Will Iowa State’s Resume Be Enough for March?

Summary

No Offseason: The Athletic Women’s Basketball Show

Episode: Will Iowa State’s Resume Be Enough for March?
Date: February 6, 2026
Hosts: Sabrina Merchant, Chantel Jennings
Guest: Eden Lasse (Bracketologist)

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into two of the biggest storylines in women’s basketball as March approaches. First, Sabrina and Chantel break down the stalled WNBA collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations, offering context, insight, and speculation on if a work stoppage is looming. Then, bracketologist Eden Lasse joins to analyze the NCAA Women’s Tournament bubble, with a special focus on whether Iowa State and other notable programs have done enough to earn a bid, how the committee evaluates resumes, and which mid-majors are fighting for their spot. They wrap up with a fun segment matching women’s basketball stars to Winter Olympic sports.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Latest WNBA CBA Negotiations

[02:03 – 25:50]

CBA Status & Revenue Sharing Sticking Points

• The WNBA and Players’ Union met recently, but the league brought “no proposal,” continuing a pattern of inactivity.
  • Chantel: “It was the league's turn…to show up to a meeting with a proposal…and they went into this meeting and quickly found out that there would be no proposal.” (02:50)
• Revenue sharing remains “the crux of this whole holdup.”
  • Players’ proposal: 30% of revenue off-the-top before expenses for the players, 70% for owners, directly impacting salary cap.
  • League’s proposal: Split revenue after expenses have been deducted, with the players receiving 70% of what's left.
  • The difference results in average salaries of $530K/$800K depending on approach—both a big jump from current ~$120K, but with a large gap still between sides.
  • Sabrina: “We are talking about a difference of…$530,000 per player (league proposal) and $800,000 per player (players’ proposal).” (04:25)

Work Stoppage Likelihood & Timeline

• The hosts use a fun “1 to 10” scale to rate how likely a work stoppage is at various points in the negotiation timeline.
  • Even now, with limited progress, Sabrina says, “We’re closer to a 4 now just because I really don’t think either party wants to miss games… It's just—we're just hitting a time crunch, right?” (10:54)
• Both sides are confident and neither wants to cede leverage; both believe their model is best for the league’s future.
• There’s a sense of urgency now—with expansion drafts and the WNBA/college calendars looming—because pending free agency could overlap with major events such as the NCAA Final Four and Transfer Portal.
  • Chantel: “…Now free agency could be happening during both the Final Four and the transfer portal window for the college season, which feels, I think for people like you and I who would be covering both, exhausting on top of an already exhausting time.” (13:34)
  • Sabrina adds: “It’s not ideal…It’s stretching everybody a little too thin, and it’s making everything feel a little bit less important, which is not what should be happening during March Madness.” (16:29)
• The “anchoring” negotiation strategy is discussed, with both hosts noting the vast difference between pre- and post-expense revenue sharing is a fundamental dispute.
  • Sabrina: “There is just a fundamentally different understanding of how the business works and what should be calculated as revenue and what belongs to the players, what belongs to the league and how to divvy it all up.” (19:37)

Memorable Quotes

• Chantel: “Before we even have deal or no deal, we have to have proposal or no proposal, because the answer was no proposal or no new proposal, at least.” (02:50)
• Sabrina: “The lack of anything happening is…troubling to me now.” (09:40)
• Chantel: “...the players, rightfully so, see this moment in women's basketball history… and it's sort of like, strike while the iron is hot. The iron is hot now.” (24:15)

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2. NCAA Women’s Tournament Bubble Watch with Eden Lasse

[29:03 – 48:39]

Bubble Basics & Big 12 Bubbles

• Bubble: Teams on the verge of either making or missing the tournament—usually slotted as 10–12 seeds or in 'First Four' play-in games.
  • Eden: “It essentially means the team is right on the cusp of either falling off or falling into the tournament.” (30:59)
• Big 12 has an unusual number of teams in “bubble city”—teams with similar resumes, beating each other and sharing similar results, creating difficulty in seeding.
  • Eden: “It's basically those Big 12 teams have been beating each other and then beating the same teams and then losing to the same teams. So that's how they've all ended up randomly on the same kind of wavelength.” (32:45)

Mid-Majors vs. Power Conferences

• Richmond, a notable mid-major, is on the bubble. Despite standout players like Maggie Dugan, their path is much harder.
  • Eden: “The thing about being a mid-major team is you really have no margin of error…they look at their schedule…and think, hey, we did a really good job…but then it comes time… and they don’t (get in), and then a Power 5 team…with 10 losses gets in.” (35:06)
• Strength of schedule, “Quad 1/Quad 2” wins, and Net Ranking are critical—wins against highly ranked teams (especially on the road) matter most.
  • Eden explains: “The net is a lot of different factors… margin of victory, if you’re playing on the road…quad one wins are…a quality win.” (38:00)

Teams to Watch: In, Out, and on the Brink

• Potential bubble teams that could play their way in: Villanova, Kansas (Big 12), and Utah.
• Key weekend games: Stanford (vs. Pitt, Georgia Tech)—must-win games to avoid falling off the bubble.
  • Eden: “…if they [Stanford] lose one of those games, I would think that they would fall out of the field.” (41:35)
• How smaller conference (A10, Ivy) tournament upsets can shrink the at-large bubble for bubble teams.
  • Ivy and A10 “could make people on the bubble sweat a little bit more this season.” (41:55)
• Other notable teams:
  • Utah and Colorado – Strength of schedule gives them a chance, but “bad losses” could erase their resume.
  • Virginia (ACC) – Good net ranking, but lacking marquee wins.
• Eden: “That's the thing about being on the bubble. One good thing happens to you and you're like, woohoo, we’re so in. And then you lose the game and oh no, we're out again. That's kind of the nature of the beast.” (47:41)

Memorable Quotes

• Eden: “The bubble is like…you’re so close, but you could go either way…” (30:59)
• Chantel: “Conferences…make their schedules and being like, we have all of these ranked games at the end…like we're gonna lose a bunch and not make the tournament, versus, like we're gonna win all these and punch our ticket.” (47:41)

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3. Winter Olympics Crossover: Women's Basketball Edition

[50:37 – 59:12]

Fun Matchmaking Segment

• Inspired by Florida Atlantic alum Brittany Bowe making Team USA in speed skating, the crew improvises which women’s basketball players could succeed in Winter Olympic sports.
• Curling “Team”: Sabrina picks a recently graduated quartet from Creighton (Lauren Jensen as skip, Morgan, Molly, Emma Rancic) for their chemistry and shooting accuracy. (52:57)
• Biathlon: Cross-country skiing plus rifle shooting—Minnesota natives like Gianna Neepkins, Mara Braun, and Battle are floated as picks for their athletic attributes and regional “fit.” (55:06)
• Juju Watkins: Multi-sport potential imagined—bobsled for speed/strength, ice dancing for balance/artistry, even hockey for team play.
  • Chantel (on Juju): “Juju has the kind of athleticism that...she could kind of excel in whatever you put her into.” (57:20)
• Segment brings out the light-hearted, collegial chemistry of the hosts and guest.

