Loading summary
Transcript131 lines
- [00:00]
LinkedIn Sales Representative
As a salesperson, the 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 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 that 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 new AI features 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 NBashow23 that's LinkedIn.com NBashow23 for a 60 day free trial. Terms and conditions apply.
- [01:22]
Wayfair Advertiser
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 rated today so you can enjoy it all season long. When you have kids, they love to be outside, so you gotta be out.
- [01:44]
Zena Kaeda
There to watch them.
- [01:45]
Wayfair Advertiser
From 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.
- [02:52]
Sabrina Merchant
Love.
- [02:52]
Chantelle Jennings
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 or and use code no Dunks at checkout. That's 20% off your first order with code no Dunks@liquidiv.com.
- [04:57]
Zena Kaeda
For the athletic I'm Zena Kaeda and this is the Athletic Women's Basketball Show. Welcome to the Athletic Women's Basketball show where we are here to talk all things women's hoops. Whether you're a die hard fan that eats, sleeps and breathes the game or you're a casual fan that probably lost their voice screaming at that South Carolina UConn game. Dissimilar to me. Yeah, you're in the right place. Don't worry, we got you. You're in a safe space to learn all about women's hoops and we want to make sure you are subscribed to this pod, wherever you get your podcast. And also subscribe to the Athletic, because you could save your voice and build up your mind by reading the amazing content on our site. Now, let's get into today's conversation. I got Sabrina Merchant and Chantelle Jennings with me, and I know you guys are like, what is going on with your voice? Xena. Yes. I was at All Star, NBA All Star all weekend long, doing a lot of talking, doing a lot of just moving around. And what was really cool at All Star was just how much women's basketball presence was there. My last event of the weekend was actually a junior WNBA event, which was super dope. Um, and all we could do while we were there. Everyone was talking about these college games that went down over the weekend and just how crazy some of the competition has been, some of these top teams taking some unexpected Ls over the weekend as well. And so I was like, okay, I cannot wait for all of this MNBA drama to be done with All Star is over. Let me get back into my world of women's hoops. And I got Sabrina and Chantel to help me break it down so quickly.
- [06:46]
Sabrina Merchant
We'll.
- [06:47]
Zena Kaeda
We'll talk about some of the big games that kind of, you know, took our attention this weekend. Some of the big wins, big losses. Um, but what does it mean for some of these teams in the grand scheme? Cause we know there were some shakeups at the top of the top 25 because of these games and the outcomes, but overall, you know, sometimes one loss could be like a. Eh, doesn't make too much of a difference. Take UCLA losing to usc, for example. They're still at the top there, but what could it mean for the rest of their season? So that's kind of conversation that we're going to have today. And let's go ahead and start with that. The UCLA USC game going into it. Chantelle, when you think about UCLA being the top team, not having, you know, losses, trying to remain undefeated, like, what did UCLA have to prove coming into this game? You know, the next Battle of la, essentially, to you.
- [07:41]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah, just that they're the best women's college basketball team in LA right now. Like, USC has kind of had that. And so UCLA needed to prove that. And I think going into the game, you know, we hadn't seen these two versions of these two teams match up yet. Right. And I was so curious because, you know, the more we've watched games this year and the more we've sort of watched specifically the South Carolina team without Camila Cardoso I just have so much more respect for, like, obviously I had so much respect for what she did last year, but just like how she changed that team and how a presence like that, someone in the paint like that, someone rebounding like that changes the ability of everyone on the floor. And in my mind I was like, this is like a Lauren Betts type role. Like she can be that catalyst that sort of makes everyone else 1 to 10% better than what they are, right? And like that is such an important role on a team that doesn't show up in a stat book. And, you know, that's sort of how, as the season has gone on that I've been really thinking about ucla and coming into this USC UCLA game, I was just like, I can't wait to sort of see this, this matchup, you know, sort of come together and, you know, including two former Stanford bigs, obviously at new LA locations and all of that. And so I was just really fascinated to see how it would play out.
- [09:03]
Zena Kaeda
You know, that's a really great point. That was what was so cool about a lot of these stories throughout the weekend, but particularly that one, all of the storylines that were within it. I think I just kept thinking from the battle of LA perspective, I completely forgot about the Kiki Lauren aspect of the bigs. What am I doing? I mean, of course I love watching them, but even thinking of the fact that Keke was just at Sanford and Lauren left Stanford, you know, wanting to one represent, you know, who had the best career there and now has since transferred to an LA school and is now continuing. Now, Sabrina, you were there, you were in the building and you've been at these games. You've been to several of these ucla, USC games. Like one did this energy match up, was it even more intense? Was it, you know, was it consistent with the level of, I don't know, energy that goes around these two teams matching up?
- [09:57]
Sabrina Merchant
So I always feel a little off when I try to talk about weather around Chantel because it seems rude, but we actually had a bit of a thunderstorm in LA this past week. Extremely rude. I. It was kind of a big deal in la, like, you know, to the point where you open your app and you get like the severe thunderstorm warning on your weather app and, you know, it got to the point where USC was offering ponchos to people who were waiting in line to get into the game. Chantelle's shaking her head. I don't know if everyone's watching this.
- [10:21]
Chantelle Jennings
But so it's so weak.
- [10:23]
Sabrina Merchant
It was a Very significant weather event in la. So I will say that compared to last year's game when both of these teams were also in the top 10 and they met at USC and it was, you know, an afternoon game on a Sunday that was probably the loudest I've ever heard it in the Galen Center. This one was a close second. But unfortunately, because of, you know, Southern California weather induced absences, it was not quite of the level that we got last year, but still a remarkable crowd. You had students waiting for hours outside in the rain, which, you know, Tina, you come from North Carolina. I went to Duke Lake. That's a thing that happens in other parts of the country, not so much that happens in Los Angeles. But it was cool to see just that level of commitment. And there was a good UCLA section in there too, that got very loud when UCLA made their runs. But it's kind of becoming more normal, right? Like we got a really good crowd when UCLA played Ohio State last week and it was a pretty good crowd earlier in the year when UCLA and USC welcomed into Michigan and Nebraska, like as part of the start of their Big Ten schedule. And it's just becoming more and more commonplace that you get a relatively packed crowd, like 80% capacity at least in these games, which, you know, I think about just three seasons ago when Lindsey Gottlieb had her first season at USC and they welcomed Stanford, who was the defending national champion at that, and Kiki Iriafen is a freshman on that team and she's only playing in garbage time. And literally there are a hundred people in the crowd and 80 of them are just there to see Kiki. That was all it was.
- [11:44]
Zena Kaeda
That's crazy.
- [11:46]
Sabrina Merchant
It is cool to think how far they've come in such a short period of time where this is appointment viewing. Everybody in my immediate sphere, all of my UCLA and USC friends are asking me, how do I watch this game? I had to remind them it's on Peacock. Make sure you have the app downloaded or something. Like there was a definite buzz around it. Like people were telling me weeks in advance like, oh, juju's gonna get ucla. I can't wait for them to be undefeated coming into usc because juju's gonna get em. Even if, like the actual attendance again was like a little bit slightly diminished, the buzz around it, I think more than made up for it.
