[Music] welcome back to HPP the podcast covers college basketball in the NBA draft inside out I am Rich Harris and thank you join for joining us again today I am joined by Caleb Slayton um who has become our uh resident College expert uh that's what I always take it I'll take it anything that I'm an expert in I'm good to go right that's what I used to call Jake uh but Jake is on Hiatus for that other terrible sport um so yeah so how's things going Caleb we haven't talked for a while good uh just been watching the NBA as it's been rocking and rolling uh um I've been trying to catch some catch some glimpses of these secret scrimmages that are taking place behind closed doors and just like ready for uh games to to get going there were two uh games that were televised uh Illinois Kansas and Michigan State and Tennessee yeah both were both are really good games yeah yeah so that that was fun that was fun to see them all right so what we're going to do today is we're going to preview uh the Atlantic Coast Conference or more commonly known as the ACC and the first thing we're going to do is roll an interview I did a few days ago with Miles Kelly uh the leading scorer for Georgia Tech uh he is going into his Junior season and definitely on an upward trajectory Our Guest today is Georgia Tech Wing Miles Kelly as a sophomore last season miles led the Yellow Jack and scoring at 14.4 points per game he also averaged 3 point 3.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game miles ranked fourth in the ACC with 89 three-pointers made and ranked fifth in the conference with a three-point percentage of 37.9 miles welcome to the show how you doing today I'm good how about yourself I am good I am good so how was your offseason uh do anything special over the summer yeah for sure my offseason was was very great I mean um I entered the draft I put my name into the draft so I went through that whole process and doing that I was out in Miami I went to LA I went to Vegas for for a couple times so I got to work with a lot of guys a lot of Pros um and and doing all of that I added 10 pounds so so that's that's a huge thing for me so my offseason offseason was very good you know I was thinking I was looking at pictures from your freshman season to now and you know I was actually watching some tape last night and I was thinking you have gotten significantly bigger already but that's uh well that's good um so when when you were all these tra all the traveling was that was that all part of the draft process yeah mainly it was a part of the draft process I mean I I was based out in Miami for for my pre-draft so but as far as La I I my some of my family is out there and and I was uh blessed enough to work with one of the guys down there he trains a lot of Pros so I was in the gym with guys like Kevin Durant Paul George so I got to pick their brains for a little bit and talk to them talk to those type of guys so anytime you get to do that that's huge for you and your career because those are guys you look up to right sure sure um how about Harden was Harden because I know Harden and Durant often training California together yeah for sure no Harden wasn't out there but but I definitely pay attention to harden for sure right right um so so ultimately you decided to come back um what what type of feedback did you receive and are there any specific aspects of your game you know after the process was was all over that you've been focusing on uh working on since you got that feedback right I mean I got I got great feedback a lot of a lot of the feedback was was based on me me like I said me getting stronger and me just they just want to see me play more with the ball in my hands making sure I can make the right read and stuff like that they know uh um they know I can shoot pretty well so they want to see if I can make plays with the balls in my hand make the right reads in terms of offense and and Lead my team right right and how' you put on the weight was it weightlifting nutrition some kind of combination it was it was all of that together I mean I mean just being with being with Justin our our new Strength Guy and um and our our dietician Leah uh met with them a lot met with them a lot of times over the summer and even when I was going through the process talking to them and stuff like that so and then I have this app on my phone where I I track all my calories of what I eat throughout the day so so as long as I hit that calorie goal then it's a pretty good day so um I did as long as I did that I kept with the protein all of that and it just stayed in the weight room wherever I went and it just got to 10 pounds so it just allowed me to take different bumps all my drives and stuff like that and makes me look bigger too right right you hang around with me I'll put the weight on you for sure uh all right so you're entering entering your uh junior season and with a new head coach uh Damen STM um did Coach have to re-recruit you to keep you at Georgia Tech or were you already made up your mind uh I mean I mean I was I was I wasn't really focused on that I was like I said I entered the draft process so so mainly I was focused on uh the workouts I had with different teams and just me getting ready for those workouts stuff like that so but throughout throughout the the process I was talking to coach stmy and just he was just just sheding knowledge on me of how the process was going and cuz you know he's been there and he's been played there at the highest level so it was just great having him to to to to like to be kind of like a mentor to me in that process because he's already went through it so ultimately I decided to come back because I just felt this was the best best place for me to to to to continue my career right right and uh there's uh also have um bdy Wells on the coaching staff NBA player so you got a lot of nice resources there right um so the team and bear with me because I know you know all this stuff but the listeners don't or maybe they do but uh you know the team's going to have a new look plus a new coach and and gone our uh Power Forward Javon Franklin moved on to the pros Davon Smith went to Utah Jaylen Moore went to Oklahoma uh Rody sener Rody Howard went to Western Kentucky and those return turning in including yourself uh include Debo Coleman uh shooting guard Lance Terry point guard uh Kyle studant and also in the mix you got a bunch of newcomers coming in uh including um Ki Reeves from Florida uh b nango a freshman uh Power Forward Center uh you also have combo guard Amari Abram coming from Old Miss Tara kapari from UMass uh he's forward power forward taon Claude and Center Ebenezer uh danana from NC State so that's a bunch a bunch of new faces and I should I should add for those who don't know you know uh kaasi was uh is a former top 40 guy uh and U gapar Abram and and Dongo were all top 125 guys at different times when they were coming out so having having said all that how do you think this team is shaping up and how would you compare it to last year Squad I mean I think the team is shaping up really well I mean we've been going at it this whole summer as soon as we as soon as we were able to get everybody together and into workout and coach was able to put his um put his knowledge to us I mean it's everything's been coming together we've been looking real real good I I've been impressed with with some of the new guys that came in just their talent level and their vers a ility and I think that's going to be huge for us I I would think just based on what I just read I mean it's pretty safe to say you guys look deeper this year no for sure I mean I mean we have a we have a lot of interchangeable guys this year a lot a lot like I said a lot of Versatility um we're we're a lot longer so so allows us to play a little bit more freely uh defensively and offensively right right so you definitely appear loaded at guard and Wing um but in my opinion iion and only me because I'm a fan of his game you know Javon Franklin's not going to be easy to replace and he was so Scrappy he played much bigger than his size a good Defender very productive you know around the basket so you know you mentioned that certain guys have impressed you is there is a couple of particular guys in the front Court have been standing out in practices do you think that you're going to be okay without Javon not for sure of course of course losing uh Jayvon it's like a huge a huge hole in in in the uh in our team but but uh the guys the new guys in the front cor that are coming in they've been they've been working super hard in the weight room and in the court to to just be the best player they can be but um as far as as far as uh one player I would say by and Dongo um he's a freshman this his first year in college but he's really he's really active on the glass he's really uh active in just in in the game in general just blocking shots he can knock down a open shot he can get to the rack so so him just being so versatile where he could space the floor and and play down low has been huge all right well that's good to hear um I saw you smile when I said javon's name um you guys pretty close no for sure that's my guy still I still talked to him a lot to this day and he's playing somewhere in Europe I forgot to take note where he's in he's in Serbia right now ah yeah know that's a good place to be man and before he before he went out there he was telling me like that's one of the best leagues in uh in EUR in Europe to play and they're fans they're just crazy about basketball they are crazy about basketball and they know their basketball too exactly that's what's crazy yeah um so let's talk about the team's play style um do you do you think it's going to change under coach STM yeah for sure I mean I mean um they they have two different coach pass and Coach star have two different uh play Styles and and they have two different messages they were trying to portray because they're two different people and two different coaches so I mean coach star he's been teaching more preaching like attention to detail making everybody's in the right spots for spacing and and playing a lot faster because of the versatility we have on the wings we we're very athletic and long so we can get out and run a little bit so he's just trying to been preaching that spacing attention to detail and everything will be fine right right okay so uh you that's I expected you to say I thought you guys your pace might pick up no for sure it's definitely one of the things we we've been focusing on uh definitely trying to play with more pace and and get up and down a little bit for sure right right so uh you underplayed your own ability when you said you I don't know the exact words you use but you said you're they you said NBA teams know you're an okay shooter or something of of that you're you're a little better than an okay shooter you're one of the top shooters in the conference so uh I didn't even mention at the top that you shot 90% uh from the free throw line last year in addition to how many threes you made but uh you excelled you know if you look at Synergy you excelled and catch and shoot you look excelled all uh offscreen situations handoff situations and I I doubt that's going to change but in what ways do you think your role will expand this year I mean just in a more leadership aspect I mean a lot of the times uh last year my first year and my sophomore year I was kind of the young guy I was kind of one of the youngest on the team so just in terms of leadership now I'm a junior now so I got to I got to be more vocal and lead by example uh for the younger guys who who who have coming in and also the transfers and I just think me me uh being more of a leader on the court just leads to more opportunities on the court too as far as me playing with the ball in my hands me playmaking for my team me making the right reads uh me continue to shoot the ball well and and just show what I can do on the court okay um with all these new parts uh I'm sure I I didn't actually haven't seen the uh ACC preseason poll but I'm sure people are kind of sleeping on you guys um so with all these new parts what what are your gu what are you guys saying to each other this is our goal this season for sure uh to your point they had us I think they had us at 13 in ACC preseason Poll for this year well you know that's not you know that's not happening exactly so so that's so pretty much is Just fuel to the fire I mean we just we we kind of know we kind of knew that based off the season we had last year and we have a new new system new coach so guys want to see if we can really play and really put things together on the court so but but it's just fueld to the fire we're just going to keep working hard and and put together some wins this year so we can move that ranking up right right um any talk about going to the NCAA oh for sure that's like that's