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Mac & Bone Show - Jones Angell Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Mack and Bone with us.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: People that are just tuning in are like, this dude says,
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: that Hornets game was unwatchable.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Have y'all talked about it? Yes. We've whined. We've vented.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: We've moaned.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: We brought on Sunshine Sam and he got bashed and
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: the poor guy got bashed on the text line. It's
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: been an emotional day. No doubt about it. We still
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: don't have any word on Con Canipple and the injury.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: But obviously the fear is, Bone, that He redid it.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean? It's the same injury. We
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: don't know for sure. So anyway, we'll circle back more
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: to the Hornets. I'm sure we also are going to
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: do a little Know Your Enemy conversation with Ryan Edwards
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: from KOA in Denver. We're going to talk about the
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Broncos team that's coming in here with the dastardly, hateable,
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: punchable Sean Payton this weekend. But right now, a man
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: that is anything but dastardly, hateable, and punchable, The very
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: likable Jones Angel joins us to talk about the Tar
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Heels coming off an absolute thriller against the number one
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: team in the country. And Jones joins us here on
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: the Mac and Bone Show. Hey, Jones, what's going on, man?
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: How you doing?
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: Probably depends on who you ask if I'm punchable or not.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: So glad to hear that you guys don't think so.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: But great to be with y'all. And yeah, it was
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: a man. What a good ball game last weekend. I
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: thought Carolina really played On the offensive side, I thought
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: they played their best game of the season to this point. Man,
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: just couldn't get enough stops, and Miami is so tough
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: to stop. And I saw Malachi Toney, you know, is
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: injured now, got injured in practice this week, unfortunately, for
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: the Canes. But when they're at full strength offensively, they
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: are really tough to slow down. And then you have
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: one or two plays, you know, right there at the end,
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: as so many of these games have been. And unfortunately
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: for the Heels, didn't go their way, but encouraging performance.
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: But you want to see those encouraging performances turn into
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: a few more wins. And that's what Carolina is going
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: to try and do here down the final month.
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: You're right, though, even though Notre Dame and Miami were
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: not wins, how much have they showed you about how
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: far they've come in a year in the losses that
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: they've had and how close they really are to knocking
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: that door down?
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: Sure. You know, I think it speaks to a couple
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: of things. I think it speaks to the quality of
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: coaching that Carolina is receiving. And, you know, that hadn't
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: gotten talked about a lot, but a lot of focuses
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: when it comes to Coach Belichick, a lot of the
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: focus seems to be away from football. There is no
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: question that he and his staff know football and can
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: prepare a team and get it in its best place ever.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: to be successful with what they currently have. And so
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: I think that's number one. And number two is the
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: Tar Heels are getting better. This is a team that
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: continues to grow. I do think still a lot of
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: improvement needs to occur. And just on the global level,
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: Carolina still needs to continue to upgrade its talent. I mean,
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: they need to develop a lot of these young guys.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: who are their second and third teamers right now, and
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: they need to continue to bring in some quality players.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: And that happens, of course, in the offseason, and you
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: build that over a couple different offseasons. And so this project,
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: this journey that Carolina's on is not just not complete
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: this year. It's not complete in total. I think you
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: see that over the next season or two as the
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: Heels continue to try to grow this to get to
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: the point where they want to be.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: We're talking with Jones Angel, voice of the Tar Heels,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: and yet there's no doubt the progress is there, and
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: that game was an absolute thriller on Saturday night. They
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: deserved to be applauded for the way they played. I've
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: got a UNC fan asking Jones, can they run the table?
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Can they go the rest of the season with just
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: one loss? What do you think? Can they down the
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: stretch start to make that progress, Jones, Where these become
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: wins more consistently.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: It's the big question, right? Because I do think that
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: Carolina has an opportunity in front of it to have
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: a really strong close to the year. You know, you
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: play four games, two of them are at home, two
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: of them on the road. The two road trips are
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: UConn coming up this weekend and then at Virginia, who
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: has been struggling. So you have an opportunity in front
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: of you to have some quality victories and to get
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: some rivalry wins in there, too. You play Virginia and
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: NC State together. Both of whom I think fall into
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: that category for Carolina football. And so you have an
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: opportunity to really close the season strong. Now, remember last year, guys, Carolina,
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: as difficult a season as the Tar Heels had, they
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: were in a similar spot to this. They were sitting
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: at four and five. through nine games, Carolina currently 4-4,
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: and then lost in succession to Wake Forest, to Duke,
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: and to NC State. And so obviously not the way
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: you want to close the year. So I think this
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: final month really gives the Tar Heels an opportunity for
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: people to clearly see, not just with the way they've played,
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: but in the actual black-and-white situation win total of you
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: know that the Tar Heels have made some progress now
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: the Louisville game certainly a big challenge all these games
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: will be a big challenge but if Carolina plays the
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: way that it has played if it continues to take
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: some steps forward and grow on what it has done
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: absolutely the Tar Heels have a chance to have a
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: really strong close to the year.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Jonesy, I call you Jonesy, right? I'm allowed to?
