SleepHawk Worldwide
SleepHawk Worldwide
Can Carolina Win Its Way In?
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In this episode of the Sleep Hawk Worldwide Podcast, Brandon Staton and Tyler Hansbrough dive deep into UNC basketball's recent performance. The duo breaks down the team's five-game winning streak, highlighting the new starting lineup's success and impressive win against Miami. They analyze the potential NCAA tournament prospects, discussing the critical upcoming games against Virginia Tech and Duke. The hosts also explore Hubert Davis' recent contract extension, the addition of a new GM, and the ongoing debate about potentially relocating the Smith Center. With insider insights, passionate basketball analysis, and candid discussions about the team's challenges and opportunities, this episode is a must-listen for UNC basketball fans.
Key Topics:
- UNC's current basketball performance
- Potential NCAA tournament bid
- Hubert Davis contract extension
- Smith Center relocation debate
- Upcoming crucial games against Virginia Tech and Duke
Introduction to the Podcast
Speaker 1and now the sleepwalk worldwide podcast. Here are your hosts, brandon staton and tyler. What's up everybody. Welcome to the to the SleepHawk Worldwide Podcast. This is SleepDome. We're here from Charlotte with the Big Hawk.
Speaker 2What's up everybody? It's the Big Hawk I'm coming from. You live in Chapel Hill Starting to get nice out sleeping you know what, starting to play some good basketball. So I'm ready to get back on the pod and talk about it. It's good to be here with you.
Speaker 1Hey, listen, I got a good thing. When we get to the Duke game, Okay, good, good mojo. Like all the fans think the season was over. We've been there too. We're going to roll heels on a five-game win streak after we win it. Miami not exactly the worthiest opponent, but did what we're supposed to do and shellacked him. We'll talk about that. We've got Virginia Tech on Tuesday. We haven't decided if we're going to publish this on Monday or Tuesday, so it might be today as well. It's another subpar opponent that we need to really focus on. Saturday's tilted Duke, which likely, maybe, possibly, is the winner. Go home to the NCAA tournament. He was on a five-game win streak.
Speaker 1I think I already said that Hubert Davis signed a secret contract extension. We might talk about that. Jim Tanner, GM, might talk about that. And, if we have time, there's an ESPN Plus article which is paid, and Sleep Dog is kind of stupid man. Sleep Dog will pay for anything. I'm signed up for ESPN Plus, Disney Plus, you know, Paramount Plus, you name it. You got a plus after it, man, it must be worth it, right? There's an article of the best teams since 2000. And Sleep Dog vehemently disagrees with the list. We'll talk a little bit about that. Also, maybe we'll get into it. In a lot of chatter about whether they're going to put the Dean Dome off-site A lot of strong opinions about that, from very credible people. We might talk about that. So there's plenty to talk about is what I'm getting at, but we'll start with a recap. Actually, you know what, Before we even get into that, everybody I know is like Sleep Dog, what are you doing in Charlotte?
Speaker 1Why are you in Charlotte, man? Well, guys, if anybody in this podcast knows I mean it's about as certain as we're Carolina fans that Sleep Dog is a Jonathan Kaminga fan. I bought tickets to the Hornets-Warriors game on January 3rd. Today is March 2nd as you're listening, it might even be March 3rd, so two full months to the day for my time. I bought these tickets and Jonathan Kaminga sprained his ankle less than 24 hours later on January 4th. Right as we're coming on, I realize that Jonathan Kaminga, who has been out since then, will not play on Monday. I'm probably the only guy there that's there to see Jonathan Kaminga, not Steph Curry. That's why I'm in Charlotte and in a good spot to be in dude, I mean JK's. Maybe I'll meet him. Tyler says I probably shouldn't, because he probably won't be that cool. Actually, Tyler's right Jonathan Kaminga doesn't know me from a samurai sword. Anyway, UNC versus Miami Do what we're supposed to do Big win, Double-digit win. Didn't dig ourselves a hole. Let's touch on that and then we'll get into the rest. Big Hulk.
Celebrating the Five
Speaker 2Yeah, so, first of all, we've been playing our best basketball all year and the one thing coming into Miami, so obviously beating Miami. Now we are on a current five-game win streak. It's our biggest win streak all year, so that is good. Now, why are we winning these games and why are we playing so well right now? A lot of that has to do with the new lineup, the starting rotation. It looks like, you know, all year we've been trying to figure out certain rotations that work, what combination of players, you of players, are going to break through and really give us, or give the coaching staff, a lot of confidence. And I think we found that. And I think we found our best lineup. The best lineup that we went with and we've been starting for the past five games is Cadeau, rj Drake Powell at the three position, jalen Withers and Ben Allen Lubell at the three position uh, jaylen withers and ben allen lubin, uh, at the five. And you know, I I think this team, this lineup right here, they have good chemistry. I think that, then, alan lubin plays well with rj and, in particular, with cadeau as well, uh, when it comes to, in particular, the high pick and roll. Well, when it comes to in particular the high pick and roll. He has really good chemistry with those players. He rolls really hard to the rim and also the one thing about Van Allen Lubin that he does do is he hangs around the rim. I talked about it on the broadcast when I was working the game. He's always around the rim and getting kind of clean-up points, whether it's getting loose balls or getting offensive rebounds and going right back up. He takes his time and he has decent touch around the rim and obviously he's been playing well. But also Jay Witt has been playing well. Recently too. He's been shooting the ball with more confidence. He's given us a little bit more offensive spark than I actually thought he could. Especially, you know he's kind of had some games where he's two or three minutes. He's kind of always been in the rotation Some games. You know it hasn't got a lot of consistent minutes but you know, recently Jay Witt has gotten consistent minutes and he's actually produced in those in those minutes, produced in those minutes.
