← No Offseason: The Athletic Women's Basketball Show
Loading summary
Transcript60 lines
- [00:00]
Sunshine
Love looks different for everyone, especially when it comes to all the ways you treat and celebrate yourself. I'm a big hammock head, Sunshine a hammock, a paperback western. That's my kind of everyday indulgence. And you can gift yourself the everyday indulgence of Extraordinary Hydration with Liquid IV powered by LIV hydro science visit liquidiv.com to fall in love with flavors like the zesty new hydration multiplier, sugar free Raspberry Lemonade and use Code no dunks to save 20% off your first order. Liquid IV is easy and convenient. You just tear, pour and enjoy. It's my go to when I'm getting a pump in or handing out buckets, but it's great for staying hydrated during long days, enjoying the outdoors or any other time you need some hydration in your body. Liquid IV offers so many true to fruit flavors. Whether they be hydration multipliers like acai berry, lemon, lime and pina colada, or sugar free like raspberry lemonade, white peach and rainbow sherbet, the flavors are always true to fruit, break the mold and your own ritual. Just one stick and 16 ounces of water hydrates better than water alone. Because Liquid IV is powered by LIV Hydroscience, an optimized ratio of electrolytes, essential vitamins and clinically tested nutrients that turn ordinary water into into extraordinary hydration. You're getting three times the electrolytes of the leading sports drink plus eight essential vitamins and nutrients. And Liquid IV is always non gmo, vegan, gluten free, dairy free and soy free. So treat yourself to extraordinary hydration from Liquid IV. Get 20% off your first order at Liquid IV when you go to LiquidIB.com and use code no Dunks at checkout. That's 20% off your first order with code no Dunks@liquidiv.com As a salesperson, the.
- [02:02]
Ben Pickman
Search for the right buyer or buying groups can feel like you're endlessly sifting through leads and hoping they're ready to buy. Thankfully, LinkedIn Sales Navigator is more than just a tool, it's your strategic sales partner. LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a sales intelligence platform that helps professionals effectively prospect and engage high value customers, drive higher revenue and and increase sales performance. Sales Navigator helps you target the right buyers, surface key signals such as job changes or which accounts you should prioritize, and shows you hidden allies so you can find those buyers that are most likely to convert. Whether you're looking for new clients or strengthening relationships of current accounts, LinkedIn Sales Navigator has a new AI feature designed to help sellers find the right people and get right to the right conversations. All at scale. Fueled by LinkedIn's 1 billion-member platform, Sales Navigator gives you the most up to date first party data enabling you to unlock conversations with the people that matter. Ready to get right to the right conversations? Try LinkedIn Sales Navigator now with a 60 day free trial at LinkedIn.com baseball show that is LinkedIn.com baseball show for a 60 day free trial. Terms and conditions apply.
- [03:16]
Chantelle Jennings
Summer is almost here and there's no better place to go for outside furniture than Wayfair. Wayfair's huge selection of outdoor essentials will help you make your outdoor space more comfortable, functional and most importantly, more you. Get your outdoor space ready today so you can enjoy it all season long. When you have kids, they love to be outside, so you gotta be out there to watch them. Wayfair, you can have outdoor sofas, maybe a set of chairs, a gazebo, some umbrellas because it's really hot down here in the South. No matter the need, Wayfair's huge selection of home items makes it easy to find exactly what's right for you. There's something for every style and every home, no matter your space or budget. Wayfair makes it easy to tackle your summer home goals with endless inspiration for every space and budget, including the outdoors. Free and easy delivery even on the big stuff. No more huge delivery fees for patio furniture. Get big stuff like patio sets, gazebos, hot tubs, outdoor dining sets and more shipped free. Find all your outdoor must haves from seating to pool lounges to trampolines all in one convenient place. Shop a huge selection of outdoor furniture online this summer. Get outside with wayfair. Head to wayfair.com right now. That's W A Y F A I R.com Wayfair Every style, every Home.
- [04:51]
Sabrina Merchant
For the Athletic I'm Ben Pickman and this is the Athletic Women's Basketball Show. Welcome everybody. Get excited because the 2024 women's NCAA tournament is basically here. The first games of the first round tip off at 11:30am Eastern on Friday. Michigan State versus North Carolina on ESPN 2. The winner of that game gets to play South Carolina on their home court. So congrats to everybody for making the NCAA field. As I mentioned, I am Ben Pickman kicking us off today with Zenikeda out on assignment and I am joined by my colleagues who will be covering this tournament alongside me, Chantelle Jennings and Sabrina Merchant. Today we're going to put the final preparation on this year's tournament preview and answer some reader questions in a modified mailbag. But we're going to start with the biggest headline of Thursday. Sabrina, let's start here. The news of the day is that Elizabeth Kitley, the Virginia Tech All American center, will miss the entirety of the 2024 NCAA tournament with a tornado ACL. Obviously a really big story and disappointing for Kitley for fans of the Hokies who went on a run to the Final Four last year. But what was your reaction when you heard the news and what do you think the implications of it will be for Virginia Tech in this tournament?
