NC State vs. #1 Georgia, UNC Series Preview & Football's Bold Prediction | Tuffy Talk Live

Wolfpack Nation — this might be the biggest week of the NC State sports calendar this spring, and we're breaking all of it down tonight.

First up — women's tennis. NC State rallied from a 2-1 deficit to beat #9 Texas in the Super Regional, with Victoria Osuigwe winning a three-set thriller to clinch it and Mia Slama dominating 7-5, 6-0. Now the Pack heads to Athens to face #1 seed Georgia — the host school and reigning national champion — in the Elite 8 on Friday. Can they pull off the biggest upset of the tournament?

Then we turn to Doak Field. UNC comes to Raleigh on Thursday. The #2 team in the country. RPI 6. Eight straight series wins. NC State's NCAA Tournament hopes are very much on the line. We break down what the Pack needs to do, whether Rett Johnson's 22-game hit streak continues, and whether this team makes it to Omaha regardless of what happens this weekend.

We also get into NC State football — CBS Sports is predicting double-digit wins in 2026. The season opens in Brazil against Virginia. New portal targets are reportedly emerging. Is this the year Doeren finally breaks through?

And we close with Gainey's roster — now that the NCAA Tournament is expanding to 76 teams, what does Year 1 actually look like for this group?

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Transcript

1:20

Me me me me me me me me me. What is going on? Wolf Pack Nation, welcome to another edition of the Toughie talk live show. You got myself Lane Smith here. Riding solo was everybody else kind of got pulled in today with other scheduling and whatever that hoopla. But the Toughie Talk live show moves on anyway. And so with that being said, and so that way you don't have to just listen to me today by myself talking for the next hour and some change here. We got a couple of guests here with us. First of all, for our guest here, we're going to talk some tennis here. In order to do that, we got to bring back on a friend of the show that we have haven't talked to in a couple of years, Mr. Brian Rosenthal, a former NC state men's tennis player. Brian, appreciate you being back with us. Back back on with us, brother. Yeah, it's been a while. Uh, love following you guys on Insta and on X and you guys do a tremendous job. It was a pleasure to be with you guys on this pod a few years ago, and excited to bring Wolfpack tennis back to the forefront here. Yeah, no. And right where it belongs for sure is, uh, I'm sure you probably see it down here in my in my name tag here, but hashtag underrated Earnshaw. We're going to talk definitely a lot about coach Simon Earnshaw because he definitely deserves all his flowers. And honestly, he probably doesn't get enough flowers from N.C. state fans here for sure. But with that being said, if you've been with us before, you know the drill. Uh, any questions, comments, concerns throughout the show? Make sure to get them in the chat and we will make sure to discuss them here today. Uh, especially, you know, as we go to is where as well. We'd love to hear your comments thoughts as well. But with that being said, Brian, I'll just kind of cut to the chase right here. In my opinion, this has been already the most successful NC state women's season in the program's history. And I'll give you three reasons why. First of all, starting off the season with a doubles national championship, uh, you know, not necessarily one that that probably breaks the, you know, beats the doors down. You know, you know, you know, kind of sends NC state fans going crazy as much as the maybe a team title does, but you start off with it with a great doubles national championship, which to my knowledge, hasn't been done in N.C. state. Number two winning ACC title hasn't has. I think only the second ACC title under Coach Earnshaw. So, um, and then now you're going back to the quote unquote Elite Eight, the quote unquote Omaha of women's tennis, too, as well. And, you know, you may say, well, a couple of years ago, NC state women's tennis won ACC championship, made it to the national championship game, which I do agree. But I think you, again, that I think that women's tennis doubles national championship should pull some weight there for sure. Uh, so I don't know Bryan's initial thoughts here on the on that. Is that is that how hot of a hot take is that? Well, it's a fair take. I think you can look back at that team, you know, four years ago and say they were the best team of women's tennis history at NC state, or you can go ahead and say, hey, that doubles team that won the national championship. Put your argument over the top. I'm not going to go ahead and say one team is better than the other. Uh, this team certainly has in some ways, I think surprised us a little bit more. Uh, then that team from four years ago, that team had Diana Schneider, who's currently ranked top 12 in the world right now. At times I've seen her as high as 11. And, you know, going back and forth from 11 to 20 in the world is unprecedented, uh, unchartered waters for, you know, NC state tennis. So I'm not going to go ahead and say that that is right or wrong. I know that's kind of being a little Switzerland there, but, uh, this is an incredible team that is back in the Elite Eight. And it's been, uh, I think one of, uh, Simon's, uh, largest achievements in his incredible career. Yeah. So, you know, you mentioned Diana Schneider and we'll jump back to this team here as well. But since you mentioned her, uh, you know, I did want to ask, uh, you know, one thing about me, like, would you say? Because I, I know it's I feel like if if I were to put you on the spot, Brian and, you know, ask you who are the greatest women's tennis players to ever play NC state. It might be definitely a tough topic here for sure. We've had some really good ones here for sure, and especially ones who have been here for 3 or 4 years and have been elite level. But the upside you saw with Diana Schneider, again, like you said, it was top 12 right now and in the, in the world, uh, for women's tennis, I she wasn't even here for a whole season, but yet, I mean, she was her her talent was phenomenal and was unspeakable, to say the least. Um, and especially to the point and correct me if I'm wrong, Brian, to as well, but in the national championship match versus you and see, if I'm not mistaken, you and C actually flipped their number one tennis player and their number two tennis player flipped them on purpose, basically basically almost conceding the match to Diana Schnyder to focus on trying to go get that number two match up. Correct with that. You know, late night. I don't remember how I'm going to be honest with you. I don't remember if. I'm pretty sure on that, though I will I will say that. To be right. You know what I, I probably if I were Brian Calvert's, uh, I would try to do that as well. I mean, you can, you know, I think I think it's one of those situations where you're going for the split. Right? But if you put your number one player, um, at one, then there's a possibility of just losing both lines one and two. So if Calvert's did that, which he has every right to do. But you mean at this point there's there's no rule against putting, you know, a consistent number five at number three, I think I think then you're then you're getting a little bit silly. But uh, yeah, he may have done that and it was probably the right move. And if he did it and it worked out, obviously it played a factor in winning that match. So, uh, yeah, I mean that Diana moves the needle. I mean, you make coaching decisions based on the fact that you have no chance of probably beating her, whether it's your best player or your line. Six so he did it, probably. And it was a it was a right coaching move. Yeah. So now jumping back to this season here Brian. Because again, I mean I definitely want to remind people of the names of Diana Schneider who, you know, you know, probably 80% of NC state fans probably do not know that name. And it should be way more than that in terms of the number of state fans that know that name. But I want to kind of talk about kind of breaking up the season in terms of the ACC Championship and the NCAA tournament here so far, and kind of ask really kind of, in your opinion, which which run in your opinion has been more impressive, you know, because obviously for for the NCAA tournament side, first two matches, sweep them nine nothing. Uh, and then you go on, you face Texas, uh, you know, uh, who was actually played in the national semifinals last year. Uh, you know, as a perennial, you know, elite level women's tennis program and you go, ah, down in the doubles point, uh, but you still went on to win the match versus the AC championship, or you beat unk. You beat Virginia, who, who just beat you ten days before that and is one of the top teams in the country. You know, would you say there's one of those stretches so far, Brian, that have been more impressive in your eyes? I'm more impressed. You know, so far with the ACC Championship, it's taxing to win all those matches, even the easy ones to start off with. And there's not many easy ones because you have a double bye. So you're playing already your first matches in the quarterfinals, right. So uh, to beat UVA in Carolina and back to back appearances is I mean that's elite, right? I mean, that's as a as a lead as you can get. Um, you know, the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, you know, I there's are nice wins, right? I mean, I think they beat maybe Morgan State and then UCF. I may be wrong on the first round. I know they played. You know, one of the smaller schools that probably won their conference. But I mean the UCF match pretty routine. That's a good team not a great team. Texas is a great team and that's an incredible win. You know I think I think if they're a betting odds and they're down a doubles point, I feel like Texas would emerge on the live betting odds as the favorite at that point. But I mean, our girls I mean, they I mean huge wins on lines one and two from me and Anna defeating two. Really good. Uh, lady Longhorns players both I think, ranked in the top ten in the country. These two ladies. So, uh, it's a it's an incredible win. It's, you know, you can make it. Or is that the best win of the season? Man, I gotta go with UVA in the, in the in the ACC tournament finals, I really do. I think the ACC run and Kerry was um, you know, I, I don't want to take anything away from rounds one through three of the, of the, of the tournament, of the NCAA tournament, I should say. but man, I mean, that's just not an easy path to win. The semifinals and finals of the ACC Championship. Probably the second best conference in college women's college tennis. And it's not even close. I mean, you're making SEC will give them their number one ACC probably two. I mean not probably definitely two. And then it's a big drop off. So yeah I love what I saw in Kerry. It's a huge championship win. Uh and obviously the win over Texas. That's an electric win to just really dominate in singles. Uh and move on to the quarterfinals against a really good UGA team. Yeah. Well let's talk a little bit about that UGA team. I think that, you know, Brian, this win, I think if NC state was able to pull this off would be by far the biggest win of the season, if not in the last five years. I could argue the biggest win so far, and that's just to get you to the semifinals. But to recap basically how we got here. I mean, Georgia, the number one overall seed uh is uh, has swept every single, uh, matchup so far this season. Uh, is the returning national champions from last season. Uh, so I mean, if you're just like you said, if you were to put betting odds. I mean, I, I, I would say that probably UGA is going into is a heavy favorite here. But the thing I go back to though is that in my opinion, this is not a team of like top level talent. This is a lot of really good, battle tested tennis players that have proved that they're not scared of anybody. I mean, they, they, they