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “Before we even have deal or no deal, we have to have proposal or no proposal, because the answer was no proposal or no new proposal, at least.”
  – Chantel Jennings [02:50]

• “We are talking about a difference of… $530,000 per player (league proposal) and $800,000 per player (players’ proposal).”
  – Sabrina Merchant [04:25]

• “The lack of anything happening is…troubling to me now.”
  – Sabrina Merchant [09:40]

• “It's not ideal…It’s stretching everybody a little too thin, and it’s making everything feel a little bit less important, which is not what should be happening during March Madness.”
  – Sabrina Merchant [16:29]

• “The bubble is like…you’re so close, but you could go either way…”
  – Eden Lasse [30:59]

• “That's the thing about being on the bubble. One good thing happens to you and you're like, woohoo, we’re so in. And then you lose the game and oh no, we're out again. That's kind of the nature of the beast.”
  – Eden Lasse [47:41]

• “Juju has the kind of athleticism that...she could kind of excel in whatever you put her into.”
  – Chantel Jennings [57:20]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• CBA Breakdown: 02:03 – 25:50
• Bracketology & Bubble Watch: 29:03 – 48:39
• Winter Olympics Segment: 50:37 – 59:12

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Summary & Utility

This episode offers a thorough—and often wry—look into the critical off-court business side of the WNBA just as 2026 free agency and expansion loom, underlining the tension and strategic stalling between players and league. The bracketology segment is a must-listen (or read) for fans of college women’s basketball, providing clarity on bubble dynamics, key teams to watch, and laying out the harsh reality for mid-majors. The Olympic crossover game closes things with humor and unique sports nerdery.

For Listeners Who Missed It:

• Get insider context on why WNBA’s CBA is stalled, and how it impacts the quickly-approaching 2026 season.
• Understand why so many Big 12 teams (and Richmond) are bubble teams, and what differentiates a “resume win” from a missed opportunity.
• Learn the key NCAA games to watch for bubble implications through the weekend.
• Enjoy the hosts’ camaraderie and knowledge as they bring a sports-fandom twist to the Olympics.

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Hosts: Sabrina Merchant, Chantel Jennings
Guest: Eden Lasse
Duration of Key Segments:

• CBA: 02:03–25:50
• Bracketology: 29:03–48:39
• Olympic Fun: 50:37–59:12
  Listen for: Analytical context, insider explanations, fun banter, and sharp, accessible breakdowns of the women’s basketball landscape as March approaches.

Transcript

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[Sabrina Merchant]

Hello and welcome to no Off Season. I'm Sabrina Merchant.

[Chantel Jennings]

And I'm Shantelle Jennings.

[Sabrina Merchant]

And today on the show, bracketologist Eden Lasse is back with us as we dive into the current bubble watch for the women's NCAA tournament. We'll break down who's on the fringes of making the big dance, and we'll take a look at the teams that could sneak in or fall off if things shake out differently as we get closer to March Madness. But first, it's time for Deal or no Deal. For the first time in 2026, the WNBA and the players union met earlier this week to continue discussions toward a new collective bargaining agreement. However, the meeting ended with little progress toward a new deal. So before we go any further let's take a step back and recap where things stood prior to that meeting. Shantel, can you help us out? Where were the league and the players before Monday's meeting?

[Chantel Jennings]

Well, not close. That's kind of the TL doctor of this conversation. Revenue sharing remains sort of the piece that's keeping these two groups furthest apart. But I was gonna say perhaps we should rename this segment Proposal or no Proposal, because it was the league's turn, in some senses, to show up to a meeting with a proposal, since the players most recently submitted a proposal on Christmas morning, and they've been waiting to hear back from the league, and they went into this meeting and quickly found out that there would be no proposal from the W. NBA during this meeting. So I think even before we have deal or no deal, we have to have proposal or no proposal, because the answer was no proposal or no new proposal, at least. So I think that's. That's sort of where all of this stands right now, is that there is no deal. There is no proposal from the league. The two sides remain far apart on what revenue sharing should look like. And I think that's sort of the crux of this whole holdup at this point.

[Sabrina Merchant]

All right, so I know we've talked about this before, but just to keep people in the loop, because, again, it has been about six weeks since the most recent proposal. The players are proposing a system whereby all of the leagues and team revenue gets split right at the top. They'll take about 30% of it. The owners will take about 70% of it, and that 30% will inform the player's salary cap. The WNBA is proposing a system whereby they put all the team and league revenue in one bucket, and then they take out expenses. You know, whether that's arena costs, like staffing costs, personnel, travel, all sorts of things. And then once the expenses are taken out, they split the remaining pie between the players and the league, and the players would get 70% of that remaining pie. And of course, there is a discussion over what actually constitutes expenses, what goes into the overall revenue bucket when that split should be made. And essentially, it's resulting in a difference of the league system getting an annual salary of about $530,000 per player, and the players system giving an average salary of about $800,000 per player. So significant gaps, I would say, you know, between the money there. But should be noted that considering the average salary right now in the WNBA is about $120,000. Big jumps either way.

[Chantel Jennings]

Yeah, I think we haven't Fully, I guess, dove into this topic yet of a potential work stoppage because it's never happened in history. The 30 year history of the WNBA has never happened. Has happened in other professional leagues in the US and whether that would be a. Which would be triggered by the players or a lockout, which would be triggered by the ownership groups. But I'm curious, Sabrina, for you, like, let's do a game of 1 to 10. 10. Yes. Games will be missed. 10 games will be missed. 44 game schedule will be played. I want to throw out some dates to you in terms of this timeline. So players opted out of the CBA, the previous CBA in October 2024. At that point, what was your confidence level that one 44 game schedule would be played? 10, at least some games would be missed?

[Sabrina Merchant]

Yeah, I'd say one at that point. It was entirely expected from the moment the 2020 CPA was signed that the players would be opting out in 2024. Yeah.

[Chantel Jennings]

Okay, so then All Star Weekend feels like the next moment where players come out in the pay us what you owe us shirts. There's this huge sort of fan contingent that's behind them. Social media is all over this. Everyone's like, yeah, pay them what you owe them. At that point, public pressure feels like it's at an all time high on the owners, 1 to 10.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Well, it should be noted that this pay us what you owe us moment follows a meeting at All Star Weekend that the players say didn't really address anything. They just thought that they were talking there and nothing got accomplished. Which, as we've noted, is a theme that is going to emerge at a lot of these meetings that come after that July one. So I would say just because it was July at this point and what? That's nine months since they opted out. And it seems like very little had happened in the interim. Maybe we'd upped to a two by that point.

[Chantel Jennings]

Okay, so one to two. Still highly confident. 44 games will be played.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Still very much in the range of. We're getting a full 2026 season. Yes.

[Chantel Jennings]

Right. So then I think the next very public moment was obviously Nafeesa Collier's statements about the commissioner Kathy Engelbert during her exit interview in Minneapolis. I was on maternity leave at the time. I had recently given birth to twins. I was very much living under a rock. But this something that very much permeated my rock existence, it broke through, didn't it? It really broke through. And not just because I live in Minneapolis, but like I, I literally Have a neighbor who's a big women's basketball fan that I was walking the twins one day and she came out and was like, did you see what Fee said? I was like, I actually did, yes. I have these two tiny humans to keep alive. But I did see that. So Nafisa makes a statement at that point. Are you still feeling a two or is this up to a three?

[Sabrina Merchant]

Right. So she calls out the WNBA for having the worst leadership in the world, which, again, high bar, really, to clear. Even then, it's not as if the WNBA and players had been communicating all that much since All Star and the end of the season. The expectation was that things would pick up after the end of the regular season, when the players union was no longer dealing with basketball and able to focus on the collective bargain increment. But the tenor of those was those comments was something was something. So I'd probably go up to like a two and a half at this point. Okay.

