← No Offseason: The Athletic Women's Basketball Show
No Offseason: The Athletic Women's Basketball Show
South Carolina reasserts itself and Champions Classic takeaways
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- [00:00]
Zena Kada
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- [02:02]
Sabrina Merchant
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- [03:34]
Chantelle Jennings
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- [05:09]
E
For the Athletic. I'm Zena Kaeda and this is the Athletic Women's Basketball Show. Welcome back to another episode of the Athletic Women's Basketball show where we are here to talk all things Women's hoops. Whether you are a die hard fan that eats, sleeps and breathes the game or you're just a casual fan looking to learn more, you know you are in the right spot. Make sure that you subscribe to this pod, wherever you get your pods to stay up to date with us. And of course, subscribe, subscribe to the athletic folks because you don't want to miss out on all of this coverage that we have on the site. I am so excited about today because I am joined by Sabrina Merchant and Chantelle Jennings and also the box scores and the aftermath of some really big matchups last week, particularly in the Champions Classic. And yeah, we gotta talk about South Carolina and TCU as well. Let's get into it for today. Ladies, welcome on now, I want to start with the aspect. First and foremost. Let's give a round of applause to whoever was behind making the Champions Classic a women's event, too. Because this event has been going on in Brooklyn for so long or actually in msg, like just happening in New York in general, just like for so long on the men's side. And of course you would think it's genius, let's do the same thing for the women. But apparently it took till 2024 for someone to have this brilliant idea. But I am so happy that they had it and we got to see some really good basketball. Of course, first up, UConn, number two. UConn took on number 22, Louisville. Not the most competitive game, but it absolutely, if you listen to our show a few weeks ago, or not even a few weeks ago, last week, Ben, Chantelle and talked about teams we trust. UConn was one of those teams that we were like now. Ben fully trusted UConn. And now I'm going to ask later, Chantel, how you feel now. But yeah, UConn decidedly, decisively. Excuse me, routed Louisville. And we're going to get into that game. And then right after, there was a little bit more of a competitive game in between Tennessee and Iowa. Very fun. And especially because Tennessee is one of those teams that if you're not a Tennessee fan, you probably didn't know a lot about this team. And if you watch the second half, you probably now learned about somebody from South Carolina named Talasia Cooper. We're going to break it all down. All right, let's start with you, Shantel. We got to talk about this UConn game. Okay? Overall, UConn gets the job done. And in such a decided way, when you think about UConn and what they were supposed to get done overall, it was supposed to be for Gino Oriemma, a game in which his team played all 40 minutes. We've seen them kind of, you know, take the gas off the pedal a little bit. They've had some quarters where they. They slack. They let teams go on runs. This game from start to finish was all gas all the way. What'd you think of the overall matchup?
- [08:44]
F
Yeah, I think the two sort of big takeaways for me from UConn's win were one, Paige Beckers had an off shooting night, which. Why is this a positive? It's because it didn't impact any other part of her game. She had a great outing. She finished with 10 rebounds, six assists, only one turnover. She was 2 of 11 from the floor, but, like, impacted every other part of the game. And I think when you're looking at this UConn team and you think about what she did last year, especially during the tournament, throwing them on her back and leading them to the Final Four, we know what she can do. And it's like now when there's. I won't say more talent around her, but maybe more scores around her, more around her, just more healthy bodies around her than last season. What she's able to do, both offensively and defensively, being disruptive, being a distributor, hitting the glass. That was a really big positive. I would say the second big positive was Sarah Strong. Holy shit, what a game for her. She was named the Big east freshman and Player of the Week. I thought both were super well deserved. She finished with 2183. One steal, one block. But I think just watching her play, she doesn't move like a freshman, like, so much that she does feels really instinctual and fluid. Like there's nothing rigid about her on the floor. And I thought she had a great performance. And I guess if there's the third positive slash now. Question mark. It's Az Fudd in her third start of the season. Had a really, really good game, but she went down with what looked like kind of a knee injury.
- [10:18]
E
Yeah.
- [10:20]
F
In the third quarter. But she finished with 18 points, four rebounds, two assists, one steal. Sort of seeing the. The balance among this team spread out a little bit. They had good bench contributions. We don't know Az Fuzz's Fudd's status moving forward. I think specifically that Notre Dame game on Thursday looms large. I don't know if she'll be back in time for that, but, yeah, I thought there was a lot to like about this UConn team coming out of this game.
- [10:49]
E
Let's break it down because you mentioned Sarah Strong and I've. And I also messed up. Did not even Tell you guys the final score. 85, 52. I keep saying they routed them. They routed them. How much? They route them by significant numbers. 85, 52 overall. Sabrina, we gotta talk about Sarah Strong because Sarah Strong is, I mean, Chantel once said it aptly named incredibly strong as a freshman inside, outside physicality on the boards. I mean, she was dominant. Um, it was cool to hear, you know, Paige Beckers talk about the fact that she's more like a guard than she is a post player. She's actually more skilled than some, some guards she knows called her Go Go Gadget arms in the way that she just is involved in everything on defense, get re. Gets, rebounds, et cetera. A lot of people comparing her to Nafisa Collier, not a lot of people comparing her even to Maya Moore. Kind of freaky to see that picture of her and Maya Moore standing together a few weeks ago as the alum came back for Geno's, you know, getting that most winningest coach in women's basketball. I want to know what you think of her game as you evaluate her. You know, I know you've had rookie rankings in the past. What are your thoughts overall on this Sarah Strong?