faced, you know, some of the best players in the women's tennis has to offer right now and they've come out victorious. So in my opinion, you know, you're kind of going into this matchup with UGA with nothing to lose, but with everything to gain and also to with all the possibilities to, to to get the job done like it would. I would say it would not absolutely shock me if you if state was able to pull off this upset? No, it's not shocking. It would be surprising. I think that's the better word. I mean, this is a this is an easy narrative for, um, for David and Simon to use is like, we have nothing to lose. You've already mentioned that. I mean, we see this in sports all the time. I mean, they're they're a huge underdogs, you know. I mean, this is not only are they playing the number one overall seed in the NCAA tournament. Uh, the match is in Athens and Athens. Georgia is the cathedral of college tennis for both men and women. It's the most rowdy crowd. They packed the house. That place will be rocking for the UGA ladies, uh, on Friday. Um, I mean, listen, you know, Simon doesn't shy away from competition. I mean, they have played, I think, five of the top eight. That's unbelievable. And then we're talking. Of course, we're talking nonconference, too. Uh, they have played Ohio State who I think is to Auburn and LSU, who I think finished in the top six this year. So I mean you're looking at a team. They are battle tested. They have scars, they have wounds. And I don't think they're going to be. You know that that surprise when they go into an environment like this because they played on the road to I mean, Lane they played on the road, you know. That's that's the key is you're you're winning, Matt. You're you're winning or you're competing heavenly on the road against some very good teams. And they've already done that. So gotta have the nothing lose attitude, nothing to lose attitude I should say. I mean they they really can win the doubles point. They they. Disappointing doubles point defeat in the Texas match. But you know leading up to that the Wolfpack women are our damn good doubles trio. So I think that I think that point man that's going to be massive. I you know I almost think you have to go into that match with all in get that doubles point. You know we gotta figure this out. We gotta we gotta figure out if there's anything we can do differently, uh, to capture that point. Go do it. Because that one zero lead man the pressure. You know how that pressure is. You know, being the top dog and you're down one zero in front of your home crowd. Now, now you feel that burden on your shoulders like, oh, man. Like, wait a minute. We're playing the eight. See, they have the one zero lead. They have talent. They have to win just three of these six quarts. It's a massive deal. So I'll be following that. That's a big point. Hope we get it. Yeah yeah. So I, I was basically going to ask next kind of what in your mind is the key to pull this upset. But it really does sound like straight and simple. It's it's the doubles point. I mean, it sounds like that is a huge swing one way. Yeah, I think it's the doubles point. And I think it's probably going to be the bottom of the lineup. I think that we have depth and they do too. There's no no debating that. But you know, they're they're really top heavy right. So can we afford a loss at one and or two. The answer is yes, but you got to get the doubles point and we're going to have to somehow come through. Jasmine and Victoria, these are our five and sixes that have been playing really good ball. I think that we can match the talent, the ability and the experience on the bottom of the lineup with UGA, Ohio State, Auburn, Carolina. I think that's what it's going to take. I think we got to get doubles point. I think we got to emerge here in lines four through four through six. You got to sneak two of those three points and then somehow win a point on lines one through three. That that's the path, in my opinion, to win this match. Yeah. Yeah. You got Rob here in the chat saying he was there at the match versus Texas was a great, great match. Great game for sure. Uh and yeah I mean like also to as well Brian I mean I, I'm, I don't know about you two as well. I mean, I know just like you know myself, you know. you know that. At least for myself. I guess I'll just speak for myself. Uh, haven't been able to make it out to too many matches over the last couple of years, but, uh, I mean, definitely watching the, uh, the match and, uh, looking at the pictures afterwards. Uh, for example, Wolfpack Nation definitely showed out for sure. So definitely gotta give a huge props to to NC state fans for sure. For for definitely being a building spot for sure and getting that win here. Um, have you felt at all that there's has been some growth, um, in terms of knowledge, just, you know, within the program itself, but in terms of support for the program? I'll tell you this, um, I'll pivot to men's real quick before I answer your question, because I was at the Carolina match, um, let's say one month ago, it transpired in Chapel Hill. Yeah, man, that was like a football game in Chapel Hill. I mean, it was probably 63% red. Um, and to answer your question, I think the folks in the triangle, they care. They're coming. They're coming to matches more and more. And yes, there's there's definitely a shift in you know, I remember it was a big discussion on this podcast with you guys. And, you know, a little bit of the discussion, uh, was around the fact that, you know, fan the fan base needs to improve. Right? And that was that was talked about when, when I was on and, uh, that was I was on your show maybe 3 or 4 years ago. I can't remember the timeline, but, uh, it has. Yes. So it's gotten louder. There's attendance that has superseded any expectations that I ever thought. You know, before the Kyle Spencer and Simon Earnshaw eras begun. It's not even close. The attendance is is monstrous compared to the past. So, yeah, I mean, it's great. I could not believe what I saw in Chapel Hill was, you know, that was my favorite match of the year. We snuck that out for three men's tennis. Uh, so William Manning, Raleigh native finalized the the victory for the Wolfpack and it was. It was a blast to see that. But yeah, I think I think I think the Wolfpack fans I hope I hope some can travel to Athens. Not easy. It's just it's just not easy on a Friday to go down to, you know, Athens, Georgia. Um, but, you know, it'd be nice to hear a couple wolfpack chants in the crowd. Yeah, well, and and and since you would be better probably talk about this than I would can you kind of give Vincent de fans kind of a rundown in terms of how these last, uh, how this top eight goes? So is it. We play Friday, we play again Sunday. And then if you make it to championship, you play again Tuesday. Like how is what's the format look like. Yeah. So honestly I haven't I haven't looked at it changes all the time. So I don't know if they get a day off or not. Um gotcha. I you know what a lot of times they don't. So, you know, you look at the ACC tournament and there's, there's not a day off right after you win a quarterfinal or semifinal match. It's a great question. I don't have the answer for you, but, um, I would think that, you know, these guys got to get. They got to get back to finals. I'm not sure. Is school still in session? Probably not. So I don't know the logistics right now, what's going on and what the schedule is like in Athens. Maybe someone can chime in. Who knows better than me. I feel bad as the guest of the show, but no, I don't know when the final four is. I don't I don't know if it's going to be Sunday or is it going to be the, uh, the next day? Um, yeah. But I don't think it I think there's a lot of rest here. So if the ladies, these these girls are in God, they're all in unbelievable shape. If if you had to play a match Saturday night, turn around 24 hours later, you know, with recovery, proper recovery. I mean, our training staff is bringing normal techs on the road. They're using the UGA, you know, sports medicine areas for recovery. They can go to a restore hyper wellness if the girls want to use a cryo chamber in Athens like they're fine. So I'm not sure when the final four in the national title will transpire, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. Um, if you're thinking about, oh, do they need rest? It it's not it's not needed. Yeah. Okay. That's that's a fair analysis for sure. Uh, yeah. And and so I do want to jump into here. So two things here. Let's want to jump in to Coach Earnshaw and then kind of talk a little bit of men's tennis too as well. Uh, so I mean with Coach Earnshaw, I mean, you know, his his resume so far at NC state, uh, you know, can't be argued here. I mean, you know, now winning two ACC championships in the last four years, uh, has been to I think I think I saw eight straight sweet sixteens, uh, you know, and now has been to the, to the Elite eight a few times too, as well. Uh, you know, luckily enough, NC state, we were very blessed to have a lot of really great, uh, coaches that, you know, you could argue are underrated. Whether you want to talk about Coach Papilio. Um, you know, uh, you know, also, you know, to like, you know, coach Mark Hubbard, I think, you know, two years ago was, uh, you know, not really talked about a whole lot. But now, as you say, fans know the name coach Mark Hubbard, that's for damn sure. But Coach Earnshaw, in my opinion, is right up there in terms of if somebody were to ask me who's the most underrated NC state coach, uh, out there right now? Uh, you know, in terms of what he's been able to bring, but even to like where he started to where he is now to as well, can you kind of speak on that in terms of, you know, just shed some light in terms of more of why NC state fans should know the name or coach or coach Simon Earnshaw? Well, he's won national championships, you know, at a at a different level. But that's still incredible, right? Anytime you can win a national championship, whether it's Naia, Division two, Division three, it doesn't matter. You're still doing something really unique and special. Uh, yeah. No offense to the previous coach. I'm not going to mention any names. Great guy, by the way. But, uh, what he was left with, with nothing. I mean, he's left with, like, you know, a few ladies left on that team, uh, toxic environment, uh, facilities that were so subpar. I mean, subpar is being kind laden. That's being kind. So, I mean, he he he had nothing. He he worked with basically a clean slate of, you know, a group of ladies that they're pretty good players, don't get me wrong. But, you know, we're they, they're, they're competing for, you know, eighth place in the conference when he came in. And that was kind of the goal. You know with back then he probably arrived. There may have been 12 teams in the conference. And NC state was a perennial, you know, eight through 12 teams. So getting the eighth place was, you know, the best scenario. So what he's done is, uh, unprecedented, I think I think underrated is is probably not a fair enough. I just don't think, you know, the global perspective of women's tennis is not cared enough, unfortunately. So when you look at every N.C. state coach over the last ten years, uh, and you and you put Simon and you compare them to all the I don't I mean, whether it's swimming and diving or wrestling, whatever it may be, I don't know. I don't know if anyone tops the resume. I mean, he's been to a quite a few Elite Eights. Eight straight sweet 16. Can you imagine if our men's and women's basketball coach did that? I mean, yeah, they would have statues, right? Um, so, I mean, so I think I think I think he is I think he's one of the greatest coaches, um, in, in the modern era of NC state. Of all the sports, I think he's one of the greatest to. I mean, so II not only is he underrated, I just think he's done the most, uh, with the least in the beginning of when he came in. I mean, you have you have you have coaches that have had success