NC State vs. UCF Auburn Regional Preview + Elliott Avent's Last Dance | Tuffy Talk Live

Pack Nation — Elliott Avent gets one more shot. Tonight we break down everything you need to know before Friday.

NC State heads to Auburn as the #3 seed for the third time as a regional site. First up — UCF at 6 PM on ESPN+ Friday. The Knights are 31-21 under third-year head coach Rich Wallace and earned one of six Big 12 at-large bids. Their ace Camden Wicker and senior outfielder DeAmez Ross are names to know. This is a very winnable game for the Pack — and one they have to win to extend Avent's career one more weekend.

Beat UCF and NC State would face the winner of #4 national seed Auburn vs. Milwaukee Saturday. Last year in Auburn, the Pack went 2-2 and lost to the Tigers 11-1 in the regional final. Unfinished business.

Then we talk about what this season meant. 32-22. Sneaking into the field as one of the last teams in. Rett Johnson's historic freshman season. The road struggles. The Miami series win. And what Elliott Avent's 30-year legacy actually looks like when you put it all together — 10 NCAA Regionals in the last 11 seasons, 1,103 wins, three College World Series trips.

Chris Hart is ready. But first — at least one more weekend with the legend who built it.

#GoPack #NCState #WolfpackNation #TuffyTalkLive #PackBaseball #AuburnRegional #ThankYou9

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Transcript

Welcome & Show Open — Layton & Greg

SPEAKER_00 1:54

What is going on, Wolfpack Nation? Welcome to another edition of the Tuffy Talk Live Show. You got myself Layton Smith and Greg Deleg here ready to go. And we're excited as the NC State baseball 2026 season is continuing on.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

And more importantly, the Elliott Avon era is continuing for at least one more weekend. So, with that being said, if you've been with us for you know the drill, but any questions, comments, questions, or sorry, I already said questions, questions, comments, concerns uh that you have, make sure to put them in the chat and we will get to them here today as we are talking a lot of baseball, which Greg, I know that is your happy place here to say the least. So uh so this can be a fun episode for you.

SPEAKER_03 2:35

Yeah, I'm excited. Not that my voice I'm excited. Uh no, I really am excited.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

No, the best part about that is I I like I truly don't think you actually like yeah, I mean, like you didn't catch like how unexcited that sounded, but yeah, no, you know.

SPEAKER_03 2:54

No, you were you hyped me all up, and then I'm like, yeah, I'm excited.

unknown 2:58

I'm excited.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

So that being said, also do want to apologize as well for the slight delay here, as well as uh we had some behind the scenes issues that need to get taken care of here, but we are here and we are excited, and we are in the regional. Um, so NC

How NC State Got Into the NCAA Tournament

SPEAKER_01 3:14

State uh shockingly enough, was not even one of the last four teams in Greg. Uh, you know, uh, which I know a lot of people right now are just harping on measuring Mercer versus NC State. And well, why did NC State get in, but Mercer didn't? Which, first of all, hey, listen, you know, with NC State shisnet being a thing, still uh all oh well. Hey, you know, I'm I'm the fact that we weren't even like it wasn't apparently that close. Hey, I'll take it. You know, that it doesn't happen often. But also, too, as well as it's I mean, how shocked I guess were you, Greg? Is a good question to start off with. Uh, you we weren't even in the last four in.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

Yeah, sorry, I don't know if it was me or you having technical difficulties. Uh my browser was doing some funky stuff, so I don't know what you had asked or said. Well, but I think it had something to do with if I'm shocked in the last four in. Is that a true statement? That is a true statement, good sir.

unknown 4:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 4:17

Um, yeah, some there's some really bad lag, and I apologize. I don't know if again if that's you or me. Um I don't know. Like we talked about it a couple weeks ago about RPI and and you know, you know, the strength of the schedule for the non-conference. Was that gonna come back and bite us? Uh when you end up playing the top seven seeds in the ACC out of your 10 weekend series now, uh taking into consideration we were the nine seed. Um, so really you only had like a couple more opportunities to play quote unquote the top 10. Uh, it was a hell of an ACC schedule. And I think we get credit for that going 14 and 16, and arguably, well, I don't know if it's even arguably like like the ACC had the second most

The Committee's Reasoning — Schedule Strength & Metrics

SPEAKER_03 5:01

bids in this tournament. And I think the the committee did reward state for playing in the second toughest conference, almost going 500. Um, and you know, things that we thought would be negatives actually weren't as negative as we thought they might end up being for us based off of what this committee's criteria was.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Yeah. Uh sorry, I just switched uh Wi-Fi's here within this Smith household here. So hopefully that helps a little bit here. But yeah, no, I mean, definitely for me, and and and luckily enough, too, as well. It was uh it was a good thing that it NC State being announced was pretty early in the show, too, as well. So I think that definitely played a favor to us as well. That it's not like we had to sweat to one of the last two regionals or something like that to figure out if we're in or not. Um, well, yeah, listen, you know, it's just just like you said, like like the fact that NC State, sorry, that that AC has seven regional hosts uh in the ACC. I mean, that's that says a lot to say to Lisa in terms of uh the schedule. Seven hosts, that's not right, is it? No, no, no. Sorry, seven, seven ACC teams, I think is what I meant meant to say. Seven AC teams in is it seven or nine?

SPEAKER_03 6:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Either way, it's a lot of people. I don't know, sir.

SPEAKER_03 6:15

I I was traveling all day. You could be right. I apologize. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Well, the speak well, since we are going to talk about seven, uh another seven stat here is that seven of NC State's uh weekend series came against top eight ACC teams, which is the toughest schedule in the conference in that metric. So that is something I can confirm. Uh which just like you said, so you know, definitely played in NC State's favor compared to our Mercer team that got the breaks uh beat off them by Florida State and Oregon State. Uh, you know, not to say we didn't have our bad share of bad losses, too.

SPEAKER_03 6:50

No, and I think I think what they're really hanging their hat on is beating that winning that Georgia Tech midweek game. I think that's what they're trying to, you know, put all their eggs in that basket. And look, it was a good win. Uh, there's there's no doubting that. I know they had a strong RPI, um, you know, and that was kind of the argument for and against state. It was like, you know, we were hovering right. I think we I think we ended up at 51

Comparing NC State's Resume to Other Bubble Teams

SPEAKER_03 7:14

when it was all said and done, and Mercer was like 36, 39, something like that. And when you look at the resume, we talked about it like last week's episode, uh, how the 22 state team kind of got left out with the resume. Well, welcome to the party, Mercer. Like, been there, done that. We were kind of very similar uh resumes, and we got left out. And and and and here's the and here's here's where I don't know if you want to call it the uneducated or the casual fan uh that um they're gonna root for the little guy, right? They're gonna want to see the mid-majors. And I and I agree with that. Like, I I think in order to grow the game, um, you need some of these mid-majors in there to kind of make it fun, right? That's kind of what makes March Madness so much fun with regards to basketball, is seeing those upsets. Um I like, you know, the argument about Kentucky going 13 and 17 and like losing to Missouri and South Carolina. I get that argument. Um, I think that's a fair argument. But again, if we're if we're if we're gonna start splitting hairs with these teams, what would a Mercer look like in the SEC, right? What would an NC state look like in, I think it's the SOCON, I think is where Mercer plays if if my memory is is correct there. Um like state probably goes undefeated. I'm I know we lost a Lafayette, and I I know I'm getting a little hyperbably here. But again, and I know that's not a fair comparison. And the little guy's like, well, what else can I do? You know, I I I did schedule Georgia Tech, I scheduled this team, I scheduled that team. I I I tried to do what the quote unquote committee is looking for. Um yeah, uh it's tough. Uh, you know, last year Troy got left out and they got put in this year. Uh you're gonna have these snubs, right? And and the the arguments, well, go to go to 68 teams, go to 72 teams. Well, you're always gonna have this argument. Someone's going to be left out. Um I don't know what to say. Like, we've been in on the short end of the stick. Again, sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

There you go. That's a good metaphor. Yeah, no, man. Listen, it's just uh, you know, here's the thing. And because you know, Mercer says, Well, all you all all the the committee cares about for instance state is the fact that Elliot Avon's retiring. And

The Elliott Avent Retirement Announcement — Reaction

SPEAKER_01 9:30

listen, I don't think there's a single NC State fan out there that would not agree with that the Elliott Avens uh retirement definitely had something.

SPEAKER_03 9:37

It had this much, it had this much. And for the people that are listening, it's about the size of the world's smallest violin for Mercer, right? Like, I just yeah, I just don't necessarily buy that. I mean, State's a good a good ball club. I mean, like, as much as you've dealt with the injuries, and I know you know, if you if you listen to IPS or you know, Ethan on a standalone, like he he's laid it out a lot for for folks. And again, you mentioned it earlier, it was the toughest schedule in the ACC. Uh going 13 or excuse me, going 14 and 16 is like, yes, it's a quote unquote losing record. No, I you can't argue that fact. But again, I don't know what that looks like where you put state in any other conference not named the SEC and what this team would do.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Yeah, nope, absolutely. Now, uh Nevada Mike in here uh pointing out the got three former Pac-12 teams uh fighting against each other, and then you got uh what is it, Troy or uh some other team that's just like oh that's just you know there, the regional, and it's just kind of afterthought. Uh so yeah, definitely a little bit of a highlight there. But you know, again, like that's I don't know, that's small fruit there. Now, I mean I think ECU going to UNC's regional, that's interesting for sure, and hosting Tennessee on top of it too. Uh yeah, I'm not so sure that they would have been in uh right here down the road.

