Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Could We See 2 All ACC Elite Eight Matchups

Episode Date: March 28, 2024

In this episode, Candace and Kenton discuss mailbag questions to celebrate hitting 2K Subs on Youtube Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We're celebrating 2,000 subscribers on our YouTube page, and we thought we'd do it by getting some questions from you. A lot poured in around NCAA tournament, around alignment, around football. And so we're going to have all of those conversations for you today on Locked on ACC. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to today's edition of Locked on ACC. I'm your host, Candace Cooper. And this is Kenton gives a Block on Wolfpack.

Each and every day, you find us wherever you list the podcast. Make sure you download, subscribe to the pod from anywhere. We've got a lot to go over on today's show, but we are going to celebrate our 2,000 subscribers on YouTube because we earned each and everyone organically in the year. We haven't even had YouTube for that long. And just to get 2,000 in a day and age where you can listen to anything anywhere, we are so very appreciative.

So Kenton, got a lot for the people today, I would say. Absolutely. And, you know, I'm glad to this. came on the day where it no longer hurts as much to lift my arms up because we did it. We made it. You know, this wasn't this, this is, we enjoy doing this, you know, and Candice and I always say, when we stop having fun with it, we'll be done with it. And right now, the good times are rolling. And so, you know, to reach a milestone like this, it means something because our community, we truly are family and we truly are, you know, we've, you all have developed.

to understand our personalities and who we are on the air, the same way that we understand who a lot of you all are in the comments. And we look forward to this family growing even bigger. And, you know, again, y'all getting to know us better and us getting to know you better. Yeah, there's a lot to go over, you know, as we go through football and basketball, ACC. Will we have a conference by the summer? Who knows? But we are going to have fun doing it. Like, if we're going to go down with the ship, we are going to be the violin and the orchestra team playing. It's been an honor playing with you all. Yeah, Candace, they were not doing that over the Titanic.

Okay, okay, okay. There was none of. They were not in the cut with their twin and vibing. They were playing classical. They probably were in the cut when they twin and vibing in the Titanic. You know, they're probably in the cut viking. They were, in fact, in the Atlantic Ocean, but we're not going to go there at the moment.

Anywho, we did have. have a mailbag. So we had a lot to celebrate answering your questions. They're at random, so we're just going to go through the list. And Jackson-Johnson-979 said, what do you think of the possibility that we will not have one but two ACC matchups in the elite eight? Well, you know, I think for Seth Davis, I think for John Rossstein, I think for Joe Lunardi, that would be worrisome, if you will, because they would have to then back. track and maybe just give us our due with saying men's basketball was actually good and not top heavy. We are a solid squad top to bottom as we preach on the show every single basketball season.

You have got to come with it on any given night you can get got. There are some dogs on every single one of these teams. Maybe not Louisville, but they're going to find it, right? As soon as they get a new coach, which they did, the guy from Charleston, I can't think of his name, but he's on the way. I will learn it by the time the season starts again. And I just feel like, you know, I would love to see an elite eight battle between two of our programs, or four of our programs, rather. Yeah, I feel like North Carolina over Alabama, not a surprise.

Nobody's going to be super shocked there. Clemson. Okay, confidence. Okay, confidence, because we had four, what, four overtime to be it? Loositive? Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. This North Carolina team is rolling.

Okay. They are rolling and they have a lot of what the Wolfpack have and that everybody's starting in their role, but they're also supremely talented in a lot of ways. And, you know, when they, when they're jelling like they're jelling right now, I don't think that there are too many teams that can compete with them. And I feel like this. If they play their best game in Alabama, plays their best game, they run away with it. They run away with it. So that's, that's what I say.

That's the confidence I need because I'll bring your home up every time the opponent gets a bucket. It just pisses me off, but I'm going to figure it out. I'm figuring out. Here's the one. Here's the one. Some people are not going to like this. Some people are going to say I'm being a homer. Some people are going to say I'm disrespectful. Brownell and company over Arizona, bucket. Bucket. ACC and that side of the elite eight, I think it's going to happen. With all due respect, I think if you make that game tight and you make Caleb Love have to make good decisions down the stretch, come on.

