Is Texas Coming for the No. 1 Spot?

Summary

No Offseason: The Athletic Women’s Basketball Show

Episode: Is Texas Coming for the No. 1 Spot?
Date: December 2, 2025
Hosts: Zena Keita, Sabrina Merchant, Ben Pickman

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into a momentous weekend in women’s college basketball, evaluating whether Texas is poised to claim the top national ranking. The hosts break down Texas's impressive wins over powerhouse programs, discuss evolving dynamics in USA Basketball’s selection camp, analyze South Carolina’s and LSU’s current trajectories, delve into individual standouts like Iowa State’s Audi Crooks, and close with major media news impacting women’s basketball coverage.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. WNBA CBA Negotiations Update

(01:38–06:30)

• Deal or No Deal:
  • The November 30th CBA deadline passed without agreement; a second extension was agreed upon, pushing the expiration to January 9th.
  • Impacts offseason plans including the Golden State Valkyries’ expansion draft, as CBA rules shape procedures like the ‘core’ franchise designation.
  • “If the core looks different, then maybe teams draft a little bit differently in the upcoming expansion draft.” – Zena Kada (04:25)
  • Priorities for both sides include salaries, prioritization (players’ offseason commitments), and benefits for retirees.

2. Team USA Women’s Basketball Training Camp

(06:30–15:05)

• 18-Player Roster Announced:
  • Mix of veterans and 10 first-time invitees, including high-profile young stars such as Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese, and JuJu Watkins.
  • Camp at Duke University (Dec 12–14), coached by Duke’s Kara Lawson.
    “There’s some newness in the leadership component and now some newness in the overall player pool.” – Sabrina Merchant (07:25)
• Roster Selection Dynamics:
  • Not all major stars are attending, due to schedule conflicts or injuries (e.g., A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart absent, but still expected in future).
  • Some top players may opt out of the 2026 FIBA World Cup to protect their WNBA postseason runs.
  • “It wouldn’t be out of the question for some of the biggest veteran stars to elect not to play…” – Zena Kada (09:21)
  • The youth movement and revitalized leadership signal a new era for USA Basketball.
  • 3x3 vs. 5x5 paths also discussed, highlighting players like Veronica Burton for her dual commitment.

3. Women’s College Basketball – The Sabrina Scale

(Starts at 17:10; Texas Focus Begin ~18:04)

A. Texas’ Statement Vegas Tournament Win

• Results:
  • Texas defeated UCLA and then South Carolina in the inaugural Women’s Players Era tournament, securing a $1M prize and elevating them from #4 to #2 on the Sabrina Scale.
• What Set Texas Apart:
  • “If you’re gonna beat UCLA and South Carolina in one week and that’s not enough to get you to number one in the country—what is?” – Sabrina Merchant (19:35)
  • Rory Harmon named MVP after a game-winner vs. South Carolina.
  • Depth and injury absences kept Texas just behind UConn in rankings.
  • Hosts debate Texas’s and UConn’s depth and quality of opponents.

B. Texas’ Defensive Masterclass Over UCLA

• Perimeter Defense:
  • “It was a perimeter defense masterclass from Texas that really set the tone in that first half and just got UCLA out of rhythm.” – Sabrina Merchant (23:21)
  • UCLA struggled with turnovers and couldn’t get the ball to center Lauren Betts.

C. South Carolina’s Reliance on Starters

• Depth Concerns:
  • South Carolina’s bench production nosedived compared to last season (from 40 to 17 PPG off bench).
  • “South Carolina’s lack of depth, I think again revealed itself in this game, and it’s something to watch for going forward.” – Ben Pickman (36:58)
  • Chloe Kitts’ injury has forced major rotation adjustments.

D. LSU’s “Cakewalk” Approach

• Historic Scoring – But Against Weak Teams:
  • LSU has extended its streak of 100-point games to eight, albeit against no teams ranked in the top 100 per Her Hoop Stats.
  • Kim Mulkey’s philosophy is to avoid tough nonconference games to build confidence and test different lineup combinations.
  • “It makes the first part of the season for me a lot less interesting to watch LSU because it’s almost like they’re scrimmaging every night.” – Sabrina Merchant (44:25)

E. Iowa State’s Audi Crooks – The Reliable Star

• Brilliant Individual Play:
  • Crooks scored 47 points vs. Indiana, has the best true shooting percentage in the country (74%).
  • “She continues to be one of the most reliable players in the country…Everyone in the country knows that she’s going to score around the basket and that she is trying to score around the basket and yet nobody can stop her.” – Zena Kada (52:41)
  • Caution: Iowa State has a weak schedule and major defensive issues (conceded 95 points to Indiana).

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4. Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Texas’s case for #1:
  “If you’re gonna beat UCLA and South Carolina in one week and that’s not enough to get you to number one in the country—what is?”
  – Sabrina Merchant (19:35)

• On USA Basketball youth movement:
  “There’s some newness in the leadership component and now some newness in the overall player pool.”
  – Sabrina Merchant (07:25)

• On South Carolina’s depth issues:
  “It doesn’t come all down to that…But the depth and the high quality depth is just not yet there for South Carolina.”
  – Ben Pickman (36:58)

• On LSU’s non-conference strategy:
  “It makes the first part of the season…a lot less interesting to watch LSU because it’s almost like they’re scrimmaging every night. But hey, this is their practice…”
  – Sabrina Merchant (44:25)

• On Audi Crooks’ unstoppable inside game:
  “Everyone in the country knows that she’s going to score around the basket…and yet nobody can stop her.”
  – Zena Kada (52:41)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• CBA Update: 01:38–06:30
• Team USA Camp & Roster: 06:30–15:05
• Texas Vegas Tournament Recap (and The Sabrina Scale): 17:10–22:17
• Texas-UCLA Matchup & Defensive Analysis: 22:17–24:42
• Texas-South Carolina Breakdown: 30:41–40:09
• LSU Hot Start – Schedule Strategy: 43:31–49:24
• Audi Crooks, Iowa State, and Women’s Center Matchups: 52:41–57:56

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Bonus: Media News – Elle Duncan Leaves ESPN for Netflix

• Background: (62:42–64:50)
  • Elle Duncan, a popular host of ESPN’s women’s college basketball coverage and leader of the “Big Three” studio trio (with Chiney Ogwumike and Andraya Carter), is leaving ESPN for Netflix’s new sports division.
  • The move ends one of the most beloved studio crews in women’s basketball broadcasting.
  • “This was a rare example…of people that they had in house…coming together and having natural chemistry and having, you know, a show that broke through into the cultural zeitgeist.” – Zena Kada (63:09)
  • Uncertainty now surrounds ESPN’s women’s basketball studio coverage going forward.

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Summary Takeaways

• Texas’s ascendance is the central story of the week—they beat both UCLA and South Carolina to stake a real claim for #1.
• UConn remains atop the Sabrina Scale due to depth and quality of wins, but Texas is closing the gap fast.
• Both South Carolina and LSU face questions: SC over bench depth after injuries, LSU over whether their cupcake schedule leaves them untested.
• USA Basketball is injecting youth into its pipeline, with new faces finally getting senior-level opportunities.
• Audi Crooks of Iowa State is putting up eye-popping numbers, but concerns remain about competition level and defense.
• The women’s college hoops media landscape shifts: Elle Duncan’s move to Netflix represents a loss for ESPN but signals the growing value and visibility of women’s basketball personalities.

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For Newcomers: Why Listen?

This episode is a must-hear for insight into early season women’s college hoops, with real talk about how teams (and coaches) build for March—and for national dominance. If you want weekly context on the games, the key storylines, and how off-court moves (like TV deals and CBA talks) affect the women’s game, this pod brings energy, honesty, and deep know-how each episode.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Sabrina Merchant]

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[Sabrina Merchant]

I'm Sabrina Merchant.

[Zena Kada]

And I'm Ben Pickman.