- [12:05]
F
You know, I was also asked who my Sarah Strong comparison is during that game as it was going on because the, frankly, the game itself wasn't the most exciting after the first 15 minutes.
- [12:14]
E
There's a lot of room for talk.
- [12:16]
F
That's a much nicer way than Jeff Walls put it.
- [12:20]
E
Oh, we gonna talk about Jeff Walls in a sec.
- [12:21]
F
Yes, Jeff Walls puts on a show, that's for sure.
- [12:24]
E
Yes, sir.
- [12:25]
F
I was, I was thinking more like collegiate Neca Gumake, honestly, just in terms of her efficiency and how much of a defensive playmaker she is, I think it's interesting to think about because if NECA were in college now, she would be asked to develop a lot more guard skills than she did, you know, when she was a freshman back in 2008 or whenever that was. So, you know, I think I see the same physical attributes that I saw in neca. I think, you know, the footwork still a little bit to go, you know, in terms of getting to MVP level. Neko Gumike. But yeah, that's, that's sort of where I landed. Just. She's so efficient with her creation. She can kind of create from everywhere on the court, but she's just really solid in all of her decision making. Which reminds me a lot of neca. And to be that way as a freshman is really just remarkable because you, you know, we Saw KK Arnold and, you know, Ashlyn Shade give really impressive contributions for UConn last year, but they all had their. Their moments where it's like, oh, we don't know what we're doing on the court. And I think Geno even talked about that to some extent, where Sarah Strong was looking back at the bench, like, asking for what play was being called, and he's like, you know, the most dominant player on the court. And like, she's asking me what to do with the ball. Like, so there is still some.
- [13:34]
E
I love that.
- [13:35]
F
Still some growing up to do for her, but I just thought she looks so composed. And Louisville's the kind of team that can really fluster you. You know, we saw them earlier in the week against O Oklahoma, and just the kind of pressure they were putting on that entire team. Like, that's a very veteran squad, the Sooners, and they were just thrown off in terms of their turnovers and their decision making. They eventually ended up coming back to win that game. But it's the kind of team that speeds you up and just sort of causes you to second guess everything. And that was not visible at all with Sarah Strong. So I thought her being able to be so composed against this particular defense was really something notable.
- [14:07]
E
She shot 80% from the field overall, 60% from three.
- [14:12]
F
I feel like watching that game, and I like the NECA comparison. I almost feel like she's collegiate NECA with a three. Like, we can figure out sort of who that Venn diagram is. Exactly. But I was watching that game, I was like, gino's going to coach another three years, isn't he? Like, he's going to want to. Want to get at least another natty with Sarah. Like, she's the kind of player that you can build around. And you think about those players like Ashlyn Shade or K.K. arnold, who got, you know, thrown into heavier minutes as freshmen last season because of the depth issues at UConn and what that means moving forward. Both of those players have, you know, had smaller roles this season just because of the depth. But looking ahead, I mean, we don't need to look ahead in December, but we will looking ahead to next season. Already you think about sort of what that starting five could look like and like UConn's right up there again for sure.
- [15:00]
E
And it's been really impressive to see now KK Arnold and Ashlyn Shade, like, still continuing their contributions, especially Ashlyn Shade. I did. I don't think I realized how smooth her mid range is watching that game. She's got a nice pretty jumper and nice little pull up game. But thinking about what Chantelle said, the fact that Paige Beckers only had eight points in this outing, didn't get her first bucket until the third quarter. Like she, I think she had only scored in free throws before then. It's really nice to think that they have Sarah strong as another bucket getter for this team. Now. One thing I noticed, like the three point ball isn't, isn't UCNNs yet. They haven't really mastered the volume of three point shooting. Is that the only, you know, potential flaw you're seeing? Because now I'm like, they can handle size, they can handle a lot of activity defensively, they can remain poised. I'm thinking that one of the biggest things that you know might still be a question mark is there three point shooting. Chantel, you've watched a lot more of this team. What are your thoughts on that?
- [16:03]
F
Yeah, honestly. And we'll, we'll get to this later. I think watching the way that South Carolina handled TCU and specifically Sedona Prince on the inside made me rethink like oh, Jana El Alfie needs to be so much further ahead in her development at this point in order for UConn to contend for a national title against teams like that might have that presence on the inside. I still think their interior needs a little bit of development. The depth there isn't like the perimeter depth. And I think, you know, that three point shooting percentage, even if Paige shoots sort of what she has been shooting recently, looks a good amount better. And I think she probably would have taken more than six three point attempts if she weren't shooting like 11% or whatever it was she shot 12, 13%. But I, this is a team that I think, like Sabrina was saying, Louisville can force you into a lot of mistakes, into a lot of poor decisions, into a lot of poor shots and UConn still didn't take those. And I think those three point shots, it doesn't concern me at much. I think, you know, we were talking last week about teams we want to trust. This game made me even higher on UConn and sort of thinking about them at this point in the season. Obviously they'll move into Big east play which is not at the level of like the Big Ten or the sec, but they'll still have some big games coming up. They play Tennessee, they play South Carolina in February I believe. And so you know, they have these big games coming up, Notre Dame this week that we'll continue to get to see them progress against this, like, top, top level talent. I'm really liking where UConn is at at this point in the season.