SPEAKER_03 11:05

So uh but look oh sorry, I think we're still kind of talking over each other with with the lag. I apologize. Uh it would have been interesting to see um because UTSA did not get in the tournament. Uh the that all that went to ECU by winning by virtue of winning the conference, and uh UTSA had beaten ECU on Saturday. Um I think it made it easy for the committee by like let letting ECU in by virtue of the conference championship and not having to go after an at large because I'm not sure D1 kind of had them right around that last four-in. They had stayed in the last four-in, and you already mentioned it really wasn't even that close. Um, it seemed like we were again not squarely in it, but it wasn't as much of a sweat fest. And Coach Avent was right when he, you know, said what he said and you know stood on stood on principle there. Um but yeah, I look, I again, I would love the Mercers and I mean you saw a team like TCU not get in, uh, you know, quote unquote power four conference from the Big 12. Um you know, that's a really, really weird conference for for baseball. Um, and it directly ties into what you know our our region in Auburn with UCF being a Big 12 team, which is still wild to think about. But um yeah, last year they got no host. This year they got two with West Virginia and Kansas, though, albeit the on the lower end of the host uh seed numbers. But I look you you you you put the teams the best you can, and you know, there's all these different rules, and they try to take travel into consideration, even though Boston College is going all the way across coast to play one of those former Pac-12 teams that Nevada Mike was talking about. Um, I'm sorry, I had that wrong. Virginia Tech is going all the way across the country. My apologies. Uh Boston College went um south. Um, but yeah, it's just it's really hard when you have nine teams from this conference, 11 teams from that conference, and conference teams can't play each other. And um, you know, if you if you were to remove that stipulation, I think, you know, does it make the tournament as exciting? I don't know. I I still think it does. Maybe, you know, maybe you

How the Regional Bracket Works & What NC State Faces

SPEAKER_03 13:22

try to play conference opponents against each other that maybe they didn't face each other in the regular season. Maybe that's a an asterisk you can do to kind of help with this. Because I I honestly I hate that we're going to Auburn again. Not that because that Auburn's a good program, like in order to be the best, you got to beat the best. I totally get that. But like we just been there done that last year. And and and I would I would love to go. I was hoping to go. I can't go because of work, which is wild. I I know I usually am able to make these things work, but I I just can't pull it off this time, um, having to having to do some stuff. But like out of the last nine years, we've played in Auburn three times. Um, again, there's I mean, there is no connection historically between NC State and Auburn. Like, there's no, you know, nothing there. And um I just don't know how you can't slide us into like a southern Mississippi or um a different ace uh SEC school, not named Auburn. I I don't know because you have ACC schools and other things, and and I guess maybe because of the seatings, you know, although the the rankings and like try to snake it and all of that, but I just think I just think there's fatigue there. Um but yeah, that this for and we'll talk about the region in a minute, but when you look at it from an Auburn perspective, they got the easiest draw out of them all, and then you can make the argument uh North Carolina got the hardest draw for for a one seed uh in any of the regions.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Yeah, no, completely agree with you there. And uh I think one of the big questions around uh this regional, like you had said, uh though, Greg, in my opinion, is gonna be is Ryan Morone gonna be available at all, even for 30, 40 pitches? Uh I think that's a big question here.

SPEAKER_03 15:04

Yeah, I don't think we're obviously it's been already put out in the media that he will be available. Um, I I talked to him after the Carolina series and he said he was ready to go. And so like I had that information a little early in the process, but then it went public. So I don't I don't feel so crazy saying this now because it's already been put out there in print. Um, the question becomes how do you use them, right? And what does that pitch count look like? Uh my guess would be it's gonna be anywhere from 40 to 50 pitches, probably 45, 50. Um,

Ryan Marohn Injury Update & Pitching Depth

SPEAKER_03 15:35

I don't think they're gonna want to get above much above 50. Uh, because again, he hasn't pitched in what, six, seven weeks. Yeah. Um, so you know, he just he won't have the the stamina there. Um who do you who do you pair him with? Uh does he start? Does he come out of the bullpen? Um, and we can talk about those, you know, when we want to start digging into this um into the series, but I don't know if you want to dig into the series or just kind of talk about other baseball-related news.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

Well, yeah, no, I mean, you know, diving into the regional. I mean, first of all, I want to say, you know, talking about I guess the mindset going into the regional here. It's really simple. And Greg, I know I had uh texted you kind of personally on this, but I'd said, I don't care if you're if this regional, you're you're going into regional where the one seed is UCLA, the number two seed is Georgia, and the number four seeds coastal Carolina. It doesn't matter. Like, like, like, like literally, this is the most that I basically do not care about the matchup. In the fact of mainly that the fact that that NC State's been so inconsistent this season. Uh, I mean, you just got you just lost to to Duke, you know, the number 16 seed in the ACC tournament. Uh, so you're really going into it where it's like, hey, listen, you know. Yeah, exactly. You have nothing to lose, you have everything to gain. But also, too, especially now, hey, listen, I'm also just thrilled that we get to see Avant and one more, one more week weekend uh, you know, series and then one more regional, you know, opportunity. Yeah. And also too, because I truly do feel that that there's no doubt in my mind that NC State is going to be, if not the most motivated, definitely top two or three most motivated teams of the entire NCAA tournament for this series. I mean, I mean, you can't tell me that that that these guys aren't going to play their best ball, especially against UCF game one. UCF is going to see NC State's best in game one. They're going to.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

Yeah, and it's interesting, right? Because you you always hear that that, you know, when you when you hear player interviews, you're like, oh, I'm just playing for the other guys on this team, right? Um, I I think to your point, it's going to be different, right? They're going to be playing for their coach. Um, so not only, you know, not only will um a dozen or so guys in their college careers, whenever their last regional, whether it's a regional, super regional, Omaha, they're they know that they're two losses away in any of these series, that they're not only gonna end their college careers, but then their coaches' career, right? And I and I think I think that that's that's a rallying cry, if you will. And I think that uh no one wants to be that guy who let down Elliot Avent, right? Um and and and I also hope um conversely that that they don't put extra pressure on themselves. Like just go out and play ball. I mean, you've been doing it for 18, 20, 22 years, depending on how old you know some of these guys are on the team. Just go out there and do what you do, play within your within your game. Don't try to do anything extra. You know, if a guy pitches you outside, go with it. Don't try to pull it. Um make the simple play, you know, those types of things. Things that you've been doing, like I said, since you've been playing T-ball. And I think the rest of it will will work itself out. Um, but yeah, there is definitely some extra motivation there that you know everyone, and it's the and it's you know, and I and I know we can probably just maybe go to Coach Avent for just a few minutes and then we'll come back to this regional because when the news broke, I mean, just all of the met like if you follow NC State baseball at all and and you're an ex-guy on or Twitter, whatever you want to call it, just the outpouring of like texts or tweets, I'm sorry, that came out. Uh Coach Avent was on um ACC

Fan Chat Reaction to Coach Avent

SPEAKER_03 19:19

PM yesterday, and he said he had like over 500 text messages that he had just hadn't gotten to yet, right? So basically, since he since he um had announced his retirement, and you and you know those are former players, coaches, coaches that he like he's coached against, like because he's just so revered in the baseball world. Uh a guy like so many stories. Um just reading just former players uh putting their stories out there on on X and you know, doing little tributes and shout-outs, and just just an amazing outpouring uh of support. And having talked to former players, they like they just love the dude, right? And you know, I was reading some of what the parents again having a relationship with some of these parents, uh all the wonderful things they've said about Coach Avant, and I know um let me see up here in the chat that um let me see. Sorry, I'm trying to scroll. Okay, nothing's working.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Um Rusty, what will be Avent's legacy?

SPEAKER_03 20:20

Yeah, yeah. Um thanks for putting that up. Yeah, I just think it's what I just mentioned. Uh his legacy is all of the things that former players, coaches, opponents, uh, competitors, putting out the words that they've said, like that is his legacy, right? When you have someone that wants to step out and say those things about you, um that means people care. Uh people take the time out of their day, you know, even if it takes 30 seconds, a minute, two minutes, whatever it takes, that the fact that they took time to think about you, that means you've left a legacy on them. Um and so that would be that would be how I see it. Um I I mean, I had a little little thing that I posted, again, not to make this about me at all, but in the 2024 Super Regionals in Athens, I I I saw Coach at the hotel after that and saw the trophies, and I was like, All right, coach, nice job. And I I believe it was Coach Chrysler that invited me in. Um, and he was like, Yeah, you want to take a picture with it? I'm like, Yeah, like is that cool? And then Coach Avens, like, hell yeah, get over here. Like, and I was like, Well, you mind getting in with me, Coach? He's like, Absolutely. Again, that was their night. Like, they didn't have to invite me in, um, you know, even if it was just like a two-minute, you know, stop and go. Um again, just that he wanted to celebrate it with the fans

What Avent's 30 Years Meant to Wolfpack Nation

SPEAKER_03 21:45

that have not only supported him throughout his 30 years. Um, again, just goes to the man of the character, not not the baseball coach himself. Yeah, no, absolutely not. If I can, yeah, one more thing. And again, so so. Much of what these former players and and and other folks associated with the program, they talk about Elliot Avent, the man, not only the coach, like the man, and then it's the coach, and then what they've done for them in order to you know advance their career. Uh that just can't be said enough. I again it's it's it's it it's just all the genuine thoughts, and anyone like that I've spoken to, the parents and all of that, just glowing, glowing reviews of that they they that they trust their child um with him.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Absolutely. Yeah, no, I mean, you know, there's uh you know a lot of things obviously in state fans can say about Coach Avon. You know, you can obviously start off with a negative saying, Oh, he hasn't won an ACC or national championship, which you know that's been a piece and you know that can be said to the end. But uh, you know, like like we've said, you know, a lot of that's to do with luck that just Avon just unfortunately did not have multiple different times. But I mean, at the end of the day, he was there, you know, he was there. Uh he he played in I think like eight or nine ACC championship games. Yeah, I think it was nine. So, you know, that has to be said you know by itself is an accomplishment. But uh also too, listen, like like now that he is retiring, the mood's got to immediately shift to focusing on the negative to focusing on the positive. And the fact that this guy is a guy that grew that that is diehard NC State through and through, even before he was even a coach, he he said himself this was his dream job. So that automatically off the start is a huge positive, I would say, for NC State fans, as it would be for any other college fan out there if that was the coach of their school. But then you build off of it and say, well, this is a guy that uh you know has consistently, year after year, put a very good product on the field, consistently, at the very least, a very good product on the field that is exciting to watch, it's fun to watch. Uh, you know, he has raised the bar at NC State to you know a level that you know has never been at before. You know, now I I know you say, well, it'd be nice, like I appreciate the floor, but again, the ceiling. Well, again, we're focusing on the on the positive. The floor for sure has been raised and the expectations have raised because of it. And I think, you know, it's it says a lot about Avent, how he ended this, I think, too, as well. Uh, you know, that like you know, you've heard, you know, he could have, if you wanted to, you know, played a little bit of the quote unquote, you know, what you could call dirty game, like what Tony Bennett did, where you, you know, you coach through the offseason and then right before the season say, All right, you know, I'm retiring. It's then basically kind of forces the hand for Coach Hart to basically take over. But you know, the fact that it worked out so nicely, and the fact that you know

