Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - COLLAPSE: North Carolina’s 19-Point LEAD Explodes – Hubert Davis Lost for Answers After VCU Shock

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

North Carolina suffers the largest first-round collapse in NCAA tournament history, falling to VCU after surrendering a staggering 19-point second-half lead. Can the Tar Heels recover from this unprec...edented meltdown, or has Hubert Davis reached the end of his road in Chapel Hill? Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs break down Carolina’s shocking exit, questioning coaching decisions, roster construction, and the program’s shifting standards. The episode also spotlights Duke’s narrow escape against Siena, fueled by Cam Boozer’s resilience, and analyzes Louisville’s steady performance against upset-minded USF. The hosts preview key ACC matchups—Miami vs. Missouri, Clemson vs. Iowa, and Virginia’s showdown with Wright State—offering bold predictions on whether the conference can rebound in March Madness. Plus, Athlon Sports’ ACC football power rankings spark debate: Is Louisville primed to challenge Miami, and will new QB Lincoln Kienholz rise to the occasion? 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! 5-Hour ENERGY Have your cake & drink it too. Birthday cake-flavor is back, no fork needed. Vanilla-y cakey flavor, caffeinated kick, and no sugar. It's party time. Order Now at https://5-hourENERGY.com or Amazon. Mazda Like 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.  TurboTax This year you’re getting a major upgrade — Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. Robinhood You’re no longer just a spectator. Play by play. You decide. Trade Every Play with Robinhood. Now available across the U.S. Download the Robinhood app now to begin. Futures and cleared swaps trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC., a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. Wayfair Get last-minute hosting essentials, gifts for all your loved ones, and decor to celebrate the holidays for WAY less. Head to https://Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home.  Wayfair. Every style. Every home.  SupplyHouse Visit https://SupplyHouse.com/tm to learn more about becoming a Trade Master. Use promo code S-H Five College for 5% off your first order at https://supplyhouse.com.  SupplyHouse. Real people. Real service. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast   Gametime Today'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. FanDuel FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a College Basketball Parlay Profit Boost.Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started — Play Your Game.   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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Starting point is 00:00:00 On Thursday, we witness the largest first round comeback in NCAA tournament history, but North Carolina was on the wrong side of it. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. He is Kenton Gibbs. I am Alex Dono, and today's episode of Locked on ACC is brought to you by Mazda. We put the same drive into every day. detail. Wins define the moment. Putting in the work, that defines you. Stay tuned for highlights in this week's moving the game forward. There's more to a Mazda because there's more to you. We'll talk on this loaded episode about new preseason ACC football rankings from Athlon Sports. A little bit of a surprise at number two. It's not what Kenton and I had been going with. Duke survived a scare against Siena. I give the Sienna Saints a ton of credit for the way they played on Thursday. But
Starting point is 00:01:07 Duke just has too much and too much talent. So they avoided the 16 versus one upset. But Kenton, I'll tell you who didn't avoid an upset. And that was six-seed North Carolina against 11 VCU. The Tar Heels, they had a 19-point second half lead. What did they do with that lead? They go on to score just five points in the final seven minutes and 11 seconds of regulation. They didn't score in the overtime.
Starting point is 00:01:37 until there was 202 remaining, and those were just on free throws. Didn't hit a single field goal in overtime, and they ultimately fall to VCU by what was the final score, 82 to 78. Where do we even start, Kenton? How does this keep happening to Hubert Davis? As cool and the gang once said, celebrate good times.
Starting point is 00:02:04 Come on. No, but seriously. says North Carolina. What happened? This was a collapse for the record books. You know, in the words of big X to plug, they say I'm the biggest, the largest collapse in the first round of the NCAA tournament ever. Oh, man, what an embarrassing time.
Starting point is 00:02:31 What an embarrassing time. And with a roster that allegedly caused somewhere between 12. than $16 million. And this was what you did. Don't get me wrong. I understand Caleb Wilson was out. And without Caleb Wilson, it's a different team. But here's the deal, right?
