Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Why Florida State Seminoles and Clemson Tigers Won The Settlement vs ACC

Episode Date: March 3, 2025

ACC's Future in Question: Settlement Shakes Up Conference DynamicsThe Atlantic Coast Conference's recent settlement with Florida State and Clemson has sparked intense debate. Could this be the beginning of the end for the ACC as we know it? With keywords like "ACC settlement," "Florida State," "Clemson," and "ACC basketball," this episode dives into the implications of this pivotal agreement. Hosts Kenton Gibbs and Alex Donno explore how the settlement impacts revenue distribution and the potential for conference realignment. They also discuss the ACC's basketball prospects, highlighting teams like Miami Hurricanes and UNC, and the challenges they face in the NCAA tournament landscape.Join the conversation to uncover how these developments could reshape the ACC's future and what it means for your favorite teams.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Supply HouseJoin the Trade Master program today at SupplyHouse.com/TM and start ordering plumbing, HVAC, and electrical supplies with just a few clicks. Plus, use promo code SH5 for 5% off your first order. That’s SupplyHouse.com!ROYDownload the Roy app now from the App Store and start backing your favorite athletes the way they deserve—with transparency, trust, and a real impact. This is the future of college sports. Join it now by downloading Roy and supporting your favorite players!FanDuelRight now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins!Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. 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.

We are about to see a settlement ratified that is going to end the legal dispute between the ACC, Florida State, and Clemson, and that settlement could get agreed upon as soon as Tuesday. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team, every day. Shout out to the Everydayers, and thank you so much for making Locked on ACC your first listen in your first watch. today. We're available free wherever you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought you by Fandual. Right now, new Fandual customers can get $150 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. On this loaded

episode, we'll talk about how the ACC tournament is shaping up and the NCAA tournament picture in terms of where the ACC stands in basketball. Plenty of big picture and football stuff, though to talk about. So, Kenton, we've heard hints about this for several weeks, and it looks like this is going to be approved tomorrow by the Florida State boards and the

Clemson boards to agree to this settlement that is going to end the legal dispute between the ACC and those schools. And Kenton, I'll let you start with this. Like, we're going over the details on this. And like there, you could paint it in certain ways as like a partial win

for the ACC, but I feel that Florida State and Clemson are getting a much bigger dub from what we understand about this settlement when you compare to the ACC. I think the schools are winning here. I see incompetence, nepotism, and cowardice tearing the ACCC apart. The ACC is going to die on the vine most likely in 2031, and it'll be no one's fault but it's own. Yeah.

I am very genuinely confused by what has happened at this point. Now, the incompetent nepotism, that was way back with Swofford and somehow getting us over to Ray Cobb, which, again, his son worked there and nobody was like, hey, something ain't right here. The math doesn't mad. We need to go elsewhere. But from there, it led us down this road to where now, when it was time for the ACC to stand up and say, hey, we got to protect ourselves. They go with the ultimate move of cowardice. And there has to be, I get it, I get it. Dono and myself and anybody who's super close to this thing, but not tied up in the legality of it, none of us know every detail.

But I am assuming that there has to be a detail from ESPN that says, hey, if either one of these schools leave route, if either one of these schools are going, we're out, because I'm trying to wrap my mind around. The deal is the deal. the deal runs through 2036. And instead of saying, hey, the deal is the deal. If y'all want to go, go ahead. We still get our money. Y'all got to pay us up to more power to you. Like, we're still going to be a 16-team lead.

Instead of that, it's this, oh, no, no, no, we're going to tuck our tails and go immediately. We're going to get out of the courts as soon as we can. We're going to settle in this moment, which again, I'm very confused. by. I'm very confused by because, again, you gave them what they wanted to begin with. And again, this is where the cowardice comes in again. Because to start off, when they came up with the success initiative, what did I say? If you start now, this ain't going to stop. This won't be enough to make them happen. You come up with the success initiative and the exact scenario I pitched. One of these schools has a terrible year. They don't make that money, which means they don't bridge the gap. And of course, Florida State had the perfect sequence to have them have this type of deal. You have a playoff snub in this year. You go forward and have a two and ten.