Coach Hart Named Head Coach — First Reactions

SPEAKER_01 24:41

Avent could, you know, not necessarily get a a you know farewell tour, but just basically, hey, you know, like well, exactly, like, like, like, like, you know, I think for NC State fans, well, no, and I'm not saying he should have. What I'm saying is like, you know, uh, you know, like like he could have done that, but but he didn't, and and which is his writing for sure, and it exactly matches him. But I think for a fan perspective, I think now you're going into this regional. I think a lot more NC State fans are gonna watch this regional now than than probably would have otherwise because now you're like, well, yeah, I'm gonna tune in to watch, you know, Coach Avon's last regional, you know, and and uh, you know, like we said, you know, leave it all out there. But again, a guy that has not only just raised the bar and put together a product that is fun and at a very good level, you know, weekend in, weekend out, but also to putting together a team of great men, of men that represented C State very well, that uh, you know, didn't have really any off-the-field issues, uh, you know, and also too, I mean, just that that connected with Coach Avon extremely well. Like you said, all the stories that Trey Turner, Patrick Bailey, you know, Camacho, Carlos Rodan, you name it, like, you know, every former player has said about Coach Avent is, you know, the very least of him. And just like he said, like, like I honestly love the quote where he said, listen, I'm not, you know, the the the bells and whistles and the you know the the parade kind of guy. I'm the guy that's gonna put the keys on the desk, walk out and and and wave goodbye. Like, like yeah, I just love that. Like I it just it just it just says a lot about him. And uh, but he's a guy for sure that that I think will be at every single home baseball game for the next few years, at the very least. Uh, you know, if he has anything to do with it, he'll be in the stands for sure, and he'll be taking pictures. He's great, and that's another thing, too. He's great with the fans. Like that's that's an underrated, that's an underrated aspect that I think a lot of NC State fans forget about. Like, this is a guy that it don't matter who you are. Like, if if you walk up and say, Hey Coach Avon, how you doing, whatever you want to say, he'll talk to you, he'll take a picture with you, like whatever. You know, he's he's extremely great with the fans. Uh, and also, too, he did a great job as well with the uh um oh, what is it? The you know, the the starter of the game, uh, you know, the Wolfpack starter of the game, whatever him and Trey, Color Troudon. Like, love the juice he brought to as well. So, yeah, yeah. So with that all that being said, Coach Avant uh will be missed for sure. Um, an aspect of not seeing him in the bullpen, but he won't be missed in the fact that he'll be around. He'll be around and and and I guess what now he could just go have fun. He could just go have fun, just and just be a fan, just like the rest of us, and excited for him to do that.

SPEAKER_03 27:28

Yeah, 100%, 100%. Yeah, it's a well-earned um it's a well-earned retirement. Uh, he had just gotten married a few years ago, so I'm sure he'll enjoy uh hanging out with his beautiful bride and you know doing things that you know he may not always have had time to do, whether he's recruiting or fall ball, spring ball. Like base that's the thing, like baseball, just all these college sports aren't just seasonal. I mean, they are years year-round commitments. Yeah. And that, you know, now he can just go live, you know, the simpler life. I again, I still think that he'll probably be involved, hang out. Um, you know, it's in his blood, you know, he'll probably be around to, you know, let Coach Hart pick his brain. And we'll talk about Coach Hart, I'm sure, here in a few minutes, because you know, he was named the coach right after, like literally the day after. And that the uh you know, he's he successfully has turned the keys

Chris Hart's Future at NC State — What He Inherits

SPEAKER_03 28:25

over uh after the end of this season. And uh it'll be nice. And I I know it'll be new blood, but it won't be completely new blood. There's still, you know, Elliott Avent DNA, you know, built into this program. Uh it's just uh it's just gonna be an offshoot of that. And and uh, you know, Coach Hart, uh we can we can probably transition to that now. Uh yeah. For anyone that you know has been paying attention, Coach Hart was named the coach uh about 24 hours after Coach Avent had uh had announced his retirement. And speaking of the retirement, I know Rob Hankins 796 had a question in the chat. Uh, do you think the players knew that coach would retire when they play Duke? I I know for a fact they did not. Um they they they knew nothing going into it. Um, so they were just playing as if coach had you know was going to be here for the next five, ten years, uh, though we know that that wasn't gonna necessarily most likely be the case. Um, but anyway, but yeah, as soon as Coach uh Avan announced his retirement, like I I did feel it was a little bit of a shock uh that he announced it as quickly as he did. Um, you know, there's those conspiracies out there that it was announced right when it was announced to get the the the the I guess for a lack of a better way to say it, the sympathy bid. But again, the the NC State baseball resume would say otherwise. But you know, maybe that was the little cherry on top. Uh, you know, Mike Martin did the similar thing when he when he left FSU back in 2019. I believe it was 2019.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

Well, I'm sure a little bit too. Maybe Greg too, as well as like, you know, I'm sure he got asked the question of what are you gonna do about a hundred times a day. So now he can just go into the regional and just have fun. Like, you know, there's no more questions. It's just hey, we're just gonna go. I'm gonna coach my team, and when it's all done, I'm gonna hand my keys out to Chris uh Coach Hart and we're moving on. Like it's it's it's now the weekend is so much simpler. So much simpler.

SPEAKER_03 30:20

Yeah, yeah. No, it's just he can just go out and coach baseball what he's done for 30 years, don't have to, you know, because he was obviously asked um with with good regard. Uh, you know, he didn't have a um a contract beyond this season. And so that was you know a natural question when when it was asked, and I I think it was appropriate. And and now he now to your point, he's just put all that aside and he can go out with his boys one one last one last run and see where that ends. And then when it's done, yeah, he goes uh into his office, puts the keys down, gathers his things, turn off the lights, and and and gives and tosses the keys to heart, and we're off and running in the heart era.

SPEAKER_01 30:59

Yeah. Well, and and to build off it too, it's like listen, you know, at this point, because because to the other side, you know, we talked about how this should definitely motivate the players for sure. Uh, like, but you know, you kind of talked about you know the nerve could a little bit you know, kind of settle in and being like, wow, like you know, it's a lot of a lot of weight here for sure for this weekend.

Preparing the Players for a Postseason Without the Retirement Distraction

SPEAKER_01 31:20

But you know, I just hope the players are going with this weekend, and I I'm sure Coach uh Avon will express, like, listen, guys, like I have no expectations here in terms of besides that, you know, I I I have full faith we can win, we can win this game, we can win this regional, we can go make some noise, no doubt about it. But guess what? If we if we don't, then you know we gave it our best effort. You know, we gave it our best effort. Like, I and I guarantee you, once again, NC State will put in their best effort. It is, it is not going to be a you will not see Duke 2.0. I can promise you that.

SPEAKER_03 31:54

So uh, you know, I will say one of the things that like I know there wasn't an official press conference for Chris Hart. I I don't know if there will be, um, but he was available to the media and you know, talked a little bit about what what we can expect this upcoming weekend. And again, you know, he made it clear this is Coach Avent's team still. It, you know, he doesn't take over till the end of the season that he's excited about the opportunity. Uh, he definitely, you know, we definitely know that he'd had an opportunity at least one on one occasion, uh, and coach Avant made it clear that you know there were opportunities for Coach Hart to leave. But Coach Hart loves NC State, he loves Raleigh. You know, he he's he he met his wife here. Um, they have a nice little family, and that you know, he wants to continue his roots in Raleigh. And that's that's an admirable thing. Uh, he definitely was asked, like, you know, what can we see the same, what can we see the difference uh in a coach Hart led team. Didn't really get into the specific specifics, try that again, the specifics of that. Uh and I and I'm good, like I love that, right? Because again, he doesn't want to, you know, be the be the focus this weekend. It's still, like I said, Coach Avent's team. Um, you know, when it's time uh to talk philosophy and what he plans to do with this program, you know, he'll have his he'll have his time after the season, and you know, you'll start to see some of that come the fall when you know you see the the the start of the of the next team uh after you know we go out to the portal and all that dust settles, and there'll be times to talk about that stuff. But right now it's it's like you said, putting the best effort out, putting a good game plan together for the for

Auburn Regional Preview — The Full Bracket

SPEAKER_03 33:35

the potential opponents. Again, that starts with UCF on Friday, and then you go to game two and see you know who are you playing? Are you playing um the host Auburn team or you are you playing Milwaukee? Um right, and so you get that scout going. You only have to, you know, to your yesterday, today, tomorrow, and Thursday, and then boom, you're in game action.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

Right. Yeah. No, and I mean, I think, you know, too, it's like you said, I mean, you know, bravo to coach hard in terms of you know how he's handling this, in terms of you know, not really getting really into any kind of specifics right now on how just like you said, a coach hard team is going to be led. I mean, for sure, you know, there's there's gonna be differences, you know, it's not going to be exactly the same. You know, I'm sure you know there's there's things that Coach Hart, you know, some things that Coach Hart wishes that during his time as associate coach that were done a little bit differently, but then they you know, bravo to him, you know. Yeah, we don't always agree with our boss.