Starting point is 00:02:51 Constructing a team that if your best player is out, you cannot hold a 19 point lead. And mind you, Donald, did they lead by 19 in the first half or the second half? The second half. So you're telling me a 19 point league, and you can't hold that for about 14 minutes against an Atlantic 10 team? Wow. Wow.
Starting point is 00:03:18 I mean, here's the thing. Let me take off my Wolfpack Shaded Glasses now because I enjoyed that celebration a little bit too much. I did. Oh, one more thing with my Wolfpack tennis shades on. Caleb Wilson said he's not sure if he wants to go to the NBA. I think that you should extend Hubert Davis to give them a 10-year contract to keep to keep Caleb there now let me take my wolf pack
Starting point is 00:03:42 shaded glasses all this is a a disappointment and a black eye on the ACC it is keep making history in the wrong way in the NCAA tournament as of late first ever 16 seed to lose so one seed is from the ACC largest largest collapse ever in terms of allowing a comeback from the first round but yeah yeah in the first round is in the NCAA tournament is from the ACC, we have to do better. And I don't know how you bring Kuber back. And I'm not joking when I say that. I don't understand how you say, hey, this is our guy. He has to be our guy when the results have objectively shown,
Starting point is 00:04:20 Dono, the results have objectively shown. This is not a serious person that will get the job done. Bringing him back for another year is asking for another year of mediocrity. This was a team. The first ever team to not face any type of sanctions, any type of penalties, anything like that, to be ranked number one in the nation preseason to not even make the tournament. That's what he gave you. With a 38-year-old Armando Baycott and a love in Davis backcourt,
Starting point is 00:04:55 couldn't get it done, can't get it done this year. At a certain point in time, North Carolina has to look themselves in the mirror and ask, what is our standard? What is our standard? Because if first round exits or worse in five or seven years is your new standard, again, with my wolf pack glasses on, I love that standard. That's a great standard for you all.
Starting point is 00:05:19 That's a damn good standard, Donna. The ACC guy in me is like, you've got to get better. You're one of the preeminent brands in not just the ACC, but in all of college basketball. Really, in all of college sports, North Carolina basketball is one of preeminent brands. So to not be better, to have this be your result on a consistent basis, you are dropping your standard.
Starting point is 00:05:43 Yeah, well, let me play this for you. And I'll admit, the edit here, it's kind of diabolical by Barstool Sports. So, you know, they go out of their way to make Hubert, you know, sound as bad as possible after this game. But, you know, these are a couple of clips from Hubert Davis. post game where he seems completely unwilling or unable to explain what happened. Like how do you blow a 19 point second half lead? And he just comes off completely baffled by it.
Starting point is 00:06:18 And again, the edit obviously does not do him any favors, as you will see. But this certainly doesn't make Hubert look very good following that historic collapse. You got a little bit tired there? I did not. I didn't. Hubert, why did you go to just a six-man rotation in the second half? Because that was my decision. Coach, what did you, generally, what do you think went wrong?
Starting point is 00:06:50 What do you mean? Hubert, the free throws again, as you mentioned, a little bit of an issue tonight. Why do you think that was such an issue for your team throughout the season? That's a great question. I mean, we work on them. and gotten a little bit tired there the word that comes to mind
Starting point is 00:07:15 Kent it is he seems completely dumbfounded like he doesn't know he has no way of explaining what happened on Thursday wow wow again we are acknowledging that that
Starting point is 00:07:31 that is clickbait we are acknowledging that that was a terrible edit But I Huber is such an interesting guy Because I couldn't imagine Dono or myself I know both of us
Starting point is 00:07:45 Got enough of that fire in us That if we let up The biggest comeback In first round NCAA tournament history In the history of the first round NCA tournament rather Neither one of us would be just sitting up there chilling And you could capture moments of us
Starting point is 00:08:00 Just kind of Hmm Yeah I'm gonna Well I don't know No, that press conference would be real short if it was me. It would have been real short. It would have been, I prepared these guys to play the game like a loser.
