← No Offseason: The Athletic Women's Basketball Show
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- [00:01]
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- [03:42]
Zena Keda
There to watch them.
- [03:43]
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- [04:49]
Zena Keda
Foreign for the Athletic I'm Zena Keda and this is the Athletic Women's Basketball show presented by Michelob Ultra. Welcome back to the Athletic Women's Basketball show presented by our sponsor Michelob Ultra. First show in December. I really am just shocked at how fast the year is going and NCAA season has definitely made it go even faster. We're already nine games deep for most teams and we're seeing a lot. And I've got Sabrina Merchant in the building today, so we could talk a little bit about some of the things that she noticed in her most recent our rankings. And if you don't know already, it's live on the site. Go check it out. All right. Hi, Sabrina. Welcome to the show.
- [05:49]
Sabrina Merchant
Hey, Xena, thanks for having me back. It's been a couple weeks.
- [05:53]
Zena Keda
I know it's been a while. You've been busy on the road seeing the teams in person, which we are always appreciative of. I had a chance to check out your power rankings and I want to say I really appreciate the fact that you're not perfectly aligned with the apartment. I like the different perspective. I think that it's important that it's not just one thing across the board. It shows that you evaluate things a little bit differently. But guys, go check out her rankings because like I said, if you watch the AP polls, it's different. And she's got good reasoning for that. And she explains herself. One of the things you talk about in your recent power rankings are about the undefeated teams of which there are now only 20 left in division one. Crazy. Absolutely crazy. And you say a particular fact that I did not know until I read that the conference with the most undefeated teams. Actually, we're going to take a pause real quick. If you are listening, we're going to play a game in your mind. Select if you think A the conference with the most undefeated teams is the PAC 12. B conference with the most undefeated teams is the SEC. C conference with the most undefeated teams is the big 12. Or D conference with the most undefeated teams is the Big Ten. If you selected C, you are correct. The Big 12 right now has the most amount of undefeated teams in Division 1. They have six total. Six of the 20 remaining. That is Texas, Baylor, Texas Tech, TCU, West Virginia and UCF. That was surprising to me. Now, Sabrina, while they are undefeated of these six, what do you make of the difficulty of the schedules that you know, Particularly maybe not Texas and Baylor, because I feel like they've gone up against some big ranked teams. But of those four additional ones, Texas Tech, tcu, West Virginia and ucf. Would you say that they've had some tough schedules so far?
- [08:07]
Sabrina Merchant
You know, it's funny, when I looked at this list of the 20 undefeated teams, I didn't recognize that they were Big 12 teams because there's so much conference movement.
- [08:15]
Zena Keda
There is UCF.
- [08:16]
Sabrina Merchant
UCF and West Virginia are Big 12 teams. It's going to be much harder for me to figure this stuff out next year, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But yeah, as far as the schedules, you know, you mentioned Texas obviously has just faced UConn. Baylor has what I would consider one of the best wins of the year when they defeated Utah earlier this season. But you look at the other, the edge teams, let's say the tcu, Texas Tech, UCF and West Virginia and their schedules, like, not a ton of Power 5 opponents. A lot of teams that you would expect just to pad your early season to figure out who you have on your roster just to get comfortable. I mean, LSU did this last year. I'm not judging by any means. It's just what happens at this point of the season. Right. Like, you can't always schedule out that many, like, excellent opponents. But I was just pulling up the, you know, opponent ranks, like via the net rating for women's basketball and ucf, West Virginia and Texas Tech, their opponent net ratings are all in the three hundreds, and there's 360 teams. So if you're in the three hundreds, that's. That's fairly low. Right. And even TCU, the team that I think has the best chance to sort of break through out of this group, their opponent net is 236th, so still below average. You know, not exactly facing Goliaths in this group, but hey, you know, you're winning a lot of games. It's important to sort of build some confidence, develop continuity, especially in this case of tcu. They just got a new coach this year, brought in a lot of transfers. It takes some time to figure out what you're working with. It's nice they've been able to have success while they've been figuring it out. But no, I'm not super impressed by any of the wins that have happened thus far. By the time this podcast has come out, West Virginia will have played Penn State with did just enter the top 25. So that's an interesting game to keep an eye on. But yeah, I mean, I think the Big 12 Conference season will reveal a lot more about these teams than we know now. But I did think it was worth just keeping an eye on because unlike the College Football Playoff, I value wins, you know, so I'm glad that these teams have done their job so far and I wanted to recognize it.
