Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - CHAOS: Dabo Swinney FINALLY Uses Portal, Only to Get BURNED by ACC’s Most Bizarre Tampering Fiasco?
Episode Date: January 29, 2026ACC football retools rosters as Miami Hurricanes crush the transfer portal, but does portal success really guarantee wins on the field? Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs unpack Miami’s bold moves snagging... Darian Mensah and Cooper Barkate, debate how retention and high school recruiting compare to flashy portal signings, and spotlight NC State’s standout pickups—including Popo Aguirre and C.J. Bailey. Drama heats up as Dabo Swinney faces unprecedented tampering with Luke Forelli, raising questions about the wild-west atmosphere of college football’s transfer era.On the court, ACC basketball rebounds from last year’s disappointment, with nine teams including Duke, Clemson, and Miami projected for the NCAA tournament. Can teams like NC State and Miami solidify their spots, and is Duke once again the only true championship contender? Key insights on the balance between star power, depth, and coaching make this a must-listen for ACC football and basketball fans alike.Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.MazdaLike our players, we’re driven by the details. Because highlights make the reel. What it takes to get there makes it count.There’s more to a Mazda. Because there’s more to you.Turbo TaxFor a limited time, you can have your taxes done by a local TurboTax expert for just $150 — all in, if a TurboTax expert didn’t file for you last year. Just file by February 28. Take taxes off your plate and get back to your life. Visit https://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. Rocket MoneyLet Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at http://RocketMoney.com/LOCKEDONFanDuelIf you’re a new customer, bet just $5 and get $200 in Bonus Bets if you win. Make it count — because after the Super Bowl, the season is over. Last call for football on FanDuel, an Official Sportsbook Partner of Super Bowl Sixty. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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The ACC didn't have a very good football transfer portal if you go by the rankings.
But Miami crushed it and there are some other gems.
You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference.
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podcast network, your team every day.
He is Kenton Gibbs, former NC State defensive linemen and co-host of Locked on Wolfpack.
I am Alex Dono, host of Locked on Cains.
And on this loaded episode, we'll talk college basketball brackatology.
I don't want to jinx it when we still have, what, a month and a half until they, you know,
actually do selection Sunday.
But the ACC is in a much better spot this season than they were a year ago when they only got four teams into the NCAA tournament last.
year, we're bouncing back in a big way. But on football, you know, the transfer portal is pretty
much done, Kenton. There's like a few stragglers that are still in the portal who haven't found a
team, but most of like the actual good players have found a team. Enrollment deadlines have
passed this week around college ball. So if we look at the 24-7 sports rankings on how the ACC did
in the transfer portal, there's not a whole lot there in terms of that you only have three teams in the
20. You got Miami who really did have a good portal.
You know, Darian Menson and Cooper Barcate were the icing on the cake.
Miami comes in with the fourth ranked class.
I think the remarkable thing about what Miami did is they only have 12 transfer portal
commitments. All the other teams in the top 10 had 15 or more because they do grade these
based on both quality and quantity, right?
And then the only other ones in the top 20, Kenton, are Cal coming in at number 15,
new head coach, important transfer portal,
and Louisville, who tends to be pretty active in the portal every year under Jeff Brom,
come in at number 18.
But Kent, and having a top transfer portal class isn't necessarily something
that all these schools should be flexing because it's often a sign of having big needs on your roster,
and it's often a sign of having a new coach and a lot of roster turnover.
Well, I mean, and here's my biggest thing when you think of the transfer portal
rankings and what what it does or does not mean okay let's go back a little bit shall we let's let's be
sherman and mr pbody let's do our best sherman and mr pbody impression and getting the way back
machine all right i'm going to read off all of the top 25 or the top 15 to to 20 and you tell me
whether or not this team was in the playoffs and i'll tell you where they rank in terms of transfer
portal last year okay okay number one ls u playoff no playoff no no number number
Number two, Texas Tech, playoff, no playoff.
Texas Tech, yeah, playoff.
Number three, or I'm sorry, number three, Miami,
playoff, no playoff.
Playoff.
Four, Ole Miss, playoff, no playoff.
Playoff.
Five, Oregon, playoff, no playoff.
Playoff.
All righty, and that's where your playoff streak ends,
because then you have six Florida State,
seven Missouri, eight, Auburn, nine, UNC,
10, Kentucky, up, the playoffs pick back up with Texas A&M,
and then 12, Oakland.