- [17:35]
E
Okay, let's dig a little bit deeper on the. The Az Fudd. So at the time that we're recording this, we don't have an update on Az Fudd, but, you know, thinking about how she impacted the game early on, especially, you know, 18 points, didn't even play the fourth quarter. Didn't need to. Of course, the team had been in a very comfortable position since the second quarter. But it does seem like injuries or weird situations continue to follow her. Even Gino Auriemma said, like, strange things are always happening to her kind of thing. When you think about her impact on this team over the course of the four years that she's been there and just being on and off, on and off, I see Az Fudd as not getting the same level of recognition as Paige, as being, like, one of those ballers on. On the UConn team, even though she's incredibly capable of it just because she's been so injured. For those that don't know about Az Fudd, Sabrina, what does she bring to the game? Like, how crucial is she for not only UConn, but just as a guard in this. In this era of basketball and her game overall?
- [18:44]
F
Well, first and foremost, Az Fudd has probably the most mechanically perfect jump shot I've ever seen as a college basketball player.
- [18:50]
E
And NBA players agree.
- [18:51]
F
Yeah, Stephen says it the way her whole body. Well, AZ transits Steph, so I'm sure that's part of it.
- [18:57]
E
Yeah, there it is.
- [18:58]
F
And Steph, honestly, not one of the most mechanically perfect drum shots I've ever seen. That's more of a Klay Thompson thing. But I digress. The way that her body, like, still lines up on her shooting form, like, after coming back from these injuries is probably why I've been so. Just pleasantly surprised with AZ over this past week or so since she was able to return to UConn. Like, the chain of, like, everything working together, you just worry that little things are gonna get messed up when one part of your body gets injured and it looks like everything is still in perfect order. So that's the main thing about AC is, like, every jump shot she takes looks like it's going in. And that means that she just bends defenses in a way that Nobody else on UConn is going to because she, you know, commands somebody to cover her everywhere she is on the court. You know, I think she came into UConn with really high pedigree coming out of high school, but she just has never had consistent stretches of being a high level player because of the injuries. You know, like her freshman year, UConn has this nice run through the NCAA tournament after Paige comes back, you know, in the Big east tournament. And then AZ gets sick before the national title game and kind of just like delivers an egg on the biggest stage of, you know, college basketball. And then the next season she starts off with that great game against Texas, right? I think like 30 some points confidently winning her matchup against Rory Harmon and then just sort of in and out for the rest of the season. And I think that's just sort of been the case with az, where it's never been five games in a row, like, oh my God, this is a pro level guard. When everything about her body, her like physical attributes suggests that's who she should be. Like, she's a six foot shooting guard. Like that's an excellent archetype of a player that you would want at the pro game, at the college game. But the consistency has just never been there. And so that's something that you're just hoping to see at some point in her UConn career for sure.
- [20:42]
E
So we'll be on the lookout for what the final prognosis is on, on what happened in that third quarter, but definitely someone that if you don't know about az, like don't sleep on her, do not sleep on her. There's enough tape out there on her to show you that she's capable of being a high draft pick and definitely an impactful player in the W. Last thoughts. Chantelle on the UConn Huskies.
- [21:06]
F
So if we have to bring up a part about UConn that maybe we'd like to see more of. Often in our group text I talk about our all joy team, which I'm really going to push for us to put out by the end of the year. Ashlyn Shade is not celebrating as much this season after her maid buckets. And that's proving to be a real disappointment for me. As I'm watching games, she's trying to act like she's been there before. Last year was just, it was giving freshman energy. Last year, every shot she hit was a huge fist bump, even if it was a three foot off the glass, like unguarded type thing. And it was just like, that is a player who has dreamed of this moment her entire life and celebrated from the first game of the season to the last game of the season. I loved it. I love Seeing that kind of joy on the floor, she's just acting a little more mature now, which I appreciate. I think it's. It's growth. However, for our all Joy team, I just really would like to see a little more of that visible joy out of Ashlyn's shade. So that's my. My two cents.
- [22:05]
E
She deserves this. I mean, I. I don't think I. I always saw her last year, she was more so that corner three, transition three, you know, getting her buckets in, in, in movement within the rhythm of the offense now. Dribble, dribble, drive, pull up. I'm like, okay, I see you, girl. She did have. She did have that last year. It's just more. More so part of her bag now. But overall, UConn looking really solid against Louisville. Thoughts on Louisville's adjustments that they need to make? Because I did not expect them to go down like this and early, too. I expected. I think they did what they were supposed to do in terms of taking care of Paige Beckers, but there's more people on the scout, you know what I mean? In terms of being able to impact the game defensively, they allow too many others, and maybe that's just a Yukon trick. They have too many weapons. But overall, Louisville did not look like the same Louisville that we've seen until maybe late in the game. But it was too. It was actually too late at that point.
