Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we can't
Speaker 1: stop watching the clip of American tennis player Danielle Collins
Speaker 1: heckling the hostile crowd at the Australian Open when I
Speaker 1: say our jaws dropped. It's Friday, January seventeenth, and on
Speaker 1: today's show, we'll be talking to basketball writer for the
Speaker 1: Next Rob Knox about the front runners for Women's College
Speaker 1: Player of the Year, the under the radar stars you
Speaker 1: need to know about and HBCUs that could make noise
Speaker 1: in the NCAA Tourney. Plus no love in this tennis match,
Speaker 1: rule changes you need to know before Unrivaled tips off tonight,
Speaker 1: plus your chance to own a slice. It's all coming
Speaker 1: up right after this Happy Friday welcome back. Here's what
Speaker 1: you need to know today in Pro hoops news.
Speaker 2: Unrivaled tips off tonight. That's right.
Speaker 1: The new three on three League holds its first two games,
Speaker 1: starting at seven pm Eastern with Missed BC against Lunar
Speaker 1: owls BC, followed by ROSEBC and Vinyl BC at eight
Speaker 1: to fifteen. Both games will be broadcast live on TNT
Speaker 1: and no none of the teams are from BC British Columbia.
Speaker 1: That stands for Basketball Club. Unrivaled rules and format are
Speaker 1: a little different from what we've seen in the WNBA
Speaker 1: and in Olympic three x three competition, so we'll link
Speaker 1: to a post in our show notes from the folks
Speaker 1: that just women's sports that explains some key differences, including
Speaker 1: one big one. There are three seven minute quarters and
Speaker 1: then a winning score fourth quarter where they add eleven
Speaker 1: points to the winning team's score, and then that's the
Speaker 1: total a team needs to hit to win the game.
Speaker 1: So let's say it's a forty to thirty eight game
Speaker 1: through three quarters, the first team to fifty one wins
Speaker 1: it walk off style. It's that whole elam ending that
Speaker 1: I mentioned in a previous show, and I swear I
Speaker 1: didn't know that they were using it.
Speaker 2: I think the Unrivaled folks just read my mind. They
Speaker 2: know I love an elam ending. You can check the
Speaker 2: link in.
Speaker 1: The show notes to read about the other rule differences. Also,
Speaker 1: Unrivaled announced that seven sports bars in seven cities across
Speaker 1: the US will air all of the twenty twenty five
Speaker 1: Unrivaled games and host official watch parties during the season,
Speaker 1: beginning with tonight's tip off. The locations include a Bar
Speaker 1: of their own in Minneapolis, Blue Haven South in New York,
Speaker 1: Grails and Miami, The ninety nine Ers Sports Bar and
Speaker 1: Denver The Sports Bra in Portland, Watch Me Sports Bar
Speaker 1: in Long Beach, California, and Whiskey Girl Tavern in Chicago.
Speaker 1: Each bar will get watch party kits thanks to Unrivaled
Speaker 1: and Ally Financial, one of the league's founding partners, and
Speaker 1: they'll feature cheer items and merch for fans. Speaking of cheering,
Speaker 1: By the way, I gotta start talking about my squad, Phantom,
Speaker 1: We by far have the best name for our fans.
Speaker 2: We actually have a couple.
Speaker 1: It's either the fandom with pH Ghost Gang, or, as
Speaker 1: Satoosabaly said, the Ghosties.
Speaker 2: Sorry, y'all, you can't compete with us. You can't.
Speaker 1: In volleyball news, we've got more League one volleyball going
Speaker 1: down tonight. Love Salt Lake and Love Madison hit the
Speaker 1: court at Wisconsin Fieldhouse at nine pm Eastern. You can
Speaker 1: catch that action on ESP More Vibes. The Pro Volleyball
Speaker 1: Federation has a match later in the night between the
Speaker 1: Omaha Supernovas and the Vegas Thrill at Lee's Family Forum.
Speaker 1: That one starts at ten pm Eastern you can watch
Speaker 1: on YouTube. And speaking of the Omaha Supernovas, news broke
Speaker 1: on Thursday that there is yet another volleyball league starting
Speaker 1: next year, Major League Volleyball, and that the Omaha Supernovas
Speaker 1: will be leaving the PVF to join that new league.
Speaker 1: Let's just say, we have a lot of questions about
Speaker 1: how many startup professional volleyball leagues one country can have,
Speaker 1: especially with so few dedicated volleyball reporters and outlets to
Speaker 1: cover them. We're going to address that down the road.
Speaker 1: In WNBA news, the Indiana Fever are getting a dedicated,
Speaker 1: seventy eight million dollars world class sports performance center in
Speaker 1: downtown Indianapolis. Pacer Sports and Entertainment, the company behind the Fever,
Speaker 1: released plans to break ground on the center in August.
Speaker 1: They planned open doors before the twenty twenty seven WNBA season.
Speaker 1: Three stories, one hundred and eight thousand square feet, connected
Speaker 1: to Gainbridge Field House by a skybridge.
Speaker 2: And a bunch of amenities.
