10.9: Queen City - Hour 1

I think most people would refer to it as. However, the ACC, when it comes to their branding, they're still going with, you know, the ACC tip off at one point. I think they call it Operation Basketball. I've not seen any marketing material that is, you know, labeling it that. But that's why I'm here and got here earlier today, and I don't Usually I've got some like really interesting stories to share about my travel adventures. I don't have

that today. However, you know, I do have a couple of things I'll share about my journey here to to Charlotte. North Carolina. But this is the fourth, maybe fifth time I've been to this event. And I remember coming once when Rick Patino was the coach. I came twice when Coach Mack was the coach. So I guess this is this is my fourth time, and every year it's just a reminder that the ACC is really not, you know

what it what it once was. And I'm you know, and I'll explain to you in just a second as to why I'm not down on Radio Row, which they've got a nice setup for me. They've got a little a table that is just for us, well just for me, I guess. And when I say us, it's it's because it won't just be me Tomorrow. Tomorrow we're gonna have Pat Kelsey on the show at four o'clock. He'll join

us live from Radio Row. And also we'll have at some point, I don't know when, but we will have Javon Hadley as well as Chucky Hepburn on the show to join us. And you know, I'm gonna try my best, and I got some time. I got I got a little over twenty four hours to get prepared, and I'm pretty much prepared. But I'm gonna try to make these interviews, mostly the ones with the players, you know, I wanted

to make. I want it to be not what they get at every other stop along the day for them when they're you know, stopping in here and there throughout the West End and talking to you know, a beat writer from here and there and all that. But anyways, we were all set up and I'll explain myself. So here's what happened. I landed today earlier this morning at like eleven o'clock, got my rental car, and I wasn't gonna do this, but I'm just gonna do it. John.

You know, I'm an open book. We talked about it yesterday, right, Like, there's some people that don't love that I at times talk a lot about my personal life on the show, and I've you know, I get it. Like it's not that I think I'm I have such an interesting life and such an entertaining life that I'm just you know, eager to share it with you as if it's going to be super entertaining. But you know, I got a show, I got three hours to talk every day, and we

talk a lot of sports. We're gonna do that today. Trust me. We got a lot on the docket today, if you will. But my morning was interesting because I got up, my flight left at like six o'clock, and in fact, my flight boarded at six a m. We took off at six point thirty. It's American Airlines, a direct flight from Louisville to Charlotte. It's money. In fact, let me give you a random thing that I honestly

wouldn't have even remembered to tell you. But here I am reh, you know, reliving my morning with you guys. So John, I get on the plane. I walked to my seat twenty three C I think it was my was my seat. I get my my you know, my carry on bag that's got all the equipment, and I put it up above my seat and I sit down, and you know, I get my air pods out. I'm getting ready to start a movie that I'm gonna watch

while I'm on the plane. And then all of a sudden, you know, to to the to the right of me, you know, sitting in the aisle seat to the other side of me, just so happened to be one of my close friends fathers, somebody I've known for thirty years.

that you've known forever. Like it's one thing if we're just at the airport and see each other and run into each other at six o'clock in the morning. Nonetheless, we're on the same flight and we're sitting right next to each other. So that that I felt like the day was gonna be the day was gonna be good. It was a good way to start my day. So shout out to Big Tim Ridley. His uh, his son is little Tim, who I grew up with and is

still a close friend of mine. So you know, we we you know, it wasn't like I was on the plane with strangers. I was on the plane with somebody I've known for a long time.