[Chantel Jennings]

But still, like, this is very. It feels like the Runway, you know.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Like things are coming. Yeah.

[Chantel Jennings]

We are not yet building the plane.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Inspiration of the cba.

[Chantel Jennings]

Right.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Very much.

[Chantel Jennings]

Okay, so that's the next date. So the extension expires January 9th. This is a little less than a month ago. At that point, what does the two and a half become?

[Sabrina Merchant]

Honestly, about the same. I had no expectation of that extension leading to anything because it was encompassed so much of the holidays, which I realized people work during the holidays. I just didn't get the sense that this was something that was going to get accomplished over the Christmas New Year's period. I was actually kind of surprised by the term length of that extension. It was basically just taking the league up until where its natural free agency period would start on January 11th with the extension of qualifying offers and such. I wasn't really surprised at all that nothing happened by the extension. You know, our colleague Mike Vorkanoff has a podcast where I predicted that the deal would get done on February 22, back in November. So even with the extension expiring by January 9th, well within that range. So still still very solidly two and a half at that extension point.

[Eden Lasse]

Okay.

[Chantel Jennings]

All right, so we're taping this day on Thursday, February 5th. What's your number now?

[Eden Lasse]

Well, okay.

[Sabrina Merchant]

We should establish nothing has happened since the extension. Really, truly, nothing has happened. I understand they did meet, but the.

[Chantel Jennings]

Fact that nothing has happened is happening. Right. Like, exactly. The nothingness is something this.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Yeah, the. The nothing happening in, like, June of 2024. I'm sorry, June of 2025 is not as pressing to me as nothing happening In January of 2026, when the WNBA calendar should theoretically already be in full swing for the 2026 season. So the lack of anything happening is. Is troubling to me now. Again, I have a column that went up on the Athletic and like, stalling as a tactic makes a ton of sense to me earlier in the process. It honestly makes a ton of sense to me at this point in the process. If, like, there had been movement to this point, but the lack of movement leading up to this point and then a continuation of stalling and. No, no side really like making any move that is going to trigger a response from the other. Like, it's a little concerning to me now. I think we're heading toward like a three and a half, I realize, like, still very far from a 10 of missing games. Or like, I also don't really know how this scale works. Like, is a. Like that we're gonna miss like three games?

[Chantel Jennings]

No, no, no. Like a tennis. That we would miss some games. That it wouldn't be a tennis.

[Sabrina Merchant]

10 is absolutely in my head. 10 is like, I'm missing a full season. So I guess I've been calibrating incorrectly here.

[Chantel Jennings]

Yeah, we should have. We should have established that early.

[Sabrina Merchant]

No, no, we should have. I should have just listened to you more clearly. But I. I'd say we're closer to like a 4 now just because I really don't think either party wants to miss games. Like, I don't think as a negotiating point makes sense for either side to miss games. I've seen you could tell one side was like, yeah, we have no problem cutting this to a half length season or even getting rid of the season because there are critical issues that we need to iron out. Whereas I don't get the sense that either the WNBA or the players association believes missing games is going to help their cause. So I still believe that. Unfortunately, we are getting to a point of the calendar where a lot has to happen before games can be played. And that really is the only consideration where, like, maybe it just takes a little bit longer to come to terms on retirement benefits and housing and developmental roster spots and all this sort of thing. So just the lack of days to get the deal done is what's concerning me. Not the fact that I don't think a deal will get done or that a 2026 season won't get played. It's just. We're just hitting a time crunch, right? And that is sort of where I get a Little bit higher on this made up scale.

[Chantel Jennings]

I mean, I think we're at the point now where we realistically have to talk about this though, right? I think it was when I went on leave, it was like, oh, I'm going to be coming back sort of in the thick of free agency. Like, I'll be back in January, free agency is going to be happening. I did not expect this. I was at a one and then I came back, I was like, oh, interesting. This is where we are. But I think basically the league and the players, once they get to that point where they can have some sort of a paper deal, handshake, whatever it is, say we're doing this. They need roughly, you think like a week to have the expansion draft for Toronto and Portland.

[Sabrina Merchant]

I think a week to prepare for the expansion draft makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. I would imagine these teams have been spending their whole off season figuring out the expansion draft. It's the first thing on the list. Right. So they know which players they're going to protect. Portland and Toronto sort of know which players they want to, you know, go after. But then there's like the negotiating of like, hey, if we skip your team, is there any asset you can throw our way? Like that type of deal making still needs to happen I think during that week long period.

[Chantel Jennings]

And so then the next, you know, the only, I guess we have the start of the season, which is in ink.

[Sabrina Merchant]

May.

[Chantel Jennings]

The other thing we have May 8th. The other thing we have is April 13th is the college draft. And I feel like that's something that probably feels immovable as well, just because April is kind of a tough month. Because if you go much further, then you're bumping up to the NFL draft, which is something I don't think anyone wants to do. You don't want to be.

[Sabrina Merchant]

It is a monolith that no one wants to compete with. Yes, correct.

[Chantel Jennings]

Yeah, right. You don't want to compete with this. You want to have. So that's a 10 window. You know, if you can get the WNBA draft, they have the window. They have the space rented. Like they want that to happen. But I think we're kind of entering that period now where free agency happens before the college draft in the wnba and now it's like there could be an overlap. We're also hitting a point where like free agency could be happening during both the final Four and the transfer portal window for the college season, which feels, I think for people like you and I who would be covering both exhausting on top of an already exhausting time. I don't think we'll sleep. But also, I'm curious what you feel about the sense of urgency from both sides because there are more than 100 free agents in this WNBA off season. This is an incredible time for the league. The amount of growth, the amount of attention that could happen for this free agency cycle. And yet now they don't want to compete with the NFL draft. Could they be competing for eyeballs now with the Final Four and the transfer portal window? And what does that mean for sort of the attention accomplishments of women's basketball fans?

[Sabrina Merchant]

Yeah, I mean, we've talked so much about the growth of the WNBA over the last couple years and just the monumental strides it's taken in terms of attendance and TV viewership and, like, how many people watch the draft and the finals and incredible, you know, gains have happened in the wnba. And yet we're talking about a finals last season that was probably a fifth of the viewership of the Final Four or the national title game. I think even less than that, actually, because we had a UConn, South Carolina title game that had about eight and a half million viewers last year, and the finals averaged about one and a half million viewers, I think. Or those are the best numbers that we got during those games. So college basketball is still the most popular property of women's basketball in the wnba. And when is it most popular? It is most popular during the tournament, during the Sweet 16 Elite 8 Final 4 National Championship game. And we're looking at the calendar here. If a deal starts to get done early March, which seems like the best possible scenario considering less than a month away from that particular date, and a lot of things have to get ironed out before then. I don't see how this is beneficial for the WNBA to go up against those biggest states in college basketball. Most women's basketball fans, I think, are. I don't say most, but a lot of women's basketball fans are fans of both. But at the time during March, they focus their attention on college basketball as they naturally should, because that is when the most exciting things are happening in college basketball. And to have a free agency period, which could have been like the most exciting thing in the WNBA because, like you said, more than 100 unrestricted free agents, all of these stars are free agents. They're going to be having the opportunity to join new teams. Like the dominoes from the wnba. Exactly. And for that to be like while people are watching, you know, an Elite Eight game between UConn and Michigan, like, that just seems not Ideal for either one. Right. Like, one for the very limited media core that is responsible for covering all of this, and two for the fans who would want to pay attention to one versus the other. And I think this is a losing proposition for the WNBA because of all the interest that exists in college basketball. I also think it's a problem for the front offices because they do a lot of scouting during the tournament. Right. And do you want to be focused on, like, your actual, you know, scouting, not just for the present. Right. It's not just seniors that you look at the NCAA tournaments, freshmen through juniors, and getting the tape on them as you build your analyses for upcoming draft classes. And then you have to deal with that scouting while also working on negotiating deals and recruiting free agents. It's just a lot of effort to assign to WNBA front offices, which are not as built out as NBA front offices. There are limited resources for everybody in this field still. Yeah. I think it's stretching everybody a little too thin, and it's making everything feel a little bit less important, which is not what should be happening during March Madness.

