← No Offseason: The Athletic Women's Basketball Show
No Offseason: The Athletic Women's Basketball Show
Predicting March Madness Early Rounds: Sleepers, Surges & Showdowns
00:41:41
Loading summary
Transcript149 lines
- [00:00]
Sam's Club Announcer
It's finally March, and you know what that means. Bracket season, baby. Picture it. You're hosting the big tourney game, you've got your jersey, you're looking good, and now all you need is, well, everything else to host. No sweat though, because you're a Sam's Club member. In one trip, you say yes to grabbing everything you need and to getting it all for unbelievably low prices. Plates, cups, tables, chairs, pizza, wings, snacks, sweets and the ultimate three pointer a big screen tv. Heck, you could even get it delivered. That's because the play that Sam's Club runs is called yes. And it means getting just what you need and enjoying the perks that come with membership like express delivery, bonus points. So even if you don't win your bracket, you'll win best host. Join Sam's Club, the club of yes and on eligible items, terms and fees apply. See samsclub.com yes and for details.
- [00:57]
Pablo Torre
Hi, this is Pablo Torre from Pablo Torre Finds out and today I want to talk to you about Boost Mobile because we spend a lot of time analyzing inefficiencies in sports, overvalued contracts, money tied up in the wrong places, and so on. But those inefficiencies aren't just on a roster. Sometimes they're in your own monthly expenses. Boost Mobile says switching to their $25 Unlimited Forever plan can unlock up to $600 in savings a year. That's $25 a month for unlimited data, talk and text when you bring your own phone. If that money is trapped in a pricey phone bill. If you it might be worth a second look. Visit boostmobile.com to learn more. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers pay $25 per month as long as they remain active on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Plan savings claim. Based on a January 2026 Boost Mobile survey of 1,000Americans with single line unlimited plans, comparing average annual payments of major carriers to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited plan. For full offer details, visit boostmobile.com with
- [01:54]
Capital One Announcer
no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends, it's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capitalone.com bank capital1NA member FDIC.
- [02:40]
Chantelle Jennings
Hello everyone and welcome to no Off Season, presented by Sam's Club. I'm Shantelle Jennings.
- [02:45]
Sabrina Merchant
And I'm Sabrina Merchant.
- [02:47]
Chantelle Jennings
Today on the show, let the games begin. The first four are in the can and the first round of March Madness starts today. We're breaking down the key games, possible upsets and more to watch for. But first, as many of you probably already know, we, we have a deal. Uh, Xena closed out Deal or no Deal on the podcast earlier this week, but obviously it's something we're gonna be talking about for a while. The WNBA and players union reached a new CBA agreement early Wednesday morning. We've been reporting on it and breaking down the details. Sabrina, you talked about those details yesterday with Xena and Leija. But can you break it down again for any listeners who haven't heard yet? And what else have we learned since then?
- [03:29]
Sabrina Merchant
Right, so I think big picture salary, revenue share is the main thing we've been talking about. So we'll go over that again. The players got 20% of the total team in league revenue. So that's 20% of gross revenue for what we're talking about. If you recall, we talked about how they had proposed high 20s. The league was countering in 15, so sort of met in the middle at that 20% number. And that'll be the average over the life of the deal, which we should say is seven years long, though there is an opt out after six seasons. So that 20% revenue share means that in 2026 we're getting a salary cap of $7 million. And to put that in context, salary cap last season was $1.5 million. Now the salary cap is $7 million and the Supermax is $1.4 million, which is basically the equivalent of a full cap in 2025. That also means that minimum salaries are around $300,000 compared to maximum salaries of 250 in 2025. And you're going to get an average salary close to $600,000. So big, big, big monetary gains for the WNBA players in year one. And we should say like the league is projecting these numbers to go up sizably over the course of the deal to where like, you know, that supermax number of 1.4 is going to rise to about 2 million by the end of the deal. You know, corresponding raises for everything else too.
- [04:47]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah, I mean, I think this, this to me feels like a true negotiation where it's like in a negotiation, both sides feel like they won. Both sides, like that's a true Compromise. And this one, to me, like, genuinely feels that way. I don't think you walk out of this saying, like, oh, man, the league really got the better end of this deal, or, like, the players really got the better end of this deal. Like, I think both sides really have some major wins here. But I'm curious for you first, like, what. What do you think is the biggest win on either side of this deal?
- [05:16]
Sabrina Merchant
Well, I think the biggest win is that they're going to have a season that starts on time, and that's a win for both sides. Considering the momentum that WNBA has had over the last few years, all of the conversation around the league, all of the contentiousness that sort of defined these negotiations for them to have productive bargaining, right. That resulted in a deal that I think both parties are going to be happy with that results in the season starting on time, that resulted in, you know, a very nice picture of them celebrating with, you know, their champagne and weird glasses at the Langham Hotel on Wednesday morning, like, just to put a bow on this process and, you know, get to moving on. The 30th WNBA season, which should be celebratory in its own way, I think, is the biggest win, you know, as far as, like, revenue sharing. That being a part of the agreement is just a big win for the players. Right. Because never before has the salary cap been directly tied to how much revenue the league brings in. So I think that concept is a big win for the player is the number, I would say is probably a closer win for the league just because, you know, the players started this negotiation at 40%, which is closer to what NBA players get. So to come down to 20 is substantial movement. And, you know, I think they're happy to get a share of the revenue, but also, like, you know, next time there's a bigger number to fight for there. I don't know. Chantel, any other wins and losses immediately come out to you?
