sure, sure. But top four double by, yeah. It's just the thing with North Carolina is that, I mean, Isaac, you don't want to believe that they're going to lose to Duke twice. And who knows, maybe they beat Duke once.

Maybe they beat Duke twice. You never really know with that rivalry. Sure. You never know with that rivalry. But Duke, at least for now, has shown to be a better team than Carolina this season. that Duke is going to beat him twice. They're going to have to pretty much run the table with the rest of their regular season in order to finish top four. Well, and here's the problem.

Six losses is enough to be top four in the conference? It really depends what everybody else does. North Carolina's problem, to y'all's point, is that they lost three games of which maybe they only should have lost one. They lost at SMU and at both California teams per ESPN analytics. The schedule the rest of the way, Carolina's is the toughest in the ACC, followed by NC State as the second. toughest. And so Kenton, you and I both got work to do, brother, like to get this done. And that's why, like, there's just one game between state and Carolina this year. That's in Raleigh. There's just one game between Miami and Carolina. That's down in Miami. And so I think you guys

are at like Carolina's got a lot of work ahead of them if they want to crack that top four. So it feels like Duke, man, really Clemson. I'm right with you, KG Clemson, just cruising along Virginia as well. And really it might be, I know Jackson, you said seven or eight teams for four spots. It might be three or four teams

for one spot and that four. It could be. It could absolutely be, but you have to also account for, I mean, is they all going to play each other. Yeah, they're all going to play each other.

And who knows, maybe Clemson goes on a, loses three out of four in a random stretch. Or maybe Virginia has a couple of bad losses. Like, I'm not saying those teams are bad. It's just that the one team

that you really feel confident is not going to fall out of the top four is due. That's it. That's the only I agree that I can agree. And then every other team you're you still have to play. And I think Clemson's going to be able to steal the D-O and be top four. I have a feeling that Virginia is going to be top four too. But I'm not going to stamp it right now on February 3rd at the time of this recording and say, yep, we already got three spots. We're only playing for one more. I think what Lucas has done down in Miami has been fantastic so far. But it feels like they're falling back down to earth. Right. They're just not a team. They have a team players, but they don't have much.

outside of a four. Exactly. Exactly. Now that the tape is out and their bodies are starting to wear down during the season, you've got a situation where after that massive winning street to start conference play, they've dropped three of their last five against teams that you would objectively look at and say, that's not a tournament team. What's going on there? So I mean, Cal last weekend. Yeah. Exactly. Call. Excuse me, not at Cal. Yeah. And I believe they lost to Stanford as well. Or no, no, it was a Florida state. They lost that home to Florida State. Yeah, they lost to Florida State. A Florida State team, NC State beat by 40.

Beat by 40. Put, hung a 50 ball on them boys damn near. So ultimately, I think they're falling back down to earth a little bit. That's why I don't really consider them as serious players in this conversation. But the rest of the group, I do think, you know, who would be surprised by Kelsey's crew getting it together? Who would be shocked

by that? Not me, right? Who would be shocked? Who would be shocked? Especially like Bill Brown now back? Who would be shocked if Caleb Wilson goes on to continue his freshman of the year campaign and actually lead that team to being in the top four. Who would be shocked if the anti-Josh Allen and Darian Williams continues to close

out games even when he's been terrible for the rest of the game. But you give him the ball, fourth quarter, three minutes or less, he's like, oh, I'm LeBron James, guys. Did you know you have LeBron James on your team? And he does what he wants to do. So ultimately, you have a lot of really good teams in this glut. But there are a few that are like, they're in the rankings, but you're not really, you know, SMU is a prime example.

Boopy can score. They can score. None of the boys can shuffle the puppies. They've got no rent protection. Where do they get a stop? You can get a stop. You can get a stop. They'll get stops when they play Syracuse.