And then after that, you've got Nebraska, South Carolina, Arkansas, USC, Mississippi State, Colorado, UCLA.
So what am I saying by saying that, right?
Is it good to be good in the portal?
Absolutely.
You can never have enough good players on your team.
But let's not, you know, look at this as an indictment of the ability to recruit of the ACC.
When in reality, we've seen the number one team in the portal last year got rid of their head coach.
he's gone he's gone like that's this is at the end of the day sometimes the best gets are the ones that don't leave yes louisville is louisville they'll always do well in a portal keeping is
brown does not count as a poor edition but that's a massive addition keeping him is massive empty state keeping c j bailey you know despite some tempered allegations from certain schools you know him being maybe
be a double agent. That was me. The only one who tampered with, just to make this clear,
the only person in Miami who tampered with C.J. Bailey was me. And I don't work for the team. I just
want to make that clear. And by the way, Ken, every time I've tried to tamper for a player, I'm like 0 for
three now. I'm not very good at you. You just go stay out of it. You just go stay out of it.
But, you know, what I'm saying here is, yes, it's good to be good in the portal. Yes, you know,
it's obviously a good thing to do and all that good stuff. But success.
in the portal does not success on the field make.
We've seen a bunch of teams that are consistently good in the portal.
Consistently, and I hate to do this to the man, Dion Sanders, up in Colorado, consistently,
one of the biggest and best moves and shakers in the portal.
By the way, his magic has worn off there, I think, because I don't see them at the top of portal rankings anymore.
They're certainly not a top recruiting rankings.
I mean, Dion doesn't really like to recruit ice school.
Like that was a novelty thing for a couple of years and when he had Travis Hunter and Chador.
But it seems like the magic has completely worn off up there.
Yeah.
I mean, yes, it does appear that way.
And, you know, it's unfortunate that it hasn't been able to work out for him.
But realistically, this is just where we are, right?
We're seeing a situation in the setup where ultimately we're seeing teams be good in the portal because, like you said,
some just need a lot of roster turnover.
every year. That's how they run their program.
Other schools, they've had a new coaching
addition. So that was a lot of turnover, lots of players.
But whether you go by quantity or quality, yes, it's good to be good in the portal.
Most teams, you know, if you can maintain a good nucleus of players
that had winning results the year before, if you can bring that back for the most part,
you've done more than your part in today's college football.
Yeah. Well, and to something you said,
you're spot on because
like having a good portal
and they rate this only based on who you bring in.
They don't rate it based on who you keep.
Retention is a huge part of it.
And then also, if you over portal,
like sometimes you have to.
Like Bill Belichick, what did he bring in?
Like 47 guys last year.
Now they still had a terrible season,
but it's like he had to over portal
because of all the roster turnover, right?
Lane Kiffin had to bring in 40 new players at LSU
because of all the roster turnover.
But you've got to find that balance between high school recruiting, retention, and portaling.
Right.
That was something that obviously Mike Norvell did not have enough of that balance because for a couple of years, Florida State, they were portal kings.
You know, 2023, started 13 at 0, were robbed of a playoff spot.
But the high school recruiting was not up to stuff.
And eventually it came to expose him.
But I'll tell you, Kent, and let's fully break this down when we come back.
the person that I actually feel terrible for here is Davo Sweeney because Davo
Davo finally embraced the portal. They did bring in 10 players. They had 11 guys for a hot
second. Davo Sweeney portaled in double-digit players and then became the victim of
not the only tampering because we know it goes on a lot of places, but the most blatant,
reckless tampering that maybe the sport has ever seen, at least in the portal era.
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All right.
So Kenton, one of the most fascinating sagas to watch in college football these last several days.
There have been a couple of them, right?
I mean, you know, Darien Mensa, leaving Duke, getting sued, settling, winding up at Miami.
That was a major saga.
It certainly took up a lot of my time over the past week on Lockdown Gaines.
But I'm sure our friends at Lockdown Clemson had been pretty busy with the Luke Forelli saga.
And it's like, Davo Sweeney is he's stubborn, but very slowly and gradually he's trying to embrace, you know, the modern era of college football.
He brought in seven transfers a year ago.
I think it was seven.
Then he brings in double-digit transfers this year.
He's finally using the portal.
And one of the top players that DaBoh brings in,
because he's really trying to bolster that defense.
That's the side of the football he's been focusing on the portal.