we take off. It's not that I have like a paranoia of like the plane's gonna go down, but I still you know, when you get it, you know, you actually do have a better chance of dying in a car wreck than a plane wreck. I mean, it's weird, you know, the stats and facts actually prove that, but you know, being in a plane just it's a little more scary because you don't do it as often, and you get in your car every day and drive, and

you know, it's just part of your life. So I called my wife and she didn't answer, and I just assume, well, it's because she probably didn't hear her phone. It's very early, you know, no big deal. But I texted her and said, hey, honey, I'm about to take off. Love you. Well, I land texted her, called her nothing. So I'm kind of thinking, okay, well,

maybe she's in the shower getting ready for work. Because when I landed, I mean it was in fact, I didn't land, yeah, I got I think I landed like eight fifteen, So at that point she usually is getting ready. So no big deal. I go and get the rental car and I make my way to the actual I check, you know, I go to the desk at the rental place and give them my information and all that, and then I make the long walk to the actual garage

to get in the rental car. And I'm thinking to myself, before I take off, I'm gonna call my wife once again just to see, you know, hey, just to tell her I'm here, just to check on her. Well, I couldn't get a hold of her, so sure enough, I'm thinking, okay, well, you know, maybe, you know, maybe she just isn't hearing

her phone. Maybe she knew that she missed my call but didn't have the chance to call me back because she you know, one thing I do, and I do a lot of things, as you know, as a dad, but I'm in charge every morning of getting the kids to and from where they're going, whether it be school, daycare. This week, it's fall breaks, so my daughter she's going

to different places, my son's going to daycare. But for the last you know, however long we've been working together in this afternoon show, I've been I've been responsible for getting the kids up and getting where they need to be, and I love it. So, you know, I'm thinking maybe she's a little preoccupied because she's getting the kids ready

and just hasn't had a chance to call me. Well, then it gets to be like nine o'clock and I still haven't heard from her, and I reach out to the person who's supposed to be watching my daughter today and she's like, I haven't heard from him. You know, I texted somebody who knows my wife. Haven't heard from her. So I'm freaking out, like I'm I'm I'm won't, I'm not gonna, I won't leave the airport because I'm like back, yes, yeah, and it's just me being a paranoid weirdo. Like most

people would have been like, who gives a damn. She's probably oversleeping. Nothing I can do about it. I'm in another state. And I don't mean to say like I didn't do that because I'm such a great husband and I am better than anybody else. I am a paranoid

person and I fear the worst at all times. So I'm at the airport in this rental car and I'm calling people and I finally I finally got a hold of I finally got a hold of my my in laws, my wife's grandmother, and I call I was like, hey, you know, I hate to do this, but like I can't get a hold of her. Nobody's talked to her. I imagine she's overslept, but I'm but I'm scared, like

I'm worried. And throughout the entire time, I never really felt like this was, you know, a scary situation, but still like I, you know, I was, it wasn't usual. And also she needed to get up so she could go to work and take her If my son's not a daycare at a certain time, then he can't get in, and then we got to find somebody to watch him. So and I should have mentioned this initially. Her her grandmother, my grandmother in law, lives like a mile away. She's

just down the road from us. So it wasn't like I had somebody, you know, do a wellness check from you know, miles away. And sure enough, as soon as she told me, like, hey, I'm about to pull in, do you have the garage code? That's whenever my wife called me and was like, hey, overslept, I'm like, you think,

goodness gracious, she scared the crap out of me. So I was thinking, Okay, this may not be a thing, like I may not actually even get Charlotte, Like I may just you know, walk back, book a flight, come home because I'm scared to death of something that's gone wrong, or you know, God forbid, I have to come home

because something's happened. But she, you know, she said she overslept, and you know, that made me, you know feel what you know, not not that you know, Actually, John, you're you're you're not that you're not a newly wed anymore, right like you yeah, you're not a newly wedd anymore. I mean you're not, like, it's not like you've been married for you know, twenty years. But no, you're not. It's not a new thing anymore. Do you like at times like do you do? You keep score on stuff?

And if you don't know what I'm referring to, then then then I know the answer. But if you are thinking about it, then I know that you know what I'm talking about.

much I care. Now she knows that, Like, you know, I was willing to just get back in the car and or get back on the plane and come back home. So anyways, like it was a it was a weird morning all in all, but I got here, I got situated the hotel where I'm at. You know, they, you know, I guess it's because of the event that's going on, they let me check in early, which is really rare.