- [06:35]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah, I mean, I think obviously we're gonna keep, you know, checking in with people and trying to figure out as much as we can about this deal. And obviously they spent a hundred hours or something at the bargaining table together. There was a lot of push and pull. I know that when it happened Wednesday, it was like, we're, you know, checking in with sources, and we're like, it's gonna happen. It's not gonna happen. It's gonna happen. It's not gonna happen. And trying to figure that out. And it was like there were clearly starts and stops to this process for a year and a half. But especially in that last week. And I feel like when this, when we started getting all the details, to me, the biggest thing that I thought, like, oh, that's a win for the league was seven years. Like, that's, that's a good contract. When you think about the growth that has happened in the league over the last two years, like before 2024, the top six years for attendance were the first six years of the WNBA. And now you have two seasons in the top four or the top five, 2024 and 2025. Last season set a record for attendance. And so, you know, between that and the money coming in, like, it's clearly, it's clear to everyone that the WNBA is sort of on this rocket ship trajectory right now. And so when you think of that like, revenue sharing is obviously a win for both of them because one success is the other success. And when you can share in that success, like tide lifts all boats. But I was thinking about the term of it being seven years with an opt out after six. And I think that obviously to me feels like a win for the league because then they're able to go out in terms of investment, in terms of new investors, new teams, whatever it might be, and open their books and say, these are the numbers to expect. Revenue sure will be a part of it. And this is what we're projecting. But these are the salaries, this is the expenses we're expecting. And I think that seven years of being able to open their books for potential investors, potential new teams, whatever it might be, sponsorships, partnerships, that feels like a huge win for the league. And then I think the family planning benefits, obviously I'm a little biased here. I'm coming off of six months of my own maternity leave with two little ones at home, three in total. But to hear those new benefits and the fact that the jump from 2020 to now, getting it into the CBA in 20, the expansion of it, now feels like a massive win for a league of women.
- [09:01]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah. And just to clarify there, you know, in 2020, the WNBA offered family planning benefits like fertility treatments and things like that for players who had eight years of service. And now that criteria has dropped down to players with two years of service. So it's much more accessible for the average WNBA player to start thinking about, you know, if they want to have a family, they want to freeze their ikes, things like that. And again, like you said, a league of women makes a lot of sense to be thinking about that. And considering most WMA players do not hit 8 years of this is just a, you know, a perk that will be, again, accessible to more of the WNBA players than previously was in the old tva. So I think that's a big win. The last thing I want to talk about is the core designation, another win for the players. This is something that has allowed teams to control the negotiating rights for players, even if they are unrestricted free agents. We've learned that starting in 2027, players who have more than six years of service will no longer be eligible to be cored. So you think about, like how heading into this offseason, like Asia Wilson, Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray, they all have the potential to be cored by the Las Vegas Aces. That will no longer be the case in 2027 because they've all played more than six years in the WNBA. So I think that's a big win for the players just to ensure more agency in their free agency processes. Rookie scale contracts also going up big time in this cba. You know, previously rookie scale has been closer to the minimum contract in the wnba. Now it's going to be a lot closer to the average salary. You know, we've heard that's going to be about the number one pick is going to get about like 9% of the salary cap. And that's a big jump from about 5.6% of the salary cap in previous iterations. And that also means that the people who are still on their rookie contracts, like the ones in the massive 2024 and 2025 drafts, they will have their contracts scaled up so they're closer to what the 2026 draftees are getting. So it's not like, oh, hey, sucks to suck, you got drafted in the wrong time for the wnba. Like their contracts will all be right sized. And that makes a lot of sense because we talked about how much these rookie classes have changed the overall popularity and financial picture of the wnba. So making them part of the financial gains makes a lot of sense.
- [11:08]
Chantelle Jennings
And for anyone who doesn't do mental math immediately, I've already done this on my calculator, so don't think I'm doing this mental math now. But that means that the number one pick in this 2026 WNBA draft is going to get roughly $630,000, which is 10 times more than it's a big chunk of change.
- [11:27]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, you can see why Az Fudd was thinking Stewie on their, you know, co podcast last week.
- [11:33]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think it's just really interesting to think back to 2020 and that CBA and what the things that were celebrated as wins during that cba. And obviously this is a process and each negotiation, each bargaining session builds to the next. But it's like, you think back to that and the wins were like that. Players could sit and book an economy plus on flights. Now obviously they have charter flights. And that changed during the course of the last cba. It was, you know, another win was that players were going to have their own rooms on road trips. And I think that speaks to the growth of this league. That sort of the winds of, of yesteryear are like kind of wild to think about now and now projecting forward as well, that, you know, when will this CBA suddenly feel out of date? When will Nafisa Collier getting 1.5 million BE like, oh my gosh, I can't believe she's only making 1.5 million when, you know, next year, instantly Player180 will make more money than Asia Wilson did last year. Like, it's just truly transformational. It's pretty wild to think about how much has changed from last week to now. Sort of these numbers that now are real things, obviously they need to ratify it, sign this deal and then we get to move on to our six week off season. So I think again, we should change our podcast from no off season to six week off season. Sabrina, maybe you can give our listeners a sense of everything that needs to happen between now and six weeks from now.