- [23:07]
F
Yeah, I'm not sure there's really much to take away from Louisville in this game. Like, it's one of those. You kind of just throw it out because it was over really before it started. Their pressure didn't really seem to impact UConn at all. Like Jeff Walls was saying, you know, they told their players, don't let Sarah strong go to her. I was gonna say strong hand, but her right hand. And he was like, maybe it was national opposites, Dan. Like, I. They didn't tell me ahead of time, and they.
- [23:33]
E
He was going in.
- [23:34]
F
He was in fine form after the game, but, yeah, just not. I don't think they executed really anything they wanted to. And it's not in line with how Louisville usually comes out, even in big games, like, even when they're overmatched, they still showcase what makes them special, and that just wasn't. Wasn't present at all. And sure, I just. I don't really know what to take away from this one here. Like, it. It doesn't look like Louisville to me. I don't expect them to be this bad in bigger games. Even as ACC season starts up. So it's kind of just like burn the tape, walk away, and we'll on to the next one.
- [24:04]
E
You know, those games happen. So Jeff Walls group's gonna burn the tape on this 8552 loss to UConn. UConn is now going to get their next ranked matchup in the Shamrock Classic, and that's going to be on Thursday of this week against Notre Dame. This is going to be definitely a trust test type of game. How are you going to do against. You know, Louisville's defense is legit, but it ain't Hannah Hildago. Okay. It's not Sonia Citron. So this is going to be very interesting to see how they handle the perimeter defense of the Notre Dame Irish and then also the inside presence that they, that Notre Dame also has in Kate Covel. All right, let's move on to the next game in the Champions Classic. And that was Tennessee beating ranked Iowa 78 68. And this is Kim Caldwell's first year at Tennessee, and you could see that she really wanted to impose defensive aspects onto her team. Just playing physical, coming out strong. And this game was really tight because of that. Like Tennessee, even if they were, you know, lost some players to foul trouble. This remaining ca, like the remaining cast, still stepped up the physicality, still stepped up the rebounding, still stepped up the pressure inside. And I would just had some answers in the first half versus in the second half. But overall, the name that you walk away with is Talaysia Cooper, who dropped 19 points in that second half. And the only reason she had four in the first is because she kept having to sit because she was in foul trouble. But rebounding, blocking shots, going on runs, Talaysia Cooper was involved in so much throughout this night. Shantel, tell me a little bit about Talaysia. Cause I feel like she's popped up on my radar. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I didn't know enough. Who is this girl?
- [26:01]
F
Well, I want to take a step back first and kind of look at this Tennessee team, because I think what she is is she's a perfect fit inside this current Tennessee system, which is interesting because this is not the system that she committed to when she came to Tennessee. And so I was in Knoxville earlier this this preseason to meet with Kim Caldwell and learn about what this program is going to look like. And I think the thing that really stuck with me is she was like, it's going to be really ugly in November, like it always is. I go home for Thanksgiving and I tell people we're not going to talk about basketball. I don' to talk about basketball because everything's ugly. She was like, usually in December we see like pieces of it. So by Christmas I'm like, okay, we can talk a little bit about it. And she was like, in January is when we, we really start sort of, you know, things start clicking and then she's gonna have a baby. So we'll see sort of how all of this fits together. Like this year of, of Kim Caldwell's life is gonna be pretty epic. But I think this was kind of the week that I was really, you know, kind of circled after having that conversation with her because they played Florida State earlier, which we don't, you know, we're not going to talk about that game as much because this Tennessee Iowa game was sort of the top 25 matchup that I was really, really looking forward to for this group. But so Kim, she coaches a very distinct system. Full court pressure, running gun on the offense, like take a 3, 2 seconds into the shot clock. I don't care. We're going to press, we're going to try to turn teams over. Um, it is a high risk, high reward system. It's why you can see them go on like a 10 point run in, in a minute and a half a gameplay which, you know, we saw them do that against both Florida State and Iowa at times. But sort of the counterpoint of that is that this is still the first year for these players in the system. So they're all still learning that. I think you see that like you mentioned, Talasia had three fouls. Every starter for Tennessee had three fouls. Two had four. And so they're all still sort of getting up to speed on the system as well and learning how to play this defensive way. They do basically hockey sub situation where they'll send five in, five out.
- [28:03]
E
Yeah, I thought that was crazy, like squadron.
- [28:06]
F
Yeah, it's, it's very, very different. But Talisha Cooper is an interesting fit because she came from South Carolina. She played her freshman season there. She transferred after the NCAA window to be eligible for last season. So she transferred to Tennessee under the Kelly Harper regime, which was a very different system, and decided to stay. When Kim Caldwell got there and I was there on campus watching them practice earlier this year and let me say, they run a lot in practice. It was like quasi track practice. I was like, like which sport am I watching right now? At times.
- [28:38]
E
Hated that.