[Ben Pickman]

And today on the show it was a big weekend in women's college hoops. So who were the big winners? Which teams have sustained their early momentum and what can this early non conference play tell us about who's worth keeping on our radar? We're gonna get into it an expanded version of of the Sabrina scale. But first it's time for our segment Deal or no Deal. And we actually have an update, y'. All. We've been keeping tabs on the WNBA CBA negotiations and well, that November 30th deadline for a deal has come and gone and there is still no deal. But as I mentioned, there are updates. Ben, walk us through what's been going on with where things stand.

[Zena Kada]

Yeah, this is another one of those scenarios, Xena, where we have a deal of sorts. Some kind of deal was reached late, late, late Sunday night. Too late for my personal liking. And I made that very clear online. There was a deadline on Sunday night at 11:59pm Eastern time between the two sides for the current CBA to expire. And just before that deadline, the two sides did agree to another extension, a second extension in this, you know, in these talks to push back the expiration deadline about six weeks to January 9th is the new expiration deadline. And you know, the two sides have been meeting regularly over the last month. They've been exchanging proposals pretty regularly over the last month. And even over the last week, they continue to meet, even with Thanksgiving interrupting their normal calendar. They met virtually on Saturday. They talked multiple times on Sunday. If you want to understand a little bit of a peek behind the curtain of how we reported this story out and tracked it over the weekend, I brought my computer to playing pickup basketball on Sunday morning. Potentially there was going to be news. I went to a Broadway show on Sunday afternoon. I also had my laptop in a tote bag just in case I needed to run out afterwards. And I brought my computer to dinner. And sure enough, I didn't have to do work at any of those moments or do any writing at any of those moments, as it took until around 10:30-11:30 Eastern Time for us to get some actual clarity, some more firm, concrete details about proposals and then eventually this resolution on an extension. So the big picture is, yes, we're pushing the timeline back, we're pushing the deadline back, and the implications here are significant because now we know for sure that the off season calendar this year is going to look different than what it looked like a year ago.

[Ben Pickman]

Right, Exactly. So the new deadline is January 9th, but that immediately means that there's a change in that expansion draft. If you guys remember, the Golden State Valkyries had their expansion draft last year on December 6th. Obviously, you can't have an expansion draft if you don't have the CBA in place, right, Ben, Those rules are put in place by the cba.

[Zena Kada]

Yeah, that is correct. And one of the big things that is going to be discussed or figured out, it seems like, is the core designation, basically the WNBA franchise tag that Sabrina and I and we've all talked about a lot over the course of the show. That's one thing that we'll see what form or what state it is in, how it is applied going forward, what rules are put in place about how teams can use the core designation. And that is one immediate, you know, designation that might impact the actual terms of the expansion draft or, and. Or how teams draft. Right. So last year, for instance, you were only allowed to use the core once on one ufa, undrafted or unrestricted free agent rather. And so look, if the core looks different, then maybe teams draft a little bit differently in the upcoming expansion draft.

[Ben Pickman]

This is going to be really interesting. Of course, the salary component and how teams players salaries grow with the league is still priority for the wnbpa. Of course we know that prioritization is still priority for the wnba, making sure that players are here to play in the league. I love the fact that you've kept us up to date with some of the other things, making sure that retired players and retiring players have good benefits. There's quite a few things that are going to be sticking points, not just salary, but January 9th is now our new date that we're looking at. So we'll make sure we'll keep you guys posted on deal or no deal. All right, let's shift gears to Team USA Women's Basketball. The training camp roster was officially announced and camp is set for December 12th through the 14th, taking place at Duke University. The 18 player roster features a mix of veteran Olympians, which is great. You always want to get your your people that have been there and done that before. But then also 10 first time invitees to the senior team level. So leading the camp is going to be Carol Lawson, the Duke head coach. Makes sense that it's at Duke University. But before we get into the players who are invited, Sabrina, break down like why this camp? Like why are they doing it now? What do you, when you're invited and you're one of those 10 first timers, does this mean you actually really have a chance of making it? Like give us the real deets around this camp.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Right? So USA Basketball will be competing in the FIBA World cup next year, in 2026, in September. So that is if we're in December, that's nine months away. Right. So it's not exactly as if they have a ton of time before that competition happens and most of their players will be in the wnba. So you can't have a ton of camps during the WNB NBA season. So you got to get ready starting now. Really. I think that's, that's the point. This is the first camp they've had since the 2024 Olympics. So it's the first time they've been able to bring in a new cycle of players. Which is why you see an abundance of first time invitees to the senior national camp, including, you know, Caitlin Clark, Paige Beckers, Kiki Iriafan, Angel Reese. Right. All of these names that have come to define the new wave of players in the WNBA are also part of the new wave of USA Basketball. It is important to note that just because people are in this camp, are not in this camp doesn't mean that they're no longer in the USA pool. You look at this list and there's no Asia Wilson, Nafeesa Collier, Brianna Stewart, Sabrina UNESCO. People who were part of the Paris Olympic team, who we would assume are also going to be part of the World cup team should they desire. So there's a lot of names that are in consideration that are going to be at Duke for this camp and who are not going to be at Duke for this camp. But I think it is interesting how many new players are in the pool altogether. Just because there has been, I think, some sort of staleness in USA Basketball. Right. Just a lot of people who continue to come back over and over again and they hired a new director of the program and Sue Bird Carol Lawson is the first time head coach of the program. So there's some newness in the leadership component and now some newness in the overall player pool.

[Ben Pickman]

Okay. Yeah. I'm sure everyone looked at that roster and was like, where's Asia? What's happening here? Where are the people that got us gold medals for the last, I don't know how many years? Yeah, that is very important to call out that distinction. And I'm really excited though to see some of these. I mean, these are big names, including players that are still technically right now in college. They'll be professional by the time this camp, by the time this year. I'm not juju Watkins. Oh, yeah, that's actually true. Right. Well, juju Watkins will not be a pro by this time that the FIBA cup is happening. But Lauren Betts, still in college, will be participating in this and it's in December. Will she be there because she's still playing with the ucla? Yes.

[Sabrina Merchant]

UCLA doesn't have any games that weekend, which is why Lauren Betts is able to attend the full camp. If you look at this and think like, wait, why isn't Sarah Strey invited? That's because UConn is playing USC during the national team camp. So JuJu Watkins is available to go because she's out for the season, not playing. She can attend camp and sort of just get on the radar and potentially be in the mix for when she recovers from her acl, which should be around March, April, and put her into discussion for potentially competing in September at the World Cup. But that's probably why Sarah Strong isn't there and that's why somebody like juju Watkins is able to attend. Somebody like Lauren Betts is able to attend just because of the schedule as it worked out with college basketball.

[Zena Kada]

I think we should also make clear that the schedule of the World cup next year is also pretty notable, and we've talked about it a bunch throughout the last five or six months or so. And so there's a lot of players, maybe some of the biggest names, who might elect not to play in the FIFA World cup next year because it is going to be during the stretch run of the WNBA season, likely just before the start of the WNBA postseason, depending again on when the WNBA schedule begins, when it ends. That's all up for if there is. Right. As we just talked about. And so, you know, it wouldn't be out of the question for some of the biggest names, the biggest veterans, you know, veteran stars, to elect not to play in the FIBA World cup because, look, they might say, we're going to prioritize our WNBA teams and the stretch runs, and we want to stay healthy and we want to stay fresh and we don't want to go play in another tournament and risk injury or risk fatigue or anything like that. And so they might say, look, we're going to sit it out. We're going to trust our fellow Americans to help us win this tournament because the talent level is so high that even if the Asia Wilson, Brianna Stewart and Fisa Colliers do not play America, the USA will still be favored in this event. They'll say, hey, we're going to let some of the younger players, who maybe their teams are out of postseason contention to try and lead the way. I think that's very much on the table here. And so, again, that's another reason why I think there is so much of an incentive to get younger players in, even with some of the veterans electing not to participate.