I was thinking that I would be potentially on the clock, like hey, they're gonna let me get to my room, They're gonna let me check in, and it's gonna be like right around the time when the show starts, and I'm gonna have like all my luggage. I mean I don't have I don't have a lot of stuff. I'm only here for two days. But I was thinking, like i'm here, I'm gonna be the guy in Radio Row, you know, like with my neck pellow from the plane, like looking like a bum, you know what I mean,

Like I don't have any place to stay. I'm just here. I'm living on Radio Row. Like that's what I kind of, you know. I was worried about that, but they let me check in early. And then I thought, okay, the commissioner Phillips, he talked, and I'm thinking, I gotta get some lunch. I haven't eaten. So I end up going to uh end up going to Buffalo Wild Wings that's just down the just a block away from where we are.

And I've got like a tan pullover on and sure enough, i pick up a wing and I just you know, dropped it right on it. And like I'm thinking, okay, well, like maybe I can get a wet nap and you know and clean off my but not look like a bum.

So I decided to make this this the safe move, and that was getting all the equipment set up to do the show down there today would have been a little bit of a time crunch and I would have looked, you know, I would have been wearing a hoodie that you know, or a pullover that has you know, buffalo sauce all over, which would have made me look unprofessional. So I decided to do the show from the room today.

But it has been quite the experience thus far, just kind of you know, I mean, it's a new world here in the ACC, and I'm kind of glad I'm saying this here in my hotel room. Not that people would like come up and you know, punch me if I was saying it in front of the other ACC people that are here covering it. But like today was a real visual reminder for me that, like the ACC is a basketball league, it still has some big brands,

and louisll' is one of them. They have been good in a while, but like Louisville is still a program that even if you are well aware of how bad they've been recently, you would still say historically they are one of the bigger brands in the sport, not the biggest, and obviously, you know, you can't stay down that long as far as how bad they've been lately. But I just you know, I came here. The first year I came here was in Ricks might have been it was

Rix last year. It was a year Donovan Mitchell, and yeah, Donovan Mitchell's last year. They were a really good team by the way. They just ended up getting upset in the second round by Michigan. But I remember being here. Maybe it was just because I was younger and it was the first time here. But you gotta keep in mind we're talking Roy Williams, Mike Skueshsky, Jim Beaheim, Mike Bray and by the way, Tony Bennett, and these are

people that you know have been there since. I mean, it's not like and even Rick Betino, to be honest with you, but all these coaches I just referenced, I mean, hell, Tony Bennett still around and the others have just recently departed.

But it was a star studded event and the and and you know, you could you could absolutely feel as if you were at a conference basketball media day and and nobody would would would give any thought to question you if you said, the ACC is the superior league in basketball, And you can still maybe claim that when it comes to like history and brands and you know, reach, But then again I don't. I mean, I think it's just Carolina that really commands a national audience. Carolina and Duke.

I guess those are the only two. But like you know, there's two ways to look at it in the now. In the moment, I'm looking at it as an opportunity for Pat Kelsey and his team to take advantage of a league that you know isn't very good, and that's not what you want. You don't want your basketball conference to be. I mean, you don't want your conference in any sport to be you know, subpar. And it's not

the worst league out there. But like being here and just kind of seeing what this event was five, six, seven years ago to what it is now, it's just a reminder of like the league has fallen quite a bit now. These events aren't what they once were, like it used to be. I'm talking an entire area of the Hotel Radio row. Now there's probably ten of us that are going to be set up doing shows. And I'm not kidding you. I'll go through and look and

I'll give the Courier Journal credit. They've they've got a set up here. I don't know who's here working for them for the CJ, but every other like placard that is sitting up on each of the tables. And by the way, you don't have to have a you could be here covering the event and not have like a setup like that because you know, you may not be doing anything live or doing any video interviews or anything like that. But you know, it's just Carolina Schools to

cover this because it's relatively close. And you know, I thought about it, like, hey, would it be worth you know, coming and covering this? And I thought, you know, it's Pat Kelsey's first year. I happen to think that they're going to be one of the better teams in the ACC this year, and you know I could make it work. So why not? Right? So when I say there's two

ways to look at it, here's what I mean. It's not good big picture that the ACC has has taken humongous steps backwards in a really quick amount of time.