- [28:39]
F
Yeah, it was, it was a lot of, a lot of, a lot of lines. But she's just been Kind of this really wonderful fit for them. She scored 23 points in 21 minutes, six rebounds, three assists, two steals, three blocks. Like, she's just really, really active and rangy on both ends of the floor for them. And so she's just kind of this fun story in that this is not why she came to Tennessee and yet I think she has found a system that really accentuates her abilities as a basketball player.
- [29:09]
E
Yeah, it was very fun. Not only to see them be able to make Iowa look frenetic, like they looked frantic out there, almost like they were overwhelmed by what was going on throughout the game. I don't want to shift the attention too quickly off of Tennessee, but when you think about the fact I just realized that both Jan Jensen and Kim Caldwell are in their first years as head coaches of these two programs. Like, going into it, Sabrina, what did you think was going to happen with Iowa coming into this game? Like, did you think it was going to be a sure win for Iowa the way that Lucy Olsen's been playing? The way that they also. I've been seeing Hannah stole, keep, you know, be a next level player in that she's also distributing as much as she is finishing inside. Like, were you one of those people that were like, I was going to have this one in the bag or what'd you think of this matchup?
- [30:01]
F
Well, I didn't really know what to expect from Tennessee because they're kind of one of the more underscheduled teams at this point. Like, they just haven't played as many games.
- [30:08]
E
6 games or like 7 now?
- [30:10]
F
This was the first game they played away from Knoxville all season.
- [30:13]
E
Wow.
- [30:14]
F
Not even like neutral site games. You know, this is just very much. We're figuring our things out in November. Like as Chantel said when she was talking to Kim, like, it's going to look weird, but there's just. There was not a lot for me to take away other than, oh, we have an entirely new style basketball that is taking place here in Tennessee, which is super fun, by the way. But yeah, I just, I don't think I had a read on them whatsoever because there wasn't really any film before they played Florida State of like, them actually matching up against a good team. There is very little film of them overall because of the fact that they play these hockey style line changes. You don't have as many minutes even for their best players because they're really maxing out at about half of the game. So, yeah, I just, I didn't really know what to expect to be perfectly honest, like, Iowa hasn't played the best schedule either. But, like, we at least saw them against Virginia Tech. You know, they've played some of those other teams in that four cities, Iowa, you know, intra thing matchup. But yeah, I don't know. I gotta be honest. I had no read on Tennessee, and this was like, just a good introduction into what the Kim Caldwell era is gonna look like.
- [31:15]
E
And now that you've seen them and you. And you see them have, you know, be press oriented, do this hockey. I like the way you put that, that hockey lineup, I kind of call it squad subbing. You sub in with your squad, you sub out with your squad. But now that you've seen this type of approach, like, do you think they can make an impact and get into the top 25 with this approach?
- [31:39]
F
Tennessee is back in the top 25 this week at 19, which is pretty wild. So they have now been in of the possible 870 weeks of the women's AP top 25. Tennessee has been in it for 779 weeks, so 90% all time. This is the only program in history to be in every NCAA tournament. So I think for Tennessee fans, it's 19 is probably still low, but it's like, at least this is back where they want to be. It is the stepping stone of where they want to get to.
- [32:07]
E
And yeah, and Sabrina, you got them at 18 in your rankings, and I love that you talked about making its stamps. Stylistically, when you think about other teams within the. The range of, like, maybe the top 25 or just teams that have stood out to you this. This year, I think of Ohio State, right, with the press and like, the full court press almost all game long. Are there other teams that you think will be really interesting matchups for Tennessee to be able to see, like, on their schedule or in general, to be able to see what Tennessee's really made of?
- [32:45]
F
Well, like Chantel said, they're playing UConn later in the year, and UConn is a team with a lot of capable ball handlers. I mean, they start Paige Beckers and Caitlin Chen, and they've got KK Arnolds and, you know, just a lot of lead guard types on that roster. They weren't phased by Louisville. Tennessee is obviously a different brand of press, but I think that's, you know, interesting matchup to start out with. They're in the sec, so Texas comes to mind, you know, another really, like, solid defensive team that likes to push the pace. I think we'll just. We'll Learn a lot more about them than we already have. But for this to be their first sort of showcase on a national stage. And it's interesting. Like, I think Tennessee Iowa is kind of like the undercard, right? It was the first game in this night, and it was maybe like one of the most entertaining games I've watched all year in college basketball. Like, it was so much fun. I think just a great showcase for both of these two teams. A lot of people don't know what Iowa is going to look like after Caitlin Clark. Nobody knew what Tennessee was going to look like with all of these new changes. And so for them to both demonstrate what it is they do, well, like, you got to see the Lucy Olsen bucket getting just from every area of the court and Addison O'Grady having a good time, like, as pretty much the best interior player in this game. With all due respect to Hannah Stahlke, like, everybody got to show off a little bit of what they did well. And the Yukon Louisville game was like, kind of for me. I mean, that one started at like 7pm local time. I was like, all right, well, I'm just gonna take the rest of my Saturday night. You know, I got the good one. Let's move on from here.
