Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're in Tampa,
Speaker 1: Florida with our nails painted Husky blue, gamecock garnet, UCLA gold,
Speaker 1: and longhorns burnt orange.
Speaker 2: In preparation for the Final four games tonight. Does it
Speaker 2: look crazy? Yes? But do I feel good about it? Also?
Speaker 1: Yes, It's Friday, April fourth, Happy Friday Slices. On today's show,
Speaker 1: We're all about the hoops, no need to know, no news,
Speaker 1: just Big Citrus getting you excited and prepped for the
Speaker 1: final four games with our favorite storylines, what each team
Speaker 1: needs to do to secure a dub, and of course we'll.
Speaker 2: Make some sure to go wrong predictions.
Speaker 1: Gotta take a quick break first that it's Page versus
Speaker 1: Bets and Booker versus kits. Big Citrus previews the biggest
Speaker 1: weekend of the college hoops season. Next welcome back Slices.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I am in Tampa for a fun
Speaker 1: weekend at the Final Four, including a live show with
Speaker 1: Diana Tarassi and Sue Byrd thanks to Capital One. That'll
Speaker 1: be on Saturday at Tourneytown at two pm if anyone
Speaker 1: is at the Final Four, and you'll also get to
Speaker 1: hear that episode on Monday if you don't catch it live. Now,
Speaker 1: we got to get you ready for all the action
Speaker 1: this weekend with a little big Citrus gab fest, including
Speaker 1: some predictions for the national semifinals and the title game
Speaker 1: on Sunday. And of course we'll wrap the whole weekend
Speaker 1: of parties and events and shows and games and all
Speaker 1: that good stuff when we're back next week after the
Speaker 1: games are done. But now let's set the stage. Friday's
Speaker 1: Semifinals seven pm Eastern. We've got number one Texas versus
Speaker 1: Number one South Carolina on ESPN. Then at nine pm Eastern,
Speaker 1: Number two Yukon versus Number one Ucla, also on ESPN.
Speaker 1: Both those games are at Amelie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
Speaker 1: I want to bring in Alex and Meish to chat
Speaker 1: about these matchups and just in general chat about the
Speaker 1: culmination of one of the best women's college hoops seasons ever.
Speaker 2: First, how we got here.
Speaker 1: I can think back to when the three of us
Speaker 1: were prepping for how we were going to I covered
Speaker 1: this season, talk about this season, what we were most
Speaker 1: excited about, the parody the Superstars misch. Has it lived
Speaker 1: up to our very high expectations?
Speaker 3: Absolutely? One thousand percent. You cannot be mad about the
Speaker 3: season that we have witnessed. I think that makes me
Speaker 3: especially happy because after last season, with all the drama
Speaker 3: of the final four in the tournament and all the
Speaker 3: hype around Kaylin Clark and Angel Reese, we know about
Speaker 3: all that. A lot of folks were like, is it
Speaker 3: gonna hit the same without them around? And I think
Speaker 3: the answer is absolutely resoundingly yes.
Speaker 2: What about you, Alex, Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4: I think back to just five years ago and I
Speaker 4: would get so mad reading news coverage in March because
Speaker 4: I always would call it my internal red pen. I
Speaker 4: would be like men's, men's, men's, you know, like just
Speaker 4: so much ignorance around the women's tournament.
Speaker 2: And I finally finally.
Speaker 4: Feel like it has broken through and there is an
Speaker 4: expectation that news outlets are covering it, and so I
Speaker 4: think I've just been trying to embrace that. And I
Speaker 4: have to tell y'all funny story. So Tuesday evening, I
Speaker 4: had to run a couple of errands and Sarah, I
Speaker 4: was kind of bumped because it meant I was going
Speaker 4: to miss you on around the horn. So for slices
Speaker 4: that aren't aware, you have to go back and watch,
Speaker 4: oh watch.
Speaker 2: Sarah was the horn, predicting the.
Speaker 1: Costume as Woody Page, a seventy five year old man.
Speaker 2: It's Woody Page. Am I on the show today? Check
Speaker 2: the schedule? I'm on the show? Why do I? Is that?
Speaker 1: So? My poor husband has seen me dressed as any
Speaker 1: number of men all the time. It's like, how come
Speaker 1: you never dress like a hot woman? I'm like, sorry, babe,
Speaker 1: not my wheelhouse.
Speaker 4: So I walk in, though I have to run some errands,
Speaker 4: and so I walk into our local general store and
Speaker 4: I kid you not, this place has everything, but it's
Speaker 4: also the size of a shoe box. And I walk
Speaker 4: in and I hear just like over the lad speaker,
Speaker 4: like Olivia Miles enters the transfer portal and I'm like,
Speaker 4: women's sports, what where? And I'm like, is this one
Speaker 4: of I heart updates? And then I'm like, Sarah's usually
Speaker 4: a little bit more even keel in her iHeart updates.
Speaker 2: This sounds like an.
Speaker 4: Angry Woody Page And sure enough, and so granted it
Speaker 4: was you, so like it's not that big of a coincidence,
Speaker 4: but just that spirit is like that's March madness for
Speaker 4: me now, and I love it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the idea that you could walk into a store
Speaker 1: and have a national show on ESPN be talking about
Speaker 1: Olivia Miles and all that stuff and have it be.
Speaker 2: It turns out it was me. Again.
Speaker 1: Every time you keep hearing things in your stores or
Speaker 1: in places that you don't expect them, it is me.
Speaker 2: But that's also nice.
Speaker 1: I'm really establishing myself as the voice in your head
Speaker 1: at all times, even when you're not working.
Speaker 2: What a delight for you, Alex.
Speaker 4: It's honestly pretty sad given how much I hear your
Speaker 4: voice that I don't immediately put it together.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I was also attempting to do a
Speaker 1: woody page, but I honestly just sounded mostly like a
Speaker 1: really bad Bernie Sanders impression the whole time. That's funny
Speaker 1: that you say that, though, because first of all, I
Speaker 1: internal redpen.
Speaker 2: I mean that should be like my nickname for life.
Speaker 1: I literally just think walking around like that could be
Speaker 1: done better, or like that's there shouldn't be.
Speaker 2: An apostrophe there, Like I just do that all the time.
Speaker 1: But I have been doing that of late too, and
Speaker 1: I've been especially noticing in the positive direction where I
Speaker 1: see a headline say men's or I see a story
Speaker 1: say men's when it used to always just say NCAA
Speaker 1: basketball tournament, and then it would say women's if it
Speaker 1: was talking women's.
Speaker 2: But now it's saying men's too, So I do love that.
Speaker 1: And I think as far as the expectations for this year,
Speaker 1: one thing I will say, and I'll have to say
Speaker 1: this carefully because I don't want to get away from
Speaker 1: talking about intersectional issues in women's sports. I think that's important,
Speaker 1: it matters, and I care about it. And also I
Speaker 1: was really delighted that this season was about basketball and
Speaker 1: it felt almost like Caitlin and Angel crawled so that
Speaker 1: these players could walk without having to face the garbage
Speaker 1: every single second. And I don't know if that's because
Speaker 1: Pagebackers is a very unique kind of white women's basketball.