- [12:17]
Zena Kaeda
That's awesome. Well, I mean, let's quickly talk about it. 71 60, USC takes the win, breaking UCLA's 23 game winning streak, which is unreal. And I talked to Chantelle, just now about what to expect out of ucla. Of course, the battle for LA that was coming in for them, being able to keep this win streak was coming in for them, being able to continue to be that big team in the Big Ten was coming from them. But, Sabrina, you moved USC in your personal rankings from number six to number four. What do you think this win over UCLA did in terms of solidifying just how good of a program they are to make it deep into the tournament?
- [12:59]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, it's tough at this time of year doing the rankings because I try not to be super reactive to every individual thing that happens because there are so many other games that I have to take into consideration. Right. Like, if this happens in December and USC beats ucla, there's no chance that UCLA is still ahead of USC in the rankings. Right. Head to head is pretty much the only thing we have to go off of. But, you know, not only did I leave UCLA on top of USC in this particular week, like, we'll get to UConn, South Carolina. I left South Carolina on top of UConn as well. Not everybody did. They, you know, swapped places in the AP Bowl. But I think just, you know, you saw the committee come out with their top 16 reveal on Sunday, and UCLA was a one seed and USC was not, even though USC has just come off that win over ucla. So I think it's an important factor, right? Like, they are the number one team in the Big Ten now. They have the inside track to win the Big Ten title if they can go into Poly Pavilion and beat UCLA in the second meeting at the end of the regular season. But it's not everything, right? Like, we've still seen. You mentioned 23 wins in a row for UCLA. 22 of those in a row are by double digits. Okay. It's not just like they're eking out wins against teams, right? Like, they were comfortably beating teams. And yeah, they. They looked pretty bad in that fourth quarter against USC. They get outscored 24 to 8. Lauren Betts can't do anything. But I'm just not sure that it completely takes away my entire opinion of what UCLA has been over the course of this regular season. Now, if Lauren Betts keeps sitting out with this toe injury that, you know, cost her the game against Michigan State, we'll have to reevaluate. But in February, I try not to let one game be like, the end all, be all.
- [14:24]
Chantelle Jennings
Sabrina, I was curious because you were in the building. Like, I think our big talking point or one of the things we Talked about a lot when it came to USC this year was, you know, they were bringing this incredible freshman class, they were bringing this incredible transfer class. Like juju wasn't going to need to do as much this year in order for this team to win. Like last year she averaged 22 shots a game that's gone down to 18 and like there were times last year where she needed to take far more than 22 for the team to win. She had to take 33 against Oregon State last year and the team won by two. She had to take 28 against Baylor in the NCAA tournament to get that win. Like she was a high volume shooter last year and I think this year the thought was that will go down and they can still have good results. And I think what was interesting in this game was obviously, you know, she took a lot of shots against ucla. They needed her to take a lot of shots for them to win this game. And it sort of reverted me to that, that thought of like juju is going to have to take, you know, in the big games, like 25 shots a game if they want to win. Like that's just kind of who this USC team is right now. And I don't know if that's just me overreacting to one game necessarily, I guess. Do you, do you have any feelings on that? Like, is that, am I overreacting? Do you need to talk me down?
- [15:36]
Sabrina Merchant
No. I think the beauty of this particular USC team is that you can have an average day where Juju takes 18 shots and she isn't the, again the end all be all of their offensive production. But in the event that you're playing a very good team like ucla, a very strong defensive team that is taking away everything and sort of letting juju be a jump shooter because she had been going through a slump, you know, I think she had as many threes in the first half of that game as she had in the previous four games combined. Even more so the, the plan was for UCLA to let juju be a jump shooter and sort of like die by the juju three pointer. And unfortunately they did die by the juju three pointer. But that's, that's kind of the, the luxury of having a player like Juju Watkins is that she can scale up and down, right? Like if you need her to be the source of all of your offense, she still can do that. I mean, she was the only player to hit a field goal for USC in the second and third quarters of that game for half the game. The only player didn't feel for the team that won the game. But then you can also scale her back if. Yeah, if it's a good matchup for Kiki Area fan or if Talia Von Hoffen has it going or, you know, the Avery Howell or Kaylie Heckles doing well off the bench. Like, there are. There are options, but it's always nice to know that you have that card in your pocket. Like, Juju needs to get going. Juju can do that.
- [16:50]
Zena Kaeda
Absolutely. I mean, finished 38 points, 11 rebounds, eight blocks.
- [16:55]
Sabrina Merchant
That's the one. The eight blocks.
- [16:57]
Zena Kaeda
The eight blocks.
- [16:58]
Chantelle Jennings
Wild.
- [16:59]
Zena Kaeda
Crazy. Absolutely crazy. Um, I do wanted to say for the record, folks, we always prepare all of our shows and we try to make sure that we have enough time to talk about every single thing. And Chantel, before this show started, said we shouldn't get too deep into stats. You know, we just want to make sure we.
- [17:16]
Chantelle Jennings
I know. And then I got on and I was like, sabrina, I'm having some USC.
- [17:20]
Zena Kaeda
Thoughts about stats, not only this season, but last season comparison to this season. I love it. This is. This is why we have smart basketball brains here. You can't help yourself. And you asked a great question, because I agree with you. The volume and the exhaustion of juju Watkins, I think is a key factor in how far this team can go and how much her supporting cast can step up and be able to fill the holes there. So I'm happy you actually asked that question. Let's transition, though. So UCLA takes the L against usc. Not a huge factor, I don't think, again, in diminishing their quality of a dominant team. And I think that this is. This can be said as well for South Carolina, who took AN L to UConn. And this game, this game was something. I don't know what Paige Beckers had going for her team in the locker room. I don't know what they drank. I don't know what their pregame meal was, but they came out shooting, lights out, playing defense on 10. UConn was dominant all the way through in this game. I mean, got up over 20 points in the first half. Shocking. I think everyone particularly shocking the South Carolina Gamecocks. But it also reveals to everyone what they're capable of. Because let's be real, when you talk about UCLA dominance and the wins that they're having, that's not been the case for a lot of these top 10 teams. They're not consistently beating teams by dozens of points. UConn's one of those teams that they're getting wins. Some of Them, they're squeaking out. But this one was a dominant. In your face. We handled this from tip to buzzer kind of game. Chantel, you were at that game. First of all, the energy, I felt it through the screen. Having been at All Star, though, I'm gonna tell y'all right now, that arena was dead. It was dead in comparison. I wish I would have been at some of these women's basketball games. Cause I could feel the energy through the screen. Like, what was it like in the building?
- [19:33]
Chantelle Jennings
Well, it's funny that Sabrina was talking about how there was rain in LA. There was also rain in Columbia, South Carolina.
- [19:40]
Zena Kaeda
Really? Okay.
