Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're wondering
Speaker 1: if the WNBA website really just accidentally leaked the new
Speaker 1: name of the Toronto expansion team. It's Thursday, December fifth,
Speaker 1: and on today's show, we'll be talking all things college
Speaker 1: hoops with ESPN's Alexa Philippoo. Who's your number one team,
Speaker 1: what's the ceiling for USC's Juju Watkins? And just how
Speaker 1: big were those Notre Dame Els, Plus her take on
Speaker 1: the breaking WNBA coaching news and the upcoming expansion draft.
Speaker 1: Then a shark tale and is this permanent or just
Speaker 1: tempo rary?
Speaker 2: It's all coming up right after this.
Speaker 1: Welcome Backslices, and a special shout out to Slices Justin Baird,
Speaker 1: Margo Cison and Kalaine Conahan, who posted their Spotify rapped
Speaker 1: results showing Good Game with Sarah Spain as their most
Speaker 1: listened to show of the year.
Speaker 2: We love seeing those, y'all are the best. Thanks.
Speaker 1: We got a lot of college hoops here today, so
Speaker 1: we're going to get to all your news and updates tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Let's get right into my check with Alexa.
Speaker 1: She covers college basketball and the WNBA for ESPN. She
Speaker 1: previously covered the Yukon Huskies and the Connecticut Sun for
Speaker 1: the Hartford Current, and her work has appeared in the
Speaker 1: Dallas Morning News, Seattle Times, and Cincinnati Inquirer. A Stanford alum,
Speaker 1: she loves a pancake and she'll crush a plate of
Speaker 1: Raising Cane's chicken.
Speaker 2: It's Alexa, Philipoo. What's up, Alexa?
Speaker 3: That was an impressively you know, good bio on my
Speaker 3: food preferences.
Speaker 4: So, yeah, you keep your research.
Speaker 2: Keep it pretty tight. You're very journalists forward.
Speaker 1: But occasionally you do give us a plate of food
Speaker 1: on the road, and that's where the real diging happens
Speaker 1: for me before we get to college hoops. And I
Speaker 1: have so much to ask about college hoops. Let's quickly
Speaker 1: touch on the news that broke Wednesday afternoon, the Connecticut
Speaker 1: Sun hiring Rashid Mazien, who coached in the French Women's
Speaker 1: League and has served as the head coach for the
Speaker 1: Belgian national team, also sometime as assistant coach for the
Speaker 1: French national team.
Speaker 2: Thoughts on the hire for the Sun.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the reaction from a lot of people
Speaker 3: might have been who is this guy? Because we're used
Speaker 3: to domestic hires or people. You know, we've seen obviously
Speaker 3: a few people coming from the college ranks this coaching cycle.
Speaker 3: We've seen people moving around from the pro side, but
Speaker 3: you know, for someone to come over from the international circuit,
Speaker 3: I think it's a really interesting out of the box
Speaker 3: higher And I not shocked the Sun went that direction,
Speaker 3: because I think the Sun can be a little bit
Speaker 3: of a I don't want to say a tough market,
Speaker 3: but you know that you want someone that can really
Speaker 3: be invested in being in Uncasville. I know that's something
Speaker 3: that was important to President gen Rizzotti when she was
Speaker 3: looking for a replacement for Steph White. And they have
Speaker 3: a lot of uncertainty too, and what their roster looks like.
Speaker 3: They're big threes off free agents, so you know, we're
Speaker 3: going to have to see if they end up staying
Speaker 3: or if they're really rebuilding from scratch. For so, I
Speaker 3: think with a with a hire that has proven success
Speaker 3: even in Europe and also like has you know, relationships
Speaker 3: with different WNBA players, different international prospects and players, I
Speaker 3: think it's something that you know, they want to try
Speaker 3: and see if this.
Speaker 5: Kind of more creative solution works.
Speaker 3: And they you know, I think they wanted to find
Speaker 3: someone who was really going to be committed to this
Speaker 3: Sun team because of the fact that you know, they've
Speaker 3: had a little bit of turnover in the last few years,
Speaker 3: and so you know, my read on this is that
Speaker 3: this is someone they probably thought would be committed and
Speaker 3: would be able to help them kind.
Speaker 5: Of navigate this really challenging.
Speaker 3: Era for not just the Sun but the whole WNBA,
Speaker 3: with so much change undergoing.
Speaker 1: The key will be for him to remember the differences
Speaker 1: between FOEBA and w rules when it comes like down
Speaker 1: the stretch of a tight, close game, remembering, you.
Speaker 2: Know, all the specific differences.
Speaker 1: While we're on the w quick Friday is the expansion
Speaker 1: draft for the Golden State Valkyries.
Speaker 2: We don't have to get too deep into it.
Speaker 1: Tomorrow, we're going to do a little primer so everybody
Speaker 1: knows what to expect. But are you expecting any big splashes,
Speaker 1: any surprises in terms of players left unprotected?
Speaker 4: I don't think anything.