- [06:23]
E
Well, first of all, I'm glad they actually told us within, you know, the start of the NCAA tournament, as opposed to Notre Dame last year who didn't tell us that Olivia Miles had torn her ACL until, what, eight months after Johnson.
- [06:36]
F
No, they didn't even. Oh, they did tell us that she had torn it, but we had to wait for Gus to tell us that she wasn't coming back. Good point. Maybe we need to get Gus to go cover VT for us.
- [06:45]
E
Once again. We have a team waiting until after this election show to disclose the nature of an injury, and I think the committee was a little bit more on top of it this time around. If you look at Virginia Tech's resume, you could have made an argument for a three seed or potentially a little bit higher. But you know, they got slotted in as a four because of the uncertainty regarding Kitley. And now that we know that she will not be playing, honestly, that first round game against Marshall even looms as a potential problem for the Hokies because Marshall's the type of team that plays with a lot of pressure. Like, you know, our guy Mark Schindler was saying on the podcast last week, they press even after missed baskets. You know, you saw their conference championship game against. I forget exactly who it was, but like they forced 30 some turnovers. It was just an insane amount of ball pressure that they apply. And obviously Virginia Tech has handled presses well in the past, thinking back to last year's Elite Eight game against Ohio State, where they pretty comfortably handled that. But it's a lot easier to handle a press when you have an outlet at the end of it in Elizabeth Kitley, and they no longer have that. So I'm concerned about the Hokies. It's really just disappointing, first of all, because Kittley has really been the fulcrum around which this entire program has evolved over the past five years. We had her on the podcast and she was talking about passing out donuts and like, flyers to get people to attend games as recently as last season. And now they have sold out games. College gameday comes to Blacksburg, you know, to do a Hokies game. And just a bummer that she can't finish out her college career on the court. And just like disappointing, you know, for fans of the game, but, you know, an opportunity for Marshall here and for Baylor and Vanderbilt, I guess, as well.
- [08:20]
F
I think my, my thoughts immediately when I saw it just like went immediately to Kitley. Even thinking back to the ACC tournament when Kylie Watson suffered that injury, Notre Dame, the camera was like, panning over to her and her eyes were like, welling up, you know, just to sort of see how someone is feeling for someone else. Obviously now we understand that, you know, she actually, I don't know if she knew at that time, but like, she, she knew pretty seriously and exactly what Kylie was kind of going through in that moment. But just sort of what a bummer it is that this is how Liz Kitley's career is going to end. I'm grateful that it gets to be in Blacksburg, that they're hosting, that she'll have, you know, at least one more game with her team there. I'm sure she'll be on the bench, but just that this is, this is how the Kitley era ends in Blacksburg feels really, really strange to me. But obviously a program that she helped put on the map brought to the Final Four last year. Tons of great memories for her and Georgia coming out of this, but what a disappointment that we won't get to see her again in a Virginia Tech.
- [09:16]
Sabrina Merchant
Uniform and especially coming out of the run, as you guys said, that they had last year to their Final Four and all kind of the joy and euphoria that. That they faced and that she, you know, crawls for that fan base and what she created for them. And I think, you know, I think the. It's obviously unfortunate, as you both mentioned. And there is though, a reality of what does this then mean for her professional career that I think is something that probably she is, you know, will confront or start to think about. And, you know, who knows how that affects Georgia Amore, the star point guard who has the opportunity to return to Virginia Tech. And you know, Kit Lee, you know, Sabrina and I have a story on the coming on the site next week. You know, certainly There were some GMs that raise some questions about how she might fit or adapt to the WNBA and some of its physicality, but she becomes a really kind of interesting prospect even more so, I think potentially as a result of this injury, just because she can now be stashed if a team wants to. And so a team can really put their, their hands and arms around her and help her with her rehab in a way that, you know, honestly doesn't hurt their roster situation or their cap situation. And so, you know, you hope that a career isn't significantly altered by this injury and that an opportunity to play in the W isn' altered by this injury. And so, you know, I think it will be very interesting to see how WNBA front offices now approach potentially drafting Elizabeth Kitley in just over a month's time. I think that's, you know, the unfortunate reality of the situation too.
- [10:38]
F
So I feel like this conversation actually leads us into some mailbag questions pretty well. We're going to have some questions that readers have sent to us, some questions that readers have left on stories, and then a few that we're just going to ask one another. But if you've been following our stories this week on the site, we did our annual Anonymous poll where we talked with coaches across the country, power conference coaches and high mid major teams. And one of my favorite questions we asked them was really open ended. It was, if you had a magic wand, what one thing would you do to move the game forward? My favorite answer that I got that just sort of surprised me when the coach said it to me was they said I would just get rid of all ACL injuries. And I think there are probably, you know, we can, we can just look across this bracket, the number of ACL injuries that are keeping top players out of this tournament. I'm sure there's a ton of coaches that would jump on that bandwagon right now. But Ben, maybe we can start with you and Sabrina, you can follow up. Like I'm going to throw the question to you. If you had a magic wand, what one change would you make to women's college basketball to move the game forward?