and they've done well with a good product and made them maybe great. Now he had a unfortunately a bad product and and he made it to an elite product. Okay. No I appreciate that for sure. I think that definitely, uh, you know, reminds us to stay fans for sure in terms of how lucky we truly are, for sure at NC state to have Coach Simon Earnshaw here. Uh, so before I let you go, I do want to talk a little bit of men's tennis. Uh, just to kind of recap real quick on the season 16 and six. In the regular season, eight and five and ACC play finished as the number five seed in ACC championship, made it to the second round of the ACC championship. Lost in the first round, uh, to uh, Middle Tennessee, 4 to 2, in the first round in Athens. Uh, but this is a this is a men's team, which two years ago was I mean, let's be real, just, you know, kind of standing in the limelight a little bit of, uh, you know, of the women's tennis side. But last year we really saw a big breakthrough. And for this season, I mean, it was really overall, in my opinion, a solid season, a top 30 overall ranking. Uh, you know, had, you know, a couple of of, of, you know, shining moments for sure during the season 16 and six overall, eight and five Number five overall sheet, especially with how top heavy. I feel like the ACC men's tennis program is, you know, like like if this is the norm, if not even closer to the floor, you gotta be kind of excited about where things are going for men's tennis. Yeah. And then just to make sure I want to start it, correct you. We did beat middle. We did beat middle in round one of the tournament. So ironically we lost to Georgia uh, in Georgia. Oh wow. So men and women are going to compete against UGA in the NCAA tournament. That's that's pretty odd, but that is what has happened. Uh, it was a good win over middle. We played middle twice in the last four years in the NCAA tournaments. Kind of weird, but, uh, that that has happened. And so we played middle at home I think four years ago in round one. And then we played them in Georgia, uh, a couple days ago and won that. Uh, now going back to the, the, the global perspective of this men's tennis season, uh, it was Good. Not great. Good. It was very good, right? I mean, some we got swept by Duke, which to me was a little bit shocking and quite disappointing. The Duke had it down here. Um, that's probably one of the lowlights, though. There's some great highlights. Uh, beating Notre Dame. Notre Dame is a really good tennis team. Uh, they were the number three seed in the ACC tournament. Uh, Stanford, Notre Dame, Virginia and Wake are elite elite men's tennis program. So, uh, to be seated five. That's really good. It's it's a really good seed. The Florida State loss. Uh, in in that in that de facto, you know, round of 16, they were a 13 seed. That was a little that was surprising and disappointing. But you know, to come back get the win over Middle Tennessee who's actually better than FSU when you know, in all and probably in all reality that's a good win. That's a that's a good turnaround win. and then and then, you know, tough match against UGA. But, uh, yeah. I mean, like I said, uh, good really good season. You know, we have we have a lot of young players. We just lost our number one player. Uh, he put out a really classy post that went viral on Insta and X, um, Bo is, uh, going to turn pro. He's going to give it a chance. He's ranked 30 in the country and and and he wants to give the pro tour a chance. I do think he has a lot of skills. And I do think he there's a path. There's a path for this kid. This kid has a lot of grit, a lot of heart. Um, you know, he's ranked 30 in the country, but, you know, a lot of people don't realize he reached the NCAA, uh, singles in the fall. The ladies won the doubles. This guy made it to the semis. So he had a really good fall early winter. Kind of lost a couple ACC matches that that dropped his ranking. But uh, but Bo um, great player. First name Martin. But nickname is Bo. And, um, you know I want to I want to, you know, give him a shout out. I'm going to rank him right up there late in, um, as one of our, our greatest players in the modern era, he had a great run at the, uh, and the NCAA tournament singles. I mean, Final Four, man. That's tough. That that that is so elite. That is, you know, when you get to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament, uh, you're a guy that has pro potential, and I wish him all the best. I really hope he gets there. Uh, we got we got a we have a lot of international players, but we do have two local talents. We have William Manning from Raleigh, North Carolina, and we have, uh, Cody Benton from Chapel Hill. Uh, so these these guys are really good players. They're young. They're they're going to be the future of this program, in my opinion. Uh, but, you know, Kyle Spencer and Chris James, they do a great job, uh, finding finding young talent in the portal. Also give credit to Dennis Smith, second assistant. Uh, these guys work really hard, and it's really tough because, you know, men and women, men's and women's tennis, like some other sports, like swimming and diving. And you're in the same building, so the comparisons just come, right. What have you done for me lately? And you compare the two programs, the women, you know, they're ahead. So, um, you know that that's where we stand. It was a very. It was still a very good season. Uh, top five in the ACC. Um, they'll probably finish if I had to guess, between 25 and 30 in the nation. I think that's a really good season. Yeah. No. Absolutely. Well, with that being said, Brian, definitely appreciate you jumping on here with us. So, uh, you know, definitely NC state fans, if you haven't already, make sure to stay tuned for this, uh, huge matchup coming up here this Friday, May 15th. Here. It'll be taking place in Athens, Georgia. So if you can't, uh, make it in person, definitely make sure to check out where you can uh, uh, tune in for it for sure is it's going to be, uh, a duel for the century, that's for sure. So but, Brian, appreciate you, as always. Come and gone. And we'll definitely not wait another 3 to 4 years before we have you back on again. You got it, man. Hey. Great stuff. Love what you do. Go pack and, uh. Yeah. Definitely watch these ladies compete on Friday. You got it. Thanks, Brian. Have a good night, man. We'll talk to you soon. All right, Wolf pack nation. So with that being said, we're going to make a transition over here and talk some baseball here. You got Mr. Ethan at NC state stats man. Ethan, what's going on I love it how you know, we're just we're just wearing the badge of honor. Now of of this is my Twitter handle. Now, there's no hiding anymore. Cat's out of the bag. Let it be known. Sing it from from the wind chimes. Whatever you gotta do. Ethan at NC state stats. Yeah, yeah. James. Uh, James. That one, that that one out of the bag a long time ago. So it's it's hardly it's hardly a secret anymore, which I don't mind. You know, it keeps me, keeps me honest, keeps me a little nicer. Yeah. Um, so that's that's probably a good thing. Yeah. No. Absolutely. So, Ethan, man, dude, like, uh, you know, just like I was, uh, saying to start off here, You know, we don't have any of the other tough guitar guys on here with me a second, actually. I know. Well, especially Greg two as well, because, uh, and maybe that's why Ethan, like, he just he just, you know, it's been a rough weekend from the state baseball world. So he's like, you know what? I'm sure ladies gotta back up playing. And so, so, you know, you know, calling in Ethan, you know, the left handed from the bullpen here to talk some state baseball here. But, uh, but before we do that, actually, uh, Ethan, we do. I do owe one thing, actually, to our fans here. So I'm going to ask you, if you don't mind. Ethan. Uh, here, let me make sure I have it correctly. All right. I need you to pick a number between 1 and 12. Seven. Seven. All right. So, uh, Ethan, so I do. Oh, uh, we are doing a ticket giveaway for two tickets to the Thursday matchup versus you and. See, so what I did was I pulled up my list of retweets, and I know, like, you know, you gotta. So. So the 7373. Tweet on this list is is going to be the winner of this ticket. So 1234567. Gavin Walker at Gavin Y. 53621842. So Gavin Walker, you won the two tickets. I'll make sure to DM you, but if you're tuning in here with us, make sure if you don't mind, go ahead and DM us. I do a little wave to get me back lightened up here, but, uh, Gavin Walker. Congratulations. Uh, Ethan just won you two tickets. Uh, excited to have you. Congrats. Have you there? So. So jumping into Ethan, first of all, were you able to watch, uh, most of the games here this weekend? Some. I was actually, uh, in Savannah for a bachelor's party, so not as much as I usually do. Um, I did watch on, uh, on Sunday, so Friday, Saturday was kind of, uh, in and out. Okay. So, so jumping right into it here. I mean, uh, let's talk big picture here, Obviously, I feel like it was a couple weeks ago that we really circled how this is just one that you just you can't blow it like, you know, don't like, you know, this is just get through this, you know, find a way to get through it. It's from our perspective, not what you want to add to your resume compared with the rest of the resume you already have, but also to as well. You also last weekend just beat Miami, which was a big win. I bumped you up, I believe like 17 spots in RPI to the low 30s. Uh, so I. Think it was like 38 was the highest. I got 38, maybe 37. Yeah. Last I got, yeah. So, so I mean, you know, is it, is it a matter of that. Just those two cancel each other or do you think that one will outweigh the other? No, no, not at all. I, I think, um, I mean, number one, they still, they were outside of the top 50, um, before that Miami. And they had the ECU mid week that week too. So that helped. They're outside of the top 50 at that point right. So they didn't give all that ground back. Um, but to me, the other thing and it's interesting, like as you get into the resume, if it wasn't for RPI, like, I like states checks, kind of a lot of other boxes. Like if you're looking at other, um, like Diamond Sports ranking, for example, like if you're looking at uh, pair, which is kind of a new thing if you're looking at ELO, all of those, you know, team measuring stats. Um, value state a lot more than the RPI does. And so it's, you know, if, if the committee decides, okay, we're not going to rely on RPI as much, then I would think that's a good sign for state. But the other thing too is, you know, you checked an important box with that series whenever Miami and that was the series win over a good team. You know, they had the Boston College went way back and I was like early March at this point. Um, that was really it. Right. So they they really needed a second one, I think now. They also probably needed a series one on the road and they, you know, they go four and 11 in the ACC on the road this year. So that's not a box that's going to be checked. Um, so I, I think going in. Yeah, obviously you really wanted to get those two to get to four and two in between Stanford and Virginia Tech. You really could end up kicking yourself for letting both of those series side. Yeah, yeah. No, absolutely. And, uh, you know, I think it's, uh, you know, just it's it's an interesting position. I think that as NC state fans, we've become become a little bit spoiled in the fact that, you know, we're we're looking at this season as just a humongous failure. But yet, I mean, you're still, you know, on the right side of the bubble looking in. I feel like right now, uh, but I mean, you know, for NC state fans, you've gotten so accustomed to being in the regional hosting, uh, you know, conversations, uh, you know, at the very least, being a number two seed or regional. But now you're, you know, unless you have a humongous swing, probably sweep in you and see, uh, you're probably looking at more like a three seed, uh, which is like, what the heck? Like, we're