that's the main goal that's like I haven't been to an NCAA tournament since I've been here so that's that's like my whole goal and that just goes along with me being more of a leader so I could vocalize to these guys that that's something that we all want to experience and we all need to experience and and everything stems from from winning and and going hard in practice so that's what I've been trying to preach right because the last time George Tech went you were it was uh just the year before you came right the year before I came yeah guys won the conference and uh went on to the NCAA um all right so last question fun question I know you got you you gotta got some uh educational stuff you got to get to so um can you tell me something about yourself that not many Outsiders when I say Outsiders like not teammates or close friends or family uh know about you it could be like a hobby it could be an interest uh you know anything like that right I I'll give you two things two things about me the first thing is uh I'm I'm really big into into real estate I know that's that's kind of hard at a young age but I'm really big into real estate my mom is a real estate agent and uh so she really taught me the ropes and stuff of of how to be a real estate be in real estate and look at different properties so uh just me trying to get in real estate and me buying me trying to get like different properties and stuff like that and then the second thing I would say I I really just got into to to golf so I've been I've been yeah I've been going to the golf course with my cousins a lot and and some of the people on the staff I've been to the course with them and yeah so that those are two things that I would say not many people know about me I'm gonna warn you gol addictive it is it definitely exactly soon as I picked up the club I was like I gotta go back next week because the first time I picked it up I was not good at all so I was like I gotta be better next time I got to figure out a way to to hit this ball as far as I can so for sure right right right um yeah I I actually got a bad back so I can't play as much as I used to but uh it's much tougher than people think and uh you know once you start to get you know you start to get a little good at it then then you keep then you just don't want to stop playing exactly once once I once I seen I could hit a couple balls consecutively I was like oh yeah this is my sport for sure all right well miles I want to thank you for for joining us on the show to show uh today and I wish you guys the best and you the best too uh this season and come please come back and visit us uh down the road for sure I appreciate you having me all right so it was good to talk to Miles and now we're gonna dive into our conference preview so we'll review quickly what happened last season of course the conference champ uh for the conference Championship Miami and Virginia tied for the regular season title finishing one game a head of Duke Pitt and Clemson and I must admit last year the ACC standings were quite the mess so um for I mean think about it Clemson um you know finished fifth in that conference or actually tied for third and they didn't make the NCAA tournament and teams lower than them and the standings did so which we will go over right now uh but first Duke won the ACC tney by defeating uh the Cavaliers uh in a slugfest that was 59 to 49 and they earned the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament now the n in the NCAA uh joining Duke who was a five seed despite beating uh Virginia and Virginia was a four seed uh Miami of Florida was a five NC State was an 11 and Pittsburgh was a 12 for a total of five bids uh Miami was the only team out of the group to advance the sweet 16 and Thea the canes actually made it to the final four losing in the National semifinals to the eventual Champion Yukon 72- 59 it was a great run though by Miami um in terms of the NIT Clemson and Virginia Tech were the two AC teams to make the NIT and both lost in the first round um so we have a few coaching changes to discuss uh we talked to Miles Kelly about the coach change at Georgia Tech where Damen STM replaces Josh pner who doesn't have a job right now but I I hear he's living near campus uh and working on TV so uh Michael Shrewsberry uh replaces Mike Bray who kind of retired he's working I believe for the Cleveland Cavaliers as an assistant coach and uh Adrien alry a longtime assistant at Syracuse replaces the retired jib beheim great career Jim uh can't say I necessar necessarily would miss you but you had a wonderful career uh you're a character that that I will say so so we're gonna go over the teams in order of finish last year and so we'll review what's going on uh with Miami of Florida first talk about their biggest losses their top returners and their top newcomers gone Jordan Miller went to the NBA I isah Wong NBA Harold Beverly uh seld well you know he got some regular minutes uh a wing moved on to witch house State Anthony Walker same thing he ain't got spot minutes he moves on to Indiana who's coming back Nigel pack the little uh little explosive point guard who can shoot pretty much from anywhere on the floor nor Chad omir uh the dominant on the boards undersiz Center uh he's the conference's leading returner for rebounding percentage at 20.9 and wind shares at 5.4 wuga popper the athletic Wing who uh kind of got spot starts last year but really this year he's going to be a full-time starter and expect him to really take off benley Joseph comes back he's a aggressive uh on theball Defender and some former High recruits so are also coming back headlined by AJ Casey who's uh kind of a combo forward and the top newcomers Matthew Cleveland former fourstar five-star I forget which uh comes in from Florida State he uh is joined by uh Kean George Who last year played in the French second division and Michael uh en woko uh comes in as a three star recruit he is a center so Caleb having said all that what what do you make of this Miami Hurricane Squad they lose a couple of really good players but they bring back some really nice pieces and they add Cleveland I think they're be I think they're gonna be good like I definitely think they're going to take a step back anytime you lose two of your leading scorers in Isaiah Wong and Jordan Miller I think that's bound to happen I'm a big Matthew Cleveland Fan um I think there was probably some optimism he might have a similar trajectory to Devon Vel um as a as a Florida State guy but we didn't quite see that Florida state was kind of all all out of sorts last year I think for a lot of reasons but I think he's going to provide some good length um I really like what AJ Casey brings as well and I think the most important thing is they bring back some Shooters right as we've been going through some of these conferences especially with some of these top teams our questions are like hey really good defense really good seniority but like can they create space can they hit shots right like those are where a lot of our questions lie right and Nigel pack off the dribble 40% three-point shooter benley Joseph probably going to have to shoot more than he did last year he was only at 20 minutes a game 40% three-point shooter wuga popper needs to get up a little more 37% three-point shooter like are those stats real because they didn't some of them didn't shoot a lot that's certainly debatable but I think the the shooters are there to really get it up and down the four floor pretty quickly yeah yeah I mean I I see you know they potentially have four allconference type players in Cleveland pack omir and popler and and I think popler might turn out to be the best of the bunch uh you know in terms of pro potential but you look at that starting five it's not very big you know omir omir is going to be playing the center again and he's like six foot seven I mean they do have the Freshman coming in at Center um I think he's going to get a lot run behind but you're playing 18 minutes a game you you can't be counted on to be the lead rebounder you know right right right so yeah um I I think this team is going to be good defensively I think they're going to shoot well it's just they do lack size have you I I did not get to watch the scrimmage have you seen a lot of uh kesan George at all no I I know he got the start in the team's most recent scrimmage but no um but you know I'm always encouraged when a guy has you know gotten some Pro experience which did allbe at limited um but yeah so he's probably the most exciting freshman of the bunch um yeah uh he's a wing by the way so he doesn't really help so much in the size department but yeah they're gonna mean they're gonna have to gang rebound I think the pressing defense and kind of the like up in your- face Tempo that Lono really likes to play I think kind of like benefits probably their roster constru ruction right but it's like can they can they rebound well enough and they can can they defend size I think that's probably where the the the size factor is going to come in the most right right all right so next up is Virginia and uh they lost a bunch of guys including K Clark who had been there forever uh Arman Franklin uh good shooting Wing uh Jaden uh Gardner who was a power forward Center for them um we uh Ben Ben vanderplas was a grad uh grad transfer for them last year pretty good shooter uh he's playing in the pros Kaden shedric uh part-time starter at Center very athletic guy he moves on to Texas and the other guy who got a lot of minutes at Center last year Francisco Cafaro he moves on to S Santa Clara and they also lose Isaac trout who I believe red shirted last year or if he played he barely played uh he moves on to kraton and he's a nice stretch option for kraton but won't help Virginia so Virginia brings back ree bakman uh one of the best guards in the country he was he's the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in this conference he also is the leading assist guy at 5.3 per game and the leading uh returner for Steels at 1.8 per game Ryan Dunn a big time athlete dun often gets compared to DeAndre Hunter um now he didn't have a spectacular La year last year but this is his year to shine uh Isaac uh m mcney a combo guard shot pretty well last year and he's going to be playing probably starting this year uh they also have a couple other high recruits that didn't get a lot of playing time last year and tane Murray and Leon Bond actually Bond red shirted last year but he was the top 70 recruit so coming in there's nobody here on on their uh recruiting list and or you know the freshman class or their transfers that really blows you away though Andrew rad uh a wing out of St Thomas put up really nice numbers uh he's a stat sheet stuffer can it translate to the ACC we will see you know Deontay Harris played huge minutes last year for George tet point guard he's he's a good passer but not a good shooter uh Jacob grobes who's Tanner grobes younger brother he comes in from Oklahoma he's not as big as Tanner not as productive as Tanner uh Jordan Miner comes in for marac he has great numbers at that school uh for rebounding and shot blocking but again canot translate and uh their best freshman uh were two uh guys that were around top 75 and that Center power forward Blake Buchanan and Elijah gerud shooting guard um so as you can see nobody to get overly excited about uh in the guys that are coming in to replace some pretty steady players yeah I think they're going to be I mean they'll still be a tough team like as you said none of these like are standout transfers or standout freshman but I my inclination is to just trust Tony Bennett and obviously the packline defense has its own benefits and I think protecting these players is almost one of those things right like if they are as efficient as Bennett wants them to be in the limited amount that they're in the limited amount of possessions like that's going to really benefit them I'm really excited to see the jump I think like beakman Ryan Dunn and mcney in the backourt is going to be really really really good um on truly on both sides of the ball uh I think this team will probably push for an Inc NCAA tournament Bid And I think Andrew RH might be the real deal he just like shooting translates to me um and I think their offense is going to be able to get him some good looks with bean and mcne on the ball yeah at least catch and shooting translates sometimes off ball shooting doesn't or on ball shooting off dribble shooting I should say yeah um yeah uh I'm worried about the size on this team or lack of it uh they might they might end up playing a lot of small ball also you know they've had two nice recruiting classes back to back and I think we're going to see a lot of those guys headlined by McNeely and done playing a lot of minutes this year here so all right so now we move on to Caleb's Duke Blue