- [10:15]
Zena Keda
Woo Sabrina Spicy for that. No, that's real. That's real. Well, we're not going to get into the details of the College Football Playoff. I know we're going to get some people Upset with us. So that. Mute on that. But I do want to talk about what you just mentioned about this transfers. You know, you just talked about TC with their transfers. I feel like most of the conversations that we've had around the country on teams that have done really well are those that have been able to one, capitalize and utilize the transfer portal efficiently and be able to like mix well their existing rosters with their transfer players. And the Big 12 isn't really a conference. I think about when I think about, you know, when it comes to transfers and big transfer moves, definitely think a lot about the PAC 12, think a lot about SEC even, but not the Big 12. I'm curious what you thought about the transfer game for the Big 12 and some transfers that stand out to you in that conference.
- [11:09]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, when I think about the Big 12, a lot of the players actually went out like, you know, Alexei Dinarsky who ended up going to UNC or you know, Iowa State lost a couple of other players. It's not, you know, you don't think about it like how so many big players came into the Big Ten or like the ACC even. It wasn't like a banner year in my opinion for the Big 12 bringing in talent. You can always check out our transfer tiers on the athletic. They will be updated soon actually to reflect the first month of the season. But yeah, I mean like other than Baylor, who, you know, like brought in like Triona Edwards and like Fonsa War from Georgetown, it's not like the other teams didn't bring in a lot of high level names. But I do think about TCU and they have a new head coach this year, Mark Campbell who came from Sacramento State, who was previously an assistant coach at Oregon. And what he did really well was just lean on those PAC12 connections. And so he brought in Sedona Prince who he had coached at Oregon and she's now the center at TCU and just putting up monster numbers, averaging over 20 points a game. She had to sit out all of last year with this arm injury and now was back putting her WNBA stock back in, you know, back in high gear. He also brought in Agnes Amenopou who played at Stanford last year, another PAC12 connection. And then Madison Connor who played at Arizona last year, and Madison Conner, my goodness, is absolutely lighting it up for TCU, scoring 24 points a game and just put up 41 last week. You don't see a lot of college players put up 40 plus points a game. I mean that's the reason why we Talk about, like, Caitlin Clark, 44 all the time, Right? Like, it's a big number. So I think it's just interesting how he leaned on that local tie. Right. He spent a lot of time on the west coast, and even though now you're in Texas, like the heartland of the country, there's still all of these relationships that you've made while working in the PAC 12. And he really leaned on those and brought in some killer talent. And you think about a team like Arizona last year, that the pieces just didn't quite fit together. It seemed like there were just too many people who were trying to have the ball in their hands at all times. And you get a player like Madison Conner, who can step out of that system, has a more clarified role at tcu, has the ball in her hands quite a bit more often. Like, she gets to take 18 shots a game, which. Go, girl. That's a lot of shots to be taken per game. And it's just really cool to see her and Sedona and Agnes excelling in an environment where they had more limited roles in their last teams, but now they're with a coach they're slightly familiar with. They're in a new system, but at least they get to be more comfortable playing their style of basketball. And that's. That's kind of why I'm, like, the most interested in the Horned Frogs, to sort of escape this. This group of four undefeateds, because there is a lot of talent that we're familiar with. There's a coach who is familiar with these players, and so it's not entirely new coming in. So that's a team that I'm. I'm kind of interested to watch, especially as conference season, you know, starts to pick up.