Starting point is 00:08:18 We lost the game. We had the lead. We executed early. We did everything we wanted to do. And then we let them off the hook. My hubris got too big. I thought that six men was enough to shut this game down. And boy, was I wrong.
Starting point is 00:08:35 I thought we were calling in Edwin Diaz to the mound, and we all heard the horn sounding together, and the closer was going to close. It turns out, no Caleb, no clothes for me, which is I constructed this team wrong. That's on me. That's on me. But I don't want to talk about,
Starting point is 00:08:52 oh, throughout the season, what was this, what was that? I lost this bargain. I did. I did, and that's all there is, too. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And hit it with the Dennis Green. And if you want to crown them, crown their ass. Crown them.
Starting point is 00:09:06 And head on all. Yeah, I'm sure the future is very, very questionable now for Hubert Davis. We'll have to have Isaac Shade in the near future to help us pick up the pieces here. Meanwhile, you know, Duke, Duke survived a scare. We'll talk about it. I mean, honestly, my big takeaway from that game was really more about Sienna and how gutsy they were versus Duke. And we remember we talked about the other day. the ACC's over under for first round wins,
Starting point is 00:09:38 you've got to be perfect on Friday to hit that over. You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Folks, this is Mazda's moving the game forward. For those who show there's more to the score than what's on screen. North Carolina, as we talked about, suffered the upset bug, but credit to Louisville for avoiding it. It became a really trendy pick.
Starting point is 00:10:05 I'll admit I even got suckered into it, never again. to pick USF against Louisville in an upset. Louisville was able to fend them off. It was a great performance. USF did make the game closer than it really was down the stretch. But credit to Louisville for taking care of business when folks were smelling blood in the water without Mikel Brown. It reminds us of what it really takes to raise the bar.
Starting point is 00:10:28 It's the extra work off the court. Dialing in every detail, giving it that extra fire, that grit, and I never quit. We put that same passion into every model. Highlights make the real. what it takes to get there makes it count. There's more to a Mazda because there's more to you. College basketball is nonstop,
Starting point is 00:10:47 and we have so many more big games today, tight spreads, momentum swings, from the early tip-offs to the late-nighters. I've got a late-nighter tonight with Miami against Missouri. There's always action on the board. And now, Fanduel is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a college basketball playoff parlay boost. You can build any college hoops parley.
Starting point is 00:11:08 you want. Rivalry games, ranked matchups, whatever fits your read. You can mix the spreads, the totals, and player props to match how you see the slate playing out, and then you apply the profit boost and instantly bump up the potential payout. Go safe, go bold, or ride with the team you've been following all season. It's your parlay, your style, now with more upside behind it. Head to fendool.com to get started. That's fendual.com. Fandual. Play your game. Guys, this is the month and this is the time to join the Everydayer Club. You can get your first month of the Everydayer Club for free when you use Code March. You'll unlock add free episodes and entry into our private listener group chat where we're hanging out, Kent and I daily.
Starting point is 00:11:52 You can click the link in the show notes or go to Lockedonaccc.com to claim your free month with the code March. Thank you so much for making Locked on ECC your first listen. So, you know, Kenton, Sienna 16 seed. You know, we talked about them this week because, you know, Jerry McNamara very likely to become next head coach
Starting point is 00:12:17 at his alma mater at Syracuse. But he leads Sienna into, what, their first March Madness game. And they led, what, for like, 36 minutes, basically, against the Duke Blue Devils until, you know, Duke finally, Cameron Boozer offensive rebounds at second chance and third chance points.
Starting point is 00:12:37 You knew the cream would rise to the top eventually, but Sienna with zero substitutions made, Kenton. They rode five guys, burgers and fries all throughout the 40 minutes of that basketball game. And, you know, several double-digit leads. Like it was, I always figured Duke would come back, but they were on the ropes for a while. Give Sienna a ton of credit. and Kenton, I think, and Isaiah Evans talked about it at halftime, like Duke, I think Duke definitely, they admitted they took Sienna lightly. Like, they thought they could just get off the bus and beat that team.