SPEAKER_03 34:30

Yeah, we don't always agree with our boss. You can you can you can give your opinion and give your thoughts when it's asked of you. Um, and again, you know, it's okay to like challenge your boss. Um you know, I'm not saying you get up in their face and disrespect them and you know diminish their authority, but you know, like uh uh when I have my teams, I I want I want honest feedback. Like, what can we do better? Um, and the sign of a good leader is leaning on their people, leaning leaning on their SMEs. Um excuse me, I'm my military SMEs subject matter experts. Sorry, I I we love acronyms in the military, but uh I I think you know you will see some differences, but again, you know, for all of those fans out there that are like, oh, here we go, just Elliott Avent 2.0. I don't necessarily agree with that statement. I uh yes, the DNA of all these great recruits that you kind of mentioned earlier, Chris Hart was the lead recruiter on a lot of those guys, and that right like that Florida pipeline will still be in play. And we talked about the Florida pipeline last week. I I think this is a really good move for NC State. And like, you know, will will we ever know like will will we ever have questions for Boo about this? Again, it's just one of those weird

NC State Baseball as a Non-Revenue Sport — The Culture Conversation

SPEAKER_03 35:45

things, right? With it being a non-revenue sport, and again, we've talked about whether it sits third or fourth in the NC State sports pecking order. I it things are done a lot more informally than they are with football and basketball. Like, you know, you'll have these big formal press conferences and and Reynolds Coliseum or wherever, and um, you know, there's jerseys exchanged, and it's just different for baseball. The baseball just hits different.

SPEAKER_01 36:09

Yeah, well, and also too, just because I think there's a different aspect of everybody knows Coach Hart. Like, this isn't like you know, let's introduce like nobody needs to be introduced to Coach Hart. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:20

No, there's definitely some truth to that. I I would agree.

SPEAKER_01 36:23

Um, but yeah, I we don't get all the problem circumstance, you know.

SPEAKER_03 36:26

Yeah, for real. Um now we have yeah, we have seen like we did have a a uh a recruit uh decommit today, uh a pitcher from Florida, which is kind of ironic, but that could be a number of things, right? And again, we're not here to break news, but you know, maybe maybe the coaching staff wants to go in a different direction and say, hey, we're looking we're just not gonna honor your scholarship, or maybe the guy um um because of the coaching staff. I know he put in his release that because of the coaching staff change, but my guess is is Chris Hart probably recruited this guy. Um, so anyway, do with that what you want. But uh yeah, so we have seen some effects, but again, um there's plenty of other fish out there, and I'm I'm not

Chris Hart Announcement Timeline — Why It Took So Long

SPEAKER_03 37:12

worried about it. And and again, because it's baseball, probably 99% of NC State fans didn't even notice that we had a player decommit after the announcement of of Coach Hart. True, true, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:24

No, well, and the last point I want to make though to Boo's uh credit here is not only just I mean, because you know that all this went down with Avent a little bit with his say, you know, at the very least, of course. I would hope it's gonna go down, you know. I would hope. Uh yeah, I would hope, you know, just just reading between the lines, you know. Uh, but also too, like I got to give him credit, like you said, though, in the timing of announcing coach Hart as the incumbent next head coach, and the fact that like if this had taken, let's say, until like let's say, let's say Avon announced his retirement, and then they didn't make an announcement of coach about Coach Hart until like a week after the regionals ended. So like a week and a half, uh, or two almost two weeks since Avon retired, it'd be a little bit of a question of well, what took so long, you know, like was there was there a concern, and you were really trying to see what else is out there, which you know, listen, I I I'm sure, you know, knowing Boo that he's probably licked his wounds a little bit and not about not being uh proactive before. So I'm sure, you know, maybe he at least you know asked that question in his mind, you know, what else could there be? And I'm hoping that, you know, between the line reading between the lines that he found very quickly that, yeah, no, there's there's not really anybody better for the job, especially too, because again, like one of the stats I saw in that amazing tribute video about Coach Hart, which I thought really stood out, was how he's been voted unanimously, basically, that he's probably the best uh assistant associate head coach that is ready to be a head coach in the country. And and I'm I'm sure he's quietly held that crown for many, many, many, many years to say the least. So yeah, I mean, like I I I fully see why if if Boo Corrigan handled the decision this way, why he ended up with that with that result and why he was able to make the make that uh call so quickly, only 24 hours, like you said, after Coach Avon retired.

SPEAKER_03 39:19

Yeah, I I firmly believe, and people probably don't want to give Boo credit, but like I firmly believe he's always got a list of coaches in his back pocket, right? That that he's seen. Yeah, whether it's a coach with NC State ties, whether it's an up-and-coming coach, like whatever that whatever that looks like. But there's always, you know, and and the fact that Coach Avan announces, I think within like two to three hours, maybe four hours at the most, it felt like you know, boom, you see the you see the tweet come up that hey, there's an emergency board of directors meeting tomorrow. Right. Um obviously that was the that was gonna be the baseball coach. And and the mere fact that the season was still fairly active and there were still coaches out there that were still like in the hunt of you know tournament championships. Uh, they're gonna be

Chris Hart's Contract Discussion

SPEAKER_03 40:05

in play for the um NCA tournament at large.

SPEAKER_01 40:09

There could have been some delay.

SPEAKER_03 40:10

Yeah, there could have been, right? And that would have then been like, okay, had it drug out past you know, Thursday, Friday, um, then it would start to feel like this was gonna be an outside hire, right? Or that they were at least exploring outside hires. But as soon as within all that information popped up fairly quickly, you know, like you didn't you you didn't have to be um you know Nostradamus to say that that was gonna be Chris Hart was gonna be your you know your your most likely um answer there.

SPEAKER_01 40:39

Yep, yeah, no, absolutely. Now, I think for me, once the details come out, I'll be very interested to see how Coach Hart's contract is set up here. Uh, you know, because I mean, you know, like does the terms of his contract show the faith that his quick announcement also shows as well? Yeah, uh, you know, time will tell. You know, that that's definitely a question in my head that I'm I'd be interested in seeing. But also, too, as well. And go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 41:05

No, I was gonna say my guess here, um, from what I understand, like when these contracts become like negotiated and agreed upon, that doesn't mean they've actually signed the contract, but all of the all the main parameters have been laid out, and it could take it could take up to a month or so for the actual contract to get signed. I would imagine at that at some point, probably in the early off season, someone's gonna do a FOIA request and want to get the the pertinence of this contract, right? Is it a two, three, four, five, whatever that looks like, right? Annual payout. Uh, I think a lot of folks are interested in that. Uh, one of the things that I I believe um Noah Teague, I think was oh no, no, not not nope, not there's there was two Noah's Noah Fleischmann I think is the one that uh confirmed that yeah, uh yeah, Wolfpackerslash on three, uh that he confirmed that there was not a donation, like that uh a donation tied to the Chris Hart uh hire, which was a a rumor that had been floating around that I had heard uh on on multiple occasions from multiple people. Um again, you know, we talk like we don't break news, but you know, you hear rumors and uh but that you know that did not play where I'm going with this is that did not play into the decision to hire Chris Hart, right? This wasn't like a financial, hey, if we hire him, we're gonna get five million dollars. Again, I'm just speaking out of turn here. No, no, no real information there. But I think again, that just goes back to the due diligence and the and the homework that Boo put into this uh decision. Um, you know, and again, how long ago was this decision made? Obviously, Avent just announced, but the rumor always was, like we've talked before, that Chris Hart was going to be the guy. Like, how long into this did um did Boo know that Hart was his guy moving forward? Right. That's again, right, and I think at some point here in the offseason, uh, after the all the spring sports are done, I'm sure someone will have an event, someone will have a media availability with Boo. And I would hope that that question would come up.

SPEAKER_01 43:06

Yeah, no, no doubt about it. So again, excited for coach have Coach Hart, but just like we said before, at the end of hey, this is you know, still Coach Avon's team, and we're excited to see what's going to be done here this weekend, and we're actually gonna jump into that now in terms of previewing the regional here. Uh, so like we said, so to kind of highlight, so the number one seed Auburn, number two seed UCF, three C N C State, four seed University of Milwaukee. Uh, kind of touch on a couple of pieces here. You know what? Here, let's start, let's start at the let's start at the bottom here with Milwaukee. Uh, because I think that that probably is probably the least we'll probably have to say about a certain team. Uh, but horizon league champs, uh, first NCAA tournament since 2008.

Milwaukee Breakdown — Horizon League Champs & the Controversy

SPEAKER_01 43:48

Uh won Horizon League tournament, uh, beat top seed Wright State to get here. Uh very controversial fashion, too.

SPEAKER_03 43:56

Very controversial fashion that Milwaukee won in that game.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

Can you can you give a little bit of of of uh reminder for maybe those that that maybe saw it, but you know Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:07

So Wright State lost five to four. I believe it was in extra innings, uh, if I'm if I'm remembering correctly. But uh, and forgive me, I don't know Wright State's players. I I I focus all my time on NC State, but the reason that this story is so interesting is um Alex Sogard uh used to play at NC State and was rumored as a potential candidate if it wasn't going to be offered to Coach uh Hart. Uh their star player was ejected really early in the game. I want to say second or third inning. Um, you know, he was kind of like their offensive leader, um, team leader in a lot of categories, captain type guy. Uh got caught out on a on a third strike, and uh he got ejected. It was to me, it looked pretty weak. Like he didn't turn around and didn't, you know, do all those things that you're told not to do to get ejected, right? The ru, the, the the golden rule or the rule, the general rule of thumb is don't show up the empire. And it like like you could see he was upset, and it had to have been something he said verbally, because again, he didn't look back, he didn't you know make a big production of it, but he got rang or excuse me, got rank at ran. Um, and and and that's just a tough spot when you're in a championship game. Like you want it to be decided on the field by the best players, it should never be an ump show, especially in a circumstance like that. And look, good for good for Sagard, like he went out and defended his dudes or his dude, and I mean he he went ape stuff and uh got wrong. And that probably I mean it is almost 9:30, so I could almost say the the word that I was thinking about, but uh sure you know that just that just drastically changes the complex the complexion of the game, and that now coach coach is not managing his team in the biggest spot of the season, and you know that that conference is a one-bid league, and and if you don't win the championship, that's that's the end of your season. And to go out like that, it's pretty rough. It's it's pretty rough. Yeah, so anyway, that's that's the Milwaukee breakdown. And really it wasn't even about Milwaukee, it was about right state.