not even one of the top two best teams in the NCAA. I's showing up to our regional. Like, that's not usual. Yeah, I think they could get up to a two seed if they beat you and see, um, you know, getting to 15 and 15, obviously a series whenever you and I would be very, very loud. I mean, that's one of the 4 or 5 best teams in the country, probably. Um, yeah. And so you're right. I mean, I do think the consistency I've, I've got my gripes and I don't know if you want to open that can of worms with me tonight, but. Oh I know. Right. Greg Greg would egg me on for sure. Oh, absolutely. It's happening. But yeah. No, we're we're just moving step by step here. Okay. You got to commend their consistency. I mean, you have to like even if you go back like, since it's been 15 years since Trey Turner and Carlos Rhoden showed up there, they I think they've missed the tournament twice, if I'm not mistaken. So if they miss this year, this would be the third one. And both of those years they were on the bubble. And so this year, if they miss it, they'll still be on the bubble. So we're talking like they have. There's never been a oh it just completely fell apart season, which is it's remarkable in 15 years. It's absolutely remarkable in baseball where you're talking about it's it's essentially a 30 game season. I mean you have the nonconference, but you really build your resume in conference play. And for them to just like even just win ten of those 30 games one year in 15 years, that's never happened. Um, I'm assuming they've won at least 13 and all those maybe in 2014 they won 11 or 12. But, um, the consistency is just it's remarkable. You got to tip your hat. And that's why. That's why Elliott Haven's still here. Yeah. No. Absolutely. So with that being said, let's start to get into some of the gripes here, Ethan here. Uh, so, I mean, first of all, uh, there's been something with with us playing on the road this season, like you're kind of talking about with the consistency side. I don't know, man. Like, especially with baseball. As finicky and as luck filled as baseball is. You know, the fact that we just have been allergic to winning on the road this season. As as obvious as we have. Because that's the thing. It's like it's it's not like just that that we're struggling, period. Like there is just truly a Jekyll and Hyde going on here for throughout the entire season, playing at home versus playing on the road again. You beat Miami, which was a huge win shoot. You beat Boston College at home, which was you know, now looking at that was a heck of a win. You you know, you beat Coastal Carolina at home. Uh, you know another big win. But then on the road you lose to Virginia Tech. You lose to Stanford. You know, like it's just. Yeah. I how do you you know, I mean, is it really just coming down to what you basically just explained the consistency? Well, I do think like the road schedule has been hard. I mean, you look at Florida State and, um, Florida State with Miles Bailey, uh, and I mean, they're they're going to be a top eight team in the tournament regardless. And Georgia Tech mean you play in two of the three toughest teams. Two of the three toughest teams in the league on the road. Most teams aren't going to win those series. I doubt I'm I wonder if both of those teams are probably I mean, Georgia Tech hasn't lost the series and I'm guessing Florida State probably is similar. I doubt they've lost at home. I know they lost at Georgia Tech, but so that's part of it. I mean, throw a Wake Forest in there who's tough to beat at home. You know, they could be uh, um, they could slide into one of those host spots, to be honest. Um, so I the schedule is part of it. I mean, the biggest part, I would say, um, and you've lost a number of tight games. I mean, you lost you lost two very close games against Georgia Tech. Um, you know, Wake Forest, obviously you were able to get one of those games that was coming off the maroon injury where they were just they didn't have anything sorted out at that point. Um, and they didn't hit it all. Um, so that was that was obviously just a disaster. But I mean, those Virginia Tech and Stanford games were very, very tightly contested series. And I look there's decisions that yeah, like I thought really impacted both of those series. Um, and if they go differently, maybe you win one or you really only needed one. You didn't even need to win both. You just needed to win one and you'd be perfectly fine. Um, so, I mean, you compare those to, I guess Notre Dame and Duke can help. And that's the other thing, too. Like, we talk about Stanford and Virginia Tech like they're bad. Virginia Tech's probably going to make the tournament. And Stanford. Uh, Stanford is one of those teams that's just they're better than their RPI indicates, uh, you know, like, that's a team that they're RPI, like they're probably like, should be in the 60s, but they're outside of the top 100. So it ends up hurting you. The team is better than their than their record than their RPI. So it hurts. But um, you can compare those to the Notre Dame and Duke games. Those were close games. Tightly contested games at state, one at home, Miami and Boston College, too. So there's been a lot of close games this year. Um, And it's just for whatever reason, I don't I don't look at it and say, oh, well, they're just struggling on the road or they're just struggling at home. Like, I just think that's kind of the way it's shaken out as they've won the type games at home and and lost them on the road. And I wouldn't be like that could change at any minute. Like I don't I don't really read too much into that personally. Yeah. Yeah. And I know one of the big questions obviously is around Ryan Marone here for sure in terms of, you know, what's going on with this injury. You know, there hasn't been really much publicly stated around Marone and what he's dealing with, his injuries, things like that. Um, but I mean, you know, in my opinion, it really comes down to, uh, I mean, do you I feel like you, you you you need to make a move and bring him back, ideally before postseason starts. So, I mean, you only have really one more shot to do it, which is against Carolina, which, dang, you're going to bring him back off an injury versus Carolina. Holy smokes. You know. But you know again at least you're going into that USC series with not much to lose, but a lot of potential to gain, so it's not a high pressure situation. Besides the rivalry effect and it being senior weekend two as well, which, you know, being with, you know, he's more likely going to probably after the season. Go take a shot at going pro here. You know he he's probably going to treat this as his senior weekend. So you know does he say you know hey like I'm again total speculation here. But if he's 9,095% of the way there if not 100% you know, does he say hey let me go out there and see what, see what we got. But, you know, obviously have a tight leash on me if that things go south a little bit. If I'm starting to feel a little something, then pull me kind of deal, I don't know. But, you know, I think that if NC, I mean, how important do you think NC, NC state needs marone if to turn this thing around? Because obviously we'll talk a little bit about pitching here for sure, which is definitely, I'm sure, probably one of your gripes, one of your, you know, really grinds my gears here, Ethan. But like like how big of a swing do you think the outcomes are for rest of the season? If you have my Ryan Marone, it's gonna be pretty big. I feel like. Yeah, yeah. I mean, if you get maroon back, like, I think they could win a regional. Um, yeah. With Concilio maroon and Nance and, you know, filling in the pieces around them. Uh, there's a, there's a starting pitcher named named Nance that we have. Yeah. Okay. Sorry. I didn't know that. Go ahead. Ethan. Uh, yeah. Like, I think this is always like. I think Stanford was probably, like, an optimistic hope to get him back. And I think USC was probably always the. All right. Like, it's kind of got to be this week. You know, like if it's not as you mentioned you're quickly running out of time. Um, and now you've reached a situation where your season is on the line this week. Like if you if you get swept, like you're probably done, if you win one, you're, you're going to be sweating on, on, uh, on Selection Monday. um, and can say win the series without him? Probably not. You know, maybe, but he certainly wouldn't count on it. Um, no. And then you get into, like, he's a starting pitcher. Like you can't just throw him back out there. And it was a vintage Ryan maroon. So, uh, I think, you know, you want the stuff to be back to where it is. You want to give him opportunity to build up. Like, would you theoretically, like, bring him out of a bullpen in this situation to say, okay, here's 40 to 50 pitches, right? We're just going to throw you out there. But again, is that a really high stress situation. And that's not that's not going to be ideal right. Like in the big leagues if you missed this amount of time I mean it's going on a month at this point. You have a rehab start. You go down, you throw four innings against the minor leaguers. Okay. Whatever. Right. Um, and you work your way back into live action. You throw Ryan Marone into the heat of the moment with state's season on the line. Like, that's that's a little different, you know? So, um, I, I think you would want to start him, if you can, just to limit the stress, if at all possible. Right? And it would be again, it wouldn't be like, oh here's seven innings from Ryan Brown. It would be like, here's 4050. You'd be hoping for three innings I think. And then you kind of build up the ACC tournament okay. You got to get them 60 to 70. Um, and then you kind of go from there into a regional if you get there. The way I, the way I look at it is you would want to start him on Thursday and then because you could potentially be playing on Tuesday in the ACC tournament, and again, regardless of even trying to win the ACC tournament, most importantly, you have to get him into into a game. So if you were to lose on that first game in the first game and not throw him, those are reps that he needs. Um, yeah. And so I wonder if you don't start him on Thursday and then try and bring him back on Tuesday. Um, in the ACC turn, if that's what it comes to. Right. If it's Wednesday, then it's Wednesday. But um, yeah, I mean, you like you need to build up and if if it doesn't happen this week, I don't, I don't really know how he gets to where he needs to be for for a regional. Yeah, no, I completely agree with you. So now kind of switching over to here to game one here. Uh, you know, definitely, uh, you know, you know, it really grinds my gears on its own here especially too, because seeing seeing my guy Cooper Consiglio, who he's a story within itself, within the season because, you know, for from a normal and sustained fan perspective, you're going, oh, what are we doing here, really, with coop? Uh, you know, like, he's a guy that has shown a lot of promise, has shown some really strong outings. Uh, but yet, you know, you lose, dude, and you lose Marone. And yet he hasn't really even solidified as a usual starter even. But started this game 6.6 and a third innings pitched only five hits, giving up two earned runs, three walks, eight strikeouts. So I mean, overall, I mean, you know, even a solid outing for sure. And and especially going into that eighth inning, you're up three two. You're saying, all right. You know, you've you know, you've got coop who's again through six and a third innings. Uh, you got options. Go, go get this game's set and finished. Be up one nothing. And I guess what, you only just have to win one in the next two. You're in great shape, but then the the wheels fell off. Uh, you gave up four runs in the eighth inning. So now you're going to the top of the ninth instead of being up one and trying to get the insurance run. Now you're down three and you're like, well, okay, like now we're now we're going to hope for a heck of a heck of an inning