We have seen it. I seeked it. I'm with you when you're right. With both eyes. But I've also seen me make some close shots in some pretty high outtained moments. But it ain't been against Clemson. I think he has a vendetta against me. And here's the thing.

I would never deny him. his ability to make clutch shots. However, it's not just about making the clutch shot against the Brownell coach team, because they will take away your best option and say, get somebody else to do it. Will Caleb trust somebody else to do it? I think not. I think that if Arizona doesn't blow them out,

if this game is tight down the stretch, give me PJ Hall and the boys to give us an all-ACC matchup in the elite aid on that side. Well, my biggest thing also for Caleb is, yes, you make clutch shots, but how many did it take you? You know what I mean? Are you shooting for about 45 that night? Are you so anxious? Are you going to get in your head at the idea of potentially playing North Carolina? Are you going to look ahead and feel like, you know, this is the matchup I actually want?

I want that get back, all the things because we know he is the get back king. So I'm wondering how that kind of works out for him at the end. On the other side, you know, NC State, they got a good one in front of them. It's going to be challenging, not impossible, because you know what? Honestly, it's been impossible so far, and they've come through. Marquette, everybody talks about the inverted screens and the pick and row bandits that they are because they're going to abuse that pick and roll, baby. They're going to spam.

For those of my 2K players out there, they're going to spam that left bumper. They're going to spam it. With that being said, this game is about can NC states bigs defend the pick and roll properly? Can they be in position to where they're not getting? giving up easy pass to the bucket, and they're recovering to their men in a way that's not creating massive mismatches or open shots. That has been something that NC State has struggled mightily with

during the season, but this NC State team that we've seen lately, why not us? This team looks so different. This team is playing so different, and I'll tell you this much, DJ Horn is due. That should be the part that's concerning to everybody in the tournament's deal. He has not shown up. yet in the way that we've seen DJ Horn absolutely take it over in some of these games earlier this season.

You combine that with what we're getting from ODR on the boards. Combine that with what we're getting with DJ Burns down there regulating in the polls. Combine that with Jaden Taylor and Casey Morseille saying, hey, JK, LOL, we can shoot all alone. We was 3D guys all alone. We got you. I'm telling you, you know, they have a shot. But I think that one is the tallest task. of the four games.

Now, Duke, let me tell you something. Let me tell you something, okay? Them Blue Devils against Houston. Houston came off a very emotional win. They did. They did a lot in that overtime. Lots of files.

They got all those files because Houston blitzes everything. For those of you who don't know what a blitz means, I know that y'all thinking I'm talking football right now, to blitz the screen. means to immediately attack the ball handler. Whoever is guarding the role man, you immediately go attack the ball handler and then you worry about recovering afterwards

after you force the ball handler or even pick up his dribble or make a decision right away in terms of I need to shoot it, I need to try to split it, I need to do something right away. With that being said, Duke has a lot of guards that can ball handle.

They got a lot of guards that can ball handle. The question is, can they stay in front of those lightning quick guards from Houston. Which do you get it? And that's the thing. I've seen Duke play at a clip where I'm like, they got a shot. I've also seen Duke player the clip where I'm like, packing them in, let's go.

So I would say that the two on this side, they're the ones that I'm like, I'm nervous for you. I'm worried for you, baby. This ain't, mm. It ain't going to be easy, but it's going to be fun. It's 100% going to be fun. This is in fact, Texas because you're going to be in Dallas.

So please, you know, show us something. Show them. Exactly. Hold on something good. Hold them. So is it possible? Absolutely. Is this a situation where I would say there's no way under God's green earth?