Speaker 3: Maybe that will be shocking, but I do think what
Speaker 3: could be interesting to see is, you know, this is
Speaker 3: their initial step at building a roster. But to me,
Speaker 3: I'm really looking at Okay, this is obviously going to
Speaker 3: be exciting. But what does free agency look like for
Speaker 3: the Valkyries, Because obviously they can get players, they're going
Speaker 3: to be able to train players. They are probably going
Speaker 3: to want to go after some free agents because if
Speaker 3: you've heard the Lake or Joe Lacum in particular talk
Speaker 3: about this team, he wants the Valkyries to win a
Speaker 3: championship in the first five years, just like he said
Speaker 3: with the Warriors when he bought the team. So for
Speaker 3: them to be able to do that realistically, they're gonna
Speaker 3: have to sign really tot named free agents. So I
Speaker 3: think this is like the appetizer more or less, and
Speaker 3: then we'll really get some of the good stuff in
Speaker 3: January and February. But definitely we'll be exciting to see
Speaker 3: them put those initial bricks down of painting this path
Speaker 3: for the new team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, setting the plate with potentially just some good, solid
Speaker 1: young players that they can grow into and potentially picking
Speaker 1: up some draft picks by dealing with teams that will say, hey,
Speaker 1: don't choose this player of ours that we aren't able
Speaker 1: to protect, but we'll give you this draft pick. The
Speaker 1: one thing I heard Kevin Pelton was on ESPN Daily
Speaker 1: talking about and His hot take was that they might
Speaker 1: be able to convince Elena Deladon to come help launch
Speaker 1: this team as someone who maybe the mystics won't protect
Speaker 1: because she wasn't playing last year, was looking for a
Speaker 1: trade that they couldn't make happen. I think that would
Speaker 1: be real spicy and real fund So that's what I'm
Speaker 1: hoping to see.
Speaker 2: But we're all excited for that.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's talk college hoops because we predicted chaos and
Speaker 1: excitement this season and we are already getting it.
Speaker 2: It is so fun so far.
Speaker 1: A forty three game win streak ended a team reaching
Speaker 1: number one in the eight people for the first time
Speaker 1: in program history, a top five squad taken back to back.
Speaker 1: El's already a thrill ride regardless of the official AP ranking.
Speaker 2: Right now, Who is your number one right now? Yeah?
Speaker 3: I had. I mean I'm an AP voter, so I've
Speaker 3: had UCLA as my number one right now because I
Speaker 3: was actually at that game where they beat South Carolina
Speaker 3: in LA and I.
Speaker 4: Was just pretty floored.
Speaker 3: It wasn't just that they beat South Carolina, it was
Speaker 3: that they were up by twenty plus for much of
Speaker 3: the game and they really didn't put you know, they
Speaker 3: didn't take their foot off the break or foot off
Speaker 3: the gas, I should say, so the fact that they
Speaker 3: were able to do that, they didn't really show many weaknesses.
Speaker 3: And they were such a tough matchup for a South
Speaker 3: Carolina squad that I've seen them many times. You know,
Speaker 3: they get down, they come back and end up winning
Speaker 3: the game. But really South Carolina had no answer to
Speaker 3: their shooting, to their length, to their depth, and to
Speaker 3: all the kind of things that make that UCLA team go.
Speaker 3: The thing to me though, is that this is a
Speaker 3: team that hasn't made the final four in program history.
Speaker 3: They have some inexperienced players in terms of, you know,
Speaker 3: as a group, because they have transfers, because they have freshmen,
Speaker 3: and so they do have a core that's experienced in
Speaker 3: playing together. But can they really get to that next
Speaker 3: step of a final four of a national championship.
Speaker 4: That I think remains to be seen.
Speaker 3: And I'm really eager to see how they deal with
Speaker 3: the challenges of playing in the Big ten, especially you know, USC,
Speaker 3: I'm sure it is only going to get better, right,
Speaker 3: So are they gonna be challenged by the Trojans? Are
Speaker 3: they going to be able to stay at that top spot.
Speaker 3: We'll have to see, but right now I still have
Speaker 3: UCLAs B one and I wouldn't be shocked tho if
Speaker 3: we see some more movement over the couple months.
Speaker 1: Trojans and travel are probably the two biggest things for
Speaker 1: them in the Big Ten.
Speaker 2: Trojans and travel.
Speaker 1: I don't know if we've talked about the travel enough
Speaker 1: for those teams coming out of California. You mentioned Don
Speaker 1: Staley's South Carolina squad u A the streak breakers for them,
Speaker 1: they're incredible forty three game run dating back to the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three Final four, And how big of a.
Speaker 2: Deal is it that they took a loss?
Speaker 3: So in the kind of big picture, I don't think
Speaker 3: it's a huge deal, because of course, I think the
Speaker 3: Gamecock fans were all saying, hey, the last time we
Speaker 3: lost a regular season game, we still won a national title.
Speaker 3: They even lost, you know, in the SEC tournament that
Speaker 3: year when they won in twenty twenty two. So no,
Speaker 3: in and of itself, it's not a huge deal. But
Speaker 3: I do feel like there have been some slow starts,
Speaker 3: are been some offensive issues and just you know the
Speaker 3: lack of a dominant big and Camilla Cardos, so that
Speaker 3: there's still the game Cocks are still trying to work through,
Speaker 3: and the season's long, they have time to figure that out.
Speaker 3: But I do think it showed a little bit of
Speaker 3: a snapshot that hey, you know, this team did return
Speaker 3: a you know, most of the same pieces from last
Speaker 3: year's seen that went undefeated.
Speaker 4: But for whatever the reason, they're just.
Speaker 3: Not quite you know, as dominant as they were last year.
Speaker 3: They still have to work on some things Offensively. I
Speaker 3: think Raven Johnson, you know, has another level that she
Speaker 3: can get to in terms of orchestrating the offense.
Speaker 4: We've seen to Heina.