Speaker 1: Two regulation sized courts with strength and conditioning equipment, a
Speaker 1: Yogan palates area, a spat like retreat with massages, an
Speaker 1: infrared light therapy sauna, steam and heat studios, a float tank,
Speaker 1: hydrotherapy pools, private outdoor courtyard, mental performance space, is a
Speaker 1: hair and nail salon, childcare space, a podcasting content production studio.
Speaker 1: This place is going to have everything, and they thought
Speaker 1: of the fans. The center is going to have a
Speaker 1: Fever team store and offer some exclusive fan experiences. Some
Speaker 1: cool responses to this, including from unrestricted free agent most
Speaker 1: recently with the Las Vegas Aces Alicia Clark, who tweeted
Speaker 1: about the facility news quote, all these w teams investing
Speaker 1: in their own facilities. You love to see it. The
Speaker 1: days of practicing in churches, old community centers, and schools
Speaker 1: is coming to an end. This is the investment the
Speaker 1: OGS have pushed for since the inception of the league.
Speaker 2: End quote.
Speaker 1: Clark went on quote The thing I really love is
Speaker 1: that this younger generation of players, who have now been
Speaker 1: passed the torch to carry this league forward, won't have
Speaker 1: to know what it feels like sleeping in an airport
Speaker 1: because of a delay. What being told not to go
Speaker 1: one hundred percent on a court because the court isn't safe.
Speaker 1: What having to move out of a locker room after
Speaker 1: every season feels like? What not having the proper resources
Speaker 1: and still showing up and thriving at your job. Feels
Speaker 1: like all they'll know is professionalism and professional treatment, and
Speaker 1: I love that for them.
Speaker 2: End quote.
Speaker 1: Sky's the limit for players with the kind of resources, facilities,
Speaker 1: and treatment that men athletes have been getting for decades,
Speaker 1: as for the players that will use that Fever facility.
Speaker 1: On Thursday, the team extended a core qualifying offer to
Speaker 1: guard Kelsey Mitchell, giving the team exclusive negotiating rights tour.
Speaker 1: In return, Mitchell gets a guaranteed supermax offer around two
Speaker 1: hundred and forty nine thousand for the twenty twenty five season.
Speaker 1: The core offer makes a ton of sense. The two
Speaker 1: time All Star has been a key piece for the
Speaker 1: Fever and is one of the top free agents available
Speaker 1: this offseason. She joined the squad is the number two
Speaker 1: draft pick in twenty eighteen, and spend the team's leading
Speaker 1: scorer in five a first seven seasons. Mitchell and Katelon
Speaker 1: Clark were one of the most efficient backcourts in the
Speaker 1: league in twenty twenty four, both averaging nineteen point three
Speaker 1: points per game. To College Hoops, the NCDA AZE membership
Speaker 1: unanimously voted to approve paying women's basketball teams. Quote unquote
Speaker 1: performance units for playing games in the NCAA Tournament each March,
Speaker 1: just like the men have four years. The units will
Speaker 1: be distributed to women's teams playing in the tournament starting
Speaker 1: this year, and a team that reaches the final four
Speaker 1: could bring its conference roughly one point twenty six million
Speaker 1: dollars Over the next three years in financial rewards, fifteen
Speaker 1: million in total will be awarded to the teams. That's
Speaker 1: twenty six percent of the current women's basketball media revenue
Speaker 1: deal and on par with what men's basketball teams received
Speaker 1: the first year at the Performance Units program was established
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety one. That total will grow to twenty
Speaker 1: five million, or forty one percent of the revenue by
Speaker 1: twenty twenty eight. You can read more about the vote
Speaker 1: and what it means moving forward at the link, and
Speaker 1: our show notes more college hoops. We're looking forward to
Speaker 1: a top twenty five matchup between number ten TCU and
Speaker 1: number twenty three Utah tonight at seven thirty pm Eastern
Speaker 1: that'll stream live on ESPN Plus. There's a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of ranked teams in action over the weekend too, so
Speaker 1: we'll link to the full college basketball schedule in our
Speaker 1: show Notes to Hockey. The Women's bean Pot Championship is
Speaker 1: set to take place between Northeastern and Boston University Tuesday,
Speaker 1: January twenty first at TD Garden. Now puck drops on
Speaker 1: the final at seven thirty eastern, but if you buy
Speaker 1: a ticket, you could also take in the third place
Speaker 1: game between Boston College and Harvard at four thirty eastern
Speaker 1: and get a chance to take pictures with some players
Speaker 1: from the Pro Women's Hockey League AKAPWHL that'll be in
Speaker 1: attendance during the intermission between the games. We got to
Speaker 1: give a shout out to Certified Slice Molly Pritz, who's
Speaker 1: been working with a group called Boston Unites to bring
Speaker 1: the four competing schools together with the community to fill
Speaker 1: Ted Garden with fans. These are the same folks who
Speaker 1: helped fill the garden for the Connecticut Sun game there
Speaker 1: last summer.
Speaker 2: We love this excellent stuff.