Speaker 2And this is the most important part of this new lineup and why I like it so much is it moves Drake Powell to his natural position, which is the three position, and why that is so important is one it provides us with more length and athleticism. One it provides us with more length and athleticism, which we are a small team. And also it takes Drake Powell away from banging against guys like in Shefflin, those big men, and it really allows him to use his best qualities, whether that's athleticism and use his length, because he's not physically as strong as a lot of the older players or power forwards in college basketball right now, and I think when you put him at that three position, those qualities really excel and we can use that and really get the best out of Drake Powell. And also, he's playing with more confidence and he's playing aggressive and we're rebounding right now as good as the best we've rebounded all year is in this lineup in these past five games. And the big reason is because of Drake Powell moving to that wing position and not having to bang with those guys.
Speaker 2And moving on to the other thing I want to talk about coming in here and yeah, so that's what I want to talk about coming in here and yeah, so that's what I want to touch on that we found our kind of our lineup and our starting lineup. We found that. But you know, you talked about it. Miami is having an awful year. So they're ranked 266th in college basketball coming in here, and they are the worst defensive team in the acc. I actually think it was a quad four game, so um yeah, they're six and 23, so yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2So first of all, if anybody doesn't know and you've been sleeping under a rock their head coach quit right around Christmas. He retired, so they went through a coaching change, which is a very difficult thing for a college program to go through. It really throws off some guys mentally, as far as Jim Laranega recruited a lot of these guys out of the portal. And when a coach just leaves like that mid-season and then you have to hand it over to another guy, it's not always the smoothest process, um. So you know miami's not in a good situation, but they do have, like they have players they just haven't performed and they've been going through stuff, um. But you know this is a game that, like I said, it doesn't do much for your resume to get into the tournament. But what it does do is if you lose this game it really kills your resume. Just because they're so bad and you can't have a quad four loss on your resume, expect to get into the tournament. Um, but you know what I, what I saw, saw from the game on Saturday in particular. You know we've made a lot of improvements and you know I just kind of like a lot of fans, I was kind of surprised Sleep and the big reason for that is because I've been so critical of our half-court. I just I hated our half court style and the reason I was so passionate about us having to run is because we wouldn't have to worry about getting into those half court sets and I just didn't think that we had the ability to run stuff and move the ball based off of what I was seeing, to really get into the half court and really have guys have the proper movement to the points that we need when we get a bucket. I felt like if we got out in transition it would lead to layups, guys running and better quality shots. But actually we're moving the ball as good as we've moved it all year and it looks like our offense has a lot more structure and we're actually getting good quality shots.
Speaker 2I think this new lineup does provide that. In particular, ben Allen Lubin is a guy that is setting really good picks. He's rolling to the rim and, especially if you look back at the game, his man teams are helping off the big so much, especially with an RJ high pick and roll because they're trying to take away RJ, his ability to score, make everything he does difficult that Vinon Lubin's man actually stays in that high pick and roll. But what we're doing is, when that pick occurs, lubin is rolling hard to the rim, rj is quick passing it to the wing. That wing is then making that entry pass right into the poster. Then I'll Lubin for an easy layup.
Speaker 2We did that three or four times on Saturday and I was surprised. I haven't seen the ball movement like that all year. I thought at some times you would see that high pick and roll and it kind of felt like RJ was finding ways to navigate that and try to find his bucket. If it didn't have his shot, he would pass it to another guard and they would do the same thing. It looks like we found more structure out of those high pick and rolls and we're having better ball movement, which is great.
Speaker 2But with that said, sleep I don't want to. You know I'm being pretty positive here. Let's also keep in mind that this is the worst defensive team in ACC and one of the worst defensive teams in college basketball. So it's kind of hard to get that barometer. But I want to give them credit there. They played well.
Speaker 2The energy was great in the Smith center as well. The fans came out for an early game, so it was great. And Jay Witt's been playing unbelievable, unbelievable. Jalen Withers I didn't think that he could shoot the ball as well as he's as he's been shooting yeah, he's, he's really shot it well and if we get that type of shooting from him, I think it changes a lot of things. We'll see if it's sustainable.