You're putting up tour dates in terms of wins and losses the next year. And then immediately after that, you have this moment where, again, the lawsuit start rolling. And when the ACC inked their deal, locks it in long term, all of a sudden, during court and I said, hey, you got to come see me. We're going to handle this thing. We're going to see this thing through today. And it's like, we'll give you most of this stuff you are. What?

My question, if I could talk to the ACC and their lawyer, what possibly could have gone on to make this make sense? I would love to have Jim Phillips on the show. When I saw the person at the ACC or at the Duke's Mayo kickoff, he said he'd love to come on the show. Jim, come on the show. I need to know. We got to reach out again and make this happen.

Otherwise, the next time we'll talk to him would be July 22nd when ACC football media days open up. And I can't wait that long to get some answers. He'll be asked about it a ton on July 22nd, but I don't think I can wait that long. Oh, I can't even. But you know what? If I got to, you best believe you already know who the first hand in the press road is going to shoot up when they start to ask the question. Because I need to know what made this make sense. What did the ACC gain that it stood to lose if you saw this through?

I'm genuinely confused. But again, this type of cowardice is not new to the to the ACC. It just isn't. As much as I would like to say, man, I could have never seen this type of thing coming. When everybody starts talking about, yeah, settlements are probably on the way, it's probably on the way. And I reached out to the folks who said, it's probably like me. I was shocked. I was flabbering.

I couldn't believe it. And yet here we are in this one. Now, I'm hoping once this settlement is finalized, and again, this could be as soon as tomorrow on Tuesday. Once it's finalized, I'm hoping that Freedom of Information Act requests that we can actually see copies of this to know exactly, because we only know what's being reported and rumored right now. There could be some key details missing, but let's take a look at, and Pete Thammel from ESPN, who's one of the better college football reporters, college sports reporters out there, outlined some of the big details.

So we talk about the success initiative and the brand initiative. The success initiative rewards you extra money for winning in football, reaching certain milestones. Did you make a bowl game? Did you win an ACC championship? Did you make the college football playoff? How far did you advance in the playoff? That's in the same.

And they also count basketball success to that. The brand initiative means how big were your TV ratings, right? where the bigger brands, Clemson, Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, and a few others can potentially make extra money through the brand initiative. So FAML outlines that 40% of the TV money is distributed evenly among legacy ACC schools. That means like the original 14, right? SMU, Cal, Stanford get a lesser share because that was part of their agreement to join later. So actually less than half of the TV revenue is distributed evenly than 60%. is based on their ratings formula over your previous five years,

over a five-year period, how are your TV ratings? He also notes top ACC earners could net more than 15 million. I think that means 15 million extra, while some schools will see a net deduction in annual payout of about 7 million. Now, the smaller members who don't have as much success on TV and all that, they unfortunately don't have a lot of leverage like the Wake Forest and the Boston colleges of the world because, again, they don't really have a better option, you know, going to another conference and it's in their benefit to see the ACC state together for at least another

five years. So they didn't have any leverage they had to agree to that. But here to me, Kenton, this is the most important part of it where you and I both feel like the ACC gave up too much here. Because again, we talked about this a few weeks ago. ESPN locked in their option for ACC TV rights through 2036. Yet the ACC is capitulated and this important bullet point here that Pete Thamble notes, the total cost to exit the league after the 2930 academic year is expected to drop to below $100 million. And my understanding is it will drop a little bit more each subsequent year. So a little less than $100 million in 2030, even less than that, 2031, 2032 and so on. on.

2030 one is the most important year because that's the year that all of the other TV contracts are up, right? Big 10, SEC, Big 12 deals are all up in 2031. So if they're going to add more teams, any of those conferences, 2031 would be the year to do it. So to me, Kent, like the ACC, they only bought themselves an extra five or six years here. I thought they gave up way too much because, again, like once that exit fee and the important

part of this, Thamble didn't articulate it so well. in that bullet point. I mean, he did a fantastic job. So one of the things that Florida State and Clemson really wanted is they wanted a set exit fee, right? Like what what's an exact dollar amount we can pay to leave? The ACC was never willing to give them that, right? It's some complicated formula of the TV rights until 2036. They could never give them a dollar amount. Part of this settlement is giving them an exact dollar amount each year of what it's going to cost to leave. They're going to have that after this settlement tomorrow. So theoretically, 2031, this could all blow up.