Speaker 3: Palpal play, you know, some great games we've seen Essa
Speaker 3: Johnson and Malaysia will whiley have their a moment. So
Speaker 3: I think if I'm a game Cocks fan, I'm not
Speaker 3: necessarily totally concerned, but I do think there's a ways
Speaker 3: to go if they want to be able to do
Speaker 3: something they'd never done before as a program and repeat.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it feels almost like it might be one of
Speaker 1: those scary teams that during the regular season has to
Speaker 1: figure some of that stuff out and then when they
Speaker 1: get to the tournament might be an absolute.
Speaker 2: Just game wrecker. And because of the talent that they have.
Speaker 1: It felt like preseason it was like, this team's going
Speaker 1: to be even scarier because they're returning all the talent.
Speaker 2: But maybe that made it harder. There wasn't as.
Speaker 1: Much creativity going into how it might work because they
Speaker 1: felt like so much of their pieces were coming back.
Speaker 2: But it does look different without Cardoso in the middle.
Speaker 2: That's a huge thing to lose, and so maybe.
Speaker 1: The tinkering that will go on in the regular season
Speaker 1: will strengthen them because it looks like just a lot
Speaker 1: of talent that should still be scaring the hell out
Speaker 1: of people.
Speaker 3: Right, no one's going to want to play them in March.
Speaker 3: It doesn't even matter if they lose another few games, Like,
Speaker 3: no one's gonna be like, oh great, we got South
Speaker 3: Carolina in our rocket, right, And yeah, I think I'm
Speaker 3: really interested too. I know, you know, you mentioned uh
Speaker 3: Cardoso and you know, replacing her presence inside, But to me,
Speaker 3: I'm so curious to look at Malaysia ful Wiley's trajectory
Speaker 3: this season. I know a lot of people were surprised
Speaker 3: she didn't play much in that UCLA game.
Speaker 5: She's you know, gone back to kind of more normal
Speaker 5: minutes since then.
Speaker 4: But to me.
Speaker 3: I mean, she's the player on South Carolina that has
Speaker 3: the highest ceiling. So is she gonna continue to do
Speaker 3: what Don Staley needs from her to display that to
Speaker 3: play with discipline, to play you know, I think the
Speaker 3: word that I've heard don muse is almost like play
Speaker 3: with you know, play lean and be efficient and not
Speaker 3: you know, go for maybe all the flashy moves or
Speaker 3: all the flashy plays. So I'm definitely keeping my eye
Speaker 3: on her and her trajectory for this game.
Speaker 2: Cops squad talking about upsets.
Speaker 1: Notre Dame falls to number seventeen TCU and then unranked
Speaker 1: Utah in the Cayman Islands Classic. How much weight are
Speaker 1: you putting into those back to back losses or can
Speaker 1: we call it, you know, Cayman Islands collapse and move on?
Speaker 1: It was it was special to that particular area. I'll
Speaker 1: come back to the States and be okay, I.
Speaker 4: Mean a little bit of both.
Speaker 3: I saw that game where they you know, really just
Speaker 3: dominated USC and so I mean, I don't even want
Speaker 3: to say that was their ceiling because they're still getting healthy. Right.
Speaker 3: They have Maddi Westpelled on the sideline, They have Liza
Speaker 3: Carlon on the sideline, that they're expecting back, right, So
Speaker 3: it was pretty shocking that they could do that and
Speaker 3: they're really not playing they're playing like six seven players really,
Speaker 3: So the fact that they had that high and then
Speaker 3: they had that low and there's a little bit of
Speaker 3: vary or not a little bit, a lot of variants
Speaker 3: wasn't necessarily shocking to me. Also, Kate caval coming in
Speaker 3: as a freshman, she struggled in the Cayman Islands, and
Speaker 3: I think that's where, you know, you see she had
Speaker 3: some you know, she's having those freshmen lom set, you know,
Speaker 3: first year players take and that's where again having Maddy
Speaker 3: Westbuld back, having Liza Carlon back will make a difference
Speaker 3: for the squad. So I think they're still really capable
Speaker 3: of getting in the final four. I'm not too worried.
Speaker 4: I think.
Speaker 3: Also holiday tournaments can be a little funky at times
Speaker 3: and whatnot. But I mean, Hanna Hidalgo and Olivia Miles
Speaker 3: just as a backcourt are just so electric, so dynamic.
Speaker 3: Then you throw in Sonia Citron and then some of
Speaker 3: their other pieces. Again, they're gonna get healthier. I mean,
Speaker 3: if I had a bet right now, I think they
Speaker 3: would be in Tampa even if they lost those back
Speaker 3: to back games.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about TCU eight and no top team in
Speaker 1: the Big twelve.
Speaker 2: They're at number nine. That's the highest ranking in school history.
Speaker 1: Obviously buoyed by that big win over Notre Dame, our
Speaker 1: Sodona Prince and Haley Vanlyth making that team a real contender.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's hard not to say that they are.
Speaker 3: It's really kind of surprising because I think we knew
Speaker 3: they had some of this talent and the pieces to
Speaker 3: do what they're doing now, but to see it really
Speaker 3: go so smoothly, so quickly. I mean, Haley Vanlyth and
Speaker 3: Sedona Prince kind of look like they've been playing together for,
Speaker 3: you know, years, not just whatever eight games or nine games,
Speaker 3: whatever it is.
Speaker 4: So I think Hayley Bentliss.
Speaker 3: Looked really comfortable, like she looks like she has her
Speaker 3: confidence back after all the ups and downs that came
Speaker 3: with her season at LSC last year. And Sadona Prince,
Speaker 3: now that she's healthy, has really been dominant and some
Speaker 3: of the teams that she was impossible to start to stop.