- [13:14]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, I feel like six weeks is even too generous because we're recording this on March 19th. Training camp starts on April 19th, and basically everything has to get done before then. I think technically you could still sign free agents during training camp, but you kind of want them to be a part of your training camp. That's the whole point of having it. So first things first, the players have to vote on ratifying the cba. Then the Board of Governors, which is the ownership, votes on ratifying the cba. We get all the details together, sign the formal paperwork, you get this big fancy document that will govern the terms of WNBA for the next seven years. Then we get to have expansion draft. Right. As you mentioned, Chantelle, we're going to have 180 players. That's because two more teams are being added, Toronto and Portland. And there's going to be an expansion draft that allows those two teams to select players from the existing 13 teams. Fortunately, we don't have all of the rules yet that we can kind of guess based on the provisions that have existed in previous CBAs and what we know about this current CBA yeah, that has to happen first. Then we get to have what we're calling the college draft, though I guess a lot of internationals are part of that. So the other draft, you know, for everybody in the wnba, then you get to have free agency, which includes extending offer sheets to your restricted free agents, extending core designations to your unrestricted free agents, meeting with all the potential players you want to have on your team, and then actually signing them to contracts, which requires understanding the new cap environment and figuring out how much money everybody's worth in this new system. Oh, yeah, that's all going to happen in about six days, which is going to be after the Final Four, while the college draft is happening, while these teams are still scouting, you know, for the draft during March Madness. So we can all, you know, have preseason games and tip off the season on May 8th. Like everything was supposed to when it started.
- [14:55]
Chantelle Jennings
It's just, you know, I mean, I'm like, preemptively tired. I mean, I think we're all. Everyone who reports on women's basketball is already tired right now, and the NCAA tournament hasn't even started yet. But it's just like, oh, my gosh, the next month is going to be just a whirlwind, an absolute whirlwind. Yeah. And I think of sort of the life of a GM over the next month. Usually GMs travel to the Final Four for meetings, and those aren't happening this year. There's going to be an All Star Game that happens at the Final Four. You were there last year. A lot of the GMs were in attendance, and it was a chance for some of these players who aren't playing in the Final Four to have one last chance to get in front of these GMs in live play. GMs aren't going to be. Most GMs, you know, to my knowledge, aren't going to be sitting there watching that game because, like, no one has three hours, two hours or an hour. I guess maybe, maybe the Mercury staff will be there. But, like, people are not going to have a chance to, you know, take any amount of time out of their day to do anything that is not absolutely necessary and absolutely critical to the success of their team immediately. So I guess a big shout out to the family and friends of GMs and coaches in the WNBA. You probably won't see much of them for the next round.
- [16:18]
Sabrina Merchant
I hope you guys all got your trips in during this extended negotiating period when they couldn't do anything else.
- [16:23]
Chantelle Jennings
It's going to be a wild Ride. We're going to be there for all of it, but we should probably turn our attention to the NCAA tournament. The first round starts tonight. So up next, what to expect from the first weekend of the tourney.
- [16:39]
Sam's Club Announcer
It's finally March and you know what that means. Bracket season, baby. Picture it. You're hosting the big tourney game, you've got your jersey, you're looking good, and now all you need is, well, everything else to host. No sweat though, because you're a Sam's Club member. In one trip, you say yes to grabbing everything you need and to getting it all for unbelievably low prices. Plates, cups, tables, chairs, pizza, wait, snacks, sweets and the ultimate three pointer. A big screen tv. Heck, you could even get it delivered. That's because the play that Sam's Club runs is called yes. And it means getting just what you need and enjoying the perks that come with membership like express delivery, bonus points. So even if you don't win your bracket, you'll win best host. Join Sam's Club, the club of yes. And on eligible items terms and fees apply. See samsclub.com yes and for details.
- [17:38]
Capital One Announcer
With no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One bank guy is so passionate about banking. With Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends, it's pretty much all he talks about. In a good way. What's in your wallet terms apply. See capitalone.com bank capital1NA member FDIC. Over 90 of the top 100 US accounting firms trust bill to simplify and secure bill pay. That's proven financial infrastructure built on over a trillion dollars of secure payments. Visit bill.com proven for a special offer.
- [18:32]
Chantelle Jennings
All right, Sabrina, the moment is finally here. Round one of the NCAA tournament kicks off Friday. The top 16 teams in the tournament are hosting these games at home. First round games are not always the most exciting, but are there any that you have, you know, circled in your calendar?
- [18:54]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, it's not the greatest year for the mid majors. I think we talked about this on the live stream. Only one mid major escaped like the AQ pool of 11 season below and that's Princeton, which is like a solid 8, 9 every year. But yeah, beyond that just, just a tough, tough year for the non power conferences which I hope is not indicative of things to come. But in that vein, the first round matchup that I have outlined is one that does not involve any mid majors and that's Baylor versus Nebraska. You know, Nebraska looked fantastic beating Richmond the other night. They've obviously had a very tough schedule in the Big Ten, did not collect a lot of wins in that tough schedule, which is why they were on the bubble heading into selection Sunday. But you know, Brit Prince, my Hargrove, like this is a team that has a lot of talent, a lot of shooting ability. I think they were sort of peaking, you know, if you can say that, towards the end of the season when they finally got their first quad one and quad one win against Washington. But then obviously they lost to Indiana, the Big Ten tournament. So hard to say. These teams are also hit and miss. But a team that can actually score could give Baylor some trouble because Baylor likes to grind things down, really slow the pace, make you play in the half court. And I think Nebraska, if they can just get a little more tempo, this could be an interesting 611 game.
- [20:05]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah, I think Brit Prince for Nebraska sophomore guard. Beyond the fact that, you know, just look for out on the court. She wears a headband, no ponytail, just rocking her hair down.
- [20:18]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah.