SPEAKER_01 46:12

Right. Well, and just to kind of give a little bit of uh um, you know, breakdown a little bit, I did do a little bit of digging into Milwaukee's uh stats and players and roster, and there's really four players I wanted to highlight. First of first one here, uh Charlie Marion, outfielder, alt uh Horizon League tournament team, uh returning veteran from the 2025 squad that reached the Horizon League Championship round, uh a solid uh upper 200s uh uh batting order piece, uh definitely a player stood out. The uh other one, uh uh Gavin Thias, I think I I pronounced his name correctly, the right-handed pitcher uh is

Milwaukee's Pitching — Gavin Thies & the Tournament Staff

SPEAKER_01 46:52

easily the best arm on the team, all tournament uh uh pitcher, had a 4.91 air ERA uh in 13 starts. So, more than likely, I'm guessing, Greg, that will probably be the guy that will face off against Auburn. More than likely, would you agree with that? Probably, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:08

That was yeah, you're gonna throw your best arm out there. Um, you know, maybe if it's not going right, you uh you pull them and maybe save him for a couple of innings uh on game two, you know, where that could be an elimination. Um, but yeah, I I you're definitely if you're the lower seeded team, you're definitely throwing your ace out there and hoping for the best.

SPEAKER_01 47:31

Yeah. Now uh I'll just skip right to Milwaukee's best player, I think, that they have on their roster, which is Joey Spence, catcher Horizon League Tournament MVP this year. Uh, and and really has been the heartbeat so far of this team through this uh quote unquote Cinderella story uh in a team that has not been to NCAA regional since 2008 here. So uh definitely keep an eye out for Joey Spence, uh again, catcher uh MVP here. So uh but once again, uh, you know, hopefully we don't really have to see them uh at all this regional. You know, hopefully you take care of business against UCF, you know, pull off an upset against Auburn, and then you just have to face off probably against Auburn one or two more times. So hopefully you don't ever even have to see Milwaukee. That's the hope here, right?

SPEAKER_03 48:15

Yeah, yeah. If you're seeing Milwaukee, it's either really good or really bad.

SPEAKER_01 48:21

Like uh exactly.

SPEAKER_03 48:24

Like, and you hope it's really good, not really bad, because if you're seeing them, um it would be most likely game two in the losers bracket, and and obviously that's not where you want to be.

SPEAKER_01 48:36

No, no, not at all. Now, UCF, uh 31 and 21 this year in the Big 12, which by the way, too. I I I yeah, man, Big 12 is definitely not it's definitely lost some luster over the last five, six years, I feel like.

SPEAKER_03 48:50

Uh yeah, I mean they they got uh pillaged or prif uh uh pilfered pretty good um when the SEC came knocking and pulled Oklahoma and Texas and Texas AM out of that conference, you know, not necessarily in that order, but um they lost a lot of punch and then they they kind of backfilled it with Houston and UCF and Utah. Um, so

UCF Breakdown — Big 12 Experience & What NC State Faces

SPEAKER_03 49:15

a couple American teams and then a a pack a Pac-12 team. But yeah, not uh not the juggernaut that it is. Now you you are really good at the top with Kansas and West Virginia. Um you had UCF here that had reached as high as number 12 in the country at one point, about two-thirds through the season, kind of fell off a little bit, but their sketch they played a tougher end of their schedule as well. Um, we have a few common opponents uh with them playing Miami twice in Notre Dame. They went one and two in those games, could have gone 0-3, to be honest with you. They they pulled out one in extra innings. But um, yeah, they uh yeah, they're a good team. I mean, it's a Florida team. Florida teams are gonna do really well, especially in today's age where you know there's so much talent spread across the country. Um, they they have the ability to you know pull from a lot of resources. But um I I think it's uh it's a it's a very winnable game for a 3-2 matchup or 2-3 matchup. Uh D1 baseball in their last kind of projections before the announcement was made, uh, they were they were being shown as a three-seed. And so for them to kind of go in and you know be a two-seed here, I think State's catching a real nice break. Uh, I also think like if you look at the pair um pair analytics um for this region, state actually has a better chance to win the region than UCF does. Uh just slightly, but still um it's like 13% to 12%. And um, yeah, I I think this is a a good matchup for state. I think uh their best pitcher will obviously go on on Friday, who is that's uh Camden Wicker. Uh he you know got a four ERA, which is you know, it's it's decent, you know, in aluminum bad era. Um has gone 72 innings, um, giving up 52 hits. His whip is 110, which is which is pretty good. Um that's you know, that's a that's a that's a decent number. Um, but he he's not he's not overpowering. Uh 27 walks over those 72 innings and then 61 strikeouts over the same.

SPEAKER_01 51:26

Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean UCF, uh just to kind of highlight a couple things for them. So uh their head coach is Rich Wallace, is his third year at UCF, and this is now uh his second regional appearance during his time at UCF. Uh only 14 regionals for the entire UCF

UCF's History Under Rich Wallace & Program Trajectory

SPEAKER_01 51:44

baseball program. Uh so being right there. Uh right. No, definitely. Uh, you know, that's a that definitely shows you know, definitely a lot of recent success. So hats off to Coach Wallace for that. But the biggest thing though, Greg, which I don't know if you saw this video, uh, I'm sure you probably did in a moment, but uh UCF, yeah, UCF learning about their bid at a pool party. I'm like, man, only only UCF. That's right. Yeah, no, that's it. Yeah, only only in Orlando, Florida, you know, could you do a pool party uh, you know, to you know, to to to hear your your bid. Um, so yeah, no, I mean, like you said, uh, three players to kind of highlight, or sorry, really only really two. I mean, obviously got to highlight Coach Wallace. I mean, again, like we said, you know, definitely has found a lot of recent success taking uh a team that before him only saw 12 regional appearances and now taking them to two in the last three years, has a lot on top of it too. Like you said, at one point, reaching almost close to the top 10 uh at some point this season, which uh is impressive, say at least a 2004 UCF alum. Uh so played there himself. Uh so you know, again, you know, definitely uh I think a coach which uh if UCF can hold on to him, which I feel like if I feel like you know the cards could set up nicely as long as he gets the resources resources for it, you know, some could definitely build there. But you you'd highlighted Camden Wicker, who is one of the players I wanted to highlight. Uh um, you know, and so NC State's gonna definitely

UCF's Key Hitters — Home Run Threats to Watch

SPEAKER_01 53:15

have their work cut out for them on on Friday. Uh, but the other guy is uh I'm I'm gonna totally butcher this name here. Uh Diames Ross, uh senior outfielder, uh um, you know, and definitely one of the team leaders, the veteran presence, uh, you know, guys, sorry, in the locker room for them. And uh, so you know, he's definitely one of the I think probably the biggest bats to watch out for here on Friday, too, as well. But I mean, so kind of jumping into it now here, Greg. I mean, what in your opinion is the key for it to stay here on Friday to pull off this one against UC?

SPEAKER_03 53:49

Yeah, it's it's basic, just pitching. Like uh they've got a couple of dudes in in in Central Florida and John Smith the third and Andrew Williamson, who both have 12 home runs. As a team, they've only hit 51. So between these two dudes, like they basically have half the home runs. So if you can kind of shut down their bats, um, that will that will go a long way. Um, you know, the long ball has kind of bit us at times. And and and this, it's a really weird ballpark. If anyone um watched last year, there's a big ass wall in left field. Um, you you kind of got to get it going. Um, this this ballpark does play pretty fair for lefties, and and so depending on on what they roll out from from a pitching perspective, you know, if we roll a couple of lefties out there, like Ty and Luke, um, you know, those guys have got double-digit home runs. And so maybe, you know, you can catch a couple long balls. Um, but again, uh you know, you got to have a solid pitching plan. We talked about it before the Duke game, and and we really didn't talk about the Duke game at all, but I I thought it was it was there until it wasn't. Um I thought I thought Heath was in a good position. I felt like as soon as you hit the third time through the lineup, that should have been it. But they again, we talk about it. And again, it's easy for us to talk through this on the day after or after the game is done. And coaches just want one more. We talked about this, you know, one more batter, one more inning, one more this, you know, they're they they get greedy a little bit, and I think there should be a clear game plan going into this. Like, okay, uh Coop, you know, get me give me five innings two times through the lineup, right? Get me, you know, Sam Harris, what you know, whatever

NC State Pitching Strategy — Who Starts Friday?