Speaker 3: If you know NC State, obviously they don't have a
Speaker 3: dominant big but you know she was going off I
Speaker 3: think for thirty points and you know, Notre Dame and
Speaker 3: some of these other teams that they're able to beat.
Speaker 4: She's really just asserted her will in the paints.
Speaker 3: So if they can stay healthy, because obviously that was
Speaker 3: their big issue last year, leading to the walk on
Speaker 3: tryouts and whatnot.
Speaker 4: And that's a team.
Speaker 3: And you know they play South Carolina this weekend, so
Speaker 3: I'm so excited for that game to see you this
Speaker 3: is you know, on a big test.
Speaker 4: You know, it doesn't get bigger than.
Speaker 3: South Carolina, So that'll tell I think a lot about
Speaker 3: them and if they're really the real deal.
Speaker 1: I have to say, Hayley Vanleth is such an interesting
Speaker 1: thing to see because we know system matters, we know
Speaker 1: teammates and coaches and how you're being used matters. But
Speaker 1: the way she fell off at LSU and then to
Speaker 1: see her play now to your point about her confidence,
Speaker 1: but also just it's a reminder for us that a
Speaker 1: player is so much more than their ability. It is
Speaker 1: about everything else around them as well. I want to
Speaker 1: talk about Sadona Prince. She's the focus of one of
Speaker 1: a couple darker stories in women's soups this year.
Speaker 2: We got to take a quick break, but when we.
Speaker 1: Come back, we're going to talk to you about those
Speaker 1: stories and what the ceiling is for Juju Watkins, So
Speaker 1: stick around slices. Okay, before the break, Alexi, we were
Speaker 1: talking about TCU. Sodona Prince played for Texas and Oregon
Speaker 1: before transferring to TCU before the twenty twenty three season,
Speaker 1: and she's somewhat of a household name in part because
Speaker 1: she had that big role in calling out the lack
Speaker 1: of resources provided by the NCAA during the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: one NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, and her complaints really helped
Speaker 1: inspire an independent investigation sweeping changes new TV deals. All that,
Speaker 1: but Prince has also drawn attention for accusations from her
Speaker 1: ex girlfriend, Olivias Debil, alleging physical and verbal abuse, and
Speaker 1: another former girlfriend posted on social media that's Tabiel's account
Speaker 1: paralleled some of her experiences with Prince. Meantime, we also
Speaker 1: have Notre Dames Hannah Hidalgo making headlines in July after
Speaker 1: reposting an Instagram video of a conversial conservative commentator calling
Speaker 1: gay marriage a sin, and then South Carolina's Ashlyn Watkins
Speaker 1: recently returned to the team after charges were dismissed after
Speaker 1: an August arrest for first degree assault and battery and kidnapping,
Speaker 1: and per court records, the charges were dismissed because she
Speaker 1: completed a pre trial intervention program. I don't necessarily want
Speaker 1: to dig into each of these issues individually, in part
Speaker 1: because I know you didn't cover them, But I do
Speaker 1: want to talk about what has felt like sort of
Speaker 1: a relative lack of coverage and discussion about them, not
Speaker 1: a lot of commentary from these players or their coaches
Speaker 1: and teammates.
Speaker 2: And I wonder if you feel like.
Speaker 1: Women's hoops media and fans are ready to start holding
Speaker 1: women athletes accountable the same way that we demand male
Speaker 1: players and especially their coaches be held accountable and transparent
Speaker 1: in these situations.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we have a little bit of a
Speaker 3: ways to go in the women's sports world. And I
Speaker 3: think it's a really layered discussion when we talk about
Speaker 3: media coverage, you know, we have to talk about how
Speaker 3: there's still not a lot of full time people covering
Speaker 3: women's sports that can really you know, give these important
Speaker 3: issues or these you know, complicated matters the full kind
Speaker 3: of coverage or reporting depth that they deserve.
Speaker 4: Right, and so I think it's a little bit of that.
Speaker 1: I think time even because when there's legal things involved,
Speaker 1: a lot of people do not understand behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: there isn't access, there isn't ability to get comment or
Speaker 1: to do research. A lot of people get stymied by
Speaker 1: the fact that once there are lawsuits or legal issues involved,
Speaker 1: you're just sort of stuck in waiting for a while.
Speaker 1: And a lot of people reporting on everything else can't
Speaker 1: also be showing up for that stuff every day.
Speaker 3: No, absolutely, that's a huge part of it as well.
Speaker 3: And then two, I think in women's sports, maybe it's
Speaker 3: fans or people that care about women's sports. Also there's
Speaker 3: this tendency I think at times where we want to
Speaker 3: put I say we but like people want to protect
Speaker 3: the women's athletes or women's sports athletes because of the
Speaker 3: fact there's so many bad faith actors that do try to.
Speaker 4: Tear people and women's sports down.
Speaker 3: But I think you know, to really give these athletes
Speaker 3: and the sports and the leagues, you know, the coverage
Speaker 3: that they do, you have to hold them accountable at times,
Speaker 3: whether or not that's an instances that you just mentioned
Speaker 3: or you know, bigger picture matters when a league does
Speaker 3: something wrong or when you know team you know there's
Speaker 3: a coach issue or whatnot, Like you have to be
Speaker 3: able to hold everyone accountable in the same way. And
Speaker 3: then you know, there's some of the ones the examples
Speaker 3: you brought up too, we're talking about queer relationships or
Speaker 3: dynamics where the you know, a woman is the one
Speaker 3: that's allege of being you know, the abuser or someone
Speaker 3: that you know has been, you know, in a bad situation.