Speaker 2I'm a little curious to see what happens going forward, but it's been good to see and I think what we have to do just talk about the tournament, because you know all Carolina fans, it's a big discussion right now. Are we in, are we out? I still think we're on the outside. I think we've got to win at Virginia Tech on Tuesday and you know all I'll say about that is Virginia Tech's not having a great year. But we can't lose this game just because we can't have a bad loss on our resume. Right now, the only bad loss on our resume is Sanford. It's quad three and we can't have another one of those because it would kill our net ranking.
Speaker 2We win Virginia Tech. We get some more momentum. We come to the Smith Center. I've seen crazier things happen. That's all I'm going to say. We smack the Dukies. We smack the Dukies in the Smith Center sleep.
Speaker 1You win that game you're in right now. I think you win most of the games you're in.
Speaker 2We're taking our resume and we're throwing it at the committee.
Speaker 1We're in If we do that we're in.
Speaker 2And the last thing I want to touch on and I do like the plus minus stat in particular when it backs up a big argument that you have. So I couldn't find the plus minus stat on Drake Powell coming in after the Miami game. But coming into the Miami game, drake's Powell pals plus minus stat prior to the game for the last four games plus 56. That's pretty good and that just shows you that moving him to his natural position was a good thing and everyone's benefiting from that when they're on the court with him.
Speaker 1Yeah, plus minus stat is tough. It's good over time in or over a period of time, and so you look at that and you look at how the Tar Heels have been playing over those games and those. Those line up very well. So I would argue that in that case, yeah, it's easy like that's everybody's favorite stat to justify. As a Jonathan Kaminga fan, I mean I'll justify his plus minus when it looks good and when it doesn't, you know, kind of ignore it. But no, it does. It feels like it fits. And I think the plus minus is a huge feel stat, right If you're looking at something and you're trying to explain why it's happening and the plus minus generally tends to work. I mean, I think he's playing great In the Miami game.
Analyzing the New Starting Lineup
Speaker 1It's like you know you're playing a set of twin bed sheets on defense there, but you've got six guys in double figures and Cadeau had nine. So I mean, look, the biggest thing for me when you're playing these subpar opponents is are you going to go out and do what you're supposed to do? And this is the quintessential game where Carolina did what they're supposed to do Win the game. High percentage from the floor, high percentage from three, great rebounding, like you said, they seem to address the advantage they have in pick and roll, van Allen and Lubin's 9 of 10 from the floor, I mean. So they spotted an advantage, they took advantage. You scored 92 points. Anytime Carolina's scored in the 90s, like, look, you lose games where you're scoring in the 90s, you're fine with that. So of course, they didn't lose this win by almost 20, kind of going away with it. So, yeah, I think, look, if you're a Carolina fan, in a season like we've had, you're on a roll. Now you've won five straight. Look, you've got to win six straight period. You should win your sixth straight against Virginia Tech.
Speaker 1We always talk about this, how you know this, why you play it right. I think in a better season this would be a trap game. In this season I think it's not. I think the team understands everything it needs to do. So you go out and you play Virginia Tech and you take care of business and then you set yourself up against Duke. You got Cooper Flagg just got some sort of eye injury last night. Obviously, I hope he's okay because he's a great player and even though I'm a Carolina fan, you got to acknowledge when you see a player like him come through college basketball. I don't know how serious that injury is, but as we set the stage for that game, I mean if you get on a six-game streak.
Speaker 1I guess my question is and I hate to even the only reason I'm even asking this is because this is a podcast. You know what I mean. And you've got to have conversation about if scenarios. The simplest argument is you beat Virginia Tech and you go beat Duke, and then you, you, you put your resume on the desk and say, look look here but like, let us in. Right. Uh, but solely from the standpoint that this is a podcast and these are things you have to talk about.
Speaker 1We're going to look past Virginia Tech because we understand that that that is death. Now, you lose a Virginia Tech because we understand that that is death. Now, if you lose to Virginia Tech, it's all over. I don't care what happens at Duke, but assuming you win that game, as you should, you've got Duke at home. Win that game. I think we've got a hell of an argument. My question is if you lose that game, and if you lose that game, close right, how do you think that Carolina looks in terms of? Because we said it, you know what was it six games ago? Seven games ago, if we beat, we really kind of had Clemson and we had Duke left on the schedule and we felt like we at least needed to win one of those two games. Well, we dropped the pretty bad one to Clemson and the only chance we had left, by our own argument, was to beat Duke. And so my question is I guess, ultimately, is Duke a must-win game?
Speaker 2So let's just run through the scenario. You're basing the fact we win in Virginia Tech. Now is it a must-win situation against Duke? Correct? No, not in my mind. No, I do not believe that, and the reason I say that is because we're not expected to win against Duke. Duke is a contender, I would say. Right now they're number one seed. I think there's four number one seeds in college basketball right now. In my mind it's clearly Auburn, alabama, houston and Duke. So I do not, and also I want to say that I don't believe that whether the game is close or it's a blowout, I don't. Personally I don't think that should have a big emphasis. But with that said, I think it could just the optics of it. It could look bad if we got blown out by Duke twice. Yeah, but Sleep.