He gets Cal linebacker Luke Forelli, who not only commits to Clemson,
he signs with Clemson, and he matriculates.
He's in classes for a week at Clemson,
which is usually, I mean, I know, again, we've seen some crazy transfer portal indecision, guys bouncing around.
But usually once you're actually in class, that's usually a bridge that you cannot cross.
But that's exactly what Ole Miss did with Luke Forelli.
And the magical thing about this, Kenton is Davos Sweeney saved the receipts.
Like he was reading off copies of the text messages that Pete Golding was sending to Forelli while he was in class at Clemson.
Hey, I know you signed, but what's your buyout?
reportedly, according to Ferelli, texted him a photo of a $1 million contract.
And like, eventually Forelli cracked that he left.
And I, the Dabo's all mad.
Ole Miss is under investigation.
We also find out that Ole Miss allegedly tampered with a receiver from Fresno State.
So they're, you know, they're fighting in all directions now.
I want to know.
And I'm, I'm not joking when I say this.
What law school, and this is why I'm so glad.
that the NFL has guidelines around who can and cannot be an agent in the certifications for those things.
What the hell law school would your agent have gone to?
What certification would your agent have to where, and this is alleged,
so please don't say that I heard this from Ken and I know it's a thousand percent true.
If this is true, this has got to be the dumbest thing that an agent has ever willingly and intentionally participated in.
allegedly when Forelli received the text messages and all this stuff temporary,
they took it to dabbo as leverage to negotiate more money after they signed the contract
and were enrolled in class.
Yeah.
What type of stupid do you have to be to not just, it's one thing to tell a guy,
hey, man, other schools are temporary, you know, or other schools are after me, this is the
price the price is the price beforehand once you sign on that dotted line brother you can't just
undo and for the agent to not say hey um so it's also alleged that when they took that information to
dabbo dabbo said please send me screenshots send me the information and they allegedly said we'll do that
when you pay us are you stupid that's wild that is a head coach now mind you if this is between
Forelli in a private business. And this is why it's important that we all know, technically,
the collective is not employed by the school, not an entity or arm of the school. Therefore,
again, Dono's Ferrari of Miami can reach out to CJ Bailey.
Mario Cristobal can't. He can't. Why? Because you're functioning in an official capacity for the school.
people can request that public information stuff
because you're acting as on behalf of the school.
Yeah.
Are you stupid?
Are you mad?
What is going on up here?
That's ridiculous.
It's very.
And then on Davo's side of it,
you got to feel bad because he's like your friend that never goes out.
He's like,
what if I get robbed when I go out?
He's like, oh, my God.
Wouldn't like 5,000 people get robbed, dude?
Just go outside.
Go take a job.
First time he goes out.
Yeah.
First time he goes out, a mugger catches him.
Give me your wallet.
Um, dabo, we're sorry, you know, like, yeah, you should still be used the portal and you still need the portal to win.
But you may have been a little right.
We're sorry, dabble.
He's never portaling again, by the way.
Dabo will never dip into the portal ever again after this.
That friend that got mugged, the first time they decided to go for a dog is probably never going to run outside again.
They're strictly treadmill from now on.
That's just what this is, man.
And it's a really unfortunate situation.
But again, this situation is just wrought with the type of stupidity and arrogance that could only be possible in 2026.
It can only be possible to flout the rules so openly, so flagrantly, so publicly, so obviously in today's day and time.
I mean, for crying out loud, this is great.
Yeah, you're right.
There's stupidity on multiple fronts.
Like if what you say alleged towards the agent is true, incredibly dumb.
And then if what multiple allegations are saying about Ole Miss, like, again, like, we know there's a lot of tampering going on, Kenton around the country, but it's typically done through intermediaries, right?
Head, head coaches are going out of their way not to leave a paper trail.
Right.
I mean, Pete Golding apparently does not care.
They cannot stop me.
And Dabo was even saying in his presser, he's like, well, this guy's been a head coach for like five minutes.
So maybe he just didn't know.
And then they contacted one of the personnel directors at Ole Miss who was like,
now Pete just does what he does.
It's like, okay.
So, yeah, I feel bad for dabbo.
He's never going for a jog again in that transfer portal.
Donald, if you were driving nine miles over the speed limit,
you got pulled over by a cop.
You said, but officer, I thought that the speed limit meant as long as I stayed within 10 of that,
I'd be okay.
What would that officer tell you?
ignorance of the law is not an excuse.