- [14:02]
Zena Keda
You know, it's funny, as you talked about their coach being able to lean on PAC12 connections, it made me think of the conversation I just had with Corey Close of just how the PAC 12 has that familial connection where even though they were recruiting the same players and, you know, competing against each other to get the same pull from the same pool of talent in the PAC 12, here you are, even out of the conference, TCU being able to capitalize on that relationship that the coaches have within the PAC 12. So shout out to them for doing it right, but really shout out to TCU for really being able to be a great landing place for them. I haven't seen TCU play just yet this year, but been seeing some highlights, of course, of Sedona Prince, and we all remember Sedona Prince. Even if you didn't watch women's basketball, you remember what Sedona Prince did for that March Madness and unveiling. You know, what the differences between the men and women's tournament was and just how big of a personality she was for Oregon and not really getting to capitalize on that on the court as much. And so it's really cool to see. See, I think what her personality was just as like a figure in women's basketball. Now you're seeing, like, oh, no, no, the basketball matches, right? Like, she is this really great basketball player as well, and she's been able to just focus on that, it seems. So that's super dope. Of these Big 12 teams you mentioned, you know, we talked about Texas and Baylor and man, this is Monday that we're recording this. Yesterday Texas played Yukon, and I mean, they were up at one point, almost 20 points, I think. I mean, the lead was big at one point, and I give kudos to UConn for getting it all the way down back to 6. But it was a really, really great performance out of Texas in terms of their offensive aggression, but their poise when UConn was making, like, their defensive stretch, like UConn was putting the pressure on them, particularly in that fourth quarter, to close the gap. And a lot of, you know, I cover the warriors, and I was like, yeah, not what the warriors have done these last two games in terms of being able to hold off their opponents, but they did really well. Texas did really well. Vic Schaefer coached them in a very poised manner, led by Rory Harmon as their point guard. But there was another player, Madison Booker. And man, I know you talked about it in your article, that pull up jumper that she had in transition, which was money, like, money. I wasn't even thinking about that. I was thinking about her turnaround, face up jumper, the jab step to the right, pull up in with defense in her face. I was like, sis, who do you train with in the summer? Because give them a raise. I mean, it was. It was clockwork. And I was just thinking as, like, as a former player, that move, look, she made that move look so easy. It is not easy to do, to be able to move your defender that convincingly with just the jab step. So I was like, oh, Madison Booker got the. She's got it, she's got it, she's got it. Uh, obviously she finished with 20 points in that game. And I think about Texas going out early last year against Louisville in the tournament and now looking at them Looking like they could potentially be national champions the way they were playing against UConn. I want to know your thoughts, Sabrina. Like, what are your thoughts on them making a deeper run with the team that they have and how have they really kind of changed it around for the people they brought in?
- [17:34]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, we mentioned this on a show that we did a few weeks back when Chantal, Ben, and I were talking all together about how Vic Schaefer put up the number, like the scoreboard of Louisville versus Texas just everywhere in the Texas locker room and their practice facility in the bathroom stalls. Right. So they were just continually faced with this. And this is a thing he's done before. He did it in 2017 when Mississippi stated lots to UConn by about 60 points, and then he put that score up everywhere, and lo and behold, they end up beating UConn with the Morgan Williams shot in the 2017 Final Four. So, I mean, I'm not suggesting that Texas is about to have another, like, dramatic buzzer beating win on the national semifinals, but it is something that they've thought about for a long time is how last season ended and what they think they're capable of going forward. And you look at this group, and I mean, you mentioned the warriors, and the one thing UConn did have in common with the warriors is just throwing the ball all over the goddamn floor. And that is what Texas can do to you, is they are so good with their ball pressure. They're so