Like I can't I mean as far as the hierarchy of college sports when it comes to the conferences, like can you think in John you're younger than me, so maybe you're the wrong person to ask, but historically speaking, conferences like, there's not been many or any conference, whether it be basketball or football that you once looked at and said, Wow, that league was really great and then it just you know, fell off and it wasn't it wasn't even relevant.

because the SEC and football. I mean it, historically it's the dominant league and that's really never changed, to be honest with you. But the closest thing to it, I think probably would have been ACC basketball, or maybe the Old Big East before it blew up like whenever. You know, the league was a league, but even at that time, it wasn't as if you had a ton of title winners. It was just you had a lot of really, really

good teams. So it kind of makes me sad. But then again, I look at this as an opportunity for Pat Kelsey in year one to go out and be one of the best teams in this league. And I'm not telling you for certain that that's what's gonna happen, because I don't really know. I mean, I have you know, I think they can be and I have no problem in saying it. It's not like I'm this.

me give you an example. I got, you know, whenever I was walking out of the hotel to make my walk to get lunch, John Shire got out of a big suv almost as if like he was being transported by like the FBI or something. And you know, he just doesn't you know, he doesn't have the the and it's not his fault, like this is I'm not taking a shot at John Shire. And this isn't even about

John Shire. But it's just an example. Like when Roy Williams and Patino and Shoyzhsky and those guys were around like they had a presence about him where you felt like you were quite literally among basketball royalty. And there's really nobody here that has that presence because pat doesn't get here till tomorrow. I don't think I'm joking, but you know, hopefully he one day becomes, you know, one of the all time greats. But that was just a

really poor attempted humor on my part. But my like in coaching is different now, like the larger than life coaching figures, Like there's still a few of them out there, Like Patino is still around, but you know, not really because he's at Saint John's and like they don't even have a fan base and they're in the Big East, and nobody's gonna watch him play unless like they make a deep run in the tournament. Caliperry, but like he's

having to rebrand at Arkansas. Bill self is still you know, an elite coach, but I wouldn't even know I consider I would consider him the young guy among that elite tier that was around for a long time, and all those guys moved on. So I think the day the days of like just being this dude who everybody wants to play for because you're just an elite coach, Like you're a larger than life figure. You are a superstar

in the grand scheme of things. There may be some coaches that potentially get that type of vibe, but now, like you.

the big Dogs. That's Duke in Carolina. And as we discussed earlier this week, Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated, you know, he's he thinks Louisville's the third best team, and he you know, I'm pretty sure he's right up mentioned that. You know, he thinks there's actually a gap between three and everybody else also clearly a big gap between one and two in Louisville. But you know that's exciting to me. Can I tell you how it was more starstruck to see John Who would it be? John Fantom? I mean

the love mister John, the Field of sixty eight. They're here doing their live show. You got I always forget this guy's name, Terrence Oglesby. Is that is that right?

been very unprofessional for me to do. But you know, I've known, like I'll put it this way, I've known John Fanta and I've been and I've been cool with John Fanta before he became the new big brain of college hoops. So it's good to catch up with him. And you know, I have ran into a few people that I recognized from over the years covering ACC hoops, and there's some sids that you know when I've gone to road games that you know, they remember if you travel to go watch a team play on the road.