Starting point is 00:13:12 I'm hoping for a Blue Devils team that was predicted by many, if not most, to win this tournament. That was the wake-up call they needed the first 36 minutes of that game. Jerry McNamara, you are a Syracuse Orange, brother. You already were, and now you're going to be one again as the head coach. this was a as gutsy of a performance as there has been. And let me be clear about this. Duke won the game. Duke was the better team.
Starting point is 00:13:40 Duke and what they did in winning this game and not rolling over and folding up when it was, you know, late in the game and this is still a close game, I give credit to Duke because there was another way this could have win. But Sienna, you want to talk about five guys, burgers and fries. That's how much their NIL deals probably are at Sienna. They probably get two five guys burgers and fries meals per year. And mind you, Dono, that's the base meal. If you want to put on an extra patty, if you want to put on baking,
Starting point is 00:14:10 you've got to pay for it to sell. Because just is two totally different levels in terms of budget, in terms of caliber of recruits, in terms of facilities, in terms of the storiness of their program, in terms of all the things. Truly, David, Goliath. And this one, the slingshot was just a little off. But I'm going to tell you, Coach John Shire, get your boys together.
Starting point is 00:14:35 Get your boys together. Multiple guys saying we took this team for granted. Multiple? Yeah. What's going on? That's not a champion does not concern himself with losers. There's a picture of Michael Phelps swimming in the Olympics. And Michael Phelps is lighteners in front of everybody else.
Starting point is 00:14:57 And everybody else is looking at him. everybody's looking at him while they're swimming and he's looking at the finish line. Why is that important? Duke, if you are who you are supposed to be, it shouldn't be I'm worried about how do we beat Sienna. I'm worried about how we beat this team. No, no, no. I'm worried about playing Duke basketball. That should be your concern.
Starting point is 00:15:23 Whether I'm playing the Tart Hills, whether I'm playing. Virginia, whether I'm playing Miami, whether I'm playing Michigan, whether I'm playing Sienna, whether I'm playing Bishop Gorman High School. It does not matter. My goal is Duke basketball, whether I'm playing Dono and his kids' little basketball team. Don't give a damn. Don't give a damn. Sorry, Alex, Jr.
Starting point is 00:15:50 We are not going to let up on you just because you're a fourth grader, buddy. You stepped on the court with Duke basketball. So you know what you're going to get? the same Duke basketball to beat Michigan. That's what you're going to get. And to see that this team just was so tentative, so relaxed, so passive, that first half, they just could not, I mean, it was nothing they could do to finish possessions. They had such a physical advantage over Sienna.
Starting point is 00:16:18 There was multiple times where they ran that high, low play, where they dump it off the boozer in the post, excuse me, in the post, and then he drops it off to the man in the dunker's position. They had such a physical advantage. Sienna knew it was coming. And Duke's guy just jumped up and grabbed the ball over him, but he could not finish at the rim. Yeah, yeah. This game here, John Shire, get it together, get your stuff together.
Starting point is 00:16:44 I want to say a different word, but I want to lose our clean rating, especially not on such a glorious day as we are celebrating puffing on Hubert. I'm sorry, not puffing on. That's not okay. Especially on the day where we're already mourning. You and see losing a basketball game in an embarrassing fashion, you know, because that hurt me and Donald's bet on the other of four and a half. You know, it hurt.
Starting point is 00:17:07 It hurt. So ultimately, I look at this and I say, if this team wants to get where they got to be, it starts with the tip of the spear, which is John Shire. And that message has to be relayed to Cam Boozer down. And Cam, it starts with you. You're talking about we took this team for granted. You are the star.