Like, congratulations, Jim Phillips and your lawyers. You bought yourself maybe six years to keep this thing together. Could. Could blow up. No, this is done. This is, let's do the math on this, Donno. 2930, 30, 31, 32, 32, 333, 33, 34, 34, 35, 36. How many years is that, Donald?

you're holding up seven fingers so i'm going to say seven we got seven the cost is the cost is under a hundred million dollars let's say it brushes up so close to a hundred million dollars it's like a hundred thousand dollar difference between what gets paid out in a hundred let's round and be very generous to acc and so it's basically for all intents of purposes a hundred million dollars a hundred million dollars over seven years down if you divide that up that is under $20 million per year. Hmm, I see. What are we, what, did they have pictures of,

of the lawyers in Phillips in very compromising positions or something? What, what happened here? This is, this feels like watching the Louisiana purchase go down in real time. Like, this is, I'm sitting here genuinely confused on what actually happened. And a lot like our history books omit certain things about the Louisiana purchase. And hey, these people have advanced weaponry. You probably want to give them that.

They're going to take it anyway type of deal. There must be something here that we're not. We got to be missing something. Because my mind is still trying to wrap its way around this. because again, this settlement to me is all of the things that we discussed as possibilities in the settlement. That we said, hey, if things were looking like they were going in cleansing of Florida State's favor, these things will probably be the things that the outcome would be. All of them have come to pass, plus some.

Because you and I, even though we knew, hey, it is a possibility that the date will move in for, you know, hey, you'll have a lower body wherever it can't be. Neither one of us knew that $100 million was coming in? This is a, this is a black eye for the ACC to say to least. And again, it's not if this thing,

if these teams decide to leave in 2030 and whatnot. It's a win. It's a win. Because there's no reason to stop them, or there's no reason for them not to leave if they want more money in other cops. I mean, the only reason why they may not leave, like why I'm not 100% sold that they leave is of course like, you know, teams in the Big Ten and SEC would have

to agree to share their payout with more schools, but their media deals are up at that same year. So theoretically, they would get bigger media deals when they re-notes. So they're going to leave. And so I guess like the only way you could paint any of this is like a loss for Florida State and Clemson, probably more to their fans than like to their actual lawyers, because their lawyers and trustees probably understood this the whole time. Fans were spreading rumors about different things. The only negative here is like you have to stay in the ACC for a few more years at least,

where some of their fans thought, hey, next year we're off to the Big Ten or as he's like, okay, you're stuck for a few more years, but you kind of have your cake and eat it too because you're getting increased revenue within the ACC. And then in five years time, six years time, you have the opportunity to waltz away. Now, I want to continue this conversation on the other side. And the thing is, like Florida State and Clemson, obviously they're the ones who have been fighting. They're the biggest winners here, but they're not the only winners here. We'll explain when we come back.

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Join it now by downloading Roy and supporting your favorite players. Thank you for making Locked on ACC, your first listen and your first watch today. If you're next to listen, make sure you check out our other shows. Kenton Gibbs and Grayson Boone host Locked on Wolfpack, bringing you everything NC State. I host Locked on Cains, bringing you all things, Miami Hurricanes. And Kenton leads me into my next point here. I feel like arguably maybe the biggest winners here, even more so than Clemson and Florida State, are the next two biggest brands in the ACC, Miami and UNC.

And the reason why I'm saying that is they, get to reap the same exact benefits that Florida State and Clemson are getting here with these new initiatives, but they didn't have to go to court, get involved in four different lawsuits, pay millions of dollars in legal fees. Now, North Carolina actually did pay some, some in the six figures in legal fees to kind of explore things, but they didn't have the legal entanglements that Florida State and Clemson. Florida State and Clemson also, you know, they got branded as like disruptive partners for doing this. And so I, you know, I think Miami and UNC probably owe those schools like maybe a thank

you card of doing all this because one of the misconceptions out there, Kent, that I see people talking about this on social media, some people are saying that like the ACC is only giving extra money in like a blanketed way just to Florida State and Clemson. I mean, those do happen to be like the biggest brands over the past, you know, five plus years, but every school has the same opportunity. And actually, Georgia Tech had the highest combined TV ratings last year. Miami had the highest average TV ratings last year.