And then you know, not to say I'm the only one to do it, I'm sure many many others have done it, but like they remember that, like you know, they know if you are somebody that has been you know, I've gone to see Louisville basketball play three times at Pittsburgh, which you know, to me, it's fun and it's kind of what I do. But you know they remember us, and that's that's what makes me happy. So all right, let's get to a quick break. We'll come back on

the other side. Keep this thing rolling along. We will talk some football. We're gonna be joined coming up here at right around four o'clock by Kevin Sweeney, a football scoop. We'll get his thoughts on what I say. Kevin Sweeney.

fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. I'm sure there are other cities that both claim to be the something city, and you know, maybe they've never really had it out to see who truly can claim that they are the you know whatever city. But Charlotte is known as the Queen City, and I kind of feel like I hear that more than I hear Cincinnati being called the Queen City. But I also know that Cincinnati calls itself the Queen City too, Like who's the real queen city?

It's not that far away. But you know, if I was from Cincinnati and I came to Charlotte and I saw them branding themselves as the Queen City, I mean I would. I mean, I would take it up to somebody.

I think of New Orleans. Yeah, but we also have like there's something that Louisville does, Like I don't know if we've kind of used it here and there, but like there's been some branding, some marketing stuff over the years with the City of Louisville that has used that as well. And I'm sure it's because of some kind of his storical connection. I don't know, But you know, am I in the Queen City or am I in the city that's posing as the Queen City? I don't know.

Maybe I'll ask Pat Kelsey tomorrow because he's from Cincinnati, maybe he could he could stand up, you know, for his hometown. All right, it is Coffee and Company, and we are fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. I'm coming to you live from Charlotte, maybe the Queen City, maybe not, but it's the ACC basketball tip off. The

women's day concluded earlier today. In fact, I think it's concluding throughout the show today and then tomorrow it'll be press conferences from all the men's coaches, and of course we'll have Pat Kelsey at the podium. That'll be I think right around two forty five, and then at four o'clock he'll come on the show, and then I believe in that same window, I think four o'clock is basically just going to be tomorrow where we talked to Case and Prior or not Case and Prior, but Javon Hadley

and Chucky Hepburn. And it's not that i'm you know, forgetting the names of the guys. It's because you know, I just I don't think they announced until yesterday who was going to be representing. Maybe it was Monday. Who's gonna be Rep. Ping U ofl here at the at the conference media days, and usually it's you know, it's team captains, guys that have been around a long time. And I don't know if they've announced team captains yet for Louisville, I'm not even sure. I Pat Kelsey's a

team captain guy. And let's be real, I think you can, like if you you know, I'd say most teams, like ninety nine percent of teams out there do, in fact

name team captains. I know there's there's some rare situations where like they don't do that, But with Louisville's roster being entirely brand new pieces that have mostly all come from different programs with one true freshman, I mean, yeah, you can, like you can in the off season and in the early stages of practice, you can do some things to really kind of stand out as a leader

to where your teammates would vote for you. But you know, it would make sense if you literally waited until like the day before the season started to like name a captain. I mean maybe you would worry about some emotions involved to where somebody thought they would be the captain and then they weren't. But then again, like it's not as if you like, these guys have never played together until the last you know, five six months by the way, real quick, John, Just just to get your thoughts on this,

wouldn't you agree? And if you don't, it's fine. I don't want to persuade you here. But when it comes to being a team captain, I feel like a coach naming you a captain is certainly an honor if you're a player, But I feel like all team captains should be voted on by the team.

you didn't. I think you know it's me who ends up you know, in a different zip code out of nowhere. That's kind of what happened here on the show. But I think I was talking about the guys, you know, bringing the uls bringing with them for media days. I don't even know if these I mean, I don't know if these guys are captains, maybe they already would make sense.