- [34:08]
E
Interesting. So I watched it the next day. So I actually didn't know that that was the order of the games. I just had it recorded. Interesting. Okay. All right, let's continue the conversation and take it over to our next game. South Carolina beating tcu. And it was funny that they actually ended up having the same score as the UConn Louisville game. 85, 52 over TCU. And this was an interesting game because this was the test for tcu. When you think about the wins that they've had this season, especially over top 25 teams, you're like, is this real? Is what Mark Campbell is doing at TCU with Haley Van Lith and Sedona Prince? Are they really something here with the more experienced players, as we've liked to, you know, describe them as on this pod before, yeah, South Carolina was like, no, we got it. Don't. Don't you worry. Don't you worry. Overall, just played a incredibly well executed game. You could see they had a game plan, see they had their scout, and they took care of business. Even with Haley Van Lith ending up with 21 points. She chucked the ball over quite a few times, got her pocket picked quite a few times, and they took care of everyone else. Sedona Prince struggled inside, and I think the South Carolina bench, I Mean, not bench, but entire team was showcased. Malaysia, Phil Wylie, Chloe Kitz, Tahina Powpow, like Ashlyn Watkins, like, whatever, whoever you needed, they were able to present and impact the game in a positive way. So, Sabrina, I'm gonna start with you when it comes to South Carolina going against tcu. If you're Dawn Staley, tell me what you imagine the scout to be like. What was the focus you think for South Carolina going into this game?
- [35:56]
F
Well, first things first. If I'm South Carolina, I'm disappointed I didn't get an invite to the Champions Classic when Iowa and Louisville, not champions, did. So something to address going forward. But yeah, that's real. The TCU scout. So, you know, Don was asked about this earlier this week, about how guarding Sedona Prince differs from guarding someone like Lauren Betts and where UCLA really just enters the ball into the post and lets Lauren operate. You know, reading from there, like, whether there's a double, whether she needs to tack directly. Sedona is a pick and roll center, right? So it's a lot of Haley Van Lith and Sedona pick and roll screens at the perimeter, roll into the basket, and they just, like, shut that down ball screen wise. You know, there was. There was nothing Sedona Prince could do to, like, find room in the middle of the floor. It actually kind of reminded me of when South Carolina played Iowa back in the final four in 2023, where they just stayed home on the pick and roll in the middle of the floor. And then, like, didn't let them kick out to any shooters because, like, that's what TCU likes to do. They like to get you in rotation and then they ping it out. And there's Taylor Bigby, there's Madison Connor. There's somebody to make you pay for throwing an extra defender, you know, at Haley and Sedona. And South Carolina doesn't have to do that, right? Like, they can fight through those screens. They have defenders who they think are big enough to. Are strong enough to challenge Sedona one on one. And that just meant, like, Haley was kind of just going to the basket on her own. Like, she got a little bit of space with the screen, but then couldn't find the dump off pass. So, yeah, that meant she was making a lot of layups, but it also meant that she had to kind of finish around bigger guards. Like, she couldn't always finish around Raven Johnson and, like, when, you know, a different guard was in the action. Haley Van Lith is one of the smaller guards in College basketball. So there was just a lot of height, a lot of length around her. And I don't think we've just seen anybody defend the pick and roll as well as South Carolina was able to this particular matchup. Like, there was. There was no roller. Right? Like, that was really the definition of the game to be.
- [37:50]
E
It really did get stifled. Like. And the thing is, Sedona Prince doesn't quite have the pop out.
- [37:56]
F
She likes to think she does, but she doesn't. I was gonna say.
- [37:58]
E
I was gonna say. That's literally what I was gonna say next. I think she likes the things she does. And you saw that even against Notre Dame, when Kate Covell was making things difficult for her easy. She kept trying to do that turnaround jumper and all. It was like, no, no, baby. Back to the basket. Make a move, like. And that's what South Carolina was really taking away. Chantel. There were so many different people that stepped up for South Carolina and really had some great games. I mean, Tessa Johnson was hitting threes like she always does. Tina pow, pow. Making some great passes. Raven Johnson playing well. I mean, there were so many different people impacting the game. What were some of the performances that stood out to you?
- [38:37]
F
Well, I felt it like, it was very illustrative of how much of a team South Carolina is that when ESPN went to the break, they had the halftime score. And then, you know, ESPN always, like, highlights the top player underneath. It said Ashlyn Watkins, four points. And I was just like, only South Carolina. Only South Carolina. I think my Latia Full Wiley was the only player who finished in double digits in the first half. She had 11 in the first half. But it was. Ashlyn Watkins had the play of the first half with that dunk, and so she was the player they were highlighting. But it was just like, it was so peak South Carolina, where it was like, we're going to highlight a player who has four points. Like, I was like, this is. This is on brand for the Gamecocks. But, no, I think everyone. This was. It was a good team win. I thought they did a really good job of attacking the pain offensively early. Like, they were not worried about Sedona Prince's shot blocking abilities, which I thought, like, you know, they have some really great shot blockers at South Carolina. They have this year over the last few years. Like, these are not guards that are worried about going into the trees.
- [39:37]
E
Yeah.
- [39:38]
F
14 of their first 24 points came in the paint. I thought that was a statement they intentionally made very early. Like, we're not going to avoid this space just because Sedona Prince is here as a 5, 8 person. I think personally my favorite play of the game was Tahina pow, pow. Affecting Sedona Prince. It's not technically a block, though. I think in Tahina's heart, she will consider it a block. In my heart, I will consider it a block. The box score will not.