[Ben Pickman]

Yeah, man, this is interesting. I don't know if you guys remember Asia Wilson having to win the WNBA Championship in 2022 and then immediately go into the Fever World cup and win gold. I mean, that's a lot of work on your body.

[Sabrina Merchant]

And the most outstanding player of the tournament in the process.

[Ben Pickman]

And Most outstanding player of the tournament. Exactly, exactly. I mean, it was just. It was surreal how big of a run that was, but how much of a toll that can also take on your body. So, yeah, that's gonna be very interesting to see, Sabrina. I'm looking at this list and of course, we've called out some of the younger names and new names, and this is fun. This is fresh, especially for folks that have just gotten into the women's basketball space and they're like seeing their faves be a part of this new element of women's basketball And Team USA looking at some of the names that were invited to camp. Carol Lawson's behind this. Right. She's getting to make these decisions as to who she wants there. What can you say about the people that were invited, what she's trying to do and what she's trying to inflect in the new era, I guess of Team USA with her at the helm.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Yeah. So I mean, I don't want to repeat myself, but I feel like the names of people who are not, like not. I shouldn't say not invited. They were all invited. But who are not participating is just as important as the list of players who is participating. Because again, I can't imagine a national team without Brandon Stewart and Visa Collier, Asia Wilson. Right. Like they're going to be on the team if they want to be on the team. So it's not as if like there are 12 spots available to these 18 players who are participating in camp. I'd say it's much closer to six or eight. And I think it's great that this young generation is all part of the discussion. In addition to the names we mentioned, you've got Cameron Brink, Sonia Citron. Right. Veronica Burton, who I should note Jackson just won 3x3 gold medal for the America. I think it's interesting that she was in the 3x3 pool on that four person team. And also in this 5 on 5 national team, you notice a person like Alicia Gray or Shakira Austin, they're no longer seemingly putting themselves in the 5 on 5 pool, focusing on the 3x3, whereas Veronica Burton is still managing both lanes. We'll see how that ends up happening. I would imagine 3x3 is probably an easier chance for her to make the Olympics. But that's a discussion for later. I think this is just an information gathering time. You Want to know 1 what people's commitment to USA Basketball is with Team USA so much of it is you got to be there every summer. You got to be there at the camps. I know that this is something that has sort of gone by the wayside in recent years where players have just gotten so much seniority that they no longer have to come all the time. I think they want to make sure that they're recapturing attendance as part of the program. Right. It's important that you are around and committing to this process during the off seasons. And then they just kind of want to see what they have. Right. We talked to ad nauseam before the Paris Olympics about how Caitlin Clark never got to go to a senior national camp and that's why she wasn't on the team. Right. And so this is your chance if your next camp is during the final four. Maybe Lauren vessels unavailable then, but you know what she looks like now if you have a camp in December. Right. And like this is a good time for juju to get into the fray before, you know, all of her obligations come. So I think it's, it's just interesting like how young they've gone. Not to say that there aren't older players. Like you've still got Brittany Griner, you still got somebody like Bri Jones who was on the 2022 World cup team. But I am very intrigued by all of the youngblood on this roster and I do wonder how young it's going to skew for the 2026 World cup team based on the considerations that Bren brought up too. Like if it's going to be a lot of players who don't make the playoffs, maybe because then they don't have to worry about like setting themselves up for the WNBA postseason.

[Ben Pickman]

Yeah, this is going to be really, really interesting. Especially because we've seen particularly on the men's side for the teams that did not feature the big, big time names at these international competitions, they didn't fare too well. It was a new era for them and trying to figure out who's the star, who's gonna step up. You don't have those kind of questions when Nafisa Collier and Asia Wilson and Brianna Stewart are available. You may have those when some younger folks are now tasked with being the new faces and the new blood, I guess out on the floor for Team usa. So this is gonna be really interesting and I'm happy you brought up the America. I wanted to also shout out the women and men perfect record 100 at the 2025 FIBA 3 by 3AmeriCup, Alicia Gray MVP honors as well. So shout out to Alicia Kim winning free throws.

[Sabrina Merchant]

A little anticlimactic, but you know, gold medal is a gold medal.

[Ben Pickman]

Exactly. A gold medal is a gold medal. I know when a game ends on free throws, you're like, but shout out to them for cleaning up and cleaning house with the three by three America. All right, let's round out to some women's hoops on the other side of this break.

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[Zena Kada]

I thought you were going to say challenges to how to watch these games. Xena and different that too because I.

[Ben Pickman]

Subscriptions did you re up last week too? Like I'm like had Flo College telling me like we need a new credit card. I'm like, okay, let me get my Life together.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Yeah. I realized my flow exception expired on the Friday because I guess I had just like started it last Thanksgiving. Correct.

[Ben Pickman]

Same with me. Stay with me. They're like, you need to re up. And I was like, oh, shoot. Let me get my life together. But there were some really great games as well, particularly if you're a Texas Longhorn fan. Like, you got to see some awesome, awesome play. Texas was in the first ever women's players era in Vegas, and they took down UCLA and South Carolina. The South Carolina game was different level of excitement. Ucla, they made a run for it at the end. They made it interesting at the end, but Texas was handing them their butts pretty early in that first half. But this was a tournament win that came with a huge reward purse. $1 million. That's insane. Like, that's some serious bucks. And also a massive ring. I don't know if you guys watched the ceremony. At the end of the tournament, Rory Harmon was holding up this ring that literally went down her hand. It was crazy. But Sabrina, Texas, as a result winning this tournament, but also beating huge opponents in South Carolina and ucla, they went from number four on your Sabrina scale to number two. So I'm gonna go ahead and assume this tournament was massive for that.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Yeah, it was really hard not to put them at number one actually, just because of the quality of opponents that they beat and thought about it a lot. I mean, basically, if you're gonna beat UCLA and South Carolina in one week and that's not enough to get you to number one in the country, like, what is enough to get you to number one in the country is sort of how I thought about it, but I don't. I can't really blame UConn for not being in the tournament. Like, I don't know how the logistics of all of this works. They obviously try to schedule pretty well during the non conference portion too. So for now, I look at Texas, I look at South Carolina. Like, I didn't think there was a ton of separation between those two teams. Obviously you mentioned Rory Harmon winning MVP because of a, you know, game winning jumper that she hits with about under a second left in that championship game. So, you know, pretty nip and tuck the whole way between those two SEC rivals. I think I look at the Huskies and I just see like an abundance of depth that's just not yet on Texas and not on South Carolina. And that's sort of why I kept them in the number one spot, because you have all of these options that you can go to Texas. I think could still get there because they are still playing without two of their rotation players. They didn't have freshman Aaliyah Crump and they didn't have their backup point guard, Brianna Preston. Although why you need a backup point guard. And Rory Harmon is the best point guard in America. Gordon Vic Schaefer and plays 40 minutes. Open question. Whether she's the best point guard in Texas really, I think is a fun task, but we'll see when Texas plays TCU again. But yeah, I think Texas was just. I love watching Rory Harmon be aggressive offensively. I think that just adds a totally different element because, you know, Madison Booker is going to be looking to score. They got these great contributions from Jordan Lee and Justice Carlton and I think their center rotation is as good as it was last year. Even without Taylor Jones. Bray Cunningham has been a seamless fit there. Kyla Oldacre looks better than she did last year. She's perfectly happy coming off the bench and just playing whatever role she needs to. Whether that's closing the game, whether that's playing more minimal minutes. But Texas had like a really good seven player rotation and once more players get added back to it, I think, you know, you could see them really competing with UConn. But for now they do move up to two ahead of the teams they beat, obviously. But I just couldn't quite put them ahead of the Huskies because of the overall depth of talent that UConn has that currently, at least until the injuries subside, Texas can't quite match yet.