- [11:36]
Sabrina Merchant
Well, I will say and I will get to my own answer. The answer that struck me is the 24 second shot clock. Like I had some coaches talk to me about that being their biggest change and I was really surprised to hear that. And but it made a lot of sense as they mapped it out just to be consistent with the WNBA that it would speed the game up and improve the quality of the product. And so that is definitely something that is like almost framing how I'm watching college basketball right now or I think as this tournament gets underway and you know, some Games are going to be high scoring and closer than others. That is definitely going to be, you know, in the back of my mind, like, what if there was a 24 second shot clock? How would this game be a little bit different? But I think the question of moving the game forward, for me it goes back to continued media coverage. I think is a big one. Media coverage, the TV deal and Nil. And you know, I guess I would loop them all on the umbrella of business changes. Like I do think at the end of the day, as we have seen, and this is super broad and maybe a way to duck out of the question, but like it's all about investment, right? And like we see that in from companies, we see that from TV networks, we see that from media outlets. And that has such a significant impact on the actual game, the product on the floor, who stays, who plays, where. It's the same thing with nil. What schools are investing into their programs or have donors investing into their program. So I look at continued investment, maybe would be my magic wand that people would just start to continue to dump money into women's college basketball.
- [12:58]
E
Yeah, I kind of lean towards the gameplay side of things because as much as I think investment is obviously the number one thing that's going to grow the game, I actually don't love the 24 second shot clock coming to college basketball just because the talent level, I don't think is at the level where you can work that fast in terms of a game. But I do like the idea of, you know, bringing a WNBA role to college and that's six fouls per player. Because we talk so much about officiating and that the quality of officiating is not where it needs to be to support this level of play at the women's college basketball level. And I think one way that we would not have to worry about it so much is if players did have six fouls. Because how often do you think about a player picking up her second foul and then all of a sudden 12 minutes have gone by and she can't get back into the game because the coach is so worried that she's going to foul out? Like the Iowa, South Carolina, Final Four game, you know, Aaliyah Boston picks up her second foul in the first quarter. She doesn't play for the entirety of the second quarter in the Final Four game. So I mean, my first change would just be like for coaches to stop individually fouling their players out. But, you know, assuming that doesn't happen, then I would like to get six fouls. So that we would just see the best players on the court more often.
- [14:04]
F
I think I kind of go to where Ben is thinking with this one in terms of finance, when I think about moving the game forward. Money is what makes college sports go round. And so my thought immediately goes to units that, you know, this is a vote that the Division 1 Board of Directors can take, and coaches are in favor of it, players are in favor of it. The new TV deal would imply that there is money to be redistributed to these programs. And I think if, you know, women's basketball could get to a place like the men, where universities and programs, specifically conferences, are rewarded for the performance of their women's basketball teams in March, that means that they will do more to make sure that those teams have success in March. And I think, you know, maybe that's sort of where everything gets folded in, where coaches in the game and players in the game, when they're saying, like, we want these changes to rules or we want these changes to X, Y, Z, maybe the conferences and the university presidents start listening a little bit more to those people because of the money that's being redistributed from the NCAA Tournament. So I'd like to see units. It's such a boring and unsexy answer and, like, people's eyes just, like, roll back into their head. But more and more, as I talk to folks that are making the decisions in the sport, I just feel like units are so important.
- [15:18]
Sabrina Merchant
I mean, you say that's boring, so let's transition, I guess, to something a little more exciting or that can help some people out if they are filling out their bracket or scurrying to do it. Last minute. One last big question before we turn to some reader questions is looking at not Cinderellas, but teams outside, maybe the top three seeds in each of the regions who you guys think can make the Final Four? This hasn't happened in a bunch of years, not since 2016, when Washington made it as a seven seed and Syracuse was a four seed. That was the last time a team outside of the top three seeds made a women's Final Four. So I guess, Chantel, I mean, you've thought a lot about this. You've covered a bunch of Final Fours. You've looked at this bracket. You were the first person to fill out a bracket on our site. Who do you think is the 4 seed or lower? I guess that could make a Final Four.
