a) Adam is great for his one-of-a-kind access into locker rooms - usually for men's basketball but occasionally for everything else. He's a paid sunshine pumper but that access and intimacy allows his writing to have narratives and context that's pretty unmatched, and he's a good enough writer to make it pay off. I don't read him to be better informed as a fan, I read him to either be ready to run through a brick wall or shed several tears as part of my UNC fandom.
b) Staples and Vipp's problem is that they're way too easily suckered by Mack and others around the program. By the end of the season last year, Vipp was openly saying that UNC was entering every game at a coaching disadvantage on the sidelines - as close as he could get to just calling for Mack to be fired. Now, it's a new year and he's back to defending their decisions and taking their word and actions at the QB position as gospel. Same with Staples, who's straight up embarrassing himself at this point on the boards doubling down on his take that Max Johnson's play Thursday night was that of an average-to-above average NCAA quarterback, because saying otherwise would be saying that the coaching staff made a mistake locking in on him as early as they did. He also bought into the absolutely nonsense conspiracy theory that Longo wasn't giving Chizik the looks he needed in practice and that Chiz would have a much better defense in '23, until he got shut up by Greg.