Speaker 2: Player because of her background.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's because now we have this
Speaker 1: superstar cadra of women that are black, white, all races
Speaker 1: right as opposed to last year when they tried to
Speaker 1: make it one versus the other, when it's like Paige
Speaker 1: and Juju, you know, there's multiple stars to talk about
Speaker 1: where it doesn't feel like it's all centered on one person,
Speaker 1: and then everyone is that person's rival or someone to
Speaker 1: compare them to. I've certainly heard people comparing Paige to Caitlin.
Speaker 1: I've certainly heard people saying Juju hasn't had the draw
Speaker 1: of Caitlin last year, but it just hasn't felt as
Speaker 1: fraut this year, and I hope that that just means
Speaker 1: it going forward, we could keep it this way.
Speaker 2: But that's been nice.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I totally get where you're coming from with that,
Speaker 3: and I think I understand what you're saying about Caitlin
Speaker 3: and Angel crawling so that these folks could run. And
Speaker 3: even during the WNBA season, I didn't hear as much. Still,
Speaker 3: besides the typical folks who've been around women's basketball forever,
Speaker 3: I didn't hear enough about what they were doing on
Speaker 3: the court. And I think the thing that's spectacular about
Speaker 3: this season is not only are we talking more about
Speaker 3: what's happening on the court, but like we're talking about
Speaker 3: with this question, it's living up to expectations. Juju, until
Speaker 3: she got hurt, was doing miraculous things. Page has had
Speaker 3: an excellen season. Hannah Hidalgo Olivia, all of these players
Speaker 3: have all individually lived up to the hype as well,
Speaker 3: and that's you know what I mean, That only lends
Speaker 3: itself to us having real basketball analytical conversations. So as
Speaker 3: a hoop nerd, I'm right there with.
Speaker 1: You, and it proves the point we've been saying with
Speaker 1: this show since the very beginning, which is you just
Speaker 1: have to give people enough information to be able to
Speaker 1: have better conversations, and then they care more and then
Speaker 1: they watch games on and on it goes. Before it
Speaker 1: was literally like if Caitlin Clark opened a little door
Speaker 1: for a lot of people to start watching. They didn't
Speaker 1: have any context to talk about Madison Booker in Texas.
Speaker 1: They didn't really understand what Hannah and Juju had done
Speaker 1: as freshman. It was a lot of just oh, women
Speaker 1: are playing basketball. Wow, it's physical.
Speaker 2: They're mean to each other like the dumbest shit.
Speaker 1: And now it's like, Okay, I built on a year
Speaker 1: of learning about some of the teams and names, and
Speaker 1: now I can actually talk about the basketball.
Speaker 2: Not me personally, but the people were.
Speaker 4: Talking about I think also credit to Juju's team. You know,
Speaker 4: she's just a sophomore, but she has so much going
Speaker 4: on around her. Right with this docu series and all
Speaker 4: of these other kind of business endeavors that she is
Speaker 4: involved with, and so I think she has almost she
Speaker 4: has created ahead of time before she became a huge,
Speaker 4: huge name, a narrative around her and some of the
Speaker 4: infrastructure that for too long in the space, the players
Speaker 4: were only reaching that point and getting that kind of
Speaker 4: media infrastructure around them, And so I think she's helped
Speaker 4: set the narrative to in terms of who she is
Speaker 4: as a player and a person.
Speaker 1: And shout out to some brands who saw it when
Speaker 1: she was still in high school, because they're part of
Speaker 1: the reason that they were able, you know, to start
Speaker 1: to put that together. She started get invested in as
Speaker 1: a future star, and it allowed her to create that infrastructure.
Speaker 1: But you're totally right, it's when she reaches her moment
Speaker 1: people already like, oh, I kind of knew this was
Speaker 1: coming or know a little bit about her. The excitement
Speaker 1: for this weekend is I just have to say, like
Speaker 1: I mentioned this right at the beginning of when the
Speaker 1: show started, but I just want to repeat it, like
Speaker 1: I spent thirteen years basically almost always in men's sports
Speaker 1: spaces and then around espnW and my efforts to work
Speaker 1: in the women's sports space. I would get these little
Speaker 1: reprieves a couple weeks every year where I would drop
Speaker 1: in to women's sports events, women's conferences. I would be
Speaker 1: in my meetings with all my w people, and I
Speaker 1: would just have this like feeling of like these are
Speaker 1: my people, right, And then I would go back into
Speaker 1: the men's sports spaces, and sometimes they were very fun
Speaker 1: and very cool, and there were awesome people there, and
Speaker 1: a lot of times they had a lot of bro
Speaker 1: energy and it was swimming upstream to try to get
Speaker 1: them to talk about women's sports and to care about
Speaker 1: the things that I wanted to care about. And so
Speaker 1: now it's been like two years or so of really
Speaker 1: being just stripped down to the stuff I care about
Speaker 1: and wanting to work in the women's space, and events
Speaker 1: like the Final Four, like this one are like like
Speaker 1: the pinnacle of the joy of being in this space.
Speaker 1: My texts are just full of all the people coming
Speaker 1: to Tampa. What's this event? Like my friends that are
Speaker 1: running events, like, oh, this is my vision. So it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a rooftop and we're gonna get to make
Speaker 1: friendship bracelets and then we're gonna have like basketballs and
Speaker 1: we're gonna and it's like all this feminine times masculine energy,
Speaker 1: all this sharing of all the things we care about
Speaker 1: it once instead of feeling like bifurcated and separated. It's
Speaker 1: not like a men's event where it's like and then
Speaker 1: here's a little thing for women over here that has
Speaker 1: like sparkles and bullshit. It's like, here's your whole person.
Speaker 1: For me, at least, my whole person is like talk shit,
Speaker 1: drink a beer, make a friendship bracelet, and talk about
Speaker 1: Taylor Swift. Like it's like all the things at once,
Speaker 1: And so many people that go to these events are
Speaker 1: like that too, so for me, like it's just another
Speaker 1: reminder of the beauty of the space of women's sports.
Speaker 1: And I think it's gonna be just the best weekend
Speaker 1: of all my favorite people and people who buy into
Speaker 1: all this stuff just like being so excited.
Speaker 3: That's what it's That's what it was always supposed to be,
Speaker 3: which is the crazy part, right, it was always supposed
Speaker 3: to be this. I remember going to a Final four
Speaker 3: I want to say it was twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen
Speaker 3: when it was in Nashville, and I went with my
Speaker 3: parents and it was just amazing on its own right,
Speaker 3: But that compared to what we experienced at WNBA All Star,
Speaker 3: which is what I'm comparing. You know, hopefully the final
Speaker 3: four feels that same way. It's a totally different level,
Speaker 3: Like you're saying, it's a totally different level, and they're.
Speaker 2: Catering to us, right, they're catering to us.
Speaker 3: It's not yeah, we care about you, but we're also
Speaker 3: trying to get all these brands and no, they're here, No,
Speaker 3: everybody's here, and we're just here to have a good time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's what it's supposed to be.
Speaker 1: The investment has changed, the parties, the activations, the people,
Speaker 1: the size of the event, the halftime entertainment, Like all.
Speaker 2: That really is gonna be performing? Are you kidding? Man?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just it's gonna be a ton of fun.
Speaker 1: And it's it's the value it has earned, it deserves,
Speaker 1: and the value that it needs for other people to
Speaker 1: believe it's something that people who aren't on board yet,
Speaker 1: you have to show them that something matters and that
Speaker 1: you care about and you've invested it if you expect
Speaker 1: them to invest in We talk about this all the
Speaker 1: time with like why aren't women watching women's sports?