- [16:06]
F
You know, I'm looking at my bracket right now, and it's just tough because, like, you said this hasn't happened in almost a decade. So regardless of what I say, it's going to be like, really? That can't happen because you don't see it happening until it happens. Right. So I'm going to pick one that I didn't. I did not put this team through to the Final Four in my bracket, but crazier things have happened. Is this a team that I think could lose in the first round? Yes. Is this a team that I think could make it to the Final Four? Maybe. So why not say this publicly and put my name on it? I'm going to go with Tennessee. Okay. Which again, Green Bay, first round, not easy. Probably NC State, second round. A lot of familiarity between Westmore and Kelly Harper. Not great. Stanford in the third, also not great. I'm just like, at this point telling myself how not great of an idea this is. Because the problem with picking a four seed or lower is that these are teams that throughout the season were up and down. These are not teams that had consistent success. If they did, they would be a three seed or higher. So instantly, I think I just have to put that to the side. But I do think Rekia Jackson, Jewel Spear, Tamari Keys back playing a little bit more, starting in the starting lineup. Like, this is a group that, if we see them play in the way that they did when they came back against South Carolina, maybe not the last second, but up until then, let's say, you know, if there's a flow, if they can catch that momentum, scoring from the inside and the outside, defending well without fouling, like, you know, I think they're a team too, that if that happens in the postseason, you can't really look at their regular season film and know exactly what they did. Well, because that's why they're not a three seed or higher, because they didn't do a ton of things well this season all the time, they're a six seed. And so, you know, perhaps they can catch some people here off guard a little bit. Again, if they lose to Green Bay in the first round, feel free to send me this audio clip and I will say, yep, I saw that coming. What about you, Sabrina, when you said.
- [17:59]
E
Could this team lose in the first round, and maybe I thought you were going to say the team that I was thinking of, which is Utah, because I could absolutely see Utah losing to South Dakota state in the first round. You know, the Utes, they were the Pac 12 champions last year. They made it to the Sweet 16. Two made free throws away from Potentially defeating LSU in that round. They just haven't had the end game luck this year. At the end of games, you know, you think about their loss to Stanford, they had a loss to Arizona, both of those coming like in the final possessions. I still believe in the way that Utah plays. Like, it's very hard to scout against just their ball movement, their player movement. It's tricky to immediately defend if you haven't been familiar with that throughout the course of the season. Like, they tend to wear down at the end of conference play just because every Pac12 team knows how to scout. They know exactly what they're going up against. But, you know, once you hit the NCAA tournament, I do believe that there's a lack of familiarity that could work in their favor. And they just score the ball like so easily that I think that there is a possibility that they could potentially even give Texas trouble, you know, if they got to that Sweet 16 matchup. I think about how much trouble Texas had with Oklahoma during the course of the regular season. And Utah has just a similar way of, you know, putting defenses out of sorts. So I like the Utes just because they have a little bit of experience. You know, they were in the tournament last year. They've got Alyssa Pele, who I really believe could be the best player on the court in like every matchup they play. You know, saving the Madison Booker takes. Like, I think Alyssa Pele is pretty awesome too. But yeah, I just, I like having, you know, a player who could score 30 points any given night as, you know, your upset chance, so to speak. I mean, like Chantel, I don't have any teams below a three seed in my Final Four. So it's not like I took Utah to make this, but if there was, you know, a team that I was looking at, I think, I think the user there.
- [19:37]
Sabrina Merchant
I like when we don't like prepare our answers ahead of time, not that we ever do that. And we just come up with three different choices and make three different cases. Because I'm going to go with Kansas State, which is a team we talked a lot about Sunday night. And I think Mark Schindler put them in his initial Final Four. Though who knows, maybe he has changed his bracket since then, since we recorded that podcast. And you know, a lot of the reasons I like Kansas State are some of the reasons that Sabrina mapped out for liking Utah. Right. A player like Aoka Lee in the middle who can score 30 points and just single handedly disrupt and impact a game. The thing, the reason why I like Kansas State's case a little bit more than Utah is. Sabrina talked a lot about potential matchup disruptions and potential matchup issues. And I look at Kansas State and their side of the draw. They could potentially play Iowa in the sweet 16. And we know that they give the Hawkeyes some matchup problems. We've seen that twice this year. They're 1 and 1 against Iowa this year, having beaten Iowa on the Hawkeyes home floor. And they also beat Iowa last year as well in a 84, 83 game, I believe. So this is a team in Kansas State that is not going to be phased to play the Hawkeyes in the sweet 16. And someone like Lee can give, you know, Hannah Stolke and the rest of the Iowa front line a lot of problems just being a 2010 player in the middle. Kansas State climbed as high as number two in the AP poll this year. Lee, they were 20 and five with her in the lineup. So, you know, they've obviously had a lot of success with her in it. So, you know, if they can get past IO, which is a tough matchup, but we've seen them beat them as, again, as I said at the top, like, the draw is not favorable because then they're gonna play UCLA or lsu. And that's a tough matchup. But you can certainly see it happening a little bit. And, you know, I think this exercise is all about closing your eyes really, really tight and just kind of dreaming and visualizing who is gonna make the Final Four. And I do potentially, maybe in the back of my mind, see a little bit of purple and white in the Final Four.
- [21:27]
F
All right, before we get on to some reader questions, I have one more question for you guys. I guess that's sort of on this, the same track. So we've looked at teams outside of the top three. Now let's just go to the number one team overall, S.C. looking up at that Albany 1 region, which team in there do you think poses the best threat, I guess, to South Carolina or the most interesting threat to South Carolina? I personally, you know, I think part of South Carolina, if they lose a game, they're going to have to partially beat themselves in addition to the other team beating them. But I guess what team do you think maybe fits the bill to give South Carolina enough trouble that it could get to that point that we don't see that team in the Final Four?