SPEAKER_03 55:28

that looks like. What is it, is it Andrew um Anderson Nance, is it again, you know, is it um uh you know Mikey Ragusa for an inning? Is it you know, you know, uh whoever, you know, plug in that thing and and you have a game plan, right? And you have a plan A and you have a plan B, right? And if you get if you get to plan C, all hells broke loose, and then you just throw you you just throw out the you know, Chris McHugh to throw an inning to save arms, kind of like what we did in Arkansas. Um, again, not that I'm saying that that's gonna happen, but again, you have to be really smart with how you set up your pitching and you have a plan and you stick to the plan. Like, just don't overthink it. Keep it simple and you know, trust your guys. And once they're done, they're done. Like, you know, you should have guys up. Uh, the the key here is to try to give your relievers a clean inning to start off with. You know, don't put them in bad situations where if they walk a guy on their first batter, that is it that's bringing in a run. Uh, you know, just just set your guys up for success. And I think that's really the biggest thing for me is, you know, um, you know, if you get down, you know, depending on who's in the lineup, you know, like don't be afraid to pull a pinch hitter. Like, just you're gonna you gotta have to get creative and pull out all the strings because again, Coach Avent, this is potentially your last weekend of coaching. And and and I would hate for it to go out on just a just uh something that we're kind of asleep at the wheel with. And it feels like the most of the time we're asleep at the wheel with with the pitching. And I think that's that's where we're going to that that's gonna be the difference. Um, and we haven't really talked about Auburn, but maybe we can talk about them for a few minutes um after this. But this this lineup doesn't really scare me for UCF. Um, their pitching is their pitching is fine, um, but they're not gonna wow you. Uh, you know, they've lost some games where you look at who they lost to and you're like, wow, they weren't really good against tournament teams. Um, I think they had a below 500 record against tournament teams. Their best series win would be two of three against West Virginia. Again, we talked about it earlier. The Big 12 is not a super strong baseball conference. I think they did get in four teams uh into the uh NCA tournament, but again, it was um you know uh UCF is a two seed, and then Arizona State is a is a is a third is a third seed out in Nebraska. Um so not a lot of representation there. I I I give the edge to state here. If we if we're able to hit, and you know, again, we talked about this in the Duke series, we're gonna have to score runs, and we scored we scored double digit runs, and it wasn't even close. It was 21 to 12. Um when you score 12 runs in a ballgame, you should win 90, 95 of your games. And and you don't, you it's like, okay, like 12 to 13. But this was 21 to and again, we kind of punted towards the end, and we we tend to do those things. Um, but we've

Mikey Ryan Full Go — Pitching Depth Update

SPEAKER_03 58:27

had we've had plenty of rest. Uh Coach Hart talked about today about Mikey Ryan, full go. We we talked about Marone, you know, hopefully he can give you you know something. And even if he just gives you three innings this weekend, that's a huge lift just from a team just seeing their guy out there throwing. Uh they can really get behind him. Um, it's three less innings that you have to get from another reliever at some point. Um so that that happens maybe to you know provide a guy to be slid into another spot somewhere in the weekend. Uh what I'm what I'm genuinely curious about is what does the weekend rotation look like, right? So if we had to guess, it's gonna be it's gonna be cooped game one, at least that's the way I would go with it. Uh game two, uh that becomes kind of the wild card. You know, is it is it Anderson Nance? Because again, we've talked about this at nauseum and in other other platforms have talked about it too. Where do you want Anderson Nance? Like, do you want to wait to get to him in the later innings? But then by that time, is the game still a game? Um, do you want to pitch him one through six slash seven and then piece together the back end where it really matters? But then there's no guarantee you have a lead in that situation. Um that's probably the most difficult decision, I think, that Coach Avent has all weekend. And then if you get to a game three, uh, it would be my assumption that it would be Heath Andrews, at least as a starter, again, you know, one, two, three times, you know, two, two, two times through the lineup, he's out of there. Um, whether that's inning two or inning four or five or whatever that looks like. Um, but yeah, how you manage your pitchers is is what I'm most interested in in watching this weekend.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:13

Yeah, you know, listen, Greg, I I I I think for NC State, you really got to you really got to go into UCF willing to play your best cards if you need to, whatever it takes to get to that that championship bracket, you know, get through that and get to get to more likely Auburn and then just see what happens. You know, listen, it's just like don't be greedy and try and you know, and try and save, you know, for Auburn. Like, listen, just do what it takes, and then if you get to a point where you're four or five runs ahead,

The Anderson Nance Debate — When Do You Pull the Trigger?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:45

then sure. You know, then pull Nance or whoever is is start is is pitching right there, yeah, and put somebody else.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:52

I mean, you well, to me, you pull your pitchers when it's time, right? And and that's not a that's not necessarily a pitch count. You have to have a good understanding of feel for the game, to your point, right? Like, yes, is he at a certain pitch count? Is he the second third time through the lineup? How how how how are the guys that he's about to face been against him so far in the game? Uh, is he facing the heart of the order or the bottom of the order? Like, there's there's a lot of variables there, but again, you have to have confidence and know what your what your team is capable of doing. And and when it's time, it's time. Again, just just you know, and and I'll say the same thing from a hitting side of uh from the offense. Just pass the pass it down the line, pass the bat down the line. Just go out if it's putting a sacrifice down, um, if it's you know, situational baseball. Uh one thing I'm gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:44

Don't have Red Johnson button, please. Don't have Red Johnson button, please.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:47

I mean, I'm okay with Red Johnson butting. I mean, that's what he does. He puts the ball in play and he and he puts the you know, puts pressure on the other team's defense. And and we've seen we've manufactured some stuff. I will say uh central, I always want to say South Florida because that's the team from my hometown, but Central Florida, uh pretty solid defensively. We're at a 979 fielding percentage, they're at 975. Uh, so you should get a pretty clean game uh from them. But again,

NC State Offense Keys — Small Ball vs. Big Inning

SPEAKER_03 1:02:13

it's it's about putting putting pressure on the defense, making them make the plays, and just seeing what happens. Uh, I would love to see this team run a little bit. Um, but again, I get some of the philosophy of why they like to kind of hold Rhett because it opens that hole between first and second for Luke to kind of you know push the ball through. But again, I think you're gonna have to just score runs and keep scoring runs and keep the foot on the gas. I I you know if it's putting up 20 runs, then damn it, put up 20 runs because your pitchers might give up 15. And that's not a slight at our team at all, but uh, we've seen it on more than one occasion this season. Uh, you know, you don't I I don't I look I get playing for a run here and there, but I don't know if one run is going to be the difference. So I don't want to see Chris McHugh in the second inning putting down a bunt when we have guys at first and second. I I I don't want to see that. Um yeah, but anyway, yeah, yeah, it'll be fun. Um, hopefully we get some folks to get travel down there again. I'm I'm really kind of bummed that I don't get to make the trip. Uh, but yeah, work comes first, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:18

Well, and and to to kind of build off of a little bit like you were saying, about you know, just you know, just see how things go. I think that both of these games are kind of the in my opinion, the Herb Brooks mentality of just play your game, you know, like like you said, don't do anything special. Like, I really don't think there's really a key really to either game. And let me explain, and they're for two different reasons. For UCF, it's more of like we said, the pitching nor the hitting is really necessarily like a huge strength, I feel like, and in my opinion, for UCF, they both are decent. So, therefore, just go and just and because also, too, for us, like like we have options from the bullpen side that have shown a huge potential. We have shown a lot of options on the hitting side that have also shown huge potential. So, therefore, just go play your game. And if you play your game, and you know, you have four or five guys that you know are able to have a good game on the batting side, and you know, if it's Coop and you know, you know, whoever follows up behind him, Ryder Gorino, or whoever follows up behind him, uh, you know, plays their game, then you're gonna

Auburn Deep Dive — Why They Are the Toughest Out

SPEAKER_01 1:04:27

win. And then Auburn, it's the same thing, uh, but for the exact opposite reason, which is both sides of Auburn are so strong that listen, just let's just go and just and just see if we can find some magic. You know what I mean? Like, I mean, like Auburn. I mean, like they have three different guys, Greg, three different pitchers that pitch under 3.55 ERA. They have a 299 team batting average, which is which is fourth in the SEC. I mean, they really uh at one point this season had six straight SEC series wins, uh, which it hasn't been done since 1995. Uh so I mean this is an incredibly strong Auburn team to say the least here, and they are incredibly strong on both sides. So it's like you're you're first facing a UCF team that's solid on both sides. So, you know, there's not really one that's you know, okay, like you know, you just got to get through this part and then you know the rest take care of itself. Like Auburn, it's just hey, listen, you're you're gonna face more likely a juggernaut on both sides, and so you know, we're just gonna have to get some magic. I mean, simple, it's simple as that. Like, like if Auburn plays their best baseball, we're not gonna win. We're just not. But hey, you know, if but hey, if if things line up and and uh, you know, if it's Heath Andrews or whoever it is that starts, uh, you know, or Anderson Nance, whoever starts, and he's able to get you four innings and only give up one run, uh, you know, magic can happen. Magic can happen. And and we've seen crazier things. So that that's kind of really where. Head is that in my opinion, it's not really a like this is the key to game, it's just just go play your game, play your game. Simple as that.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:08

Yeah, it's uh uh you know, looking through some of the Auburn stuff, like there's no doubt that um they're a good team. Uh, you know, they they elite it's yeah, they won 17 ball games in the SEC. Um obviously the SEC is the number one team, or excuse me, the number one conference in baseball. They got through the semifinals and lost two to one, right? And you know, they won game one in their tournament against LSU, and then they beat the number three seed 7-0, and then they lose to the number seven seed two to one. Uh again, uh very well pitched team. Offensively, like you mentioned a few things. I I don't think they're I think they're definitely their strength is in their pitching and not their offense. And they're probably probably the best staff in all of the country. I think I absolutely I don't know if that's necessarily a hot take, but I think I think just number wise, looking at here, um, let me pull up their stats again. I I had them a few minutes ago.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:10

Um, did you I can I can highlight them for you, Greg. Yeah. I mean, so and and and all three of these guys I'm about to mention, Greg, the scariest part, they're all sophomores. Uh Jake Marciano, uh uh third in the SEC with an ERA of 2.74. Uh Auburn was six and one in rubber games with him on the mound. Yeah, he's nasty. In my opinion, unquestioned