here just to just to get out. But unfortunately we weren't able to do it. Uh, you know, and so, I don't know, just, just I, I know writer he's he's shown promise. He's shown he's had some great outings here for us. Here. Um, you know, you kind of just put this as just, you know, Just kind of just just bad timing, uh, because, I mean, he pitched an inning and a third. It's not like he went in there and from from the drop of the hat was just awful from the start. I mean, he pitched an inning in the third, but, you know, before the wheels kind of fell off here and he gave up four or it runs here. Yeah. Yeah. Moreno's been good all year, and I've kind of driven that train. Um, it was a little bit of a slow start to the year. I think he, um, you know, had some stuff going on and wasn't on the mound as much early on. And so he kind of slid under the radar for a while. But he's been excellent all year. And now you look at the last two weekends, you know, you had the blow up spot against Miami and now this one. And it's, as you said, bad timing. Uh, is he running out of gas? Are they kind of trying to. Are they figuring out, like, you know, what does it look like? Like it's it's kind of a unique profile with it's basically a 90 mile an hour fastball. And, you know, he's got off speed, but really, it's the fastball that carries him. Have teams just kind of figured they can sit on the fastball? Um, and I don't know. I don't have the answer to that, I don't know. Um, but I mean, again, he's been dominant all year. I mean, it was I think it was one bad outing against Florida State. Um, basically up until the last two weeks, and now it's three straight of giving up bombs, basically, um, and just hasn't been good enough, but what I. Why didn't you go to Nance here? I mean, yeah. If you're not going to like I, I think Nance would start. If you're not going to start him, you've got a one run lead and eight outs to get. Mhm. Yeah I mean I especially to I mean like like because this has definitely been a team I feel like that NC state has been willing to go with the hot hand. Uh you know and especially like and that's on both sides whether it's really the batting or the pitching. You know who's playing well you know. Definitely gets a little bit of the nod, which is why Ryder, I think is has gotten more of opportunity because he has shown, you know, some great, uh, you know, outings. But yeah, especially with Nance. I mean, he had a remarkable a career day last week versus Miami pitching, what, like 116 pitches, something like that and was phenomenal. So yeah like I, I don't know how he did not start especially again you like the timing of it. You know you you wait till game three and you bring them in when you're now, you know, kind of scraping your way back up instead of start him and and and limit to only, you know, 2 or 3 runs the most and you know be like, hey batters do y'all's job. We're going to get this series win here. But I, I don't know I, I feel I is that is this setting up here Ethan to be your biggest you know it really grinds my gears, man. I mean it's yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Like I just. If he's not going to start you, there's no better scenario. And as good as Moreno's been, he's still not Anderson. Nance and Anderson like Nance hasn't been perfect this year. But over again over the last like six weeks like he's been vintage Anderson Nance I mean she's an absolute vintage. Um you mentioned the outing against Miami going six innings basically. He he it was a little rough early on. He wasn't throwing as many strikes as he was last year. Yeah. But again that hasn't been an issue. And you still take him. You still take him over. Guarino his stuff is better. His track record is better. Mhm. He's he's been your guy for two years. Uh, yeah. And so I get, I, I get it. Guarino has been good but he's, he's just not Nance. And like it's not a knock on Guarino at all. Like you you need a bunch of guys out of the bullpen and I, I still expect Guarino to have a big role down the stretch, but you have a one run lead with eight outs to get. There's no better scenario than to use Nance. There's just none. And you know you can use Guarino in different situations. And you know if you don't if you end up in a scenario where you don't use Guarino or you ends up throwing innings that are less important, then I think you live with that. But you can't live with that with Nance. You cannot live with that. You, uh. What's the saying? You got to die with your fastball? Is that, like Joe Julio thing? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, sorry, I don't mean to quote Joe Giglio here, but, like, you can't lose that game with and, you know, you can use them on Friday for it's eight outs. You're probably looking at 40 to 50 pitches. You can turn around and bring it back on Sunday. Now that's not ideal. Like and I'm I'm sure that's the thing like you you wanted more innings out of him. But if you want more innings then you have to start him like it's got to be one or the other. If you want him throwing leverage innings, then you've got to understand, okay, he's not going to throw as many innings as he could if he started. But instead you save him for Sunday. You don't start him. You bring him into a game when you're down to nothing. And you know, he. He gives you three shutout innings and then the fourth, fifth, it kind of falls apart. He hasn't been a starter. You know. That's part of it I'm sure. I don't know. It's just it's a head scratcher. It's a head scratcher. And the other part of it the offense has to score more runs. I mean, the offense has to be better on a Friday night against Stanford. I mean, that's that's the other thing you hold. I mean, I guess Stanford scored six runs, which is, you know, kind of ends up being a lot. But yeah, I felt like offensively should have done more in this game too. Yeah. No I mean and again it I, I think it's just more of the same really. But I think it was uh I think man, Tucker Blankenship I'm trying to find that tweet that he put out, which was I think summarized the to a tee here. But, uh, you know, while I do pull that up, uh, you know, I do want to ask a little bit about coop, like, like if you were to summarize the Cooper Consiglio story for the season, how would you summarize it? Man, I, I I'll always believe in Cooper Consiglio. Like, I know there's just something about him that I just. I really, really like him as a pitcher. Um, I don't know, like, it doesn't feel it's been a great bounce back for him. It doesn't feel like state has kind of figured out what they wanted to do with him. And the injury has kind of forced their hand at this point. They didn't really have a choice. Um, but it's been a great a great bounce back like last year was was tough. I thought there was a lot of, um, of unlucky ness, but there was a lot of regression, too, from where he was last year and, uh, from where he was as a freshman, I should say. Uh, and so to see him get back to that level, it's been excellent. He's played himself, uh, into the draft for sure. I expect he'll do very well, um, there in July. Uh, and so it's been great. I mean, again, like for him to come into the season basically. I mean, I say as your fourth starter, but state was viewing him as a bullpen arm, like for you to be looking at a scenario where, like, I feel great about him going into a regional game. I feel great about it. Like, I feel like you can go in and you can win a Friday game against a two seed. You can win a Saturday night game and against a host with Concilio on the mound. So, uh, it's been great to see him get back on track. And, uh, states needed it. Yeah, no, to say it, at least here for sure. Uh, yeah. Tucker said today was infuriating. But Friday was the series. You had a lead in the seventh inning. It didn't go to your best guy, who apparently wasn't going to start to have no real pitching plan. Playing for your season is inexcusable. Uh, I mean. To tweet of the week, right? Don't you have a tweet of the week? Yeah I do, yeah. And that one and yeah, that one I think. Is honorable mention. Yeah, yeah. Well yeah I just there there's no better situation. Like you could not dream up a better situation to use Anderson. Nance you just couldn't you couldn't. Yeah. And you decided to save him for somebody like you don't know what the rest of the weekend is going to look like. I don't get it. I just I don't get it. It's a one, really. Like if it had been like, oh, it's a five run lead. Like, yeah, sure. I, I understand it. You know, you did that on Saturday, right? Save save some arms what, eight hours to go. You're up by one I, I'm, I'm at a loss. Well and especially two again. It's just like it's like listen like like this isn't our coach. This isn't the coaching staff first rodeo. I mean, like, they have to know that there's a there's a it is super important that first game if you can lock up game one and you know not super stretch yourself but you know do what it takes within reason to get that game one win. I mean your whole weekend changes, uh, you know, versus if you lose that first game and now you have to win both games remaining games in order to get the series. So that just like, just like what you're saying here is it's like like, listen, okay. Like. Yes. Like, you know, you you ideally, you know, would like to use up your best guys, you know, on game one. But just like you said, like, you know, just trust Nance to go get the job done. You're up by one. He's just like you said probably going to throw a 4050 pitch the most. But you can still use him if you need to. The rest serious boss of two as well is like from a from a momentum standpoint. Like now you've given Stanford momentum heading into the final two games of the season. Um, you know, and I, I think, you know, again, we'll talk kind of, you know, the, the positives, at least from the game two perspective here. But again, I think from a Stanford C series playbook perspective, they were able to say, hey, I'm going to I can be a little bit more conservative from a game two perspective, because I can always go to game three and get the series win two as well. So I, you know, I like like is, is I. So let's play the devil's advocate side Ethan is if if, if you were if you were debating yourself is is there one reason why you think why your you know coach Avon coach Gloucester. It would it would have made sense to to wait on on on putting Nantes in on on Friday. Like could could you could you play the devil's advocate yourself on that decision at all. Yeah. I mean I think they want to maximize the number of innings they're getting from him, which is like a good thing to do. Like I don't necessarily knock that. Now, if you want me to get into Sunday, I can get into my critique of it. But like you, you may have felt like, okay, if we get him, if he goes two and two thirds, like, you're not maximizing the number of innings he gets. If he's not able to come back, I don't know if he would or wouldn't like Virginia Tech. I want to say he's the only weekend he's throwing twice this year. He threw Saturday Sunday in that series, but it wasn't a lot. I mean, he came back the night like on Sunday and threw 18 pitches and that was it. But even still, like you would, you would take that. You know, even in this scenario, you would have had you would have brought him back on Saturday as it played out. You would have brought him back on Sunday if the situation had arisen. So if you wanted to start him, yeah, that would make sense. Like if you think, okay, we can get six innings out of 5 or 6 innings out of Anderson. Nance. That would make sense. Um, and for Sunday maybe that was I guess that was kind of the plan on Sunday. But you waited until you were down to nothing. Right. Yeah. Like you know okay. It's it's a much different story if you're playing from behind instead of playing from ahead. But before we get into the to the, you know, the breakdown of of the game three and Anderson's performance, uh, game two, it still was the furthest thing from a clean game for