Speaker 1: First round game between Northeastern and Boston College Tuesday night
Speaker 1: at the Huskies Matthew's Arena was standing room only thirty
Speaker 1: two hundred and ninety eight people, making for the largest
Speaker 1: crowd at a campus site game in Women's bean Pot
Speaker 1: history and the largest at a home game in Northeastern
Speaker 1: women's hockey history. Congrats to them on that, and we've
Speaker 1: dropped a link to where you can snag tickets to
Speaker 1: Tuesday's games in our show notes. Finally, some pro soccer news,
Speaker 1: Dan and midfielder Quinn is set to sign with Vancouver
Speaker 1: Rise FC of the Northern Super League, sources tell the
Speaker 1: Equalizers Jeff kassoof the move comes after Quinn opted not
Speaker 1: to re sign with the Seattle Rain. They played the
Speaker 1: last four NWSL seasons with the Rain, winning the NWSL
Speaker 1: shield in twenty twenty two and making it to the
Speaker 1: championship match in twenty twenty three. They're an Olympic gold
Speaker 1: medalist with more than one hundred appearances for the Canadian
Speaker 1: national team and have featured on the squad for the
Speaker 1: past three Olympic Games and the past two Women's World Cups. Meantime,
Speaker 1: more soccer news, multiple outlets are reporting that another big
Speaker 1: name NWSL player could be headed out of the country.
Speaker 2: Naomi Germa could be on the move.
Speaker 1: Chelsea of the Women's Super League in England are rumored
Speaker 1: to be leading the fight for the rights to Germa.
Speaker 2: No official news as of this taping. We'll keep you
Speaker 2: updated we got to take a quick break.
Speaker 1: When we come back, we're talking to college basketball player
Speaker 1: of the Year race and mid major teams we should know.
Speaker 2: With Rob Knox.
Speaker 1: Joining us now, he covers HBCU women's basketball for the
Speaker 1: next He's been published in outlets including Slam Magazine, The
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Washington Post, and he's an adjunct
Speaker 1: instructor at Temple University. He was a longtime college sports
Speaker 1: information director and communications professional, former president of KOSIDA, now
Speaker 1: known as CSC. He was honored by the NCAA and
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two with its Championship Diversity and Inclusion Award,
Speaker 1: and he's in the Lincoln University Hall of Fame for
Speaker 1: his work as an SID.
Speaker 2: There. Coming on the show will.
Speaker 1: Afford him a brief break from tweeting about his Eagles
Speaker 1: and the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.
Speaker 2: It's Rob Knox. Thanks for joining us, Rob.
Speaker 3: Hey, thank you for having me, Sarah.
Speaker 4: I am honored to be here today, and you know
Speaker 4: I am at day one slice, So yes, this is outsteady.
Speaker 3: To have this opportunity to spend some time with you today.
Speaker 2: Awesome. We love to hear it. I want to start
Speaker 2: big picture.
Speaker 1: Maybe some of the names folks know, the biggest names
Speaker 1: in women's college hoops, the front runners for national Player
Speaker 1: of the year.
Speaker 2: Who's on your list?
Speaker 3: We need to say that for everybody else's list.
Speaker 4: You know, Hannah Hidalgo, Juju Watkins, Page Beckers, you know,
Speaker 4: Laura Betts. Uh, those are probably the top names. And
Speaker 4: how lucky were we this year to you know, have
Speaker 4: those matchups right, to have Hanna Hidago go against so
Speaker 4: Juju and Paige and vice versa. You know they you know,
Speaker 4: Dori Day USC and you kind of all played each
Speaker 4: other this year, which was outstanding for everybody. And then
Speaker 4: I'm maybe a little by just because of my geographical location,
Speaker 4: but I'm a huge Cheyenne Sellers and Kaylee's Michael fann
Speaker 4: at at versa of Maryland. I mean, I know they won't,
Speaker 4: you know, necessarily be considered for Player of the Year,
Speaker 4: but I think Cheyenne and Kayleen are one of the
Speaker 4: best duels in the country. And uh, you know, I
Speaker 4: had the opportunity last week to cover the USC Maryland
Speaker 4: game and write about Cheyennes on w b A Prospects,
Speaker 4: and uh and go and and go really deep dive
Speaker 4: on on wish he breaks to the game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wonder if you think the success of the
Speaker 1: teams will have an impact down the stretch on who
Speaker 1: ultimately wins this award, because I think you know, Page
Speaker 1: and Yukon have a real high upside, but we have
Speaker 1: seen them not be able to finish against the best
Speaker 1: teams this year. You've got a team like Notre Dame
Speaker 1: that got a couple first place votes in the AP
Speaker 1: rankings this week trying to steal that spot from UCLA,
Speaker 1: where Hidalgo might get some points for that, but also
Speaker 1: Olivia Miles is so strong, does that take away from
Speaker 1: her case? Like how do you see the final stretch
Speaker 1: of this season affecting the odds?
Speaker 3: That's a really good question, really good thought process.
Speaker 4: And you know, as somebody that has you know, spent
Speaker 4: my time on numerous committees and voted and obviously been
Speaker 4: on at least a Leslie a ward committee is always
Speaker 4: hard because because you do get to a point where
Speaker 4: you are kind of picky Straws that said, well, you know,
Speaker 4: hit the head, but then they all you know, Page backers,
Speaker 4: oh and too against Dori, David usc and you know,
Speaker 4: obviously Noyi Day beat USC, so I tende lean slightly
Speaker 4: towards Dago based on that, you know, just they hit
Speaker 4: the hit day. But I do think team success is important.