Speaker 2I want to touch on something that I forgot to mention what we need to improve to beat Duke. And if I'm being very picky, I love what we're doing and also I want to give the team a lot of credit, because even myself I was very pissed off after the Clemson. I'll say this publicly. I didn't like the body language. I didn't think we played hard at times. This team didn't quit. They took after that Clemson loss. We have been a different team and we've battled through that. We've also battled through criticism from the outside. So I'll give this team credit. They're improving. They have not given in and as bad as the season has been from for the fans and a lot of people have been critical, including myself this team's getting better and you know, hopefully we see that and we haven't written that, we haven't already written this team off.
Speaker 2So I'll just say what we need to do to beat Duke is we need to start the games better from a defensive perspective. And if you look at the game on Saturday, we allowed Miami to stay around the game because we were giving guys easy looks. And you know, the Johnson kid hit two three-pointers and then he hit a third one. I think and listen, that guy's a 26% three-point shooter, yeah, and you can't allow guys to get open easy looks, especially when you're scoring, because, defensively, our rotations have to be better. I really feel like you know there was, you know the defensive energy or the defensive pressure. We've got to start the game better with more defensive pressure in our rotations. We can't, once we get into a scramble mode what I mean by that is where the ball's just whipping around and guys are just flying around Okay, you've got to have your rotations on point. You've got to know where you're going. Whenever there's a help-the-helper situation, whenever a defender has to leave their man to give help, to protect the rim, you've got to have protection for that helper and that comes from defensive rotations. They have to be on point against teams like Duke. So, from a defensive perspective, we have a lot of work to do and you've got to.
Speaker 2You know as good as we've been recently rebounding. We've got to continue that, and that's going to be huge for this team just because we lack size. And listen, duke is the lengthiest team in college and so that's something that we're going to have to do. We're going to have to rebound by committee. But Sleep. I don't think that if we take care of business and lose to Duke, I don't think we're necessarily just going to say we're out of it. I think if we make a little bit of a run in the ACC tournament, I think that gives us a good chance of getting in Right now. I would say listen, duke's in, obviously, clemson's in, I will even say Louisville's in Now will we get four?
Speaker 2Yeah, will we get four? Will we be that fourth? I would think so. And you know, a question I was asked is we're in play for a double bye at the ACC tournament and some people have said do you want the double-by? I was like hell, yeah, I want that double-by. You know why I want that double-by? That means because we've won those games and we took care of business and we got that double-by. So I don't think that there's an argument to be had and hopefully the committee takes this in consideration. We're not going to punish a team for winning and getting a double buy and not having an opportunity to win games. If they're going to put some emphasis on these conference tournaments which they have in the past, which I absolutely hate the conference tournaments you've got to take that into consideration. You can't punish a team for winning and getting buys in their conference tournament regardless of how bad their conference is as an overall this year.
Speaker 1Well. So here's what I look at and, let's face it, we're Carolina fans, we're Carolina loyalists, we're Carolina, I mean lifers, right. So we're looking for how does Carolina get in, not how do they get out. Okay, so I acknowledge that. Auburn, number one team in the country, unanimously, every single number one team vote in the last poll. Duke, number two in the country. Florida, number three in the country we played all three of those guys, all right. Alabama, number six in the country right now. We played them. Michigan State number six in the country right now. We played them. Michigan State number eight in the country. We've played them. So we played five of the top 10 teams in the country on our schedule. And Duke, we're going to play twice.
Speaker 1Okay, so that's six games on our schedule of top 10. I mean, and they are all legitimate teams Clemson, number 13. They've been on our schedule. Louisville, in conference we played them once. They're a 19. Memphis, of course, doesn't count, but we played serious teams, legitimate teams, and look, I get that. We haven't won any of those games. That's the biggest reason we're having this conversation period. Like acknowledge that, right, but the but the. The point is is, as a team that's lost 11 games and to date, and five have been against top 10 teams, seven have been against top 25 teams like good ones. If you're looking for silver linings, there it is. You can't really explain away some of the other ones. I think I can't even. I'm just all. The games are jumbling together. The Stanford loss is a tough one.
Speaker 2We've lost some tough games, right, some bad ones, yeah but we only have one quad three loss and that's our only bad loss of the whole year. And Sleep, you make a great point. The reason why I really like your point is because, listen, if you don't want teams to play cupcakes to start the season, then punish them when it comes to election time and it becomes a discussion amongst the committee. And you want to improve the product of college basketball and provide more entertainment for the fans, then don't have them play D2 schools to start the season.
Speaker 2And I think that is a great way to look at it and I think they should take that into consideration. And it wasn't that long ago that you know, when Porter Moser went to Oklahoma, oklahoma played a cupcake schedule to start the season and they were like 20th, and you know, then the Big 12 came around. They started getting mollywhopped. They missed the tournament because of their weak pre-conference schedule to start the year. We didn't duck anybody. We went out to Maui Heck. We went to Lawrence Fog Island.