good at making you uncomfortable and forcing you into poor decisions. And even though UConn shot tremendously well from the floor, I think they shot about 59% from the field. They took 20 fewer shots than Texas, 24 fewer shots in Texas. So it's just so hard to make up that margin when you're not getting shots up on every possession. And that's always been a hallmark of Texas, is they can defend with the very best of them. But it's so exciting to watch them have a player like Madison Booker, who, even if you put great defense in front of her, she can create her own bucket. And I. I cannot talk enough about the jumper. It is so beautiful. It looks like it's going in every single time, especially on the left side of the floor. Like you said, the footwork, just the. Like we talked about Alyssa Peeley a couple weeks back. Like, just the aesthetics of her game. Madison Booker is coming out of that list for me, too. Just, it looks so pretty as she's playing basketball. And I think it's kind of cool, actually. Just as A little Aside, the Team USA U19 team competed in the World cup this summer in Spain and they won gold medal against, against the Spanish home team, actually. And a lot of the players on that team are having just really, really good starts this season. You know, we're talking about Madison Booker, we've talked about Hannah Hidalgo, Chloe Kitz for South Carolina, Kiki Rice for ucla. Just the momentum that they've carried from that gold medal run into the start of the season. Like, it can be tough when you've missed so much time in summer program practice, especially as a freshman, to step in and immediately be comfortable with what your team is running. But I think that experience of playing in those pressurized environments in Spain on an international stage has really helped prepare these players for all of the high profile games they've already suited up for. Madison Booker was only averaging about 20 minutes per game heading into this game against UConn. She plays all 40 defends. Aaliyah Edwards is all over the place on the court, scores 20 points. She hit that first three and is like, already so super jacked, like, yelling at the crowd on the way back. I'm like, we're four minutes into the game. Madison, like, how are you going to carry this energy for the next 30 minutes? But she did. It's so much fun to watch this freshman class. And Madison Booker is just another, you know, piece of the puzzle there.
- [20:37]
Zena Keda
Yeah, I mean, Texas did get off into a fun run to start before Paige Beckers had the first bucket. So I get it. I get why she was hyped. They came out with a flurry and that crowd was so into it. It was very much a march type of environment. And like you said, Madison Booker stepped right into it. She definitely didn't seem like a freshman in those moments. And even when she had, you know, some key fouls throughout the game, her reaction to them and the poison she had to them was very much different, I think, than what I saw Kaden Samuels having on the other end or the freshman for, for UConn. So I commend Madison Booker, but I really commend Texas for playing with that, like, chip on their shoulder. They felt very much like, we're supposed to be here and we're number 10, they're number 11. Right. They were ranked going into this game, but it was very much like, we have a point to prove. We're at home. This is our home turf. Like, here we are. So shout out to them for doing that. I want to now get into some of the players just haven't been on the radar as much. Right. There's been some really top of the line storylines in NCAA basketball and there's some players that have kind of just been doing great things, but there just hasn't been enough spotlight on them. And I love that your power rankings talked about a few of them. And so I just want to give you an opportunity to give them a little bit more love. So the first one is with, you know, J.C. sheldon at OSU. And I remember at OSU last year, just like the work that they did as a team to regroup and really focus on being excellent and top tier of a team. I remember Brian Hamilton wrote a few pieces on their team and the work that they did in practice in the weight room in general. Just wanting to be excellent and wanting to be better as a team. And J.C. sheldon was behind that. And I look at her numbers from this year, you know, shooting 52% from the floor. Wow. Also 41%, 41.9% from three. She's been phenomenal for them. And I know you're a big fan.
- [22:50]
Sabrina Merchant
Big fan.
- [22:52]
Zena Keda
So I want to give you the floor. Talk to us a little bit about what makes J.C. sheldon such a special addition for OSU as they try to continue to elevate their program. And just in general. Yeah.