[Zena Kada]

And UConn beat Michigan. Like, I mean, that was for me. Right, right, right, right. But for me, like in the ranking, like as I was looking at quality wins, UConn beating Michigan, you know, is a very high quality, high quality win. It's not like they beat. They've played all nobodies.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Beating South Carolina on A neutral site vs. UConn beating Michigan at home, basically.

[Zena Kada]

No, totally fair. I mean, that's why, I mean, I struggled. I had the same exact feeling and a lot of the same thought process. To me, if UConn doesn't have that Michigan win on their resume, I think I would have put Texas over them in my AP ranking this week. Also. UConn has just been so dominant, like every time out, but I think it is a very, very tough call this week.

[Ben Pickman]

You guys talk about depth. I mean, that's huge. Of course, the fact that UConn has it is amazing. I felt as if every time a Texas player went down, we all held our breaths. There's no one else Available like Kyle Oldaker. Get up. You know what I mean? It was just, it was different moments throughout this weekend that you saw. Texas is strong right now, but they definitely need players to come back to be able to round them out as the season progresses. But particularly, let's talk about that Texas UCLA game because, I don't know, I was looking at Corey close. Like, girl, are we regressing? Are we getting back to get Lauren the ball? Like, what's happening right now with this offense? Let's talk a little bit about what you guys saw in terms of the strengths of how Texas was able to minimize Lauren Betts, just her impact over the course of the game. Only eight shots attempted. I mean, she finished fine in terms of 50% from the floor, but it just felt as if she was a little bit nullified in her ability to impact the game, particularly from an offensive perspective. What do you guys see out there from Texas?

[Sabrina Merchant]

Well, I just thought Texas ball pressure was really good, you know, preventing the ball from even getting to Lauren. It wasn't so much their doubling or, you know, one on one defense on bets. It was, you know, Kiki Rice has turned the ball over before you can even get the ball past half court or even Charlize Walker had some difficulty with her decision making there. So you'd think a team with two veteran point guards like UCLA would be a little bit more equipped for the pressure they were not in the first half. Ucla, another team that is dealing with absences, right? Like they don't have two of their front court rotation and Tamia Gardner and Sienna Betts, who you imagine would help with those high low connections with Lauren Betts that they were not really able to get going in that game. But yeah, to me it was a perimeter defense masterclass from Texas that really set the tone in that first half and just got UCLA out of rhythm, allowed Texas to play at its tempo. And you saw UCLA at least come back like this was something that was not at all happening in that game against UConn in the Final Four. Like for the first half it was, oh my God, this is another Bruins just falling flat on their face on national tv. But for them to at least have that comeback, to pull it within four in the fourth quarter, you're like one Gianna Eepkins three away from this being really, really interesting at the end of the game. Didn't get there. But I think the fight was at least more hopeful for UCLA going forward than what we saw at least in the Final Four last season and then their next two Wins over Duke and Tennessee, like a really convincing win over Tennessee, I thought just gives a little bit more optimism if you're just worried about UCLA being bridesmaid over and over again against big teams. But yeah, I think. I think it was a perimeter defense win for Texas more than anything.

[Ben Pickman]

Yeah, that first quarter, UCLA turned the ball over seven times. I mean, that was. It was rough to watch. Ben, what'd you see?

[Zena Kada]

Well, and they're just not forcing turnovers and they're not forcing it at the same clip that they did last year. And so it's the combination of the two, you know, turning the basketball over, as we saw against Texas with the 20 turnovers and also not getting steals the way that they maybe have in the past. That's a bad combination. Obviously. They're also not getting the free throw line as much as they did.

[Ben Pickman]

Great point.

[Zena Kada]

A season ago. And that is something to watch for as well going forward now in this.

[Ben Pickman]

Game, UCLA loses to Texas 65, 76. I missed out on sharing the actual final score. You mentioned that comeback. I mean, UCLA won the second half. They. They outplayed Texas in that second half, but Texas had done their work early. And that's what they say, you know, get your work done early, you'll be able to cruise towards the back end. But that 24 to 7 run in the second half made you go, okay, UCLA is not laying down. They end up beating Tennessee. I believe it was 99, 77. I don't have that score in front of me directly, but I remember that from watching the Lauren Betts scare that happened in Texas. She. She collides with Booker, comes out to the floor. It looks awkward. She goes back to the locker room. I believe she walked back to the locker room. Do we have any concerns about that? She did come back in the game and didn't seem to be bothered by it, but any concerns about how the main centerpiece should be? The centerpiece, in my opinion. Do we have any concerns about what that fall may have done for her game?

[Sabrina Merchant]

Well, I mean, she did play against Tennessee and she looked totally fine in that game on Sunday. I know she sat out against Duke in the next day. If it were the championship game, I imagine they would have tried harder to get her back in the game. But it wasn't so, no, just based on watching her move on Sunday. She had a full practice on Saturday for ucla, had no restrictions on her minutes on Sunday. I think the larger question with Lauren Betts is just her numbers haven't looked as good as they did last season, you know, and I think part of that is just how defenses are playing UCLA this year. Like there is a real committed effort to. You are going to have to do something other than get the ball to Lauren every single time. And UCLA to their credit, like brought in perimeter players who don't have to give the ball to Lauren every time. Right. Like you're seeing what Gianna Newkins can do. Gabriella Hawkes, I think has taken another step, that 29 points against Tennessee.

[Ben Pickman]

29 points, yeah. That's huge.

[Sabrina Merchant]

She's been excellent this season, you know, shooting over 40% from three point range. And then Charlie Sledger Walker coming back from her ACL tear. Just another player who can do a little bit driving and score from the perimeter. So like they have ways where they're not entirely dependent on Lauren Betts in a way that they were last season. Like everything was created by the gravity of Lauren Betts. And that's not to say that Lauren Betts drawing in the defense still doesn't help what UCLA is trying to do. I just think that the offense can afford to be a little bit more versatile than it was last season because of the depth of talent that they have on the perimeter. And you're going to see that reflected in Lauren's box score numbers because they're just not as prolific as they were season to go. But I still think it's like really necessary to point out that like everything still focuses on bets. Right. Like the fact that she is there, the fact that she is drawing in the defense, running the floor hard, you know, boxing out even if the rebounds are not coming to her. Like she still to me is the most pivotal piece of what UCLA is doing, even if it's not showing up on the box score. But the fact that it's not showing up on the box score is a little interesting to start the season.

[Zena Kada]

Yeah, I do think you mentioned Gabriel Haquez. Like to me the positive, the plus is that she has had opportunity over the last two games to really shine. Like if I'm her agency, if I'm Gabriella Hawkins's camp and I'm looking for NBA draft or WNBA draft tape to put on film and to send to teams and to make sure teams see and watch. Like I'm putting the last two games against Duke in Tennessee on tape and I'm making sure that everyone has a copy of it because as you mentioned, Sabrina, the 29 points, the 23 points against Duke, like those are two of the better games offensively of her Entire college career and that is no short college career. And we have seen, as you mentioned, the three point shooting improve. I mean she's a much improved corner three shooter this year from the left side. From the top of the arc as well. Left side too. She's just creating opportunities, she's making open opportunities, she's aggressive, she's playing with confidence. We talked about it on our draft show about a week ago, I guess it was, it feels like more than a week ago that like she does so many things well, but she might not be a star. Like she might not excel, excel, excel at one particular skill. But if she's able to create on offense and to make shots the way that she has over the past two or three games, like her stock could really be one of the risers over the college season if she continues to play the way she has.

[Sabrina Merchant]

I don't think WMA teams have to worry about tape because so many of them are already in person at the UCLA game. I can tell you that scouts from at least half the teams I think were in attendance watching this category. Ariella Hawkez performance. Corey Close actually likened her game to sort of a Bridget Carlton post game, which I thought was an interesting comparison. Just like maybe not your number one option scoring, but like you put her on the court and you're confident that she's going to do everything right and give you a little bit of everything and she just keeps getting better and better every season, which, you know, we're seeing again in her senior year at ucla.