Devils and did you hear did you hear the reports from the secret scrimmage I did not so they uh they played Villanova in the secret scrimmage tough team tough team from what I have heard what my what my sources have told me it was not particularly close for Duke one yes yes it was not the most competitive of scrimmages that does not surprise me that does that that makes me very happy yeah yeah and you know for once this team is not starting from scratch actually far far from it um who they lost we'll start with that Derek Lively onto the Dallas Mavericks DQ Whitehead onto the Brooklyn Nets and Jacob Granderson moved on to play in Europe three nice pieces but none of them actually were full-time starters last year so now the guys who were full-time starters are all coming back and that's Kyle filipowski and he was the Rookie of the Year in the ACC and he's the leading returner for defensive rating you got Tyrese Proctor nice combo guard with great passing skills um he comes back Mark Mitchell kind of a do everything uh you know Blue Collar guy returns at forward Jeremy roach is back at point guard he's the veteran of the group Ryan young uh was in the discussion last year for six man of the year he he's the leading returner believe this or not in all of the ACC who's the leading returner in plus minus Ryan y let's go and they also bring back some fresh or sophomores that barely played as freshman last year uh Jaylen Blakes Christian Reeves and Jaden shut and uh I heard Reeves has been looking good but I don't expect him to get a ton of playing time with filipowski on the team the recruiting class uh is also excellent four top 20 guys join this team all five stars Sean Stewart a power forward Jared McLean a combo guard Caleb Foster a combo guard and TJ power a power forward what what's interesting is for once we're really not even overly concerned about the Freshman coming in because the returners are so good it'll take all of me to not just like Wax poetic about both this upcoming season and also the fact that we have Cooper flag coming in next year right I'm so I'm so excited I love what sh is doing I mean filipowski is my my pick for Player of the Year in the conference but like also spoiler alert yeah sorry uh you don't have to listen to the end of the podcast I also really love like Tyrese Proctor I think he's gonna take over the Reigns for this team like oh man I'm I'm so excited for this Duke team I've also heard that about Christian Reeds and I think that's going to be potentially like one of the X factors uh last time I checked Ryan young is coming off the bench and is gon to be kind of that third big behind Mitchell and Philip cowsky but like Ryan young is 68 and not the most athletic or mobile guy in the world despite like how good he is at positioning himself and so Christian Reeves being a seven-footer I think is going to be huge um literally for us to come off the bench uh I've heard McCain Jared McCain got that was that fifth starter so to go along with so starting Phil gski um Mitchell and then McCain Proctor and roach and I love McCain he was a cronis centennial guy in high school out of California he won um Corona sentennial won the state as when with him as the starter both freshman year sophomore year and junior year which was just like such a great leader back in the day he was on team why not with kylin Boswell from Arizona like their aoou team was really good and Caleb Foster is just a bucket getter like he's going to probably be the first guard Off the Bench um in the California open state championship game he set the California open state record for most points scored in the championship game with like 46 wow just absurd bucket getter and he is fascinating to me I really think especially looking like longterm I know this podcast is about this year but I I really like to think how does this these like podcast is about basketball yeah I know but we're doing a year preview right but like right Foster is super interesting to me because for his high school team he was asked to be a bucket getter he was asked to be a scorer and he's like 65 65 big big frame like already put on some weight at Duke but in the a circuit he was playing as like a true real point guard a distributor um trying to set everybody up and so I think like that flexibility is going to be really key for playing with all the guards and maybe even going forward into some other years where he can step into some other roles so I to me like Duke is a legitimate National Title team Philip Kowski is gonna push for Player of the Year in the ACC Player of the Year in the conference Proctor I think also like potentially could be and I think probably could end up being potentially a top 10 pick like a lot of flexibility um with this team it is still young but I I'm I'm I'm super excited for this this season sorry about that I haven't made up my mind yet and we haven't previewed all the conferences yet but right now Duke is the best team I have evaluated to date um so I right now they're might gonna be my pick for the national champion there still but we'll we'll actually make that call later on this week uh with our picks but go ahead the other thing that frustrates me is like um who I just saw somebody put out I think the athletic did like a college Bassel ranking of like one to 300 like they ranked every team in the country and there's 365 so they left 65 off okay bastards they did all the teams I don't remember I didn't remember the number um but to me like they have Kansas number one uh we don't have to go down that road let's let's not go actually we will be talking Kansas in our next episodes so yes won't be too long all right so let's move on to Pittsburgh uh they had a surprisingly good year but they lose a lot of guys and most of them are in backourt uh jamarius Burton combo guard moves on to the pros Nelly Cummings point guard moves on to the pros Nick sa Sab a shooting guard moves onto the pros and he was the Sixth Man of the Year in this conference Greg Elliot shooting guard moves on to the pros and they also lose two players who figured to be big parts of this year's team team and that's John H hugley who left the team midseason um not sure why but hugley has transferred Oklahoma and de Dior Johnson who who uh got in some trouble then he got hurt and then he got more trouble and pit kicked him off the team and now he's at claran College a junior college uh and so he was slated to actually be this team's point guard so who do they have back they got plenty of size coming back including forward Blake Hinson who's the smallest guy I'm going to name on this group but uh he's like a 6667 combo forward and he's the conference's leading returner for three-pointers made he's got a pretty shot uh he made 97 last year at a 38% clip they also have the Diaz Grand Brothers uh one guo is more of a center uh Jorge is more of a power forward both of these guys could shoot both of these guys uh have good footwork um and yeah and they also have the conference's leading returner for blocks 1.7 per game and that's feder Rico feder Rico so there's no problem with size on this team so what are they doing elsewise well coming in is Zack uh Austin a wing small forward from High Point he's a solid player ishma Legette a shooting guard from Rhode Island has always had trouble with uh efficiency and then they have the recruiting class which is led by jayen low a point guard he was number 82 in the composite rankings looks like to me he's going to have to start out of the gate they also bring in Papa uh ke and Carlton Carrington who were both 120 uh top 120 recruits K is a center and Carrington is a shooting guard so um this team is really hurting for guards yeah they'll probably Pro definitely a step down right I don't expect them to finish third again um I actually from from what I've heard I think Carrington Carlton Carrington is probably gonna get the start with legot Wow guard I think they're gonna start both of them um and and low low is Gonna Come Off the Bench huh I I I don't yes potentially I do know that terrington and leot so again secret scrimmage take it take it with a huge grain of salt um but they recently played Georgetown you know not I don't know not the worst team in the world um recently played Georgetown and both legot and Carrington pushed for 20 points over the over the scrimmage um and low was around like seven or eight so definitely not the scorer and from what I can tell didn't quite get the run as far as minutes go so like maybe they adjust the minutes a little bit but it seems like for most of the game my guess is probably because they feel like they have they really have that defense solid with the Diaz Grand brothers and with uh freder Rico at the as the back line that in the front Court they really want in the back court they really want that that scoring punch by the way speaking of feder Rico feder Rico last night I saw a guy uh he's on one of these teams he's either in the ACC or in the Big 12 one of the teams we're going to talk about this week who not only had a first name in last name be the same his middle name was also the same was it BB no B was I think his name s with the a I forget but uh anyway right so we'll move on to Clemson who made the NIT last year some thought maybe they were going to make the NCAA um and they lose one of their best players perhaps their best player and Hunter Tyson has moved on to the Denver Nuggets they also lose Brevin Galloway a combo guard to the pros and Center Ben Middlebrooks uh moved on to NC State he was in a key piece because of Clemson's top returner PJ Hall uh PJ is a center power forward who can stretch the floor he's the conference's leading returner for player efficiency rating at 27.4 also the conference's leading returner in usage percentage at 30.8 they also bring back steady combo guard Chase Hunter will probably run the point this year RJ Godfrey is a sof sore uh showed a lot of Promise last year in athletic forward um and uh I I figure he will start also bring back Alex Hemingway a shooting guard who's the conference's leading returner for three-point percentage are you ready for this Caleb 47.1% on almost four attempts per game basically Steph Curry yeah yeah and coming in they also bring in some really nice uh solid pieces is Jack Clark from NC State a real Scrapper of a forward he's the conference's leading returner for steel percentage they bring in Joseph gerardi who I think's been playing since the 90s he comes in from Syracuse Haiti believe it or not is this conference's leading returning score at 16.4 points per game and of course gerardi can play the point or he can play shooting guard and they also bring back bring in from Force Jake heyen breeder a shooting guard with nice size and also another deadly shooter and to replace the Departed Ben Middlebrooks they bring in Boss leate a center from UNCC Greensboro he's not really a physical presence I don't see him getting a ton of time just enough to give PJ Hall a blow so a lot of good Shooters on this team couple of nice bigs point guard solid not great um what do you think I feel like this is almost similar to me to like the Virginia conversation I think this team's definitely gonna be a lot better than I maybe not a lot better but I think this team will definitely be better than Virginia PJ Hall Chase Hunter Godfrey all coming back like Hem Hem andway getting getting uh more run hide breeder really solid in the backourt uh I'll be honest Gerard is not necessarily my flavor but really experienced um but like you said like not a ton um kind of coming in especially on the Freshman if we're we had this conversation right with Duke like what does it look like down the road right and I think that when when I say this is similar to Virginia it's like I I just trust Brad Bernell like I think Brad Bernell is going to get his players in the right spots he's going to run very good offense very good defense that is going to in some way protect his players and like put them in the best case Possible Be be successful I think in some way the like long the success of this team for the year is just going to be a lot on PJ Hall and Chase Hunter um getting shots and setting their teammates up yeah yeah no top 100 not no top 200 recruits coming in so they don't even have one top 200 guy coming in this year so they're going to have to do some work next I will they're 2024 recruiting class is uh is like roughly already it's not completed I think especially in this era of like of transfers right like they could need more than three but they do already have three I would say top one three top one50 guys um they've got one guy who's about 160 170 but I think personally I think he's a little underrated um so three three top 150 guys all kind of locked in for next year right right Now we move on to NC State uh who had the Fantastic guard Trio last year Tavon Smith