[Chantel Jennings]

So I did a fellowship year at Michigan, and I took a negotiating class with MBA students, which was hilarious. I'm in there as this sports journalist. I'm like, hey, I'm not an MBA student. Not here at the Ross Business School.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Getting negotiating is important for this.

[Chantel Jennings]

It is for all things. However, you know, we had a wonderful professor, and I just remember her talking a lot about the importance of anchoring. And basically, it was this idea that when you go into a negotiation, if you're the first. First, if you're the first to put forward any kind of a proposal, you want to anchor hard. Because if someone says, you know, I want to pay this person, and we'll use smaller numbers, because I think that's some of this, too, where it's like, right now we're getting to the point, like, an average salary of 500 versus $800,000 to the majority of people, that's like huge amounts of money. Right. Like, whether you're making 500 or 80.

[Sabrina Merchant]

For either of those.

[Chantel Jennings]

Right. I think 99% of people would. Obviously, we understand why this negotiation is happening. I'm saying for the average listener, the average reader, the average fan, that's sort of like following along. Like, those numbers are harder to conceptualize. Right. There is a clear and significant difference, especially when we're talking about the revenue of the WNBA and sort of the trajectory that it's on right now. Totally understand that. But, like, let's say Someone is trying to hire someone and they want to pay like 25 an hour. This feels like a little bit more understandable, at least in my math brain. And you go in and you say, well, I actually want to be paid $40 an hour. Suddenly the person, the. The employer is saying, oh, well, I have to move more. And usually the person who anchors harder, you end up closer to where they want to be. And it just feels in this instance as though there is anchoring. But there's also just a stylistic difference here whether they're sharing the revenue before or after expenses. And so that's where I kind of don't know exactly, because people are like, well, where are they going to end up closer to the what the players want or what the league wants? I'm like, well, they're also kind of like speaking about different systems here. So it's hard to say. And I think there's also. We don't know exactly what the league is saying in terms of its expenses and those numbers and how all of this math sort of maths in this situation.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Right? And then the anchoring is interesting because let's say, you know, the employer comes in saying they want to pay $25 an hour, and the employee comes in saying, oh, I was expecting to get paid $200 an hour. And like, there's a. There has to be like a reasonable meeting in the mid. And I think what we've sort of heard from both sides is that the league is contending that there would be hundreds of millions of dollars of losses from the players proposal, which is basically saying they're the ones asking for $200 an hour, which is a number that they can't even try to meet because it is so antithetical to the business. And the players are saying, obviously their math with expansion beast calculated in as part of the lease revenue supports that kind of model. And I think that's really the problem here is that there is just a fundamentally different understanding of how the business works and what should be calculated as revenue and what belongs to the players, what belongs to the league and how to divvy it all up. And the fact that that still exists, what, 14 months early February, after. Yeah, yeah, I think like 15 months actually after the opt out is astounding to me. Like, how has that one term not been figured out when literally going into the opt out? The WNBA Players Association's tagline was its business, right? The entire basis of their opt out was creating a new revenue model for the league that compensated the players based on the growth of the business. That is the number one thing they wanted to do and they still haven't figured out how to do that 15 months later. And so it's just mind boggling to me that neither side has come to that sort of understanding when like, what else have you been doing for 15 months is what I really want.

[Chantel Jennings]

It's sort of like nothing else matters. If that part isn't SOL Free league pass or not, I don't think anyone cares. Figure out the revenue sharing model and then freely.

[Sabrina Merchant]

That's already a part of the current cba. It's not a new addition to cpa.

[Chantel Jennings]

Right. So. But it's, you know, it's like it just sort of feels, I agree with you that it's like this was. I get that you eat an elephant one bite at a time, but this is so clearly the first bite. Right. It's not even the numbers, but it's like, how are we going to get to a place where the numbers matter? It's figuring out whether this revenue share cut comes before or after expenses and what those expenses are and then finding the number. And so it's sort of like if that system isn't in place, I mean, what else are we talking about?

[Sabrina Merchant]

So I guess. Chantal, I realize this is a tricky question to ask because I don't even have an answer here, but.

[Chantel Jennings]

Well, then I know what either side.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Can do to really motivate the other one to is this time. Do you think for one side to actually trigger a work savage, do you think that would make a meaningful difference here? What can the union do? Or what can the lead to really just light a fire and actually increase the pace of, of negotiation here?

[Chantel Jennings]

I don't know, because it sort of feels like if someone had that idea, it would have already happened. Right. And we know that the play. What we're hearing from people is that the players have agreed to a work stoppage. If that's what it takes, that's what they will do. And they will get to that point where that line is, I don't know. I think you and I have both been asking people, you know, what is sort of this date of, you know, I guess that we hit the 10 on my imaginary scale of like, when is the league going to miss games? Like, is that March 1st? Is that March 5th? And are these conversations happening behind closed doors where it's like, we need to get to this point? This is an interesting negotiation in that both sides need each other to do well here. Right. Because the league needs the players. And the players need the league. Like, the players do have other options now with other leagues. They have overseas play, if that's what it comes to. Like, they have other things, but it needs. The players need the W, and the W needs the players. And so it's sort of like they're rowing the boat in the same direction. They just haven't figured out that primary point. And so I genuinely don't know, do you? You already said you don't have a sense, but, like, what is your sense at this point?

[Sabrina Merchant]

Yeah, I think neither side really wants to cede any leverage. Right. Like, they both feel like they're in a point where they haven't given up what they want yet. Right. Like, the players are confident that their proposal captures the share of revenue that, like, they deserve, at least at this point in the business's growth. And the WNBA is convinced that, like, their proposal incentivizes the owners to continue to invest in the growth of the league and, like, maintains that it's a profitable business. And I don't think either side wants to move off of that yet because they think that they can still get it, you know? And so, yeah, I. I'm sort of lost here. Like, what. What is it that either side can do? I mean, I'm not. I'm not the negotiator, but I really wonder, like, what they're thinking as to, like, when they have to, like, make a big sort of swing here.

[Chantel Jennings]

I do think there is a historical perspective here, too, where there have been previous CBAs where the players feel like they haven't capitalized on everything and that they've settled for less than they deserve. Right. And so I think the players, rightfully so, see this moment in women's basketball history, the arc of it, and see the community support, the fan support, just the growth of every TV viewership in person, viewership, funding, all of that. They see this moment, and it's sort of like, strike while the iron is hot. Like, the iron is hot now. And I think there is a real understanding that this is the moment for the players, that support and attention has never been higher. Yeah. I think I would have not believed that a stoppage would happen, but I do think the players could get to that point because I think they understand the gravity of this moment and what this could mean, not just for this contract, but moving forward. And I don't think they want to be four years down the road and think, like, damn, we could have done better for our players here.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Yeah. And as you mentioned, they have authorized a strike vote if and when that it comes to that. You know, we're just lingering in this status quo of nothing happening. And I, I really don't think I understood what status quo meant until it started and realized like, oh, like literally nothing is happening. That's what this means. Nothing, nothing is going to change until somebody forces a change. And you know, we're still waiting on that, that change to happen. But until then, we will keep you covered on the CBA here as always. And up next, we're going to talk brackets as we take a look at the bubble with our bracketologist Eden Lasse.