- [20:18]
Chantelle Jennings
Yep. But I had brought this up to you the other day because the number of players that are having 50, 40, 90 seasons this year is kind of remarkable. Like there's something in the water or the Gatorade or the Powerade this year. I don't know what it is, but she's one of those. And you look at just sort of Maggie Dugan was having one of those seasons for Richmond, Brit Prince having one of those seasons. Sarah Strong is almost at a 60, 40, 90 season. It's really impressive. I remember Paige had this season last year and it was like, wow, look. And now it's something like four, five players in the NCAA are having 50, 40, 90 seasons. So I agree. I think she's going to be a tough matchup in that game simply because she's such an efficient and great scorer.
- [21:04]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, totally. Any other matchups you have your eye on in the first round or you want to look at at the second round? Chantelle?
- [21:10]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah, I think generally the first round games for the women's tournament I'm more looking at like how do teams look when they come out? Because if we're going to have bigger upsets and you know, I'm not talking about eight, nine games, I feel like those are kind of toss ups. Like I, I did pick Princeton over Oklahoma State. Like I. But I'm not going to consider that an upset, even though the seed line would say so. But like, you know, I'm really curious to see how South Carolina responds in a 161 game. Like it's going to be really, really lopsided. But I think what can you see beyond the score, how, you know, motivated do they look? How are they engaged on the bench even when they're up by 40, 50? You know, I'm really excited to see South Carolina. I'm really, for the same reason excited to see Vanderbilt. They had an early exit, a loss to Ole Miss during the SEC tournament. So curious to see them. Yukon, you know, sort of having this undece undefeated season and the target on their back. Curious to see them. I'm curious to see Michigan. They were the team I went out on a limb for in my Final Four. So like, you know, they've, they've got Holy Cross, so 215, that would be quite the upset. But still excited to see them how they look. And Iowa, obviously, that 51 point loss to UCLA in the Big Ten championship game, like, how do they look? How did they respond? Does Ava Haydn come out and have an absolute monster game to sort of redeem herself and her Hawkeyes on this NCAA tournament stage?
- [22:44]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, I think there's a few players that, you know, would love to see on a bigger stage. You think about two years ago how Audi Crooks had that massive game against Maryland and then, you know, follows it up with helping Iowa State almost upset Stanford at Maples Pavilion. Right. They end up going into overtime and losing that game. But you know, a player maybe who's a little bit under the radar, who we get a chance to see on a bigger stage, maybe that's Brooklyn Meyer who, you know, leading South Dakota State back to the tournament for the fourth time in four seasons. They've got an interesting matchup there against Washington. You know, you think about, I know you've mentioned her before, like Kennedy Blair on Michigan State. I don't really think she's the national name, but like Michigan State does well in their first game and then, you know, plays Oklahoma. Well, like she's a player who could have, you know, a nice coming out moment on this stage. So I always like to see who's gonna announce themselves. And I think the fun part of it is we just like don't know who's gonna make that happen because like, that's why it's called madness. I'm also kind of just interested to see how Villanova looks. You know, we've talked about how the Big east is really, just Yukon and everybody else. And Villanova was the only other team in that conference to make it to the tournament. And, you know, they played UConn pretty well at their one game at home. The other games, not so much. But, like, now they have a chance to actually play good teams that are not UConn, which has to be fun, right? Just given an opportunity. They're one of the only teams to, like, beat West Virginia at home this season, which I think is really impressive. So I'm interested to see how they look against Texas Tech and maybe even potentially against LSU if they get to that matchup, because, you know, we make a lot of jokes about the Big east, but I think. I think the Wildcats have had a pretty decent season, and Prob deserve a little bit more respect than I've put on them.
- [24:22]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah, there was a quote from Seton hall coach Tony Bozella that caught my eye, because, you know, Gino Aurora was saying the same thing after they beat Villanova in the Big east championship game. He was saying, you know, they're going to give whoever they face in the first round, like, this is a tough team. Like, there's a reason why, you know, and why they're going to give other teams problems is because the Big east is better than we get credit for as a conference. And, you know, I had talked to Ginorma earlier this and asked him, how does the Big east actually prepare you guys? And he said, there's so many different systems, personnel in this conference that we do feel like we see a lot of what we could see down the road through this conference. And to go back to that Tony Bozella quote, he was asked after. I think it must have been after their last game, but it's the third straight year that the Big east isn't getting that many teams into the tournament. And he was asked, what. What does the Big east need to do to get more teams into the tournament? And he said, well, teams 6 through 11 or 7 through 11 just need to suck. So, like, we can just beat them, and then you can have five or six teams with these awesome records coming out of the Big east, rather than everyone being really good and sort of beating up on each other and having a lot of sort of these middling records so that it makes it look like the Big east isn't as good as it is. And so in the same way that I think we look at, like, Princeton and we say, you know, they're really carrying the flag for the Ivy League this year, Villanova feels like it's sort of carrying the flag for the rest of the Big east outside of UConn in terms of, like, you know. Yeah, like, if they beat lsu though, like, can you imagine sort of the other coaches in the Big east being like, look, see, like, come on. And. And I'm sure Gino would say something. He'd have the opportunity to say something in the NCAA tournament, but, yeah, that Texas Tech matchup, round one, potential LSU matchup, round two, should be an interesting road for them.
- [26:19]
Sabrina Merchant
All right, well, I think I've already picked Nebraska over Baylor as my most likely upset in this round. Do you have any first round upsets that you're going to call out?