Ignorance of the rules.
So what did you have been a head coach for five minutes?
Learn the rules, brother.
Learn the rules.
And here's the other part about it where that argument doesn't really pass the smell test.
If he was the head coach for five minutes or whatever case may be, what was his last role?
Defensive coordinator, correct?
Right.
So he knows.
Could he rich out the people as a defensive coordinator and temper?
No.
So like, it's, it's, it's.
just this is the type of stuff that you you watch the if you've seen the pony excess 30 for 30
this is worse than that because this is like oh I left I left this thing out and somebody found
it and like oh damn it wasn't like they were going around like waving uh checks out of the window
like they were you know trying to solicit services from off the street or something said hey we
we got money for players at high school football game because this is the equivalent of that you
are texting a young man while he is enrolled in his new school, we will double whatever you're
getting paid as the head coach. I just, it's, it's one of those things that it's when I first heard
it, I thought I was being sent tail. I thought I was being trod. I said this can be real. They said he
got up, walked out of class, and never came back. I said, this can't be real on a multitude of
funds. This cannot be real on a multitude of fronts. And to see the way that this is played out,
if this is in fact real, boy, we are just in a giant mess as a sports fandom right now.
Yeah. You know, Clemson still did bring in some good players, a couple of safeties, Jerome Carter
the third, Corey Myrick, London mayor at a defensive end. So they still did bring in, you know,
10 dudes, mostly on the defensive side, despite the Luke Forelli shenanigans.
You know, Miami, again, was the headliner for the ACC and the transfer portal with another top five class,
headlined by the likes of Dary and Mensa, former Duke quarterback.
And boy, that was a can of worms.
And just so people know, I'm not running from the smoke on that.
We've done multiple episodes on the Dary and Mensa situation.
So I'm not, you know, I'm not trying to distract you with the Forelli story so you don't focus on
the MENSA thing. You know, it's, it's one of those things. It was messy. Ultimately for Miami,
they get their star quarterback. Damon Wilson, the second at edge rusher was another huge
addition. You know, Florida State, who obviously the last few years, they seem to be now putting
more of a focus on high school recruiting than the portal. I don't know if part of that is because,
you know, the money people don't really want to spend for Mike Norvell anymore because he may not be
long for that job. But, but, you know,
But it's kind of a mixed bag. Florida State did make some good additions, though, Kenton.
Like we like running back Tray Wisner from Texas as a really good player.
But, you know, the whole Ashton Daniels is your starting quarterback in Big 2026.
It's not really sitting well with us as ACC fan boys.
Yeah, no, no, not at all, man.
That's a tough one to sell.
And ultimately, when I look at Florida State, we all know what this year is.
We all know what this year is.
Because the more I think about, excuse me, the more I think about it, this is worse than lame dog.
Like this is something that we know, barring a miracle, Mike Novell's gone.
Yeah.
Like barring a miracle, that's what we're going to end up in, you know.
Big Jackson, that was the defensive tackle down there was lighting it up at the senior bowl apparently.
And everybody's like, oh, what a shock.
Where is this guy from?
And it's like, see, see, no.
Because he was, this is who he's all.
always been. It's just not necessarily in the best situation possible. You know, I will say
there are plenty of very good players coming into the ACCV uniform. Yes, plenty of good
was left, but there are plenty of good players. Wisner in particular, if you're talking about
Florida State, I think he's going to have an impact right away. He's the type of fact that he can,
he can definitely carry the low for an offense. And let's be honest, with Asson Day is a quarterback,
you're going to have to run the ball a lot. You're going to have to be pretty good.
good at running that rock. And Wysner is going to be a player that definitely benefits from that
run-heavy type of system, especially with Mazzan. I mean, you're going to have lots of misdirection,
lots of your eyes going all over the place. But ultimately, it's just downhill power like they want
to do. And he's going to benefit from that greatly. The biggest question for them would be,
have they bolstered that offensive line enough to be meaningful? Because last year, there were times
where Thomas Casanos was running around for his life. And so,
are they better this year? Are you prepared to be a winning team this year? The answers probably
no, we're probably going to have a third host on Locked on ACC next year. Mike Norval is going
to be on here with us and going to give us a coach.
Come on down. And he's a really nice dude. I met him. I met him a couple times. He's actually a really
great guy. Like I, you know, like I went up to him thinking I'm going to like throw the you in his
face or something. But no, he's so, he disarms you with kindness. Right. He's a great guy.