[Ben Pickman]

I kind of love that the Hawkezes are doing a great job right now playing all the roles at the time that we're recording this. Jaime Jacquez, Gabriela Haquez's older brother that plays for the Miami Heat, is leading in the sixth man of the year conversation. So that could be something that Gabriella can also look towards, you know, look forward to in the wnba. Or her star might be a little bit brighter than where her brothers is right now. But I do want to continue to talk about Texas. We'll put UCLA to the side right now. I do think there's more, more players that are starting to step up for ucla and as you mentioned, Sabrina, they've got some injuries that they've got to be able to overcome before we can see a full picture of them. But Texas, they went on and beat South Carolina in a very riveting game, ended up winning 66, 64 on Friday night. Was it Friday night I was coming out?

[Zena Kada]

No, it's Thursday night, which can I say this is the problem with this tournament. Right off the bat, like, what are we doing playing South Carolina and Texas on Thursday night, Thanksgiving night? Like, I understand that there's a big money purse at play here, but, like, it's Thanksgiving night and I. This is supposed to be this. Arguably this is the best game of the early season. And how many people. I haven't seen a rating on this game yet. So admittedly, like, if there's 10 million people that watched it, I will gladly take back this comment.

[Sabrina Merchant]

I can tell you that.

[Zena Kada]

Yeah, I don't think so.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Cowboys. That didn't happen.

[Zena Kada]

Right. But, like, who is watching? Like, who's watching this game live? Unless you are a true women's college basketball diehard or a fan of either of these teams, like, move this tournament. Move this tournament. Put it on another weekend in December. Put it in another weekend in November. More people will watch. More people, I have to imagine will go. Like, I understand. And it was the second half of the players era men's tournament that started earlier in the week. Right. So, like, I get that you want some players error synergy and you have the networks lined up. I think this was a true TV game. You know, TNT had the broadcast for the men's side, but like, that. That just irked me.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Are you just anti peace week in general then?

[Zena Kada]

I. I mean, I am a little bit. Like, I don't blame teams for not, like, not playing elite, elite opponents if you elect not to schedule hard during Thanksgiving week. And I also am against, like, this should be one of the showcase games of the season. And I just think they'll play each.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Other during the SEC schedule. Don't worry, it's going to happen, right?

[Zena Kada]

That I can get. Sabrina, can you guarantee that? I can guarantee that. Looking at the schedule and the two. Yeah. But, like, we should make it more accessible for people to watch games and put big games on at a good time. And Thursday night, Thanksgiving night is not that you're going up against an NFL game. It was Ravens, Bengals. Actually, Sabrina, if we're going to correct.

[Sabrina Merchant]

You on this game live. So I don't actually know what time it was happening.

[Ben Pickman]

I watched it live. I was not in the football mix at all. I was at home. My mom, my sister and I literally, I ate Thanksgiving meal. I fell asleep, put an alarm on because I knew these games were happening. I woke up and, like, watched them. So I was very. I was one of those people that was, like, locked in knowing that I was gonna watch that. But again, as you mentioned, Ben That's a very small percentage of people that would have been more concerned about, let me get my post eating nap in and then let me go get this women's basketball fix in. But they gave me a fix. Okay. Texas gave South Car their first loss of the season. And, man, Rory Harmon, she's been so fun to watch. Sabrina, you talked about her aggression. I love the fact that Madison and Rory, they now have a trust in each other. Like, I saw Madison pass the ball off at the top of the key to Rory Harmon several times and kind of just like was steady, ready to in case she needed a kick out or anything. And she just allowed Rory to penetrate into the paint, get her a little, you know, mid range off. It was just fun watching the two of them cook. And we've been seeing it now, what, two years, three years, and it's just been like them growing up together. They work so well off of each other. I think at one point when Madison first came, remember, she had to, because Rory got hurt, she had to become a point guard. And so it's so nice to now see Madison Booker again back in that secondary playmaker role alongside Rory Harmon. And the other person, I just want to shout out really quickly, number 11, Justice Carlton. Y' all know I love Justice Carlton. I love her so much. And she was, I think, pivotal in that UCLA game, but also being able to add in, make her mark in that South Carolina game as well. I'm talking a lot about Texas. Let's flip it first to South Carolina. Ben, I'll ask you first. Looking at this game, it was incredibly competitive. South Carolina was up in this game. They felt in control. Especially going into this halftime, you felt like, okay, the things look a little bit interesting, but I remember turning to my mother and literally saying, third quarter, South Carolina, it's about to go off, y'. All. It's about to pop off. It's going to be a thing. And overall, Texas was able to withstand any type of runs. And it became back and forth, back and forth. Texas was able to turn South Carolina over for some awkward shots out of them. But what'd you see out of South Carolina that you liked or that you were like, this is going to need some adjustments?

[Zena Kada]

I mean, I don't know what the adjustment for. What I'm about to say is, because the thing that I just continue to think about with South Carolina is they're so reliant on their five starters. Their five starters have played 100 minutes together this season. And when they have played, they have been Elite like, they are one of the best starting lineups in the country. They are the best starting Lineup in the SEC of any starting lineup who has played more than 50 minutes per game this year. But across the country, only TCU starting lineup has played more minutes in their eight games than South Carolina's. And that is a big change from the South Carolina team we saw last year. Right. Think about last year South Carolina team. They averaged more than 40 points, 40 bench points per game. That was first in the country a season ago. This year they're averaging just over 17 points off the bench per game. We saw it against Texas. They had two. Yes, two bench points in their game in the Final Four victory that South Carolina had over Texas. South Carolina's bench score, 35 points. Right. It doesn't come all down to that. And obviously roster turnover, development of players in the transfer portal, that is a natural part of where we're at in college athletics right now. But the depth and the high quality depth is just not yet there for South Carolina. That's not to say it won't be there, but this is a team that is very reliant on its starters. And if you rattle off some of the other teams, we've talked about UCLA and Texas being among them, like, those are teams that are really deep. And to me, the thing that was most impressive about Texas pulling off this victory is they did it without Crump and Preston. Right. Two players who are very important to their success and have gotten off to good starts this season. And so that Texas was a little under, like undermanned, didn't have the depth and was still able to win. That is a big plus. And South Carolina's lack of depth, I think again revealed itself in this game. And it's something to watch for going forward.

[Sabrina Merchant]

There's just like a big Chloe Kitts shaped hole in their offense.

[Ben Pickman]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sabrina Merchant]

I mean, it's crazy to think that if Chloe kids hadn't suffered that ACL injury, like, would Joyce Edwards still be coming off the bench? You know, would she still be this Super 6 woman considering how incredible she's been? Like, that's. You talk about those bench points against Texas in the Final Four. Like, that's Tessa Johnson and Joyce Edwards. Right. And they're both starting now. So I mean, that's just what happens at South Carolina. You, you build like your, your reserves through the freshman class and like they get better and then they become starters and like, that's what Ayla McDowell and Agat McKear are gonna have to do. Like they just have to be better than been so far. You know, they've been good against lesser competition, but I barely even noticed McDowell in some of these bigger games. And she was one of the top five, top 10 recruits in the country. Coming in, like, she just has to be better. They just need something of a punch coming off the bench, you know, like, if a coach is going to foul out, what's coming off the bench? Like, is it Adele Tack? Like, they talk about her very lovingly as like the leader of the team and like a, you know, motivational perspective. But, like, what has she performed on the court so far? Like, there. There's just. There's so many players who have high pedigrees on the South Carolina bench who just haven't lived up to them so far. Like whether that's Dowda, whether that's Maddie McDaniel, whether that's those freshmen, and they have a long time right before we get to March and it becomes like gut check time. But it's just. I don't entirely blame South Carolina. They put together this roster thinking that Chloe kids, an all SEC performer last year, was going to be part of the team, and you put her on the team and all of a sudden they have a rotation that I think is totally fine to compete with anybody in the country, but it's a big loss. And it's not like there's a trade deadline in college. Like, you can't just pick up somebody mid season. So it's going to have to come from internal development.