- [23:04]
Sabrina Merchant
You mentioned the work that Ohio State does. You know, just training wise, conditioning wise. And I want to know what sort of running plan JC Shelton is on because she just does not stop running up and down the floor, like, to execute that Ohio State Press, which J.C. sheldon is always at the top of. She's always right up in your grill as an opposing ball handler, and she just runs the floor basically 40 minutes, however long they need her, you know, in any game, doesn't seem to tire. I am amazed by her level of conditioning. And, you know, I talked to her parents last year at the NCAA tournament and they were like, yeah, JC only wanted to play at Ohio State for Kevin McGuff. Like, this was the system she wanted to be a part of. This is the only choice she had. There was no other consideration of where she wanted to go. And it's just a perfect marriage of the way Kevin McGuff wants to play and the way J.C. shelton is best utilized. Because you think about Ohio State, you think about the press, and she is the press. Right. Like everybody else plays their part in it. Obviously, the centers and the forwards are even doing their pot on the back line, too, but it's really the guards that make things happen. And her and Taylor Theory up top. And when I close my eyes and think about Ohio State, I think about one of them like forcing a steal, running the length of the court, getting a layup and just getting immediately back in a stance to do it again. And that's what J.C. sheldon does. And you know, they lost their first game of the season. You know, you mentioned there are some more national high profile stories we talked about. They lost to juju Watkins in usc, who is it looks like a better loss every day, you know, just based on how USC has done since then. But this is still a very good Ohio State team. Obviously, like when teams can break that pressure, their half court defense leaves a little something to be desired. And we're, you know, still working out the kinks there, but still one of the very best teams in the Big Ten. And it's very fun to watch J.C. shelton, who had pretty much a lost year last season when she had that leg injury earlier in the year, came back, never really got her shot back because you know, of the recovery from those injuries, the shot is clearly back. You mentioned 42% from three point range, 52% from the field. She's crushing it. And to be able to have this type of performance for Ohio State while also raising her professional draft stock like she should be a first round pick in next year's draft just based on the way like guard play is going in the WNBA too. She'd be a prime addition to any team that wants her. It's just very fun to watch a player who had been successful just recapture that level and even go a step further. Like she'd never shot 40% from three before this season, right? Like it always been mid-30s. Still a good shooter. But if she adds that level to her game, then all of a sudden, like you're not worried about the fact that Taylor Mike Sell is no longer on Ohio State. Like you have that shooting from her, plus everything else that she does for Ohio State.
- [25:33]
Zena Keda
What I love most about her game, and you mentioned this, raising her draft stock. When you look at her stats for season highs, they've all come this year, right? Like she's getting better and she has gotten better over the course of her career, just like you mentioned. And I think my favorite stat about her that you've also mentioned when you talk about the pressure, she averages almost three steals a game. That's insane in any category, like on any level, professional, like amateur. She had five steals her very first game this season. Five steals. That feels like an AAU game, like a high school game. Like, someone's like, on, like, like that does not feel like a real stat. You know, Southern California juju's been averaging, I don't know, 30 point games every other day. But like, so that's like you said, it's fine, I think, but five steals against a team like that, and that's.
- [26:27]
Sabrina Merchant
Not even counting the ones where, you know, you're seeing the pressure and you just throw it out of bounds. Like, that doesn't count as a steal, but it's definitely something that you forced with your press.
- [26:35]
Zena Keda
She's had four steals in her last three. I'm like, wow. Yeah, she has definitely elevated her game. I think that that's huge. Any GM wants to see that, right? The continual progression of a game. Yes. So that's the spotlight on jc. We appreciate you, sis. Over here at the Athletic Women's Basketball show, there is another person that we want to give a little bit of spotlight to, and that is Nina Ricards at Louisville. The interesting thing with both JC and Sheldon, they are later in their career, both of them looking to get to the next level. So it is important for them to be able to make a splash right now and to be able to get that spotlight. And Nina Ricards wasn't originally a starter. She was able to get that position through her play and her impacting, you know, and elevating the level of her team's play while she's on the floor. So tell me a little bit more about Nina over at Louisville.