Speaker 3: I just think that maybe as a society there's still
Speaker 3: just like we don't quite know how to grapple with
Speaker 3: that or talk about that when it comes to women
Speaker 3: or queer relationships as opposed to maybe the stereotype of
Speaker 3: like this male football player was accused of his girlfriend.
Speaker 3: So I think it's there's a lot of different layers.
Speaker 3: I do hope that we as a society continue to
Speaker 3: have difficult conversations and obviously people also can grow and
Speaker 3: can change, and you know, we want to hold for that,
Speaker 3: but there's also times to hold them accountable. And as
Speaker 3: a media kind of environment and stand bases, we can
Speaker 3: do that. And it's not like they're always in men's
Speaker 3: sports doing that as well. There's many examples that people
Speaker 3: that are still have jobs that have been accused of
Speaker 3: horrible things. So I think in general sports fans, but
Speaker 3: also in women's sports, there's a lot of ways for
Speaker 3: us to kind of continue to improve on that.
Speaker 2: I think all of that is absolutely spot on. And
Speaker 2: it's tough.
Speaker 1: It's you don't want to have poison and already poisoned. Well,
Speaker 1: you're working so hard just to get coverage of the
Speaker 1: stuff that isn't salacious or extreme or or toxic. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think as someone who spent a lot
Speaker 1: of my career writing about and trying to call out
Speaker 1: the spaces where we aren't at least transparent in the
Speaker 1: alleged change that someone has gone through or the ways
Speaker 1: that they might have addressed their issues, and why we
Speaker 1: could expect that recidivism isn't likely. We should do the
Speaker 1: same for women to make sure that they're safety for
Speaker 1: the teammates, for the players, for the people around them,
Speaker 1: and also that the coaches are being held to the
Speaker 1: example that they claim, which is to lead these young
Speaker 1: women in these athletes. And but yeah, it's it's a
Speaker 1: bit complicated, and to all the points that you made.
Speaker 1: I think that demands for more comprehensive coverage of women's
Speaker 1: sports will continue as the quality of the product grows
Speaker 1: and the investment grows, Right, We're going to expect coverage
Speaker 1: to improve. That includes having more people to report on it.
Speaker 1: But I think we're seeing such incredible competition this season
Speaker 1: in college hoops. We're seeing players get more skilled, younger
Speaker 1: and younger, And I wonder what you think the biggest
Speaker 1: factor is to that leap in talent.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean there's more obviously investment, and like the
Speaker 3: youth program. So the younger players that we've seen come
Speaker 3: up through the sport are you know, as as good
Speaker 3: as they've ever been. Right, We talked so much last
Speaker 3: year about that freshman class and how now obviously as sophomore,
Speaker 3: is that they helped change the game. And even just
Speaker 3: that you know, Page Beckers, Caitlin Clark class, Angel Reese
Speaker 3: was in there too. You know, those were you know,
Speaker 3: the just transformational players that like came up and are
Speaker 3: now like with the bigger spotlight with Nil and everything,
Speaker 3: are really just taking off and making the sport you.
Speaker 4: Know, what it is now.
Speaker 3: And then I think when we talk about specifically you
Speaker 3: know what we've seen at the college level. It's you know,
Speaker 3: the transfer portal is allowing for super teams more or
Speaker 3: less to be to be informed. Right, So we have
Speaker 3: a team like UCLA that got all these you know,
Speaker 3: really big name transfers, and now like there are USC
Speaker 3: even they're a team that is able to acquire talent,
Speaker 3: and we have more, more and more players that we
Speaker 3: used to talk about how everyone is just Yukon and Tennessee,
Speaker 3: but now you have players. You know, Juju Watkins decided
Speaker 3: to stay home. I mean, she could have very easily
Speaker 3: gone to South Carolina or Stanford, but instead she decided
Speaker 3: to stay home at a program that at the time
Speaker 3: of her commitment hadn't even been to the tournament of
Speaker 3: nearly a decade. Right, So people are the talent's more
Speaker 3: spread out, there's more talent kind of coming up through
Speaker 3: the youth levels, and you know, now it's like kind
Speaker 3: of all moving around too with a transfer portal and whatnot.
Speaker 3: So I think too, that's just kind of been a
Speaker 3: perfect storm to make this college.
Speaker 4: Game what it is.
Speaker 3: And even though you know, I know a lot of
Speaker 3: people are like, oh, Caitlin Clark's gone and Angel Reese
Speaker 3: has gone, but as we just kind of went through,
Speaker 3: there's so many other stars.
Speaker 1: And so many Yeah, And I think also it's often
Speaker 1: about money. There is money to be made in women's
Speaker 1: sports and ways that weren't there before, whether that's nil,
Speaker 1: whether that's for colleges, whether that's for coaches, agents, THEAU
Speaker 1: Folks Tournament, you know, over time basketball, Like, there are
Speaker 1: so many places now where people want to watch and invest,
Speaker 1: and the great thing about that is that there is
Speaker 1: such an investment in the pipeline of talent, and there's
Speaker 1: such an opportunity for young girls to see, hey, I
Speaker 1: can do this, I can make money doing this, I
Speaker 1: can get a scholarship doing this, all this stuff that
Speaker 1: was a little rare before you mentioned Angel Reas. I
Speaker 1: want to talk about LSU really quick. Obviously a ton
Speaker 1: of talent still there. What have you seen from them
Speaker 1: this year as they adjust to life without.