- [40:04]
Those are former teammates, right? Tahina and Sedona at Oregon.
- [40:06]
They were at Oregon together.
- [40:07]
E
That's right. Yeah.
- [40:09]
F
Yeah. But that moment where her block, non block feels like that'll stick out for me as a shining moment this season.
- [40:17]
E
Okay, I get that. I get that. I still just can't get over Ashton Watkins. Not only like, it's not like she was just happened to maybe be cherry picking or maybe she ran out in transition and got the pass up. No, she got the ball at the top of the key from her own defense. Just, you know, being frenetic and all. All around. The guards picked pocket with the other way. And Sedona 6, 7. Sedona Prince was chasing her down and she still decided to dunk it. Absolutely crazy. Like, that's amazing confidence and I love. There was a tweet or something that someone mentioned that they had been teasing her. Her team had been teasing Ashlyn Watkins about her ability to actually dunk because she hadn't done it in a while. And so she'd been practicing it and she had been practicing it before the game and missing dunks, and then boom, she pulls it out. Dawn Staley said she knew she was gonna do it when she saw her go like that. That's amazing confidence in your team, I'm not gonna lie.
- [41:17]
F
Just a quick thing about Ashlyn before we move on from her.
- [41:20]
E
Oh, yeah.
- [41:20]
F
The sequence itself is so impressive to me because she gets blocked by Prince on the very prior possession, right? Like, there's a little jumper that she tries to take and Prince blocks her. So when she takes the steal, she kind of slows a little so that Sedona's closer to the picture when she dunks, you know, so it looks like this is my, you know, retaliation for you having taken two points away from me, this is what I'm going to do the next time around.
- [41:43]
And you have to make sure Sedona's in the picture.
- [41:48]
If she's in the frame image that's.
- [41:49]
E
Implanted in your mind is Sedona Prince's hand just being right there.
- [41:54]
F
Ashlyn knew.
- [41:55]
E
There you go.
- [41:56]
F
It's very well executed all throughout.
- [41:58]
E
I mean, that's what this game was.
- [42:00]
F
I mean, my laser full Wiley picking the pocket of Haley Van Lith. It was like that one play where it was like, Haley passed half court, and I was like, oh, my. Laysha's getting, like. You just knew instantly. Like, just hand her the ball. Like, at this point, like, she's. She's gonna get you right here.
- [42:15]
E
Yeah, it was. It was a tough game for TCU when it came to ball handlers. They went to Leah Roberson inside to try to, like, get something going, and they just. They couldn't find any other options, especially. Cause, you know, Sedona wasn't producing anything. Is this like a Louisville kind of throw the tape away type of situation? Like, what can you learn from this? If you're. If you're TCU going up against South Carolina, that's just clicking on all cylinders.
- [42:39]
F
I mean, I still abide by the whole, like, losing to South Carolina is not a death sentence in and of itself. It happens to most teams when they play South Carolina. The thing is, we've kind of had these questions about TCU for a year running when they built up that big winning streak last year, like, who did they do it against? Right. And Sedona Prince, unfortunately was injured for most of the Big 12 schedules, so we didn't really get to see her play against teams of this caliber. So to me, it's a little more damning for TCU than it was for Louisville because we don't have any evidence of Sedona Prince going up against a center of her size who's not six years younger than her, like Kate Covel, and being able to actually physically impact the game. So that's kind of where I think it's a little different because there's just. There's a lot of film on Sedona Prince, and we haven't seen. She's. She's dominant against teams that she's supposed to be dominant against. But when the level gets raised, I'm not sure that I've seen her individually match that.
- [43:33]
E
Sure. And yes, you guys heard Sabrina Wright. Six years of a difference. That's not a misspeaking. Six years of difference between Kate and Sedona. Go ahead, Chantel.
- [43:42]
F
Well, I think what'll make this really interesting, I mean, the thing that we've been talking about, which is true about tcu, is that they're old. They're the oldest team in college basketball. And I think, you know, the trope is that as you get older, you get better at fixing your mistakes. Sometimes I Guess in life and basketball, maybe. But in terms of like basketball, if Mark Campbell is able to turn this into a really good teach tape session, like, does TCU fix the problems that sort of cropped up against South Carolina? And again, South Carolina is going to beat a lot of really good teams by 30 this year. Like, this is not. You know, I still think TCU belongs in the top 25 at this point in the season. I think there's a lot of talent there and I think it doesn't have to be sort of what ends their season in December necessarily. If there is a benefit to being really old, it's that this should be a group of players that looks at this tape reflects and says this is how we fix this problem moving forward. And so I think when we see them the next time out on the floor against top talent, do these same issues crop up. And at that point, that's when I think we say, well, this feels a lot like last season versus this is a really veteran, experienced team that looked itself in the mirror and said these are the problems we had and this is how we're going to fix them moving forward.