- [22:08]
E
Is it okay to say no? One? I would be very, very surprised if South Carolina did not make the Final Four. I mean, their number two seed is a team that they beat by 30.
- [22:17]
F
Points earlier this year when fully healthy.
- [22:20]
E
Right. And they're playing, I mean we, we already knocked out Presbyterian R. We said that North Carolina or Michigan State will be playing South Carolina. Like their first round matchup is against a team that they beat by 70 earlier this year. Like this will be I think a comfortable ride for them on the way to Cleveland. With all due respect to everybody else on that region, but I don't want to give anybody false hope. I don't think anybody has a chance against the Gamecocks here.
- [22:41]
F
Do we think there's anyone in Albany one that can even keep it within 15?
- [22:45]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, I mean I think North Carolina could and again maybe I'm leaning into history too much but these two teams played earlier this year, albeit in Chapel Hill and North Carolina lost by seven. So already if they're able to replicate that Chantel, they follow and are accepted in your lose by 15. Caveat. But you know, in that game do I expect South Carolina to play you know the way that they did? Again, that wasn't their, their best showing. They had 13 turnovers. It was early in the season. It was really kind of an offensive grinded out game. Again the Tar Heels really struggled. They shot just like 30. I think looking at it 31% from the field they only had two double digit scorers. So not their best outing either. But you know, again I think that has to give them some confidence and having some familiarity with South Carolina's size, their speed, their defensive length and just you know, how they compete. Like I just don't think they'll be intimidated and I do think there's a lot of value at this time of the year in a team that knows like we can compete against the team on the other side of the court. And I do think the Tar Heels can do that at least pretty well as as we have seen in the past. Let's take some reader questions and maybe we'll bounce around here and build off some of the things that you guys have left in the comments of our stories this week and so keep them coming as the tournament goes along. Here's one from Thomas R. In a comment Thomas wrote that they will go on record and say now that if Rory Harmon were healthy and playing they would tech take Texas to win the whole thing but since she's not they will go with usc. I guess my then question for you guys, Sabrina and Chantel and Chantelle, maybe you want to start is what do you think the impact of Harmon's absence has been do you think that is a fair thing to say? They would have won the whole thing if she was in it. And I guess with her being out, how do you think they will perform?
- [24:30]
F
Yeah, I think I was definitely among those that when Rory went down, I thought, like, man, Texas could have had a really great season this year. Too bad, maybe next year. Vic, I didn't see this happening. Like, how can you imagine that Madison Booker is going to slot over into the lead guard position, a position she's never played before, if I'm not mistaken, and just sort of seamlessly do what she's done. And I think this is also a team that you look at that has had a history of recent injuries. And so you just wonder, like, can they stay healthy the full season? What's going to happen here? How do you imagine the same can be said of usc? What a lot of us thought of that, what that team would be ahead of the season. The same could be said of Notre Dame when, you know, it was clear that Olivia Miles wouldn't be back, at least for the beginning of the season. You're sort of handing the keys to the car over to a 17, 18 year old and saying, let's do this. I don't tend to put a ton of stock into those teams. And this season just sort of made me realize how much I don't know about this crop of freshmen and maybe moving forward, any team that hands over the keys to a freshman, like, let's just slot them into the Final Four. Because right now, you know, I think if Kylie Watson were healthy, they're probably not getting out of Albany one because they'd have to go through South Carolina. But, you know, that's probably still an Elite eight team, even if they don't have Olivia Miles. And so the freshman, again, we've said it time and time again, they're just not freshmen this year. What Madison Booker has done, how she stepped up, has been incredible. And I think, you know, behind the scenes, Rory being a leader for this team, sort of being a sounding board for Madison, you know, there's a lot of players that if they go through that, you know, might be like, woe is me. But every time you see her on the bench, like, she's engaged, she's coaching up the players, she's working with the team. The team camaraderie that Vic Schaefer has with this group is really strong. And I think it shows that moving forward, you know, you can't really bet against this team. And I think that's the best Thing about freshmen, too, is that the jumps that they make are so significant. Maybe they're a little up and down, but the jumps that they can make. You know, I don't think we've seen what postseason Madison Booker can look like. And that should be pretty terrifying for every coach that's about to line up across from the Longhorns.
- [26:40]
E
Yeah, I think about their first national TV game that they had against Yukon and you know, the announcers just losing their minds over Madison Booker's pull up. And obviously Rory Harmon was playing in that game. And Texas looked really, really good and every bit of a national title contender that you would expect, you know, with the reigning Big 12 Defensive Player of the year and all the talent that they had. And it's just again, another bummer about ACLs that we won't be able to see the fully realized version of that team until next year. But, I mean, I still have Texas in my Final Four, so we'll see what they look like going forward.