- [19:41]
Chantelle Jennings
It was like high 40s and rainy, but people were lined up. Disaster. Exactly. The game was at 1 Eastern. And so at 9:30, I sort of like ambled from the hot down to the arena just to see what was going on. And I was going to go work at a coffee shop near the arena for a little bit before the game. And, like, there was already a line halfway down the block. And I was like, this is in the rain. Like, everyone's holding their umbrellas. I don't know if any of these people were allowed to bring their umbrellas in. I don't know if that's considered legal. If you can, like, put that in your.
- [20:14]
Zena Kaeda
Technically not. That's usually not. Yeah, I don't know.
- [20:17]
Sabrina Merchant
I was like.
- [20:18]
Chantelle Jennings
I was like, I think there's going to be a real umbrella graveyard after this game outside of the arena. Or maybe everyone is. There's just like a trust system and everyone is. They go pick up their umbrella again after that. But, you know, it was. I would say when I got into the arena, not as packed as I thought it would be immediately, but, like, the lights turned off for the intros. And there were like fire cannons and it was loud. And it was just like, this is. This is crazy. But it's interesting what you said about Paige Beckerson, sort of that, like, whatever she had in, you know, whatever was going on in the locker room ahead of it, because. So I arrived to the arena right as the UConn busted as well. And so I actually watched the walk in sort of off to the side a little bit. And they were all so calm. Like, it was serene. And I was like, ooh, this is either gonna be really good or really bad.
- [21:09]
Sabrina Merchant
Really bad.
- [21:10]
Chantelle Jennings
Like, it's like one of the two. Like, there's no middle ground here. Like, no one was. Like, no one was amped. No one was high energy. Everyone. It was like business. They were walking in. And I was like, this is either a team that's gonna come out and in the first five minutes, get down by 14 and never be able to come back, or they are so calm and confident right now that something is going to click and something is going to go really well for them in a way that we haven't seen yet this year. And I'll be honest, I wasn't sure that it was going to be the latter. Everything we've seen out of UConn this year, you know, I thought, and I think most people thought, like, this is going to be a close game. But it was like, as they got rolling, it was like, this is reminiscent of those vintage Yukon teams that it was just like active playing together. The 50, 50 balls, they were making them go their way. Like, the saves, like, everything was just on the glass.
- [22:05]
Zena Kaeda
They were, yeah.
- [22:06]
Chantelle Jennings
Sarah Strong was incredible on the glass. Like, every player did their role. Like, and. And even more so, like, Ashlyn Shade, some of the best basketball she's played in a long time. Janna El Alfie, best basketball we've seen from her ever.
- [22:18]
Zena Kaeda
Yeah.
- [22:19]
Chantelle Jennings
Az Fudd, best basketball we've seen from her in a very long time. Like, and I thought it was just so impressive the way that these players just sort of displayed, like, their growth, like AZ was talking about. She only had five points at the half and came out at halftime and was missing everything. It was like brick after brick. And that would have affected her a few years ago. Like, this is something that, a few years ago she would have been like, ah, I'm going to defer. I'm going to, like, let other people shoot the ball. And she didn't. And then she had 18 third quarter points. Same thing with Paige Beckers. Like, her shot wasn't falling. And then she just did everything else and was sort of the maestro for her team in making sure the glass was cleaned up, getting the ball to other people, being a defensive stopper and making things happen on that end of the floor for them. And it was just like all of the things that we thought this UConn team could be sort of manifested in this moment in a really impressive environment like South Carolina. People haven't been to a game. There you have to go. The energy is amazing. The fans are great. Gino Auriemma even said it after the game, like, the first time they went down there, like, the energy and the fans were not what they are now. And they have made it. They call it the house that Don built. Like, the house that Don built. It is A very challenging place to play and a very challenging place to win.
- [23:34]
Zena Kaeda
Wow. Wow. I'm just like, imagining this as you're speaking and just like wanting and wishing I could have been a part of that. That is so dope. UConn ended up taking the game 87 to 58. You talk about AZ Fudd finishing with 28 points. I'll say this. I started the show talking about all star and just how much of a presence women's basketball. There's a ton of women's basketball players there. There are a ton of people within the space of women's basketball, people that cover women's basketball. There was so dope. One of the conversations I had over the course of the weekend. This is a complete aside, but it has to do with az. Someone that works out with her and had brought her to work out with their team that they coach said that AZ was like the sweetest person, sweetest person they'd ever met and also just a super hard worker. But my favorite story was at the end of the workout, she goes to the girls that she's worked out with and she goes, if you guys like Chipotle, just order it. You can use my account.
- [24:33]
Chantelle Jennings
That nil money.
- [24:35]
Sabrina Merchant
Spread the love, Az.
- [24:37]
Zena Kaeda
Way to be a giver. Az Fudd offering those that need it the opportunity to buy Chipotle on her account. And I thought that was just hilarious. I cracked up at that. Anyways, that is complete aside, there were several factors about this game that made me go, hmm, From a South Carolina perspective, concerns you got Khloe Kitts having one defensive rebound. That's crazy. Like, that is incredibly difficult to do, is to keep the likes of Chloe Kitts and Joyce Edwards and really their entire crew rebounding under five, five under rebounds. Like, this is a team that cleans up on the glass. And they just looked not as strong in the second quarter. South Carolina scored nine points. That's crazy. And when they came back in the third quarter, you know, definitely had some more offense going. I was like, all right, Don Staley's third quarter speech, that halftime speech. So for them to come out, but they just didn't have enough juice, period. And again, don't want to get too high, don't want to get too low. Sabrina, as we mentioned, but there are two aspects to this, and I want you to speak to both. South Carolina looked like they could be taken care of for the first time since they think they played ucla. And even in that game, I wasn't as convinced that I thought it was just an off night, this one was like, whoa. Like, there's some holes here. What's going on? Um, so I definitely want you to speak to that. But then also Az Fudd could be the X factor to the UConn Huskies getting back to a championship. Getting back at least to the Final Four. Like it. She was on a different level. So start with me with South Carolina and Chantelle, definitely jump in here because definitely had some thoughts on both of these teams.
- [26:29]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah. So starting with South Carolina, you mentioned that they had lost to UCLA earlier in the year, and it was a pretty dominating defeat at the hands of ucla, where they went ahead by double digits in the first half. They were up 20, and they never really let that margin get back in, which is basically what happened with UConn. Except UConn did it on South Carolina's Home 4, whereas UCLA was on their own home court. So I think that's an added layer. Right. They had the Chantel, help me out here. 71 game home winning streak.
- [26:54]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah, 71 games.
- [26:55]
Sabrina Merchant
Four years.
- [26:56]
Zena Kaeda
It was four years.
- [26:58]
Sabrina Merchant
So not only did they go in.
- [26:59]
Chantelle Jennings
Has not won this at home, and they schedule hard and they play in the sec. Like that's including all those games.