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[Chantel Jennings]

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[Sabrina Merchant]

All right. We are now joined by our resident bracketologist Eden Lasse, who helped us get ready for the tournament a couple weeks ago with her bracket watch and is now back for bubble watch. So with five weeks left until selection Sunday, Eden, thank you so much for rejoining the show to help us prepare.

[Eden Lasse]

Yeah, thanks so much for having me back.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Yeah, so first, before.

[Chantel Jennings]

Hold on, before we jump into the tournament, good journalists paint a picture. Sabrina. I think for all of our listeners that aren't following along on YouTube right now, we should let them know that Eden is currently. Her backdrop is wood paneling and this copper horse that like I don't know what's going on. I love that you're joining us from your grandparents basement. I kind of feel like we should talk about like an early 80s version of the NCAA tournament because you're coming to us from the past, but we can definitely talk about 2026 too.

[Eden Lasse]

So listen, we're. I'm in Michigan for my grandpa's 96th birthday. He built this house in the 70s. It has not changed since the 70s. They did finally get wi fi, but this was like five years ago and it only works in the basement. And if you'll believe it, my sister's actually staged this background. This was the best that we could come up with.

[Chantel Jennings]

So should we be talking about like Louisiana Tech then at this point? Yeah, bring it on back.

[Eden Lasse]

You know, I know it Literally looks like I'm coming to you from a different year. So.

[Sabrina Merchant]

So the same sister who created the equation for you to seed your bracket is also the one who is staging the copper horse background.

[Eden Lasse]

No, this is the other one. So this is Emily, who was upset that she didn't get a shout out and Ellen did. So shout out, Emily, for my background.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Are you a family of multifaceted E's?

[Eden Lasse]

Yeah, we are, yeah. Emily, Ellen and Eden. Yep.

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Wow.

[Chantel Jennings]

All right. Now we can actually talk about basketball then. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Eden Lasse]

Sorry, sorry.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Basketball in the past now. Yes, I guess. Second thing. Second. Now that we've addressed that, Eden, can you just tell us what exactly does it mean? What is the bubble?

[Eden Lasse]

Yeah, so the bubble is like something that if you've ever watched, you know, college basketball, you probably start hearing a ton about around this time of the year. Right. And you probably won't say the word bubble nearly as much throughout the rest of the calendar year, but it essentially means the team is right on the cusp of either falling off or falling into the tournament. So a lot of things can go into factoring, like, where they end up, but that's just what the bubble is. It's like, oh, you're so close, but you could go either way kind of situation.

[Chantel Jennings]

So Eden, can you explain to our listeners then? Because it's, you know, it's not as though seating is like 1 through 64 where you're the best team in the country and the 64th best team in the country. Right. Like all of the seating has different implications and there's a reason why we sort of see mid major start at a certain point and auto qualifiers end at a certain seating level. Like, where are we seeing these bubble teams slot into the actual seeds for the tournament?

[Eden Lasse]

Yeah, that's a great question. So we're going to see the bubble teams kind of end up in that 10, 11, 12 situation. Some of them are going to be in the first four games where you have 11 seeds playing each other and they're gonna be like, generally you'll get mid majors in there every now and then, but generally those are going to be like your Power 5 teams that are like right on the cusp of getting in or, you know, maybe they don't have that great of records, but they, they did beat this one team one time. So we're gonna get them in because that really boosted their resume. And then so the other teams are going to avoid the play ins, the ones that actively, like, earned their bid through winning their conference.

[Sabrina Merchant]

So when you talk about sitting on the bubble. It feels like the bubble watch that you recently did for the Athletic is just a lot of Big 12 teams. What, what is it about the Big 12 that is so, so bubbly at this time of year?

[Eden Lasse]

Yeah, you know, I think the funny thing about that is when you really get into the weeds of trying to decide who should be in, who should be out, it's basically those Big 12 teams having beating each other and then beating the same teams and then losing to the same teams. So that's how they've all ended up randomly on the same kind of wavelength. Like, I think here, let's look at what we have for some of these teams. You know, Utah beat tcu. That was their really great win. So that's doing a lot of heavy lifting to get them into that last four group. They also beat Kansas and West Virginia. And then if you go down, it's like, oh, Colorado is also in there and they beat Iowa State and they beat Kansas and they made Oklahoma State. And so it's just them all playing each other, losing to each other, splitting games, and that makes it really hard. And then again, because of their, you know, conference, the strength of schedule in your conference really does weigh into your overall rankings. So because they're all in the same conference and beating the same teams and losing to the same teams, their rankings end up getting really close together. So that's kind of why the Big 12 is just bubble city right now.

[Chantel Jennings]

I think it's fascinating to look at your grouping. So obviously if people want to go onto the website and check out Eden's story, it says, women's basketball bubble watch. Will Iowa State make the tournament? You're sort of looking at these last four buys, the last four in. So currently those are the teams, those eight teams are on the bubble that are getting into the tournament. And then the first four out, the next four out are on the worst side of the bubble. Richmond is a team that just sort of fascinates me in this conversation. Mainly because I think so many of us that follow the sport have been so impressed with Maggie Dugan over the past two years. She's a player that I think had she entered the portal, would have had her pick of schools. And many wondered sort of will this mid major player who helped lead her team to the second round of the NCAA tournament played a really competitive second round game at USCLA last year against the Bruins, like, would she somewhere. And the idea that a team like that wouldn't get into the tournament this year, maybe talk A little bit about that path because we are seeing so many Big 12 or power conference teams in this conversation. But to see a mid major like that, that a lot of people have so much respect for, what do they need to do to get into the tournament? How can we see Maggie play in March?

[Eden Lasse]

Yeah, I think it would be a shame if we didn't get to see her. Right. Because like you mentioned, she was one of the best players on the court. Often the best player on the court in that UCLA game, which is really saying something when you look at that roster. And she's been so good for Richmond and she's, you know, however you feel about the portal. She's been loyal to her team and she decided to stay. So I'd love to see her in the tournament. But the thing about being a mid major team is you really have no margin of error, right? So Richmond is in the A10, which is actually a really good conference, you know, overall in terms of mid major conferences. But, but they are not in first place. So if you get your automatic qualifier, you get in. And that's kind of the only way you can do it unless you are absolutely perfect throughout the whole tournament. Right. So they are second in the A10 behind Rhode island, who's a great team. They've got no bad losses, but they also don't have opportunity to get, you know, those signature wins. And so that's the frustrating thing I think for a lot of mid major teams is, you know, they look at their schedule, they look at who they've played and they think, hey, we did a really good job here. And then it comes time to hear their name called and they don't. And then you know, a Power 5 team, Power 4 team that has 10 losses gets in. And so I think that's the frustrating thing for them.

[Chantel Jennings]

So what's the difference then? Richmond was an at large team out of the A10 last year. George Mason won their conference tournament. What was the difference then between them making it as a mid major last year? Or were they. I guess did you have them on the bubble again last year? Like what's the difference between last season and this season? Why did they maybe seem less likely than last year?