Speaker 2: You know why aren't you?
Speaker 1: Because when we have the opportunity to go to a
Speaker 1: men's game that you've put a bunch of money and
Speaker 1: has a ton of entertainment and everybody's there and everyone's
Speaker 1: talking about it, we're this thing over here that doesn't
Speaker 1: have a lot of money and not that many people
Speaker 1: know about or care about. We're going to pick this
Speaker 1: one unless you know we're our die hard and until
Speaker 1: you start to give us the value that we know
Speaker 1: that it deserves, it's going to be harder to pull
Speaker 1: people over there. And we're seeing that change out, which
Speaker 1: is just freaking awesome. Okay, let's break down these semi
Speaker 1: final games because.
Speaker 2: I don't even know.
Speaker 1: I'm like so excited and so nervous and so confused
Speaker 1: at the same time. Because you could not get me
Speaker 1: to put a significant sum of money on either of
Speaker 1: these games, I have a feeling, I feel like I
Speaker 1: have a pick, But none of these games are going
Speaker 1: to be a blowout. In my opinion, these are going
Speaker 1: to be real time. Let's start with Texas versus South Carolina.
Speaker 1: Texas for me, wins if they can make it their
Speaker 1: tempo and their style of play. It's what they've been
Speaker 1: able to do throughout the tournament. Low scoring games, defensive
Speaker 1: minded games where you kind of get into lulled into
Speaker 1: submission into playing their style. And then they have such
Speaker 1: effective offensive players, particularly Madison Booker. I mean we saw
Speaker 1: with Kylo Oldacre in the last game, the ability to
Speaker 1: pull off some stuff as bigs that you might not expect,
Speaker 1: and then their defense just slowing you down, getting you
Speaker 1: in the muck and keeping you from doing what you
Speaker 1: want to do. For me, that's the key for Texas
Speaker 1: South Carolina. It's not as strong as the team as
Speaker 1: they've had in recent years. It doesn't stand out to
Speaker 1: you as like big and scary like Don Staley's teams
Speaker 1: often have of late. But part of their issue and
Speaker 1: what makes them scary is that they have multiple people
Speaker 1: who can be too and if they're all on, you're fucked.
Speaker 4: Yeah, right, South Carolina to me feels like a team
Speaker 4: of adults, you know, like real No, I don't really
Speaker 4: feel like kids, Like they feel like people that know
Speaker 4: how to handle the pressure and trust each other. And
Speaker 4: you looked at on Staley and I think that's the
Speaker 4: reason why, right this is their fifth straight final four appearance.
Speaker 4: I think I almost want to make a joke like
Speaker 4: is South Carolina bad for women's basketball?
Speaker 2: Maybe?
Speaker 4: But it was so Bundy, Like Sanaia Fagan was asked
Speaker 4: after the Elite a like, hey, fourth Final four in
Speaker 4: four years, like is this what you expected when you
Speaker 4: signed on? And she was like yep, yeah, it's like
Speaker 4: a great answer. I love it, you know, And and
Speaker 4: Don has said that, like she has literally said, this
Speaker 4: is not one of my better teams. She knows that
Speaker 4: they have a lot of weaknesses, but I think it's
Speaker 4: that kind of experience and that trust under pressure, like
Speaker 4: they're not a team that gets flummixed easily.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's shown right the last few games they've
Speaker 3: played have not been blow up. They have had to
Speaker 3: go down to the wire with Duke and then go
Speaker 3: like it hasn't just been a for them.
Speaker 2: I agree.
Speaker 3: It makes it really hard to call uh Sarah because
Speaker 3: you just don't know where it's gonna come from. And
Speaker 3: that also begs the question like what if it doesn't
Speaker 3: come who is gonna step.
Speaker 2: Up and be that go to person?
Speaker 3: So for me, that's the one thing that scares me
Speaker 3: about South Carolina in that game. But if they can
Speaker 3: get like ten from three different people and crash the
Speaker 3: boards like they do, play the defense that we're used
Speaker 3: to seeing them play.
Speaker 2: I think they can walk away with this one. But
Speaker 2: for Texas, if they.
Speaker 3: Want to get this job done, Rory Harmon is gonna
Speaker 3: do what Rory Harmon did against against TCU, right, She's
Speaker 3: gonna have to step up, especially if they end up
Speaker 3: in an offensive law because South Carolina does play that defense.
Speaker 3: Rory Harmon, the point guard, is gonna have to go
Speaker 3: get those paint points, pull up jumpers, all that good stuff.
Speaker 2: I also think this has.
Speaker 3: To be the Madison Booker twenty five plus game. I
Speaker 3: really do, because South Carolina's guards, they're relentless defensively, They're
Speaker 3: gonna get what they want in the post with Chloe Kids,
Speaker 3: Joyce Edwards, all those folks down low. But if Texas
Speaker 3: and Vic Shafer want to walk away with this, they
Speaker 3: have to play their normal Texas defense, hard nose pressure.
Speaker 2: But Maddie has to go off.
Speaker 1: She has to take over and away, and she's so
Speaker 1: hard to guard because she plays a forward, but she
Speaker 1: can be a guard. I can't do any when Matt
Speaker 1: when Harmon was out, she essentially ran the point. So
Speaker 1: you've got Bree Hall and Raven Johnson probably gonna be
Speaker 1: tasked with guarding her.
Speaker 2: Tessa Johnson off the bench will take some of that
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 3: And I like two of those three matchups for Maddie.
Speaker 3: Hall is the best matchup for her to me, I think,
Speaker 3: so those other two she got to eat.
Speaker 1: I will say, though, yeah, because you mentioned Bree Haul
Speaker 1: in that SEC tournament game, she held her to zero
Speaker 1: points until late in the second quarter, like she did
Speaker 1: not look like herself. Maddie, I think, to your point,
Speaker 1: needs to be super aggressive off the top, and it's
Speaker 1: kind of like what we've seen with Page, Like every
Speaker 1: once in a while she goes all right, I guess
Speaker 1: it's on me now, and then she just scores like
Speaker 1: eleven y points in a row.
Speaker 2: Like Madison Booker.
Speaker 1: Has to decide that that's who she is and that's
Speaker 1: the position she's in this game. She'll get help from others,
Speaker 1: they'll find theirs, but she needs to approach it with this.
Speaker 2: Is my game. I gotta go big. I want to talk.
Speaker 1: Vibes in this one. I mean, first of all, Don
Speaker 1: Staley is a queen. I mean, find someone with something
Speaker 1: bad to say about her not only as a leader,
Speaker 1: as a coach, as a person in this business, in
Speaker 1: this industry that is changing things for everyone that follows her,
Speaker 1: but also just like vibes, just everything about her makes
Speaker 1: you understand why players want to win for her. Vick
Speaker 1: Schaeffer is a completely different dude, and yet there is
Speaker 1: something so special and sweet and sincere about him. Some
Speaker 1: of the quotes that he had after that last win,
Speaker 1: we're so moving, he said, I'm not these players' lives,
Speaker 1: but their mine, like these.
Speaker 2: Players are my life.
Speaker 1: And the way he talked about what it means to
Speaker 1: him for them to get so close so many years
Speaker 1: in a row, and then to make it to see
Speaker 1: Harmon come back from a major in and fight, to
Speaker 1: see Maddy Booker, who he's known since before she was
Speaker 1: even a college player, be more and even better than
Speaker 1: what was expected of her.