- [27:04]
Sabrina Merchant
Exactly. So not only did they go in and win in South Carolina, they absolutely obliterated them. Right. Like you think about all of the South Carolina losses we can think of in the past few years, barely losing to Iowa in the final four in 2023. Right. The. The overtime loss to Missouri during the regular season, the Drayuna Edwards like three pointer that wins the SEC tournament final.
- [27:24]
Chantelle Jennings
Super close loss to Stanford.
- [27:26]
Sabrina Merchant
Exactly. All of these losses you think about are just really, really tight. And then for them to just not even be in it on their home court was astounding. And you mentioned the Chloe Kits, one defensive rebound. I think the front court, especially since Ashlyn Watkins has gotten injured, has just been an increasing point of concern for me. They're just a little small. Sanaa Fagin's not that big. Joyce Edwards is really not that big. They're all kind of more what I would consider power forward size. And they're all being asked to do a lot of center duties, and it's been really hard for them. I can't remember if Chantelle mentioned this in her story or not, but Jana Alfie, pretty big center for UConn, just had her way on the glass against South Carolina. You've seen that with Taylor Jones. You saw that with Kyla Oldacre in the Texas game a couple weeks or a week Ago. Sorry. And then ucla, you saw that with Lauren Betts, right? Ashlyn Watkins was the only one who had a prayer of even stopping her. And now she is not available for them. So I think these teams with bigger centers are just posing a problem that South Carolina hasn't faced in the past. And then you compound that with, well, Sarah Strong gets in foul trouble and all of a sudden UConn is running this Aubrey Griffin at the five lineup in the third quarter and South Carolina still can't do anything with that. So not being able to counter a team that is playing big and not being able to counter a team that's playing small, you gotta meet in the middle somewhere. You have to be able to attack one of those things. And for them to not have any answers was just really surprising to me. And it's just, I think I've attached this error of invincibility to South Carolina for a little while now because, I mean, how could you not, right? All of the results over the past four years have just been model of consistency over and over again. And if they lose, it's the kind of thing where one bounce in the other direction and they would have won. Right. Like, you think about the iconic image Chantel mentioned when they lost to Stanford, like, of Aaliyah Boston, because it was such a close game. Right. And it's just. It's kind of hard, I think, for me to wrap my head around the fact that they were this non competitive. Right. Like, you just don't associate non competitive with South Carolina. And yet having seen it happen twice now over the course of the season, in addition to the Texas loss, I think it's just time to sort of like. I mean, I know we talk about parity a lot, but it's kind of the thing where is there parity or is South Carolina just gonna like do it again? And now I'm sort of of the belief that like. No, no, no. I think there's actual parity across the top of the NCAA landscape.
- [29:34]
Zena Kaeda
That's what I definitely got away from this game is that there is actually competition between these, particularly the top 10. Like, it's not a lock in as much as it has potentially felt that for some folks, particularly South Carolina, it was like, okay, some people have not only figured out how to get them disrupted, because that's the thing about South Carolina. They've always looked solid. They never looked rattled, ever. And it stems from Dawn Staley feeling as if she's always in control of circumstances and situations. And even if they get down I'm telling you, everyone I was talking to was like, I ain't worried about that. Halftime, they're gonna be spoken to. Dawn Staley's gonna talk to them. They're gonna come out a different team. And it was so fasc. It felt like UConn's defensive intensity stepped up in the second half and made them work for everything so much more harder. So now, Chantel, you look at UConn, this is a team that people are like, ah, they're hot in the Big East. They ain't up against some big competition. Like, South Carolina's gotta go up against SEC talent all day long. This was kind of like a one off. Like, I'm looking like, looks like the Big east prepared them well. Like, they're playing really well right now. What were your thoughts on how UConn looked against South Carolina, what this could potentially mean for how they could look up in the tournament?
- [30:57]
Chantelle Jennings
I mean, this is still a UConn team that got out rebounded by Providence, which is ninth in the big east, like a week earlier.
- [31:03]
Zena Kaeda
That's true.
- [31:04]
Chantelle Jennings
It was just like.
- [31:04]
Zena Kaeda
That's very true.
- [31:06]
Chantelle Jennings
That was the team that was coming into this game, and I was like, oh, they don't have a prayer on the glass against South Carolina's interior.
- [31:13]
Zena Kaeda
For what it's worth, this was the number 48 to 29. 48 to 29 is how much UConn.
- [31:20]
Chantelle Jennings
In favor of UConn, which is just like.
- [31:21]
Zena Kaeda
In favor of UConn. Yeah.
- [31:23]
Chantelle Jennings
Wild.
- [31:23]
Zena Kaeda
Wild.
- [31:24]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah. I mean, I think it's just to go back to the conversation of parody, I think everyone is just not quite as good and a little.
- [31:32]
Unknown Advertiser
Or.
- [31:33]
Chantelle Jennings
And. Or a little more inconsistent than they were last year or in years past. Like, the best that we've seen of teams on the floor. Like, the best we've seen USC, the best we've seen UCLA, the best we've seen LSU, Texas, UConn, South Carolina. Like all these teams, when you think about the best we've seen it on the floor, it's like, damn, there is some incredible basketball being played. And if these teams put this on the floor for March Madness, like, I have no idea who's going to make the Final Four.
- [31:58]
Zena Kaeda
Right?
- [31:59]
Chantelle Jennings
But that's not the teams that we've seen every night. Right. And that's certainly the South Carolina team we saw in Columbia. But the UConn team that we did see in South Carolina, we have not seen that team at all. Like, they're super inconsistent.
- [32:12]
Zena Kaeda
Yeah. This confidence, this. Sure. This clicking, running in transition all just dominating. Yeah, we haven't seen that consistently.
- [32:20]
Chantelle Jennings
Everything was working together, and Gino talked about it after the game in terms of, like, you know, he thinks of perfect basketball in terms of all five players being on the same page at the same time for 40 minutes. And you look at this UConn roster and you think, well, of course, it's been hard for them to get there because of the injuries in the past. And, like, coming into this game, Az and Paige have been on the same roster together for three and a half years, and they'd played 35 games together. Like, that's a season. And so you have your two best players who just haven't played together. And so it's like, how are. How are you going to have five players on the same page for 40 minutes when it's like the two most important players on the floor haven't been able to develop that chemistry and haven't been able to play together in that way that's really meaningful. Over the last three and a half plus seasons, almost four seasons, like, it's wild. And so the team that we saw, it was like, you know, And I think UConn sort of gets this benefit of the doubt at times because of their history, because of what Geno has been able to do, because of what we've seen. You know, even last year, Paige put this team on her back with, like, six players who are all, like, taped together, getting to the final four, basically. It was sad. But it's like, I think because of that, it's like, well, it has to be in there, right? Like, this has to be in there. And I will say this about the South Carolina team, though. I watched the game. I think everyone on press row was just sort of like, what is going on here? Like, admittedly, I had prepped stats and some stuff for game stories for a really close game. Had sort of prepped some stuff. Had prepped for a South Carolina blowout. I did not prep a story or, like, you know, sort of the meat of a story for a Yukon blowout. And then in the second quarter, I was like, well, I think it's about time.
