SleepHawk Worldwide
SleepHawk Worldwide
UNC Basketball Season Is Here To Save Us
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What if a legacy could touch countless lives even after a tragic goodbye? This episode opens with heartfelt reflections on the profound loss of Tylee Craft, whose passing has impacted the UNC community deeply. We share our heartfelt condolences with his family, and remember his enduring influence on those who knew him. Transitioning to the sport's landscape, we dissect UNC football's latest match, turning the spotlight on Drake May's promising debut amidst the team's ongoing challenges, while also touching on the roller coaster of fantasy football and the Mets' thrilling journey towards their potential face-off with the Dodgers in the NLCS.
As the basketball season looms, we shift our attention to the potential within the college basketball team, exploring how players like Withers and Jackson are evolving to meet the demands of the game. Discover how a versatile lineup featuring RJ Elliott and Seth Trimble could redefine team dynamics, with Trimble's defensive prowess and Elliott's sharpened shooting skills offering fresh avenues for success. We also gear up for the exhibition game against Memphis, a charitable event for St. Jude Hospital, where the team’s mettle will be tested against formidable opponents like Dane Danger and PJ Haggerty. This matchup is more than just a contest; it's a chance for strategic growth and showcasing player development.
Switching from courts to screens, we indulge in our latest TV obsessions, starting with HBO's "The Penguin," a series that immerses us in a gripping mobster atmosphere, sparking our predictions and concerns about its character dynamics. We can’t help but recommend "Love is Blind" as a compelling family watch. Wrapping up, we express our gratitude for your unwavering support during the off-season and share our excitement for the forthcoming "Starting Five" series and the new basketball season. Keep your ears tuned for more basketball-centric discussions coming your way!
and now the sleepwalk worldwide podcast. Here are your hosts, brandon staton and tyler. What's up everybody? Welcome to the to the Sleep Talk Worldwide Podcast.
Speaker 2This is Sleep Talk with the Big Hulk. What's up everybody? It's the Big Hulk man. Beautiful weather, great time of the year. We're back in the lab. I'm excited to be here. Got a great pod for you guys.
Speaker 1Yeah, man, before we get started we're going to start with basketball, but before we get started I think it goes without saying that our hearts go out to Tylee Craft and his family. That was a wild one. I mean. I knew he was sick and then they had dedicated the game to him and everything, and then apparently he passed away shortly before the game on Saturday morning, couldn't attend, and then I think we all found out everybody that is afterward. I didn't know the situation that much, but I could only imagine how hard that was weighing on the team. We'll talk about the game and obviously it's a disappointing outcome. But sometimes this puts things in perspective. So, you know, kind of a heartfelt, you know goodbye, I guess, to a guy that I think you know was really important to UNC and really important to the team.
Speaker 2Yeah, Sleep, that was well said. 23 is much too young and I could tell that he had an impact on that team and a lot of guys oh man. It's a sad situation. Hearts go out to the family and you know we lost a good one, lost a Tar Heel in an unfortunate situation. I mean it's much too young and you hate the circumstances and what he had to go through. Such a good person.
Speaker 1Yeah, by all accounts, man, and as I was going through that, I was, you know, just scribbling on my notepad because it's hard to even. You know, look the camera in his face when you're talking about it. It's just there's really no way to sort of comprehend or explain it. It's just a sad story all around in his face when you're talking about it. There's really no way to sort of comprehend or explain it. It's just a sad story all around. And you know, hopefully I'm sure he'll be, you know, remembered well and for a long time at UNC. So, like I said, we'll get into the football game later. We're going to get into it in that frame of mind, kind of like hey, listen, we weren't going to win the national championship. The team is obviously struggling. We'll ask some pertinent questions about some decisions to be made there and kind of unpack what we saw on the field. But we'll do so with that in the back of our mind.