Speaker 3: Angel, Yeah, I mean it's it's hard always with LSU
Speaker 3: because their schedule isn't necessarily the strongest, and it's and
Speaker 3: you know, I try to, you know, you can't do
Speaker 3: anything about the schedule. You got to watch them for
Speaker 3: you know who they're playing. But they did beat NC
Speaker 3: State and that was a pretty you know, convincing win.
Speaker 3: I mean they were able to you know, and I
Speaker 3: know NC State's not ranked right now in the poll,
Speaker 3: but that's a team that went to the final four
Speaker 3: last year, right, So I do feel like we still
Speaker 3: have a little bit to learn about them. I think
Speaker 3: Vlaja Johnson's been playing fantastic. I think she's top ten
Speaker 3: in the nation scoring her efficiencies, you know, really strong. Obviously,
Speaker 3: her energy on both ends is really what drives this
Speaker 3: LCU team. So if she's able to continue to make
Speaker 3: that big step now, I think that especially you know,
Speaker 3: with Angel Rees gone and you know, Hailey Vanlett obviously
Speaker 3: is out as well, then I think that's going to
Speaker 3: really build well for them. And then they're a team too,
Speaker 3: Like they have so many new pieces with transfers that
Speaker 3: the team that kind of comes together in March or
Speaker 3: in February when in the heart of SEC play might
Speaker 3: be a little bit different than the team we're saying now.
Speaker 3: So definitely still have my eye on them, but I
Speaker 3: you know, I need a little more data to fully
Speaker 3: you know, see what we're working with. But Kim Molki
Speaker 3: tends to find a way it feels like, even when
Speaker 3: you're not completely sure if they're being challenged and non
Speaker 3: conference play.
Speaker 1: You just mentioned efficiency, and if we're talking efficiency, we
Speaker 1: have to talk Page Beckers. Right now, the projected WNBA
Speaker 1: number one pick next year, her shooting efficiency right now
Speaker 1: is insane. Sixty point nine percent from the field, forty
Speaker 1: six point nine percent from three, eighty percent from the
Speaker 1: free throw stripe. What are you seeing from Page and
Speaker 1: what are you seeing from Yukon?
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're, you know, a fascinating team because Page, it
Speaker 3: feels like, is that one experienced player and then they
Speaker 3: have a bunch of other either freshmen or newcomers that
Speaker 3: they're kind of filling in around her. This is a
Speaker 3: team that I think most people just expect will make
Speaker 3: it to the final four. But they did lose you know,
Speaker 3: Aleah Edwards and Nika Mule to the WNBI, So it
Speaker 3: really is Paige's team and the players coming back from
Speaker 3: injury to that we're unproven. So I think Paige, you know,
Speaker 3: there's been a lot talked about and made of her
Speaker 3: just having that aggressive mindset of wanting to make the
Speaker 3: most of I guess supposedly her last year.
Speaker 1: Right And then you say that by the way, for
Speaker 1: those listening, she has announced this as her last year.
Speaker 1: But ever since the Dallas Wins won the first pick
Speaker 1: in the w NBA draft, a lot of people are like, Paige,
Speaker 1: why don't you go ahead and stay at Yukon. You
Speaker 1: have eligibility because of COVID and injury. We don't know
Speaker 1: if that's gonna happen. She has said she's leaving, but
Speaker 1: the door is a jar, I think based on the wings,
Speaker 1: and I think it would have been a very different
Speaker 1: story if the Sparks had won that pick.
Speaker 3: Well, the way she said it too is like you
Speaker 3: just you know, I've learned never to decide too much
Speaker 3: or speak too much on the future, right, which you
Speaker 3: know she said even last year. And you know she
Speaker 3: has the injury history, so I do believe that's genuine
Speaker 3: where she doesn't she wants to be in the present moment.
Speaker 3: But yeah, so there's there's a lot of potentially on.
Speaker 4: There, a lot of factors.
Speaker 3: But yeah, regardless, she wants to win a national championship
Speaker 3: and she wants to do that now. She feels like
Speaker 3: that's the one thing really she hasn't been able to do.
Speaker 3: As really, if she doesn't win a national championship at Yukon,
Speaker 3: she will probably be the best you go one player
Speaker 3: to not absolutely, so that's something that not that she
Speaker 3: you know, she wants to be able to do it
Speaker 3: for the program, for her team, for her own personal goals.
Speaker 3: So I see her, you know, wanting to just try
Speaker 3: and continue on that route. I think Sarah Strong looks
Speaker 3: incredible as a freshman talent that there's times I've watched
Speaker 3: her plan and I think she looks like a senior,
Speaker 3: and so to me Yukon. I think also in March,
Speaker 3: once they have more time together, once the pieces kind
Speaker 3: of all match and build that chemistry is going to
Speaker 3: be really really dangerous, even if they take some lumps
Speaker 3: in December in non conference play. So I would look
Speaker 3: out too for that page Sarah Strong Azy Fudd trio
Speaker 3: because that, you know, especially once Azy Fudd gets more
Speaker 3: games under her feet, I think that could be one
Speaker 3: of the best you know trios in the nation of
Speaker 3: any team page.
Speaker 1: One of the biggest stars in the Sky, but perhaps
Speaker 1: the most hyped player in college hoops right now, is
Speaker 1: Juju Watkins. You wrote a great story about her for
Speaker 1: ESPN dot Com. Folks should go read that we'll put
Speaker 1: the link in our show notes. In her incredible freshman year,
Speaker 1: she helped USC to its best record in forty years.