jel Joiner and Casey Morel but unfortunately for NC State fans two of those guys are gone Smith has moved on to a two-way with a Sixers Joiner uh is in the g-league uh and the aforementioned Jack Clark as we said moved on to Clemson they also lose Ducan uh mahori a center who got hurt was starting for the beginning early part of the Year got hurt uh and then really never got his job back uh DJ Burns took over and really played well for them uh they also lose Greg Grant former High recruit to UNC Ashville to play alongside Drew pimber and Isaac Miranda who uh reclassified last year joined the team uh around Christmas time uh he didn't play a minute he red shirted last year he's a seven foot one skinny Center top 60 guy uh fourstar guy he didn't play a minute for them and then for whatever reason now he's going to Oklahoma State so he basically had a cup of coffee there and said goodbye um so who comes back the aforementioned Marcel who's one of the best shooting guards in this conference DJ Burns if you haven't seen DJ play he is a moose he's got away about 325 and he cannot be moved in the paint Ernest Ross uh former High recruit got some playing time last year he's got an NBA looking body but hasn't quite ever put it together he returns uh also LJ Thomas who was a decent uh I think he was a three or four- Star guy uh combo guard he returns now with all those guys leaving uh they had to reboot and bring in a bunch of new guys so and most of it's for the transfers I'll just talk about the one freshman coming in that's Dennis Parker Jr he's a wing he was number 125 in the composite rankings don't see him playing a lot this year now at the top of the transfer list is M MJ rice former five-star uh didn't play a ton last year for Kansas he's a wing I figure he's probably gonna take over the role of quavon Smith this year and be this team's leading score we have the steady combo guard DJ horn coming in from Arizona State Michael oconnell a point guard from Stanford never quite lived up to expectations there he's looking for a fresh start at NC State um they also bring in Jaden Taylor shooting guard from Butler Ben Middlebrooks who we mentioned before coming in center from Clemson cam Woods a combo Guard from North Carolina entt he was pretty darn productive there and also Muhammad uh diara a seldom used uh power forward from Missouri comes in so a lot of new faces um they still have morcel and Ross um first thing they got to do is find a com a point guard and that's probably either going to be horn or okono and Horn play the point guard yeah I think so I guess I guess we'll find out well you know I mean okono you know I I don't know I mean he he's definitely gonna be under you know Stanford has been a mess uh you know he he was also like an All-American and Lacrosse um so I don't know if he played both Sports you had the academic requirements at Stanford you know maybe a new uh a new start you know he was he was like a top 120 guy you know he was around number 100 in the composite rankings when he first came out um yeah so but yeah I think horn could also play the point I think morcel you know can also handle too so my hope is that Michael oconnell just has to study less right being at Clemson or being at NC State now so less studying more basketball totally totally going to change the scene yeah yeah yeah I'm kid that was kind of a joke sorry that fell flat I do no I think you're right about I'm sorry I was actually looking to the next team figuring out what I was gonna say that's funny I think I think horn will probably start like I really I really like this team starting five honestly right with horn morcel MJ rice probably Ernest Ross and DJ burns like I think that's a solid starting five I even think like LJ Thomas coming off the bench I think Jaden Taylor can provide some depth I like middle Brooks as a backup center but the the top end I I just don't see inless Marcel and MJ rice I think those are going to be the two guys unless one of them or both of them can really take a leap in off the dribble basketball creation whether it be shock freak creation for themselves like getting easy buckets from three or getting the basket or creating for others unless one of those two guys really takes the leap which I was a huge M MJ rice fan coming out of uh High School coming out of oakill and I was really disappointed I was high on him too yeah just he's such a physical such a physical basketball player plays really hard on both sides of the court I don't think he's particularly I I don't think he's a great passer but I don't think he's selfish either um so I'm hoping this change of SC was really good for him but I do think it's going to be kind of like Morel or MJ rice or both if they want to like take the leap and be in what I think we consider to be a pretty locked in uh top three teams in the conference right right so with North Carolina uh who didn't make the tournament last year um and might you might call last year even though they didn't have a losing record maybe the most disappointing in school history because they were everybody's pick to win it all at the start of the Season beware Duke fans the the being picked to win it all in October is you often a kiss of death yeah leave it to leave it to Kansas Kansas can be number one Michigan State can be number one that's fine just know that we're coming that's all I've got to say right well I think in our poll our poll amongst HP people I think Duke's gonna finish up on top but we will find out all right so North Carolina uncharacteristically loses a bunch of guys and not so much because of graduation um so we'll go over who they lost first Caleb love goes to Arizona leaky black goes to the NBA Pete Nance goes to the g-league and then we have a bunch of guys that were top 100 guys uh moving on who still have eligibility left some of them have lots of Eligibility left puff Johnson goes to Penn State DeMarco Dunn goes to Penn State Tyler Nicholl goes to Virginia Tech and dant T Styles goes to Georgetown so who comes back really for four main pieces and they're good pieces Amando Bott the conference's leading returner uh for rebounds per game at 10.4 we know B cot is a force uh um in the paint especially offensively not so much defensively RJ Davis will probably play better without Caleb love on the team he's back at point guard jayen Washington's a very athletic forward power forward type um I can't wait to see what he does as a starter and Seth tremble was a really highly regarded uh point guard combo guard he will probably start next to Davis now incoming from the portal is a bunch of guys uh Harrison Ingram comes in from Stanford cor M Ryan who formerly played for Stanford but then went to nutre Dame he comes in as a shooting guard from nutre Dame Jaylen Withers comes in from Louisville uh Paxon wuk comes in from Brown James okano uh a power forward Center comes in from West Virginia and then you have the recruits not too many uh but some really good ones point guard Elliott Kad uh is a five star coming in and Zaden High a power forward is a four star so what do you make of your rival Tarheels unfortunately I think they're going to be really good I really like as I said a big fan of the returners um and I think it's interesting too I think a lot of the guys that they lost like puff Johnson Demarco done dant Tre Styles Tyler niichel it was like I think they kind of got pushed out right like I think I think Hubert Davis wanted his own guys and he was like I want guys who are gonna play my way Caleb love is another one that kind of got I think uh asked not to return so I think that's going to be really interesting right because like a lot of these guys a lot of this team is going to be built from the portal um I do think they're going to be really good I love kdo coming in I actually think kdo and RJ Davis should start in the back court together um that's what I would do personally I think Zaden High sneaky is going to be really good really athletic um played for uh Compass prep in high school a really good like a pretty consistent uh like top 10 high school team in the country he started for them like I think he's gonna be I think I think he's gonna be good because he can really stretch the floor Jaylen Washington's really good in the paint but not quite the the spacer that Zaden high is and then I think they just bring a lot of shooting in like cor M Ryan Jaylen Withers and Paxton from Brown are all going to be top like really good Shooters 38% yeah maybe 35% up the interesting thing and I think the X Factor for me for this team is gonna be Harrison Ingram another guy like McDonald's All American coming out of high school goes to Stanford and I was super excited to see what he could do like he's a sneaky passer he's an above average ball handler for his size more of a power forward um a power Wing like maybe a small four he's 67 to30 but I think like his ball handling ability from the from the from the Wing Spot could be particularly interesting he's not really going to put pressure on the defense with his shooting that's kind of been the big thing I think holding him back at Stanford but I think if they can unlock some ways to use him creatively in the offense like RJ Davis is a scorer Kau can be a shooter um Withers can score like if they can use him to create some creative looks I think I think they could be pretty interesting offensively yeah if you two things you'll notice uh about the top four recruits three of them came from high academic institutions no I'm serious I I you're saying they're smart I'm saying they are smart and I'm saying you know you talked about that how the other guys maybe were pushed out but I'm saying is maybe he uh Hubert Davis instead of getting all these athletes and guys who could jump out of the gym hey I want some smart guys who can actually make a shot and will listen to me yeah yeah you know that's I I I I actually think if you know if this team Falls flat which I don't think it will but if it does I think Huber's could be on the next year yeah very much so yeah I think the other interesting thing too like we talked about the the size of like the of the roster of Miami right we like hey obviously like o uh NORAD omir is like a really good Center but across the entirety of the roster they don't have a ton of good size I don't think that's going to be a problem with this no with this North Carolina roster Kad and Davis are both like six foot but basically everybody else like some of the other guys are gonna get run in the back court whether it's um Seth Trimble or cor M Ryan coming in all like six5 and up yes yeah so like obviously their point guards are not going to be huge at six foot each right but I think like the overall size of the roster is going to be a benefit to them so now we talk now we're going to talk about the mystery team of the ACC uh and this is a team I think has the potential to make the NCAA tournament but some things have to go right for it and that's weak Forest first of all they lose their point guard uh Ty Tyree applebe to the pros Tyree applebe was the runner up for Player of the Year in this conference they also lose a nice shooter in shooting guard Daven Williams who moves on the pros and Bobby clitman uh who showed a lot of Promise especially in the second half for the last season unfortunately for Wake fans has moved on to play professionally in Australia and he will be automatically in this year's draft um so we will be watching him um now who comes back deari Monsanto uh a brilliant off the dribble shooter this guy can score from anywhere um not many people know him but man he can make some of the most difficult shots he's got really good size for a wing and uh unfortunately he got hurt at the end of the last season he's still recovering and we don't know if he's going to be ready to play the other returning really good player star potential like player is candr cam cam hildr uh from England London England and cam is just a scrappy scoring guard could score at all three levels I just love his game you know he's one of those guys that you know you know if he wasn't doing this he'd probably like be a boxer or something he's just really Scrappy uh they also bring in Andrew Carr back from uh Power Forward Matthew Marsh comes back at Center he's the conference's leading returner uh La La from last year for field goal percentage at 88.3 the guy never missed a shot and as a result of having a field goal percentage close to 90% he also is the leading returner for offensive rating at 151.50 uh they also bring back Joe Iuka who was a transfer last year and didn't get much time because he too got hurt and we're not sure he's going to be ready for the start of this season and then they have Zack Keller uh Clayton Conover and I interviewed Zack uh while he was still in high school uh he was a three four star guy barely played last year but