Speaker 1Nobody wins in that place, yeah, yeah you lost at kansas, like, yeah, kansas having a down year, but that's kansas at kansas, yeah, yeah. So yeah, I mean I think as you, as you really start to back out and again look for angles as to, like, how are you going to justify this argument? We're coming at it from one side, there's no doubt about that, but we're good at the right time. Resume is to your point, why you play good games, why you play good teams. I think I personally believe, as someone who has obviously no experience other than watching the shit on tv um, I personally believe you got to play duke closer, better, you got to play him better or win. Um, I, I think you get credit if you. I think you do get credit if you play him close in this situation. Do you get credit if you play him close? Obviously you get credit if you play them close. Obviously you get credit if you win. I think if you lose by double digits, it gives the committee the ability to say, hey, that's why we're letting Kansas in, or that's why we're letting in someone else. See, I told you they weren't good enough to play with good teams. I mean, that's just how I, my gut, feel, is about it. Is that the human condition plays into, uh, the decision that ultimately gets made. But there's one way to solve it. I think if you beat duke, you were in, you were in the tournament. Um, you know, because that's seven in a row, again, again, flat out, we are. We know we have to beat Virginia Tech. So I'm not looking past Virginia Tech, like I'm just assuming that everybody understands that you want to get in the tournament. That's a foregone conclusion. You know you're on a seven-game win streak, you're playing the best basketball you've played all season and you're demonstrating to the committee that you've learned from playing against. Playing. A strong schedule has made you a better team and that's ultimately what this is all about.
Speaker 1Is, in March, who are the best teams? I think Carolina is. Like Bill Self said it about Kansas in a recent statement, that hey, we haven't had the season we wanted. Carolina obviously hasn't had the season we wanted, we expected, we were projected to have. But in seasons like that, I do think that this team is like scrappy man. They haven't quit and there's a lot to be said for that. So that's kind of where I'm at on it.
Speaker 1And you know, the Duke game is always important. We'll bring them in, they'll be number two in the country and you know, if you can't get up for that one this year, to me, if you're Carolina, the good side of this and this is the last I'll shut up after this is the good thing about these guys coming in where they're at right now. If you're both top five, top ten teams, it's easy to get up for that game. This one means something to one team and means nothing, essentially, to the other, except for, I guess, if you're on their side. Looking at it, it's like it's a pretty surefire way to keep us out of the tournament. But we got to have a chip on our shoulder coming into this one. If you can't get up for this one, you don't deserve to be in the tournament.
Speaker 2Yeah, I think that's a great point.
Speaker 1I think go ahead Sorry.
Speaker 2No, no, no, I was just saying listen if we want to help. Our resume just went out and yeah, you know, I know, um, we've had our opportunities to get some good wins when we put ourself in this hole uh and somehow we're kind of on the cusp. We don't want to leave it up for a lot of debate. We just went out out and I think we're in.
Speaker 1Yeah, I agree, hubert Davis got an extension. I only have caught up on this, on the headlines Speaking of are we in or are we out? Extended through 2030. I think it caught a lot of people by surprise. The only thing that really caught me by surprise was the fact that apparently, this was done for a while and nobody really Carolina's master at keeping a secret. I mean, benjamin Franklin said three can keep a secret if two are dead. Well, two can keep a secret if only one of them's dead, if one of them went to Carolina, because I don't know how they keep this stuff under wraps, but apparently they did.
Speaker 1And maybe I'm wrong about this altogether, but I feel like I read that Coach Williams came out, acknowledged the move. Look, the only thing that can be said about Hubert Davis is do Carolina fans kind of wish the four years had gone better so far? Yeah, sure, but the other thing is the two years that have gone well have gone great, and college basketball is a shifting landscape and I think, dude, the biggest thing I thought, where I was like all right, like he gets it I mean, listen, you can say things that I just have no business saying but where I was sold on the move was when he acknowledged that we needed a GM, which we went out and got. I personally think that the game is just changing and what I was excited to see from Hubert is a flat out acknowledgement of that. And even if this whole situation blows up and it's not the right move, it's not the right people we keep losing whatever, not that we're losing Right.
Speaker 1I think that, as a fan, having the leader of the basketball program acknowledge that, hey, man, we can't just keep doing it the way that we've always done it, to me is an acknowledgement that's super important and I think that that's the right move. I think you can't win in college basketball anymore unless you buy into what college basketball has become and college football and college sports at large, which is look, money's involved. Now Somebody's got to figure it out, nobody's really got the playbook and so you got to do what you think is best, and I think that's what bringing in the GM is.
Speaker 2Yeah, and what I'll say on this whole situation. First of all, the extension was agreed upon in the summer. I don't know why they do this at UNC. It makes no sense. You know, and you look at you actually look at Bill Belichick and a lot of people haven't talked about this. With this whole thing, that contract didn't get signed for a while, left a lot of speculation, created a lot of rumors. Haven't talked about this. With this whole thing, that contract didn't get signed for a while, left a lot of speculation, created a lot of rumors.