- [34:07]
Zena Kaeda
Let me get to work. Let me get to work.
- [34:08]
Chantelle Jennings
I think it's work. So I think I spent most of the game sort of in just, like, unclear of what I was seeing, because, like Sabrina said, this is not a program that we are accustomed to seeing this sort of a result for South Carolina. But why I think they'll be okay is that in the press conference afterwards, and we've talked about Tahina Powpow so much on this podcast, but I think it bears reiterating. She gets onto the podium and she is just calm. Like, calm like UConn was when they were walking into that arena. And she says, we got punked, we got embarrassed. That was not us. This is not our identity. She wasn't angry. She wasn't upset. She wasn't heated. It was just like, matter of fact. And I was like, that is your veteran point guard. That is who you want there. That is not an easy thing to do. It is not easy to get in front of 20 reporters and 10 cameras in this room, lights on your face, and say, we got embarrassed, we got punked. Like, that's not easy to do. And she just like, you know, they walked out. It was her and my Laysha that came up for the South Carolina players and they left. And I was like, I trust the leadership in that locker room from, like, top down. But, like, definitely player, player led leadership. One of the best locker room cultures, I would say, in the country because of players like Tahina Paupo. And I was just so impressed with sort of how she handled herself after the game because it was embarrassing. Like, they just got their butts kicked on ABC in a. In a fashion that no one saw coming.
- [35:41]
Zena Kaeda
Absolutely.
- [35:42]
Chantelle Jennings
They were not competitive. And it was like. And she got up there and she was just like. And she could have been angry. There's a lot of coaches out there that can't get up there and do that, right? Like, probably name a few off the top of our heads right now that coaching power conferences. And she got up there and it was just like, I thought, you know, if I'm leading a team and I want a fifth year point guard running the show, that's who. That's the mentality and the personality that I want in my locker room and in my corner.
- [36:07]
Zena Kaeda
That's part of the house that Don built. When you think about, if you were to look at the plan of the house, there is a room designated for poise. There's a room designated for maturity. And I actually, I really do agree with you, Chantelle. I do think that that is going to be indicative of how they bounce back from this loss and how they just approach getting better at the things they need to get better at to be able to avoid a big time loss like this.
- [36:36]
Chantelle Jennings
I want to add one more thing too, just because. And I know we've talked, we need to keep moving on, but this is just a story that I've thought about a lot since the beginning of the season when I went down to South Carolina and I talked to Lisa Boyer, the associate head coach for South Carolina, and she was saying at the start of last year, when sort of the Dawn's daycare team was coming to be, and dawn was like, what am I gonna do with this team? They're so loud. They talk about everything that's not basketball all during practice. And Lisa told me that during practice one day, dawn looked over to her and said, you know what? I don't know how this season is going to go, but if the ship goes down, it's going to go down, and they're going to be holding hands. And I just thought of that at the end of that game, like, this is a team. And again, it's like, that's so sweet. You could have gotten onto the podium. There's a lot of coaches who could have gotten onto the podium and sort of called out specific people who did not do their jobs in that game. And I'm sure privately that is, you know, they're holding one another accountable. But in terms of, like, the public fronting image, in terms of who they were on the floor, like, I just thought of that. I was like, I mean, the ship was going down, like, on Sunday on national tv, but you didn't see people pointing fingers and losing their minds at one another. And again, I think this is where. Let's see how South Carolina responds. But I think there are reasons to believe that in the way that Yukon sort of, oh, this is the Yukon. We thought they could be. It's like, this is the South Carolina. We didn't think we could see. We saw it, and we might not see it again for a very long time.
- [38:04]
Zena Kaeda
I'm so happy you added that story. That was cute. That made me sit up in my chair.
- [38:07]
Chantelle Jennings
Isn't it adorable? I was like, that's such a heartwarming story.
- [38:11]
Zena Kaeda
Yeah. I really love that.
- [38:13]
Sabrina Merchant
Thank you for sharing that.
- [38:14]
Zena Kaeda
Let's keep it moving. Let's keep it moving. The SEC was showing out. I'm gonna tell you right now. I mean, we're not even talking about Mikayla Blake's breaking her own scoring record.
- [38:24]
Sabrina Merchant
We will talk about Michaela Blake's D5. It's coming.
- [38:27]
Zena Kaeda
Like, what in the world that y'all? I'm just trying to say this is Division 1 basketball. She's not doing this at Directly. She's not doing this. She is doing this in the S. E, C. 55 points. Like, it is surreal to think about. But again, we are not Here for that today we will. We need to talk to Mikayla Blakes because SIS is on another level. But let's continue talk because there's a game that we gotta talk about in the SEC. Texas Longhorns beat LSU 65 58. Sabrina, you watched this game pretty closely. It was really tight. Like I'm gonna just read you guys a little bit of, you know, some of the stats just to show you how close this game was. They both scored 10 points in the first quarter. The difference was, the main difference was in the second quarter. In the fourth quarter, Texas had nine points, LSU had 18. So LSU went up big in that first half. And then in the second half, Texas had an out of this world fourth quarter and beat LSU 219 in that fourth quarter. And that's how they really ended up winning. But it was really getting to the free throw line. Texas was 21 of 21 from the free throw line and LSU was 13 of 19. So that definitely impacted them. But let's look overall at stats. They shot the exact same percentage from the floor and the exact same amount of shots. They were both 21 of 63 from the floor. It was eerie. It was eerie. They Both shot under 30% from three, so they didn't have a wonderful shooting light. Texas made two threes through the course of the game. LSU made three. They both rebounded, 44 rebounds. They were just like really aligned. So Sabrina, help me, like, where did you see the difference between these two teams and Texas just being able to eke out a win over LSU?
- [40:34]
Sabrina Merchant
Well, I think statistically you mentioned it. The 21 out of 21 on the free throws versus 13 of 19 for LSU. Included in that is 10 of 10 for Madison Booker, who not a great shooting night for Madison Booker. 3 of 17, I believe from the fields, kind of replicating the 3 of 19 that she had against South Carolina and Texas last loss. So to, you know, include the 10 free throws with that to make it like a respectable 16 points leading score for her team. That's a nice way of rounding out the poor shooting numbers. But really like, I don't think there was much of a difference. Like as you mentioned, LSU had its runs earlier in the game. They go up by 12. Texas credit to Texas. I mean, like, I had a hard time deciding who to make my number one team this week. I understand people who voted Texas. I ended up with Notre Dame. But I totally understand the Longhorns here. They've been playing a really hard schedule. They just beat South Carolina last week. They you know, take down LSU this week. Those are the last two national champions, for what it's worth. And Kim Mulkey did mention, you know, the national championship experience that she had with last year poa running the show for LSU in the fourth quarter, and it did not work for them. But I do believe that, you know, LSU has sort of had this, like, this magical sorcery at the end of games. Like, you look at their game against Washington, where they just pull out a win by the skin of their teeth. Same thing against Stanford. End up going into overtime in that game.