Speaker 2: I don't know. There's like a really.
Speaker 1: Special bond between Vic Schaeffer and his players that's been
Speaker 1: really sweet to watch.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And if you were to ask me to pick
Speaker 3: a favorite based on the vibes I'm getting from them,
Speaker 3: I couldn't. I couldn't because I what a thousand percent
Speaker 3: be behind both of these stories ending the right way.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's it's hard to choose based on that.
Speaker 3: But like you're saying, two people who when you look
Speaker 3: at all time the greats in this game coaching, they're
Speaker 3: top ten, top fifteen, right maybe even top five depending
Speaker 3: on who you ask.
Speaker 2: And we're really lucky right.
Speaker 3: Now to be able to see not just them, but
Speaker 3: also Corey Close, Guino Oriama do what they do best
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, whenever I think about what makes a good coach,
Speaker 4: I think about the role that honesty plays into it,
Speaker 4: and the idea that critical honesty can be respectful, it
Speaker 4: can be a gift, it can be an act of love,
Speaker 4: you know. I interviewed Malaysia full Wiley back in November
Speaker 4: of twenty twenty three. It was right after she had
Speaker 4: made her collegiate debut kind of set everything on fire
Speaker 4: in that game in Paris, and I asked her about,
Speaker 4: you know, playing for this coach literally from her hometown.
Speaker 4: She grew up in Columbia, and she was just so
Speaker 4: honest about how Don Staley was open with her of
Speaker 4: you need to improve your practice habits. What you are
Speaker 4: doing is not enough right now. But it was clear
Speaker 4: that Malaysia just had such respect and reverence and knew
Speaker 4: that that criticism was coming from a place of wanting
Speaker 4: her to do her best. And I think so often
Speaker 4: when we have conversations about coaches right, and coaches will
Speaker 4: express right, like the NIL.
Speaker 2: Era has changed things.
Speaker 4: This generation of players need to be coddled more. And
Speaker 4: yet also there are coaches who are able to both
Speaker 4: be harsh and critical and also simultaneously show respect for
Speaker 4: their players. And to me, that's kind of what Don
Speaker 4: Stalely represents.
Speaker 1: Completely agree, and that's so important with this younger generation,
Speaker 1: like we're hearing it more and more. How do they
Speaker 1: take criticism, how do they learn through adversity?
Speaker 2: How do they not just give up?
Speaker 1: And so much of that is the deft touch of
Speaker 1: a coach who can make them want to do.
Speaker 2: Right by them.
Speaker 1: It's less about like I don't want them to be
Speaker 1: angry with me. It's more about I don't want them
Speaker 1: to be disappointed in me. I just want to live
Speaker 1: up to their expectations for me. A couple more things
Speaker 1: about this before we move on. I do think it's
Speaker 1: worth noting that Texas lasts in the country in three
Speaker 1: point rate and when they played South Carolina In March,
Speaker 1: they went one of eight from Beyond the Arc, and
Speaker 1: I think South Carolina is really going to try to
Speaker 1: keep them honest there and pack the paint, make things
Speaker 1: tough for Madison Booker and the bigs and say try
Speaker 1: to beat us with the three. So if they can
Speaker 1: get off early from Beyond the Arc, that will potentially
Speaker 1: force South Carolina to play I'm honest out there, and
Speaker 1: it will give them more space for their expert players
Speaker 1: inside to work. But if they start out and they struggle,
Speaker 1: it's going to make it a lot easier for South
Speaker 1: Carolina to play the game that they want. The other
Speaker 1: thing I will say too, is you've got a team
Speaker 1: in South Carolina that I think has had more ups
Speaker 1: and downs in this tournament because they haven't really.
Speaker 2: Been fully on like they've won.
Speaker 1: But this hasn't been a team beating the breaks off
Speaker 1: people where it just feels like they're in sync. So
Speaker 1: is it their due kind of situation, like, oh, we're
Speaker 1: going to see them click into place, or has what
Speaker 1: we've seen so far been indicative of what we're going
Speaker 1: to keep seeing that they're just not quite ready to
Speaker 1: put it all together at once. If they do put
Speaker 1: it all together once, it's going to be a problem.
Speaker 1: And you've got a Texas team that maybe hasn't faced
Speaker 1: enough adversity yet.
Speaker 2: TCU gave them a fight, but when they've been.
Speaker 1: Able to put it their best players on the court
Speaker 1: and do work, it's been their style of play their game.
Speaker 1: So if they get behind a chunk, can they fight
Speaker 1: their way back? Especially with their style, this is a
Speaker 1: team that keeps it low scoring, keeps it defensive. Will
Speaker 1: they be able to push the pace, change the tempo
Speaker 1: and get enough points to catch up if they get behind.
Speaker 3: That's a tough one, right, And not to make it
Speaker 3: about William and Mary, but I think that first game
Speaker 3: in the first round against William and Mary exposed some
Speaker 3: things because they stayed with them for like the whole
Speaker 3: half and it was exactly what you're saying.
Speaker 2: They weren't hitting from three.
Speaker 3: We've seen it multiple times throughout the duration of this tournament,
Speaker 3: so it's a valid question. I do think Kylo Oldacre
Speaker 3: could be an X factor, right because the last game
Speaker 3: she played against TCU, she only had nine points, but
Speaker 3: that was five more than Adona Prince had. She played
Speaker 3: good defense on the interior, she showed a lot more emotion, right.
Speaker 3: I think at this time of the year, it's not
Speaker 3: just about what the x's and o's are. It's also
Speaker 3: about momentum. It's also about getting that energy, and I
Speaker 3: think she gave them a lot of that. So if
Speaker 3: she can get going, even if it's for another five
Speaker 3: to nine or ten points, I think that would be
Speaker 3: huge as well.
Speaker 1: I think your point about Kyla Oldacre also worth noting.
Speaker 1: When you have a big like that that you maybe
Speaker 1: want to sag off of. There was a big play
Speaker 1: in that last game against where they were sagging. They
Speaker 1: didn't even step up to guard her at the top
Speaker 1: of the paint.
Speaker 2: She drilled it. Yep. Another play later she makes.
Speaker 1: Almost like the equivalent of a football pick six, a
Speaker 1: big man touchdown, right, Like, you don't expect her to
Speaker 1: steal it and go the length of the court and finish.
Speaker 1: When she makes plays like that, your defense changes. It
Speaker 1: doesn't matter if it's just one or two buckets. You
Speaker 1: step up on her. Now you don't sag back, and
Speaker 1: that leaves more space for Madison Booker and others to work.
Speaker 1: So it will be big for them to get a
Speaker 1: couple of those players in early. Okay, So these two
Speaker 1: teams have met three times this season before the game
Speaker 1: Cocks lead the series two games to one. They won
Speaker 1: the SEC Tournament championship just three weeks ago.
Speaker 2: Pretty handily nineteen yep.
Speaker 1: So I'll start with my prediction, and like I said,
Speaker 1: I do not think that either of these games will
Speaker 1: be blowouts. I think South Carolina wins this one. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised if Texas one. I could see the
Speaker 1: path to do it. But I think Don Staley her
Speaker 1: experience in these games exactly, the amount of players that
Speaker 1: she can go to if one is not getting it done,
Speaker 1: and the ways that Texas will have to try to
Speaker 1: defend each of those players who have a different skill
Speaker 1: set to bring, is the difference in this one.