Speaker 1: They got to the Elite eight after missing every NCAA
Speaker 1: tournament from twenty fifteen to twenty twenty two. Just on
Speaker 1: Tuesday night, she had a school record nine three pointers
Speaker 1: forty points as USC routed California Baptist. She is just
Speaker 1: continuing to set marks there sort of beyond belief. What
Speaker 1: is the ceiling for Juju Watkins.
Speaker 3: I mean, when I've talked with people around the game,
Speaker 3: they've said that she has the potential to be a
Speaker 3: WNBA MVP. She has the potential to be kind of
Speaker 3: at that level that really Caitlin Clark has been at
Speaker 3: one WNBA evaluator said, it's like she's the next one
Speaker 3: we're waiting for. It's her really, and Caitlyn, I know
Speaker 3: the Ukon fans are also like wait a second about
Speaker 3: Page and so that's you know, she's obviously up there too.
Speaker 3: But I just think the way that her you know,
Speaker 3: she has you know, tremendous size and skill athleticism for
Speaker 3: a guard. She's really you know, she's a three level scorer.
Speaker 3: She has you know, I think tools to be a
Speaker 3: really good defender. I mean, she has it all. She
Speaker 3: has that La swagger. She's a real hooper. I mean,
Speaker 3: that's the word that I think Katis Parker used to
Speaker 3: describe her. And so if Kadith Parker's saying that, you know,
Speaker 3: I mean that means something too. So I know that
Speaker 3: you know, the WBA is just waiting for her to
Speaker 3: make it to that level. Of course, as of the
Speaker 3: rules now, she can't leave early. She wouldn't be age eligible.
Speaker 3: Obviously some of that could change with the CBA, but
Speaker 3: we won't get it ahead of it.
Speaker 1: It's almost a good thing in some ways, though not
Speaker 1: necessarily for her because of the changing landscape of the
Speaker 1: w but for college fans getting knowing that you're going
Speaker 1: to have several more years of this player to develop
Speaker 1: and be a superstar, especially when she's business savvy in
Speaker 1: the way she already is. She's co producing, you know,
Speaker 1: a television series, a digital series about her.
Speaker 2: Life and growing up in Watson.
Speaker 1: You know, that business side of also coming around at
Speaker 1: the right time when it comes to nil, when it
Speaker 1: comes to fan interest in this kind of content. Man,
Speaker 1: she can build something big the same way to your
Speaker 1: point that Caitlin did before even getting to the W
Speaker 1: and there's something to.
Speaker 2: Be said for that.
Speaker 1: There's there's just an incubator sort of sense to the
Speaker 1: college game that allows for that massive blow up and
Speaker 1: taking that with you to the W that's a little
Speaker 1: bit harder to do when you get great once you're
Speaker 1: already in the pros.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think too.
Speaker 3: I mean, now this could be the year where this
Speaker 3: really explodes for her because unfortunately, as a PAC twelve alum,
Speaker 3: I hate to say this, but you know, it was
Speaker 3: harder to watch her games last year, like when she
Speaker 3: scored fifty one points against Stanford. I think that was
Speaker 3: on the PAC twelve network, and you know, just people
Speaker 3: weren't necessarily watching it. But now USC's playing in the
Speaker 3: Big Ten, they have you know, more games on Fox
Speaker 3: and you know these other national broadcasts, So I do
Speaker 3: think more people are going to see her. I think
Speaker 3: there's obviously a lot of attention on USC. Yes, you
Speaker 3: know I wrote in the story, you know, everyone is
Speaker 3: no one. They're not shocking anyone this year. They're the hunted,
Speaker 3: not the hunter like they were her freshman year. So
Speaker 3: there's more eyeballs on her but yeah, she has. I mean,
Speaker 3: this was something really beginning in high school. I think
Speaker 3: they started filming that documentary and she's signed with Clutch,
Speaker 3: which is the same agency that represents Lebron James as
Speaker 3: a high school athlete. So you could see the pieces
Speaker 3: were starting to grow even then. And so I do
Speaker 3: feel like, like your point of it being an incubator,
Speaker 3: it's only going to continue to grow with all these
Speaker 3: different forces that are happening in women's basketball, but also
Speaker 3: the way that she's kind of assembled a team around her.
Speaker 3: She has a you know, a really big family support
Speaker 3: system kind of to keep her grounded and tethered. But
Speaker 3: then you know, she always remembers where she came from,
Speaker 3: right She's still that kid in Lots that was playing
Speaker 3: on you know, the court that was named after her
Speaker 3: great grandfather, and you know, I don't think she'll ever
Speaker 3: lose sight.
Speaker 4: Of that either.
Speaker 1: Also, I think we talked a lot about how Caitlin's
Speaker 1: success was in part buoyed by a very organic rivalry
Speaker 1: with Angel Reese and the fact that UCLA and USC
Speaker 1: have this rivalry the likes of which we have not
Speaker 1: seen in women's hoops for a long time, and it's
Speaker 1: built into the city, into a place that has the
Speaker 1: superstars that are showing up court side to watch these games.
Speaker 1: That's really just going to help with the lore for
Speaker 1: Juju in addition to eyeballs on her getting to see
Speaker 1: how great she is. Okay, we got to let you go,
Speaker 1: but college hoops speed round quickly. So biggest surprise team
Speaker 1: so far, I'll go with TCU. I hope that's not
Speaker 1: too basic, but I do feel like, give it to you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would say TCU for now, biggest surprise player so far,
Speaker 1: biggest surprise player.
Speaker 3: Well, I don't want to repeat, you know, the Haley
Speaker 3: Van listen own to Prince saying, I think Sarah Strong
Speaker 3: was like I heard she was going to be good,
Speaker 3: but she's like way better than I thought.