- [44:57]
E
Okay, well, I mean South Carolina has definitely earned a little bit of time off now after having played so many top ranked opponent games. They've already had five games against top ranked opponents and so they won't see anyone that's in that rank conversation until they get into conference play. And then they have four straight as of right now, Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma, then lsu. Things don't get easy. This is why they prepare in the off season now. And then you think about some of the other conferences. They won't get their play started mostly in January, but the Big Ten did have to start early. So you might have seen some of those games over the weekend as well. And then looking ahead during this week, what are some games you guys have circled in the next week or so before Christmas break?
- [45:42]
F
Well, I started adding a games to watch feature on the power rankings. So if you read those, you have my list, mostly rivalry games. I'm going to let Chantelle speak here in case I just overstep hers again. So, Chantel, what do you got?
- [45:56]
No, I think, I think again, this is a pretty light week in terms of good games. I mean, maybe we'll have some like sneaky games or some really bad losses. That might be the only things that crop up. But Iowa, Iowa State on Wednesday, Notre Dame, UConn Thursday, I think that's the game. Notre Dame bounced back after two losses really well with a big Win over Texas, an overtime win over Texas. Seeing how they play against UConn, an undefeated UConn team, I think that for me is, you know, at the beginning of the season, we knew it would be huge. And at this point in the year, it feels even bigger.
- [46:27]
E
Okay. And I love the Iowa, Iowa State competition. There's a big Bay Area game.
- [46:33]
F
ACC action.
- [46:34]
E
ACC action, which is wild that we're.
- [46:37]
F
In California, Atlantic Coast Conference on the Pacific Ocean.
- [46:41]
E
There you go. Stanford, Cal are going up against each other as well. So let's close out the show with just some around the world of women's basketball updates. One, go check out power rankings. Sabrina's got the breakdown and where she thinks these college teams land after this past week of basketball in the WNBA space. There is a new bonus podcast that is up right now with Ben and Sabrina talking to the GM and head coach of the Golden State Valkyries post expansion draft. Definitely go check that out. Very interested to see what they think about their team and you know, what we can expect in the months before the season kicks off because moves still can be made. Um, of course, Toronto Tempo, that slip up that was caught last week by some fans around the Internet actually ended up being the real name. Toronto Tempo was not temporary, folks. That is truly the name. I like the fact that Tempo is French and English. I, I like the colors. What do you guys think about the colors? The color scheme?
- [47:46]
F
Do they really have colors yet? I kind of just like kept seeing grayscale things, so I'm not sure.
- [47:50]
E
I think that's their. I think that's their theme, girl. I actually think that that's like, I'm.
- [47:54]
F
Gonna hold a judgment until I see like a very clear, you know, depth from the Toronto Tempo in my email.
- [48:01]
E
Fair, fair, Fair, fair. It's like a. I, I've seen like a great purple with the mauve gray looking type of thing.
- [48:06]
F
Gotta be careful with the purple. Especially after the Valkyries have claimed Violet, you know, Violet.
- [48:10]
E
Yes, yes, that's true. Well, it's a little, it's a little different. It's a little different. But either way, got the Toronto Tempo officially announced and they are getting merch and they're getting things going and I love that they're actually so active on socials. They're like, thank you Golden State Valkyries for going first so we can learn from you. I love that little tweet out to the, to the Valkyries and. Yeah, and also go follow some of these WNBA players that are overseas. There's been some really good content from them playing overseas in their respective leagues. I was just watching some clips of Kennedy Carter from the Chicago Sky. She's Paul and outrageous. There's so many different players that are still continuing their, their solid play from the WNBA and what you guys saw over the summer in other countries. So don't lose track of your WNBA players before next season. You'll see some things that they've been working on, some things that they're doing to unlock different levels of their game. All right, folks, as always, we appreciate you guys tuning in again. Hit that subscribe button on our show. Leave us comments, tell us what you want to hear about and we appreciate every single one of you guys that updated your Spotify wrapped and you were, you had us in your top five. That's love. That's love. I'm putting my heart up. That's love. We appreciate you guys listening to us as always and just, and just rocking with us since we started. So on behalf of Sabrina Merchant and Chantelle Jennings, I'm Zena Kada thanking you for your ear and encouraging you to keep listening, keep watching, keep learning and keep loving the game because that's the only way we're going to keep growing it. All right, until next time.
- [49:49]
Zena Kada
Foreign.
- [49:53]
Sabrina Merchant
As we head into the playoffs, it's safe to assume there will be a few calls made by the refs that will be hard to accept. But you know what isn't hard to accept? Discover. Believe it or not, Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. You heard that right, 99%. So make a good call for your wallet and get Discover. Based on the February 2024 Nielsen report. Learn more at discover.com credit card this.
- [50:18]
G
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- [51:12]
F
ACAST powers the World's best podcasts.
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Chantelle Jennings
Here's a show that we recommend.
- [51:20]
H
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.
- [51:42]
G
Are you afraid of it?
- [51:43]
H
Of death?
- [51:44]
F
Well, I don't know.
- [51:45]
H
I think about it all the time.
- [51:46]
E
How are we here already?
- [51:47]
H
Listen to WTF with Marc Maron twice a week on your favorite podcast app. Or get more WTF with a WTF plus subscription. Just go to wtfpod.com and click on WTF Plus.
- [52:01]
F
Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com.