So you have other brands. UNC considered a big brand. They have the same opportunities at these brand and succession initiatives that Florida State and Clemson have. And they didn't have to go through the blood, sweat and financial tears to get there. So I would say this is a big dub for other schools as well. well. Oh, absolutely. But the only the only thing that I would say, I'm not super sold on, hey, your huge winners coming out of this is how loyal is your fan base? How loyal are the people watching?

Because we're not talking about, you know, with all due respect, even with Miami, right? Miami had a fantastic year last year. They won 10 games, correct? Yeah. How many times does Miami want? on 10 games since, let's say, 2010? There was, I think, maybe three, two times, I want to say since 2010, 2017, and last year. Does Miami typically have high ratings even during down years? TV ratings, yeah. Filling stadiums, not so much, but TV.

Well, yeah. If that's the case, then you're good to go. And the same thing can be said for UNC about, hey, if you can muster the ratings, you're good to go. You're going to be those brands. And I think that there's a very interesting thing to be said here about which ACC teams are not having success in terms of viewership because they are not traditionally or because they just don't have the fan base or because the ways in which the ACC displays its games ideas, right? Where you got to get Dally Sports, which is now, what did they rename that now? Oh, I think it's Fandual Sports now.

You got to get the fan dual sports out. Yeah. And not the one where you do your betting, a different one where you can watch. Not the one that's on the front page of all my bookmarks, the other one. Exactly. Exactly. Donos are degenerate, ladies and gentlemen. He's still, but in all seriousness, you know, it does beg that question.

And with that, not only are we looking at the potential for Miami and UNC to be winners, we're looking at the potential for more teams to come out and say, hey, this is who we are. This is who our ratings are. This is who we want. And some teams whose chest is big and bad, said, oh, we can go other places and all these other. Well, it's going to be time to show them through very quickly.

Y'all got about five years to get right church and let's go home. You know what? That's a great point because if anything, and I'll say, okay, we've kind of discovered a hidden win for the ACC here. This gives clear incentive for every university in your conference to invest more into athletics. right, because if you invest more theoretically, you're putting a more competitive product on the field and on the hardwood.

And then theoretically, you're potentially earning more success in your competitions, earning higher rating. So like for the ACC, of anything else, because Kenton, I always felt that like the equal revenue distribution model, I thought it was a little bit unfair, like to teams like in Florida State and Clemson, especially Clemson over the last six or seven years, have typically been at the very top kind of carrying the comments. So is it really fair that, you know, Clemson and Florida State make the same revenue that Wake Forest makes?

Like, does that give, you know, some of the bottom dwellers? Does that really give them incentive to put better products on the court? Right. Now, now everyone has more incentive to try and be competitive. So I guess you can paint that as a win for the ACC. But there's another problem even in that. Yeah. You're delineation between the halves and the don't halves.

Yeah. There's going to be a bigger, the bottom half of your conference is going to get paid less than the bottom half of everybody else's conference. Oh, yeah, that's right. And it's going to be by and mile. Even when we talk about the Big 12 and say, hey, we're paying out more than you. Oh, really? How about you ask Boston College if you're paying up more? Ask those boys in Winston-Salem.

Go up to Charlottesville. Ask them, are you paying more? We don't necessarily think so. We don't necessarily agree. sure your fat catch are living high on all their Florida states of the world your Clemsons of the world. But again, congratulations to Florida State Clemson. And I mean that for the bottom of my heart because you've done you've done your business. You have got away with a massive win here.