I mean, Chuckie Hepburn's been a captain. He was a he was a he was a starting point guard at Wisconsin every year he was there, and I think he played there three years maybe or was it two. I think it was three, And I'm pretty sure he was a captain at least the last two years. So he's been a captain, he's been a leader. Javon Hadley, I don't know if he had a leadership role at Colorado, but obviously he's a guy who's played a lot of college basketball. I believe this is his fifth or sixth

year removed from high school. So maybe these guys are captains and we'll find out. But either way, we'll have them on the show tomorrow and I am looking forward to that, all right. Uh, sticking with with basketball here, let's go to the text line five oh two sixty five three zero seven ninety again, five O two sixty five to three zero seven ninety. That is the ln N Federal Credit Union text line. I didn't even have to give the number out yet. And you guys are

already filling the text line up. So I certainly appreciate that, but and I'm glad somebody did because I'm not even sure I would have brought it up today and it wasn't It wouldn't have been because I'm trying to like ignore something that is a you know, potential negative talking point in regards to the Louisville basketball program and Pat Kelsey's recruiting. But I'll just read it word for word here what it says. I got your first question for

PK Nick. How about you ask him how he lets a kid from Jeffersonville, Indiana, with an offer to go to Louisville who grew up a big Louisville fan, commit to Northwestern. Make it make sense? First of all, if I was to ask him about that, he wouldn't be able to answer, because you're not allowed to talk about any recruit until they've I mean, as a recruit, you can't talk about a player until they've signed with your school.

And I don't know, I guess can you maybe you can talk about a kid who signed elsewhere after the fact, because you know that's not tampering. That's like you know that the kid is signed, but yes, that is news that came down earlier today. Tray Singleton, who is a four star recruit from Jeffersonville High School, where you know, that's where John Olden was born, That's.

basketball recruiting. Trey Singleton, by all accounts, is a lifelong Louisville fan who you know, didn't have much on the you know, as far as offers, like he had a good summer and now he's like a borderline top one hundred recruit. And like Louisville offered him a scholarship, so clearly they had interest and they wanted him. They had him in for an official visit. I think he was

on campus for an official visit. Might have been for the Louisville football seats, an opener, so for him to not end up at Louisville, but yet he ends up at Northwestern, I mean, I guess I understand why there are people who think, like, wow, how we lose recruits who grew up around here that love Louisville that are going to Northwestern. I remember that guy who kept just would not stop telling me that Northwestern's coach Chris Collins needed to be the next Louisville. I bet he's having

a day today. I need to check my Twitter mentions. I bet he's probably dunking on me. But again, like it's a new world, everybody like, let me ask you, this top one hundred recruit a kid from Jeffersonville. And I'm gonna try my best also to not make it sound like I'm, you know, taking shots at this kid, because I'm not. Like he's clear. There's no scenario you could make the case that Louisville didn't want him, They offered him a scholarship, they had him in for an

official visit within the last month. This is not a hey, we passed on him, We don't want him. It's not that. But these types of recruits are not guys that you live and die by anymore, and really they never were. But you know, the optics here kid in your backyard, kid who has Louisville in his you know he's a

Louisville fan. Like, yeah, the optics aren't great, but again, this is a new world, Like you don't like, there's not as much pressure to go out there and get this kind of guy because it's a much bigger get for Northwestern than it is Louisville. And if you're recruiting and you're being genuine when you talk to these young men, he's gonna know that he's a much bigger deal in Northwestern.

I mean, that's just the truth. Now, it doesn't mean that like louisll didn't really want him, but like they probably didn't prioritize him in a way that he wanted to be prioritized. And that was the noise. As soon as his visit concluded that he just didn't necessarily feel the love. So you know, he's the highest ranked recruit in Northwestern history as far as recruiting rankings go when

it comes to like the Internet. So we're going, we're talking, you know, basically since these Internet recruiting services, these databases have existed, Tray Singleton is the highest ranked recruit to ever commit to Northwestern, and he did choose Northwestern not

only over louis but also Virginia and Purdue. So, you know, if you if we lived in a world where the portal didn't exist and that like you really had, like if the only way for you to genuinely build your roster and develop talent and develop teams was to get freshmen who are either really good right away or guys that you know, have a lot of potential that you can develop, then this would be a really big red flag. This would be a real head scratcher. But we're not

in that world anymore. Like, this is not somebody you put the full court press on. This is not somebody that like you make sure doesn't get out of your backyard. And it's not to say they didn't want him, Like I'm trying to balance it and not talk out of both sides of my mouth because if they would have landed him, would have said, yeah, good, get top one hundred caliber player you know from around here. Maybe he

develops into a really good player. But like, if you're a high if you're a high level coach, and I think Pat's high level coach me more so, if you coach a high level program, you know that you will have the ability with NIL and with your brand and your visibility to compete in the top tier in the portal.