[Eden Lasse]

Yeah, I think the problem this season is they, they scheduled really hard. So their strength of schedule is going to help them out. But they don't really have any of those signature wins, those quad one wins that they had last year. And so that is going to really hurt them. And then again like I mentioned, you know that the top of that conference is really good. So there are George Mason, Rhode island, and then of course Richmond, who we're talking about, who could all really be tournament teams. But of course they're going to be each other, and then that kind of hurts them. But that's just sort of the way the, you know, equations and the committee and the powers of B set things up.

[Sabrina Merchant]

So, I mean, I think Richmond and George Mason play each other this weekend. Would that be considered like a resume boosting win for either team that wins that one? Or does it matter, like, who's at home if, like, that counts as a big win or not?

[Eden Lasse]

I mean, yeah, it would count as a big win. Right. Because I don't know exactly if it'd be a quad one or a quad two. I'd have to look at that. That. But just because those are the biggest teams in the conference. Now, if Richmond is to lose that game, I think that basically kills their chance of getting in as an at large bid. Just because, again, like we said, you know, that's not going to help their resume. It's only going to hurt their resume. Essentially. The problem is at this point, they don't really have any chances to boost their resume. They only have chances to make it worse by losing to a team that. But, you know, they probably shouldn't.

[Chantel Jennings]

You've mentioned the words quad one and net ranking. Could you maybe explain those for people that aren't as familiar?

[Eden Lasse]

Yeah, absolutely. So they're kind of intertwined. Right. So the net is a lot of different factors go into it. It's strength of schedule, it's your record, it's your margin of victory, it's whether you were playing on the road or at home, et cetera. And then the quad one wins are either you play and you win against a net 1 through 30 team at home, or you played a neutral site against a net 1 through 50 team or away against a net 1 through 75 team. So it's essentially just a quality win. Right. You go either on the road and beat a good team or you win against a really good team is kind of how I would explain it if you really want to get into the weeds. It is like all of that, you know, who did they beat, how much did you beat them by? And there are things that kind of make the net a little difficult to weed through, because, for example, if you beat up on teams, if you're playing really bad teams, but you're beating them by 60 points, the net takes that into account. So that's why we saw LSU with such a high net ranking at the beginning of the year when they weren't playing anyone that really was any good.

[Sabrina Merchant]

So when we talk about resume boosting wins, those are basically only the quad one and quad two wins, right?

[Eden Lasse]

Yeah, exactly. And then a bad loss would be if you lose in quad three or quad four.

[Sabrina Merchant]

So just looking at the list of teams that you have on the bubble, in this latest bubble watch, we've got some big names like Iowa State, Stanford. I think USC was even in there. Just sort of as a cautionary tale of like, do they care? Yeah, exactly. Who are some teams that like are sort of on the outside right now that you could see playing their way in with like a nice finish to the conference schedule?

[Eden Lasse]

Yeah, absolutely. So when I talked about those net rankings, currently I have Villanova kind of on the first four out. That is as of this morning, which I think was different than my article yesterday, but that's how fast it changes. But Villanova has good wins against a good win against West Virginia. And then there are other good win is against Seton hall. But because the Big east isn't that strong, they have a lot of chances to really run up their scores and boost their net ranking that way. So that could really help them. Then another one I think that could actually do pretty well is Kansas. Like we talked about the good old Big 12 being bubble city, right. They, you know, beat Minnesota, who's really high up, Big Ten team, really high up in the net ranking and they have the 15th best strength of schedule in the country. So that's really going to help them out. And then, you know, they have a chance to beat some good teams down the stretch and so that could give them a boost as well.

[Sabrina Merchant]

We are Julia Davis pro podcast here, so absolutely. For sure.

[Eden Lasse]

She's so fun. Would love to see her in March, for sure.

[Chantel Jennings]

Eden, this will air on Friday. Are there any games that you specifically have circled this weekend or maybe going into Monday that you think people, if they want to pay attention to the bubble or some wins that could help or losses that could hurt any games that, that you want to call out specifically?

[Eden Lasse]

Yeah, I would say the next two games that Stanford plays against Pitt and Georgia are going to be huge for them. Right now I do have them in as a team that's going to get a buy. So that means they're going to avoid those first four games and that's going to be because of their net ranking being pretty good, because of their strength of schedule being pretty good. And then they've got wins Over Washington and North Carolina and Oregon who are all in the field currently, but they have lost. They're on a little bit of a losing streak right now. Four game losing streaks. And I mentioned last time I was on that the committee really values what have you done for me lately? So they're going to need to get some wins here. And Pitt and Georgia Tech, you know, they would not be good, good losses for them. They'd be those later quads that we talked about. So if they lose one of those games, I would think that they would fall out of the field.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Are there any conferences that you see that would sort of shrink the bubble? Like I know every so often there's like someone that like wins the automatic qualifier that really shouldn't have and then like somebody else has to take the at large.

[Chantel Jennings]

The A10 conferences.

[Sabrina Merchant]

The A10, I mean, ye, totally. So like, are there any conferences at UC this year that are sort of like primed for, you know, making people on the bubble sweat a little bit more this season?

[Eden Lasse]

Yeah, I would say the Ivy League could be one as always. You know, Princeton was really in great position to kind of run away with that and we even talked about them potentially hosting. But because the Ivy League isn't considered a strong conference, they've fallen, you know, out of that four or five spot now down to like a seven seed. Right. So if Columbia or even Harvard was to win in that conference, I would still think Princeton has a strong enough schedule, strength of schedule, strong enough net, etc to get in. So that could hurt somebody. Especially because, you know, Madison St. Rose just got hurt. You know, we don't know her status. So if she doesn't come back, that could impact Princeton. So the Ivy could do that. The A10 again could do that like we mentioned because you know, if Rhode island suddenly loses some games and Richmond gets in, then, you know, Rhode island could potentially also get in. But if they lose to some bad teams in that conference, they won't. And then Richmond will get that spot and then a 10 suddenly becomes a one bit league. So it's always going to be kind of those smaller conferences that are going to be the ones that, you know, impact the bubble. Right. Like, you know, the sec. No one's really going to suddenly, ooh, shrink up. Like there's going to be a ton of teams from there in there. It's going to be a ton of.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Auburn has a chance to get the SEC there.

[Eden Lasse]

If they did, that would be crazy. I, yeah, I will, I'll issue a formal apology if they do win the SEC tournament and get in. But as it stands, I really. If you're a bubble team, you got to be paying attention to what's happening in those smaller conferences because those are the ones that can kind of bite you at the end.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Yeah. Any other teams you think we should keep an eye on like that are just lingering around the fringes of the bubble that, I don't know, could be interesting coming into the tournament?

[Eden Lasse]

Yeah, I think Utah is a really interesting team because we have seen them at their peak. They beat tcu, who is a team that's going to get, you know, probably a two or a three seed as it stands right now. So when they're on, they're really on. But that, that TC win is doing a lot of heavy lifting for them right now. It is their best win and they've had a few like bad losses in there as well. But I do think Utah is a team that if they get in, they could be a lot of, a lot of those teams. Colorado is another interesting team. They've also played a really, really hard schedule. They're 20th in strength of schedule right now. And again we see them, you know, the Big 12 beating each other. They beat Iowa State, Oklahoma State and Kansas. And they are actually played really, really close to Baylor, which was good. It's kind of a classic JRP team where their defense is just unbelievable and so they can beat a lot of teams, but nobody can really shoot the ball, so that hurts them. So they're a team that could surprise someone as well if, you know, suddenly they're beating them. Their defense is really kind of scary in your face. And teams sort of tighten up because they realize, ooh, if we lose, we go home. So those are a couple teams that I have my eye on.