I'll tell you that much. Well, everybody, we can get a stop against Syracuse. I mean, come on. All right, boys. Joe Lannardi's latest bracketology has eight ACCC teams in as of right now. As a reminder, last year, it was only four teams. And that fourth team was debatable whether they should have been in it. I won't mention.

who that was. Those teams as of right now. Duke, a one seed, that's the only top four seed that Lannardi projects as of right now. Virginia of five. Louisville, Clemson, and North Carolina, all sixes, NC State in eight, SMU nine and Miami,

a last four by at 11. As of the rest of the bubble, he does have Virginia Tech and Cal in first four out right now. So he has eight teams in with two others on the wrong side of the bubble. My question to you guys, very quickly, before we move on.

Selection Sunday, what is the number? Make a prediction. Oh, no, no, no, I won't make you predict. Let's go over under seven and a half. Over.

Give me over. I think we're going to get nine in. I think we're going to sneak nine in. I think this is deep. This is deep in Virginia, NC State, North Carolina, Louisville.

That's six. That's like six guaranteed. Where did you say SMU wasn't the latest bracketology? For Lannardi, nine. That's a museum. Miami? Where are they? 11. So the ones that are really safe in Lannardi's projection are Duke, Virginia, Carolina, Louisville, Clemson, NC State, SMU.

And the questions are Miami Virginia Tech Cow that would take it above that. I think Miami would get in for Virginia Tech and Cal. I don't trust Miami's depth. Virginia Tech. It's been too many great upsets this year for me to not believe that it's going to be a couple more teams on the bubble that you just look up like, Syracuse. Oh, stop it, Jackson. Stop.

Y'all boys, they need on the NIT bubble. Knock that off. They're not on the NIT bubble. Hey, and Anthony's dad has some eligibility. Get him on the floor. Let's see. I don't think he can thrive in this offense. All right, guys, we got to keep moving.

We got to keep the train moving here. Good stuff. We'll see if we are right with our over-under projections here in just a little bit. My man, Brian Smith is wondering, could SMU and Cal be battling to wind up play in Miami in the 2026 ACC championship game, I want to get his thoughts about that and we'll all react to it coming up in just a second. Right after I tell you about our friends at indeed, look, hiring is not just about finding someone willing to take your job. It's about finding the right person with the right background who can actually help your business move forward. And if you want

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So take the guest work out of buying NBA tickets with GameTime. Download the app, create an account, and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase. That's code locked on for $20 off. Download the GameTime app today. And remember, it's GameTime.com, not gametime.com. Check it out today. All right, fellas, I think we all probably expect Miami to be very, very, very good at football again next year. Will they make the NCAA championship a game again?

I shouldn't call it the NCAA championship game because that ain't what it is. It's a college football playoff championship game. We'll see if they can do that. But the question that my man, Brian Smith is pondering, could SMU and Cal be battling to be the opponent in the ACC title game? B, what you got for us, brother? I think Kevin Jennings will be one of the top three quarterbacks in the league. I think Brett Lashley is one of the best coaches. They've proven through their first two years in the league that they're one of the top programs,

if not the second best. And now Jennings is going to be a third year starter. They've got some pretty good portal guys coming in. So I think SMU next to Miami is the second most likely team to be in the ACC title game. But don't count out Cal. They got JKS, maybe the most natural passer in college football. and they got a gazillion traitors. I'm sitting here looking at the list right now.

It's insane. And they got some guys like Chase Hendricks is one of the top receivers coming in from Ohio. Ian Strong, the big guy for Rutgers is going across the coast. The play is like they're going to be explosive. This is going to be interesting. The ACC needs some new blood anyway. It'd be kind of cool to see going down to the last weekend, the regular season. Cal and SMU, like which one gets to play Miami in the ACC title game,

that would be really cool because college football needs a few ups. sets this would be one of. Have we learned nothing from last year? Have we learned absolutely nothing? Two years ago, there was an ACC team that everybody thought like, oh, they're back. They're good now, and they return their quarterback, and they returned two top 10 pass rushers, and they returned all of this talent, and everybody said, oh, yeah, they're for sure going to be great again.