I wouldn't say that. And I'm leading in all of my bracket tournaments that I'm in right now. So with that being said, yeah, I think it's a possibility, but I wouldn't bet the house on it. Because, again, on that, NC State. in Duke side, they got some really tough draws for who they are as a team. Yeah, a thousand percent agreed there. All right, let's talk some more questions here from the fans. But first, I want to remind you guys that Better Together is the first cooperative

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thomas largette 4700 okay la royal you know people in these names i swear as a louisville women's basketball fan i hate to say it but i'm happy we lost early it gives us time to prepare for next year and look forward. We've got two five-star recruits, two four-star recruits, I believe, and the top post player out of Australia coming in. What are all your thoughts on this? Also, it might be worth looking at the post-game presser

after MTSU lost. If you haven't already, we'll love to know your thoughts on that interview. Congrats on 2K. Can't wait for y'all to get 200K. Baby, if I got 200K, just know I might have to put a make-up on. I don't know.

Your lifts the guys' ears, brother. We hope to see 200K. But I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what, everybody knows how I feel about Wall and how I feel about him as a coach. I think that they're bringing in one of the top five classes, recruiting classes in the nation. And to think about it, the ACC is so stacked. So is NC State. So are multiple teams bringing in really, really good classes that are. Now, here's what I will concede to Louisville.

Wall is great at player development. and you don't know how things are going to shake out three, four years from now. But if he can keep that recruiting class together for three, four years, oh, they've got a shot. They've got a shot to do something special in this conference. But again, Coach Ivy is still coming. She's not going anywhere. Westmore ain't going anywhere.

Syracuse, even after the Asia Fair leaves, they're not going anywhere. Come on. I'll tell you what. UVA winning ball games all of a sudden. Right. And Virginia is a hotbed of basketball talent that other ACC schools have been able to go raid in terms of women's basketball talent because Virginia has not been good. Virginia Tech recruited internationally and other places. What we're not going to do is sleep on Florida State.

And that's what I'm saying. This is a conference that's so good. And you want to know what's crazy? we didn't even talk about the fact that the current two seed in the tournament or one of the two seats in the tournament who has a Naismith player in the year candidate in Stanford is coming on through as well. I like what Louisville is doing. They're moving in the right direction as a women's basketball program and as a men's basketball program. Let's be honest, getting rid of Kenny Payne, moving in the right direction. So with that being said, I still am not ready to crowd them yet because of how good.

the ACC is on the women's side. They really came for your life about that camera break thing. I just hope you know that. That's fine with me. I'm okay with that. Again, everybody thinks that I hate all the new schools that are coming. You know, anybody who actually watches. No, I'm just talking about the Hannah Hidalgo thing.

Yeah, and I stand by that. Hannah Hidalgo has an argument. I'm not saying that camera brief is not ever... It was about the fact that you were going... You talk so fast every other time, but you would try to find it. Find it. Because and because unlike Rothstein, unlike Lenardi,

unlike all these talking heads that keep saying, the ACC, despite what we're seeing, they were still terrible. Well, are you saying that BC should have gotten a bid? Instead of being that guy, instead of being that guy, I instead decide to be a guy that's like, wait a minute, hold on. I'm getting new information here that doesn't jive

with the reality that I believe. And when that happens, all right now. When that happens, I took my canes off the wall for two episodes. And you start shimmied. See, you see, you see how she's doing. Okay. Please, please. With that being said, I'm a guy that I'll admit, when I get new information,

when I thought it was just those three as the player of the year candidates, I'm like, hey, Hannah, it's not your time yet. When I saw a break up there, I like her. I think she does great thing. I think that, you know, Stamford is a great basketball team. I think they're going to add a lot in terms of women's basketball to the competition. Hannah has an argument. Hannah has an argument.

I'm crying. That's how we get off track. Let's stay there. Okay, it's my fault. It's my fault how we got off the rails. But let's talk about Rose 3, 4, 561, okay? And she edited it. So thank you for that.

Do you think Cal can be a sneaky team this season in the ACC that goes eight and four in college football? I'm just curious what your thoughts are on this take. Cal going 8 and 4 would be nothing short of a Christmas miracle. Is it as about a miracle as my boy from Louisville in our bed that we have going, Mr. Shuck and Jaff? Yes. Actually, I would say Kyle going 8 and 4 is beyond that because don't get me wrong. Kyle played in the Pact 12th that was extremely tough last year.