- [26:27]
Chantelle Jennings
I mean, I am believing Brooklyn Meyer when she says that the world needs to take notice and that South Dakota State is coming. So I picked South Dakota State over Washington. Yeah, I mean, I think she obviously, so much of what they do just revolves around her production. Like, she needs to have a huge game. South Dakota State will go as Brooklyn Myers goes. And so we'll see about that. I did pick Fairfield over Notre Dame. I talked about this on the live stream the other night. You and I talked about it as I was filling out my bracket, and it was. I picked Notre Dame, then I picked Fairfield, then I picked Notre Dame, then I picked Fairfield. And I went back and forth on this for a while and kind of felt like I just needed to put myself out there. I'm. I'm banking on the fact with this one that they hit like 14 threes, they average 11 a game. They're going to need to hit at least that to beat Notre Dame. Um, but, yeah, so I think those are probably my two biggest upsets that I have in the first round. I'm looking at my bracket right now. Um, yeah, those are my two big.
- [27:30]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, I'm with you. I don't have anything worse than an 11 beating a 6, so not exactly chop. Still a lot of favors.
- [27:38]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah, the 12 fives just aren't as exciting. Um, but let's move on to the second round. I feel like that's kind of where we get the better matchups, obviously. Or that's when we start to get the better matchups. In the women's tournament. Are there any games or teams that you're specifically excited to see in those games?
- [27:54]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, I mean, you're spot on about the second round. I think the two best games of last year's tournament both came in the second round, whether that was Maryland versus Alabama or Kentucky versus Kansas State, which is incredible shot making at the end of that one. So, yeah, I'm really interested to see Maryland versus North Carolina, a good old ACC battle out in Chapel Hill. I think Michigan State, Oklahoma could be a lot of fun. And whoever gets to play Michigan, I'm interested in. Like, I'm really not sure if that's gonna be NC State or Tennessee. Obviously Tennessee has not won a lot of games of late, but if they manage to be at NC State, I think, you know, it only takes one to just sort of get the ball rolling again. And that's a team that, because of their high pressure, because of their, you know, high volume of threes, they just are fit for upsets at this time of the year. So those are a few that I have my eye on.
- [28:44]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah, I think the one benefit Michigan would have against Tennessee is they have so many capable ball handlers that, you know, I think against a press like that, you can put, put the ball in Silas hands, Mila's hands, Olivia's hands. Like you've got a bunch of players on that team that you can trust to not sort of make the stupid turnover.
- [29:03]
Sabrina Merchant
Pretty close against Ohio State. So, you know, I'm not necessarily saying that they're rock solid against Oppressor.
- [29:09]
Chantelle Jennings
That's true, that's true. That's very, very true. I think Minnesota Ole Miss is going to be interesting. I always like, you know, we obviously didn't get the Notre Dame TCU matchup that we all wanted. But I do like or I find it really interesting when a transfer is playing against a former conference foe. And so Cody McMahon, former Ohio State star, playing against Minnesota, she had a ton of success against Minnesota while playing with Ohio State, mostly because Ohio State was I think always the more talented team in those matchups. But she averaged something like 19.6 assists a game during her first three years at Ohio State against the Gophers. But I think also the flip side of that is that Don Plitz White kind of has a sense of what Cody can do. I don't feel like Minnesota though has sort of that one on one guarding ability with her. I'm curious to see how they're going to try to slow her down. And obviously Ole Miss has a challenging system. We saw that with Vanderbilt specifically that like even really, really talented teams can have problems with just what they do and the pressure they put on you. And so I think Minnesota Ole Miss, I do have the Rebels winning that game, but I think that will be a pretty interesting game too. And South Carolina, usc, we get a rematch of the real Sc I can't throw on a Clemson. True, true. I have USC winning, beating Clemson in the first round specifically to line up the real USC round or the real.
- [30:42]
Sabrina Merchant
Well, don't worry. It's going to happen again during the 2026-27 regular season with Judy Watkins and Saniyah hall and all of those people on the other USC side.
- [30:50]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah, it'll be a little different. And I do think South Carolina won that game by, I think, 17 points early in the season. But sort of, you know, the storylines that I always look for in these games, even if the. The score might be lopsided or it's a win or a loss or whatever. I'm curious to see how Jazzy Davidson does against South Carolina sort of the second time. That was, you know, everything for her this season has sort of been a tall ask. Like, that was her third game of the year. And to go into a South Carolina game and say, like, all right, you are our focal point. Have at it. Here's. Here's South Carolina. So I'm really curious. Sort of a season older with her sea legs, like, more. More sort of established in this. And obviously she was hurt during the Big Ten tournament, but she'll. We've gotten news that she'll be back, and so I think. Yeah, I'm just curious to see. I was playing up her stats from that game.
- [31:43]
Sabrina Merchant
She scored eight points, kind of rooked her in that game. Drew some fouls on her to start. Made it a little challenging. She'd never really played through foul trouble before, so, you know.
- [31:54]
Chantelle Jennings
Well, it was only her third game of her college.
- [31:55]
Sabrina Merchant
It's a veteran up against freshman, right?
- [31:57]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [31:59]
Sabrina Merchant
She's less of a freshman now that she's gone through a full season.
- [32:03]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah, noted Minnesotan. Just wanted to call that out.
- [32:08]
Sam's Club Announcer
And.
- [32:08]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah, I think I'll just call this game out, too. UConn, Iowa State. You were talking about sort of the run that the Cyclones went on when they went out to Maplesville two years ago and, you know, beating Maryland, almost beating Stanford. I don't think they beat UConn or almost beat UConn in stores like, that just doesn't happen. But I am curious.
- [32:31]
Sabrina Merchant
All out of soon tell.
- [32:33]
Chantelle Jennings
Yes, exactly. But, yeah, I'm excited to see Audi in that game again. We've talked a lot about sort of having Adi back, having this team at a more healthy level. I'm really curious to see how that game goes.