Starting point is 00:17:26 You set the pace. everything that we do, I'm the guy that has to be the leader needs to be his mentality. I want to show everybody. I'm not taking nothing for granted. Yeah, I'm better than you, but I want to work harder than you. I want to show everybody every day. Again, whether it's Donno's Little League team, Michigan, or Sienna. Every team is getting the same deal, same Duke basketball.
Starting point is 00:17:49 And by the way, that game, to me, it perfectly, like, described, like, what March Madness is all about because even though I have Duke winning my bracket. it, right? That's my predicted champion. And yet I was rooting for Sienna to finish the job. Like, I was all caught up in it. And you talk about Duke, not always finishing at the rim. I wanted to jump through my TV and punch that seven foot center from Sienna, Riley Mulvey. How many times did that dude miss a dunk or miss like an inch away from the rim? If he could have finished a couple of those at the rim, it may not have been a Duke victory yesterday. Like there's a reason. There's a reason. There's a reason of seven-footer is at sienna okay let's that's right that's a great point that's a great point if he was a a hell of a ball player at seven feet do you think that he would be in a tiny town in new york yeah he'd be it for them here he missed two wide open dunks within five seconds like he got his rebound and he missed another dunk and i'm like what is happening yeah yeah it's a again credit to all those credit to all those young man from sienna they battled their hearts
Starting point is 00:18:58 And credit to Duke for not folding, for not fading, for not saying, you know what, I'm about to go to the NBA anyway. I'm good. I ain't really. Brotherhood, smotherhood, we going on with our lives. Credit to Duke for doing that. But John Shire and Cam Boozer, if you can hear the sound of my voice, this team and this situation, Cam, you got Duke blood running through your veins before you even committed to this school. From the day you were born to the day you hit the grave, regardless of how this thing ends,
Starting point is 00:19:33 you have Duke bloodlines running through you. And you're telling me that this was the effort you put out. This effort was good enough to beat Sienna by the hairs on your chinny, chin, do you think there's a single game you'll win with this type of effort going for? A single one. No, no. Hell no. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:19:52 Well, they still have more to prove throughout this tournament. But Duke gets a win yesterday. Louisville, they survived the trendy upset pick. They controlled the entire game against USF. We had the one loss yesterday in North Carolina. And so, Kent, we talked about this before the tournament started. And this was before the first four games as well. And unfortunately, both the first four games, the ACC lost.
Starting point is 00:20:17 So we got six teams to play in the first round of the NCAA tournament. And the over-under for ACC first round wins is four and a half. So if we're going to get over with five, the ACC's got to go perfect today on Friday. So here's what we're looking at on the slate today, Kenton. You got a late night affair with seven-seed Miami, favored by a point in a half against 10-seed Missouri. It's essentially a true road game for Miami in St. Louis against the lower seed. Hurricanes are still favored. But these teams are like the Spider-Man meme.
Starting point is 00:20:52 They're mirror images of each other, very similar Miami and Missouri. You have Clemson as an underdog, despite being the slightly higher seed, eight seed Clemson, one and a half point underdog against nine seed Iowa. And you have, where is Virginia? Oh, Virginia, three seed Virginia is a 17.5 point favorite against 14 Wright State. So, you know, obviously strange things can happen. I assume Virginia is going to win. Miami and Clemson both feel like more of a toss up. Like, what has to happen for the ACC to go 3 and O today?
Starting point is 00:21:26 So Miami and Missouri, that's what I like to call bar fight basketball. Yeah, it's going to be a slug fest. It's going to be physical. It's going to be that old 90s basketball. You know, that old time religion everybody's always talking about. Oh, I like it when it's physical. I like it when you drop it off to the beings in the bank and all that. Well, you're going to get all of it you can wish for and more in Miami and
Starting point is 00:21:47 Missouri because that's how both teams like to play basketball. The Clemson game is a little bit more interesting. to me because they lost one of their best players very recently, but Brownell is known for drawing blood from a stone. That's what Brad Brownell has done repeatedly over the course of his career. He is, you know, just striking that rock and hoping something comes out. And we all think, oh, nothing could come out. We all think, oh, this Clemson team is cooked. Without one of your best players going into the Lacey, oh, yeah, you're done for it. He continues to find ways. He continues to find ways to not only win ball games, but be competitive in games as he shouldn't.