Speaker 1We get into Drake May, his first start today. Pretty good, I thought he got a little bit of a shaky start but then got cooking. We'll talk a little fantasy football Big Hawk and Sleep Dog. We got some fantasy football woes going on. Commanders looked about as good as you could look, losing a game Never liked to see it, but lost on the road to Baltimore. We'll unpack that one in a little bit. Talk some other NFL. That's still going on as we're recording here. Mets are in the NLCS too. We don't talk a lot of baseball here, but that's because Mets usually suck in that Sleep Dogs team, Mets-Dodgers 98-15. It's going to be a good one, but yeah, let's start with the blue and white game. Big Hawk, I didn't watch it. I wasn't there, Any of that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2But I've seen some highlights and I think it's rightfully got everybody excited. Yeah, sleep. First of all, I just want to say that it's very hard to get a good idea of what this team's going to be just based off of blue and white scrimmage. But I wasn't there personally. I watched some clips, got a lot of highlights, took some notes. The one thing I will say is you know, rj Davis sounds like it's not too serious of an injured. He got banged up a little bit. Sounds like he hurt his hip or back, whatever. I'm glad it's nothing serious and hopefully he's back soon, because RJ is the man and also Coach Davis has mentioned that. If you look at his teams throughout his kind of 10 years a head coach, he's always had a guy, the dude, and RJ is that dude this year. There's no questions about it. But when?
College Basketball Team Analysis and Expectations
Speaker 2First of all, I want to start with some of my biggest question marks for this team entering the season that we've got to address and what they must improve or you know we've talked about play style, but it came to my mind is rebounding. Rebounding is a question mark to me. Okay, you look at last year. Armando is one of those guys who just cleaned the boards. Great rebounder continued to get better rebounding throughout his career and then, even when Armando kind of had a little bit of an off night rebounding-wise, you saw Harrison Ingram step up and have big rebound games. So with a small lineup such as Elliott, seth and RJ, where's the rebounding going to come from? We've got to have somebody step up. And I've talked about Jalen.
Speaker 2Withers is a guy who I think can kind of be. You know he's a little undersized for a five-man traditionally, but I think this team is going to have to play small at times and he's athletic, strong enough to be one of those guys that can mix it up. I even think he did a great job to end the year, kind of bringing some energy and doing that. The proof would be if you look at the Michigan State game first round of their first or second round of the it was the second round we played Michigan State. He did a phenomenal job and he was one of those guys that came in, gave us a lot of energy and played well. And my second biggest question, mark, is the more I watch in Jackson, the more I'm impressed by him. How fast can he develop and what type of minutes and what type of plays he's going to bring, I mean, if he gives us meaningful impact minutes and becomes one of those players. That I mean. Some of his clips are insane.
Speaker 2I think he's going to develop? I think he will. It's going to be tough, you know, not to have an argument with him. As you know, being a four guard lineup and him in it with RJ Elliott, uh tremble and, um, you know, in in there as well. And also I like uh Drakeell. He seems like he's playing well. Uh, he's kind of one of those guys, a bigger guard, uh, so we could look at them for providing some rebound as well. But I think their development is going to be huge for this team because we've got to have somebody that's, you know, steps up, uh and helps rj and also, uh. Both of these guys provide a little bit, uh, more size than rj seth, than RJ Seth and Elliot can bring to the table. So those are some of the questions I have before we start into these exhibitions or these scrimmage games that are here coming up.
Speaker 2But my biggest takeaway I think Seth Trimble has been a guy that I've always talked about. He's one of my favorite players. He really embraced his role. Even when he wasn't getting the minutes that you know, he felt like maybe he should have gotten. He was doing whatever it took to get in and he was making winning basketball plays. That's what I love about Trimble and it just seems like he's one of those guys that have taken another step in his improvement. And there's a lot of rumblings coming out of the locker room that Elliott has really improved his jump shot and if that's the case, this team's going to be much better than expected. I do think this team is a top 15-20 team to begin with. With some of these developments, some of these freshmen coming on and providing us some big time minutes, I think that's just going to push our ceiling even more. You know, you know, potentially make us a contender at the end of the year.