Speaker 2: Agreed.
Speaker 3: I think not just Don's experience, but also the experience
Speaker 3: of the players on the floor. Right, this is a
Speaker 3: South Carolina scene that's got kids who have been in
Speaker 3: situations like excuse me, I say kids, because we're still
Speaker 3: calling them Don's daycare over.
Speaker 1: Here, okay, right, but Alex is calling them grown and sexy.
Speaker 2: All right now?
Speaker 1: Oh no, okay, she's not actually calling them that. I
Speaker 1: just love when people say that they want their theme
Speaker 1: for something to be adult, and then there was no Okay,
Speaker 1: grown and sexy.
Speaker 3: I go, what, No, that's so much worse. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I think that, uh, that's going to be the difference.
Speaker 3: The experience of the players on the floor. Texas has
Speaker 3: some experienced players who've been in the tournament but not
Speaker 3: to a final four. Remember, this is their first final
Speaker 3: four in program history since two oh three. It's a
Speaker 3: long time and matters to play on this stage before
Speaker 3: you have another chance to try to go get a
Speaker 3: national championship.
Speaker 1: All right, that's two for South Carolina. Two cocks. What
Speaker 1: do you got, Alex?
Speaker 2: Make it three cocks?
Speaker 4: Baby.
Speaker 2: I cannot stay you both.
Speaker 4: I cannot either of you.
Speaker 2: All Right, you have to drink now, yeah, we do
Speaker 2: all we all have to drink because we said Cox.
Speaker 1: I'm say Jack, thank you for bringing that up, Alex.
Speaker 1: I need to remember that and make sure I have
Speaker 1: a non alcoholic beverage near me when I interview Sue
Speaker 1: and DT because we're back again with another weekend that
Speaker 1: has another.
Speaker 2: Weekend full of cocks.
Speaker 1: And we all know from Sue and Diana's live show
Speaker 1: that they have a drinking game that they play during
Speaker 1: their live sidecast, and when every time they say cos
Speaker 1: Diana and Sue have to take a drink, and I
Speaker 1: might be I might be hammered on Saturday Afternoon's all
Speaker 1: I'm saying.
Speaker 2: If I don't bring a big glass of water, we.
Speaker 1: Have to take a quick break stick around. Okay, let's
Speaker 1: talk this second game, nine pm Easter. We got number
Speaker 1: two Yukon versus number one UCLA. This I'm worried about
Speaker 1: literally surviving one say, for a number of reasons. Number one,
Speaker 1: because I'm just a huge Pagebackers fan.
Speaker 2: She has been through so much in her career.
Speaker 1: To be here, to be healthy, to be performing at
Speaker 1: the level she is is already a frickin' gift. I
Speaker 1: just want her to get all the way through the
Speaker 1: tournament healthy and keep playing her best basketball and have
Speaker 1: this a moment to shine.
Speaker 2: You know, we talked about this.
Speaker 1: She was Player of the Year as a freshman and
Speaker 1: has had a number of high points since, but it
Speaker 1: just hasn't been the path that you wish for a
Speaker 1: player as talented as her. So this season and this
Speaker 1: tournament has just been a really, really big blessing. On
Speaker 1: the other hand, I love coach Corey close, and I
Speaker 1: just love this program. And I think because of the
Speaker 1: men's side and John Wooden, it's always been this like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, Ucla, there are always in the mix. They're
Speaker 1: a basketball powerhouse, and on the women's side that hasn't
Speaker 1: been the case.
Speaker 2: But it feels like it should be.
Speaker 1: It just has always felt like, let's catch UCLA up
Speaker 1: on the women's side to what we expect of them,
Speaker 1: and so making their first ever final for Corey close
Speaker 1: like leading this team in a way and getting people
Speaker 1: to see it as a new destination in the women's game. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's just like pulling at my heartstrings. I think this
Speaker 1: matchup it's.
Speaker 3: Definitely given me the feels I think entertainment value wise.
Speaker 3: And when I say entertainment value, I really mean offense
Speaker 3: because I love seeing the ball with theft.
Speaker 2: A lot of other people love defense. Hey I am
Speaker 2: who I am?
Speaker 3: Okay in terms of that, this is going to be
Speaker 3: the more fun matchup for me personally, So I like
Speaker 3: it because of that, But also I'm right there with you.
Speaker 3: It feels like with UCLA's program specifically, I've been waiting
Speaker 3: for their women's team to get on that same level
Speaker 3: as you know, the men had been on and then Yukon.
Speaker 3: Like you said, it's not just Page, I feel like
Speaker 3: having a renaissance.
Speaker 2: It's that entire program.
Speaker 3: Not that they've necessarily been bad recently for Yukon standards,
Speaker 3: but you know, they haven't one chip since twenty sixteen,
Speaker 3: and something out there. We'll get to prediction to a second,
Speaker 3: but something out there is giving me husky very much.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think even circling back on what we were
Speaker 4: saying before, Oh, circling back. I hate the office in
Speaker 4: the podcast, but what we were saying a few minutes
Speaker 4: ago about quotes, relationships and Gino for sure, Sarah, when
Speaker 4: he came on this show and was talking to you,
Speaker 4: and he called when he called Page delusional, and you
Speaker 4: could tell that was just the most respectful delusional anyone
Speaker 4: has ever been called. But in his press conference after
Speaker 4: the Elite eight, he was just talking with so much
Speaker 4: admiration about her and talking not only about who she
Speaker 4: is as a player in you know, his long Yukon history,
Speaker 4: but about the amount of scrutiny that she has been under.
Speaker 4: And I think that's something too, where these players are
Speaker 4: under so much for pressure, there's so many more eyes
Speaker 4: on them mm hmm.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about what these teams need to
Speaker 1: do to win, and I'm going to start with UCLA
Speaker 1: because for me, it is a simple, simple thing. Lauren
Speaker 1: Betts period. That is what I have said all tournament long.
Speaker 1: Find me someone that can go up against Lauren Betts,
Speaker 1: and you can't, I'm sorry. She's six foot seven, She's
Speaker 1: averaging twenty points a game on nearly sixty five percent
Speaker 1: shooting from the field. She has amazing footwork, her passing
Speaker 1: out of a double team is perfect. She is mobile,
Speaker 1: she is consistent, she is tough, and she is an
Speaker 1: impossible matchup for every team in the country. And I
Speaker 1: think that that's it. Obviously, you need Kiki Rice to
Speaker 1: have a better game than she did in the last one.
Speaker 1: You need Keiki Rice to step up, and need the
Speaker 1: rest of that team to be able to keep Yukon's
Speaker 1: defense honest right, you can't let them send everybody at
Speaker 1: Betts and have nobody else that goes off, because then
Speaker 1: they'll be able to focus everything on the big problem
Speaker 1: in the middle. If you could just get a couple
Speaker 1: of your players to show up up in a way
Speaker 1: that makes Yukon have to keep the floor spread on
Speaker 1: defense and be respectful of inside outside. You've got a
Speaker 1: really good shot to fear your CLA. I have trouble
Speaker 1: seeing anyone beat them, if I'm being honest. The bracket
Speaker 1: that I never actually filed but I did fill out
Speaker 1: had UCLA winning. I'm not saying that's my prediction now,
Speaker 1: But what do you think me? I mean, I think
Speaker 1: UCLA's game plan, that's it. It's pretty simple.