- [41:47]
Zena Kaeda
I was gonna say Stanford. That was huge. Yeah.
- [41:49]
Sabrina Merchant
That's ridiculous. Like, the Kaylin Gilbert shot against Tennessee, you know, to eke out a win there, you just kind of expect LSU to have something up their sleeve down the stretch of these games. And there was no Kaylin Gilbert down the stretch in that fourth quarter. And I thought that was really weird. And Kim Mulkey, credit to her, did say in the post game, like, I should have subbed my perimeter players more. That's on me in the fourth quarter. But it didn't happen. And you look at lsu, a team that we talk about this a lot, pretty much only counts on three players, right? You've got Blaje Johnson, Mikayla Williams, Anissa Morrow. Who else is doing anything in the fourth quarter of that game? No one. Literally no one doing anything in the fourth quarter of that game.
- [42:25]
Zena Kaeda
No one else shot more than three shots out of the three of them. Yeah, like, think about that. Like, no one else on the team had more than three shots. Like, that's. That is some concentration.
- [42:35]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah. And then you look at Texas where Madison Booker, a bit of an off night, but Taylor Jones is a nice run to start the third quarter. Kyla Oldacre doing her fourth quarter. Kyla Oldacre thing where she just gets rebounds and is big inside and makes things hard for people. Freshmen all coming up with big shots. Brianna Preston is the one who gets the steal and score to put them up 50 to 49. Jordan Lee hits the three on the next possession to put them up 53 to 49. Justice Carlton gets her first start of the season. So that. That's three individual freshmen who all have big individual performances for Texas. And you look on the other side and lsu, again, three players that they can count on basically at all. And I'm more and more impressed with Texas depth. So, you know, to have that many players you can reliably turn to, like, you know, Maddie's not shooting. Well, let's get the Ball a little bit in Rory's hands. At the end of the game, she hits two big mid range jumpers to seal the win down the stretch. It's a team that appears to be coming together even without Aaliyah Moore in the lineup right now without injury. So. So to have this abundance of options for the Longhorns is pretty cool considering, you know, we just didn't know what we were going to get out of these freshmen that started the season and they've already. I feel like we have this conversation every week on this podcast. Like freshmen are just not freshmen anymore. But for Texas, it is definitely the case.
- [43:45]
Zena Kaeda
The freshmen are coming in like vets. And I don't know if it's just because the attention that is on women's basketball now and the respect that is being given to women's basketball now requires folks to understand what is required to be elite at this next level. Earlier when I was playing, you really didn't know unless you were like making Team USA and like you were being invited to all the elite camps across the country. You didn't really have a concept of just how deep you could go in this space unless you were a top 50 player. I wouldn't even say top 100. Like it was such a small group of people that really saw basketball as being this like adventure that you could really get into and get really good at and make a name for yourself. Nowadays, I think so many more young women, young girls are being shown that and exposed to that. And so they are in there with their coaches, they're in there with their trainers, they're in there at these camps learning. If you want to be elite, you've got to not only play at a certain level, but you've got to hold and compose yourself in a certain way. We're seeing this advent of freshmen coming in ready to play, not only on the court, but they just handle themselves like business women. Like, it's kind of crazy in the way and how seriously they take it. And it's great. I love it. It's really cool. Chantel, I know you wanted to talk a little bit about this team as well. You know, I don't think I learned a ton from this matchup in terms of like who won, who lost. I thought it was a great game overall. Anissa Morrow having 20 rebounds is insane, but I didn't learn anything new about that. Like, LSU loves having a double double machine on their roster. Haven't really dropped off there, but wanted to add what you thought of the game overall and the Only stat that really differentiated this game, which was the free throws.
- [45:33]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah, I think it's just worth sort of talking about how impressive it is for any team, but especially a women's college basketball team, any college basketball team to shoot 100% from the free throw line. Like there are good players out there that shoot like 70%. For an entire team to shoot 100% is wild. I just checked her Hoop Stats has a great stats archive for anyone looking. There is one team when you think about major college basketball. So like the power conferences, let's include the Big east in that. There's one team that shoots better than 80% in that grouping of, wow, let's see, that's 79 teams. There's one team that shoots better than 80% and that's Creighton and they shoot 80.2. Like to go to the free throw line 21 times and hit all 21, it's just really, really damn impressive. And in this kind of a game, like this isn't like these are pressure packed free throws, these are pressure packed situations. Like it's not like they're up by 60 and it's like they're just shooting in their driveway and they don't have a care in the world. Like this is a big deal again ABC game. But I think it also speaks to sort of, you know, Texas is a team that a month ago went into Colonial Life arena and got, you know, lost to South Carolina by 17 and Madison Booker did not have a good game. Talked about, you know, that was not the Texas team that they wanted to be. That's not their identity. They didn't put their best selves or anything close to it on the floor that day. They've won 10 straight since and just sort of the what a loss can do for these teams. And again I think that speaks to having a fifth year senior point guard like Rory Harmon in your locker room, having sort of that leadership in the locker room where it's like turning a loss into a good thing. And I think Texas is a really good example of that right now of a team that took an embarrassing nationally televised loss that was supposed to be competitive, like, welcome to the sec. Go home now. And then they went home and they just went on a frickin spree. And it's like this is, you know, they're leading the SEC right now, like in their first year in the sec they might win it. And so just like huge props to that team. I think if anything I just sort of respect them more than I did before. Which is a significant amount. So.
- [47:49]
Zena Kaeda
I agree, I agree. And Sabrina, I wanted to ask for you. Texas moved up just one spot for that and I wanted to know what, you know, you, you obviously that South Carolina win probably before and now this LSU win fed into that or what else. Did you see that when you looked at the whole picture that Texas deserved to move that spot up?
- [48:12]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah. Really, it was a question of whether they're going to move up one spot or two. Right? Like whether they're going to be the number one team or not. Because this is as impressive of a stretch as you can imagine, right? 10 wins in a row since losing to South Carolina. As Chantel mentioned, they're winning the SEC right now. I don't know what the tiebreaker is. Like they and South Carolina both have won loss, so I don't know who gets. And they're both of each other, so it's not like they have a head to head thing. So we'll see how that breaks down at the end of the season.
- [48:36]
Zena Kaeda
Dang. I wish they could go up against each other one more time.
- [48:38]
Sabrina Merchant
I'm sure they will in the SEC tournament. Like if there's anything right in the world, we'll get an SEC tournament matchup between the two of them to really make it for all the marbles. But they defend so well, right? You know, we've talked about their offense. They don't shoot a lot of threes, but they perform in the paint really, really well. That combination of Taylor Jones and Kyla Oldacre is really difficult to contend with. And when you have the mid range mastery of Matty Booker and Rory Harmon and then just, just a little bit of extra juice, you know, if you need from one Tonda, or those three freshmen that we talked about, like they have a little bit of something I didn't mention. Shay Hawley, who like is basically their ace perimeter defender who did a really good job on that Michaela Williams Johnson matchup. Like Mikayla Williams is no joke, turn into Bender. And that was Shay's responsibility basically the entire night.