he's still on the roster now they also bring in a whole bunch of transfers and one or and a couple of uh notable freshmen okay so in from the portal they get Hunter Salis a wing from Gonzaga really long athletic and can defend uh similarly to the next guy uh [ __ ] Kaka comes in a wing from UCLA he was a highly regarded Prospect especially in Europe um and he's only a sophomore I believe Fon Reed comes in also from zaga uh this is his second time transferring and he still hasn't gotten a waiver Uh Kevin Miller who missed most of last season at Central Michigan he uh is a candidate to start at point guard for this team uh at least as long as IA is out uh Miller had a really outstanding freshman season two years ago uh Marcus Marian comes in from the Danish uh basketball league and he put up really nice number over there he is a freshman and two other freshman that uh are top 150 guys are Parker Freedman he's a shooting guard and Aaron Clark a wing now why why do I say this is the mystery team well if mons Santos plays and Iuka plays and Reed gets the waiver and Miller Miller who also I think came up lame recently in a scrimmage and has coming off a season ending injury if all these guys are healthy and playing this is a great team you know would Balance size shooting but if not especially Monsanto Monsanto is the biggest piece if if he he will be the star of this team if he plays and is healthy uh but without them they're probably looking at mediocrity yeah I think um oh man where' he even start it's just a it's kind of like Pandora's box if you will or are you familiar with Schrodinger's cat I've heard of it but I forget it um so basically it's like this physicist who he goes all right so if I send you a cat in a box right in like in the mail up until you open the box all things whether it be the cat is dead the cat is alive there was never a cat up until the fact that you open the box and like the thing becomes reality up until it becomes reality all things are on the table and like equally on the table and so like up until we start playing basketball and we see who is available for this team you could tell me they finished second in the conference and you could finish you could tell me they finished like 12th in the conference and I believe it like right as you said if the best case things happen if masanto comes back if Miller turns out to be the guy they need at point guard I'm a little dubious that fan Reed is actually gonna play um just because I think the NCAA has been a little stricter with two time transfers this year specifically which he is yeah um and I don't know how much this factors in back when he was at LSU he had he was suspended for 10 games for receiving impermissible benefits I did not know that so I don't I don't know what that means but like to me does that make it less likely that he returns potentially um it we just like have to wait and see who's G to be actually available I really like the the talent on the team I really like the balance I think think Steve Forbes has done a really excellent job over the last couple of seasons like starting to really build a program and build a roster I agree can he get the guys in who are going to be in there for two three years and really build the program uh that's to be decided I think Salis and kka and Fon Reed could be those guys all of them have a couple of years of Eligibility left presuming that you know Reed gets his transfer in but um man it's it is H schroedinger's cat until they actually play is that um that uh whatever you want to call it that theory uh wasn't that talked about in the movie The Prestige pot it has been a long time since I've seen that movie so potentially it's great movie by the way folks Prestige but anyway we'll move on to Syracuse and Syracuse is losing Joe gerardi who we talked about earlier he's going to Clemson Center Jesse Edwards who was a shot blocking machine for that team last year he goes to West Virginia and Samir Torrance a combo guard moves on to Bingington coming back is Judah Mintz uh one of the best freshman in the conference last year thought about going pro but didn't Benny Williams a former four star comes back Malik Brown at Power Forward comes back Chris Bell who screwed us all up last year by changing his name in the middle of the season um he's a great shoo he comes back he's only a sophomore uh a couple other uh decent uh young guys coming in who were rated pretty highly Justin Taylor a wing and quader Copeland a combo guard now coming in one of the stars of the portal JJ Starling the combo Guard from Notre Dame who had an excellent freshman season for Notre Dame in some ways you know he he was a bit of a mixed bag it wasn't very efficient but the talent is there and I'm talking about NBA Talent uh ALS speaking of NBA Talent chance westrey who had a injury plagued season with alurn last year forstar guy uh he comes over from alurn and again this year he's been bothered by injuries uh last time I heard he's still hurt so we don't know if he's going to be ready for the uh regular season nahem McLoud comes in from Florida State and he's like 7 foot4 literally uh um he will try to take over for Jesse Edwards at the center spot and also Kyle cuff comes in a combo Guard from Kansas didn't get much run there uh former High recruit uh he did well at a recent skimage by the way um so he's looking good the thing I see with this team um you know you have Starling and Mintz maybe you know going to be one of the best backcourts in college basketball and you have guys like Benny Williams and Wester at the wings Chris Bell with the wings that's all nice but beside McLoud and Malik Brown there's no height on this team Ian you know and so if something happens to one of those guys um yeah but I expect them to go four you know four out one in you know oh yeah um because they really don't have any other options yeah I I really do think mint and Starling could be one of the best backcourts in the conference at least at least from a talent perspective easily one of the best bat courts in the conference yeah um also you were talking about Wester being injured and he is there is currently no listed timetable for his return right so that does that does not bode well for for him playing this year I mean they'll be they'll be fine I don't know I think it'll be interesting to see what they look like with without Jim beheim actually there yeah um giving autrey like a real chance to run the team He's Able with these with his transfer class to get some of like his guys in I know West is out right now but ay was the lead recruiter on chance westre when chance was still in high school and Syracuse was the first team to offer and like he talked a lot about that being why he chose Syracuse so I think like that magnetism and gravity could really help them build I think they'll be fine this year I think they'll be interesting I don't think they have the depth whether it be the depth at the talent level or the depth like you were saying with some of their big guys to to make a run I'm excited to see what uh nahem mcle can do with some real run this year he's been kind of all over the place at at uh Florida State like I think he could he could add something down low he's gonna have to right but what do you think about MIT and Starling both being super bold dominant um are they going to be able to play together It's Kind Kyrie it's kind of like Kyrie and Luca except Kyrie's nuts and I I would never sign Kyrie on my team ever but that's just me here's the other thing with both of those guards they love to attack the basket neither of them are great Shooters yet um so that's also a concern uh I mean I personally you know they're just too similar I'm just how do you make make it work um we shall see uh but you know they're they're very young and for all we know you know after a a whole off season maybe they're both shooting the ball better I hope so they're both super talented yeah like I think they both potentially have NBA chance most definitely most definitely yeah yeah they will definitely get drafted when they decide to come out all right so now we talk about Boston College who actually was a surprise last year um and uh they don't lose anything overly dramatic uh but then again they didn't really have a star last year uh they L they lose maai Ashton Langford a combo guard to graduation dear Langford who never really ever lived up to his recruiting rankings goes on to UCF and TJ Bickerstaff the coach's son not Boston College coach but the coach of who's Bickerstaff he coaches uh in the Wizards right I'm pretty sure it's the Cavs oh yeah right right right right uh anyway uh he moves on the sun moves on to uh James Madison so they bring back a bunch of players they're going to have a lot of continuity Quinton post Center was a a pleasant surprise he's another player from England in this conference Devin mcglaughlin I believe was a freshman last year he looked good he comes back um and Jaden Zachary a combo guard he played fairly well last year uh he he comes back Prince aligi comes back he's a small off forward he was a freshman last year Mason Madson shooting guard comes back and Donald Han who was a a decent recruit uh three star four star guy uh shooting guard who red shired last year he also returns now they don't have much coming in with all this all these players coming they don't have much coming in uh they have no um oh excuse me they have one freshman of note and that's power forward Center Jaden Hastings uh he's a top 200 guy three star guy he comes in and then they have claudell Harris a shooting guard for Charleston Southern who's actually pretty interesting player um he put up a lot of points uh last year uh 17.4 to be exact uh shot 46 from the field 33 from Deep 79 from the free throw line uh chipped in 3.9 rebounds 2.3 assists so he's uh obviously was a big- time score for Charleston Southern um and I think he's going to have an impact on this team as well so what do you make of the Eagles a really solid middle class team yeah I mean honest I think I think that's about it like they don't have the scoring punch I think at the end of the day to to Really contend with some of the higher level teams I love like my favorite thing in college basketball right now is teams that win are teams that get old and stay old and so I think like that continuity is going to be super helpful for them just like bringing everybody back I like some of the Inside Out game they've got with post and mton down low and I think codell Harris can really add that scoring punch um I think Zachary and Alby can take if they can take the next step maybe they can like get some wins in the ACC and sneak into the tournament on the back of like their ACC wins um the ACC is just like super open this year I think outside of what we think the top three is but just a really solid middle of the road ACC team yeah yeah and most of them can come back next year so I think maybe next year is uh a liby um was on the same high school team with Chad holgren and uh jayen Suggs so played some high Lev basketball in high scho right all right next up is Virginia Tech uh who made the NIT last year they were kind of on the bubble so they close to making the NCAA they lose two of their best players and forward Justin mutz uh who was a allaround forward um very athletic great defender he goes on to the pros and Grant Basile uh who was a very nice passer uh could shoot the ball some and also score inside very valuable player for them and they also lose Darius Maddox uh to George Mason uh Maddox was once considered you know a rising star for this team but I forget what happened last year that he had to leave the team for a while and then he did stayed away and instead of coming back this year he decided to go to George Mason now coming back though is a nice core sha B padulla the point guard Hunter Couture shooting guard both of these guys can shoot they're smart players uh Rodney rice will probably be a part of the starting lineup as well he's a combo guard um and he kind of displaced Maddox uh as that like Sixth Man last year they also Lynn kid uh former player uh former Clemson player has uh nice length nice size can be a can be a potent shot blocker and that will be needed uh if um I think one of their keys to success is whether kid turns out to be a good rim protector this year um they also bring back some some young players who didn't play much last year combo guard MJ Collins uh my legel boy oh man uh we're just going to say Miley okay so Miley poti uh Power Forward Center and John Camden a combo forward coming in are three solid forwards from other programs these guys um all can shoot to some degree all can rebound have good size they're like 67 68 69 and that's uh maai long a small forward from Old Dominion Tyler nickel power forward from UNCC and Robbie Baron a power Ford from Northwestern they also