Speaker 2But since we're talking about basketball, sleep. We've got the Memphis exhibition game, that's. I think they put this on kind of, you know, quickly to raise money for the St Jude Hospital in Memphis, but the game will be on ESPNU. So I'm going to be tuning into that and I think this will give us a better indication of what to expect from this team. And you can't really take too much from the exhibition games, and the reason I say that is because coaches are always trying different lineups, what works, what doesn't, because these games really don't count on your record. It gives you the option to do a lot of things and mix up some lineups that you probably wouldn't go to.
Speaker 2But just to touch base on Memphis and who is Memphis? First of all, they have a great coach, Penny Hardway heck of a player. They didn't really have the year they wanted. Last year's sleep. They finished fifth, they tied for fifth in the American Atlantic Conference, which is for them, Memphis. That's below expectations and they returned one scholarship player off of last year's team. They've added a bunch of new faces.
Speaker 2The two guys in particular that I'm going to bring up for Memphis if you guys are watching the game Dane Danger. One reason I like him he's got a heck of a name and I like saying it. He came from Illinois. He's a big. He's not a score sleep, but he is an absolute bruiser banger, great rebounder in the interior. I think he's going to be one of those guys that we'll see how we keep him off the boards, We'll see what type of toughness he has. And also, are we going to bring him out, put him in different pick-and-roll situations with our small lineup? I think it's going to be a good kind of contrast from what we expect from Jalen Washington as well this year, who is a guy who has a high potential.
Speaker 2We've talked about him a lot on the pod, but the other thing is, Memphis has a very good guard, PJ Haggerty, and he is a transfer from Tulsa and last year was his freshman year, sleep, and he averaged 21, five rebounds and three assists. And there's only one player in college basketball that shot more free throws than him last year and that was Zach Eady, and Zach Eady shot a lot of free throws. He's a downhill slasher. He's one of those guys that's going to make our guys guard. And if you ask me, Sleep, why I'm so interested in this game one, we have one of the best perimeter defenders in college basketball in Seth Trimble. I've always talked about that. He can play defense, he's athletic, he can move. He's one of the best defenders in college basketball. I want to see how he lines up with him. And also, do we stay out of foul trouble when we're guarding him? Are we disciplined defensively? Do we have good rotations? Are we helping whenever he does get past whoever's guarding him? Help side defense is going to be huge and let's see here yeah, we'll see how we do on the boards. But that's my only questions and what I'm really interested in.
Speaker 2When we watch this Memphis game. There's a lot of new faces in Memphis. You don't really know what their expectations are or what their team identity is, so it's kind of hard to really gauge who we're playing. But Penny's been very vocal about last year's team not being tough enough Defensively. They weren't disciplined, they didn't have the year they wanted. So it's going to be a good little matchup and I'm looking forward to that game for sure.
Speaker 1Yeah, I mean I think most Carolina fans, given the way Tar Heels or the way football's been going, are looking forward to basketball with open arms, as is usually the case. But the last four or five seasons, with Sam Howell and Drake May as quarterbacks right, at least we've put a competitive product on the field from a football standpoint. So basketball is just kind of icing on the cake. This year is like salvation, right, so it's going to be a lot of fun. I want to back up a second. I got a couple of questions about Memphis in particular, but a couple of things that are interesting. You mentioned Cadeau. I want to talk about him in a second. Van Allen Lubin is a transfer because you bring up a great point about rebounding and kind of. My question is is our front court depth right and our size? Because at least you know, I mean without Washington, who you know I think is going to be a great player. I think he's going to have a breakout season, jonathan Kaminga-type breakout season, as we might talk about later. I think he's going to be a really, really good player this year in particular, and I'm excited about it. I think he can draw defenses away from the basket. I think he can play 15 feet from the rim in a way that I don't think Armando could necessarily or did. I should say I'm excited to watch him. Point being, though, is especially early in the season we went through it a couple pods ago we got some big games on the schedule as he sort of settles into his role and the more responsibility that comes along with that.