I don't, I'm not going to lie and say that I have done it. a ton of research about Cal to truly understand all that they have coming back. And I will have more done by the time the season starts because y'all know how me and Candace do it throughout the summer and throughout the dog days. We're going to bring on different analysts from each school to tell us why their school is going to be good and what the, you know, we run SWAT analysis for those of my business majors or people who are heavy in the business world here. We run that for every team.

And so we're going to do that for Cal as well. But as it stands right now with the information I know about Cal, I don't see an eight win season happening. From other other ACC opponents, is that what they're saying? Because it can't be. I just don't see it happening because I haven't seen, to me, every time I hear about a really good player account, I immediately hear about them transfer now immediately.

Like, that's not, you know, something that I... Cal has had some tough days lately, that's for sure. But maybe a change of pace, a change of scenery, a change of conference, you know, you're playing different guys and you're starting to travel and having to go, you know, certain places, you get to see new sites and that'll that'll turn, turn the page. But having to face off against a Clemson team that's looking for redemption, facing off, you know, against a Florida State team who pissed off, like, interesting.

I mean, not to say that's on the schedule, but like in terms of, in terms of how it will shake out in the standings, an eight and four cows team as opposed to some other top dogs, I'm not necessarily convinced. But you could be North Carolina if it's only the only, on the schedule. So I hope you feel confident in that. Here's where I will go for Cal and here's where I will say like, you know, they have a little bit of a benefit to their schedule here.

They don't have a ton of cold weather schools when it's going to be really cold down the stretch. Like they're not going to a bunch of places where all of a sudden they're going to be outside in the cold. If you look at all of their last games of the season, all of their games on the road, you're looking at them having to go. through SMU, they got to go to Wake Forest, they got to go to pit. That's probably going to be their coldest cold weather game, which I think bodes really well for a cow team because we know when warm weather guys... But it has a chance to be, but I'm not truly like...

In November? But it's not as if they're heading up to Iowa. But Cal also probably gets a little chilly too. Cal don't know. They don't know about that Midwestern cold. And listen, I've been out, and let me say this, I have been out to the Bay Area. I spent extensive time out there. Shout to Megan Larson, you know, I love you, girl.

I know you watching the show and listening and all that good stuff. But I've been out there, you know, I spent some time out there. The winner, I mean, not the winter. Well, yeah, it was the winter. The winter nights do get colder than you think. It's not the same as that northeast cold. It's not the same as like if they were to have Pitt at the end of November. Like, that's a different ball.

That's a whole nother beast than what you're prepared for. Or, you know, I believe that all of our other northeastern teams playing don'ts, but you get what I'm saying here in terms of you don't want to be in that situation where you end up with a lot of really cold weather games. You end up in Louisville in December and also having to play pit in December and having to end up in those situations. So, you know, I think that they're good in terms of where they are for that part of the schedule. But again, I don't, I don't see them winning eight games next year.

It'll be tough. I see some possibilities here. It depends. It depends. But, you know, like, what you, what could be a gimmie in past years for Syracuse and a gimmie because of our coaches, right? I'm a gift, Kyle. I'm going to give Kyle the ability we're going to bring on the Kyle analyst. And we're going to have, we're going to have them tell me why I'm wrong. So I know Kyle fans going to want to jump me and I'm okay with that. But we're going to do. give y'all the chance. We're going to give y'all somebody who give you the representation because we don't believe in taxation without representation in this thing. Okay? So we're going to bring you, we're going to get you somebody who's going to tell me why I'm wrong about Cal not winning

eight games in the very near future. So stay tuned for that. I, I could, if I had to find it, right, I give you UC Davis. I'll give you Miami. I'll give you Pitt. I give you Wake Forest. I give you Stanford. You're going to have to earn SMU Oregon State. Okay.

I'm just saying. We're up to five so far. We up to five that you... I give you five games. And honestly, some of the ones you've given them is interesting. Because Miami fans like to get ready. And they're going to jump. We try to bring in some bears, okay?