Speaker 4: Sometimes it feels like U kind does have a built
Speaker 4: in a vege because they are they are probably hit
Speaker 4: the shows above every team in the Big East this year,
Speaker 4: whereas Juju is going to be navigating a minefield. And yeah,
Speaker 4: same thing with Hannah and the ACC. So I think
Speaker 4: deep success does play a part in it. But I
Speaker 4: also think that Juju as well. I mean, if she
Speaker 4: has another game like he had Sunday and strings and
Speaker 4: feurials consistently together, it'd be hard to argue against her.
Speaker 4: Right now, that would say, mid mid season, Hannah Hadago
Speaker 4: by a slider EDG.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it feels like that's where people are leaning. You've
Speaker 1: been in the rooms having these conversations.
Speaker 2: I'm curious.
Speaker 1: You know, we talk a lot, and in my many
Speaker 1: years doing ESPN National Radio covering all the biggest stories,
Speaker 1: we talked a lot about In NBA MVP, it was
Speaker 1: like whose turn is it right? There was reluctance to
Speaker 1: give someone the same award multiple years in a row,
Speaker 1: or there was a lot of conversation about well, who's
Speaker 1: hot right now? Who's interesting in the women's college basketball space.
Speaker 1: Do you think conversations that people have affect their voting
Speaker 1: in the same way, because you know, like you mentioned,
Speaker 1: this is an individual award, but people might be trying
Speaker 1: to take team success as some sort of indication of
Speaker 1: whether that individual steps up. You look at someone like
Speaker 1: Paige Yukon hasn't been able to finish, but she has
Speaker 1: been a model of efficiency. She has been the player
Speaker 1: that shows up in those games even when other players
Speaker 1: are injured or they've struggled to find cohesion. And so
Speaker 1: is there an extra bonus for that as opposed to
Speaker 1: Hannah who gets to lean on someone like Olivia who's
Speaker 1: going to be a superstar next to where every game?
Speaker 1: How much do those conversations get in people's heads when
Speaker 1: they're making these decisions versus looking at box score? How
Speaker 1: much are you looking at eye tests versus numbers?
Speaker 4: I prefer the eye test, boys, so did the numbers,
Speaker 4: because numbers can be skewed however you want them to look.
Speaker 4: One of the blessings have been an sid for so
Speaker 4: many years and work in basketball is you have conversations
Speaker 4: with basketball coaches or you spend time with them watching
Speaker 4: film where you see them breaking down different things that
Speaker 4: you have those different intangible conversations, right, And I think
Speaker 4: we're all guilty of it when it comes to page
Speaker 4: back because the excellence is taken for granted. And I
Speaker 4: think sometimes people when somebody is at a high level
Speaker 4: consistently like they, oh, okay, that's page well, she's supposed
Speaker 4: to get twenty five and so.
Speaker 2: Smooth, so smooth. She makes it look too easy.
Speaker 1: It's like, girl, make it look harder, so we realize
Speaker 1: what you're doing exactly.
Speaker 4: That's so true, and so I think sometimes she becomes
Speaker 4: a victim of that. Obviously, last year there wasn't much
Speaker 4: debate about who the Player of the Year was. But
Speaker 4: but again she she was somebody where you could say
Speaker 4: eye test or the numbers, right, because she was kind
Speaker 4: of doing both both and you're just like and then
Speaker 4: you look at it to you again, like South Carolina
Speaker 4: that went undefeated last year where the sum was greater
Speaker 4: than that whole right. So yes, so it was always
Speaker 4: the internal internal battle when it comes for you know,
Speaker 4: these types of the awards.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, it is fun this year. Last year,
Speaker 1: like you said, Taitlin Clark kind of running away with it.
Speaker 1: To have this trio or quartet of players that are
Speaker 1: all really in the mix. Let's look beyond that, though,
Speaker 1: because there's got to be some stars that are flying
Speaker 1: under the radar. Who's having a standout year in women's
Speaker 1: college hoops that you think isn't getting talked about enough.
Speaker 4: I'm Michi, Kayleen and Cheyenne at Maryland, and you know,
Speaker 4: it's really interesting and I know we'll you know, talk
Speaker 4: to HBCU hoops a little later. But Alabama's leading scorer now,
Speaker 4: Zay Green. She's leading them and scoring and assist at
Speaker 4: sixty eight pointy seven points a game, and they you know,
Speaker 4: she's used to the SEC because she started her career.
Speaker 4: I wanted to say she started at Tennessee, then transferred
Speaker 4: to Texas A and m then transferred to Arkansas Pine
Speaker 4: Bluff before coming back to Alabama, and then you go
Speaker 4: go to West Virginia. I had the opportunity to see
Speaker 4: West Virginia play in person earlier this year, and I
Speaker 4: came away.
Speaker 3: It's funny.
Speaker 4: I went into the game like excited to see JJ Quinley,
Speaker 4: and she's she's phenomenal, She's dynamic, she's a bulldog. She's tenacious,
Speaker 4: but with her just coming back from an injury that
Speaker 4: force to the missed a game earlier this year, I left,
Speaker 4: I left that gay you know, raven about Jordan Harrison.