Speaker 1These young players you got to worry about foul trouble and what happens if teams understand that, hey, this is the one weak link. Is that this kid? If we can go at him and get him into foul trouble and put him on the bench for the first half, what happens? So curious to know your thoughts about Van Allen Lubin. Is he going to play a big role here? He's transferred twice. It wouldn't have been so hot after him. I think there were a handful of transfers that we wanted right, but he was on the short list and we landed him. And in addition to Withers, I agree, I like Jalen Withers' game. He's big. I mean, I don't know, somehow I didn't realize Jalen Withers was 6'9", but he is. Where's Lubin fit in the equation?
Speaker 2You know he actually shot the ball pretty well from outside.
Speaker 2from the three I don't have the numbers on me right now, but I think it might have been maybe almost in the 40s, maybe or I'm getting him confused. But you know he's one of those guys that's going to provide some outside depth shooting-wise. He's an older, veteran player so you'd expect to be more of a smarter player. But also, you know I didn't get to see him Vanderbilt didn't have a great year last year, lost a lot of games, but you know I'm excited about him. He's one of those guys. So this team is kind of they actually sneaky, have a lot of depth as well. So when I look at this lineup, I think a guy like Vin Allen. I think he provides us the ability to go four guards and he could be the big inside, especially with this new modern era of basketball what you're talking about.
Speaker 2Traditionally Carolina fans have been so used to seeing the Coach Smith traditional two bigs line up and kind of run and they kind of like intertwine the the secondary break offense. I think this team's going to be more oriented towards a modern era of basketball where you have four guards. Maybe you have Withers at the five, lubin at the five and also Jalen Washington at the five with like a you know, rj Elliott Trimble and in in the guards position, but also the cave kid. Okay, tyson is another guy who's kind of bigger, you know six, nine wing player provides some outside shooting. You know I could see him playing at the four and kind of doing that outside game as well. But kind of like I talked about, there's so many question marks with this team and guys new and how they're gelling. It's going to be interesting and a lot of these questions that we have and these concerns we'll see against Memphis and we'll kind of get like a good, a little better of a gauge to see the direction of this team and who plays well together.
Speaker 2And I will say this team. It looks like from the outside they have great chemistry, looks like you know we talk about it. Two years ago we had a little bit of chemistry issues. It's always good as a spectator you can see like, oh man, these guys like playing with each other, they're celebrating, they're high-fiving and we went through a time period a couple of years ago where I was just like man, if you guys are going to just suck this bad, at least show a little enthusiasm, high-five, show a little commitment to the game, respect the game, come out there and play hard, go down swinging and it looks like this team has great chemistry. It looks like they're pulling for each other, and that's good to see as well.
Speaker 1Yeah, and I mean the reason I asked about Vin Vin Allen Lubin is, you know, transfers have become a big part of the game and they've been a big part of Carolina's programs the last several years. And his big-time offensive rebounder at Vanderbilt yeah, they had a bad year. He's a big scorer and he kind of strikes me as the Harrison Ingram guy right, Like the potential for that to come in and just be sort of a workhorse and fill minutes and be the guy, because that's what we said a lot right Is sort of the epitome of Carolina's. Great teams are like, if top player isn't having a good game, you've always got some rotational guy that's good enough to start at any other program. So they sort of step in kind of naturally and fill the void. So it'll be interesting to see, like you said, the team sort of mesh together with some new players there.
Speaker 1But uh, yeah, and we'll get the first. Uh, first, look at it. Um, you know, in the game against memphis, my question against memphis is I know the game doesn't count, it's an exhibition, and I know we don't give a shit about rankings, right, we don't, but you gotta. I mean, this is what everybody talks about. So how do you think this game influences that at all?
Speaker 2I mean officially no right, but like it will have no impact on the rankings. We will start out the season somewhere ranked in the top. Let me see here. Let me just guess off the top of my head.
Speaker 1If I had to guess 10? Yeah, I'll say 10.