And then they weren't. What tells everybody that Miami is a shoe in for next year's ACC, championship game. I get it in theory. However, we have seen Miami blunder up every year, including this one when it comes to getting into an ACC championship game. It never works out. I don't know why we have them penciled in, but sure, for the sake of this exercise, if we were to pencil them in, I do think that SMU and Cal are two great contenders. They're two of the only schools in the league that are returning their quarterbacks. And while Cal has a new head coach and all those transfers,

and you don't know what that's going to be, Rhett Lashley has mastered the portal. I think it's fair to say he has mastered that thing. He always gets more than he loses. He figures out how guys should fit in different places. And year in, year out, SMU has been right there. I would be shocked to see a year three, Kevin Jennings not be there.

And to think Kevin Jennings' story started with us saying, hmm, maybe Preston's Stone and Company could upset the apple cart and he goes and takes Preston's stone spot and now Preston's up at Northwestern somewhere. What a crazy world we live in. So ultimately, I do think that SMU is going to be there. I'm just not so sure while we're like, Miami's going to be an ACC championship game, a place that they haven't been since what, Jacory Harris was walking around those hallways or something like that? If they don't this year, Kenton, then they shouldn't be in it. I'm just saying. They went to the last championship this year and didn't go. I'm just saying.

Okay, I don't want to sit here as well and say like Miami is some sort of big lock. I get your point. But if it's not Miami, then who are you picking? What that's the thing. If we come into last year and we said Miami Duke is going to be your ACC championship game, you would have been laughed out the door. I'm sorry, Miami, Virginia. Yeah, Virginia, yes.

But Miami Duke, I would have been like, well, Duke was like a sleep for team with men's. No, no, the actual game was Duke, Virginia. If you were to told people coming into the year, Duke, Virginia is going to be the game. And, by the way, Duke is going to lose to Tulane. Illinois is going to run them out of their own damn stadium. Now we got the whole situation with being seven and five. But I get your point. But you get my point.

It's a crazy world. We live in the ACC. And again, the Atlantic teams that were supposed to be the law and order around here, there's no law. There's no order. There's no Clemson. There's no no nothing. Now we got all this anarchy and stuff. seven and five teams out of the coastal winning it.

That's what we are with now. Who is going, the first way to figure this out is you have to figure out who is going to be bad. Syracuse, Boston College, North Carolina, Florida State, Stanford, you're all going to be bad. Like, there's no chance, okay? Any hopes on Wake Forest going to the ACC title next? They got more players back, but going to the title game, it would be a shock.

Okay. that's a shock. So we'll let's move on now. They had the most fight eight-win season I've ever seen. Kenton, do you think that NC State is going to go to the ACC championship next season? They got a chance, but I doubt it. That defense has too many holes, but that offense, it's, it's, they could do what

Wake Forest did a few years ago where you just kind of, they could do what Wake Forest did where you end up in a few games where you just end up with the ball last year. You're like, hey, are we going to win this thing? And then you do that enough. And you're like, oh, I guess we do got a game in Charlotte a couple weeks out. All right. We'll consider NC State long shot. Louisville could be the team that gets in because Louisville is just Louisville and they're consistently good and they're never great, but they're consistently good. So Louisville can absolutely be a top two team in the ACC next year. How about Georgia Tech? You think they're going to be as good now that they don't have any quarterback? No. Okay. So they're going to fall off a map. Pitt, another one of those teams that's kind of consistently good. Can they get to the ACC championship?

They got a quarterback. They lost the linebacker and a few other players, though. That hurts. They got bought. Right. Okay, Duke. What do we think about Duke? No, Dary and Metson?

They got Dary and Mention. Oh, no. Okay, so they're F. We're going to put them in F category. Virginia, do we think they're going to replicate what they did last year? No way. Okay. So by my process, what about Notre Dame?