Speaker 3: I think that's a big old chunk of it for sure.
Speaker 3: I also agree Kekey Rice has to have a game.
Speaker 3: She had eight assists in the last game, so that
Speaker 3: was kind of overlooked. She only had eight points, So
Speaker 3: continue to keep running the offense and keeping things connected
Speaker 3: the way coach Close wants to, but also getting that
Speaker 3: scoring column. The other player for me that when she
Speaker 3: transferred to UCLA, I was expecting maybe some more numbers
Speaker 3: out of her.
Speaker 2: Not that she hasn't had a good season. Janiah Barker.
Speaker 3: She came off the bench for UCLA against LSU had
Speaker 3: six to rebounds, so you know, decent contribution. But she's
Speaker 3: the kind of player who gets you fifteen and ten
Speaker 3: h straight like that, and against Yu Kon, I think
Speaker 3: she's got an opportunity here because a lot of their
Speaker 3: attention and focus, as you said, is gonna be on
Speaker 3: Lauren Betts. So if she can get off, she can
Speaker 3: score some points, get some rebounds, make some shake for UCLA.
Speaker 2: I think that gives them a good shot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think Gardner and Hawka is what we
Speaker 1: talked about last after last game. Their ability to hit,
Speaker 1: especially if you drop into a double team on Bets
Speaker 1: and she kicks it out and they're waiting outside and
Speaker 1: can hit that that changes everything. Hawkas in particular in
Speaker 1: that last game against usc was a huge piece of
Speaker 1: their success. To your point about Kiki Rice and her passing,
Speaker 1: they shoot sixty nine percent, I want to say on
Speaker 1: shots off of Kiki Rice assists, so she is setting
Speaker 1: them up and she's putting them in good position. I
Speaker 1: think that's third in the tournament for players with at
Speaker 1: least twenty assists. So she's that Like to your point
Speaker 1: about assists being not just being about the box score
Speaker 1: of looking at her scoring, She's getting her teammates in
Speaker 1: position to succeeds.
Speaker 3: She's also from the she and Kendall. We didn't talk
Speaker 3: about this in the Vibe section, but put that down
Speaker 3: as UCLA vibes as well, both of them out of
Speaker 3: the dc DMV area.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, okay.
Speaker 1: On Yukon's side, give it to Page and tell her
Speaker 1: that it's on her to get it done.
Speaker 2: Listen there.
Speaker 1: I mean, Sarah Strong was huge in the last game,
Speaker 1: and she is going to be a very tough matchup,
Speaker 1: even for someone like Lauren Betts, who's got mobility and size.
Speaker 1: I think Sarah Strong plays like a guard who's a
Speaker 1: big so she will hopefully in this game be able
Speaker 1: to still show off some really good skills inside even
Speaker 1: with Betts lurking there looking for the block. Sarah Strong
Speaker 1: both both sides of the floor, and I think Sarah
Speaker 1: and al Alfie are going to have a big load
Speaker 1: on their hands trying to probably double team and get
Speaker 1: Bett's way, take some fouls, but not get into foul trouble.
Speaker 2: That'll be a big issue.
Speaker 1: I think you see it will try to send Bets
Speaker 1: in and try to get the Bigs in foul trouble
Speaker 1: on Yukon. But as great as Sarah Strong is, as
Speaker 1: great as Asy Fudd can be, and you saw Page
Speaker 1: kind of put her arms around her after that game
Speaker 1: and say you good.
Speaker 2: You good, were all right, and she said you save
Speaker 2: in all your shots.
Speaker 1: For the fun so funny, I said, no, Page, as
Speaker 1: I said as Woody Paige yesterday, she could put play
Speaker 1: dead for three quarters and they were fine.
Speaker 2: As an old man way of talking.
Speaker 1: But also the beauty of Gino's belief in her to
Speaker 1: come out of a time out with that elevator play
Speaker 1: two picks up top. She squeezes through and drains it
Speaker 1: and it gets her back in her game. Like that's
Speaker 1: coaching right there, and that's trust, and that's a relationship
Speaker 1: of knowing what she can do if you believe. So
Speaker 1: if easy Fudd is hot earlier and doesn't just have
Speaker 1: a couple successful shots down the stretch, doesn't start oh
Speaker 1: for eleven, which is I think what she was against USC,
Speaker 1: that'll help too. But like I said, for me, the
Speaker 1: difference is what Gino said in that sideline in her
Speaker 1: with Holly Row, I tell Page all the time, stop
Speaker 1: looking for other people, start looking for yourself, be a killer,
Speaker 1: get after it. And that's the game where she ended
Speaker 1: up having forty, and the second half she just goes
Speaker 1: all right, I guess I'll start trying now and then
Speaker 1: just destroys everything in her path. That's the game plan
Speaker 1: for me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think again, another huge chunk of it. It's
Speaker 3: gotta be page time. Asy is where my big red
Speaker 3: circle is. Even if she doesn't hit the shots right.
Speaker 3: She went three for fourteen in their last game, but
Speaker 3: I think it was very important for her to take
Speaker 3: every single shot that she took because to be a shooter,
Speaker 3: sometimes you're gonna have lulls, but you have to be consistent.
Speaker 3: You have to shoot yourself through it to your point.
Speaker 3: She got hot at the end of that game, so
Speaker 3: I'm hoping for her sake that it'll carry over.
Speaker 2: And frankly, she's due too, right.
Speaker 3: She also had knee injuries also was out, so that's
Speaker 3: a redemption story and hopefully she can bring some of
Speaker 3: that Maxia momentum with her. But the other player who
Speaker 3: I'm gonna keep my eyes on Kaitlyn Chen. Kaitlyn Chen
Speaker 3: against USC had Gino cheering more than I've seen him
Speaker 3: cheer for any single player in a game ever. I mean,
Speaker 3: he was fist pumping, He's screaming at his bench because
Speaker 3: Caitlyn Chen, the Princeton transfer, former IVY League Player of
Speaker 3: the Year, She's one of those players it's hard to
Speaker 3: root against. She does all the little things. She's not
Speaker 3: the fastest. We were talking about this the last time
Speaker 3: we had a big centrist conversation. Right, she's not the
Speaker 3: most athletic, but she's heady, she does what needs to
Speaker 3: be done. She doesn't back down. And also something that
Speaker 3: I think is important. Page is a great leader for
Speaker 3: this team. But Caitlyn she stays right in the middle.
Speaker 3: She's composed, and I haven't seen Gino blow up a lot,
Speaker 3: at least not on camera, not when we were watching the.
Speaker 2: Game at home. But she's just a steady presence.
Speaker 3: And I think if she can get off UCLA's guards London, Jones, Keiky,
Speaker 3: who we already talked about, they're gonna have to focus
Speaker 3: on her. That again takes some people away who maybe
Speaker 3: aren't gonna be able to double down or bring double
Speaker 3: teams to Page, whatever the case may be, and open
Speaker 3: up some more space for the Huskies. So she's another
Speaker 3: player I got my eyes on. I think she plays
Speaker 3: well well, she gives them a great chance.