In ACC, I would simply ask at what cost did this win come? At what cost did this or not win but this settlement come? I've got a theory. I think the ACC lost a game of chicken where I think they they really felt like, and you, you know, you covered ACC media days last year as I did. And it kept, like the lawsuits kept getting brought up. And all these stories have been written about what a mess the ACC is because they're getting sued by multiple members. Like I think at the end of the day, I think the ACC probably felt. more pressure. Let's get a settlement done so we can put this behind us and we can be in unity for, you know, X number of years moving forward where Florida State and Clemson,

maybe we're willing to keep the fight going a little bit longer. Like we don't care if we're making you look bad. We're trying to get out. So maybe the ACC lost the game of chicken. They, they swerved because they thought, hey, we just don't want this cloud of lawsuits hanging over our head any longer. Well, now's not the time to pull a Leangelo ball and swerp in that corner. Whoa, this ain't the moment. This is the moment where they were not supposed to blink. This is the moment where they were supposed to stare down and say, you know what? We've made mistakes up till now. Now is the time for us to kind of create an environment where we can come out of the winters. Now is the time for us to say, we're going to put our foot down and we're going to

win something now. We're going to put our foot down and we're going to say, we have the advantage. We have the upper hand. This was their moment to do that. Like you said, they swirred. Like you said, they blink. They said, oh, man, we're not sure that we can do this. And again, it will be the ACC's demise. It will be the ACC's demise. I'm not saying that this is the first domino or the biggest to fall, but we will look back at this moment and say it was one of the most pivotal in the destruction of the ACC. And I hope that I'm wrong. I hope that I'm wrong. I hope that, you know, five, six years from now, I hope that when your little one goes to college,

we're still seeing the ACC standing strong with all of its members that are currently there right now. I have a very, very, very strong suspicion that will not be the case. Because, again, all of these things that you gave up, all of them directly harmed the ACC in a very meaningful way right away. And by right away, I mean, within the next five years,

We'll see. In five years, you and me, we're going to be sending copies of our resumes to Drake Toll to see if we can merge with locked on Big 12 because we're not going to have a league to cover anymore. By the way, there's one more detail that we're all going to need to find out. So, you know, with the brand initiative that is going to give higher payout based on television ratings, that's one of the key factors here. but they got to figure out how they define success on ACC Network. Because, you know, the ACC Network does not subscribe to Nielsen ratings. So you can't like, when you have games on the ACC Network, like you don't know for sure how many thousands or millions of people are watching

because they don't get the Nielsen numbers. So they got to figure that one out because obviously the ACC Network, they want to have the best possible games. Like they want to make sure at least once, twice a year, they're getting the biggest brands on their net. network, but then those brands don't want to be hurt by the brand initiative because they don't subscribe to the rating. So they have to figure out a way to define that. And let's also talk about if we, even when they do figure that part out, the books are

cooked for the bigger brands. If what the Notre Dame deal is is allegedly true and that they're going to be playing the same three to four ACC teams, what just happened to everybody's average rating in comparison to there? What just happened? Downward. Yeah. You're right. I'm glad you mentioned that because I read both the ESPN and Yahoo reports today, and they both did mention that part of that settlement is expected to be Florida State Clemson and Miami will, you know, play more games against Notre Dame. Notre Dame is going to play two out of those three every single year, which is a huge advantage for them. And again, you talk about, well, hey, who's got the most viewers? If they already have the most views, you don't have to cook the books for them, which in essence, that is.

Yeah. It's like saying who can get more people to come on their show. Dono on Locked on Cains or me on Locked on Wolfpack. Oh, by the way, Locked on Wolfpack is having Taylor Swift tomorrow. Uh, there may be an outlier in my viewership for some odd reason. By the way, can I do a quick promo? While you have Taylor Swift tomorrow, I will be counter programming you with Bryant McKinney is going to be joining Locked on Cains tomorrow.

offensive lineman as big of a hit as Taylor Swift, I'm sure. I mean, in four years at Miami, he didn't allow a single sack. He played for the Minnesota Bikes in the NFL, right? He did, yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sure that all of us NFC North lovers are going to be there because there are many of us and there are Swifties. That's why both groups have equally convenient nicknames.

You see, you see. So, you know, I, again, this, this, just feels like the ACC completely gave up and gave in. And my question is what happened to make it be this lopsided of a settlement?

Because there's nothing in here and I say, man, yeah, I guess that is a tough feel from Florida State of Clems to swallow. Nothing. Nothing. When you break down the difference in money, right? How much is the difference between the ACC and the Big Ten or the SEC right now? What's the actual difference?