[Ben Pickman]

There were moments where, you know, talk got some blocks that got me hyped. Right. But it wasn't enough. There wasn't enough production. The fact that there was only three made threes in this entire game is crazy. Like, that just gives you a sense of just how much up and down there was, how much it's the SEC for sure. Absolutely. We expected that out of Texas. I think I definitely expected a little bit more.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Texas only had one player even attempt a three in that game.

[Ben Pickman]

Crazy, right? Exactly. Jordan Lee attempted three, six made the one. But we knew their offense has always been around their. Their ability to get into spots and get into holes and utilize their bigs. But South Carolina is also missing some significant outside shooting. Whether it was. I mean, Chloe Kitz even put up threes last year, but Tessa Johnson is one. One of those people I'm looking at that. We're going to need. They're going to need. I'm saying where, like, I'm part of South Carolina. They're going to need a more production out of her from the perimeter, especially on those kickouts. We know that she can do that mid range, which I love. Loved her one dribble pull ups. But a little bit more production out of that and we'll see what happens with McDowell, Matty McDaniel even, like you're just not feeling them when they are substituted in and that's a really good call out. Ben. All right, guys, we'll see. I'm sure South Carolina's gonna bounce back. Like, I'm not too concerned about them, but if there's anything about this game that you can take away in terms of things that South Carolina can look forward to as they get into the sec. Ben, you mentioned being able to get more production out of their bench. Sabrina, anything on your end?

[Sabrina Merchant]

I'm just so impressed with how Medina Okote has played the start of the season. You know, she is dramatically better than she was even a year ago at Mississippi State. Like, what a tremendous decision to decide to transfer to South Carolina. And the fit is just perfect on both sides. You know, I talked to a WNBA front office personnel this weekend who said like, would it be crazy to draft Okote over Lauren Betts just because of what she does dominantly? Like, she can see like just back her defender down Seal's. So her mobility is really good defensively. You just feel her size all the time when she's on the court. To me, it's like a bridge too far. But like, I understand the thought process at the very least and I think just how good that she's been over the first, what, eight games for South Carolina to think how much better she can continue to get under this developmental system in South Carolina. I'm really excited to see how that pans out, especially because it's not like she's in a new conference. Like, she knows these opponents already. So it's not a full learning curve. That to me is really interesting. And then just I want to see how T' Niya Latson continues to adapt to this because it's still been an adjustment process for her. You know, being the leading scorer in the country a year ago and then coming into an offense where there's a lot more balance. So can she still dial up like the 28 points per game Tonia Latson that we saw at Florida State? Because sometimes they're going to need that. Right. And I'm just interested to see how that fares against SEC opponents.

[Ben Pickman]

Yeah, I completely missed on the fact of Tanai Latson being another person that could Produce a lot more threes, I believe what she was 40% from three last season. Performed pretty well from outside as well. So it's like there's opportunity here. It's a long season folks, so we'll see what happens in terms of the production as folks get more acclimated into South Carolina. But for now with the new faces and new places, that game was awesome. Thank you Texas, thank you South Carolina for being able to give me that basketball fix on Thanksgiving. Okay, lsu. Now I know, I know a lot of y' all are like, they ain't playing nobody. Why are we talking about this? Well, lsu, yes, they have not been playing the most competitive of opponents, but they made history over the weekend by extending their streak of a hundred point games to eight. Now they had tied it up, it was seven previously obviously. And now with 112 to 35 win over Washington State, they captured the Reef Division title at the paradise jam in St. Thomas. So while on quote unquote vacation, they made history there. I thought it was really cool that the sixth game streak of 100 points or more previously was made by Louisiana Tech where Kim Mulkey was playing or while Kim Mulkey was playing. So that's pretty cool. They went on to win the national championship that year and now Kim Mulkey's at the top of this streak and she actually, when asked about it was like, oh, I didn't know. That's not something that was on our radar. We don't talk to the kids about it X, Y and Z. But there's conference play ahead and the SEC don't look like Washington State. Y', all. We just talked about Texas, we just talked about South Carolina, this hot start. Can it translate? That's the biggest question. That is always the question for lsu. It feels even louder this year because the competition seems even lower. But Sabrina, there is a reason to that that Kim Mulkey kind of expounded upon when asked about it recently. Like if you're a fan listening to us and you're like, why is LSU playing nobody? Meanwhile, Texas just played UCLA and South Carolina and UConn played Michigan. Why are they in the top five in the country and not playing big time opponents, right?

[Sabrina Merchant]

So this isn't like the best way to classify opponents. But I like to use the HER hoop stats like net rating filter and LSU hasn't played a single team that's ranked in the top 100 of the 360 + Division 1 teams during the start of the season. So I'm not saying that they have to be playing like, you know, top five teams, but like not even in the top 100 over their first eight games. So if it seems like we're being a little dismissive of what they've done so far, that is why. What's funny is because their best non conference game was supposed to be against Duke and Duke has just looked like an absolute Tigerfire. So like, how good is that game going to be later this week? But yeah, they haven't played a real game of consequence over the start of the non conference season. And that is by design. This is what Kim Mulkey likes to do. She likes to get her team just really confident in itself, learning basically how to play with each other without too much competition from the opposition over the start of the season. And it's not as if it's been unsuccessful. Right? Like I'm looking at the schedule that they had in 2022, 2023, when they won their national title and again they had one opponent who was in the top 100, the 88th ranked team in net rating during their first stretch of the season. I think they also played too late in the season. So it's probably just a regular game that they play against an intrastate, you know, team. This is just what Kimoki does. Like they're going to get a lot of tests during the SEC season. Those are going to happen, right? You got Texas, you got South Carolina, you got Oklahoma, you got all those other teams in that conference. So it's not as if they won't be able to challenge themselves before March comes around. But Mulkey's of the belief that we just don't need to challenge ourselves for four months, we can do it for two months. And that is a theory that she has. That's a theory that, you know, some coaches don't have. It makes the first part of the season for me a lot less interesting to watch LSU because it's almost like they're scrimmaging every night. But hey, this is their practice, this is what they're doing. And credit to them, they're not taking any of these opponents lightly. They're actually kicking butt like they're supposed to. So the fact that they have scored 100 points in eight consecutive games is, you know, a testament because like, obviously it hasn't been done before, but I'm not reading into it as like, oh, I think they're now a better SEC team than Texas or South Carolina because they've done that. Like they still have a lot to prove. Which again is their point. Like they will get a chance to prove all that come January.

[Zena Kada]

And it is just such a big confidence builder for players on the team. Or it can be right if you look at it, because they're playing a much softer schedule than their peers. And you know, Sabrina cited her hoop stats numbers the NCAA came out with their first net rankings on. And you can see that LSU of teams in the top 15 right now of the net, like they have played by far the weakest schedule, the softest, worst strength of schedule so far. They have seven quad four wins for whatever that is worth on December 1st, which is a lot of quad four victories. Not going to help them in resume talk come NCAA tournament. But like of their roster right now, 11 players are averaging between 12 and 25 minutes per game to start the year. And that is.

[Ben Pickman]

That's big.