have uh coming in as a freshman Brandon uh re Steiner a point guard who was a top 150 recruit so what do you make of Virginia Tech I think they could potentially push for a like pretty reasonably push for an instl tournament bid I think they're probably going to end up passing it like right so last year they finished below Boston College Below Syracuse below wig forest all these teams we've already talked about and I think it's pretty reasonable that they can finish ahead of some of the the teams we just talked about um they had that stretch of like one and seven last year was it yeah yeah like they went 11 and one and then lost yeah seven in a row and I just think they bring back all three of their starting guards really good they've got some dep in the front court with some of the bigs they bring back I think Baron and maai long and even nickel as you said all three are going to give them versatility and potential bodies like high level bodies to play in the front Court as well and that canst stretch the court I I don't think this team has the star power to like contend for the NCAA tournament title or anything like that but I think this team could surprise some teams in the regular season C especially with their shooting right catch some teams when they're sleeping um and like get some sneaky good wins and like push for an N tournament bid yeah this team reminds me a little bit of Clemson you know in in their ability to shoot um yeah so but it's like can they play defense right exactly because Mike young runs a beautiful offense uh lot of motion lot of you know working off the ball to get the good shot but last year they did not play good defense part of the reason was they didn't have a rim protector and that's why I'm saying you know if ly Kidd turns out to be a defensive force uh or even just a you know a a good Defender um you know this team can definitely finish uh toward the top of the uh conference I mean he only played 12 minutes last year 12 minutes a game and basically had like a rebound and a half in 12 minutes so I certainly wouldn't say he's a rebounding presence no no no no um does the size though what is he about 611 uh yeah 611 610 yeah and he's long too he's oh he's length is definitely yes all right so next up is Florida State who um you know just had another disappointing year they've never received to recover from that covid year when they were one of the favorites to win it all uh what they lose from this team is of course we mentioned nahem McLoud moving on to Syracuse also Caleb Mills Wing moves on to Memphis and probably their star player from M last year Matthew Cleveland though he underachieved he still was the esteem star player uh he moves on to Miami so who comes back Baba Miller who we will talk to later in this episode Cameron Corin who had a nice freshman season last year uh at Center for this team Jaylen warley combo guard comak Cameron Fletcher Daren green nice shooter at Wing Chandler Jackson another sophomore combo guard and Deontay green I think he's also a sophomore coming in uh still uh there as power forward so a lot of continuity a lot of these guys were high recruits um and of course Baba Miller was highly regarded too being in uh playing in the real real Madrid system for a number of years before he came to Florida State so coming in as a recruit we have Taylor Bowen power forward uh number 73 in a composite rank jir Watkins is probably the top transfer forward from uh VCU has a lot of athleticism um some shot creation uh he's never quite got the consistent playing time at VCU uh this might be a perfect fit for him in a system where uh coach Hamilton likes to use a lot of players but uh Watkins has a nice combination of size and athleticism Primo Spears uh coming off a um a nice year at least in terms of uh passing and running the Georgetown offense uh he's a little point guard and Josh nickelberry a shooting guard from LEL also joins the team so what do you make of this Florida State team lot like Boston College a lot of City here feel like I'm just waiting on them to get back to where they have been right like as you said they kind of haven't recovered since covid it's like they haven't had the I was really hoping Caleb Mills was going to be the guy um kind of like that one ball handler that guy that kind of stir the drink especially off the dribble and he just he wasn't um he wasn't able to get that but this team is super talented Jaylen warley Baba Miller Cameron Fletcher even Taylor Bowen Primo spear like this team has the talent I think I'm really curious to see what does like their Guard Leadership look like um does warley is he able to kind of step into that lead gar Handler or is primo Spears able to be that guy is nickelberry able to be that guy I think this team has the talent I like Watkins I think Bowen could add some really like I know they lost Cleveland I think that's a pretty big deal but I think Bowen can give you a lot of the same things um that he had Off the Bench I mean probably again another like middle of the pack ACC team but it does really feel like a Leonard Hamilton team though right like a lot of length lot of eyes lot of athleticism I feel like there was like a decade straight that they had a seven-footer on their team um I'm excited I I think they continue to bring in good guards from the portal but can they mesh that Talent with some of that guard play that they're bringing in yeah they're definitely gonna need to find some shooting that's that was a big problem for them last YearOne none of these guys historically have been good Shooters no um so that that's a problem um yeah I mean Nick nickelberry is at for his career 36% yeah not bad that's not terrible but I I definitely would say a lot of the returners um that know the system whether it be Miller Fletcher on the wing like none of them are are definitely known for being Shooters right right all right so now we'll move on to Georgia Tech uh Georgia Tech who we talked about with our guest Miles Kelly we we'll probably won't talk about them so long because we talked miles about the team quite a bit but just a review they lose uh probably their best player last year next to Miles Kelly and that's Javon Franklin who was a force undersized Center for them he's moved on to the pros and uh Davon Smith point guard moves on to Utah among others Kelly comes back uh his uh fellow uh junior D Coleman comes back they they make a nice combination in the back court also Lance Terry comes back and Kyle Stant comes back at point guard so a lot of returning coming back in the back court and they are joined by kwisi Reeves uh from Florida a former High recruit really good Defender very good athlete uh hasn't quite put it together yet but uh the potential is there for I mean we're talking NBA potential type you know in terms of athleticism and defense and uh got to improve in the shooting Department and uh they also bring in back uh in some um interesting people from the portal which we talked about with Miles I won't review that but the one thing I that I took away from the interview with Miles because one of the things I said was you know to him was you know this team your team looks loaded with guards and and wings look like you're really going to be competitive but where you know who's gonna who's G to be the guy you know the bigs on this team and the person he pointed out was ba uh and Dongo uh the Freshman um and he seemed to think that b was going to have an impact right away and he is number 126 in the Freshman composite rankings so your thoughts on Georgia Tech I think they'll be fine again like I I feel like we're just kind of in that glut right of like these are the teams in the middle um that are going to kind of be there I think I think uh Claude the transfer from Western Carolina could be be pretty impactful for them right we were talking about them bringing back some of the guys especially in the guard positions but will they have will they have that size down low um Claude at least I mean granted sure it's Western Carolina but like averaged 15 and eight last year you know like if that can if that can translate even if he can get to I man not the size I was hoping for at 6' s but like still some size down low some semblance of somebody who doesn't play a guard right right man I think it's going to be it's gonna be tough sledding for them if if we're being honest but I think like as you said miles Kelly's really good their guards are really good um if Reeves can can get some potential maybe we're looking at like a really fun offensive team that can steal a couple of wins here and there yeah yeah no yeah and I think kapari uh really never got a chance at UMass and I think he has a chance to to be one of the forwards on this team the big thing you know to me is The Bigs you know how are they going to match up there yeah uh you know with some of the teams that have like the Botts and the filipowski that's going to be tough they're basically gonna have to try to outrun them yes which is fun I'm here for that I love that if there was a league pass for college basketball they might be a high League Pass team right probably not but maybe who knows all right so we only got two teams left and one of those is Notre Dame uh and as we said Mike braid left and he probably picked a perfect time to leave do you want to skip Notre Dame no are you sure over over or under like two conference wins wow W you're killing me you do know that I I bleed green right that I I didn't make that choice for you I'm sorry all right as far as I can tell as far as I can tell on the zoom screen there is no gun to your head making you be a Notre Dame fan well I I I'm not going to switch uh but anyway so uh the Irish lose a ton um including JJ Starling their prize freshman from last year and in that then that senior class uh that had seemingly been around forever they all moved on to the pros uh Dane Goodwin Nate lefy uh Trey warts Marcus Hammond uh they also lost uh their best freshman from last year Van Allen Luben who looked really good uh he goes to vanderbel and cor MC Ryan of course went to Stanford so the only player who actually play North Carolina what did I say Stanford oh yeah right he started at Stanford right right right right uh Matt Zona is the only player played significant minutes last year for the team uh and he's not a great player um so this team you know they have a decent recruiting class led by Carrie Booth a power forward who was number 59 in the com com uh composite rankings and they also have you know three other guys uh that ranked between 150 and 200 that are coming in Marcus Burton point guard Brandon shuberry shooting guard Logan uh Logan IMS uh a combo guard at 198 shuberry brings in ke from Ohio guy Dayton Ohio guy okay Kei from Penn State uh was a big uh didn't play a lot last year as a freshman and Ty Davis comes in forward from SE Hall he's probably gonna be the leading scorer on this team if the Freshman Booth is not I mean I do legitimately think like Carrie boo could be a very good player um I I was pretty surprised that Shrewsberry was able to get him to Notre Dame honestly like I don't remember off the top of my head who else he was looking at but I I think he's really sneaky he grew um or he really just exploded up the rankings over the last kind of year and I think is a really really skilled highly athletic smart um basketball player that could be that could be pretty good um I'll be honest I'm not too impressed about watching or too thrilled about watching those Dame this year so I it's just a it's just kind of a holding year honestly for shry get be last there's no doubt in my mind the Irish are gonna be in last place yes I I don't think it's gonna be particularly close right right last uh Team on our list is Louisville who was just absolutely Dreadful I could list everything that they were last in this conference in uh well let's just put it this way they were last in offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency fact defensive efficiency was the fourth worst in the country last year bad sign uh turnover percentage was the 11th worst in the country last year um so anybody they lose they probably think is probably not such a bad deal but I also think it's a sign that Kenny Payne uh because a lot of these guys they they lost are former High recruits and Kenny pay might already be on the hot seat uh the big guy they lose is l who led this team in scoring and assists we talked about Withers going to North Carolina Kamari L goes to ASU Sydney Curry the big Center goes to gr Canyon Roosevelt wheeler another big Center goes to VCU Devin ree a forward goes to Louisiana Tech who's left Brandon Huntley Hatfield former fourstar uh Mike James uh former fourstar I believe comes back at the wing on the half field as a power forward they also have a couple of guys who didn't get a lot of playing time last year