Speaker 2Let's make it easy on ourselves. Okay, when you agree to an extension in the summer, get that thing fired up and signed in the summer. When you guys make that agreement, then make it public so we don't have to deal with all these rumors and speculation from the outside. It just ends it. Uh, you know we kind of. You know we played ourselves on that one, yeah, uh, but um, listen, you know the extension, uh, care what you say, it has been peaks and valleys, roller coaster, I mean national championship game, first year out of the tournament, a lot of drama, preseason number one uh, you know it's uh, that whole season, the debacle. Then last year won the acc, acc coach of the year, acc player of the year, number one seed, losing the sweet 16. And now things weren't going.
Speaker 1This you know yeah, we're not having the year that we want.
Speaker 2So you know it's. You know a lot of carolina fans man, hey, you know that's what part of the job is. You got to be able to handle this criticism. If you're going to play for a blue blood, every coach gets it. You can't let it bother you. But you know what. You know these extensions happen all the time. A lot of it has to do with recruiting as well, giving your recruits a little bit more confidence that you're going to be there. You're going to be the guy that's going to coach him, and I think that's a good thing. If you're recruiting a guy, they want to know that you're going to be there. You can see when you get there. So I'm not sure what all the details of the contract are the buyout but I will say I know that Hubert's contract what he makes currently base-wise, is nothing compared to what the other coach in the ACC makes. It's kind of shocking a little bit. Yeah, extension, it's going to give him a little more security and recruits and stuff like that. I think it's a good thing.
Speaker 2I don't know what everyone else thinks about it, but the GM situation Sleep. I thought we should have been a little more proactive on this. I think, uh, yeah, you know, maybe this could have happened. Uh, you know, maybe a year or two ago, uh, john shire was kind of the first person to really go out there and get a gm and what I think this does. And syracuse actually recently just hired an NBA scout as part of, like, their portal, and you know, you look at some other coaches Nate Oates, who's arguably been the best coach in college, and it's totally flipped Alabama into a basketball.
Speaker 1Calm down.
Speaker 2It's kind of like it's been a basketball powerhouse. Let's not say it's a basketball school, but I almost said it. But you know, you look at his staff and when they played the Smiths in there I was like what the? They probably had 15 to 20 coaches come out of that tunnel.
Speaker 2And I was shocked. I was like what is this? And I don't like that. But you know it's just where it's at and you know I do think the GM hire you've got to do something that allows coaches to coach and focus on the game and you've got to have somebody that's familiar with contracts, handling money and knowing how to deal with salaries and stuff like that as this NIL era gets more complicated.
Speaker 2I have a very good relationship with Jim Tanner because he was my agent.
Speaker 2He's a great guy, carolina guy, so I'm glad I like to hear that from that aspect and I think he has a passion for the community.
Speaker 2I think he has a passion for UNC. So he has extra motivation to come in and really try to help with the portal and you know he has a lot of connections and I do think that part of him as a GM I think he's going to have like some more hires to be made that are going to help with the portal situation. That maybe you know evaluates the talent in the portal and see who's available and I think you know, working with Tanner, then he'll be able to assess how we can get that guy money and how we can be competitive as far as what other schools are offering, and I think every school is kind of going through this right now in this new era and they're trying to figure it out, but you know, it's a no-brainer in my opinion and it allows coaches to focus on coaching the game and not have to do all this other stuff because you know it's not their expertise.
Speaker 1Yeah, I'm a fan. I don't know anything about anything I'm about to say. This is just an armchair quarterback sideline kind of fan situation. My assessment, however, for what it's worth, what little it's worth, is that Carolina, for a long time, has been able to hang its hat on tradition, the program, those sorts of things.
Speaker 1What I think is happening is that that landscape is changing. I think society is changing. I think you see it more broadly in politics, you see it in business, you see it, uh, with the way new generations the things that they care about Kids don't care about Michael Jordan anymore. Not like you know, my generation dude, if Michael Jordan called my cell phone, if I'm a college basketball recruit, I don't care where I'm going. Tyler's laughing because I mean if Michael Jordan called my cell phone and told me to jump out my 20-story window right now, there's a decent chance I'd look down there and think about whether I could make it. But I just think my point is that they don't really value some of the things that we, as a little older generation, value and think they should value. So I keep going back to this kid that's going to BYU next year. I mean, he's a top recruit and it's like I laugh. But I'm like man, I don't even know if that dude would know who the coach was for that team.
Speaker 1People, when we hired Bill Belichick, which was just like a meteor hitting earth, right, like where did that come from? Everybody's like, oh well, he's not going to be able to recruit. Well, buddy, you don't have to. You don't have to go in anybody's living room anymore. Like he's going in the living room of the top five guys, not five stars, he's going in the living room of the best players in the country if he wants to get it done.
Speaker 1My point there is the game has changed. How you approach it. It has changed how you land. Players have changed. You need a strategy for that, you have a blueprint for it in terms of the professional leagues. You've got to treat it that way, whether you like it or not.