- [27:32]
Sabrina Merchant
Yeah, we'd mentioned, you know, transfers earlier in the year and how the ACC really cleaned up in terms of collecting transfers. And Jeff Walts and Louisville, one of the very best programs at bringing in new talent. Nina Ricard spent four years at Florida and then comes in to help add to the guard depth. You know, obviously they lose Hayley Van Lith graduate Mikasa Robinson and Cici Carr, so a lot of minutes to be had for the Cardinals. Yeah, I think everybody assumed Jada Curry was just going to be the point guard for Louisville. She played that role at Cal. She was phenomenally successful in the PAC 12, was PAC 12 freshman of the year, led the league in scoring that year. Jeff Waltz, though, cares about offense probably less from his point guards than any other coach I've ever met. Just really wants them to be able to defend. And. And you see a player like Dino Ricards, who comes from the sec, who's more physical, who's a tremendous rebounder for only being 5, 9, and he said, like, we weren't being aggressive enough to start games. And so that's why I wanted to make the lineup switch. And to me, that just reads like, oh, like we weren't stopping anybody at the start of games. Like, that's what's happening. So you put Nina into the starting lineup. She's never been a point guard before, right? Like, her leading assist total in her four years at Florida was like 1.9 per game. So it's not like the obvious choice for someone who's going to be your lead ball handler. But that's kind of what I, like, admire about Jeff Wallace is he finds these skills in these players that you didn't really know existed. Like last year with Mikasa Robinson, I never would have considered her a point guard, but he just felt that she read the floor better than anybody else in his team. So he took the ball out of Haley's hands and gave it to Mikasa. And all of a sudden you see a team that has made the Elite Eight and now again this year, right? Like, Jada Curry, awesome scoring guard, did a lot of the distribution at Cal, but he wanted a different look. And yeah, it's only been four games, but they've been very successful in those four games. And you just have a team that's a little bit more disciplined, a little bit stronger on the defensive side of the ball. And then you get that second unit scoring punch with Jada Curry. So it's fun to watch just like the mixing and matching of all of these things that he has at his disposal. And then to see a player like Nina Ricards who, you know, just a solid guard in her four years at Florida. Right. Like, I don't think she was one of the transfers we were talking about the most, you know, coming into this season, but averaging, you know, more than three assists per game now. Like, the turnovers are pretty good level and they're winning games, right. And she's hitting just a ton of her two point jumpers, which we'll see if that sustains. But, like, Louisville's got a good offensive system. You got Olivia Cochran occupying space in the middle. Sidney Taylor, like Marissa Russell are handling things on the wings. So I think it's just more interesting than anything to see how a player can evolve beyond the box that we'd sort of put them in for four years. And I'm fascinated watching Jeff Waltz coach because he does things that I just never would think of all the time.
- [30:07]
Zena Keda
I also like watching coaches capitalize on the talent that they have, knowing the rosters that they have. That's what's been so beautiful about these transfers is being able to see them unlock a new portion of their game because the coach is now evaluating them and seeing them in a different light alongside a different cast of players. So very exciting to see that. Also averaging almost five rebounds a game, which is huge. You mentioned that in your article as well. Just how much the team does better on that end of things. While she's on the floor, she did have to sit and she was basically, she only played four minutes in her last game, so not sure if there was an injury there or whatever it is. But when she is playing at full force and averaging, she's averaging 24 minutes about. And I think that probably was skewed down because of that having to sit down. But when she's playing at full force, nine points, five rebounds, three assists, like solid, really solid play coming out of her. But just wanted to make sure we give some spotlights to J.C. and Nina.