Listen, I love, again, I love Stanford when I was, when I was recruiting for a company I was based out there, we got a lot of great talent out of Stanford, okay? I'm telling you. They do that. I don't know what you're talking about. Well, I'm talking about for engineering. Oh, we're trying to, oh, okay.

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eBay guaranteed fit only available to U.S. customers. So we're landing this plane of all these fun questions and topics because we like to go in depth with our favorite, Miss Carla, who loves to get it in, right? What does each remaining ACC team both men and women have to do to win their sweet 16 matchup? And you know, well, I really want to talk about this for six minutes. I feel like this is one where we can do a episode. Yeah, that's that's one where I think we'll get into that one, a whole episode tomorrow. we'll have another mail back tomorrow. Ms. Carla deserves a whole episode.

She has been loyal to the soil. She tweets out our episode. She supports us down. She goes hard in the paint in the comments. She makes sure these people don't come for our next at all. She loves us down. So we're going to give her an entire episode, Ms. Carla. We thought we would

say it for surprise or a little razzle-dazzle, but, you know, we're going to give you a whole episode. We're going to go with keys to victory for all teams before we kick off. So we'll have that as a halftime huddle. We'll do a little lunchtime episode. We'll go live and make sure that you are all locks and loaded and ready for that. Does that sound great?

I hope so. I know you're listening all the way to the end and I appreciate that. Kenton, any last thoughts as we exit out here, but, you know, want to give our fans a little bit of a thank you. Again, you know, it's really humbling and I know that a lot of people would, you know, there's always this. I used to have this thing when I play football like the next goal, the next thing, the next, you know, know the next moment and I still have a little bit of that in me today but this is one of those moments where you got to kind of stop and and smell the rose a little bit obviously that 200,000 is to go that million is to go like that's that's where we want to be but you know one thing that was

told to keep me motivated and going when I don't see the views looking like I want to or when I see the subscribers looking like I want to imagine 2,000 people standing outside your door to listen to what you have to say how would you feel right and that's how I feel about our family you know this that's how i feel about the lactone ac cc family that's how i feel when i see uh slam tanner common that's how i feel when i see carla comment that's i feel when i see k that's how i feel when i see everybody including people who come in for one episode because we're talking about a specific topic that's gotten thousands of viewers to tell us how how dumb we are i still feel like that somebody standing outside my door who listened to what i had to say and felt the need to respond

so i appreciate all of you i appreciate all your comments the loving comments the caring comments the hate comments and everything in between. We appreciate it. Let's keep this thing rocking. There is just something about a goal note goal knolls nine seven six five three who comes to say I was waiting for y'all to post an episode about this alignment stuff right? Like I knew once the news broke, y'all were going to have some thoughts. When I get to come up here and tell y'all peace and love and like sayonara to your whole conference, we told all has the field to basically ride the coattails of FSU. I thoroughly enjoy that.

I love telling you to go fly a kite, but it is not without love, because I think that's what makes all of this fun. So it has been quite the ride, and I look forward to continuing it with you guys for a little bit, and I'm just very, very grateful that, you know, from someone who started locked on tar heels to where, you know, graduated to locked on ACC to have a co-host like Kenton has been the joy of a lifetime. Only being a solo host, it sucks.

I ain't going to hold you. It's not great talking to yourself and trying to make crack jokes and laugh with yourself. Even when I have to do these shows by myself, it doesn't quite hit the same when I can't cut Kenton off and I can't, you know, make sure I insert my point. And when he makes me mad and have to keep going and I have to fix my face. Like, it's just not as great doing that by yourself. So I thoroughly have had a blast and look forward to keep it in that. But we're out of here.

Like I said, tomorrow we're going to give you the whole keys to victory. for your favorite program. So do not miss that episode. It'll be an earlier one. It'll be a live one, be around lunchtime. So make sure that you tune in. But for Candace Cooper and Kenson Gibbs, like I said before, thank you so much. And until next time,