Speaker 2I'll give or take anywhere from 10 to 15, even if we go out to Memphis and we just absolutely get the break speed off of us, we're still going to be a preseason top 20 team. Personally, if it's me, I know RJ. If RJ is just somewhat not feeling well, we're not over this little, you know little speed bump that he went through in the scrimmage. I'm not playing him. If I'm the head coach, we've got too much relying on RJ. I'm not trying to baby him, but this game is not that important.
Speaker 2I think this is the game where you come out. It is important because you're stepping on the court and you want to play hard and you want to respect the game. But it is important because you're stepping on the court and you want to play hard and you want to respect the game. But also you're looking for different lineups. You're looking for different lineups that you probably wouldn't use. You wouldn't think work, but all of a sudden you're like man, this lineup's a little better than we thought. So that's where I would see and also I would give the freshmen a lot of minutes, just because we need them to develop, especially Drake and in.
Speaker 1Yeah, I agree. Yeah, it's just always curious to me how, you know it's a pretty big, big name matchup. You know, I don't think Memphis is necessarily like you said.
Speaker 1they had kind of a rough year last year, so it's not like if we win that one, it'll do anything for us, but it always makes it interesting to think about how that'll get impacted. But anyway, yeah, basketball is on the way and a lot of promise in this season, so all the promise from football season is gone. You know, carolina gives up a 63-yard touchdown run or 60-some yard touchdown run 16 seconds ago. Yeah, georgia Tech, it wasn't even like. I mean I'm just numb to it now, right, like, kind of like we've all had a little inside joke of Georgia Tech seems to have our number, but that one was just tough to watch.
Speaker 1I think my question is we both know I mean, we've talked so much about this. I mean, dude, I love Mack Brown. I think Mack Brown's best football coach I mean maybe we've ever had at UNC I don't know prior to his first tenure who you go back in the ice age, when they used to play this stuff in the 40s, okay, maybe. But I love Mack as a fan. I get it. We're not as good, we're not meeting expectations or whatever expectations people have. My question does not come from a standpoint of like I think Mack Brown should go, because I don't. I don't think you're going to get any better than him, but there's no way that he lasts next year, right? I mean, he's got to be gone after this year, you think?
Speaker 2Not for me. I stick with him.
Speaker 1I would too, but I'm asking from reality, Like, do you really think they'll stick?
Speaker 2Listen, if I'm the AD, I would have to look at the financials of it. You know, just in general, I don't think Mac has that many years left just because he's getting a little older. I'm not sure how much longer he wants to go through coaching a season of football and, by the way, he's a heck of an analyst if you listen to you know when he was on.
Speaker 1ESPN.
Speaker 2Just an amazing personality as well. I think you've got to make some changes somewhere. And listen, sleep. I'm not a big X and O guy, but I can tell you this they had the backup quarterback in that had thrown one pass in that game late. Why would you not be prepared for the run that ultimately pretty much took us down at the end of the game? I mean, it's just so, carolina football. We feel like we had the victory going to be a great, great dub, meaningful dub, and right at the last second they just rip our hearts out. I just feel like it's a never-ending story. But I don't know. I could see some changes being made, whether that's Mac or not. You've got to make some changes, right, somebody's going to. You know you can't continue to lose like this. I will say it seems like we're going down swinging every game.
Speaker 2I would say like kind of every game that we've been in like they're kind of winnable. I're not just pure-breded blowouts, except for maybe the JMU game. I feel like that win against Minnesota.
Speaker 1They still scored 50 points in the game too.
Speaker 2Something's got to change. Defensively, you're right about that.
Speaker 1Defense is tough, man. It's just hard to watch. The fans aren't there. The momentum that the program had built when Mack came in is gone. It's all gone. It's a hard sell Carolina football right now.