- [31:08]
Sabrina Merchant
Oh yeah, and as long as we're talking about players who have been a little under the radar, I wanted to mention Natalia Marshall from Notre Dame. Notre Dame's had a couple of injuries to start the year. You know, we've got Olivia Miles who's still recovering from the knee injury. She's in March of last season, and Sonya Citron is out for a few weeks with an injury that she. I forget exactly which game she went down in, but she hasn't played for a couple weeks. A lot of the hype goes to Hannah Hidalgo, who, I mean, how could it not? She's just ridiculous to watch on the court. Like we talk about ball pressure and steals and she rivals Stacey Shelton in all of those aspects and then also just has the insane New Jersey ness to her game, for lack of a better word, just the moxie. But it was really cool to watch Notre Dame get some offense from other sources in that game against Tennessee when they came back from, you know, double digits down to take that ACC SEC challenge game. You know, Nat Marshall kind of has looked like she doesn't. I want to say this delicately, but, like has looked a little confused on the court at times and wasn't exactly in Neil Ivey's trust last year even when Notre Dame had such a depleted rotation. You know, she only averaged 10 minutes per game last year, barely took a couple shots. She shot seven of 16 in that Tennessee game and it's not even the seven that impresses me. It's the 16. Like that you feel confident enough to hunt your offense that much and they don't win that game without her, you know, putting up those 15 points. So I just think she looks so much more comfortable in what she's trying to execute on the court. Like she's always been a pretty decent rebounder, hasn't really given that much beyond that. But Notre Dame needs offense, right? Like, you're missing Citron, you're missing Miles, you're missing Cassan, Prada, Prosper. Those points have to come from somewhere. And like you said, just watching players develop. This is her fourth year in the Notre Dame program that she has figured out like where she fits in the offense and knows how to hunt her own shot. I just love these player development stories and I've spent a lot of time watching Notre Dame because of the Hidalgo of it all. But it's cool to watch these other players step up into those roles because Notre Dame plays a lot of really big games. They're going to be playing ranked opponents all the time in the ACC and you're going to need contributions up and down the roster. And so yeah, Nat Marshall was just another player who I watched this week and thought, hey, that's something I haven't seen before from her.
- [33:15]
Zena Keda
Oh, for sure. And I'll tell you, I always laugh about this, but Nat Marshall was kind of like the player that I thought in my head I was when I played because she was long and she rebounds really well. Like she's good at the offensive put backs. She plays like I think, really good on ball screen, defense, like being able to help her guards out. I don't think I realized this until this past game against Tennessee that she's 6 5. I was like, oh, she moves that well right at 6:5. Oh, yep. No, definitely not her and I being the same person at all. No, I really like how agile and long she is as a player and the fact that, you know, she's only a junior and she is, I think coming into her game, like she didn't start but came into that game and made an impact. I mean you talk about confidence. She put up a three even and was like, boom, I'm here. You know, didn't make it, but that's okay. And like you said, 15 points and nine rebounds. And she also was in the mix. Like just the length of her arms made things difficult for Tennessee. Whether it was getting passes inside, just again being on the on ball screens. I really like Nat Marshall's game and also really cool story about like I don't know it fully. I would love to have Matt Marshall on the the pod. But like growing up in Serbia and having kind of like that international portion to it. She has a really cool story with her parents and just like where she's from and her mom's background. And so I would love to have her. This is like a full call out. I would love to have her on the pod. Just talk a little bit more about her basketball journey. But if there was a playing style that I would have loved to have back in the day, really, really like Nat Marshall's game and also her height. But anywho, that's awesome. I'm very happy to put some love on some players that are developing, evolving, as you said, Sabrina, I really appreciate that. Thank you again for coming through, giving us a little bit of a breakdown of what's going on. Definitely. Go check out the power rankings. It is live on the site. Go check and see if West Virginia beat Penn State because that's going to be a big one, of course. But for now, it is time for me to go off the script. For today's off the script, I want to give a quick shout out to the volleyball teams around the country, and particularly Wisconsin, because there is an NCAA tournament happening right now. If you didn't know, they're actually in the Sweet 16. So 64 teams