Starting point is 00:22:23 This is a game where Clemson should be very competitive. This is a game where Clemson should be in the game. Can they find a way to just keep it close? Just keep it close. Because if it gets close, I trust Brunel in the end. If it gets close, if they just keep it close. But my question is, how do you maintain and kind of redo the structure of who does what when one of your leaders is out, right?
Starting point is 00:22:45 How do you do that? Because that's the biggest question for Clemson. Now, do I see us going 3 and 0? And all those things, I told you all yesterday, before we were talking about this, don't y'all go out here being one of those degenerates betting on this thing. But if y'all are going to bet it, I told you bet the under. It looks like we may be facing the under. The under is staring us right down the barrel right now.
Starting point is 00:23:10 So, you know, the reality is these are three really good teams that have had really good seasons. I think that UBA, that shouldn't be too close. I think UVA is underseated. And I think that one's going to be put away in short order. Miami and Clemson. y'all better put your dukes up. Get ready to fight, baby. Because you got 40 minutes for the rest of your life.
Starting point is 00:23:31 Let's see how you play it. The real battle is going to be for me staying up until like 1230 in the morning to get to the end of that Miami game. 10, 10 p.m. And there's, you know, other, it comes right after obviously other games. They go back to back to back. So it's like it may not start on time. It's like, dude, I am going to be pounding the Cuban coffee 930, 10 o'clock.
Starting point is 00:23:51 Just to make sure I'm good. Dono's home will feature nothing but Cuban coffee and five-hour energies, the watermelon and the birthday cake, all of them. He's going to need every flavor he can find. The cotton candy flavor is super good. When I tried it, I was like, I don't know if I'm going to like this. I'm like, yeah, it feels like I'm a kid again at a carnival. It's so good.
Starting point is 00:24:11 Come on now. And listen, you're going to feel like a kid again, stand up at 2 a.m. I'm talking about, oh, go games. Go games. That's right. Well, when we come back, Athlon Sports has put out their preseason ACC football rankings. Bit of a shakeup at number two. It's different than what Kenton and I have.
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Starting point is 00:26:31 and swap firm. Thank you for making Lockdown ACC, your first listen for your next listen. Check out our other shows. Kenton Gibbs and Grayson Boone host Lockdown Wolfpack talking to all things NC State. I talk all things Miami on Locked on Cains, available free, wherever you get your podcasts and available free on YouTube. So, all right, Athlon Sports, Kenton is. weighing in on their ACC football power rankings.
Starting point is 00:27:00 Like pretty much everyone, they have Miami is their number one. That's been a constant across all of these boards. Now, at number two, you and I and most media members have given Ret Lashley's SMU the nod, including the odds makers, by the way, who have SMU with the second highest win total at eight and a half in the conference. But Athlon is going with Louisville. They say inconsistent quarterback play was a problem for Louisville's offense last season. Coach Jeff Brom hopes the position was upgraded by bringing in Ohio State transfer Lincoln Keenholz to start in 26.