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: That's fine. Yeah, look, just don't punch me in the face.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: We're good.
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: Well, actually, we're usually getting threatened to be punched in
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: the face, so you don't have.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: To worry about that.
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: Jelani Thurman, another impressive performance. Jones, hypothetically speaking, if you're
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: an NFL team and you may have interest in tight
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: ends down the line, how bright is the future for
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: this guy past his Tar Heel days?
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: It's really, really bright. And I will also say, I
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: think that is maybe the number one position on this
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: Tar Heel team that took a step forward from last
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: year to this year. And I think it will continue
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: to be a really important part of what Carolina does.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: I mean, you look at Bill Belichick's history in the NFL,
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: and you can list, obviously, Gronkowski and Hunter Henry and
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: several others that were really good at that position for
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: him when he was a professional coach. So I know
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: it was a position that Carolina really highlighted of wanting
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: to improve and one that they will continue to focus
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: on both in recruiting and in the portal. For Jelani specifically,
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: you're looking at a 6'6 guy who can run, who
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: is strong, who's got a really wide catch radius. I
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: think that's one of the things about him that really
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: makes him unique and is that radius of his ability
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: to make the catch. You can throw that ball so high.
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: You saw it on the touchdown against Miami where he
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: did the thriller dance afterwards. The ball was high. But
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: when you're 6'6, and you've got arms like Jelani Thurman does,
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: it's got to be really high to be away from him.
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: And so it was a really smart throw by Billy
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: Edwards to the point where the only person who could
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: get it was Jelani Thurman. And so when you have
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: those physical gifts, he's really being able to show and
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: played well against the best competition that Carolina's played this year,
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: Notre Dame and Miami. He played really well in those games.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: He's got a really, really bright future, and Carolina feels
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: like that position is has a very bright future with
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: some of the young guys they have there, too, with
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: Carolina's team this year and moving forward.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: So this Saturday on the football side, it's non-conference game
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: at UConn, a chance to definitely get one of those dubs.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Noon start, 11 a.m.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: Pregame with Jones and the Tar Heel Radio Network, which
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: you can hear on WBT here locally and the whole network, obviously.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Jones, I do want to ask you on the.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Hoop side, Um, uh, it was, listen, we talked to
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: you last week about the Charlotte exhibition. The game against
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: Western Carolina was another one of those games that was
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: a little too close for comfort. Um, uh, what, what
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: are you, what are you thinking about this squad? They
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: are also clearly a work in, in progress. What would you,
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: what would you say to heels fans about where they're
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: at right now?
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. I mean, if Carolina is still in this
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: place in February, then I think the Tar Heels probably
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: haven't had a very good year, right? They need to
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: continue to improve. I think some of that is, you know,
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: you've got a new coach coaching at the college level
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: for the first time, which Carolina lived through this on
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: the football side a year ago, where you have an
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: excellent coach, but who is in a different environment. You
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: have 11 new players on your team. And so, you know,
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: that still does make a difference as they continue to
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: try to and figure out how to play together and
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: how to best be successful. I think all of that
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: is relevant. I think Carolina is still trying to learn
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: the best way that this group can be successful. Carolina
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: took a lot of threes. I didn't talk about the Hornets.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: Carolina took a lot of threes in that game. It
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: took 30 of them in the game against Western Carolina.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: Is that going to be who they want to be,
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: or do they need to figure out how to mitigate
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: that a little bit? And it also comes down to
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: right now the Tar Heels just can't rebound the basketball,
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: and they've got to figure out a way– to be
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: able to rebound at a higher level. If you're struggling
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: to rebound against Charlotte and Western Carolina, no offense to
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: either one of those teams, but when you're playing Syracuse
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: and NC State and Virginia, not to mention when you're
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: playing Arkansas and Kentucky and Duke, you've got to be
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: able to do better or you're going to be in trouble.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: And some of that is Cam Fins getting eligible if
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: that occurs, but you cannot bet on that. You have
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: to just figure out how to be successful with what
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: you have. To me, guys, that is the number one
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: thing right now hurting Carolina. They aren't getting offensive rebounds.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: They aren't keeping the team off the defensive or keeping
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: the other team off the offensive glass. So they aren't
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: able to run as much. The core of what is
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: happening right now is their inability to rebound.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: No doubt. No doubt. That's so true. And we'll see
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: as they progress.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: We'll see if they can get Cameron Fens eligible at
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: some point in time. But I will not ask you
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: to be a court expert and let us know what
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: is going to happen there. Jones, you are the man.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: We appreciate you. And thanks, as always, for joining us, brother.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: Great to talk with you guys. I'll do it again
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: next week. Looking forward to it.