[Zena Kada]

That's big, right? You're getting reserves and opportunity to play. You're getting reserves and opportunity to gain confidence as a coaching staff. You're getting an opportunity to play with different lineup combinations. You're getting an opportunity to see who fits well with whom, who might not, you know, fit as well with someone else. Like, you're starting to at least learn something. And while the opponent is not, as you know, you're not learning as much if you were playing potentially a Texas or Yukon or South Carolina, you're at least getting some film, some teaching tape that you can build off of. And so that is another big plus if you're the LSU coaching staff about scheduling the way that they do. As Sabrina said, not as exciting, tougher to read into it, harder to rank that team. And maybe not as indicative like they might have a rude awakening come SEC tournament play. But also they might be bought in more or players might have more confidence because they've played relatively easy opponents and that might help them as well in the long run. It's just a wait and see. And that really is the reality of where LSU is at right now.

[Ben Pickman]

Yeah, I love this variety in coaching approaches, this aspect of building confidence. Ben, you just mentioned the fact that South Carolina's bench needs to produce more. They need to be more confident when they're coming out onto the floor to replace their reserves. And in this system with LSU and Kim Mulkey system, those players are coming off the bench knowing what they're capable of, knowing what they can do against an opponent that they know they're better than or they feel that they're better than. And it gives them those reps to be able to build that confidence. And then as you mentioned, the lineup aspect, bench players coming on with starters, being able to try some things out without it being a huge risk, that's massive. And the reason why this is so important for LSU is the fact that they have a lot of new faces. They quite literally have eight new faces on their roster and only two players that had significant playing time last season returning to the team. And so Kim Mokey mentioned this. She did not expect this team to gel as well as they have in their undefeated eight. No start so far this season. She said, maybe I would have scheduled better. But let's just be real. This is what Kimoke has always done. If you're new to this, Kimoki is true to this. Okay. This is not anything new. She has always done this and I respect it. It's a different type of approach and I think the only negatives that you can kind of see is one, it is hard to evaluate their team. Two, there is this risk of basically playing no. 1 until crunch time matters. And how are you going to respond? I would say UConn sometimes feels that way outside of non conference. Right. Like playing in the Big east right into the tournament. But then also the separate factor, not team related. It's always a little bit difficult to evaluate talent.

[Zena Kada]

Right.

[Ben Pickman]

Like I feel like multiple LSU players have dealt with not being center of attention early in the season because their team isn't playing anyone. It's hard to evaluate how a Flaje Johnson will translate to the WNBA when the folks that she's playing against are not going to the wnba. Right. And so I think those are the main negatives there. But it's an interesting tactic. And as Sabrina called out, like, it's worked. It has worked.

[Sabrina Merchant]

It also always hurts their NCAA tournament seeding too because they're never going to be a 1 seed because they don't have the quality wins that other teams do unless they just roll through the SEC schedule. Like when they won a national title, they were number three seed and like it worked out for them just fine. But they were a three seed, you know, in Angel Reese's last season too. And that meant that they had to go through UCLA and Iowa just to get to the Final Four.

[Ben Pickman]

And they did not get to Iowa. Offended. You can always see it like whatever they call it out, they're always like, I can't believe we got ranked at that. It's like, well, what do you expect? What do you expect? I don't understand. Where is this coming from?

[Zena Kada]

It's also just like the Conversation that is happening across a lot of college sports right now about how do you schedule and what does that mean for where you stand in the postseason? I know, you know, I'm not the biggest college football viewer out there, but I know in the SEC right now, Texas, like, like Texas Football is very much trying to make a case for them to make the College Football Playoff. And one of the things that, you know, people who are a part of that program are saying publicly is, look, we might have three losses, but one of them is to Ohio State, which is the number one team in the country, and we lost to them in week one. And so, you know, if we choose to schedule, had we chosen to schedule a different opponent that we would have likely beaten, then we would have only had two losses and we would have been a playoff team. And so should we be penalized for playing and losing to Ohio State when, you know, we gave viewers an incredible game to open the college football season? Like, yeah, we also. You talk about losers here, Zena. I think we like the viewing public. Again, we are also losers here because LSU has basically taken them out from playing a high profile, non confidence game.

[Ben Pickman]

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. The fans are like, damn it, lsu, get it together. We want to see some competition. But hey, if you're an LSU fan, I'm sure you ain't too mad about your team having a 31 point differential on average so far this season. Okay, let's keep it moving. Last piece of history here that we want to talk about. If you guys remember, the last show that we did before the Thanksgiving break, we compared some players, teams, et cetera, to Thanksgiving staples. And I went on a very lovely rant about mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes. Just being someone that something that you can always count on. They ain't gotta do too much, but they're going to come through in the clutch. And guess what? That player was Audi Crooks. And I think that she heard me and she went on to say, you know what? I love mashed potatoes, too. And I love being the person that you can count on. 47 points she had against Indiana in the Coconut Hoops Blue Heron division championship game. 47 points, y'. All. She's had 40 point games four times in her career. It's like casual for her at this point. Mind you, sis ain't shooting threes. She's not. She's not putting up threes like that. Okay? This is ridiculous work. She has broken her own Iowa State scoring record and she continues to just be solid and just like mashed potatoes. Just being exactly what you need on your plate, guys, Audi Crooks is doing it this year. And Ben, you were the one that you said Iowa State's on your radar of being one of those teams that could really surprise us. How much is Crooks performance helping you in that argument?

[Zena Kada]

I mean, she continues to be one of the most reliable players in the country. They also have not exactly played a very difficult schedule among non conference opponents. Among some of the teams that we talked about, like lsu, like, they have one of the softest schedules in the country so far. So, so, you know, a little bit of caution to the wind if I'm going to pump the brakes a tad. But what Audi Crooks has done is so, so impressive. And one of the things that is so impressive about it is that everyone in the country knows that she's going to score around the basket and that she is trying to score around the basket and yet nobody can stop her, right? That she has taken just 12 shots this year away outside the paint. And guess what? That is totally okay because she is shooting close to 64% around the rim this season. And she is one of the most effective post players, you know, bigs in the country.

[Ben Pickman]

She's got the best true shooting percentage in the country, 74% and everything that's insane.

[Zena Kada]

Everything revolves around her. You know how she's going to score, you know where she wants to score and you can't stop it. Like, that is a testament to just how good of a player she is and how good she is playing right now.

[Ben Pickman]

Now, Sabrina, they are, I would say Cyclones are nine and oh, and as Ben laid out, the competition's been subpar, but this is something you cannot deny. I mean, 47 points, easy. And she's doing this. She's what, third in the country in terms of scoring and she's doing this averaging 24 minutes. We just talked about South Carolina, all their starters, 30 minutes or more. Texas, Rory Harmon, Madison Booker, Jordan lee. They're playing 40 minutes a game, okay? Audi's like, let me get half of that time put up, I don't know, 20 plus points and I'll go sit down. Y' all finish out this game like this is. This is crazy. Does it raise their ceiling at all to know that she's not even playing full. The full amount of minutes that are available in the game and being able to put these numbers up.

[Sabrina Merchant]

I mean, we're still looking at an Iowa State team that gave up 95 points to Indiana, who I don't think is gonna make the tournament. So I have a lot of concerns about how easy Adi is letting other people cook, you know. Okay, that's still part of it. Fair, fair, fair. Obviously, the offense is super impressive. You know, I was looking up some assist stats over the weekend, and Jada Williams has assisted to Audi crooks 34 times already this season. Like, the next highest number on any team in the top 25 is 20 assists between any one player. So, like, there's a lot of synergy already between, you know, the Arizona transfer Jada and Adi Crooks there. Incidentally, Adi Brown's actually second on that list, but she also plays for Iowa State, so a lot of. A lot of buckets, assisted buckets going to Audi Crooks. She's just making this work. But, yeah, the ceiling I just have a hard time with. Admittedly, they have won all of their games, but they haven't really beaten anyone of consequence. And just. I can't get past the defensive numbers, right. Like, 95 points to Indiana is just. It's a big number. And, you know, whenever I watch Iowa State, I'm still. I want to be more impressed with Adi Garx on the defensive end. And I haven't gotten there yet. So, you know, the schedule's going to pick up, right? They are going to be in Big 12 play. They do play Iowa in an interstate matchup, which I'm very excited about, because Iowa, shockingly one of the better defensive teams in the country. Something we don't always say about the Hawkeyes, but it's been the case this season. So, yeah, I'm still pumping the brakes a little bit. You know, don't want to diminish Audi's individual stats. But like lsu, I think, like, there's some. There's some context here that we still need to keep in mind.