Speaker 4: I love her, Gabe. I think she's a perfect compliment
Speaker 4: to JJ and I think she's the engine of that
Speaker 4: West Virginia program on both ends of the floor. I
Speaker 4: think she's she's somebody that fins should should get to know.
Speaker 4: I think, you know again, I mean we know about
Speaker 4: how how talented UCLA is obviously a Num. One team
Speaker 4: in the country. It is funny because I don't think
Speaker 4: ke Key Rice has been talked about a lot this year,
Speaker 4: and again I don't know what her numbers are.
Speaker 1: They're good, it's just a part of the It's like
Speaker 1: you said before, like the whole is bigger than the
Speaker 1: sum of its parts. It's it's one of several pieces
Speaker 1: that get it done for them every night.
Speaker 2: Versus her putting up thirty.
Speaker 4: Right at South Carolina, they have the one loss and
Speaker 4: some of those players have taken tremendous leaves by Chloe Hits.
Speaker 4: I mean, man, she's she's been phenomenal this year.
Speaker 1: You know, I got two other ones that stand out
Speaker 1: to me, and one is Tania Latson of Florida State.
Speaker 1: She's leading the NCAA and scoring right now. And you know,
Speaker 1: Florida State, it's a fine team. They're not really gonna
Speaker 1: you know, no one thinks they're going all the way.
Speaker 1: But Tanaya and her ability to consistently score and perform
Speaker 1: every night, it's been really impressive. And then Audie Crooks
Speaker 1: at Iowa State. You know that team. I think they're
Speaker 1: sixth maybe in the Big twelve. Their record isn't super impressive,
Speaker 1: but she's such a fun watch and I think she's
Speaker 1: averaging twenty three something like that points a game. So
Speaker 1: those are two players that I like to watch the highlights.
Speaker 1: I like to hear what they're doing, and I've been
Speaker 1: impressed by what they got. Mesh, just turn their camera
Speaker 1: on what you got me add something?
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 5: I gotta give a shout out to Kyomi mc miller
Speaker 5: out of Rutgers folks, we cannot sleep on her either.
Speaker 5: Rutgers is not gonna win the conference, they're probably not
Speaker 5: gonna make the tournament, but she is a walking highlight reel.
Speaker 5: I have a friend Don Patrick, shout out to her.
Speaker 5: Shout out to rising media stars who regularly gets to
Speaker 5: call those games at Wreckers and gets a front row
Speaker 5: seat to just the and one handles that this young
Speaker 5: lady has so definitely want to shout her out. Love
Speaker 5: it and Harmony Turner from Harvard she is just you
Speaker 5: have stuff you want to say about her.
Speaker 3: Rob right now.
Speaker 4: You know she's average of twenty point three points a game,
Speaker 4: in the top twenty in the country at scoring. She
Speaker 4: you know, scored forty one points earlier this year, gets
Speaker 4: so Boston College and you know she she has She
Speaker 4: has definitely set up social media on fire throughout the
Speaker 4: season and a lot of people have two dinner Harvard.
Speaker 4: It is interesting because you you look at Harvard, but
Speaker 4: you look at the IVY League. At the top of
Speaker 4: the IVY League, it's kind of like a Battle of
Speaker 4: War where they.
Speaker 3: Could conceivably get three teams in the tournament.
Speaker 4: I know that sounds funny and crazy because it's the
Speaker 4: IVY League, But with Princeton and Columbia at Harvard, you know,
Speaker 4: Princeton and Columbia win the tournament.
Speaker 3: Last year, Columbia got the I believe Columbia.
Speaker 4: Got the at large last year out the IVY and
Speaker 4: right now in the mid major top twenty five, Harvard,
Speaker 4: Princeton and Columbia two three and four, and Princeton knocked
Speaker 4: off Harvard last week.
Speaker 3: So so it's a battle.
Speaker 1: It's you know, it's your first appearance, your rob so
Speaker 1: I won't hold it against you that you don't know that.
Speaker 1: We're only allowed to talk about Cornell if we're talking
Speaker 1: IVY League. If IVY League sport to make it into
Speaker 1: the show, we got a shoehorn Cornellen there you I'm
Speaker 1: not sure how we're gonna do that here, but we're
Speaker 1: gonna find a way to talk about Cornell hoops.
Speaker 2: If we're talking IVY.
Speaker 1: League, Let's talk about HBCUs because you mentioned you know
Speaker 1: you you follow a lot of HBCU hooped mid majors conferences,
Speaker 1: even Misha's beloved coastal the CIA, who are some of
Speaker 1: the strongest teams that you think could make some noise
Speaker 1: come March madness.
Speaker 2: Out of the mid majors at HBCUs.
Speaker 4: You have to start with Norfolk State. They already have
Speaker 4: wins this year, wrote wins this year at Auburn and
Speaker 4: at Missouri. At a trailed Alabama by one point with
Speaker 4: five minutes to go in the game, and you know
Speaker 4: Norfolk is led by Kier will and Diamond Johnson. Diamond
Speaker 4: Johnson will probably most likely end up being HBCU Player
Speaker 4: of the Year. She started out at n C State,
Speaker 4: played in that memorable Elite eight game at Yukon. She
Speaker 4: leads to me acting scoring and happy to see Norfolk.