Speaker 1And I felt like this was, even if it's late, even if it's later than it should have been, even as too late, right, it's an acknowledgement by hubert davis and by the program that, hey, this has changed and we have to play by a new set of rules. So I commend the decision. Um, you know to roll the dice, because who knows if it's going to work. I mean, that's the other thing. I I have no idea if this is the right, the right coach, the right gm, the right strategy, the right whatever, but you got to try something. You know what I mean, and so, uh, hats off to the program for doing that and for what it's worth. I think it'll work out just fine.
Speaker 1Other thing I want to get to, though, speaking of recruiting and getting good players, is a lot of chatter about whether or not they should move the Smith Center off campus. So we'll kind of end on that one, because I know Coach Williams has come out about it. Big Hawk has some feelings about it and, again, as somebody that just is like damn, I've got to go to this game on a Tuesday night at 9 o'clock I've got my own set of feelings about it, but I'm going to toss it over to you, big Hawk. Give us a rundown of where all that conversation is and what your thoughts are on it.
Speaker 2Yeah, so this has been a question I've been asked by a ton of fans and everyone's asking me. So I knew it was kind of coming up on the horizon. But apparently the new chancellor has hired a group to really access and see what financially it costs. You know it financially costs to, you know, build a new arena off campus, whatever. You know what it could do and you know all that stuff. So it kind of got that. Uh, that's where kind of all these rumors and everyone's you know own opinion kind of started. And I know coach Williams just came out and he's pretty passionately against it and he, um, you know he kind of talked about all the memories in the building. Moving off campus wasn't something that Coach Smith really envisioned when they built the Smith Center. So he's all for keeping it where it is right now and kind of doing some renovations.
Speaker 2My own opinion and I'll give my opinion right now I'm against an off-campus arena. First of all, off-campus arenas are not great. They do not give a home environment. Look at PNC. That's right off-campus. Doesn't feel like a college atmosphere, does it? They share the arena. That's eventually going to happen to make more money. The only really off-campus arena, rupp, I'd have to look to see how far off-campus that is from Kentucky, if it is, but decent, I mean it's a pretty good crowd. Big Blue Nation they'd be dumb as hell, but they're a great atmosphere.
Speaker 2I'll also say we have one of the prettiest campuses in America. I think it's absolutely beautiful and I think it's always a great thing when the college kids have the ability to walk to the arena and have quick access and they don't have to get in a car and drive off campus. I think we've got to cater to the students and I think, um, moving off campus would take that ability away and at the end of the day, it just there's so much going on in college basketball landscape and it's moving so fast. At times I'm sitting here wondering if we're even making this product even better. And it was.
Speaker 2It was a beautiful thing and a big part of that has to do with the atmosphere, the fans, the passion, and I just feel like moving off campus kind of takes away from you know, making it a little bit less connected to the university, and I think a lot of these changes in NIL there it's all been about financial. I think it's got to be right there at the Smith Center. Keep it where it is, let the students walk over there and figure out how can we make this place better, how can we make this place an electric atmosphere. We can make it happen. You know and listen. If you look at the state game, the fans are were great, and you know what they did. They said you know what, if you have to drive to the arena, don't come students. Whoever walk here, we'll let you in, we'll put you down at the lower bowl and you know what? It was great. It was a great atmosphere. They talked about it after the game. If you move that arena off campus, no one's at that game, and that's my argument Sleep.
Discussing Coach Hubert Davis’s Contract Extension
Speaker 1And that's the big challenge man is, I would love nothing more than to keep it on campus. Just, you know, keep it where it is. Just modernize it. You know, get getting students closer to the floor, like all the all, the, all the arguments about. You know, the money is down there on the floor, the legacy seats and all that sort of stuff and sort of prevent maybe more of the student atmosphere. Like, I think that the stadium needs the renovation badly.
Speaker 1The reality to me, there's the nostalgia. I agree with everything you just said. It all is absolutely spot on in principle, but the reality is the people that can buy the tickets, that put the money back into basketball. And again, you see what we talked about this earlier with Alabama and stuff. Football money is an incredible thing. We're starting to see it already and it's a great thing for the school and the university.
Speaker 1But at the end of the day, here's my point of view. I live in Raleigh. I'm 30, 40 minutes away from campus. Okay, if a game is at 7, 8, even worse, like 9 o'clock on a Wednesday night, the logistics of getting to the game and getting home from the game are such a challenge there that the practical and, I think your most rabid fans are going to say it doesn't matter, I'm going to get there no matter what. And dude, believe me, I'm a Carolina fan. But if they're playing at 8 o'clock on a Tuesday night, I have a family, I have a young child. It's very hard for me to get to the game and to get home. I mean, it's a hey, you leave it five, maybe six o'clock and you literally get home at midnight and I think that's again.