Auburn's Pitching Staff — Jake Marciano & Jackson Sanders

SPEAKER_01 1:07:32

ace of this team.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:33

Uh Jackson Sanders, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:35

Yeah. Uh Jackson Sanders, fourth in the SEC, ERA of 2.79, nationally known as one of the best bullpen arms in college baseball. And and really, uh kind of really kind of gives off more of closer vibes to me. And so if you see him and you're behind, you're in trouble for sure. Uh and then and then and then Andreas Alvarez, uh uh 3.54 ERA. Man, that guy stinks, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:00

Uh I mean, Alex Petrovic, Alex Petrovic, 321 ERA is nine and two. Um, basically pitched the same amount of innings as Marcy, uh Marciano. Um, yeah, it's I mean, these guys' whips are right around one, one thirteen. Um, just really good stuff. I mean, a team, a team ERA of 345 is is an incredible number in in a metal bat uh situation. Um I uh let me see what is their hitting uh people are batting 229 against them as a complete staff, by the way. Like this isn't like you know, you you I mean you have you have one dude like that's like two dudes over three, but each of them have pitched like less than 10 innings. Um and they're the ones that are bringing down the staff. Like it's it it's it's rough. Uh fielding wise, uh 977, so really good fielding percentage there. So they pitch and they pitch and field really well, and that's gonna keep you in 95% of your ball games. Uh you're gonna win games three. I mean, you go look at their let me see, go back to their schedule real quick. You you look at their results. I mean, they're winning games two to one. Uh the first two games of the season, they beat Youngstown State two to one. I mean, that just tells you pitching right there, right? Um uh let me see. Look, I'm just trying to see the most runs they gave up in a game. Uh seven. Oh, there's one that's 11 to Alabama. And they gave up 13 to Georgia Tech, and they gave up 15. Uh yeah, so they had three games where they gave up double digits uh runs. Like, oh sorry, four games. Um but yeah, yeah, just really good pitching. Uh like uh we probably had four in the first two months of the season that we gave up double digit runs. Um so really, really good staff. But again, you know, so the then the other question becomes what is who does Auburn throw game one, right? You would think they feel very confident of playing against a Milwaukee. So maybe maybe they hold Marciano till game two. Um, because really in their minds that that's their most important game. Uh they do have game one. Um, so they'll have a day game there, and then state will have the late game. But uh it will be it will be interesting to see what their philosophy is being the host playing the four seed. Um but you hope maybe Milwaukee catches lightning in a bottle, catches them off guard game one, and then you know we win game one, and then you only gotta beat Auburn. Maybe you don't even get to Auburn, maybe UCF then pulls an upset uh against against Auburn, and then they're out really quickly, and then that you know that flips the the whole region uh on its head. And uh you've seen things like this, like these things happen.

Can NC State Beat Auburn? The Honest Answer

SPEAKER_03 1:10:48

It's baseball. Baseball is a really weird sport, right? Um, you know, we talked about it a couple years ago with Evansville knocking out ECU at home. Uh it does happen. And um it takes, and and yeah, I know how much you love hockey. It just you know, it's pitching is like hockey. You get a hot goaltender, you get a really good pitcher, he's in a groove, you can't touch him. You know, uh uh these tournaments are interesting because you know, for the first first for the first round on the regional level, you haven't seen these pitchers before. Like all you've done is seen tape, and it you just don't know, you know, seeing tape is one thing, but then facing it live is is a whole nother thing. Uh so you could get some you could you could get some craziness. It it's possible.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:34

Yeah. Now now looking at it, Greg, a little bit deep, uh diving into looking at you know the stats a little bit more here. If I were to pick one thing, and this is more around, you know, yes, UCF, but it's really more around an Auburn team where it runs are at a premium. Uh, the biggest thing, if I were to say NC State, if they want to pull the upset, if they want to you know win this regional, they're gonna have to improve in one area. It's got to be uh scoring with runners in scoring position. Oh, 100%.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:05

Yeah, that's been a kill so all year.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:07

All year. I mean NC State against against Stanford was was two for 12 with runners in scoring position. It was five for eighteen versus UNC with runners in scoring position. So if Auburn gives you an opportunity, if if they make a mistake, you gotta capitalize because they're not gonna make many mistakes. Yeah. Uh if from a defense perspective. So you got to capitalize.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:27

Yeah, I will say Auburn has the all-name guy. Like if there's an all-name team to the regional, uh uh Auburn has them in Bub Terrell. Bub Terrell. Oh, love that Bub Terrell is a 303 guy and has hit 16 home runs and has 43 RBIs on the season. So he's gonna be a problem. Um if if and when we face them. They got some mashers. I mean, they got four guys, uh, excuse me, five guys over double digits and home runs. No, excuse me, four. I can't count. Count's hard. Counting's hard. Uh yeah, uh look if if if we can like I this is gonna be kind of a hot take. I think our hitting is better than

Path to the Super Regional — What Has to Go Right

SPEAKER_03 1:13:07

Auburn. Um, but can the can we can we get to their pitchers, right? And and good pitching can neutralize really good hitting really quickly. Um, because the pitcher knows what's coming, the batter doesn't. So there's definitely a little bit of a of a um advantage there to the pitcher. But you know, again, these things get weird. Um you you you just you don't you don't know how it's gonna play out. And you just go out and play the game and see what happens, man. Like, you know, stop talking about it and let's go, let's go, let's go be about it.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:38

Yeah, no, 100% right. So um any other final comments here, Greg, about the regional before we start to wrap this puppy up.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:46

No, I think um I'm excited to see, you know, can we hang? Uh gotta go out and you know, win game one, set the tone. Um try to, you know, do this with the least amount of pitchers used, uh, because we need all the pitching we can get.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:05

Yeah, no, 100%. Now, uh, so just to kind of recap too as well, I know originally when I tweeted out uh that NC State uh was in the Auburn Regional, I'd originally said that the game would be Friday at 6 p.m. on ESPNU, but actually after checking notes, uh after checking a little bit further, it's actually just gonna be on ESPN Plus. So uh, you know, so definitely uh hope you have that ESPN subscription or that Hulu, you know, uh subscription so you can watch and tune in.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:36

That's kind of a kick. That's a no no top five national seat, and you're relegating them to ESPN Plus. That's

Final Predictions — How Far Does NC State Go?

SPEAKER_03 1:14:41

kind of but it's almost 10 o'clock. Give me one more minute, I'll give you my official answer. But um yeah, that's uh well, actually, hold on. That makes sense. I bet the okay, no, hold on. Because it's the Auburn game will probably be on a regular network, and then we'll get relegated to ESPN Plus. That that part makes more sense. Uh, not that uh I was thinking Auburn as a whole will be on ESPN Plus, but I I highly doubt that.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:08

Yeah, and then if NC State does beat UCF, then uh they would play Saturday at 4 p.m. uh uh against the winner of Auburn versus Milwaukee. Uh and then the rest of the schedule obviously we'll figure out depending on how the hell those two games go.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:22

So yeah, that's just interesting, right? Like uh, you know, that's uh I I would assume that the first game what is the first game on Saturday? It probably 11, 10, 11.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:32

There's new probably 11, probably 11. Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:36

Yeah, not to have a night game is kind of interesting. Um I'm I I will be curious to see. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:45

Well, probably it's setting up, and this is where again the ESPN definitely would appreciate for sure. Uh, you know, if it's Auburn top four seed versus a Elliott Avant, NC State, that'd be that bring a lot of Ives for sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:00

So yeah, I I'm oh I am curious uh because of how they rotate the home team. I'm I'm curious if we'll be the home team the first or second game. Um so yeah, I think I would rather be the home team probably the first game. Probably the first game. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:20

No, definitely.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:21

So nope, it'll uh it'll be uh it'll be fun. Hopefully we we we find we find our stride. And uh again, we've had we've had plenty of time. We we played last Tuesday, and so it'll be a week and a half at that point since we have played a meaningful game, and I hope uh we're able to knock off any rust really quickly. I I would assume that the team will probably fly down Wednesday, maybe early Thursday morning, but probably Wednesday, I I would guess. Um but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:53

We'll both throw around practice at the field on Thursday, probably.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:58

Oh, 100%. Yeah, 100%. So yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:02

So with that being said, Wolfpack Nation, just like Greg said, uh, you know, excited to see what's gonna happen here, uh, starting off Friday, Friday night versus UCF, 6 p.m. on ESPN Plus. So make sure

Call to Action — Watch in Auburn or Tune In

SPEAKER_01 1:17:13

to tune in. And if you're able to make it there in person, please do. Uh it's definitely uh an amazing uh college town to say the least. Uh it's fun. Uh Greg, Greg, Greg, any any recommendations, food recommendations for anybody uh gonna make the trip?

SPEAKER_03 1:17:26

Oh yeah, man. We went to uh man, I will uh I'll have to drop it in um I guess I'll I'll either send it to you or I'll post it. We went to a really cool um something in the hound was the name of the we were that we went there for basketball and it was cool. Vibe, a lot of good food, a lot of good southern food, bourbon. If you like your bourbon, um yeah. Let me let me see if I can come up with it and uh you can do you want to talk about football real quick.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:57

We can.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:58

I mean, we got the number one recruit in the country.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:04

That's true. What the heck was I thinking? Why, yeah, no, why didn't why didn't we literally just dedicate this whole podcast to us getting the number one recruit? Oh, wait, uh no, number one kicker. Oh, whoops. You know, you know, number number one recruit, number one kicker, same thing, right? You know, it's it's yeah, you know, it's literally called the hound, by the way.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:24

Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. It's called the hound. Yeah, really good place.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:28

See you see, you just want to talk about the number one recruit, uh, just so that we give you a second to look up the name of the restaurant. So I see what you did there. Of course. Uh yeah, no, hey, listen, you know, us NC State here.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:40

I mean, hey, you know, kicker you, you know, kind of low-key here a little bit here.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:44

I mean, I'm just I'm just saying. So, you know,

Football Recruiting & KJ Caldwell Discussion

SPEAKER_01 1:18:47

I'm not really surprised. You know, the number one kicker, North Carolina guy, wants to come play NC State. I don't think that's much of a tall ask. I don't think that's really much of a hot take here. So uh yeah, you know, it and and you know, as we've learned before, I'm gonna bring it up, is that you know, NC State knows just as good as any other team in the country how good uh how important a good kicker is, to say to least here for sure, too, as well. So hey, glad to see that, you know, uh, you know, start next year that uh you know we're gonna have a pretty solid and reliable kicker to say to least to start off uh to start off for the next four years here, three, four years. So um, but yeah, any other highlight pieces, Greg, uh, for that?