Speaker 4: The other night at Morgan State, uh Diamond eight still
Speaker 4: twenty four points and the teammate Kier Wheeler had another
Speaker 4: double double with twenty four points. So together they averaged
Speaker 4: thirty three point seven points a game. And then I
Speaker 4: just want to shout out their head coach, Larry Vickers.
Speaker 4: Larry has done a fantastic job with that program. I
Speaker 4: mean when he first took over, you know they were
Speaker 4: getting beat all the time and losing a lot. But
Speaker 4: over the last three and a half years he has
Speaker 4: elevated that program. And you know they've won the last
Speaker 4: two tournament championships and lost in the first round of
Speaker 4: South Carolina. They have opportunity, they get to write opponent
Speaker 4: in the first round. They definitely won't be a fifteen
Speaker 4: or sixteen. See if they go through the MIAC. You know,
Speaker 4: you can't sleep on Howard University head coach TYD. Grace
Speaker 4: does a phenomenal job there. Right now, Howard is on
Speaker 4: the four game winning streak behind fresh regards to Naya King,
Speaker 4: who's one of the top fresh regards in the country.
Speaker 4: And then guard Destiny Halle, a graduate guard who two
Speaker 4: years ago, before she tore her ACL was a French
Speaker 4: WBA prospect. She's she's super talented at Coppin State. You know,
Speaker 4: they haven't went over Arizona State this.
Speaker 3: Year on their resume.
Speaker 4: And Layla Lawrence is also one of the fifteen finalists
Speaker 4: along with Diamond Johnson for the Becky hm A Mid
Speaker 4: Major Player of the Year Award. She's second in the
Speaker 4: me I CAN scoring in sixteen point eight a game,
Speaker 4: and she leads the conference in rebounding. So I would say,
Speaker 4: you know, obviously, I mean I could talk about all
Speaker 4: eight programs in the meat, but I would say at
Speaker 4: the top for this conference, Norfolk Howard, in Compon State,
Speaker 4: you go over to the SWACK this year, things that
Speaker 4: start to take shape. So you know, Jackson State, you
Speaker 4: have to start with them. Dave won thirty six straight
Speaker 4: regular season SWACK games this year. They have a first
Speaker 4: year coach Margaret Richards, who's not new to the conference.
Speaker 4: She's due to Jackson State. She coached the Alabama and
Speaker 4: then for eight years before taking over for Tamika Reed
Speaker 4: who's at Charlotte, and she did a terrific job there.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: The lead scores Tealia Dilworth, She's a transfer. She's average
Speaker 4: at fourteen point six points a game. One thing that
Speaker 4: one point out to your listens is Jackson State was
Speaker 4: the last Division one women's basketball team to play a
Speaker 4: home game. They played their first home game on last
Speaker 4: Thursday was January ninth.
Speaker 2: Wow, that's wild. That is wild. Who are the schedule makers?
Speaker 3: That's so unfair.
Speaker 2: Thats messed up?
Speaker 3: Yeah right now.
Speaker 4: Surprisingly, Texas Southern is also three and zero, and two
Speaker 4: of their wins well over the preseason favorites Grandlin State
Speaker 4: in Southern courtney a lot of males, fourth and the
Speaker 4: Swacken scoring and Jada Belt in his fifth and rebounding.
Speaker 4: So these two are solid combination, as is film us
Speaker 4: on Seyamick Evans and Sydney Drickx, who I'm actually in
Speaker 4: the prices of writing about for my HBCU notebook for
Speaker 4: the next So things are beginning to break during that conference.
Speaker 4: I think it's going to be a interesting race throughout
Speaker 4: both of those conferences of the MIAK and the SWAG.
Speaker 1: Okay, before we let you go, Rob, I need you
Speaker 1: to give us one game this weekend that you particularly
Speaker 1: got your eye on, something that we should watch for
Speaker 1: that you're into.
Speaker 4: I want to go in the Coastal if I can,
Speaker 4: because you have the two preseason favorites colliding. Uh Drexel,
Speaker 4: who wonted won the conference last year. The tournament last
Speaker 4: year is at North Carolina A and T Friday night,
Speaker 4: So that's a big, a big game. It also got
Speaker 4: my eyes locked on Sunday Oklahoma at South Carolina. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and I got cool Yukon. I would not be remiss
Speaker 4: if I didn't just just shout out the talented staff
Speaker 4: at the next doing quality work all over, from the
Speaker 4: weekly Unrival column to thorough coverage of college basketball at
Speaker 4: all levels. We have somebody covering the IVY, the Atlantic
Speaker 4: ten and I even talk about George Mason or in
Speaker 4: Atlanticton or or Temple with an American. But Howard, Howard
Speaker 4: mcdogs is the man. He you know, I'm appreciative of
Speaker 4: all the opportunities that he's you know a lot myself
Speaker 4: and the others at you know Meil Greenberg is one
Speaker 4: that set the foundation for for a lot of Winner's
Speaker 4: basketball coverage. I also wrote for Mail and anybody else looking.