- [32:47]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, I think one other game just to keep an eye on is TCU versus whoever comes out of Washington, South Dakota State. Obviously, we talked a lot about South Dakota State, but we've seen just sort of how TCU can be a little bit more fickle than you might expect a top seed to be because they're so reliant on Olivia Miles production and when she's been in foul trouble. We've seen some real concerns for this TCU team. Obviously, they get to be at home in Fort Worth. I don't expect them to have a ton of difficulty in the 3:14 matchup, but Washington swayed a really tough schedule. That's a good Big Ten team. South Dakota State, a very veteran team. They know how to play together. Which tcu, they're veterans, but they don't play together. Right. They come together for one year and then they disperse. Right. So I think that experience Washington is another team that has been together for some time. Avery Howell really their only major addition this season, along with their freshman. But yeah, that could be a fun matchup in the second round out in Sacramento. 4.
- [33:42]
Chantelle Jennings
I feel like one note about that TCU UC San Diego game, though, that we have to mention is that UC San Diego is obviously coached by Heidi Vandiver, sister of former Stanford coach Tara Vandiver. Mark Campbell, TCU coach, formerly of Oregon women's basketball. And so this is a matchup that not, you know, he wasn't obviously the head coach, Kelly Graves is. But you know, there's some familiarity there and you do wonder sort of how much Tara is helping out Heidi with the game planning and matchups and, you know, trying to get UC San Diego ready for that one. The game I actually thought you were going to call out in terms of being a sneaky good second round game was Kentucky, West Virginia in West Virginia. Kentucky. You're obviously a big fan of that team. I know you've watched a lot of the Wildcats this year.
- [34:29]
Sabrina Merchant
A lot of the Wildcats, that's correct. Yeah.
- [34:32]
Chantelle Jennings
Yes. I think you've over indexed on Kentucky a little bit, but press Virginia in West Virginia. I think that's going to be a really, really interesting game. And I just think about the teams that increase their stock and their path to the Sweet 16 over the last month. And no team did more for themselves than West Virginia winning the Big 12 tournament in the way that they did put themselves in hosting. Got themselves a really quite favorable path, I would say the sweet 16 to Fort Worth. And that's impressive because I don't know if I would have put them as a Sweet 16 team even two weeks ago at the start of the Big 12 tournament.
- [35:16]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah. Something I've discovered watching Kentucky this season is I'm not sure Kenny Brooks ever installed a press break. He just had Georgia Amore for five years and it doesn't work as well when you don't have Georgia Amore. So I am very interested to see how that pans out because obviously you can look ahead and know that this is coming. But they were a little flustered by Maryland, who doesn't even have like a full traditional press. Like they just come at you like in waves. So that has to be better if you're going to play West Virginia in Morgantown.
- [35:44]
Chantelle Jennings
Well, there are Minnesotans coming in for Kenny Brooks. I will say that last weekend, since there were no games live for me to attend in Minneapolis, I went to the high school state championship here because what else is a women's basketball writer
- [35:57]
Sabrina Merchant
going to be true Minnesota.
- [35:58]
Chantelle Jennings
If not, go to the. I know went to the barn, saw Madden Greenway, 2026 signee for Kentucky guard. She dropped 30 points on a team out of Duluth. Was really impressed with her. You know, it was interesting to watch high school girls basketball. I will say a lot of missed shots. Lot of missed shots. But overall, quite impressed with Madden Greenway. I'm, I'm excited to see her and I can.
- [36:24]
Sabrina Merchant
They could probably use her to help break the press for West Virginia, but.
- [36:27]
Chantelle Jennings
Well, that's what I was thinking is.
- [36:29]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah.
- [36:29]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah. Next.
- [36:34]
Sam's Club Announcer
It's finally March and you know what that means. Bracket season, baby. Picture it. You're hosting the big tourney game. You've got your jersey, you're looking good, and now all you need is, well, everything else to host. No sweat though, because you're a Sam's Club member. In one trip, you say yes to grabbing everything you need and to getting it all for unbelievably low prices. Plates, cups, tables, chairs, pizza, wings, snacks, sweets, and the ultimate three pointer of big screen tv. Heck, you could even get it delivered. That's because the play that Sam's Club runs is called yes. And it means getting just what you need and enjoying the perks that come with membership like express delivery, bonus points. So even if you don't win your bracket, you'll win best host. Join Sam's Club, the club of yes. And on eligible items, terms and fees apply. See samclub.com yes and for details,
- [37:33]
Pablo Torre
the longer you stay alive, the longer you can enjoy Boost Mobile's unlimited plan with a price that never goes up. So here are some tips. Do not parallel park on a cliff. If you want to enjoy an unlimited Plan with a price that never goes up. Do not mistake a wasp nest for a pinata. If you want to enjoy an unlimited plan with a price that never goes up, do not microwave a hard boiled egg. If you want to enjoy an unlimited plan with the price that never goes up, stay alive and enjoy Unlimited Wireless for $25 a month forever. With Boost Mobile, after 30 gigs, customers may experience lower speeds. Customers will pay $25 a month as long as they remain active on the Boost Mobile unlimited plan.
- [38:03]
Capital One Announcer
With no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs.
- [38:20]
Sabrina Merchant
Yep.
- [38:20]
Capital One Announcer
Even on weekends, it's pretty much all he talks about. In a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capitalone.com bank capital1, NA member FDIC.