Oh, wait. No. Are we buying Clemson? See, this is the point. If you're not picking Miami, then who are you picking? Because there's about half the ACC you can eliminate right off the bat that you know is not getting to the conference title game, barring a miracle.

And then there's like four or five teams you look at and you say, well, I mean, if everything breaks right, they can go there. I'm not saying that Miami has no shot. I'm saying penciling them in is a bad idea based on what we just saw in terms of penciling in. If you would have told somebody, Clemson and Penn State are going to be. be playing for it all at the end of the year. They would have been like, yeah, that sounds totally

believable. By playing for it all, I mean playing for some, some Franks at the Finway ball. That's, that's what we meant. That's what we meant. Or the pinstrike bowl or whatever the hell bowl it was in a baseball stadium. Like that's, it's, it's college football is very mercurial. And we believe that we know, but now more than ever, it's just year to year, ups, downs, waves, and when you're peeking. I know. I'm just saying there's a lot of bad in this conference still. I agree. And I don't know if it's really going to change. And, yeah, as well as Miami is probably the most talented team on paper, and they have the best quarterback on the conference.

So I'm going to pick them to go to the ACC title game. And as far as the second place, you got SMU, you got Louisville, who's got a chance at it? You mentioned Cal is a sleeper. Clemson maybe is a sleeper now because post type sleeper. Post type sleeper. Who? Who's a sleeper?

He said post type sleeper. Post type. Hmm. Yeah, I, listen, saying Clemson and a sleeper in the same sentence feels crazy, but you're right. You're right. That's, nobody thinks of them anymore as a good team or a good program.

It's like, here's what I think this exercise is teaching us. Two things that come to mind for me. Number one, the ACC feels quite wide open for the taking. Number two, in this portal era, in this NIL era, it's so insanely impossible to predict. anything with any sort of accuracy because of the lack of retention and sameness year to year to year.

And if those two things do continue to reign true, which I don't see why I wouldn't as we get to August, it's going to be a fun ACC football season to see who does come out on top of the heat when it's all said and done. I think it's especially harder in the ACC when you don't have the cream of the crop in the conference. You have, we hope it's Miami that could be the crown jewel of the conference. but every other conference, you can sort of predict it. You can go to the SEC and you can say, well, I know Georgia is going to be good. Every year, Georgia is going to be good. Okay, Alabama, I know they're going to be good every year.

I don't know if they're the same, but they're going to be good every single year. You go to the Big Ten. Ohio State is going to be good every single year. Oregon with Dan Landing is going to be good every single year. We think Indiana is going to be good every single year. We think, right? Crazy. Yeah, I believe it. Then you go to the ACC and you're like, well, who's going to be good every single year?

Maybe Miami, but they haven't proven it for long enough, even though they're coming off a national championship appearance. So, I mean, it used to be a team like Florida State. They're done. They're cooked. Clemson used to be that team. I don't know what's going on with them. So, yeah, it's an incredibly tough conference to pick just because you don't have the cream of the crop teams in the ACC, like you have in other conferences. Well, that's what we're playing on Thursday and Friday nights now to try to get some eyeballs on our show.

You know, we're up there with Maxion now. You know, we got to compete with them for viewers for crying out loud because our crown jewels ain't crown jeweling. Brian and I talked about that last week. We had a really interesting conversation about that Thursday, Friday night slot. And so we'll see how that can continue to get some eyeballs on the ACC in those moments. All right, you guys, been a great show today, a lot of fun. We're thick in the middle. of college basketball season. We're here to see the ACC keep on rolling and getting these

teams moving forward. Got another big weekend ahead of us, including the first Duke, North Carolina matchup of the season. That should be a lot of fun along with the rest of the ACC action. For Jackson Holes, a host of Locked on Syracuse, for Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack, our man, Brian Smith from Lockedon Seminoles. I'm Isaac Shade, host of Lockton Tar Heels. It's always great to have you guys here with us. Thanks for making Lockdown, network, the number one sports podcast network. Thanks for being with us here on the ACC squad show. And until next week, peace out.