- [27:10]
F
I also just wish that, like, we have a text thread with all of us who are on the pod and then occasionally, obviously texting one another on the side. And I feel like, Sabrina, there was some game recently, I don't even remember what game it was because I feel this way every time I watch Madison play. You and I texted each other out of the blue at the same time, like, I love Madison's game so much. And it was like within 30 seconds, I forget what she had done, but it was like we hadn't been texting and then instantly we texted one another like, God, I love her game. And we both knew exactly what we were talking about. And I feel like that's the Booker takeaway there.
- [27:40]
E
Yeah, I mean, it's just been an opportunity in disguise for Madison to just throw out a different part of her game that we wouldn't have seen if Rory Harmon had been there. So as much as it sucks that Rory isn't playing, like, we just never would have seen what Madison Booker point guard looks like. And that's kind of cool. But speaking of that team that Texas beat in that big non conference showdown, UConn, we have another question from Katie B. Who says, I guess I just don't see it with UConn. When was the last time they beat a good team or even had a competitive game with a good team? They looked horrible against Notre Dame and South Carolina. So, Ben, I'm going to put this to you. UConn is a 3 seed, which is the lowest they've been in the tournament for some time, but I think kind of still a popular pick to go far in the tournament. What do you see with the Huskies? How much should we take their potential seriously?
- [28:26]
Sabrina Merchant
I think there's reason to take them pretty seriously despite, as KDB did note that they have struggled against some very, very good teams this year. Losing to South Carolina, they lost to ucla, they lost to Texas. All these games, you know, could have been big resume builders and it turns out they were not. The thing that gives me pause though is they're going to probably or potentially play Ohio State in the sweet 16 just like they did last year. And that was a game, if you remember, that UConn really was frazzled by Ohio State's press and the pressure that the Buckeyes just put on for the entirety of the game. The Huskies committed 25 turnovers, which is honestly crazy to watch back and crazy to say 25 turnovers is just a wild number for a team that has as much experience in the tournament as the Yukon Huskies. Now, it should be noted that, you know, this UConn team is very different than the team from last year. They have freshmen who are contributing. You know, Dorca Juhas, Lul Lopez, Shana Shaw have gone to the pro ranks. Importantly, Az Fudd, she's gone down. And Paige Beckers, a very important ad, is in that UConn lineup. So they're not exactly the two games are not exactly analogous, but this is a UConn team that again, they're really, really good defensively, their guards put a lot of pressure on opponents and you know, Gino is still one of these coaches and we've talked to a lot of coaches over the last month, as we've said in this poll, who think he makes really smart adjustments, is a really good mid game adjustment maker, a game planner, and certainly he's seen every kind of defense and situation. But I do have a hard time seeing them make a deep run purely because of the depth. Like they've just been bitten by so many injuries this year that they're just going to put such a strain on their starters on Beckers, on Nico Mule, on Aaliyah Edwards, that if any of those players get in foul trouble, if any of them don't have their best game. I just have a hard time seeing the Huskies starting a new Final Four streak this year. That doesn't mean they can't go to Sweet 16 or they couldn't even beat the Buckeyes, but it's gonna be hard considering just what their roster currently looks like.
- [30:26]
F
I Completely agree with you. In terms of the depth. We don't see a ton of teams get to the Final Four when they're only working with like six players and two of those players being true freshmen. The freshmen have been great this year. We didn't talk about, you know, K.K. arnold and Ashlyn Shade, but their bench is just so short. But what stands out to me is when we were doing our anonymous polling question with the coaches, one of the questions was, who's the hardest player to game plan for? And I specifically put this to coaches in terms of like the tournament. Who do you not want to see on a short turnaround? Think of it in that way. Every coach I talked to said Caitlin Clark, except one. And that person said Paige Beckers. And this coach was just saying that, you know, Paige is so good and so talented and you almost kind of wonder with her over in the Big east, sort of seeing how much attention other players like Juju, like Caitlin have gotten this year, how much is she going to sort of enter this tournament with a mentality of like, I'm going to show everyone and I'm going to prove everyone wrong. And so this coach specifically said that because of that reason in particular, they thought that Paige Beckers was going to be the most dangerous player in the tournament. And we've seen what she could do two years ago bringing that team to the title game. Do I think she can do it again? It's possible. The path is hard, but she's the kind of player that really can put a team on her back.
- [31:37]
Sabrina Merchant
I would agree. And we certainly have seen that, you know, the game against NC State was one that has just stuck in my mind from a few years back in Bridgeport where she just took over in the fourth quarter in overtime. It's still one of the best performances that I have seen in my time covering women's college basketball. Another question we got was from Daniel K. Who was, you know, talking about the bond that he has formed this year with his nine year old daughter and just the bonding opportunities from watching women's college basketball. And Daniel K. Writes that for the second straight year he's taking his daughter to the tournament and that he's bringing his son as well and that they're going to go watch Notre Dame and Hannah Hidalgo. But as he noted in his comment, there's a long list of players that are well worth the drive to watch these games in person. And so I would ask you, Sabrina, who are the biggest stars other than Caitlin Clark? And some that we know that you think will emerge this tournament. Who would you say is, you know, poised to break out and become this household name that people should be following and want to see for years to come?