- [38:40]
Chantelle Jennings
All right, Sabrina, I have another round of something in common. And I've been talking this up for a while because I have been coming up with these. I have three rounds for you, and I'll just straight off the bat tell you none of them have to do with stats. Okay. I'm gonna go from what I think is the easiest to the hardest. So the first one, Leonardo da Vinci.
- [39:07]
Sabrina Merchant
Oh, my God. This is the basketball podcast. Chantel.
- [39:13]
Sam's Club Announcer
Yep, yep.
- [39:14]
Chantelle Jennings
Kim Mulkey.
- [39:15]
Sabrina Merchant
Okay.
- [39:16]
Chantelle Jennings
And dance moms everywhere.
- [39:19]
Sabrina Merchant
Oh, my God. Leonardo da Vinci. Kim Mulkey and dance moms everywhere. I feel like I should be getting four together. That's usually how this works. But let's see. Kim. Dance moms makes it really seem like sparkles, so. Yeah. Are they. They're big on. Like, I don't really think of Sparkle is associated with da Vinci, but maybe I'm like, yeah, just, like, really into, like, Sparkle's presentation, you know?
- [39:56]
Chantelle Jennings
So the answer is sequins. I did some research, and Leonardo da
- [39:59]
Sabrina Merchant
Vinci actually got it.
- [40:02]
Chantelle Jennings
He created an invention that made sequins, I guess.
- [40:05]
Sabrina Merchant
Love that.
- [40:06]
Chantelle Jennings
Big fan of sequins. So that's something that all three of those people or groups of people have in common. Well, I don't know how we're going to do because I thought that one was the easiest, so.
- [40:18]
Sabrina Merchant
Sorry that I didn't know Leonardo da Vinci invented sequence.
- [40:22]
Chantelle Jennings
Well, he didn't invent them. He just invented a machine that made them. Okay, second one. And this one. I have a fourth one if you want It. But I'm gonna start with three.
- [40:30]
Sabrina Merchant
Okay, got it. We'll start with three. Yeah.
- [40:32]
Chantelle Jennings
All right. Marina Mabry. Okay. Winnie the Pooh.
- [40:37]
Sabrina Merchant
Oh, my God.
- [40:38]
Chantelle Jennings
And George Lucas.
- [40:44]
Sam's Club Announcer
Okay.
- [40:45]
Sabrina Merchant
Marina Mabry. Winnie the Pooh and George Lucas.
- [40:49]
Chantelle Jennings
I'm feeling so proud of myself right now.
- [40:51]
Sabrina Merchant
Goodness gracious. Okay.
- [40:52]
Chantelle Jennings
This is where I really thrive in games.
- [40:57]
Sabrina Merchant
Really thrive in games. Let's see. Are they all from New Jersey?
- [41:05]
Chantelle Jennings
No, they're not.
- [41:07]
Sabrina Merchant
I don't actually know where Winnie the Pooh is from if. No idea.
- [41:10]
Chantelle Jennings
He's from the 100 acre woods, obviously.
- [41:12]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. The four has a real life location associated with it.
- [41:16]
Chantelle Jennings
The fourth one would be Cookie Monster.
- [41:19]
Sabrina Merchant
Oh, my God. Okay, well, Marina Mabry, I feel like we associate with, unfortunately, the crash outs. Cookie Monster does get emotional for sure. I don't really associate that with Winnie the Pooh, though.
- [41:39]
Chantelle Jennings
Hmm. Or George Lucas.
- [41:43]
Sabrina Merchant
Or George Lucas. Yeah, Yeah. I don't. I don't really have anything here. What is it, Chantel?
- [41:51]
Chantelle Jennings
They all have famous jars, so George Lucas famous jar is his jar. Jar Binks.
- [41:59]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah.
- [42:02]
Chantelle Jennings
Winnie the Pooh and Cookie Monster obviously have jars. And then Marina Mabry has crash out jar.
- [42:06]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah.
- [42:07]
Chantelle Jennings
Okay, last one. This one, I think, is the hardest. I will give you a preemptive hint. It is. Keep in mind that our former colleague Ben Pickman may or may not sort of be a hint here.
- [42:23]
Sabrina Merchant
Okay.
- [42:25]
Chantelle Jennings
Your.
- [42:25]
Sabrina Merchant
Your colleague Ben Pickman, we should say, was just announced officially today as a member of the Portland Fire. Last line of the press release, if you're looking. Okay.
- [42:39]
Chantelle Jennings
All right, ready? Carol Lawson.
- [42:43]
Sabrina Merchant
Okay.
- [42:44]
Chantelle Jennings
The Backstreet Boys.
- [42:46]
Sabrina Merchant
All right.
- [42:47]
Chantelle Jennings
And Elite Runners.
- [42:49]
Sabrina Merchant
Oh, my God. Carol Lawson. The Backstreet Boys and Elite Runners. And he. You mentioned Ben's name for some reason. I did. Okay.
- [43:05]
Chantelle Jennings
I did. That is true.
- [43:07]
Sabrina Merchant
I mean, Ben and Elite Runners. I could see some connection there. You know what that has to do with that?
- [43:12]
Chantelle Jennings
So you can say elite Runners. Like Ben.
- [43:15]
Sabrina Merchant
Like Ben. Carol Austin doesn't wear glasses. The Backstreet Boys and Carol Lawson. This is fascinating. I mean, I've been in Vegas a lot of late. I feel like every time I open Instagram, like, there's people who are at the spear watching. The Backstreet Boys.
- [43:40]
Chantelle Jennings
You're on the right path.
- [43:42]
Sabrina Merchant
Carol Lawson. Backstreet Boys. Elite Runners.