So you're gonna utilize, like, you know, it would make no even if this kid, like let's just say this kid ends up being really really good at Northwestern and in three years he's like a eighteen and eight guy

every night. You know, some may say he's the one that got away, But if it came down to like nil investment coming out of high school, it still would have been a bad investment putting a bunch of and I'm not even saying this kid shows Northwestern because of NIL, but like he wanted to be wanted a little bit more.

It sounded it sounds like and I think Louisville clearly told him that they wanted him, but like he you know, and you know, I know somebody on the staff up at Butler that recruited this young man as well that kind of said the same thing that like, if you weren't like really really like making sure he was well aware that you, you know, you're program's livelihood depended upon him being there, then he didn't want to talk to you.

I mean that was word for word what I was told by somebody who was part of the recruitment for him up a Butler. And you know, more power to him. The young man can do whatever he wants, but he's not the caliber recruit that any high level program would bend over backwards for, because again it's a new world. You know, top one hundred caliber players used to be considered big time gets, and they still are to an extent.

Because if they're picking you over you know, the other really big programs in college basketball, that's a good sign for you. But you don't, like, you know, it's you don't have to have those guys now, like I think a lot of coaches will. In fact, in fact, John Shire talked about this. I think it might have been last season that like, moving forward, they may only bring in it duke maybe two three freshman a year and Duke's not a good example because even before the New

World they were still getting the elite guys. But like, if you are a program that I mean, Louisville is a good example to be honest with you, Like Louisville could could land a high four star, low five star guy and it wouldn't be like the biggest shocker in the world. It's not like, you know, they're picking Northwestern

as a five star recruit or something like that. But if you know that, like you know, this guy in the previous world would have been a really good player for you potentially in three years because you developed him and he had some real raw talent like that, That's just not where we are anymore. Because here's what happens. Those guys they don't want to sit and wait. And realistically speaking, this kid may this kid Tray Singleton may

sit and wait wherever he goes. But at Louisville, you know if pack Kelsey's gonna utilize you know, because he's got to you know, he's got to show proof of concept. As I mentioned before, like these elite freshmen are gonna

come play for him and commit to him. I think he's gonna have to show that he's not only been a good coach at Charleston and a good coach at Winthrop, He's gonna have to show that he can win at a high level here and the only reason he hasn't been able to do that yet is because he hasn't coached a game. So again, this is one of those things where I choose to believe that both things can

be true. Yes, Louisville wanted him, and you know he didn't want to come here, but also on the other side, like, I don't think that Louisville basketball, like nothing changed today with the future of louisvill basketball because this kid committed

to Northwestern over Louisville. The optics aren't great, but again, Northwestern programs of that caliber are probably going to start getting those kind of guys that they never used to get before because the higher level programs like Louisville aren't going to be as willing to off you know, to go all in because they know that they could, you know,

go get it. They could go get two players in back to back years, different guys with one year to play that'll probably give them more than what this young man. And it's no offense to him It's just he's a freshman, and freshmen don't impact the game the way they used to unless you know, we're we're talking about top ten, top twenty guys, and he's not that. I quick break will come back on the other side, keep it rolling along.