Don't worry everybody.
Dono and I will do our best to get them on the show once everything goes down there.
But I just, I don't think that there was a portal class that could have saved them unless they got the best of everything.
And that surely did not happen.
Yeah, I really, and you know this, I really liked NC State's portal class.
You know, the NC State Wolf Canes is what you guys are going to be next year.
But between Popo Aguirre, who I think is going to do an awesome job at linebacker,
for the pack next year.
And Chance Robinson and Jojo Trader at receiver, Kenton.
You know, in the case of Robinson, he just hasn't really been able to consistently
compete in practice because he's had some bad luck with injuries.
So like he's, if he can put the injury bug behind him, he's going to be a stud.
And then Jojo Trader is going to find, going to try to find consistency.
And who better to find it with than your former high school quarterback in C.J. Bailey.
So I think and it's not just I listed the Miami guys.
I know there's other additions that the pack made,
but I think you guys had a really good class.
And it was a really good turnaround for Dave Doran because I know after some of the bad losses that NC State had,
like we're thinking he's not going to make it through the year,
but he sticks the landing.
And not only is Dave back,
but it looks like they're rebuilding a nice team for him.
Dave Doran is the greatest beneficiary and the entire nation of Robbery Week.
rivalry week being you play your biggest rival at the end of the year.
Here's a fun fact for you.
You have to go back beyond 70 years to find a time frame
during which UNC has the lead over NC State in terms of their rivalry.
You have to go back 70 years to when people that look like me
weren't even allowed in the school, ladies and gentlemen.
That's how far you've got to go back.
And so that's been a benefit to him.
But what's also been a benefit to him is him making his own luck a little bit.
and in the portal is one of those areas where you do make that long.
I mean, listen, you can call us to Keynes North.
We don't care.
We will gladly take the North Miami Hurricane tag
if that means that we'll be in the ACC Championship.
Okay.
I'm sorry, but Miami West made it to an ACC championship a couple years ago
out there in Dallas.
So now I think we all think it may be time for Miami North
to get a chance to do this thing.
But even outside of the guys from Miami, I mean, there's a shamanah Madonna pipeline in terms of Goss and company that are.
Oh, the Goss move.
I forgot.
That was a good move as well.
I forgot about it.
Yeah.
And you had plenty of snaps and carries to give away with Hollywood Smothers departing for Bama.
There was, you know, you were looking for another weapon in that way.
I mean, this is a team that weapons galore in the portal.
You know what I mean?
Vanderpluge from Oregon, another really big.
pick up both, you know, metaphorically and literally the guy's 6-6-2-50.
Too-fitty.
That's a tight end for you.
Now, that's a load there.
And, you know, they did very well in the portal.
I would have liked to see a little bit more defense picked up, but I'm not going to lie to you.
Ending it all with Popo and King Matt.
I'm all right with that.
That'll play in my book.
So ultimately, I think that NC State did enough to get better than they were last.
year, but now the results have to show on the field.
And we'll find out very early because they'll be taking on Virginia and Brazil to start
the year off in week zero.
So we'll find out exactly how much better this team has gotten very quickly.
By the way, I want to find somebody who can fund your flight down to Rio to watch that
game in person.
Like, I want to make that happen for you.
I would love that.
I would love nothing more than to be in Rio.
If we can get an airline to step up and facilitate that, like I want nothing more than
that for Kenton and for Grace and Boone as well. We want to send you both down there because that
sounds like a trip. I don't care if it's Delta American Spirit frontier. Don't matter nothing to me.
If you funding it, I'm there. I'll be there bright and early sitting there one hour before my
flight leave. Just smile. Just I'm going to Brazil. I'm going to Rio de Janeiro. You know,
I love it. Now, we're going to switch to hoops when we come back. And both NC State,
and Miami, among seven others,
are currently projected in the NCAA tournament.
You want to keep it locked right here.
We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC.
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Thank you for making Locked on ECC your first listen.
For your next listen, make sure you check out our other shows.
Kent and Gibbs and Grace and Boone, they'll be live for more.
Rio in several months. They do a great job on Lockdown Wolfpack. I host Lockdown Canes.
All right. So, Kenton, I was looking at the updated this morning, ESPN Bracketology and where the
ACC sits. And I was reminded of, and we covered this last year on Locked on ACC. Just what a down
year it was for the conference. The ACC only got four teams into the tournament last year. Duke is a one-seed.