[Chantel Jennings]

Eden, you kind of mentioned that the committee looks at what have you done for me lately. And I don't know, I don't think there's like an on this out there. But you look at a team like Utah, they have seven more games in the regular season. None come against ranked teams. Like you said, that TCU win at home, 10 point win over TCU doing a lot of heavy lifting for the Utes. Is it better to sort of have this win streak down the stretch? Even if none come against ranked teams, none are sort of those marquee wins. Or would it be better almost if they had a close loss at TCU late? You know, if they got go 70 against 7 unranked teams? Or is it better to go 6 and 1 if your 1 loss is really quality loss, like not a blowout 40 points like they had to UConn earlier this season, but if they lost by like 2 at TCU on the road.

[Eden Lasse]

Yeah, this is where it gets interesting, right, Because I'm really trying to get inside the mind of a committee member and you know, they have all these factors that they take in that they say are really important. But we also always have that human element of what committee member may think winning all your games down the stretch is way more important. And another may say, well, hold on, they needed to play someone stronger. So it's unfortunately kind of a toss up just what they overall value more. I would say your, you know, best bet is to not lose a game just because if you get a bad loss in there, that's the worst. But if they were to play a team like TCU down the stretch, play them close, I don't think that would impact them at all. If they were to. Let's look at the rest of their schedule. Let's say they lose to Arizona last game or, or Cincinnati, that would really hurt them. But other than that, like if they beat Oklahoma State, that would be considered a good win. Same with Iowa State. And again, these are all their, you know, fellow bubble teams. So they can kind of kick somebody out and earn their place by winning. Winning out.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Just one more thing for me. I know we've talked a lot about Big 12 bubble city, but it seems like the ACC is also very bubble city. We mentioned Stanford. Anybody else who can sort of play their way in with some good performances in the ACC can coming up.

[Eden Lasse]

Yeah, so Virginia is an interesting one because they also have a high net ranking. Again, that's what we talked about, you know, your strength of schedule, you know, your win margin of victory, etc. But they don't have any, you know, quality, really quality wins. You know, they beat, their best win right now was a win over Clemson, who's another fellow bubble team. And then they have a good loss, an overtime loss to NC State. So Virginia would really need to get some wins down the stretch in order to get in. Virginia has games to against Notre Dame, Louisville, North Carolina, Stanford and Virginia Tech. So if they were to be say Louisville or North Carolina, that would be huge for them and that could be a big time resume booster. Right. But also there's a lot of chances to lose and so that could hurt them as well. But I think both ways, let's say. Yeah, yeah, that's the thing about being on the bubble. You know, one good thing happens to you and you're like, woohoo, we're so in. And then you lose the game and oh no, we're out again. That's kind of the nature of the beast.

[Chantel Jennings]

I also feel like this is where the conspiracy theorists really thrive in terms of, like, how conference schedules are made. I don't know which coach I can think of just, I mean, several complaining about how conferences make their schedules and being like, we have all of these ranked games at the end and sort of thinking like we're gonna lose a bunch of these and not make the tournament versus, like we're gonna win all these and punch our ticket.

[Eden Lasse]

Yeah, no, I definitely think that is a factor and I can see why you might be annoyed as a coach. But again, it's all about your perspective. You can look at it. Here's an opportunity to get some good and and sneak your way in there.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Yeah. Well, Eden, thank you so much for coming back and explaining to us the bubble and you know, which teams keep an eye on going forward. Can we look forward to another bracket watch this Friday on the site?

[Eden Lasse]

Yeah, I can't wait. Yes, we will have a bracket watch. There's a ton of great games tonight. Gonna keep me up very late looking at the bracket thinking about the bubble, but I look forward to being back on the show again and to bring you guys some more bracketology content.

[Sabrina Merchant]

We look forward to it too. Make sure you check out Eden's rocket watch on our site next week. And keep up with the bubble watch on the site too. For now, we're going to be wrapping things up with a little Olympics game, so stick around after the break.

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[Sabrina Merchant]

All right, before we wrap up here, let's have a little fun. The Winter Olympics are starting today in Milan. Cortina. Big deal at the athletic. Big deal in the world. Chantel, are you an Olympics fan?

[Chantel Jennings]

I love the Olympics. I feel like in the summer I find myself watching everything, like including the marathon minute by minute. In the winter, I suddenly become a winter sports fan. Even though I didn't do any winter spring sports ever in my life. I skied for like two years. But yeah, I mean it's just like riveting. And I think the winter sports too, like, are just even more insane in some ways. Like the ski jumping winter sports are.

[Sabrina Merchant]

A little too death defying for my personal taste. But I do love figure skating. That was actually my favorite sport as a kid. Figure skating, curling. I get really into every four years. You know, little bum that John Shuster didn't make it back. Captain America. But yeah, no, I love the Olympics and, and we're going to talk a little Winter Olympics women's basketball crossover here today. Fun fact, there's actually a speed skater for Team USA who is a four year player at Florida Atlantic University. Brittany Bowe, a women's basketball player. So it sort of inspired us to think about what other women's basketball players could have a future in the Winter Olympics. Shantel, I know you wanted to start us off a little matching exercise here.

[Chantel Jennings]

Yeah. So shout out to Brittany for the generation of this idea. But I thought I can give you a sport sport and maybe you can give me a women's basketball player or players that you think would be a nice fit. Put on your scouting hat. Let's do some cross sport matching here. Let's start with curling and I specifically want you to come up with a team of four. I did some research. So there's the lead, the second, the third and the skip. The skip is the captain. So I would like you to pick a skip and everyone throws the stones and sweeps. Apparently I was unaware of that. I haven't overwatched it that closely. I thought there were like Sweeper. Specific people and stone throwers. No, you have to rotate, so you need. Yeah, you have to rotate, so you have to have good aim, good coordination, good balance. You have to be a good listener if you're not the skip. You have to be a good leader if you are the skip. So a four team women's curling team out of the women's basketball world. I think you can go pro or college here. I'm curious who you're going to pick.

[Sabrina Merchant]

My inclination is to pick players who are on the same team just for team chemistry, you know, and I don't know why. My thought first went to a recently graduated group of players from Creighton who were there forever. They just seem to have the look and vibe of all excellent shooters, which I think is really important for curling. You know, like the Morgan, Molly, Lauren Jensen, Emma Rancic. Like, thinking of a fourth player on Creighton. Help me out here, Chantel.

[Chantel Jennings]

This is a deep cut. I can't think of the Blue Jays roster. I've had two humans since they were.

[Sabrina Merchant]

On the team for, like.

[Chantel Jennings]

Didn't think you were going back.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Creighton.

[Chantel Jennings]

Yeah. They had the core four for, like, 27 years at Creighton.

[Sabrina Merchant]

This is a group that, like, not only played together at Creighton, but also did a lot of USA three on three together. Let's throw in. How about. Who's. Who's the fourth that I want to make on this with Lauren. We'll throw in Molly Mogenson as the fourth. Yeah. So that's gonna be my four. I'm gonna give Lauren Jensen the skip just because I think the most stones out of this whole group. The big shot against Iowa in 2022.