sure. It was a holy crap here. Like, are we about to get swept here by Stanford? Uh, because, I mean, Stanford comes out and they're up five. Nothing. And literally, my mom texted me a gif of, uh, of, uh, or a gif whatever of, uh, dude's head, uh, exploding and, you know, and and I mean, that was pretty much me for sure. Seeing that we were down five, nothing. But luckily enough, we were able to flip the script and pull off that game. 1207 uh, you know, Luke Hemric, uh, ran a little bit of early trouble. Uh, but another freshman, Sam Harris, delivered a great performance out of the bullpen. And, uh, and we were able to scrape together. I mean, you know, Andrew Wiggins, uh, showed a lot of pop on the bat, uh, which definitely helped. Uh, Luke Nixon once again, is on a little bit of a hot streak here over the last two weeks or so here, and we're able to get the job done here. But, you know, I do want to ask about one guy, specifically Sherman Johnson, who in my opinion, has been the MVP over the last couple of weeks, has been absolutely phenomenal. Now, I know some may argue Luke Nixon again. Eight game win streak hit two home runs in that, uh, rubber match versus Miami for sure. But now you add in two as well. I mean game one he was phenomenal. This this you know series. He's he's shown I mean he's been really really good for you here. So you know but again I think he's just an example of that. It's it's it's how baseball is an ebb and flow. Like you like they like they say in baseball you never want all your players hot at one time because then at some point they'll all get cold at the same time, like, you know. But I also say as well as that, I think because there's there's a lot of players on the batting lineup that have shown that have been very good for you, elite. I mean, Red Johnson has been elite. Ty head has had, you know, quietly a a remarkable season. Chris McHugh has been great. Uh, you know Andrew Wiggins has shown a lot of pop. Uh, Dalton Bargo has I mean he's he's he's a lot he, he is a lot of promise but hasn't really kind of uh, ended up that way here. But I don't know like like do you like is is the issue honestly for this season. Just the fact that in your opinion, that NC state was never able to shrink the batting lineup just a little bit further. Like that, instead of getting it to one through nine, like, like, you know, 2000, you know, 20, 21, you know, Pac nine run where it's like, here's one through nine, that's it. That's what we're running with. But it seems like, you know, you're almost like getting like like 12, 13 guys that you're, you know, willing to put in here. I mean, Mikey Ryan who's been dealing with injury I mean he's in that, you know, 13. You see what I'm saying? Like I feel like if you can get to like ten, 11 guys okay. Like, you know, you're you're you're they're a little bit but I don't know, it's just it's just you just it's it's state baseball line up. The season has been a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. Yeah. Yeah. It's been very up and down. I like I am kind of like I would just want to have my nine and run with it. But you do have injuries come into play. I mean somebody's always going to get hurt this year it's Ryan. Um, last year I'm trying to think, who was it last year? Um, but, I mean. Hoag. Hoag broke his leg a couple of years ago. He had no soles. I think that was the same year as Hoag, actually. Um, so there's always. There's always going to be injuries. Um. A box of chocolates is a great way to describe it. There's a very up and down like they just are. Yeah. You know, Luke Nixon's leading the team at home runs in ACC play. That's great for Luke. It's not good for the rest of the team. No. Um, I think look, uh, offense comes and goes. It's just part of baseball. Sometimes you hit it right at somebody, sometimes, you know, you go three for four. Don't hit the ball hard. Um, I think my gripe with the offense and you mentioned Sherman. I do want to get to him. Um, yeah. My gripe with the offense is they just don't run enough. Like, they they should be stealing 5 or 6 bags every single game. I think in this series they stole six. I mean, Rhett Johnson gets has a on base percentage over 500. Luke Nixon needs to stop bunting. Stop. He's there. He's their best hitter. Yeah Johnson steals second base like you. Like if if Luke Nixon is bunting for a hit, like, that's one thing. I don't know what I. I don't know what's going on with that situation. But on Friday again it's like a leadoff walk and Luke Nixon is bunting. I there's situations to bunt. And there were some of them that came up throughout the weekend, like asking Braden Friesen to bunt. I can live with that. Asking Lanphier to bunt. I can live with that. I can't live with asking Luke Nixon to bunt. Rhett Johnson should be running every time he's on base. Luke Nixon every time he's on base, tie ahead, every time he's on base, no exceptions. Every single time. And they just don't. Well, in. Some games they'll run wild and then some games they'll just be like, wait a second, you can steal bases. Yeah, it's head scratching to me. I mean, I know we've mentioned this this, uh, this clip here a couple of times, but I guess we could finally bring it in here. Because, you. Know, what really grinds Mike is. And that's the fact. I mean, like the the coaching decisions this year, whether it's how we're handling the, the pitching, but even two as well, like in my opinion, this has been the most stolen base ready and available lineup NC state has had in years. But I mean. The lineup. Yeah, the lineup. Like it's not one guy. Every single time, right? You throw Mikey Ryan out there, you throw Sherman Johnson out there. Wiggins runs when he gets on base. Yeah I mean he got caught you know. But which isn't enough because yeah that was that was uh that can't happen. Um, even McHugh like McHugh is a good athlete for a first base like now. He's not a guy who went running all the time. But you you got 4 or 5 guys between Di head, Luke Nixon, Mikey Ryan, Rhett Johnson, Sherman Johnson. run every time. Every time. Stop bunting. Steal bases. Yeah. And some again. Some games. They'll do it. Some games they steal six seven bases like it's nothing. And then other other weekends they'll just be like not interested. And I think those are the games we see them struggle. I don't think it's a coincidence. Now again sometimes they hit for some pop and it, you know, balances out. Uh, you mentioned Sherman. He's been he's been excellent the last uh, I think you said like month or so. He's been really, really good. Uh, early on, like, he, he was struggling quite frankly. Like there was I think he went over a month in between extra base hits. He was struggling defensively. Um, you know, it felt like he was making multiple errors a week. Um, but he's he's been excellent, excellent over the last month. And you see, I mean, I, I've talked about potentially moving him around and playing pipe for a third base, but at this point, like he's he's earned that spot. And now, you know, with Christian Serrano if Mikey Ryan comes back, like I think that's another discussion you have to have. Do you put them in right field? You put them at DHS. Um, but, I mean, Jonathan's been excellent. I mean, he's right now I feel like he's their best, probably their best power hitter. If I guess I've seen him start to drop out, uh, pop up on some on some mock drafts. Yeah, that's like a top 100. Like he's a real, real prospect. Uh, yeah. And so he, he's been excellent credit to state for obviously identifying him and sticking with him like they did not have to stick with him. Um, and they did. Now they've stuck with other guys and it's backfired. So, you know, there's some give and take there. But specifically with Sherman, I mean, he's he's been phenomenal. He's been everything state could have asked for. Yeah. No I couldn't agree with you more. Uh, here now uh, you know kind of moving here to the game three here because I definitely want to get to breaking this down here. Once again, your tie 3 to 3 going into the seventh. It's it's, uh, you know, just another situation of, okay, get the job done. But in my opinion, really this game really comes down to. I think because I know you'll, you'll, you'll probably touch on other things. But the thing I want to touch on really is the, uh, score, uh, scoring the, the, the hitting when runners with runners in scoring position. I mean, you know, in that category, you were five for 18, uh, when you had runners in scoring position, you were over. For the weekend. Uh. That's probably just Sunday. Yeah, yeah. Just Sunday. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but specifically, you were zero for two when the bases were loaded. Uh, you know, it's just like, take advantage of opportunities here. And, and because just like we're saying, Ethan, like, this is a very, you know, deep lineup. Uh, you know, because, I mean, you know, even eight and nine guy for sure is, is is not somebody that's an easy out at all. Uh, so the fact that that you basically, for the entire game could not take advantage of opportunities to avoid being in that three three position, because that's the thing you decide for. I mean, I think that the kind of public story around game three is the Anderson Nance situation. But once again like you know if if the batting takes care of business. I mean up until through the seventh inning the pitchers only gave up three three runs. So I'm I'm in my opinion. I feel like I kind of put more of the blame on batting. Come on y'all like, you know, get the job done here. You know, get get a ball through. Now, I know that the eighth inning, that was a, uh, I think it was eighth inning. That was a a a fluke, uh, to say the least. The fact that I can't remember who was but hit it right to the pitcher that led to a double play, like, oh, okay. You know, like, yeah, like a foot to the left or the right. And that's an easy hit and, you know, and and score. Um, so but still five for 18. Oh for two with the bases loaded. Yeah. Timely hitting in baseball. It's everything. It's everything. Like when you, you know, you'll have big games where you go six for 13 with runners in scoring position, you feel invincible, and then you'll turn around and go one for 12 and you feel like you'll never win another baseball game again. It's it's all about timely hitting. Um, and for me, like, the reason I don't focus on it as much as I do feel like there's just kind of like there's ebbs and flows to it. It's a little bit fluky, like, you know, if you pick up 12 hits in a game, for example, like I would view it as kind of unlucky if you then go, yeah, two for 12, five for 18 with runners in scoring position and like again still getting five hits is, you know, not bad. You should be scoring on the majority of those but. Right. Um yeah I mean that was that was the difference. And you know you add Friday to that too right? Like it was it was both of those um, you look at Saturday, what did they do differently. You did it like like to me that's not something you like. You can't just be like, oh, you gotta coach better. Like, that's just kind of. It is what it is. It's a big spot. Guys got to come through. Um, and if they do, you feel great. If they don't, you feel awful. There's not really any in between there. So I'm with you offensively. Um, you know, it wasn't it wasn't good enough on Friday or Sunday. And as you mentioned you you dissect Nance there. But the offense could have bailed them out like they did on Saturday like they did against Miami. Uh, and it didn't happen. So to me that's why I focus on the running because I think that's something you can control. You can run as much as you want. Like it's not it's not reliant on other things. You can run. And that can alleviate some of your runners in scoring positions at issues. Right? If you're running earlier, you're getting into scoring position with less than two outs. Now you can score without a base hit. Um, if you're hitting for power, you can score runs without getting without hitting with