Speaker 4: You know, I wore my alma out of the shirt. You know,
Speaker 4: since we talked about.
Speaker 3: HBCUs today, I can sweat shirt yep.
Speaker 4: The first historically black college in the land, Link University
Speaker 4: eighteen fifty four.
Speaker 3: But no, Sarah, thank you. This has been session honor
Speaker 3: for me to be here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for coming on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll definitely put some links to the next in
Speaker 1: the show notes, so folks can subscribe, because you'll get
Speaker 1: newsletters in your inbox giving you breakdowns of teams, players, conferences.
Speaker 2: It's a really great way to dive a.
Speaker 1: Little bit deeper on a lot of the women's college
Speaker 1: basketball stuff that you want to know about.
Speaker 2: So thanks so much, Rob for the time. We really
Speaker 2: appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me, and this has
Speaker 3: been been a blessing.
Speaker 2: We got to take another quick break when we come back.
Speaker 1: We turn our teas from earlier in the week into
Speaker 1: a totally cool announcement.
Speaker 2: It's coming up next. Welcome back, slices.
Speaker 1: It's time for a little what the fact today is
Speaker 1: what the fact offers a little more context on that news.
Speaker 1: We mentioned earlier that the NCAA unanimously approved implementing a
Speaker 1: women's March Madness revenue sharing plan.
Speaker 2: This is what the fact involves.
Speaker 1: The number thirty four, as in, it took the NCAA
Speaker 1: thirty four years to offer women's basketball teams the same
Speaker 1: benefit offered.
Speaker 2: To men's teams. Now, this is one of those things
Speaker 2: we don't.
Speaker 1: Talk about enough, women's sports having to battle against intentional roadblocks.
Speaker 1: When we discussed the output of women's sports, we need
Speaker 1: to acknowledge the input. You can't call the women's NCAA
Speaker 1: tournament a money loser for years when you've prevented them
Speaker 1: from using the name March Madness, offered up lesser resources venues,
Speaker 1: marketing and promotion, and you've given school zero incentive to
Speaker 1: care about the success of their women's programs. For years,
Speaker 1: people talked about the women's basketball tournament as a lesser product,
Speaker 1: when in fact we've seen how much it's built to thrive.
Speaker 1: Players stay in school longer, so you get to know them,
Speaker 1: Rivalries are established, and matchups become must see. Plus, with
Speaker 1: the pro game still catching up in terms of the
Speaker 1: number of markets and awareness, for a lot of folks,
Speaker 1: the women's college game, whether it's their alma mater or
Speaker 1: a local team, is the peak of their fandom in
Speaker 1: women's basketball and the focus of their money spent. For years,
Speaker 1: revenue was lost because we didn't talk enough about the
Speaker 1: true value of the tournament and the ways intentional practices
Speaker 1: were holding it back. And the sexist decision making of
Speaker 1: the NCAA doing things like paying men's teams for tournament
Speaker 1: appearances for thirty four years before finally getting around to
Speaker 1: paying the women is certainly a part of that. Today's
Speaker 1: what the fact, brought to you by elf Beauty. And
Speaker 1: here's another fact. Elf Beauty's recent report shows that gender
Speaker 1: diverse boards lead to positive business results. SMP five hundred
Speaker 1: companies with above average gender diversity on their boards saw
Speaker 1: a fifteen percent boost in return on equity and a
Speaker 1: fifty percent drop in.
Speaker 2: Earning's risk over a year.
Speaker 1: You can read the full report at elfbauty dot com
Speaker 1: slash not So White Paper. All Right, we know you've
Speaker 1: been waiting and wondering, and it's finally time to make
Speaker 1: good on that tease we gave you earlier in the week.
Speaker 1: It's here and it's today's good game play of the day.
Speaker 1: Now remember that awesome opportunity we mentioned, that thing that
Speaker 1: would change the way you see ownership, decision making and
Speaker 1: community building.
Speaker 2: Well, here it is.
Speaker 1: We're buying a slice of a women's sports team that's right.
Speaker 1: Good game with Sarah Spain is officially picking aside, putting
Speaker 1: our money where our mouth is, and getting the whole
Speaker 1: slice community to support a community owned team that needs
Speaker 1: our help. This is a chance for you to invest
Speaker 1: aka bias Slice of Minnesota. Aurora FC a women's pre
Speaker 1: professional soccer team competing in the usl.
Speaker 2: W League's Heartland Division.
Speaker 1: The team has been undefeated in two regular seasons, and
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two was named their league's organization of
Speaker 1: the Year. It's also community owned and values led, with
Speaker 1: a mission of developing the next generation of women's talent
Speaker 1: both on and off the field. In twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: the team welcomed in all women front office Leadership Team Minnesota.