- [32:32]
E
Well, we've mentioned a couple of them, right? Juju Watkins, obviously, Paige Becker's. I don't know that she's going to become a household name. Like, she was already a national player of the year. She's probably on the radar of a lot of people. Hannah Hidalgo, you know, for Notre Dame and again, Chantel and I already brought up this name. But I really do believe it's going to be a great month for Madison Booker. She already was the most outstanding player of the Big 12 Conference tournament and just like, really, really punked a lot of those teams in the Big 12. Like, they just had no answers for her. And I do believe that we're going to see just incredible performances from Texas and it's going to be led by Madison Booker, and she's only a freshman, so, I mean, this might be the only chance we see Madison Booker Boingart in the tournament. So enjoy it while you can. So that's. That's the one I have my eye on.
- [33:15]
F
I'm really surprised, Sabrina. I feel like this answer was, like, lobbed to you in such a perfect Pac 12 way.
- [33:21]
E
I'm just worried they're gonna lose. Oh, that's what you're talking about now?
- [33:26]
F
I'm curious who you're talking about, but the PAC 12, we've talked about it all season. Like, this is a league that has been chronically underseen because of the PAC12 networks. Like, my favorite part, when we were doing. I keep bringing up the anonymous polls, but I was. We were asking about coaches that are really good offensive or defensive coaches. And I'm talking to a coach that's not in the pack 12. And they said to me, I have no idea if Lynn Roberts is a great game planner because they're never on tv. We can't watch them. It's so hard to see any of the Pac12 teams. But her team is great. So they're probably, you know, but, you know, this is the problem is that if you're in the Pac 12, like a juju, you've been on national TV. If we're counting true TV as national four times this year, outside of, I guess, the title game. So I feel like for me, the answer here is, like, all the Pac12 players, like Kiki Eri often I think people know Cambrink, but Kiki is so improved from last year. I. People will love her. Alyssa Peely, who you've already mentioned, is so exciting and dynamic that I think a lot of people are going to fall in love with her. I mean, pick any member of the UCLA team, especially if they can make a run to the Final Four, like Kiki Rice, Lauren Betts. I just feel like Pac12 players here that are going to be dispersed into other conferences next season are having a real moment to show what they can do. Reagan beers, like, I don't know, it just feels like this is the PAC 12 to year to be like, remember us? We're fairly good too.
- [34:41]
Sabrina Merchant
I'm going to take a guess though, and I agree with you on the Pac 12 and I certainly, as someone who's picked three Pac 12 teams to go to the Final Four, I expect a lot of people to watch a lot of these teams in this tournament. But I'm going to take a guess. Sabrina, did you think that Chantelle was talking about Audi Crooks of Iowa?
- [34:56]
F
I think we've. The fact that we're what, 30 minutes into this and we've only now mentioned ADI crooks. This is illegal. Are we allowed to do this to get this far and not talk about Adi?
- [35:05]
Sabrina Merchant
Sabrina, do you want to make the sell to the country as to what they might be tuning in for with the Cyclones and Crooks?
- [35:11]
E
So Iowa State has five freshmen as a part of the rotation and the most exciting with Bullitt. With all due respect to Addie Brown and the rest of them is Adi Crooks, who I think is the best freshman post in the country. Just super fun to watch her work inside. She celebrates just animatedly whether they're up 18 or down 18. Just great vibes all around. And if I thought that Iowa State was gonna get to the second weekend of the tournament, I would have mentioned her name. But I wanted to give people somebody to watch a little bit longer.
- [35:38]
Sabrina Merchant
That's very fair. I would say, you know, Iowa State though, some upset dark horse potential here. If they are able to get past Maryland, they could be a potential matchup problem for Stanford and maybe go on that run. But Sabrina's certainly right. They're not favored in their second round game if they do advance to get past the Stanford Cardinal.
- [35:56]
F
I do love that about the freshmen. We've talked about how talented the freshmen are, but we really haven't talked enough about how great they celebrate and how excited they are to play college basketball. Like, Ashlyn Shade is like the fist pumping queen of America. Like every shot she makes, like fist in the air, like she just won a national title like Ashlyn, it's a 12 footer. You guys are up 20. What are you doing? But it's just like the freshmen are so excited and I love it. It just, you know, especially in a season like this where there have been so many injuries and that has sort of made way for these freshmen, some of them, to get more playing time. It just reminds you like, oh yeah, like these, these 18 year olds are so excited to just be playing basketball.
- [36:36]
Sabrina Merchant
I think that's a great call. And as we mentioned, UConn one of the most interesting teams to watch in this tournament. And I think that transitions pretty nicely, Chantal, because as we close up here, we want to, you know, plug a little bit of the work that we're doing on the athletic.com and there are a lot of stories that you can go on the site and read about a lot of different topics, whether that's Cinderellas, whether that's a WNBA draft, college explainer, whether that's different features. And so we just wanted to highlight some of the stuff that you can go out and read. And Chantel, you have a piece that is on the site right now about UConn head coach Gino Auriemma. Do you want to kind of make the pitch and explain to people why they should go check out that story and a little bit about what it's about?