- [49:20]
Zena Kaeda
So she focused on that. She didn't have a great offensive night, but yeah, she definitely focused on when.
- [49:25]
Sabrina Merchant
A team defends that well. Like their baseline is just so high. Like I think the same way about Southern California too. Just they defend so well that they're going to be in any, any game. And that's what you see with Texas and you just give them an inch, right? Like LSU's up by 12 in that game and it looks like they're pulling away and they were. They were just so composed. That's another thing you saw with Southern California, right? They were so composed against ucla. And I'm so impressed by these teams that come back. Like, it's one thing to just dominate the whole way, which obviously what UConn did, very impressive. But to be able to come back is. Is kind of its own skill in and of itself. And you. We talked about these teams. They're all a little bit more inconsistent than we might have expected for the national title contenders. But to see them, like, have the fortitude, have the resilience to make these, you know, pushes forward is still pretty cool.
- [50:07]
Chantelle Jennings
And I think that also, like, when we're talking about environments, like, Texas looked like it was rocking. Like, I have a friend who is at the Texas South Carolina game last weekend and was texting me photos and was like, it is so loud in here. And like, they weren't there this weekend. But, like, I'm sure it was the same. Like, it just looked like such an amazing environment. And you think about all of the. All of the different arenas like we were talking about, whether it's in Los Angeles or South Carolina or Austin or. Or Storrs, Connecticut. Like, there's so many arenas where you can, like, be a part of good environments in women's basketball right now. I also, I just, I wanted to throw this out because I think it's interesting. I. I texted our colleague Richard Deitch last night because I was curious. He follows media, you know, he's a media reporter, obviously, so he follows media storylines very closely. And I just said, like, what is your educated guess for the numbers for these games? Because they were on abc, frustratingly, ucla, USC was on Peacock. Streaming. I have a bone to pick with them.
- [51:05]
Sabrina Merchant
Galen Clark's record breaking game was on Peacock, too. It's a Big Ten problem.
- [51:10]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah, I have a bone to pick with the Big Ten, but these were on abc and, you know, the most watched women's basketball game this year was USC. UConn on Fox that got 2 million viewers, but that had an NFL game is sort of the lead in this. Didn't have an, you know, a major audience coming in. So, like, people who tuned in for people weren't just, like, happened to be sitting in the front of their TV and were like, oh, here's the basketball game I'd like to watch. Like, they tuned in for it. But he said he thinks this will be the second most watched. Yukon, South Carolina, he thinks will be the second most watched game this season thus far. Somewhere between 1.3 to 1.8 million. And he thought the drop off for LSU Texas might be a bit 700 to 800,000. But I think if I trust him with these numbers, I think they could, you know, maybe be a little bit higher. Like, I think back to our guesses for the national title game last year, like, we all underestimated. I think with two brands like South Carolina and UConn, two coaches like Don Staley and Gino Ayama, like, maybe it pushes past 2 million. Maybe this was the most watched game this year. But I'm really excited to get the numbers back for this weekend because I think they'll be impressive.
- [52:14]
Zena Kaeda
It's pretty cool to think. I mean, this week has been a big week for women's basketball overall. I think about the unrivaled 1v1 tournament had a lot of hype around it, a lot of excitement about it. I go into All Star Weekend. That's a question being asked, you know, to the players, the male players. Would you do a 1v1 at All Star? James Harden bought in. Kyrie Irving bought in. Giannis Antetokounmpo bought in. Like, talk about women's basketball and just being able to see that talent go one v one against them. And then you go into this huge weekend while I'm at a big tentpole event like All Star, people are talking about this UConn, South Carolina game, right? And people are asking to have it turned on in spaces that we're in. Like, that's pretty dope that this is the type of attention that women's basketball is garnering right now, this week specifically. But in general, Sybrina, thinking about the space in which women's basketball is booming with everyone, all sports getting bigger TV deals, everyone getting a little bit more attention, all the brands being involved, it seems like women's basketball is particularly having a moment. What's the evidence for you that you're seeing out on the market in this space for how women's basketball is just booming?
- [53:31]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, I think the college numbers are obviously a great place to start. You know, just the number of people who are watching these games on television, the number of people who are watching these games in person, Just the atmospheres. Like Chantal mentioned atmosphere, colonial life at the Galen center, at the Moody center, at the pmac, when LSU hosts these big games everywhere, it's just at the Carmichael arena, when NC State played UNC earlier this week, too. Just massive, massive audiences, Massive, massive viewership numbers. And that's great. We have a really compelling season to talk about. And I think the fact that there is a real life player of the year race with Lauren Betts and Paige Beckers and Hannah Hidalgo and juju Watkins all contributes to that. But it was a booming year of women's basketball in 2024. Not just because of college, but because of what it brought to the pro game too. And you mentioned with unrivaled how the one on one conversation has come to the NBA. And again, anecdotally, just a ton of people talking to me about the results of those one on one matchups that I did not know watch women's basketball. But that's a concept that they're interested in and wanted to, you know, want to participate in. And you even think about the conversation at NBA All Star where it was a big disappointment that Sabrina Unescu was not participating in the three point Shootout that year. Right. Like that was.
- [54:37]
Zena Kaeda
Right.
- [54:37]
Sabrina Merchant
The WNBA draw was the biggest part of the 2024 All Star weekend. And it was, you know, just a massive bummer for most people that Caitlin Clark wasn't going to be there in 2024.
- [54:48]
Zena Kaeda
Keep mad at Caitlin Clark. They're like, you ruined it for us. I had to keep being the ambassador. Be like, no, I understand what she wanted. She wanted to take her first shot at the WNBA All Star, which I respect and I appreciate that there were a lot of WNBA stars at All Star saying, hey, y'all are more than welcome to come to ours too.
- [55:04]
Sabrina Merchant
Exactly. Right.
- [55:06]
Zena Kaeda
So, yeah, sorry to interrupt, but yeah.
- [55:08]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah, Steph can come shoot there, right?
- [55:09]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah.
- [55:10]
Zena Kaeda
There you go.
- [55:10]
Sabrina Merchant
The men's event is relying on the women to bring them credibility as opposed to the other way around is just a nice, real look at where women are in the basketball ecosystem right now.
- [55:22]
Zena Kaeda
Absolutely. Like women having to lift it up once again before we get out of here, I'm a little biased. I am from North Carolina. I feel as if the universe is back on track. Because when I was growing up, ACC was where it was at. Okay. And particularly in the triangle, Duke and North Carolina and NC State and I would even throw Wake Forest. They were always pretty competitive too. But particularly those three, NC State, Duke, North Carolina, like that was Mecca basketball, women's basketball, men's basketball, didn't matter. And they were always really, really competitive, fun games, especially against each other. And we had a big time matchup between UNC, NC State over the weekend. UNC being able to pull that out. I'm curious, my fellow ACC attendee lover, Sabrina, what your thoughts were on that game and what I want to hear Chantelle's thoughts about this too, because I feel like you're pretty spoiled being in the Big Ten. You got a lot of big basketball around you, you know, all the above. But what this means for ACC basketball, what this means really for, you know, those three in the triangle area, like the competition juice is just like starting to flow again between those, those three teams. Yeah.