Starting point is 00:27:37 He's supported by one of the top backfields in the nation with Isaac Brown and Kiwan Brown returning. The Cardinals returned five starters on defense, but this unit is undergoing some transition with Mark Ivy and Steve Ellis taking over as co-coordinators. The thing about that is like, I don't know how much. much we can count on that quarterback transition. Because yeah, Miller Moss had his ups and downs last year, but at least he was a former starter coming in where the Ohio State transfer. And in case you notice, Ohio State starting quarterback was Julian Sayan, not Lincoln Keenholz. So you're talking about bringing in a backup, which, listen, may or may work out swimmingly for you, but I don't think we can necessarily count on the quarterback spot being upgraded from last year. That's a big question
Starting point is 00:28:23 mark for me. And not only is it a situation where it's like, well, hey, I'm not sure about this quarterback play, but to be so assured about quarterback play here and just being like, hey, Kinghouse is going to be better. What evidence do you have of this? What evidence do you have of him playing against defenses where he is, you know, playing the main guy, the guy that the scouting report is out about, and teams are thinking, hey, he's an important piece of this thing that we got to stop. And he's done it at a high level. Like you said, with Miller Moss, teams figured out, okay, these are the throws that he
Starting point is 00:28:59 likes to make. This is what he doesn't like to do. If we give him this, he will not take it. But this thing, even if it is well covered, you know, that type of situation, there's nothing on this young man. He could come out and be the ACC's biggest surprise to the positive or the negative. So, you know, I think that Louisville has the infrastructure surroundings. rounding him to where if he's a guy on the upper end of win-width, they'll be fine.
Starting point is 00:29:28 Like, you know, everybody knows my three quarterback categories, the quarterback that you win because of with in spite up. If he's toward the upper end of width, lower end of you win because of him, actually, I'll take it a step further. I think Louisville is good enough as a team. If he's on the low end of you win because of him, this team will be in the ACC championship. I believe that.
Starting point is 00:29:49 But that's a really big ask. That's not something that is a small thing where it's like, hey, we need you to be a quarterback that even if everything is breaking down around you, even if Isaac Brown is having a terrible game, even if teams are making a very light box too high and they're still stopping to run, we need you to craft up a game where you cook it up and just, you know, this team can't do nothing with it. I'm not sure that I see that from Keenholz. He can prove me wrong. Brahms has proven more than any other coach in college football. He can take a one-year transfer quarterback and make, you know, he can put a lipstick on the pig. But at the end of the day, sometimes it still turns out to be a pig. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:30:36 And again, it's like the recent quarterbacks he's put the lipstick on have been guys who were starters at their previous spots. Now, listen, Keenholz, he might end up being a very pleasant surprise, Kenton, because you're talking about a young man who was, he was a fourth. four-star recruit coming out of high school in South Dakota was the 11th ranked quarterback in his class. So obviously the talent has been there for him, but the concern is at the collegiate level, in two separate seasons where he appeared in relief, he's attempted a total of 36 passes, and he's got 21 completion. So you're very limited work in relief at Ohio State.
Starting point is 00:31:14 Like he's not really done anything at the collegiate level yet. So it's, you know, I can't think of too many. better head coaches to get you up to speed at that position than Jeff Brom, but you're still talking about a bigger challenge than what they've had over the past three years since Brom's been there. And even in that limited relief, right, you look at that and you say, you're at Ohio State, brother. Like, Donald, you or I could be the quarterback at Ohio State and look like, oh, yeah, you look pretty good there. And obviously, folks, please don't be that person. Obviously, it's hyperbolic because not anybody could play quarterback in college football and look all right.
Starting point is 00:31:52 But it is a different thing when like if you're running with a bunch of Ferraris, you could hide out and nobody noticed like, hey, what's that Pinto doing back there? You could hide out, right? But it's a different situation when you're asked to be the supercharged car that is kind of leading the pack or being a must-a-pack. And clearly he was not asked to do that as he was the backup coming in and relief. So it'll be interesting to see what type of car this. man actually is. Is he the Herbie fully loaded beetle or is he the speed racer? You know,
Starting point is 00:32:26 we got everything we need right here in this whip. I love it. Well, we'll talk more in upcoming episodes about the rest of those ACC spring power rankings. But folks, let's hope for a good day in the NCAA tournament today. The ACC can go 3 and 0. That would be great. He is Kenton Gibbs. Make sure you check him out on Lockdown Wolfpack and follow him on X at TGIF underscore Kenton. Follow me at Alex Dono and check me out on Lockdown Canes, and we'll talk to you next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC. We are part of the number one Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

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