Speaker 1Is that a valid argument? Maybe not, but like. The truth is is like people have to make decisions between their lives and their passion for the team and the game. And that's the. That's the challenge. I'm not saying there's a right answer, wrong answer to it, but like I would go, I'd buy season tickets in a heartbeat if I knew I could get to. And it's not like there's any need, like there's plenty of people that'll buy season tickets to these games. I'm just saying that I think part of the reason why the atmosphere is suboptimal is because it can be a challenge to get to those games. Logistically, there's one way in and one way out. So I'm not trying to make an argument. I would love to see the place stay, but the reality is everybody can't parachute into the damn parking lot there's one way in and one way out, and it's a nightmare to get in and out of there.
Speaker 1So I think ultimately, at the end of the day, I'd love to see them figure out, like I don't know how to build another road out of here or something, but that's the piece. And then there's just a limited resource of land you talk about. You know a lot of a lot of chatter about, like that fr Center area, which, for those that maybe aren't as familiar with the area, it's not on campus but there's a bus route that runs To me that's a lot closer than PNC, for example. I think that if they do make that decision to move it, I still think the logistics could be improved. Like I think that there could be a very efficient way to shuttle students to and from. That is easier than shuttling people from outside in.
Speaker 1So I think that's the reason why it intrigues me as a fan is like, hey, you could move it a little off campus and and I don't think you really damage the student experience too much is the walkability an issue? Absolutely, and that's the piece that, like, you got to struggle to keep. I'm 100 with you, man. Like, if you can keep that, you got to keep it. I just don't know how, but that's that's. That's from my standpoint. Like logistically it is tough to get to those games. Even football is in the heart of campus, and so at least there are arteries to get to and from. I mean, the same is not true for basketball. So who knows?
Speaker 2Sleep. I've got a question.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Would I parachute if I could? I know that answer. That's no, no chance. No chance If they put that arena in your backyard 9 pm on Tuesday. Are you going?
Speaker 1My backyard 100% true story, dude. If I could get there and this is real, I'm being honest. Sleep Dog goes to sleep early people. But if I knew, this is me as a father. My kid's going to be one year old in the next two or three years. He's going to start being able to go to these games and sit through about 10 minutes before he starts driving me crazy throwing popcorn everywhere game. I would. I would make the commitment go to every single game if I knew that it wasn't going to be like a six, eight hour commitment, because the reality is is like as much as I wish I might, I was at a point in life where I could just do that, like I just can't. You know, you got school, you got work, you got all these things that are realistic. Like if you have children, like you're not getting home at midnight with your kids, that's a special occasion, that is not a you know, every other week you're going to take them to the Carolina game. Truly yeah. And sleep.
Speaker 2you know I I run through that same dilemma. I hate nine o'clock games. I'm just not a fan of them. East coast game there dilemma. I hate 9 o'clock games.
Speaker 1I'm just not a fan of them. East Coast 9 o'clock game.
Speaker 2There's no excuse for it yeah, that's why I asked, we'll see.
Speaker 1Man, look, at the end of the day, the only thing I really care about it ain't about Brandon, it's not about me, it's just about the program and the school. It really, really, really, really really is about the students. I mean, some of our best times were there, so whatever's best for them I'll roll with. I'll keep complaining all the way in, through traffic, out of traffic, whatever. Get there. When I can, I just, you know, my own two cents. That matters not at all is, you know, keep the students at the center of it. The reason I care so much about the need for sort of re-architecture the whole situation is there's that side of it. But you got to get the students down near the court. I mean, that's what makes our program is they start as students, they become alumni, right? The only downside I have of the whole carolina experience is it's unacceptable this day and age to have your students, you know so, removed from the court. Man, they, they've earned the right to. Uh hell, especially as hard as it is to get in that school.
Speaker 1Now it's even harder to get close to the floor. You know Um, so I hope they can figure out you know as something as best they can to sort of satisfy everybody. But um and and sleep.
Speaker 2I'll just say I to sort of satisfy everybody, but um and and sleep. I'll just say I'm with you on that. I think I would love to see you know students have better access to the games and figure a way to make it uh more for the students. I, I'm with you on that. I think we got to figure that out. And also, you know it's, it's uh, I think overall, I think generally, outside of the people that are sitting in those seats, I think that's a uh, I think everyone be on the same page with you 100.
Speaker 1Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of people that given a lot of money, a lot of tradition there, there's a lot of look, there's a lot of historical stuff. I'm not taking away from the people that sit in those seats. Okay, I can go buy a seat on court side whenever I want. I'm fortunate to be in that position in my life. Cool, great, whatever. Who cares? But at the end of the day, it's the same people sitting in those seats. Every game and the kids are.
Speaker 1The environment suffers because of that. Look, if you put a luxury box up there, I'll sit up there. You let them. Kids go nuts all night. You know, had six, eight. They got 18 airplane bottles in their waistline. Like, fine, whatever, man. Like, um, we do the. The atmosphere starts with the students. That's what I'll say, you know, and everybody else, everybody else is feel well for that. So, uh, we'll see what happens. I think they're a long way from from final decision on it, but it'll be interesting to see where it goes. We've managed to get a long way here, man, what? Uh, I mean Duke man, we've got to take him down Trying to think we got anything else. You got anything else, big Hawk, stay safe, stay safe. Thank you.