Speaker 1: Aurora FC is a community owned team and community driven
Speaker 1: In four months of a first round investment period three
Speaker 1: thousand and eighty people invested in Minnesota Aurora FC, including
Speaker 1: owners in forty eight states at eight countries, and now
Speaker 1: they need our help in their current capital race. The team, name, logo,
Speaker 1: and mascot were all chosen by community owners, so this
Speaker 1: isn't like the Green Bay Packers where you get a
Speaker 1: piece of paper on the wall saying you're a quote
Speaker 1: unquote owner. You actually have a say here. Community owners
Speaker 1: even have a vote to elect two of the team's
Speaker 1: community board members. There are a few different levels, starting
Speaker 1: with one hundred bucks, which gets you a digital owners Certificate,
Speaker 1: voting rights and vote for representation on the board. Five
Speaker 1: hundred dollars, which adds a special owner's enamel pin and
Speaker 1: an owner's car decal, one thousand dollars, where you also
Speaker 1: get two general admission season tickets for the whole twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five season, and up from there. You can find
Speaker 1: all the info you need at wefunder dot com, slash
Speaker 1: m and Aurora. We'll also put the link in our
Speaker 1: show notes. Now, for me, it's a second swing at
Speaker 1: ownership that'll hopefully be a little less rocky than my
Speaker 1: red Star's tenure, plus a chance to rally this fantastic
Speaker 1: supportive amazing good game community in service of a group
Speaker 1: of women working hard for this team and its fans.
Speaker 1: The Aurora Borealis may be elusive, I've still never seen it,
Speaker 1: even though Chicago keeps getting freak Northern Lights shows. But
Speaker 1: this Aurora will be mine and yours if you want.
Speaker 1: In every slice who buys a slice of the Aurora
Speaker 1: will get a special hat commemorating our collab. Now, you
Speaker 1: can only get this hat if you're an owner, so
Speaker 1: send us a receipt of your ownership purchase along with
Speaker 1: your name and address, and you're in. And don't worry
Speaker 1: if it's not in your budget to become an owner
Speaker 1: right now, you can still join us as fans, cheering
Speaker 1: on and supporting the team. You can follow them on social,
Speaker 1: you can get to know their players in the league
Speaker 1: they play in, and you can get pumped when we
Speaker 1: give occasional updates about their season. So jump on in
Speaker 1: Slices in whatever way is meaningful for you. We can't
Speaker 1: wait to start supporting the Minnesota Aurora, and we always
Speaker 1: love to hear from you, So hit us up on
Speaker 1: email Good Game at wondermedianetwork dot com or leave us
Speaker 1: a voicemail at eight seven two two o four fifty
Speaker 1: seventy and don't forget to subscribe or rate and review.
Speaker 1: It's easy watch Danielle Collins versus the fans at the
Speaker 1: Australian Open, rating five out of five gasps review. This
Speaker 1: clip dropped into my social feed with zero context and
Speaker 1: when I tell you, I watched it with the rapt
Speaker 1: attention and dropped jaw usually reserved for a slap fight
Speaker 1: in the middle of a Real Housewives reunion. In case
Speaker 1: you missed it, American tennis player Danielle Collins was relentlessly
Speaker 1: booed during her match with hometown fave Australian Destiny Aieva
Speaker 1: in the second round of the Ossie Open.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: During the match, Collins.
Speaker 1: Responded to the booze by blowing kisses to the crowd,
Speaker 1: cupping her ear to take in their booze, and even
Speaker 1: slapping her ass in their direction. Then the postgame interview
Speaker 1: where she thanked the crowd for helping her get a big,
Speaker 1: fat paycheck to take a five star vacation, and did
Speaker 1: the presser where she said, quote, every person that has
Speaker 1: bought a ticket and has come out here to.
Speaker 2: Hackle meet can do what they do.
Speaker 1: It's all going towards the Danielle Collins fund, so like, yeah,
Speaker 1: bring it on, I love it.
Speaker 2: End quote. Now listen, y'all.
Speaker 1: I'm all for like a confident, sassy athlete. But for
Speaker 1: some reason this felt real icky to me, Like, what
Speaker 1: did you expect an Australian crowd to do in a
Speaker 1: match featuring their Australian hometown. Gal, I'm not saying the
Speaker 1: booze are cool, Like booing someone just for not being
Speaker 1: from Australia seems a little bit much. But there's a
Speaker 1: way to handle the booze, get the win and move on,
Speaker 1: especially when you're playing a twenty four year old who
Speaker 1: clearly would love to win in front of the hometown crowd, and,
Speaker 1: in the case of Aiva, has publicly dealt with mental
Speaker 1: health struggles. The whole thing just felt over the top.
Speaker 1: Next time, be swaggy, but keep it classy Collins. Oh
Speaker 1: and by the way, shout out to Aiva, who rocks
Speaker 1: vintage looks for many of her matches. This time she
Speaker 1: wore a dress popularized by Maria Scheripoba at the twenty
Speaker 1: thirteen Australian Open.
Speaker 2: Very cool. Now it's your turn, rate and review. Thanks
Speaker 2: for listening. See you next week. Have a good weekend.
Speaker 1: Good Game, Rob, Good Game, Indiana Fever, you crossing the
Speaker 1: line and given Sass a bad name.
Speaker 2: Good Game with Sarah Spain is.
Speaker 1: An iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue
Speaker 1: Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network,
Speaker 1: our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive
Speaker 1: producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder.
Speaker 1: Our editors are Emily Rutterer, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and
Speaker 1: Lindsay Cradowell. Production assistant from Lucy Jones and I'm Your
Speaker 1: Host Sarah Spain