Oh, like more more than more than 20 million right okay so if it's upwards of 20 million you gave them 15 you gave you gave both of these schools 15 each okay so in in essence even when you would account for if you left scot free if you left scot free and for whatever reason one of those conferences decided to pay you as a full member right away you only be making five million dollars yeah that's right and you they got that without having to pay anything except lawyer Well, just to be clear, FSU is not going to get all that if they go two and ten again next year. Like they got to start winning games again.

I don't think they're going to go two and ten next year. I don't think they're going to be good next year. I don't think they're going to be two and ten back. So, you know, it's just one of those things where I'm just, I'm sitting up here legitimately, just like, this is, this is unparalleled. And like you said, there will be some teams who benefit, but I think many more teams will lose out than benefit. Just do the math. And certain schools get plus 15. and certain schools get minus seven.

In order to make up for one plus 15, how many minus seven as much you do now? Two minus sevens? Yes. I hate when you ask me math questions on the spot. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. The numbers are kind of my thing.

But you get the point. You get the point here. I'm sitting here so confused, like for every one of those teams that you decide, hey, they have made enough that we're going to pump them up 15. Two of your teams will be very negative. we heard. Even for the teams who don't raise to the level of 15. If a team

raises to the level of 10 or 7, somebody else has to lose in order to make that win feasible. So you didn't help the conference to me. If anything, you have greatly undercut yourself. Which again, this is why I will say,

congratulations to Florida State and Climbley. Y'all won. You won't. And just like I'll say when he was talking to Carter me, he said, you my B, I won. That's what Florida State and Clemson can say in ACCC. Hey, you gave my same thing we won this seven. I won. Yeah, 100%.

Well, let's talk a little basketball on the other side. Syracuse has avoided missing the ACC tournament, which would have looked really bad for them. So they are locked into the ACC tournament. We have updated percentages on the bubble teams for the ACC to get into the NCAA tournament. You want to keep it locked right here, my friends. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. It's funny because when Kenton asked me like math questions, I usually freeze up.

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But I was interesting the way this played out over the weekend because Syracuse had two paths to lock up their ACC tournament spot. They could beat Virginia Tech, which they didn't do. or they needed both NC State, sorry Kenton and Boston College to lose the same night. And both of those things happen. So Syracuse is safe in the ACC tournament. You know, unfortunately, Miami Hurricanes are the only team that is for sure clinched a missing of that tournament. 15 out of the 18 teams will get in. And then also would you like to know I'm looking at some ESPN Bracketology stuff.

for the bubble. The ACC has, you know, three teams that are on the bubble for the NCAA tournament. They're going to get three in for sure. Duke Blue Devils in. Clemson Tigers, in. Louisville Cardinals. In. Now, the teams that are on the bubble, SMU, North Carolina, and Wake Forest in that order. So Wake Forest has now fallen down the pecking order, Kenton. SMU is given a 47% chance to make the tournament. North Carolina, a 34% chance, and Wake Forest down to 31. Now, one thing that annoys me is, even though, like, we kind of all,

I guess this is going to be which one of them get in because the ACC's going to get four teams in. So one of them is going to get in, but I don't like how all of those teams are below 50% in getting in. I mean, you know, at the end of the day, the resumes are the resumes. You know, you need to, we are down as a conference this year,

which I've acknowledged. I've acknowledged plenty of times on this show. I've said, hey, this is a, an abnormally bad year, I am interested to see when the tournament hits, will we once again see the ACC outperform what everybody believed this conference was? You know, that's going to be big for me.

But more importantly to what you were talking about there, we have three teams on the bubble, all three below 50%. Well, damn, can any of y'all go out there and get you a quad? And I think the reason why they're all below 50% is because they're contending with each other. Like one of them's going to get in. It's just, you know, none of them have that certain futures to get in.