have already been dwindled down to the Sweet 16 round and there is one team that's in the tournament right now that we actually did a quick profile on their coach and that is Wisconsin, Brian Hamilton. It is live on the site. Go check it out. Did a profile on Kelly Sheffield, the coach of Wisconsin. Really cool story. This guy just is like happy as hell to be a volleyball coach and you just love that. You love people that genuinely enjoy their job. He sees a path to winning in every single game and he finds it fun to try and figure it out. So they're right. They're ranked right now number one on the opposite side of Nebraska. So more than likely we'll see what happens. If, you know, no crazy upsets, you might end up seeing those two play again. And I don't know if you guys know or remember, but last August, 92,000 fans went to go see them play, you know, Nebraska in August and being able to see Wisconsin a few weeks later play Milwaukee. And they had the highest number of people in an in arena regular season match, 17,000 attendees in the building. So women's volleyball definitely getting the love and attention from an arena perspective. But what I also love about Kelly Sheffield and how this relates to women's basketball because, you know, it always got to relate back, back In March of 2022, when the NCAA Women's tournament was going on, Kelly Sheffield tweeted out Women's Basketball on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, and ESPNU. Meanwhile, people watched volleyball during the first weekend of our tourney was on streaming service. The difference in coverage of the two sports is a slap in the face. No way there's that much difference in viewership. And don't. He ain't a hater, y'all. He's not a hater. He said. Followed up and said, don't get me wrong, I'm happy that women's basketball is getting this type of coverage. It's warranted and about time. And I'm thoroughly enjoying watching the games. Volleyball should be getting the exact same coverage, period. Well, that was in 2022. It is now. Fast forward to 2023 and you can see the NCAA tournament on some of those channels. Now, they're not on the mainstream, you know, ABC, but you can definitely catch some of those on ESPN2, ESPN. You in ESPN. And I commend Kelly Sheffield for calling out these networks and demanding, you know, that his teams and the teams that he plays against in his league get the love and recognition that they deserve. The game, the Nebraska game in August, definitely was an indicator of how much people are willing and excited to support women's sports in general, particularly women's volleyball. But it's someone being able to see the connection between if women's sports is going to grow, whether it's the nwsl, whether it's the wnba, whether it's NCAA women's basketball, whether it's NCAA women's volleyball. It's a collective effort invest in all women's sports because everyone wants to watch it. It's a hot thing right now. So I know we've talked about ratings before here on the Athletic Women's Basketball podcast. We've talked about putting the games on primetime and not having them compete with NFL or not having them compete with whatever. I know Sabrina Merchant told me that the LSU game that happened recently actually did better in viewership numbers than NBA games did the other night, which was really exciting. But there's more evidence that's more. More reason to support your cause here as to why you want to support and put these games on primetime. So shout out to Kelly Sheffield. Good luck to him, Wisconsin and all of the teams in the NCAA tournament. Go turn it on. They are on ESPNU and ESPN2. They're playing right now. Sweet 16. Good luck to all those teams. We'll see who comes out in the end, that is all for today folks. Appreciate you guys tuning in. Go check out power rankings on the site. Go check out that story by Brian Hamilton on the Wisconsin team and coach. And until until then, I'm Zena Cada for the Athletic, encouraging you to keep listening, keep learning and keep loving the game because that's the only way we're going to grow it. All right, until next time.
- [40:14]
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- [41:33]
Sabrina Merchant
Acast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend.
- [41:41]
Marc Maron
Hey folks, it's Marc Maron from WTF. It's been more than 15 years now, and I'm still talking to all kinds of people in my garage every week. Sometimes it's Bill Burr, sometimes it's Ariana Grande. She just looks at me because she's always going like, dad, it's not that big a deal. Yeah. I go, sorry, I lost my temper. I go, I still love you. You know, Daddy has issues.
- [42:03]
Sabrina Merchant
Are you afraid of it? Of death?
- [42:04]
Zena Keda
Of death?
- [42:05]
Sabrina Merchant
Well, I don't know.
- [42:06]
Marc Maron
I think about it all the time.
- [42:07]
Zena Keda
How are we here already?
- [42:08]
Marc Maron
Listen to WTF with Marc Maron twice a week on your favorite podcast app. Or get more WTF with a WTF subscription just go to wtfpod.com and click on WTF.
- [42:24]
Sabrina Merchant
Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com.