runners in scoring position. Um, which say I think Sherman I think it was just one home run on on Sunday. So yeah, I mean, look, you talked about at the very beginning, like baseball is just there's a lot of luck involved. And to me, runners in scoring position is absolutely at the top of the list because I think if you look at over the course of the season, your batting average is or your offensive numbers are going to be very similar in those spots compared to any other situation. And it's just a matter like, again, in games where where you do you feel great in games where you don't you feel bad. And that's why I kind of look at the other stuff as like what's what's controllable? Yeah. No, absolutely. So, uh, Ethan, do you have any other final thoughts here on baseball here for, uh, I want to have a little bit of fun here and move on to a different topic here. So any other final thoughts here on baseball? I mean, we'll see. Right. They've got to get one against UNC. At least one one gives you I think a fighter's chance. Um, on the bubble I've talked about this I don't think the committee really cares about the ACC tournament. I think we learned that lesson in 2022. Um, and so you've got to position yourself here. Like, either way, there's going to be warts on the their resume. At this point, they can be dissected, whether it's the non-conference check, the schedule, whether it's the road record. Um, but they've also got positives. You've got you've had the the toughest schedule in the ACC. You've got home wins against Miami and Boston College. I think that will help. You're gonna let's say you get to 14 ACC wins. Like it's not bad. Like I think that's a good enough number. Uh, a number of the other metrics like you a lot. So it's you're both sides of the coin. So um, either way. Like, again, even if state won this series, I could see them, you know, potentially sweating it out. So we'll see where the RPI ends up, how much the community cares about that. So, um, yeah, a lot. It's it's a shame that this roster had to come down to the last weekend. And I in my opinion, state's got nobody to blame but themselves for that. Yeah. No I agree. So uh, but I do also too as well. Uh, Benjamin's right here. Got to give a shout out to Rhett Johnson. Uh, getting invited to the USA Summer League training camp. Uh, definitely. Uh, well worth, uh, uh, achievement. I mean, right now, he's, uh, you know, battling to to break the, uh, NC state record for batting average. I think he has a 4.36 right now, the records for 29. So he's holding on to it here. But I mean if he continues hitting like he is he's definitely uh got a chance to get that done here for sure. So huge hats off to Rhett Johnson. Congrats on that. Uh honor for sure. Much much deserved here. So with that being said, Ethan, I want to jump into a little bit of NC state football bowl takes here. Uh, it's coming around that time, Ethan. We're we're we're actually closer to next season, uh, than we are close to last season. So so we're over the halfway point of this. Yeah. No way. We're, we're I think like 108 days away a little bit, maybe a little less than that until, uh, if the state football season gets started here while we're I think like 115 since the last season ended. So I got three bull takes for you here. Ethan, I want you to grade me here in terms of 1 to 5 five being in Fuego, that is the hottest take I've heard versus one be like, oh yeah, no, that's a given. Uh, so five being in fuego, one being ice cold here. All right. First hot take here. Losing Kaiden Fordham is going to hurt more than losing Hollywood Smothers. And I'll say why uh, Fordham I mean, you know, low key was, you know, one of the the from a tacklers perspective led the team. Uh, was, you know, the top they see last year, uh, was a guy that, you know, wasn't the flashy guy, but he was mister. He was all reliable. You know, he could get the job done here. Now, I know you definitely have some potential here. And and actually, I'm going to kind of contradict myself a little bit here. Uh, about another bold take here, but also to. I think he was the leader of your defense. I mean, he truly was a a reliable quarterback of the defense. And so I think losing that that playmaker, the the the guy that you can rely on to get the play done, but also to the leadership as well, is that he's been in NC state for a few years. He got to learn from Peyton Wilson and those guys. Uh, you know, I think he is, in my opinion, the most underrated player from last season that doesn't get talked about. While Hollywood smothers I, I it more comes down to how excited I am about Duke Scott. I mean I mean specifically I mean watching that guy play live against Wake Forest last year. Oh man, that guy shows a, a a mix of grit of power, but also to speed as well. And I mean, he's definitely shown maturity beyond his years here. So with that being said, Ethan one ice cold, five in Fuego, where would you put that hot take? For me. Is this for me? Like, if you were asking me about the general consensus, I would say that's a five. Yeah. For me, I kind of agree with you. Like, I, I would probably put it like a three. Um, I'm a big Fordham guy, too. I, I think, uh, you mentioned it like, uh, like, uh, the impact and you saw it in 2024. Like, what did it look like without him? You slipped. You slipped? Yeah. Um. And I thought he really came into his own, uh, before the injury. And then last year, kind of, you know, took him a while coming back from the injury. And by the end. I thought whole game MVP. I mean, how many, how many MVP's. How many MVP's have ever been a linebacker? Right, right. So I thought coming back from the injury, I thought, uh, he really kind of got into a groove. And when you get into that groove, like, it's hard to kind of see that go. You know, like, you hope you can get that back. Um, for me, with Smothers, I do think you missed the explosion. You're going to miss the explosiveness. Um, I think he's just a game breaker that now NC state doesn't have. Like you, you can like Scott as much as you want. He's not. I don't view him as a game breaker in the sense of of smothers, where it's like you miss. You make one guy miss and he's in the open field, and the game has completely changed. I don't view Scott as that kind of guy. I do like Scott, and I also think that running back, to be honest, like, I don't think running back is probably the least important position on the field. Maybe one of the least important positions. So, um, you know, for that reason, I'm like, Hollywood Smothers is not a guy that I would have paid top dollar to return. Um, and I said that, you know, I said that during the season, um, after the after the Dukes got game, I think it was against Georgia Tech or whatever. I think when he ran for 200. So for me that's a three. But I, I like that that's a, that's a spicy one to get us started. Yeah. No I thought so too. All right, so next one here. Andre Evans, cornerback transfer from Georgia is the biggest sleeper of of of the entire roster. I would I would say the biggest sleeper of the transfer portal by the entire roster. I mean, this is a guy who is, uh, out of high school of four star Georgia pedigree. I mean, a guy I mean, I mean, I mean, let's be real. Anybody that that gets an opportunity that that gets asked to go play for Georgia. I mean, you're you're automatically at least at this, at this level. You know, it's just a different pedigree but missed all of last season with the ACL. Uh, shown a ton of potential to as well with with his tape looking at him but again has the ability for sure to be a lockdown corner which, you know, uh, you know state has had. But I think that last season in particular, you know, it's, it's a position that you could you, you wish you saw a little bit of a step up in. Um, and so in my opinion, he could. I think at the end of the season, be a guy that we're talked about as one of the best defensive players we had this season. So, uh, yeah. So just to kind of summarize once again, Andre Evans, cornerback transfer from Georgia is the sleeper of the entire roster. 1 to 5. I'll go five out of the. That's go. Like that's really shooting your shot I mean. I'm shooting dude I'm shooting. At about 100 guys right? Like it's not like if you were to say the portal class, it's like, okay, out of 20, got a 20. I don't even remember how many transfers they took. But yeah, to say out of the roster, um, my thing with Evans is and I, you know, don't want to be the Debbie Downer because state was all over him out of high school. You mentioned all the reasons to like him. My counterpoint would be Georgia probably wouldn't let him walk. Like if he was a star, a stud, whatever you want to call it. Now, I believe there was like an injury issue and he probably got recruited over at Georgia. Like they can want that guy to leave. They can want him to stay as much as he wants. But if he feels like he's not going to play in this era, you leave. Yeah. Um, and so for me, like, that's, that's that's hot, like, that's very. Yeah, I could see like I could see him. Absolutely. Like, uh, taking one of the corner spots. Um, and I'm so, I'm so out on the football, like, not out, but, like, I'm so confused on where the football roster is at with as much turnover as there is, I can't even remember who the other quarterbacks names going to be. But, um, yeah, that's not that's not good. Right? I, I should know that, but yeah. No, I mean, it's true though. It totally is true though. Yeah, but but Evans I, I could totally see him, uh, sliding into that starting role. There'd be no question about that. Well, and the reason to as well why I would counteract your counteract about why would Georgia let him leave is with Georgia and and how successful they are in recruiting and being able to go into the transfer portal. Why take risks like like this? Like you had a guy who missed an entire season with ACL, you know, injury. You know, okay. Like, you know, even if you're like, okay, like he's solid. Uh, you know, but he just came off a year ending injury. Then why take a chance to as well? Brian Nelson, by the way, that's what I was thinking of. Um, there you go. Uh, so. So like that. That'd be my counteract to the counteract. So. But, yeah. No, I mean, like. Yeah. Like, there's absolutely no doubt. Like, in this era. Like like for sure, guys, good players are going to leave Georgia. There's just, um. No doubt. But, uh, yeah, if Georgia really wanted to, they could also just pay and say, yeah, you're staying, buddy, whether you like it or not, and outbid, you know. So he's an interesting one. I absolutely think he'll be in the, in the rotation. I think state really likes him. I think the athleticism is exactly what you need. Um, and so I. That's hot though. I like the pick, though. Yeah, I appreciate it. Uh, all right, so this is kind of the part where I kind of counteract here because even though you lose Kaiden Fordham, Harvey Dyson is, in my opinion, the second best off season edition. Uh, in the in the in NC state. Uh, sorry. Uh led because if if sorry not in the. Yeah not yeah. Not in the just NC state. Uh, you know even though you lose Kaiden Fordham uh, you know, which again, just like I said, it's a big loss for sure. Uh, you still get a guy who now has you still get a guy who has College Football Playoff experience, which is not something that you have much of, if any, on the state roster otherwise. Uh, but a guy who led the Arc American Athletic Conference in sacks of Tulane, um, and he comes into a defense again that that lost, uh, the two NFL edge rushers. You know he's going to be a guy that's also to more of a pass rusher. You know I think a little bit more of a pass rusher pedigree than what Caden gave you. Uh and I think that a D.J. Elliott scheme really maximizes those pass rushers. You know, with what the two guys that we had for last season, you know, look at what they did and what coach and what Coach Elliott was able to do with them. So Harvey Dyson I think is a guy that again, if you lose a Kaiden Fordham, you