Speaker 1: I think there's an argument sometimes for more kk Arnold
Speaker 1: very different style of player than Chen, and so there
Speaker 1: might be moments in this game where kk Arnold is
Speaker 1: the call and that's the move because Chen is deliberate
Speaker 1: and intentional and smart, and kk Arnold is explosive and
Speaker 1: dramatic and fiery and very different energy. So it'll be
Speaker 1: what Gino reads as this team needing in that moment.
Speaker 1: You've got very different styles here. You've got a team
Speaker 1: that plays through the post in UCLA but does have
Speaker 1: some great shooters, and then you've got a team in
Speaker 1: Yukon that spreads the floor. They've got players who are
Speaker 1: sort of multi positional. You can sort of count Sarah
Speaker 1: Strong as a guard at times in the way that
Speaker 1: she can move and play on the outside. So if
Speaker 1: you've got sort of a five guard situation out there
Speaker 1: with Sarah Strong, as you're big, you're spreading the floor,
Speaker 1: you're moving the ball throughout, You're looking for that weak
Speaker 1: moment in the defense to attack, versus a sort of
Speaker 1: inside outside, more traditional game from UCLA. So that'll be
Speaker 1: a super fun to watch. I talked about vibes or storylines,
Speaker 1: but like for me, I want Page to win it all.
Speaker 1: I just listen. I'm not gonna be neutral. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna have journalistic integrity here.
Speaker 2: I'm not on the beat. This is my goddamn show.
Speaker 1: I can say what I want, and I want Paigebackers
Speaker 1: to win a title before she graduates. It's normally not
Speaker 1: that clear cut for me. As you guys know, in
Speaker 1: women's sports, I'm always like, I.
Speaker 2: Want everyone to have a good time. I'm rooting for everyone.
Speaker 1: Nope, this time, Corey close and us toa. They got
Speaker 1: more chances they do South Carolina, they had some, they'll
Speaker 1: get more. Texas. Congratsivic Shaper and Matt you guys have time.
Speaker 1: This is it for Page and I want her to
Speaker 1: go out on top.
Speaker 3: Oh it's hard to argue with that. It's one of
Speaker 3: those situations where you think about the legacy of a
Speaker 3: player and the what if that would come with it
Speaker 3: if they don't finish the job. And so for that reason,
Speaker 3: I'm right there with you.
Speaker 1: I really want when the context is forgotten right now,
Speaker 1: will be like, oh here's why, but like five ten
Speaker 1: years from now, like oh, yeah, but she never won.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean. You could already hear, Oh
Speaker 2: she's not one of the great she never was exactly exactly.
Speaker 2: So for that reason, I want this for her. What's up?
Speaker 4: What about Kaitlyn Clark, she never won a national championship.
Speaker 3: I mean asked those questions.
Speaker 2: Depending on who you ask, it matters or it doesn't, right.
Speaker 4: The Brianna Stewart says it matters.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think the Hoopeds. I think the Hoopeds
Speaker 3: think it matters for sure.
Speaker 1: Well listen, I also think Caitlyn Clark is a tremendous
Speaker 1: player who did a ton for the game. But the
Speaker 1: argument is she the greatest to ever play college basketball
Speaker 1: is insane. The only people asking that question are people
Speaker 1: who didn't watch college basketball. Yes, so No, Caitlyn Clark's
Speaker 1: legacy in college and what she did is not based
Speaker 1: on titles, especially because she went to Iowa and took
Speaker 1: a program that hadn't been top notch for a while
Speaker 1: back into contention and changed the entire landscape for women's
Speaker 1: basketball as a player. No, she is not close to
Speaker 1: the greatest collegiate player of all.
Speaker 3: And not to go too far down to this tangent,
Speaker 3: but there's a separation between those two things, right, they
Speaker 3: have to be separated. And I think that's where you
Speaker 3: know a lot of folks who aren't asking that question.
Speaker 3: Those folks forget what she did with the endorsements and
Speaker 3: attention and all that has not Jack Squat to do
Speaker 3: what happens.
Speaker 1: And you want to say most impactful, she is up there,
Speaker 1: if not the biggest, although again you have to have
Speaker 1: a whole ass bonfire built before the match has anything
Speaker 1: to burn. So if you're not going to talk about
Speaker 1: Cheryl Swoops and Maya More and Brianna Stewart and Diana
Speaker 1: Tarassi and you know a million other players that came before,
Speaker 1: your argument is in valid.
Speaker 2: Cheryl Miller right, the number.
Speaker 1: Of people that I'm seeing right now posting, I don't
Speaker 1: know why everyone's talking about Page Becker.
Speaker 2: She's not as good as Caitlyn Clark or.
Speaker 1: I don't know why people talk about Brianna Stewart about
Speaker 1: Oh maybe because she won four titles and player of
Speaker 1: the tournament every single year in college.
Speaker 2: And listen, she's got teammates to help.
Speaker 1: She had a system around her at Yukon, and she
Speaker 1: still had to win every single time and go to
Speaker 1: four straight championships and win every single time and be
Speaker 1: MVP every single time. And Diana Tarassi you want to
Speaker 1: talk about, come, I can't. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: I'm getting the buff.
Speaker 1: And I'm a huge Klin Clerks fan, I'm like, what
Speaker 1: are we what are you watching or clearly not watching?
Speaker 4: I mean it always comes back to the scarcity mindset
Speaker 4: of women's sports and honestly women in general, where multiple
Speaker 4: women aren't allowed to succeed in rice and lift each
Speaker 4: other up.
Speaker 2: Only one room.
Speaker 1: At the table for one, as Abby Wambach says, if
Speaker 1: there's not a seat at the table, pulling up a seat,
Speaker 1: I'm building a new table, and that's what we are doing. Okay,
Speaker 1: So my prediction, this is too hard. I not you
Speaker 1: at my bracket. I picked your sailing my bracket. I
Speaker 1: told you that before the tournament started. But from watching
Speaker 1: these two teams in this tournament, Yukon looks so hard
Speaker 1: to beat.
Speaker 2: But Lauren Bets is such a tough matchup.
Speaker 1: But I think if there's any coach that can figure
Speaker 1: out how to scheme around Lauren Bets and get his
Speaker 1: team to play the right defense, it's Ginito. Spit it out,
Speaker 1: Spit it out, Okay, purely because I want to send
Speaker 1: energy into the universe.
Speaker 2: I'm picking Yukon. See that wasn't so hard. It was
Speaker 2: really hard. I'm literally gripping my chair. My hands are
Speaker 2: white from gripping my chair.
Speaker 3: Oh well, this will make you feel better. I'm right
Speaker 3: there with you. Yet again, I'm usually the contrarian, like
Speaker 3: in my head, I'll try to build an argument against
Speaker 3: but I really just this is what I alluded to
Speaker 3: when we first started this portion of the conversation about
Speaker 3: Yukon and UCLA. There's just the magic in the air
Speaker 3: around this Connecticut team. I feel like it's undeniable. It's
Speaker 3: a huge part of it. The basketball gods. I will
Speaker 3: see when they actually hit the court, but it feels
Speaker 3: like everything's leaning their way. And I think, again, this
Speaker 3: is another situation where experience is important. Ucla has not
Speaker 3: been to a Final four. Yukon has been here before
Speaker 3: on this roster, have been there before, and frankly, when
Speaker 3: it comes down to it, I just don't think Paige
Speaker 3: is going to be denied.
Speaker 2: I'm Yukon.
