Wes & Walker

With the Super Bowl officially in the books, the next item on the NFL's agenda will be the NFL Combine, followed by free agency, once the new league year begins in March. After a 2-15 season, the Panthers desperately need upgrading their roster if they want to compete in 2024. In today's NFL, teams can change overnight with their ability to sign players, but Carolina will be handicapped by having just $31 million in cap space and having to resign some of their players, including Brian Burns and Frankie Luvu. 

It was a busy day for the Charlotte Hornets, who were active at the trade deadline, trading away veteran Gordon Hayward, and PJ Washington, who resigned with the Hornets earlier this summer. Those moves were expected given Charlotte's standing in the Eastern Conference, as it made sense to trade for the future. The moves may make it even harder for the Hornets to compete down the stretch, but it opens the door for more growth for Brandon Miller, who is enjoying a historic rookie season in the NBA. 

It may be another lost season for the Charlotte Hornets, but a bright spot, outside of the star Brandon Miller is destined to become, has been fellow first-round pick, Nick Smith Jr, who has made the most of his opportunities, and currently leads all rookies in three-point shooting percentage. Smith was taken out of Arkansas late in the first round last June after injuries derailed his NBA Draft stock, which at one point projected him to be a top-5 draft selection. 

Charlotte's 8-1 start to conference play is as big a surprise as anything we've seen in local or national college basketball this season, and tonight they put that record on the line at South Florida, who is also 8-1 in the AAC. Unlike FAU or Memphis, the only way Charlotte will hear their name called on Selection Sunday is if they win the AAC Tournament next month after a slow start in non-conference play eliminated any chance at being an at-large bid. A win tonight would further help their chances of being the #1 seed in that event, making the path easier to winning three games in three days. 

Last summer, former 49ers head coach, Ron Sanchez resigned from his position as head coach, to return to Virginia as an assistant. Sanchez, who was going to enter the 2023-24 season on the hot seat, didn't wait to be fired, but in the process left the Charlotte program in disarray. There is never a good time to walk out on your program, and the kids you recruited, but in today's era, of the transfer portal, along with NIL, it put the future of the program in even further danger. 

Later tonight, the greatest rivalry in sports renews itself, as #3 North Carolina, hosts #7 Duke in the first of two meetings between the best teams in the ACC, and two teams more than capable of winning a national championship. Over the years the rivalry has been defined by moments, most recently, Caleb Love's three-pointer that proved to be the dagger in a win over the Blue Devils in the Final Four, which officially retired Coach K, after a legendary run in Durham. 

The new era of Carolina Panthers football is here with the hire of Dave Canales being finalized last week. Since David Tepper bought the team, this is his third hire in under a decade, as he's struggled to establish the winning organization he promised when he bought the team. A couple of people who know all about what it takes to win in the NFL, and experienced winning in Carolina, are Ron Rivera, and Greg Olsen. Rivera, the former coach of the Panthers, helped the team win three straight division titles and appeared in Super Bowl 50. Olsen, a favorite target of Cam Newton, was on that Super Bowl team and knows what it's like to be a part of a winning locker room. Both guys took time today to join the Wes & Walker Show earlier on WFNZ. 

For the 35th time this season, the Hornets took to the basketball court, and fell short of their ultimate goal, losing tonight to the Knicks 113-92, to drop their third straight game at home, and their fourth overall. New York, who is in the process of learning to play without Julius Randle, held just a 5-point lead at the half, as both offenses came out sluggish, producing a 46-41 halftime score. Charlotte is among the worst third-quarter teams in the NBA, and that reared its ugly head again tonight, as the visitors outscored them 44-24 in the third period, to effectively put the game away. 

After trading away Terry Rozier earlier in the week, it's safe to say that the Hornets are waving the white flag on the 2023-24 season, and a rebuild awaits the team as we get closer to the trade deadline. Charlotte entered the season with faint hopes of competing for a spot in the Play-In Tournament, and that all went sideways after an early rash of injuries took the team out of contention by mid-December. 

The first month of the ACC season is just about over, as January is drawing close to an end, and the conference is once again turned upside down. North Carolina has emerged as the team to beat, holding a two-game over surprised Florida State, which has overcome an awful non-conference season, to compete at the league's top. The middle of the league is jam-packed with a handful of teams, including Duke who entered the season as the overwhelming favorite to win. Duke isn't the only team to underachieve in the first full month of conference play, so has Miami, coming off a trip to the Final Four, and Clemson, who who seemed poised to break out after barely missing the NCAA Tournament.