Speaker 4: So I'll go with her for right now.
Speaker 1: Team that's in the top ten or twenty five that
Speaker 1: just hasn't faced anyone yet, and you expect to see
Speaker 1: drop when they actually start playing tough competition.
Speaker 4: Oh, expect to see Drop.
Speaker 3: Oh maybe el CU Again, I'm gonna say, let's tested,
Speaker 3: let's see them. Yeah, I want to see them play
Speaker 3: someone a little bit better than Nancy State.
Speaker 1: And then finally, a new team that will be number
Speaker 1: one sometime this season.
Speaker 3: I would say Yukon will be number one this season
Speaker 3: at one point, and.
Speaker 4: I'll throw in Texas in there.
Speaker 1: Okay, I would love it. Alexai. This was amazing. This
Speaker 1: was just what we need. It did to get us
Speaker 1: all caught up on the beginning of this college hoop
Speaker 1: season and talk a little w two.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for giving us some time.
Speaker 4: Of course, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Thanks again to Alexa for joining us. We got to
Speaker 1: take a quick break when we come back. That sound
Speaker 1: you here is the screaming of executives north of the border.
Speaker 2: Welcome back slices. Let's talk about our neighbors to the north.
Speaker 1: So late Tuesday, a screenshot started circulating on social media.
Speaker 1: The originator not clear, but it showed a drop down
Speaker 1: menu on the WNBA website listing all of the league's teams, and.
Speaker 2: It included the Toronto Tempo.
Speaker 1: Now it sure looks like the league accidentally included the
Speaker 1: as of yet unreleased name of the Toronto expansion side
Speaker 1: via a little tech oopsie. Now there are some great
Speaker 1: responses to the screenshot. In the comments on Blue Sky,
Speaker 1: Cool Guy Party said they're named after Canada's favorite car,
Speaker 1: the nineteen ninety two Ford tempo Chase, Butkers said, I
Speaker 1: pray to God this is.
Speaker 2: Short for temporary.
Speaker 1: At raw, Rex said, everyone's going to be hating on
Speaker 1: it till that's set. The tempo hashtag starts going crazy
Speaker 1: when they win. At Michael waterlooseid, I can't wait for
Speaker 1: the Lizzo and Missy Elliott halftime show to perform tempo.
Speaker 2: That's a good one, That's a good song.
Speaker 1: At Mike Dash, Stevie said, awaiting the inevitable Drake Bars
Speaker 1: Shorty Baalam like she's starting for the tempo Landlord Collins.
Speaker 1: She ain't never missing rent though it's pretty good. I
Speaker 1: reached out to friend at the show and president of
Speaker 1: the Toronto Unnamed Team, Teresa Resh and not surprisingly, they
Speaker 1: are having a crazy couple days. So we'll give you
Speaker 1: the latest out of Toronto's camp soon. We love that
Speaker 1: you're listening, but we want you to get in the
Speaker 1: game every day too, So here's our good game play
Speaker 1: of the day, Toronto Tempo. Your thoughts ready to buy
Speaker 1: the merch or hoping the leak is a fake? Let
Speaker 1: us know your instant reaction on email. Good game at
Speaker 1: wondermedianetwork dot com, leave us a voicemail at eight seven
Speaker 1: two two oh four fifty seventy, or hit me up
Speaker 1: at Sarah Spain on Twitter at Sarahspain dot com, on
Speaker 1: Blue Sky at Spain two three two three on Instagram.
Speaker 1: Oh also, don't forget to watch the NCAA Volleyball tournament
Speaker 1: and follow along with your brackets in the Good Game Group.
Speaker 1: First round action starts today, and if you want to
Speaker 1: get more in the game, you could check out the
Speaker 1: new site from the folks behind.
Speaker 2: Her hoop Stats.
Speaker 1: It's called Evolve with two l's e v O l
Speaker 1: l ve dot net. Similar to her hoop Stats for basketball,
Speaker 1: Evolve is a public stat site for women's indoor volleyball.
Speaker 1: So it's got things like team ratings, player stats. There's
Speaker 1: a spot to sort of query stats to find players
Speaker 1: or teams that meet certain criteria, like games where a
Speaker 1: team had fifty kills and fifteen aces, stuff like that.
Speaker 1: They've also got Turney predictions. They're giving pitt a forty
Speaker 1: eight percent chance to win it all this year. Go
Speaker 1: check it out, and thanks to Aaron B for the
Speaker 1: heads up. Finally, Slices you Knew is coming, don't forget
Speaker 1: to subscribe. Rate and review just like this, being part
Speaker 1: shark rating five out of five. Holy shit, that's badass review.
Speaker 1: Ali Mastriani, star for the US lacrosse team, is literally
Speaker 1: part shark. When she was a freshman at UNC, she
Speaker 1: tore her hamstring in the final game of the regular
Speaker 1: season and was a Grade three proximal tear, so all
Speaker 1: three hamstrings tore and her siatic nerve was exposed. When
Speaker 1: doctors went in to do the surgery, they repaired the hamstring,
Speaker 1: but they also wrapped her sciatic nerve in shark collagen
Speaker 1: to give it extra support.
Speaker 2: She went on to be an NCAA title winner.
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty two Worlds gold medalist, AU lacrosse player, and
Speaker 1: future Women's Lacrosse League athlete, all well being part shark,
Speaker 1: so freakin' metal.
Speaker 2: Now it's your turn. Rate and review. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 2: See you tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Good Game, ALEXA, Good Game WNBA website detectives few ssiatic nerves.
Speaker 1: Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports
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