SPEAKER_03 1:19:32

I mean, no, I mean Moses Barker, uh local kid out of Fuque, um, going to I think he went goes to Willow Spring. Is that a high school there? Am I right? Oh, is it?

SPEAKER_01 1:19:42

See, I I saw Fuque and just figured that he went to Fuque Varena High School.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:45

So I think it was Willow Spring. If I is I I think that's the school, right? Is that right? You know, I don't live there. I don't know. I think it's Willow Spring. Probably yeah. I I totally was not prepared. Greg, you're you're no, it's okay. No, he comes from a good NC State family. He's a legacy guy. His dad and grandpa went to NC State. So um, you know, had had some offers from the the academies in Iowa specifically. Um, some people may look at that as like, well, that's not really a great list, but kicking is a lot different than than than other position players. Thanks, Benjamin. Um, but uh yeah, like smart kid, really smart kid. If you're getting offered by uh by the service academies, and you know, you got good moral character and you're smart. And then he he won the Coles kicking competition. I think he hit like 35 of 36 field goals like in that competition to win it, including a 64, 65 yarder, uh, which is super impressive. Uh, you know, if if we you know, we we we had a a good legacy not too long ago with our our main guy, Chris Dunn. And so this could be the next uh the next great kicker, like kind of like you said in kicker U. But uh a lot to be excited about. And you know, game changer. You know, if you can hit a 50 plus yard field goal, that that changes philosophy and field and and all of that, and you can rely on somebody to hit big time field goals to win games. Um really good kickoff guy, too. I don't know if he'll do both, but he consistently puts it in the end zone. So to get excited about come 2027 when he hits campus. Yeah, no, love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:31

And uh yeah, love uh show shedding a little bit of light on the on the unsung heroes here, Greg. Dude, for real. I know, right? Yeah, unsung hero.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:40

It looks like state's pretty close to wrapping up their their basketball roster well. Um, we got a dude that I can't even fake the funk to say his name. Um from from the Baltic area.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:53

Uh looks like a play, play, play

Robert Jurkovic — The Adriatic League Addition

SPEAKER_01 1:21:56

with Slovenia, played with uh Luca Dondric from Slovenia. That's all you need to know about him, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:22:00

Yeah, yeah. Um can't be that bad. 24-year-old. Uh, it will be interesting to see how the eligibility thing plays out. Um, there's a couple of things that they have to do to work through that, but then uh have brought in a couple of guys, a kid from App State. Again, I I I don't remember names at the moment. I I'm not in full basketball mode, so uh I do apologize. And then a kid from New Hampshire as well uh to kind of round out the bench. Looks like we still need maybe one more piece, though this guy is a six foot ten guy. I don't know if this will be the final piece or if they're still trying to get a quote unquote true center. Um, that would seem like to be the last piece of the puzzle for this recruiting cycle for State and Coach Ganey.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:44

Yeah. I mean, since since you're gonna since you bring it up, I mean the one thing which I do love again about this roster so far, once again, is it's not really there's not really a guy on this roster that's like the the wow factor, you know, from a national level. Like I don't need that first team on the first one. I want to I don't need that. I want yes, exactly, exactly right. Like, like because I'm sitting here saying, like, listen, like Gainey's a former player, he recruited for a long time under Tennessee. He knows what he's talking about.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:16

So the fact that he didn't get what you would call maybe a layup of a game.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:21

But he kind of did with Paul McNeil. I mean, well, like yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:26

No, I mean, like, well, that's

Gainey's Roster Big Picture — What the Puzzle Looks Like

SPEAKER_01 1:23:29

now that wasn't a layup in terms of from a it it it's it's no, he had to work all the effort in the world, yeah. No, but but like in terms of like more of well, and because Paul McNeil, I mean, let's be real, like like he's an upside play, like like like he wasn't a Darien Williams, like a first team all conference guy. Now, when you get Paul McNeil, you're saying you know this guy has elite upside. Uh so so I still would say, I mean, like, like it's not uh besides Paul McNeil, uh like we said, like a roster, like these guys where you know nationally we're gonna be necessarily talked about, like, oh my gosh, like you know, can you believe the job that Ganey has done? But really, like like we said, I I truly do see like this is a puzzle that's being put together right here. This isn't just one big piece with with pieces around it. This is a bunch of puzzle pieces I can put together. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:20

Yeah, to your point, I think where you're gonna get all the talk is during the season. And people are gonna look back and go, damn, Justin Eady put put together a class, like like it didn't it didn't have flashy names, but dudes just ball and dudes play together and dudes don't, you know, and I think he's looking for that cohesive team where he's got a bunch of team guys, not a bunch of me guys, and um exactly. I and I think it's it it and again we talked about it. You there's a lot of offensive upside, and if he can get them to play defense at a high level, it's gonna be a very, very competitive team. Um, and and your hope is that he puts his defensive stamp on these guys, and that they just are are are a team that's gonna be hard to play against and that they're gonna put up 80 80 points a game, like a run and gun type offense.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:15

Yep. Well, because honestly, the best seasons for NC State fans are the seasons honestly you go into with not extremely high expectations. Uh, I mean, I feel like it's been a repetitive, unfortunate, you know, result where whether it's with football, women's basketball, men's basketball, you name it, where you go into seasons with incredibly high expectations, and you'll always find a reason to say, nope, these expectations were met. But now you're going into this year this year saying, hey, listen, I just want to be competitive and just and I hope Will Wade just looks like the the all right, what time is it 1010? That the asshole that he is. Uh you know, like yeah, like that's that's that that's really all I think N state fans are are gonna expect for the season. But hey, listen, like if you go and you pull off a win or two versus UNC, if you go and you are competing for a top four C in the ACC tournament, you know, you're pretty solid into the double A tournament uh bracket.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:08

All right, that's a pretty daggone good season. I'll take that.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:10

I I think yeah, and and obviously we'll talk about basketball, you know, yes, at some point over the summer, and then you know, as we get closer to to the next academic school year. Um I I think I think the goal is you know, top five, you know, regular season make the tournament, and then the cherry slash chefs kiss to it all is LSU doesn't make the tournament, and that's highly successful. I think again, I might be getting ahead of myself and we'll end on this because we're almost at an hour and a half. I think people will be more excited if LSU doesn't make the tournament than if Carolina didn't make the tournament, at least for this year.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:53

Uh I I'm gonna put that in a poll. I'm gonna put that in a poll on Twitter because I actually be very curious.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:58

Yeah, when we get to basketball, let's let's let's let's uh let's uh table that and yeah, after baseball. Yep, yeah, yeah. I I I honestly think Don't let me forget that.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:08

I'm I'm really interested in it.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:09

I'll try to remember, you know. I'm an old guy, but uh um yeah, I don't know though. Like it's it's a fun one. Um I feel like someone maybe already asked that out there. I can't remember though. I can't remember what I read, but um, yeah, and again, I'm not rooting for either, but I'm just curious as to if the overall hate of Carolina surpasses the hate for that coach that shall not be named.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:35

Yep. Now uh the other side piece, and then we'll wrap it up here, is uh Matt Abel officially announcing uh he's returning to UNC. So so now it's gonna be really good.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:45

By the way, that was the worst edit job ever for a Jersey. Like it was so bad. Yeah, it was so bad. Uh yeah, I mean, somebody, somebody, somebody please hook up that guy with some AI edits because it was not good. Um Yeah, good for him. Um, could care less. Again, I the way I look at it is I don't hate kids that either, you know, even if he went to that school, I don't hate kids.

Closing Thoughts & Sign Off

SPEAKER_03 1:28:09

They they gotta make the best decisions for them and their family. I I'm just not gonna talk about it one way or the other. Um I I will say I hope he has success as long as it's not at our expense. And and I'll leave it at that. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:24

So with that being said, Wolfpack Nation will wrap it up there. If you haven't already, make sure you hit that subscribe button, hit that like button as well. If both those or either of those buttons are lighting up for you, that means you need to smash it here right now. It's a free thing to do that really helps support us in a big, big way. So make sure to do that if you have not already. Uh, but also to as well, if you are listening to us on iHeart Radio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you're listening to us, do us a big, big favor, leave us a five-star review. Greatly appreciate it as well. And with that being said, as well, too, make sure to give us a follow, Toughie Talk Now on Twitter, and uh also to as well stay tuned as well, as we have some big, big announcements uh coming up here soon, which I mean, Greg, I mean, at this point, you know, whoever whoever's listening at this point is is the real Tuffy Talk truthers out there. So I'm I'm I'm all for putting out a little bit of a teaser there for what's to come here soon. So make sure to stay tuned for that. But with that being said, Wolfpack Nation, if you haven't uh already, I just want to just, you know, also to say thank you so much again for joining us here tonight and uh you know excited about what's to come, excited to see how this uh you know Coach Avon era comes to an end here. Uh, I hope that we come uh together next Monday and are able to talk about a super regional that's coming up here. So, but taking one step at a time, take care of UCF Friday night, take care of Auburn, and the rest will take its course. With that being said, or Milwaukee, or Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:42

Let's not cut out my Milwaukee yet.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:44

Or Milwaukee. Or Milwaukee. That's true, that's true.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:48

Or with that being said, that's right. With that being said, Wolfpack Nation, we'll talk to y'all soon. And uh as always, go pack Megan's about to be so sad.