- [37:12]
F
Yeah, the pieces, it just dives a little deeper into what Geno Auriemma kind of walked through last season. I think everyone from the outside saw, you know, the injuries that happened at UConn and his mother passed away midway through the season. And he's spoken a bit about that, but he definitely opened up more within this story about how hard it was, how challenging it was, and why he had to step away for eight days break, I guess, for lack of a better term, in the middle of the season to make sure he was okay. And so that story's on the site. Ben, what do you have running tomorrow? Sabrina, what do you have running tomorrow?
- [37:47]
Sabrina Merchant
I have on the site a story going up on Friday about Princeton star Caitlin Chen and what it is currently like to be a star in the Ivy League. Chen is a senior guard and the Princeton Tigers have make the NCAA tournament basically every year and have actually advanced to the second round each of the past two years. And so I wrote about what it is like for her and just her journey and what's it like for her to be the biggest name in the Ivy League, who is going to be a grad transfer next year and play for one of the top programs in the country, a potential UConn, UCLA, Stanford, USC type program. That's the kind of talent that Caitlin Chen is. That's the kind of impact she can have on a program. So it's a really interesting time to be an Ivy League athlete and I dove a little bit into that. Sabrina, I know, you know, on the west coast theme we, you know, Caitlin Chen could be on a West coast team next year. She is a West coast kid. You have a story on LA basketball I believe that people can check out now.
- [38:40]
E
Yeah, that should be coming out a little bit later. But you know, just stay tuned to TheAthletic.com there are going to be six NCAA tournament games happening in Los Angeles, which is wild to think about considering what the state of women's basketball has been in Los Angeles over the past few years. So just a little bit of a dive into the culture shift that's happening with juju Watkins, Kiki Rice and everything else in LA basketball. But yeah, just make sure you check out all of our anonymous polls. Lots of really good insights from the coaches around the country and just so, so very much NCAA Tournament coverage. Anything you could possibly think of, we will be talking about at the Athletic.
- [39:14]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, and we hope that you continue to follow along. We'll have plenty of stories going up in real time on the site. Features, breakdowns, predictions, power rankings, all the above. We'll also be back with this show next week and we should be coming to you on Wednesday. Note that Wednesday, not Tuesday, because the NCAA Tournament action will extend into the start of next week. So be on the lookout for an episode to hit your feeds a day later than it normally does. That is all for now for Ben Pickman. Keep listening, keep learning and enjoy the start of the NC Term tournament, everybody. Sure to be an exciting one.
- [39:53]
Ben Pickman
As we head into the playoffs, it's safe to assume there will be a few calls made by the refs that will be hard to accept. But you know what isn't hard to accept? Discover. Believe it or not, Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. You heard that right, 99%. So make a good call for your wallet and get discovered. Based on the February 2024 Nielsen report. Learn more at discover.com creditcard this podcast.
- [40:19]
G
Is brought to you by Aura. Imagine waking up to find your bank account drained, bills for loans you never took out, a warrant for your arrest. All because someone stole your identity. Hackers aren't waiting. Why are you? That's why we're thrilled to partner with Aura. Your personal data is a goldmine for hackers, and Aura helps lock it down. Aura monitors the Dark Web, blocks data brokers from selling your information. Includes a VPN for private browsing and a password manager manager to secure your accounts before criminals break in. For a limited time, Aura is offering our listeners a 14 day free trial plus a dark web scan to check if your personal information has been leaked. All for free@aura.com safety that's aura.com safety to sign up and start protecting yourself and your loved ones. That's a u r a.com safety. Terms apply. Check the site for details.
- [41:12]
E
Acast powers the World's Best Podcasts Here's.
- [41:16]
Chantelle Jennings
A show that we recommend.
- [41:20]
Sabrina Merchant
Hey folks, it's Marc Maron from WTF. It's been more than 15 years now, and I'm still talking to all kinds of people in my garage every week. Sometimes it's Bill Burr, sometimes it's Ariana Grande. She just looks at me because she's always going like, dad, it's not that big a deal.
- [41:35]
F
Yeah.
- [41:36]
Sabrina Merchant
I go, sorry, I lost my temper.
- [41:38]
F
I go, I still love you. You know, Daddy has issues.
- [41:41]
G
Are you afraid of it?
- [41:43]
Sabrina Merchant
Of death?
- [41:43]
F
Well, I don't know.
- [41:44]
Sunshine
I think about it all the time.
- [41:45]
Sabrina Merchant
How are we here already? Listen to WTF with Marc Maron twice a week on your favorite podcast app. Or get more WTF with a WTF plus subscription. Just go to wtfpod.com and click on WTF Plus.
- [42:02]
E
Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere.
- [42:08]
F
Acast.com.