[Zena Kada]

Can we also plug the Iowa. Iowa State game a little bit more? It's December 11th, I think December 11th. And that to me, is one of the most exciting center matchups in the country so far because Iowa has a center, sophomore center Eva Hayden, who's been like, one of the most impressive bigs in the country this season. And when you look at most. December 10th, December 10th. Okay, most. She's been one of the most improved players year over year from her freshman season to her sophomore season. Like, she was a player who this year, I think she has five double doubles this season. Last year, she scored in double figures just three times. Like last year, she played fewer than 10 minutes per game. And again, she's already set career highs in Points. She's already set career highs and rebounds and you know, from on post touches, like she's shooting. She was shooting at one point more than 80% on post up opportunities. I think that number has dipped a little bit to like 70 plus percent. 73, 75% this year. Like she's been really good in this Iowa team. After kind of ending last season by saying we're not going to play Addison o' Grady and Hannah Stolke next to each other, they've elected to play Stoke and hide next to each other. And they've had a lot of success doing it. So. So that is a front court too that is well positioned to slow down Audi, Crooks and Iowa State. It's just going to be a really, really, really good game of two really good teams and again an interstate rivalry at that.

[Ben Pickman]

Yeah, Hayden's been really interesting because she, I mean she's listed technically as a guard, but being six.

[Zena Kada]

That can't be right. That can't be right. Xena.

[Ben Pickman]

I'm just saying. I'm just saying.

[Sabrina Merchant]

On the Iowa website.

[Ben Pickman]

No, on espn. Wow.

[Sabrina Merchant]

That's stuck.

[Ben Pickman]

That. Yeah, right. She does her work in the post, obviously. Of course, like when you double your minutes year over year. Last year she wasn't doing much at all. We're now seeing her quadruple the amount of points she's providing. Her rebounds, just her touch around the basket. Yeah. This is gonna be interesting. I'm happy you call that out and it is worth noting. Yes, Sabrina, the defense for Iowa State is the problem. Okay. All right. We'll keep an eye out on that. We'll keep an eye on that. All right, we gotta close this out. We gotta. Interesting update in the world of women's basketball, but from the fan perspective, we'll talk about that right after this. This holiday season, Instacart is bringing magic.

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[Sabrina Merchant]

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[Ben Pickman]

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[Zena Kada]

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[Sabrina Merchant]

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[Ben Pickman]

Visit t mobile.com. All right guys. If you are new to women's basketball within the last few years, you may have been ushered into this space during March Madness during the tournament. Namely women. The Caitlin Clark Angel Reese, Iowa, LSU battle. But there was something else that was happening around that. There was way more great basketball, obviously great basketball players all season long. But there were faces that helped familiarize what was going on in the court with what was going on in pop culture, what was going on in the world in general. And those faces were Cheney, Guimike, Andrea Carter and the leader of this group, Elle Duncan. And that trio was so much fun, ultimately ended up being named the quote unquote big three at espn. And people fell in love with their chemistry. The guesses of what a team needed to do in the second half. On 1, 2, 3, go. How many times Andrea and Trinea were able to communicate on that Elle Duncan's perfectly placed pop culture references, her rap lyrics, her all these different things, some lyrics and things that went over our head. We might have been a little too young for some of the referen, but overall, just a fun, fun group, fun trio. And Elle Duncan being at the helm of all that. Well, it's been announced that Netflix saw that Netflix saw the success of Elle Duncan at espn. And according to sources, Elle Duncan and ESPN will fully part ways now with her moving to be the first officially signed talent for Netflix's newest sports programming. They're building and growing their sports program. You've obviously seen the football games over the course of the last few years. They're obviously having the boxing matches and things of that sort that are coming up. But the Athletic reported last Monday, actually before Thanksgiving, that Duncan was headed to Netflix and there was still question about could she do both the ESPN thing and Netflix. Well, according to sources, that is not a thing anymore. So before we get into any more about the details about this, but like Sabrina Ben, like off the top, I'm sad. Like, I am as excited I am for Elle Duncan. She's awesome. Netflix got a great pick, but I am sad that the trio is ending. It felt like the window was too small that they really got to cook.

[Zena Kada]

I think what's so interesting is that ESPN in this era very much has acquired a lot of big name talents to front face a lot of their big properties, right? Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, Pat McAfee, the Manning cast and what they're doing with Omaha Productions and, you know, inside the NBA, most recently on the NBA side and seemingly with a lot of their studio shows, a lot of feedback that people give is that they're just okay or they're not that spectacular or they're not breaking through. And this was a rare example over the last two or three years of people that they had, you know, in house, so to speak, or that they have, you know, more homegrown or that they didn't go out and get kind of coming together and having natural chemistry and having, you know, a show that broke through into the cultural zeitgeist. And again, it's only been around with the three of them for what, two, two and a half years. Like it's still pretty early on. And so I'm not really interested. Like they've had this trio that broke through that seemingly had a voice and carved out space as a leading kind of studio team and now a key member of that is leaving. How do they backfill her. That's a really interesting question. And what does it mean for their ability to continue to have an entertaining women's basketball studio show? I think that is another, you know, follow up question because, you know, it's just worth watching how they choose to approach things going forward and how things will be different. But this was a, a rare example, I would argue of a show like this or of a crew like this breaking through in recent years when everyone had been at espn. So kudos to them and now we see where things go from here.

[Ben Pickman]

Yeah, that's a really good point. The fact that that trio with Elle Duncan being the forefront face, they were part of ESPN's upfronts where they basically sell to advertisers what's happening this upcoming season and they were prominent voices. And the fact that she's now leaving is going to be very interesting to see how that might impact ESPN's advertising numbers. We know that that because that trio has done so well, vibe check, their like all female led sports show was basically summoned out of the chemistry that they had created and also what was going on in the world of women's sports in general. So yeah, there's going to be, it's going to be very interesting to see what happens. Elle Duncan was not only with March Madness, of course, hosted the WNBA finals and was on SportsCenter. So we'll see what shifts happen in the world of espn. But as for now, we wish Elle Duncan the best at Netflix and we'll see what happens there. I believe our first event will be a Jake Paul boxing event. I believe it is. But whoever's listening, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that that's gonna be the first one that we'll see on Netflix. I'm not a boxing fan so I'm just gonna be sad about the basketball. All right guys, that's gonna do it for today's show. We appreciate you guys tuning in. I hope you guys all had wonderful holidays and and are excited for college season to continue. We'll be back on Friday. Remember, if you've got some questions about the cba, what's going on, the deal, the no deal, the extension, what's going to happen with the draft, who knows? Or what's going on with college hoops, of course, send them our way for our mailbag. Drop us a line also at our email nooffseasontheathletic.com and you can check out the show notes for more information, follow subscribe Our show wherever you're listening. We want to make sure you don't miss out on our content and go to our partner at Yahoo. The Yahoo Sports Hub has more content. Sports.yahoo.com Womens Sports on behalf of the Athletic Sabrina Merchant, Ben Pickman and Mashed Potatoes, I'm Zena Kada. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time. No off season is hosted by Zena Keda with Chantelle Jennings, Sabrina Merchant and Ben Pickman. It's produced by Tanika Burrell, our executive producer, Andrea B. Scott. Our theme music is by Marcus Bagala. Monica Compton is is our video editor. Shannon Ryan is managing editor of Women's Basketball at the Athletic. Jesse Burton is our head of audio and Tim McMaster is director of Audio operations.

[Sabrina Merchant]

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