Speaker 1Look, I think it's unfair because the expectations are unrealistic. I think there's a lot of very weird stuff going on. I mean Alabama went to the ropes yesterday again. I think there's a lot of very weird stuff going on. I mean Alabama went to the ropes yesterday again. You know, I think there's a lot of good teams that are losing games. So it's just not offhand that, hey, carolina is just terrible. It's just a way of the game.
Speaker 1Now it's going to be, you know, a lot different, but you know, at the end of the day it is tough to watch. I mean they lost four straight. Their only real win is against Minnesota and I don't really know anything about what they're doing thus far this year. I mean it could get pretty ugly the rest of the way. I think we got Virginia next, we got the best part of our schedule still ahead of us and we've lost four straight. So I don't know, man, it is what it is. I'm not going to spend a ton of time on it. Um, you know this is one you just got to ride out and see, see what happens. So, uh, drake may, though, had a, had a start today. Uh, over in up in new england. They lost to the texans and he got off to a little bit of a shaky start but he looked pretty good after that. Did you see any of the game? I watched the stat line. I didn't. I didn't get to see much of it because I was watching the commanders battling out.
Speaker 2Yeah, boy, I tell you what Start the game. He was taking some brutal hits their line. They've got to fix that offensive line. I can understand why they didn't want to start Drake from the beginning of the year, but I did tell you what, sleep dog, I saw him throw his first touchdown ever, 40-yard, right through a tight window. Beautiful pass man. And, yeah, I'm excited, drake's super young.
Speaker 1He's going to be one of the greats when it's all said and done Three touchdowns, two picks, 88.3 rating. I think he rushed five times for 38 yards, had a good game. Houston is a good team 5-1. Houston's good. Yeah, I'm excited. Yeah, I'm excited to see him get some burn. Like I said, the Commanders went down to Baltimore on the road but they played really well. They were in that late. Detroit is just crushing Dallas 47-9. I don't know man.
Speaker 2A lot of interesting stuff going on.
Speaker 1Yeah, keep it coming as far as you can Mets, dodgers and the NLCS. I know nobody cares about baseball so I'm not going to get into it, but it's pretty wild for me to see the.
Speaker 1Commanders be good and the Mets be good at the same time. It's just wow. I got Jonathan Kamiga coming on TV in the preseason tonight. Big Hawks telling me to chill out. Guys, you're going to find out this year. But yeah, man, other than that, I've just been grilling and chilling. What do you got going on? Big Hawk Noteworthy for the big hawk.
Speaker 2First of all, I hope the Mets get swept. The Mets suck. I've never been a fan of the Mets.
Speaker 1My dad is not going to appreciate that.
TV Show Discussions and Basketball Season
Speaker 2Sorry, mr Staten. Oh, big roll man. He's going to be upset about you. Listen, sleep, dog. I don't know if anybody else man, do you watch the Penguin? Are you the one that told me to?
Speaker 1start watching the Penguin on HBO. Yeah, been watching the Penguin.
Speaker 2Dude, I'm in deep in the Penguin man. Bro, it is a great show, man, it's like man, I'm into it, man New episode tonight.
Speaker 1It's weird because it's not like a superhero thing yet. No, it's not.
Speaker 2It's kind of like a mobster movie or something. Yeah, and I'm worried about old uh man vick the kid. I think, yeah, I think oz is the best thing to happen to vick and uh, I just kind of you know it's, it's weird, but I know, I know the penguin man, I know he's up to no good, but man seems like he cares about that kid he'll kill him before the show's over.
Speaker 1That's my call. That's a sleep dog special right there yeah.
Speaker 2I hope not been watching a little bit of the love is blind. It's a very interesting show, yeah my wife watches that you need to get in on that sleep.
Speaker 1I'm about to get in on the starting five. I can't wait, can't wait to watch the starting five.
Speaker 2Oh, I can't wait for that. I'll watch the starting five too, but I got to finish out the 11th line.
Speaker 1Yeah, well, guys, that's about all Basketball season's here. We're going to start getting into it more. Appreciate you working with us through the doldrums of summer and Carolina football, but you got anything else. Big Hawk, stay safe, stay safe.