- [56:45]
Sabrina Merchant
So the day started off really well for the triangle with all three teams, Duke, NC and NC State getting in that top 16, all projected to host NC State as high as a two seed, which presumably will change after the results against North Carolina. But all of them in that, you know, top four seeds of each region to potentially host, which is a big deal. Like a lot of excitement in North Carolina basketball. Unfortunately, with like the mega conference that is ACC. Now Duke and NC State only play once this year. NC State, NC only play once this year. Thankfully that tobacco road matchup, Duke, North Carolina, we are getting the encore sometime next week. But I think that adds, even if I'm disappointed to lose out on some of those matchups, I think it adds a little bit of extra oomph to the individual meetings. And you know, that was just a really fun game. Like, I don't want to get too deep into it because we are fairly long into this podcast, but Isaiah James, an absolute killer for NC State. The fact that North Carolina was able to contain her on those final few possessions, I mean, NC State didn't even get her the ball on the one on the penultimate possession of the game. And we talk about like Texas having all these players they can turn to, you know, down the stretch of games. North Carolina, I mean like Grace Townsend, maybe like the eighth person I would have suggested to hit the game winning points for North Carolina, but she was the one who gets the free throws at the end. She trust Laney Grant? Yeah, Laney Grant having a nice stretch for herself down the stretch where she is, you know, one of those early classifying freshmen who could be a high school senior right now and is instead just getting buckets against a team that went to the Final Four last year is pretty cool. So I like both of these teams quite a bit. I wouldn't take too much out of the results from, you know, a one point loss on the road to your rival. It happens. But I think you just saw a lot of what, you know, NC State can do well. A lot of what Carolina can do well. And it bodes well for not necessarily either of them to challenge Notre Dame this year in the acc because there is a two game gap atop that conference standings. But if we look further down March in the tournament, these are two teams that you just, you just wouldn't want to see.
- [58:34]
Zena Kaeda
Chantelle, what's it mean for you?
- [58:36]
Chantelle Jennings
My general reaction is that it's like part mea culpa probably, which is that, you know, NC State fans have been in my mentions for like weeks that I wasn't raking the wolf pack. Well, I wasn't ranking the wolf pack at first and then I wasn't ranking them high enough, whatever. Which I appreciate the feedback. Thank you. Love the feedback. Love to hear it. The ACC is the conference that I think my respect has grown the most for since the start of the season. Like I talked up, I think we all have talked up the Big Ten in the SEC so much and I think for me the ACC really lagged behind those two. And you know, the Big 12 is the fourth for sure. I don't think we need to debate that. It doesn't feel like a debate. But the ACC was sort of like in that middle ground and I think it's caught up to the Big Ten and the SEC in that way. I have more respect for that conference and sort of the depth of that conference and what they'll be able to do in March Madness. I think because of the depth of that conference. When you think of just the road games they've had to play, the home games, like all the games that they've had to play, the competition they've had to face, like you've got teams in that conference that aren't going to make the tournament that I think are still putting up good fights in ACC conference games, that it's going to prepare these teams for March. And so I would just say my general reaction to all, you know, being the non nana North Carolina person on this pod, the just humble Midwesterner over here. But I think in general, my. I just, I think the ACC is, it's better than I thought it was and I will admit that publicly. But they've as a conference, I think, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, whatever happens in March, I won't be surprised if the ACC is heavily involved.
- [60:17]
Zena Kaeda
Y'all, I'm fist bumping over here. I got that out of Chantel. Thank you. I do, I agree with you. The ACC had been a little bit mid in their appearances in the tournament in recent years and of course this year Notre Dame has been the shining beacon of the acc. But it is really cool to see These other teams starting to get up into the conversation and not really in that, you know, top 20 to 25 position in those middling spaces of just in and just out, but truly trying to solidify and cement their position as teams that can put up a fight when it comes down to March, you know, and that's really what really matters. Okay, I think we're going to close it out here. Very exciting week of basketball. Very exciting weekend of basketball. But, you know, the season still continues and we're getting closer and closer and closer to tournament. Make sure you're subscribed to the POD and the athletic because of course, Sabrina Chantel got content up there. We also got bracketology with Mark Schindler that's happening. He's helping you break down what's going on with where these teams are seated. Trying to understand how these things are moving up and down. It's going to be a lot of shifts between now and the time the tournament comes. Make sure that you guys are staying up to date and then also don't know if you guys know, partner with Yahoo. Sports. We have a whole sports hub with all of this content, not only for women's basketball, just in sports, for women's sports in general. So definitely go check out our women's sports hub at yahoo.sports sports.yahoo.com Womens-Sports appreciate all of you guys tuning in again. Please hit that subscribe button. Let us know what you want to talk about. Keep hitting up Chantel, letting her know if you know her team's not high enough in her rankings. We appreciate the pressure being applied on behalf of Chantel and Sabrina. I'm Zena Keita thanking you for your ear and encourage you guys. Keep listening, keep watching, keep learning and keep loving the game because that's the only way it's going to keep growing until next time.
- [62:18]
Sabrina Merchant
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.
- [62:37]
Chantelle Jennings
Wallet and get Discover.
- [62:39]
Sabrina Merchant
Based on the February 2024 Nielsen report. Learn more at discover.com creditcard this podcast.
- [62:44]
Unknown Advertiser
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 we blocks data brokers from selling your information. Includes a VPN for private browsing and a password 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.
- [63:37]
Sabrina Merchant
Acast powers the World's Best Podcasts Here's a show that we recommend.
- [63:44]
Chantelle Jennings
Hey guys, we have an exciting announcement about our podcast.
- [63:47]
For the past seven years, the Holderness Family Podcast has been the most favorite thing we do.
- [63:52]
We love getting to talk to experts. We love having meaningful conversations just the two of us. And we also love hearing from you.
- [63:58]
But the thing we love most is being a place where you can laugh.
- [64:02]
A lot has changed in the last seven years and we feel very lucky that our audience is growing older with us.
- [64:07]
So in the spirit of that, we are relaunching our podcast. We are excited to introduce Laugh Lines with Kim and Penn Holderness.
- [64:15]
The Laugh Lines podcast will be all about aging together better and also being able to laugh about getting older.
- [64:22]
We hope you'll join us.
- [64:23]
Sabrina Merchant
Certainly.
- [64:23]
Chantelle Jennings
Research Laugh Lines with Kim and Pen Holderness. New episodes every Tuesday.
- [64:29]
Sabrina Merchant
ACAST helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com.