It's Coffee and Company we are feel about. Thornon's coming to you live here in Charlotte on Sports Talk seven ninety. Luke Comb's here as I come to you Live from Charlotte. Coffee and Company field by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. Luke Comb's a North Carolina native. I don't

know if he's from Charlotte. I think he's actually from I think he's from close to where app state is Boone Boone, North Carolina, which of course they were one of the I mean, of all the cities that were just you know, completely devastated by the floods from Hurricane Helene,

Boone was one of them. So he's doing all I In fact, there's been a ton of marketing material, rather be billboards or all kinds of stuff throughout the airport, even in my hotel here that you know, are highlighting different things that people are doing to raise money for those that you know, lost everything because of the flooding.

In fact, it's not as if I can, you know, since it from just you know, I've only been here for ran you know, for maybe five six hours, and I haven't gone anywhere other than my hotel once I got here. But it is downtown and just talking to people at the airport, talking to the lady who helped

me at the at the rental car place. There's a lot of people from areas of North Carolina, Western North Carolina specifically that have that have come to the Charlotte area because you know, their home is is either you know, ruined no more or it's just you know, it's not you know that they don't have the infrastructure. They have electricity, they don't have you know, water, that kind of stuff.

So obviously Charlotte being one of the Charlotte's got to be the biggest city in North Carolina, I would assume, yes, I'm not even sure what would be second, maybe maybe le you know, and then Carolina is weird though, because they've like the area, the tree ad is what they call it. It's huge, but it's not one city, it's three of them. It's Raleigh it's Durham and and I think, uh, I think it's Raleigh.

have not. I mean, I was paranoid as hell at the airport today just thinking that even though my direct flight from Louisville to Charlotte is not going to be in any area that is going to be hit with the you know, the actual you know, hurricane type stuff that's going to be all over Florida and the other part, you know, other parts of the world. With Milton, I keep forgeting the name.

fingers crossed. But you know, I have had some worry that, like it could get so bad in Florida that you know, maybe the plane that's coming to get me to take me back to Louisville won't make it or something. I don't know. Hopefully I'm okay, But I remember being in Chicago years ago, and this is I mean, you know, makes sense, but it's something I'd never thought about before,

and I'd never experienced it before. But my connecting flight to come back from I believe Kansas City was in Charlotte or I'm sorry, in Chicago, and I was at the ol'd Hair Airport, and you know, it was the closest thing I've ever had to like experiencing a real nightmare scenario at an airport and what I mean is like where you feel like, Okay, I'm either going to have to like walk to a hotel and hope they have a room or just sleep here. And it was

because weather was not great. But more than anything, it was because the President was flying and I didn't realize. And it makes lital sense that, like if the president is flying, they're not allowed to have as many aircrafts in the air because of security. So like my flight from Chicago to Louisville was what forty minutes for something an hour at most. So when they're gonna just cut flights and tell people to rent a car and drive, that was one of them. But because of weather, like

there weren't rental cars. But yeah, fingers crossed. I've not had a bad experience in an airport in any way compared to some of the things that you see. When it comes to bad experiences, I can tell you this, you won't have one at Jefferson Animal Hospital because they're here to take care of you and your pets. I mean, they're not going to take care of you. They don't treat you, but you know what I mean, you care about your pets are Therefore, if they're taking care of

your pets. They're taking care of you. Again, it is Jefferson Animal Hospital. They've been around for forty four years. Since nineteen eighty they've been open twenty four hours, three undred and sixty five days a year, with a doctor on site in case of an emergency. So keep that in mind, but don't just keep it in mind for

an emergency. If you have not been taking your pet periodically to get checked up and just to make sure that they're healthy and they've got you know, they got a good bill of health, then now's the time to do something. You know, now's the time to reach out to the Jefferson Animal Hospital. Give them a call Fibo two nine hundred pets, or you can check them out online at Jefferson Vets dot com. Again, it's Jefferson Animal Hospital.

All right. We got two hours that we'll come back on the other side, reset some things, and then we'll bring in the one and the only mister Zach Barnett of FootballScoop dot com get his thoughts on that Vandy upset, What these upsets that happened last week mean for the playoff race and some other things. We always have a good conversation with Zach So that's coming up next right here on Sports Talk seven ninety Hang It