but were uh fairly highly regarded freshman coming in and that's JJ trainer and Emanuel okaf for now from the portal the basically uh their top two guys are kind of underperforming former fourstar guys and Trey white uh Wing coming in from USC sky Clark coming in point guard from Illinois uh Sky actually left the team last year about about a third way in um and then just didn't come back just just announced he was going to transfer uh and then they bring in a very uh respectable actually very good recruiting class all four of their recruits are top 80 uh in the composite rankings including Center Dennis Evans at number one or excuse me number 27 they also bring in small forward Caleb Glenn uh small forward Curtis Williams and tyor Johnson a point guard I don't see Louisville being any worse than last year how good can this team be oh man this team is not quite at the level of uh of wake forest's Pandora's box or shinger cat but I do think this is like a team like we talk about Talent like JJ trainer really talented high school player Brandon Hunley Hatfield really Talent ented high school player Trey white sky Clark like there's a ton of talent um I do think that they'll they'll probably finish in the bottom three just because of how young they are right um but I do really like a lot of the talent I'm not as quick to be like hey Kenny Payne's on the hot seat especially I know he didn't get him but he was so close to getting DJ Wagner uh to come in this year like to me that there's just there's something there I don't see Louisville go like I don't know he's still just a really big name been pretty successful recruiting but just like can he build I think we need to see some building blocks this year we need to be able to like squint and look and say all right this is a good there is there are things here to build with and work on and you're right we didn't see that last year at all um I'm I'm I'm intrigued to watch it I'm excited to see sky Clark and Trey white play Dennis edin Dennis Ed Evans definitely needs to bulk up a little but was probably the best defensive Center in all of high school basketball last year um and Caleb Glenn I really like I think I would probably has him have him as like a top 50 guy honestly so I I'm I'm excited to watch him do I think they're gonna be like great no do I think they're gonna be fun yes so if you're here for the Vibes League Pass Louisville and Georgia Tech for the bottom to to not finish in the bottom that's what we're here for right this team lost trit flowers yes big deal not not too long ago and he is for who don't know is probably like an oversized guard he's got size of a forward but he thinks he's an oversized guard well right and he wanted to play point guard for this team and apparently Kenny Payne wasn't too keen on him being point guard and he left to go play professionally in Australia well you know he started with one NBL team and they like played him at point guard for like five games and then he left them too no way I didn't know that yeah he's been much better he's he like landed with another NBL team um and from what I don't know if they like convinced him to not play point guard but uh from what I've heard he has been a lot more successful um with that with that next NBL team I will have to look into that because obviously he's uh on our draft board uh and um obviously we haven't got into uh evaluating European players yet because we haven't even finished previewing the college season so all right so which team wins this conference I think we both I already know we already said who we think is going to win do we agree on this yeah we I like Duke I love that I I also like Duke all right so yeah I think I think Miami is in the running I think Miami's in the running but um I think Duke's pretty solid favorite yeah I I even would like man I think if North Carolina hits their highest outcome I think there's like a legitimate chance that um that North Carolina finishes above Miami possible yeah I I I'm a big Elliot CDO fan really like the shooting they bring in um oh man that that Duke North Carolina game is going to be going to be real fun this year yeah I I not as big of a believer in like popper as being like an off the dribble guy and and so outside of a outside of Nigel pack I just don't know if they're gonna have the offense okay fair enough fair enough so what teams do you think in this conference in addition to Duke make it as at large bids to the NCAA I mean Miami and North Carolina I think are basically locks yes I would almost put Clemson as a lock as well I like really I want to do that I really like a lot of their pieces I like their depth um man those are the locks I actually think I'd have Virginia as the fifth team and Syracuse as the sixth again wake Force yeah wake fors no no that's the same order I would put them oh okay you would have Q 6 yeah okay yeah and then maybe like Wake Forest again like we said sh Schrodinger's cat Pandora's Box maybe I don't Virginia Tech maybe I don't really see anybody else I don't see Florida State I don't see pit I don't see Georgia Tech I don't see NC State like probably five teams six right well you're you have six listed I have six listed and they're the same same six um you wrote too much so I didn't look at yours when I wrote mine down well I wrote about what happens if they got an extra bit first of all this would be we're both predicting they get one more bid than last year and I think this conference is better than last year I don't think of returning yeah so I I think this conference I think you know very few teams in this conference are taking a step backwards except for maybe Virginia Notre Dame everybody else seems to be moving forward you know um so what I found interesting about last year was the difference between like the 10th best team and the fourth best team was really not much of a difference and I think it's going to be just that way this year so I wouldn't actually be surprised if this team this league got seven bids I wouldn't be shocked uh and the two teams that I like the best that we didn't put in the tournament are wake in Florida State I think you're right I think this Florida State team kind of has a look of the old style Florida State teams and the question is where will the offense come from all right so player of the year um I think uh we're going with the same guy there too I hate I hate agreeing it's boring bad yeah Philip Philip howski from d i mean I think he's pretty unquestionably the best player maybe not the maybe maybe not the best player I don't know there there's an argument but he's going to be the best player on the best team um he's going to score he I think he could push 20 points a game this year he's just so versatile he's gonna be in better shape than he was last year he surprisingly didn't score as well around the hoop as I had hoped for so I think even that he's going to get better um man some of the other people I think could contend big PJ hall guy I like like The Bigs and the versatility there my my two sneaky ones with be Nigel pack like I think that off the dribble shot creation he's going to be leaned on a lot in Miami if they somehow make it to the top of the conference like I think he's gonna he's gonna be the guy he's gonna be the reason and I actually think the other sneaky pick is none other than filipowski teammate Tyrese Proctor um he's going to be leading the charge offensively for the Blue Devils the ball is going to be in his hand a lot over the second half of last season he shot particularly well from the three-point line and so that's going to give him some of that um space creation he's going to get a lot of attention to spray the ball out when he gets downhill a big fan of like I I I just think a lot of times you see ball handlers are the ones who end up winning I Judah Min could make a run for it Miles Kelly could make a run for it um I don't know maybe Couture or padulla probably Couture could like there's a couple a couple of guys I could see like make a a sneaky run for it and get in the top five but to me it's Philip howski PJ Hall Nigel pack and then Proctor is probably in that next group maybe mince is in the next group okay I too think filipowski is pretty solid pick my second choice would be PJ Hall but that's where we differ a little uh nadir would have been my third choice uh and and Reese beakman too I think he uh has a very good shot though I do think Virginia's taking a step backwards this year uh he would probably be my fourth choice mints would be up there and we haven't mentioned Bott no amondo Bon and I think the only reason he won't get a lot of votes is people are bored with him they're just like go to the pros already you're you're not wrong it's like voter fatigue for college athletes yeah yeah all right so now before we wrap this up we're going to roll an interview I did earlier today with Baba Miller from Florida State and we'll ask him some of those questions that have been with uh we've been talking about in our analysis all righty today we have a special guest Florida State forward Baba Miller as a freshman last season Baba was an all ACC academic selection and this summer he won a gold medal while playing for the Spanish under 19 national team in the World Cup welcome to the show buba how are you doing today hey I'm good how are you doing I I am doing well I am doing well uh did you uh do anything special for Halloween no no went to sleep early had class in the morning so right right um I got dressed up as a uh a tall thin young guy who knew something about basketball so there are so many things because you have an interesting story that I have to ask you um so we'll start off from the beginning um you were born in Spain on the Mediterranean island of uh mayorca and uh you were playing in the real M uh Real Madrid system at the age of 12 uh it should be noted that between 14 and 19 you grew nine inches but when you originally joined up with them you weren't anywhere close to 7 feet so so please take me a little bit through that Journey um H how does that happened how does re Real Madrid find you at 12 and how do you end up at Florida State well when I got some Madrid at 8 I just played for like a a local team just I don't know just you know to have fun when you're a little kid and stuff but as you get close to age of 12 there's like a big jump from playing in like the lower Hoops to like the actual like ROM man hoops and that's when Real Madrid starts uh recruiting you so I got a phone call my parents talk to the to people that run the the youth teams and and my parents thought it was a good opportunity for me so so I joined the team at 12 and I played there till I was 18 first years were a little bit hard because I was a little bit underdeveloped physically my teammates were a little bit like bigger stronger than me so I didn't really get that much playing time and stuff but then when I hit that like 14 15 year age I grew I grew a lot like from 15 to 16 I grew a lot that one year I don't remember how much it was but I grew a lot and that was a turning point for me from being just a average player to to start like I don't know getting better at the game and get recognition for it right and and once I finished my youth uh years with Real Madrid it was either stay in Europe play professional or or whatever or come to States and and keep studying while I can play basketball so I chose to take this route okay and was there anything in particular that Drew you to Florida State specifically uh I would just say the system and the people because I got to came here on a visit in May 2022 and I got to meet everyone coach ham Coach Jones coach Smith everyone all of my teammates well most of them and it was just like a great Vibe just everybody was cool nice and and I just felt like like home when I got here so I really like knew once I got here that this was a place for me okay and to get started playing basketball when you when you were a little boy um was there any anything that Drew you to that like you know did anyone in your family you know very successful with basketball or did you just just take to the game no my mom just put me into basketball cuz she saw that I was tall she put me in I liked it so I just stuck with it just my love for the game just grew throughout the years right right okay so this summer you know you won a gold medal uh under 19 national team uh what was that experience like that was great it was so much fun just being able to go back home play with teammates that I've played with like years in Madrid and years in the national team it was just a cool experience being able to be there for a months just practicing and working for the same goal everybody has to win the the World Cup and then the tournament just being able to travel because of basketball meet new countries uh play against the best players in in our age group in the