- [43:48]
Sam's Club Announcer
What?
- [43:51]
Chantelle Jennings
I can give you a fourth one. Beer drinkers would be the fourth. The fourth thing in here.
- [44:01]
Sabrina Merchant
I mean, I'm thinking of, like, things that require, like, endurance. But, like, what is Carol Lawson enduring through Backstreet Boys? Have a Very long set. Carol Lawson, Backstreet Boys, elite runners and beer drinkers. I think I. I assumed coming into this that I was going to have, like, a basketball related something in common. And the fact that Carol Lawson is here doesn't seem like enough.
- [44:34]
Chantelle Jennings
They're all basketball related.
- [44:36]
Sabrina Merchant
They're all basketball related.
- [44:38]
Chantelle Jennings
Sure, sure. Well, yeah, it's a stretch, but it's a long walk. But we get there.
- [44:44]
Sabrina Merchant
The jars. Yeah. Basketball related. Carol Lawson, Backstreet Boys, elite runners and beer drinkers. Carol Lawson. Coaches at Duke, went to Tennessee. What do I know about her?
- [45:11]
Chantelle Jennings
You're getting further. If this were a game of, like, hot and cold.
- [45:15]
Sabrina Merchant
Getting colder. Yes.
- [45:16]
Chantelle Jennings
You're getting colder.
- [45:17]
Sabrina Merchant
You said I was getting closer when I talked about the Backstreet Voice having a set in Vegas at Sphere.
- [45:23]
Chantelle Jennings
Yes.
- [45:27]
Sabrina Merchant
I don't believe Carol Lawson's ever performed in Las Vegas.
- [45:32]
Sam's Club Announcer
Nope.
- [45:34]
Chantelle Jennings
Yeah, I mean, maybe.
- [45:34]
Sabrina Merchant
Sorry, Chantelle, I got nothing here.
- [45:37]
Chantelle Jennings
They're all going to be in Germany in September.
- [45:41]
Sabrina Merchant
Oh, my God.
- [45:44]
Chantelle Jennings
Beer drinkers. Because October.
- [45:45]
Sabrina Merchant
Why are the Baxter Boys gonna be in Germany in September?
- [45:48]
Chantelle Jennings
They apparently have a worldwide tour coming up.
- [45:51]
Sabrina Merchant
Oh, my God.
- [45:51]
Chantelle Jennings
And I brought up Ben Pickman because I thought you might remember the Berlin
- [45:55]
Sabrina Merchant
Marathon in Germany last year.
- [45:56]
Chantelle Jennings
He ran the Berlin Marathon. And, you know, I was on Matt leave, so it was like this stretch where you were working by yourself. So I thought maybe that would jog your memory a little bit. No pun intended.
- [46:05]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah. The Backstreet Boys and Carol Lawson together. I had just nothing. You're right. This is actually the most related to basketball. I'll give you that. For the World Cup. That's why Carol Lawson's gonna be there.
- [46:17]
Sam's Club Announcer
Yep.
- [46:19]
Chantelle Jennings
So for anyone who's traveling to Germany for the World cup in September, just know the Back Troop Boys have multiple shows across the country. I checked. You can also catch the Berlin Marathon and you can get some beer for Oktoberfest. So the German Tourism Board can reach out to me and maybe sponsor. Sponsor the C Block sponsor segment of no off season. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. All right, well, that's all we've got for today. We'll be back on Tuesday to break down the first and second rounds and so much more. And if you're listening to this, before a game start, head over to the Athletic and use our interactive bracket. The link is in the show notes so you can try to beat me and my expert bracket. Check it out. Until then, please follow our show. And if you're watching on YouTube, please subscribe. You don't want to miss our live bracket. Reactions. Tell your friends to check us out. And while you're at it, give us a rating. Drop a comment. We love to hear from you. On behalf of the Athletic and Sabrina Merchant, I'm Shantel Jennings. Thank you for listening. We'll see you next time.
- [47:23]
Sam's Club Announcer
No Off Season is hosted by Zena Kada with Chantelle Jennings, Sabrina Merchant and Lazia Clarendon. It's produced by Tanika Burrell. Our executive producer is Andrea B. Scott. Monica Compton is our video editor and Charles Child is our social video editor. Our theme music is by Marcus Bogala. Shannon Ryan is managing editor of Women's basketball at the Athletic. Tim McMaster is our director of operations and Jesse Burton is global head of Ceres.
- [48:01]
Capital One Announcer
Everyone deserves to be connected T Mobile and US Cellular are joining forces. Our networks are coming together, bringing more T Mobile coverage all over the country. Switch to T Mobile and save up to 20% versus Verizon by getting built in benefits they leave out. Check the math@t mobile.com Switch and now T Mobile is available in a US cellular store near you. Bigger network. The combination of T Mobile's and US Cellular's network footprints will enhance the T Mobile network's coverage savings versus comparable Verizon plans, plus the costs of options, benefits, plan features and taxes and fees vary. Savings with three plus lines include third free line free via monthly bill credits. Credit stop if you cancel any lines. Qualifying credit required.
- [48:32]
Chantelle Jennings
Home is your favorite place. Spring is when you let it feel a little more transportive. Discover vibrant, vibrant scents inspired by place Bright citrus, fresh florals, clean air. Energy designed to refresh your space without adding complexity. Just plug it in, choose your scent and let the season unfold room by room. Explore the new Spring collection, now available@pura.com when you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more. Grainger gets it and knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays. That's why Grainger offers millions of products in fast, dependable delivery so you can keep your facility stocked, safe and running smoothly. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.