I mean, I look at these teams and I say to myself, hey, none of you all have done yourselves the greatest service in terms of, hey, we have a Teflon resume. You have never seen a team with our type of resume miss out before. Nobody's done. Nobody's done that. And y'all know me. I'm a big, big, big proponent of win your damn games. If you are supposed to be something special, if you are supposed to do something special,

win your damn games. And these teams have not done enough to guarantee themselves a path to the NCAA tournament. But I will tell you this. As somebody who is an NC State alone and saw a team go from firmly out to where nobody thought that we would do anything,

even if we came up short in the tournament in and of itself, we might not have made the NIT to making the NCAA tournament because of a great performance in the ACC tournament. All of y'all got that. You got that opportunity. Donos, Keyes, my Wolfpack, and I believe the Boston College Eagles are probably not going to have that opportunity. All the rest of the all got that.

Figure it out. You know, we went from just within the last couple of years. Hopefully this is just kind of an ebb and flow type of thing and the ACC can climb back. But we go for a couple of years removed from being regarded as the best basketball conference to talking about four teams making the NCAA tournament. the SEC is expected to get 11. 11 teams in the tournament compared to the ACC's four. And so here's the thing. Like this is not a coincidence, Kenton, that it's played out this way so quickly and why I

really hope the ACC can get there. You know what together here. Now, one thing is obviously the coaching, right? You've had several Hall of Fame caliber ACC coaches retire within the last couple of years. That has an effect. But I think the bigger effect is. You don't see this even quite as much in football because it's, you know, it takes a lot more players to completely turn around a roster.

Basketball only takes a couple players. But the NIL disparity between what SEC programs are spending. So I really hope ACC programs pony up because the NIL difference. Obviously, you see it in football as well. We all know the SEC and the Big Ten's reputations. But I think it's made an even bigger difference in basketball that if you're really willing to pony up and spend big on a roster, it makes such a tremendous difference. And so you see the difference.

The SEC spending, I mean, almost all their teams are in or on the bubble. Like everyone in the SEC, you're going to make the NCAA tournament. We're in the ACZ. Only like what, 15% of our teams are getting in. Like NIL has as much to do with that as anything else. You know, the NIL part of this absolutely is a factor. But at the same time, some of these coaches, you just got to be better. It's just got to be better.

You're not going to tell me that Louisville has an endowment that towers over everybody else's, or not an endowment, but NIL spending that towers over everybody else's. You're not going to tell me that in this world that we live in, every single one of these teams is beholden to, hey, we can't pay players or we can. You can't tell me that. Because when I look around at what has happened, just a year ago, just a year ago, a team that's missing the tournament was in the final four.

You can't tell me that. So what I'm seeing, yes, NIL is a large part of it, absolutely. But what I'm also seeing is, again, coaches, not getting it done. The job that's been done by the coaches in the ACC has been subpar. We have seen plenty of teams in the agency that are on the bubble, per se, that lose games that you cannot lose. I'm looking at you, like Ford's losing to NC State. You cannot do that.

That's a terrible NC State team. This is going to be historically one of the worst in program history. You cannot, you can't lose that team. You can't do it. And if Forbes is saying, oh, well, the NIL is why we can't get it done, congratulations, because you're in the same boat as Kevin Keats, who's constantly complaining about NIL not being the reason he got it done this year. So, again, at some point in time, these coaches got to, you know,

I'm a huge believer of, and I said this on Lock on War Factor. When you blame external factors, you take away your internal power to fix a thing. And that's something that, yes, NIL matters. I'm not going to sit up here and pretend like, oh, you know, a rose going from concrete is great. But a rose that you put in the garden is probably going to bloom a lot fast, a lot better, a lot fuller. We all know that. But at a certain point in time, y'all can't keep coming to me with these results saying, oh, yeah, fans just aren't giving up.

okay, we'll figure it the hell out with what you got. Figure out something better. And then fans are going to want to give you more. If you get fans a better product, then they're going to invest. That's just the way it goes. Hey, now, who could have thought? Yeah. Well, I appreciate Kenton, as always.

We appreciate you guys. Thank you so much for making Locked on ACC, your first listen and your first watch. Make sure to smash that thumbs up button. Like and subscribe to our channel. Subscribe on YouTube, subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your pods. And we'll talk to you again next time on another episode of Locked on ACC. We are part of the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. We just have a chronic sector initiative for Florida State and Clemson.