world it was just a cool experience right right um so uh I'm his name is escaping me but uh did you play with the the you the the guy big guys going to UCLA Mar no I never never played with him yeah but I know who he is okay I thought he was on the national team okay um so while you were doing that or around that time the senior team was playing in the senior World Cup FEA World Cup so did you pay attention to to that uh you know that tournament yeah I actually got the chance to practice with them for a week during their preparation nice because they played in late August so was back home at the beginning of a of August so they invited me and a few more uh teammates to go practice with them so so was a cool experience very nice very nice of course uh Spain uh didn't um I don't think they're automatically qualified for the Olympics are they no they have to play the fee window right right yeah that's unfortunate Europe seems to get squeezed out of that um where you know most of the good teams in the world are in Europe but they only can take so many um Spain looked good though you know considering uh you know their injuries and uh young point guard stuff like that yeah so yeah all right so let's talk about uh Florida State what's the first word that comes to mind when I say coach Hamilton uh great greatness feel like like he's done so much for so many people like I don't feel like many people that could say bad things about Coach H he always just looks out for his players for his G for his coaching staff for the medical staff for everyone around him so so I just think greatness is a good word to the SC question I asked myself that same question and I think my answer would have been father father yeah when I look at him he's like he's like the father that everyone always you know well if you know would always want you know that type person um all right so it seems to me now this is just conjecture opinion uh but Florida State has yet to recover from the covid year now that was before your time but at the time the seminal were just a handful of t uh teams to pick to win it all and in fact I was like totally convinced they were going to win it all that year now we're talking 2020 and I know there's nothing that can be done about it but how how much does that disappointment of that great season that great team and everything being cancelled Loom over that team oh no it's it's just I mean at that point in time I didn't really know about college hoops I was just like in Europe just focus on my own thing but like coming here and learn about the past teams of Florida State how good they were looking back at it it's just it's just amazing to see how this system actually like works when actually do it right when you do the right steps when you listen to a coaches and do whatever they ask for so it's just cool watching that team specifically with Trent with Devon with Pat all these great players like it's just cool watching it and it's a it's a shame they could have win it all but I think a lot of us know that that might have been the outcome of that season yeah yeah Dayton Dayton of course uh even you know a small school uh they too suffered the same fate very unfortunate we never got to see that that tournament all right so last season you were limited to just 15 games because of NCAA rules and the team finished 12th in the ACC in my opinion you know when when I look back at the season know three main issues I saw uh shooting efficiency turnovers and defense and the last one is usually not something you say is a problem at Florida State have those issues been discussed and what about this year's team gives you confidence that things will be better this season uh yeah we've addressed all all the problems we had last year and just try to build off that and get better and and what gives me confidence about this team is just the level of buying everybody has this year everybody's willing to work and and get better and and listen to coaches and what they got to say how how we should do stuff like everybody's really bought in and for example a shooting efficiency like we got a lot of Shooters this year we got great Shooters this year like Darren Josh even the wings like jir me Cameron like we got so many shooters on this team this year so that gives me confidence then on defense we're doing a lot of stuff that we didn't do last year and when it comes to communicating switches to like helping when you even shouldn't have to help like everybody's just just running around being disrupted like like Florida state in the past so so that just Fu us up to to try to be like the good teams like 2020 with with all the good guys that here right right so you just mentioned one my next question you kind of partially answered already I was going to ask you stylistically how will this team be different now you're saying we're going to get back to that hard hard-nosed pressure Florida State Defense that everyone's familiar with how about on the offensive end is is there going to be a different look this year on that end oh we we look a lot better on office because we we brought in a lot of guys that can play make that can score and we got a lot of Shooters this year like I said so we can be a threat from the perimeter but we still have the the tools to be uh Above the Rim finishing team so so I think it's going to be fun our offense but defense is what going to make us different we got points we just got to make or defense how it used to be I think we're on try right right so what particular teammates including the new guys uh have you know you think have had a very strong uh offseason preseason well you know like I really think everybody on the team worked their ass off oh excuse my Lang work their tail off uh in the offseason but I don't know I would see cam Coran in the gym every day Darren Green myself uh then when the new guys came in I started working out every day with jir Watkins I was see Josh and Tom shooting in the mornings every day um I would see everybody working Taylor everybody was in the gy this offseason so I think that helped us a lot just individually for everyone to gain confidence more confidence in their game and then collectively working out together just created more Chemistry Between Us and more understanding of each other on the court right right and for those who don't aren't Florida State like you know Die Hard fans you're talking about Taylor bow freshman forward uh jir Watkins transfer from VCU I've always been a big fan of uh J's game uh Primo Spears is coming in a point guard from Georgetown and also Josh nickelberry shooting guard from Lal so there's some of the new guys um all right so you know you you kind of have uh interesting options at point guard uh you have Primo uh big assist guy last last year you got uh Jaylen who was second on the team I believe last year and assist you have Chandler who's just a sophomore correct Y and then you have yourself who played a lot you know in pick and roll so uh who do you think is going to be the primary lead guard in this offense uh I couldn't say but the end of the day Florida state is four guards and one big everybody does the same on the perimeter but you know we're GNA need a lot of leadership from Jaylen warley this year Primo SPS he's a dog on defense he's a leader on offense so he's going to be good for us Chandler is taking big steps for us and then like anyone else could really like move up to that position if we needed to since everybody has to do the same things on offense so but yeah I think all of our point guards are really good this year n help a lot right in typical Florida State fashion you should be able to throw a lot of guys out there yes sir so how about you uh what about yourself what about your game do you think has developed over the off season uh I think I've worked a lot on getting to my spots so if I got a smaller guard on me I'm po them up every time if I got a bigger guard on me I'm G take him out to the perimeter and play from there uh I worked a lot on my shot last year I had a a hard a hard year with my shot but but I think it's it's coming back how it used to be and and then just playmaking I just really like playmaking for my team it might not be coming off of uh ball screen or or whatever but I can pass I can dribble hit a back door I can skip pth like I really like finding my teammates and just creating ball movement within the offense so right I'm looking forward to that right typical European style um all right so what do you think you know we've talked you know talked about the team in general what are realistic goals for the seminal this season realistic goals I mean be better than last year obviously but we would want to have a a positive win record uh I could I would say I don't know our ideal season would be being in the top four of the ACCC that would be the ideal plan and making it to March Madness I think that's the main goal we got making it a postseason tournament get in there and just just competing yeah um you know we're doing our AC preview this week and I look at this conference and I look at teams three through 12 and man I could see I could see anybody finishing third in this conference um just just about um I think the first two you know I think pretty much people are confident about Duke and Miami um and but I think everything else is wide open um so lastly uh you've been inv involved with professional basketball since the age of 12 so which is wild to me uh what are some of your interests outside of college basketball or outside of basketball like interest outside of basketball yeah anything could be another sport could be could be movies could be music oh oh know just say Just Like Music video games I'm video game and movies just hanging out with my friends just just doing normal social activities going out for food with my friend right yeah nothing nothing so you have nothing you have no specific hobby you use to kind of like you know get clear your head and me I I just watch YouTube or like Netflix or whatever right yeah if not I'll just hang out with my teammates and and you listen to the show of course yeah all right uh Baba I want I want to thank you so oh I got one more question since you're European I almost asked anybody who was born in Europe this question because it's my secret love not so secret do you watch F1 and do you have a favorite driver I don't really watch F1 although my friends back home everybody watches it but but no I say Fernando Alonso Spanish yes but I don't really watch f for him like that right yeah Fernando had a a a glorious start to the season but since then they the whole the car isn't functioning for him so anyway um so if you want to relax on a Sunday turn on F1 it's good stuff yes sir all right so babba I I really want to thank you for uh joining us today I I wish you and the team the best this season I think you have uh one of the best coaches in the country uh Team looks deep looks athletic it looks like it has great size um I think you're going to be right up there in in the upper half of the of the conference uh and and uh oh I forgot you also have one of the best SIDS in the country and Chuck Chuck W yes sir yes and uh so please come back and visit us uh after the season um and and let us know uh how the season went and what's next yes sir appreciate you all right have a great season thank you all right it was great to talk to Baba International player played in the World Cup this year for under 19 that was a fun chat so um that's it for this show um and as always if I want to thank our listeners and I certainly want to thank Caleb and I want to thank our two guests Miles Kelly and Baba Miller and if you ever miss an episode you can always get caught up at Hoops prospects.com we'll be back very soon to preview the big 12 Conference uh two things before we go a as we as we speak Duke is looking really good in their exhibition game versus division three team happening right now looking really good um and then rip to Bobby Knight who passed away about an hour ago did he really he did really yes um so truly like obviously he's got a complicated Legacy but one of the greatest coaches in college basketball that I know lots of people will like truly and genuinely Miss yeah yeah um right uh knew he was very ill um I I've always considered Bobby Knight to be the greatest college basketball coach of all time they don't really run down his coaching tree so much but I always thought he got the most out of the least um of course his methods could obviously um be debated uh um but uh he's always been to me the best coach and the tutor of your Mike sheski so who of who you know I want to argue as the best coach right exactly all right all right folks I I don't like to end on a sad note but uh yeah um we will definitely miss Bobby Knight he was um he was a character and a great coach [Music] [Music] yeah yeah [Music]