lose that guy that the longevity leadership guy. Bring in a guy like a Harvey Dyson with his pedigree and and plug him in and okay, now you're feeling a lot better about that. Linebacking corps automatically are are adding again Harvey Dyson. So what what was it. He's the second best guy. Yeah. So so am I in my opinion. Andre. Oh so so so yeah. Evans for me first is in terms of for me biggest but then Harvey Dyson number two. So, so uh, is the the second biggest season of this, uh, off season edition in the transfer portal for NC state. Yeah, I would say one. I don't think that's really hot at all. Like, I know I mean, you mentioned it like his track record, the production he had at Tulane. Um, I think he's the biggest name that they brought in out of the portal. Um, out. I mean, him or King Mack, I guess. But I would take Dyson. You mentioned the importance of, um, uh, of edge rushers and Elliott scheme and the production that he's had, I think, um, and, you know, it was hard, like Sloan and Harsh, I thought were good. Their sack numbers didn't end up being where you thought they should have been. So it was like they were productive, but they didn't finish as many plays as you would have liked. If Dyson can, you know, convert at the same rate he did last year. I think last year he had 6 or 7 sacks. I mean, yeah, that's going to be a huge impact position at a position of need at a, at a at a very important position. Um, yeah, I think that's the. I mean, he's I would figure probably one of the highest paid players on the roster, probably the highest paid player out of the portal, if I had to guess. I mean, I don't know that for sure, but, uh. Yeah, I, I thought Dyson was a huge, get huge, get huge. Um, and state really, really needed it. Um, one of the one of the best. I mean, you talk about a, I mean, you mentioned with Tulane. Like, Tulane was legitimately good. That wasn't just, oh, we got in because we're a group of five teams. I mean, they wouldn't have gotten in if they weren't didn't win their conference, but it was still a very, very good team. Um, and so adding him. Yeah. Absolutely huge. Yeah. All right. Ethan. So with that I, I, I, I said three. But since that last one was one I can't go out with the one hot takes I'm going to I'm going to come up here and turn that spice up back a little bit here. NC state football will, for the first time under Dorn since 2001 110 games. It will happen this season and CBS. CBS sports even came out already and said that that that they think it's a possibility. I mean, looking at the, the the schedule like so the schedule only has three true road AC games, six home ACC games against lower half opponents right now in terms of projected and the ACC, uh, you get two quote unquote cupcakes, Richmond and upstate. You got CJ Bailey back. Uh, you got that, you know, repertoire with, uh, you know, Coach Roper with uh, uh, CJ and coach Dawn, but you also bring in to, you know, uh, basically three, uh, guys that he used to play football with, uh, you know, and Jojo, which I think is also going to be a very underrated, uh, get this season. I know the big question in my head is going to be who steps out within that that receiving room. I think Jojo can 100% be that guy. And so in my opinion, if Duke Scott Plays like like like we think he can. Like, if he could take that step up and truly take the the bull by the horns here on that running back position. If we can get a little bit of solidified, you know, from the offensive line and if we can get that wide receiver one combined with what we already what we've already said from the defense and also to I think the schedule really sets up nicely for, I mean, ten wins in my opinion as well on the table for state this season. So yeah, I give you four. Um, I think the schedule is kind of the thing. Yeah, I'll get into the roster. But I mean you start your underdog against Virginia tight. You know it's Virginia's favorite by like three. Yeah ESPN has that three. Um which by I mean like but I mean it's those early lines especially for the game one, it's totally because nobody knows. Nobody knows truly how everything's going to come together. Yeah. We have at Vanderbilt. Like I would think state will probably be an underdog in that game. You have Louisville coming in. Um, you have Wake Forest in Stanford. I would think states favored. There you have Cal. I think state's favored there. I also think that could be tough. You have Duke coming in. Uh, obviously they they did end up losing Mensah. But state doesn't play well against Duke. Like I think that's kind of a toss up game. And then you have at Florida State and at UNC it's I think we kind of take for granted how easy state has made it look. Beating UNC I don't necessarily think that's how it is, but there are dumpster fire over there. We'll see. We'll Bill Belichick even be there. Will Mike Norvell even be at Florida State the week before? Exactly. I would I would guess probably not. But again, as you saw last year against Virginia Tech, I don't necessarily think that means that, uh, you know, it makes the game easier to me. The schedule is the biggest case, I don't think I think Vegas is the over under at six and a half. So going from six and a half to ten now, you could get to nine. Yeah. You know, when Vegas doesn't include bowl games in there over unders. So you could get to nine and then maybe the 10th in a bowl? Um, yeah, I like I could see it. I just to me, the talent around C.J. Bailey has elevated him. And I just kind of wonder, how does it look without that talent around him? Is he able to turn around and elevate them instead? We'll see. Um, yeah. I have my doubts. Sure. I guess is the way out. Phrase it. And so, um, defensively, like you're overhauling it, like, how long does it take you to get go? That's the thing. Like, you can be a good team at the end of the year. And like we we see state usually do that. They usually figure it out and go on a good run in November. But if you're talking about winning ten games, two of your first three games are are on the road and uh, in Brazil and, and at Vanderbilt. Right. And you know, if you drop both or even just one of those, you know, you're already kind of up against it. And I like I said, I expect state you're going to be working through things now. So. Well, so will the other team, right. Like it's not just state. So um, yeah, I mean, getting to ten wins for this to be the team that got there. I mean come on man. They've they've had some really, really good teams and I don't I don't expect this team to be on that level. But again oftentimes the schedule is is the biggest deciding factor. They've got five home five ACC home games instead of instead of four. Yeah that helps. Uh huge Vanderbilt. You expect Vanderbilt is down from where they were last year. We'll see. You know they're starting a assume they'll start a five star freshman quarterback. So again you're getting a Vanderbilt that you didn't wouldn't have gotten last year. So to me the schedule would be the biggest uh, case there. Yeah. Yeah. No I mean and and because for me, Ethan, I, I basically have it as the three potential, The three biggest potential losses I see is Vanderbilt, Louisville and then, uh, Cal, uh, which is funny because, uh. You don't have Duke down there. No. No, not worried about Duke. Okay? I'm not worried about Duke without without Mensah. I don't know. I, I, I'm not too worried about Duke this year. Uh, I think honestly, Mensah done did him more dirty than, than than, you know, maybe they're accepting or maybe even you're accepting too. Man. I mean, dude, I mean like, I mean, because they really they went they went into that whole offseason and with the full idea that Mensah was going to be the guy, but I was too as well, is I. So yeah. No. Uh, but yeah, I, I, I don't think um, uh, Norvell will be playing uh, we'll be coaching against NC state this, uh, by the time we play on November 21st. I think he'll be. Oh, I yeah, I don't think so either. I think they brought him back as a money saving move. Uh, 100%. From unk. I mean, same thing with Belichick, but at the same time, like those are still going to be talented rosters. Like I don't view those as just complete rollovers like and states beating you and C handily a couple of times. There's also been some very, very tight games that say it's happened to win. Right? So yeah. Um, yeah. Like, I don't know, I, I could see it going either way. Like you'll have some 5050 games in there for sure. Um, I would even throw Stanford. I mean, you expect Stanford to be bad, but they've gotten they've been in the ACC for two years now. They've gotten a team going out West. They've gotten somebody. Mhm. Could that be you. Yeah. Yeah. Now I think that App State game is going to be one just like all right. Like don't sleep on App State game. They're going to come in pissed off and ready to go for sure. Uh you know and so it'll it'll be a crazy punch. You're gonna take off state's best punch. There's no doubt about that. Now, will it be enough? Probably not. But we've seen it be enough before. Well, and honestly, that app stag game, honestly, of all the games, scares me the most. You're coming off of a Vanderbilt, you know, match up. You know, let's say you lose that, lose that game, then you have to lick your wounds and come play a very fired up app state team that definitely am I. What if you. Win this game? What if you win it and you hear about how good, how good you are all week? What if you've beaten Virginia, beaten Vanderbilt on the road? You're starting to be like three and zero. Like, yeah. Like you've got a nice win over Vanderbilt. You're one zero in the ACC. Feeling good about yourself. Mhm. Yeah. No. And also to as well Ethan. Uh you you can you can bet bet your ass to as well which uh it's

after 10: 1:32:44

00 which means I can throw in a cuss word every so often. You can bet your ass to that the week before we play App State. Uh, the, uh, the jumbotron video from 2006, the last time we played NC state, where it was a reenactment of the 40 year old version seen. And it was, uh, Mr. Wolf, uh, waxing the, uh, the block S logo on the the app state mountaineer. Uh, uh, mascot. Have you seen that clip, Ethan? Uh, I haven't seen it. I'll send it to you. It's it's hilarious. And and it's all timer, so. But that video we'll be playing, uh, on our social media for sure that week. It's fun stuff. So, Ethan, appreciate you as always, man. Thank you so much for your time. And, uh, you know, obviously for all US state fans watching and listening game, make sure go and support them at NC state. Uh, stats uh, does some phenomenal stuff there with his Patreon and uh uh, so make sure to go and support him, y'all. And uh, does amazing breakdowns of, uh, basketball a lot right now, especially with these transfers. But anything else you're, you're working on right now, Ethan? No. Nothing else right now. Uh, I appreciate you having me on. Let me let me vent about the baseball team, man, I, I you text me, you know? Do you want to talk about baseball? The answer is always yes. Like, there's there's never a, you know, it could be it could be August 15th. And I would say yes. Absolutely. So I appreciate you having me on late. And it was good to good to talk as always. Appreciate you Ethan. But with that being said with a as well Wolfpack Nation, if you haven't already, make sure you hit that subscribe button. If you haven't already, hit that like button. If either of those buttons lit up for you, that means you need to smash them here right now. So make sure you go and do that. And if you have also to, or listen to us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, make sure you give us a five star review on there as well. We greatly appreciate that, and make sure you give us a follow toughie talk now on Twitter and also to congrats as well to Gavin Walker to you as well for winning those two tickets to the game on Thursday. And with that being said, Wolfpack Nation, we'll see you soon. And as always, y'all go pack and beat the hills, baby and hit.