Speaker 4: So given that all three of us are in agreement
Speaker 4: and us this is how this is going to unveil.
Speaker 4: We'll have South Carolina and Yukon in the final.
Speaker 2: Who's women Yukon, Yeah, Yukon. It's a husky year, all right.
Speaker 1: Sorry for jinxing you Page and company. The final is
Speaker 1: on Sunday, three pm Eastern on ABC. We will be
Speaker 1: so excited to chat all things Semis and Final next week.
Speaker 1: But that's all you're getting from us today, just some
Speaker 1: predictions sure to go wrong, but hopefully won't.
Speaker 2: We got to take a break.
Speaker 1: When we come back, a little Good Game Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: Yes and mashup, we'll be right back.
Speaker 2: Welcome back, slices.
Speaker 1: It's time for another entry into the Good Game Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame, and it's also time for another edition of
Speaker 1: yes and.
Speaker 2: Yep, both at once.
Speaker 1: Like two star studded teams meeting in the Final four,
Speaker 1: these two powerhouse segments come together for an epic Good
Speaker 1: Game haul of yes and Now. If you're a regular
Speaker 1: watcher of women's soups or regular listener to this show,
Speaker 1: you know the name Don Staley. She's been South Carolina's
Speaker 1: head coach since O eight, has led him to three
Speaker 1: national championships twenty seventeen, twenty two, and twenty four. She's
Speaker 1: the only black basketball head coach with multiple national titles,
Speaker 1: and she's a Nasmith Hall of Famer from her playing days. Now,
Speaker 1: if you're really paying attention, you also already know about
Speaker 1: Carolyn Peck She's a former player college and WNBA coach
Speaker 1: turned ESPN analyst who's been calling games throughout this tournament.
Speaker 1: Back in ninety nine, when she was at Purdue, Peck
Speaker 1: became the first black woman to win a national championship
Speaker 1: as a head coach. Now, how are these two connected? Well,
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways, but in one beautiful way
Speaker 1: in particular. We've known about the tie between them for years,
Speaker 1: but we learned so many extra details in the lovely
Speaker 1: piece Friend of the Show Jordan Robinson wrote for home
Speaker 1: Field a couple of years go. We'll link to it
Speaker 1: in our show notes, So here it is. Peck's first
Speaker 1: coaching job was an assistant to the legendary Pat Summit
Speaker 1: at Tennessee in nineteen ninety three. The team lost in
Speaker 1: the championship in ninety five, and Peck moved on to
Speaker 1: take an assistant position at Kentucky. In ninety six, Summit's
Speaker 1: Lady Vols won the chip, and one of Peck's former
Speaker 1: players gifted her a piece of the net. Now, if
Speaker 1: you're not familiar, the tradition when you win a national
Speaker 1: championship is that you get to cut down the net
Speaker 1: on the basketball hoop and players and coaches e to
Speaker 1: take a little piece of the net. So the player
Speaker 1: gave Peck a little bit of that, and she cherished it.
Speaker 1: She said she looked at it every day and even
Speaker 1: tied it to the shoes she wore while coaching. Then,
Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen, when Don Staley's game Cocks put together
Speaker 1: their first thirty win season, Peck gave Staley a piece
Speaker 1: of the net that she cut down after her ninety
Speaker 1: nine championship win with Purdue, complete with a note that
Speaker 1: read quote, you're on your way, keep this and when
Speaker 1: you get your own, you can give it back end quote.
Speaker 1: Staley repeated that cycle, cherishing the net she was given
Speaker 1: until sc its first ever national title in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1: The victory made Staley the second black woman to win
Speaker 1: a chip, eighteen years after Peck. Fast forward to November
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty one, and Staley took the tradition to
Speaker 1: a whole new level. She sent a piece of her
Speaker 1: championship net to every single black woman head coach in
Speaker 1: Division one hoops at the time, and she did as
Speaker 1: she was instructed, returning Peck's piece of the net to
Speaker 1: its original owner. When asked about the gesture, Staley told
Speaker 1: the Washington Post quote, it's a tangible thing.
Speaker 2: And sometimes when you're going through.
Speaker 1: Things day to day and you don't feel like you
Speaker 1: could see your way through it, that little nylon piece
Speaker 1: of string, it rejuvenates you to continue, and it gives
Speaker 1: you that reason to keep pushing end quote.
Speaker 2: And after Staley won.
Speaker 1: Her first title in twenty seventeen, Peck told The Undefeated,
Speaker 1: now andscape quote, now that there's a one and a two,
Speaker 1: there'll be a three, and the excitement that that gives
Speaker 1: me is thrilling. I'm a true believer in the power
Speaker 1: of the mirror. You have a motivation to become what
Speaker 1: you see.
Speaker 2: End quote.
Speaker 1: So yes to the greatness and dominance of Don Staley
Speaker 1: and her South Carolina teams. And we got to give
Speaker 1: flowers to coach Carolyn Peck for being the first black
Speaker 1: woman to win a national championship as a head coach. Plus,
Speaker 1: let's welcome into the Good Game Hall of Fame both
Speaker 1: of these amazing coaches and humans. This lore is an
Speaker 1: incredible testament to the power of lifting while you climb
Speaker 1: and has gon into something so much bigger than a
Speaker 1: little nylon piece of string.
Speaker 2: Yes, and.
Speaker 1: We always love that you're listening slices, but we want
Speaker 1: you to get in the game every day too, So
Speaker 1: here's our good game play of the day.
Speaker 2: Do we even need to say it?
Speaker 1: Tune into the final four games tonight and you heard
Speaker 1: our picks, which may or may not have been consistent
Speaker 1: with what's in our brackets, but that's okay. Make sure
Speaker 1: you know which squad's you're rocking with before the games
Speaker 1: tip off.
Speaker 2: We love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: Hit us up on email good game at wondermedianetwork dot
Speaker 1: com or leave a voicemail at eight seven two two
Speaker 1: oh four fifty seventy, and don't forget to subscribe a
Speaker 1: rate and review. It's easy watch Women's Sports Weekends rating
Speaker 1: fifty out of fifty people. You are so super psyched
Speaker 1: to see this weekend in Tampa is legit the kind
Speaker 1: of magic that inspired the name of this show.
Speaker 2: Women's Sport is the.
Speaker 1: Good game, full of all the competition and excitement and
Speaker 1: unpredictability that we love in sports, but shared with a kind, diverse, supportive, fun,
Speaker 1: shit talking, but ultimately respectful community. And this weekend it's
Speaker 1: gonna be just full of so many hugs and cheers
Speaker 1: and laughs with my friends, new friends, old friends, work friends,
Speaker 1: friends of friends that will become my friend. I just
Speaker 1: I'm so excited. I love you women's sports. Let's party.
Speaker 1: Now it's your turn, rate and review. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: See you next week. Good game, Corey Booker, Good game,
Speaker 1: Don and Carolyn. You having to make picks against teams
Speaker 1: that we also really like. Good Game with Sarah Spain
Speaker 1: is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep
Speaker 1: Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are Alex Azie
Speaker 1: and Misha Jones. Our executive producers are Christina Ever, Jesse Katz,
Speaker 1: Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rutterer. Our editors are Emily Rutterer,
Speaker 1: Britney Martinez and Grace Lynch. Our associate producer is Lucy
Speaker 1: Jones and I'm your host Sarah Spain