Clemson is a five, Louisville at an eight, and North Carolina snuck in as an 11 seed.
And as it stands right now, Kenton, with Bracketology, the ACC is projected to get in more than double what they got last year with nine teams that are currently in.
There's a couple who may be, you know, on the bubble, it could still be decided throughout the rest of the season.
But as it stands right now, you've got Duke who are pretty much forever a one seat, right?
they're always going to be there.
Clemson currently projected at a six.
Virginia Tech projected as an 11.
Miami projected as a 10.
SMU as an 8.
NC State projected currently as a 9.
Virginia at a 5 seed, North Carolina at a 6,
and Louisville projected at a 6 seed.
So, I mean, do you have any concerns?
I know even though the teams that we cover still have some work to do, right?
Miami and NC State still need to,
to close this out. But do you think we can end up having eight or nine in the tournament at the end of it?
I think every team except Duke just about still has work to do. You know, there's a lot of ball left
to play for everybody. So I unless, you know, now obviously we're not counting on catastrophic
collapse here, but every team still has some work to do here. But should I, should we count on this?
Yes. Should we count on nine? Yes. Eight to nine. I feel like seven is on the very low end.
And let me tell you why, Donald, the metrics are all loving the ACC right now.
Every single thing that we've done out of conference, all of our teams have played good ball out of conference,
or even the teams that have not played good ball out of conference looking at myself in the mirror right now,
they've had spectacularly hard out-of-conference schedules.
So it's like, yeah, you got beat, but you got beat by the team that's going to win this conference.
You got beat by the team that's going to be a two-seat here.
So, you know, you can kind of live with that early in the season.
Ultimately, what I would say more than anything else is this batch of the ACC, this year's batch, these nine teams, they have shown they are much better, but the biggest part is not them playing each other.
It's the bottom portion of the ACC.
The quote unquote, bottom feeders all have good wins.
The quote unquote, bottom feeders have all done things where you're like, wait a minute, what?
For example, Syracuse was not mentioned in that group.
They've got a win over Tennessee.
Yep.
Georgia Tech not mentioned in that group have a win over NC State.
There are multiple teams not mentioned in the end group that already have wins
or are going to have wins over some schools that are going to be in.
And so ultimately what you're looking at here is the metrics say,
even if you beat one of our bottom feeders,
Pitt was dead last in the ACC,
yet playing them on the road counted as a quad to win up until last week.
that's insane to think about.
Like, these teams are just better than what we've seen.
So the metrics and the eye test will both support more teams getting in this year.
Yeah, and you mentioned a couple of teams that are not, like, currently on the bubble,
but can still get into the bubble.
And then there's also a couple teams that right now are on the bubble,
who were not included in the nine that I mentioned.
Stanford and Cal are, like, right on the edge.
They're considered in the 73 to 76 zone that would just miss the cut.
you know, Miami just beat Stanford last night, had Stanford beaten Miami, and they were up in the second half.
It might be, you know, flipped on them being in and Miami being out right now.
So the margins are that thin.
But I, by and large, and we'll keep covering it throughout, you know, the next month or so before we get to the tournament where we're going to cover the heck out of it.
This is on track to be just a much better year for the ACC.
And I hope that once we get into the tournament, we're not kind of feeling like we did last year.
where it was Duke or bust.
Like Duke was the only team that had any shot to win the championship.
And they should have.
They underachieved.
But hopefully we're not in another Duke or Bus situation.
But that is the flagship still for the ACC in basketball.
I'm going to tell you this much.
You talk about teams on the bubble.
I want to see Ibuka Okere in the NCAA tournament.
I want the world to know what the ACC knows.
Abuka is a baller.
brother can fill it up like nobody's business. When he goes downhill and attacks that room,
cinema, absolute cinema. The young man has a wide array of finishes. And of course,
he can jump off the gym. And when he put that, when he, when he come down, oh my God,
it's a sight to behold. So if they're on the bubble, Stanford, do your job. Please,
please. Andrew Lupp, donate some more of that money on over the basketball, because I want to see,
stand for basketball in the tournament.
Yeah, amen to that.
He's Kenton Gibbs from Locked on Wolfpack.
Make sure you follow him on X at TGIF underscore Kenton.
Follow me at Alex Dono and check out Lockedon Cains.
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And we'll talk to you next time on another episode of Locked on ACC.
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