[Chantel Jennings]

How can we forget?

[Sabrina Merchant]

That's what I'm gonna go with.

[Eden Lasse]

That's fair.

[Sabrina Merchant]

I know it's not what you expected, Chantel, but I like the chemistry. I think that they're all a little bit south of curling country, but close enough to where it's gonna work.

[Chantel Jennings]

Okay. I have one other sport that I would like you to attach a player to. This is a sport that is not Minnesotan in nature, but it is Scandinavian in nature. And therefore I, as a Minnesotan, feel a real connection to it. Although I don't know how to do either of these things. Biathlon. It is both long distance cross country skiing and rifle shooting. It is Minnesotan to me in that it makes no sense a little bit. But I would like to set up parameters for this one and that I'd like you to pick a Minnesotan or maybe three Minnesotans that you would like to see compete in this. Gotcha again.

[Eden Lasse]

Again.

[Chantel Jennings]

I think you need someone who has endurance, speed, hand, eye coordination. Yeah, all of the. All of the things. Who are we looking at here? For some Minnesota, my first thought would.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Be Gianna Neepkins, Duluth's own. The sharpshooting is really what came to mind originally with the rifling. I don't know about the speed so much. The speed of her release is there. The endurance is there. She played a lot of minutes at Utah, doesn't have to do so much at ucla. So we'll go. We'll go. Jan and Eakins first. As one of Minnesota's own tone. Unfortunately, my database of Minnesota basketball players is not as long as yours is. So I worry that I'm already running out here. Am I allowed to pick pro players or just college?

[Chantel Jennings]

Yeah, go pro.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Go pro. Go pro. I mean, I don't want to just like, do the easy answer and pick Paige because I think she'd be good at everything, frankly. Like, she's just a fantastic athlete. But I mean, if I had to pick three, she might end up on the list. Hmm.

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Who else?

[Sabrina Merchant]

Minnesota wise. All right. I think I can pick somebody who plays for the Gophers right now, right?

[Chantel Jennings]

Yeah, of course.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Are there. There's gotta be a good frame of reference of Minnesota players who are homegrown. I think that was like the entire theory behind their roster. Right? Yep.

[Chantel Jennings]

And I will say, as a Minnesotan, like, cross country skiing is very popular here. I feel like if. It's probably something that a lot of kids do in recess potentially. I don't have any middle school age children. It's also popular enough that in the summ, people have like little rollerblade skis that they do on the parkway where they'll. You'll see them. Like, it looks like they're cross country skiing down the parkway.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Gotcha.

[Chantel Jennings]

But they're actually off season training for cross country skiing. So I really feel like, you know, not to use the biathlon thing here, but you're shooting fish in a barrel. Just pick a Minnesotan and they'd probably be decent.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Minnesota.

[Chantel Jennings]

All right.

[Sabrina Merchant]

You know, I think, I think my battle Mara Braun. I worry about Mara Bronze. Like, honestly, just her ability to hang that long. You know, endurance in this particular event, never been the most fair, a little bit brittle. So I think. I think battle might be the way to go here. Minnesota's own state in Minnesota, probably very bound to Minnesota sports. Even if this is not a Minnesota sport.

[Chantel Jennings]

Scandinavian sure, sure.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Okay, I'm gonna give you an athlete and you just tell me what winter sport you think think they would most excel at. All. Right. I realize she's not currently playing, but how about juju Watkins?

[Chantel Jennings]

Ooh, juju. What could I see juju doing? I mean, juju has the kind of athleticism that like Paige, I think she could kind of excel in whatever you put her into.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Hmm.

[Chantel Jennings]

I wonder if. Let's see here. I'm trying to think of all the sports that we could think of that combine things. I wouldn't want to put her in necessarily. Like a ski jumping event.

[Sabrina Merchant]

Gotta protect the knees.

[Chantel Jennings]

Gotta protect the knees here. But I guess I'm thinking of sort of like bobsled or luge. Something where her speed can really come. Like her speed and strength combined. I was actually as I was trying to come up with a sport for you as I was learning about what makes a good bobsledder. The average bobsledder is actually much larger and stronger on the men's side than I realize. I assume the same might be true on the women's side. I think of Lolota Jones, who's like 5, 9 and was obviously summer and winter Olympic athlete. I think juju could be kind of. She's strong enough, she's fast enough. Good team player in that four person bob. Could see her doing that. I'm also just such a fan of juju. Is actually a dancer growing up, I think. Right. She did dancing. And so I wonder if ice dancing would be something she could be good at. As someone that went to college at Michigan, which has been a large factory for Team USA ice dancers, I have a real soft spot in my heart for ice dancing, so maybe that as well.

[Sabrina Merchant]

I was thinking juju, just like the team player part of it. Hockey makes a ton of sense to me. You know, still a five person lineup on the ice versus the court, but maybe I'm thinking two small potatoes here, you know, gotta expand and the vision.

[Chantel Jennings]

No, I think, you know, I'm probably the only Minnesotan who doesn't like ice hockey. You know, I was scarred as a child because I smelled my cousin's hockey equipment and I was like, good God, that is horrible. Never doing that sport. There are actually many sports that I have totally just for bad reasons. Just stopped watching it because of stuff like that. So, yeah, not a big hockey fan, but I could see her. Yeah, the team element, I would say. Bobsledder. Ice dancing could both be juju's second act. Yeah, somebody can shines a golden basketball, right?

[Sabrina Merchant]

We do love dual summer winter Olympians. The ultimate, the ultimate test of athleticism. So as long as we have no more ideas for juju Watkins in her rehab right now, I think we can call it for today. We'll be back next week with more college basketball, more wnba, more cba, everything you could possibly want. Until then, if you haven't already, please follow our show. And if you're watching on YouTube, please subscribe. Tell your friends to check us out. Tell your families to check us out. Tell your cousins who play sports that we don't want to play. Check us out. And while you're at it, give us a rating. Drop a comment. We love to hear from you. And of course, head on over to our partner, the Yahoo Sports Hub for more [e-mail] womens sports on behalf of the Athletic Chantelle Jennings, Eden Lassie, I'm Sabrina Merchant. Thank you for listening and we will see you next time.

[Zenith Ikeda]

No Off Season is hosted by Zenith Ikeda with Chantelle Jennings and Sabrina Merchant is produced by Tanika Burrell. Our executive producer is Andrea B. Scott. Our theme music is by Marcus Bagala. Monica Compton is our video editor. Shannon Ryan is managing editor of women's basketball at the Athletic. Jesse Burton is our head of audio and Tim McMaster is director of audio operations. Your leadership team is demanding AI automation. Your employees are already using it, just not the tools you approved. Shadow AI is spreading across your organization, creating security vulnerabilities, compliance risks and fragmented solutions you can't control. But what if your teams could innovate faster while staying completely secure? That's what Area delivers a unified platform that combines AI, security, governance and orchestration so you never have to choose between innovation and protection. Take control today and embrace Enterprise AI. Visit area.com to learn more. That's a I r I a.com when.

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Amazon, Pizza Hut, Audible How'd they get so big without soul destroying complexity? On Founders Mentality, the CEO sessions we're.

[Eden Lasse]

Going to find out who's number one. It's the customer. Whose Walmart is it? My Walmart? If you looked at Audible, it was.

[Chantel Jennings]

Kind of like growth, growth and then growth.

[Sabrina Merchant]

It separates Amazon and AWS us from anyone else.

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