WEBVTT - Make It Three Cocks, Baby with Big Citrus 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:03.000 Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're in Tampa, 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:07.720 Florida with our nails painted Husky blue, gamecock garnet, UCLA gold, 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:10.120 and longhorns burnt orange. 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:12.720 In preparation for the Final four games tonight. Does it 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:16.320 look crazy? Yes? But do I feel good about it? Also? 0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:20.680 Yes, It's Friday, April fourth, Happy Friday Slices. On today's show, 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:25.280 We're all about the hoops, no need to know, no news, 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:28.280 just Big Citrus getting you excited and prepped for the 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:31.280 final four games with our favorite storylines, what each team 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:34.000 needs to do to secure a dub, and of course we'll. 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:35.640 Make some sure to go wrong predictions. 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:38.240 Gotta take a quick break first that it's Page versus 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:41.120 Bets and Booker versus kits. Big Citrus previews the biggest 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:53.160 weekend of the college hoops season. Next welcome back Slices. 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:55.840 Like I said, I am in Tampa for a fun 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:58.000 weekend at the Final Four, including a live show with 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:01.120 Diana Tarassi and Sue Byrd thanks to Capital One. That'll 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:04.560 be on Saturday at Tourneytown at two pm if anyone 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:06.679 is at the Final Four, and you'll also get to 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:10.160 hear that episode on Monday if you don't catch it live. Now, 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:11.520 we got to get you ready for all the action 0:01:11.640 --> 0:01:14.840 this weekend with a little big Citrus gab fest, including 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:17.480 some predictions for the national semifinals and the title game 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:19.960 on Sunday. And of course we'll wrap the whole weekend 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:21.720 of parties and events and shows and games and all 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:23.920 that good stuff when we're back next week after the 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:28.520 games are done. But now let's set the stage. Friday's 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:32.720 Semifinals seven pm Eastern. We've got number one Texas versus 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:36.720 Number one South Carolina on ESPN. Then at nine pm Eastern, 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:41.080 Number two Yukon versus Number one Ucla, also on ESPN. 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:44.240 Both those games are at Amelie Arena in Tampa, Florida. 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:46.320 I want to bring in Alex and Meish to chat 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:48.800 about these matchups and just in general chat about the 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:52.560 culmination of one of the best women's college hoops seasons ever. 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:55.760 First, how we got here. 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:58.280 I can think back to when the three of us 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:00.400 were prepping for how we were going to I covered 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:02.800 this season, talk about this season, what we were most 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:06.640 excited about, the parody the Superstars misch. Has it lived 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:08.880 up to our very high expectations? 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:13.040 Absolutely? One thousand percent. You cannot be mad about the 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:16.160 season that we have witnessed. I think that makes me 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:19.720 especially happy because after last season, with all the drama 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:22.200 of the final four in the tournament and all the 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:24.920 hype around Kaylin Clark and Angel Reese, we know about 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:27.240 all that. A lot of folks were like, is it 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:29.919 gonna hit the same without them around? And I think 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:32.440 the answer is absolutely resoundingly yes. 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:35.200 What about you, Alex, Yeah, absolutely. 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:39.320 I think back to just five years ago and I 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:42.680 would get so mad reading news coverage in March because 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:45.280 I always would call it my internal red pen. I 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:49.400 would be like men's, men's, men's, you know, like just 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:51.760 so much ignorance around the women's tournament. 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:54.320 And I finally finally. 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:56.799 Feel like it has broken through and there is an 0:02:56.840 --> 0:03:00.560 expectation that news outlets are covering it, and so I 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:02.600 think I've just been trying to embrace that. And I 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:06.880 have to tell y'all funny story. So Tuesday evening, I 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:08.800 had to run a couple of errands and Sarah, I 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:10.720 was kind of bumped because it meant I was going 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:13.880 to miss you on around the horn. So for slices 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:15.720 that aren't aware, you have to go back and watch, 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:16.760 oh watch. 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:21.040 Sarah was the horn, predicting the. 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:24.600 Costume as Woody Page, a seventy five year old man. 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:27.959 It's Woody Page. Am I on the show today? Check 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:30.600 the schedule? I'm on the show? Why do I? Is that? 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.760 So? My poor husband has seen me dressed as any 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:36.360 number of men all the time. It's like, how come 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:38.960 you never dress like a hot woman? I'm like, sorry, babe, 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:39.840 not my wheelhouse. 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:43.800 So I walk in, though I have to run some errands, 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:45.920 and so I walk into our local general store and 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:47.840 I kid you not, this place has everything, but it's 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:50.320 also the size of a shoe box. And I walk 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:53.240 in and I hear just like over the lad speaker, 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:56.400 like Olivia Miles enters the transfer portal and I'm like, 0:03:56.880 --> 0:03:59.800 women's sports, what where? And I'm like, is this one 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:02.680 of I heart updates? And then I'm like, Sarah's usually 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:05.280 a little bit more even keel in her iHeart updates. 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:06.240 This sounds like an. 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:11.400 Angry Woody Page And sure enough, and so granted it 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:15.400 was you, so like it's not that big of a coincidence, 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:19.599 but just that spirit is like that's March madness for 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:20.480 me now, and I love it. 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:23.119 Yeah, the idea that you could walk into a store 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:26.080 and have a national show on ESPN be talking about 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:28.839 Olivia Miles and all that stuff and have it be. 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:31.080 It turns out it was me. Again. 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:33.719 Every time you keep hearing things in your stores or 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:35.640 in places that you don't expect them, it is me. 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:37.040 But that's also nice. 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:39.520 I'm really establishing myself as the voice in your head 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:41.560 at all times, even when you're not working. 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:43.200 What a delight for you, Alex. 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.040 It's honestly pretty sad given how much I hear your 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.680 voice that I don't immediately put it together. 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:49.599 That's what I'm saying. 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:51.920 Yeah, I mean I was also attempting to do a 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:54.320 woody page, but I honestly just sounded mostly like a 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:58.359 really bad Bernie Sanders impression the whole time. That's funny 0:04:58.360 --> 0:04:59.880 that you say that, though, because first of all, I 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:01.200 internal redpen. 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:03.960 I mean that should be like my nickname for life. 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:06.320 I literally just think walking around like that could be 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:08.080 done better, or like that's there shouldn't be. 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:11.039 An apostrophe there, Like I just do that all the time. 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:13.400 But I have been doing that of late too, and 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:16.400 I've been especially noticing in the positive direction where I 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:20.880 see a headline say men's or I see a story 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:24.240 say men's when it used to always just say NCAA 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:27.039 basketball tournament, and then it would say women's if it 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:27.840 was talking women's. 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:30.039 But now it's saying men's too, So I do love that. 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:32.520 And I think as far as the expectations for this year, 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:35.320 one thing I will say, and I'll have to say 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:37.479 this carefully because I don't want to get away from 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:41.480 talking about intersectional issues in women's sports. I think that's important, 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:44.400 it matters, and I care about it. And also I 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.480 was really delighted that this season was about basketball and 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:53.200 it felt almost like Caitlin and Angel crawled so that 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:56.720 these players could walk without having to face the garbage 0:05:56.720 --> 0:05:58.960 every single second. And I don't know if that's because 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:03.560 Pagebackers is a very unique kind of white women's basketball. 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:05.360 Player because of her background. 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:08.560 I don't know if that's because now we have this 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:13.560 superstar cadra of women that are black, white, all races 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:15.640 right as opposed to last year when they tried to 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.280 make it one versus the other, when it's like Paige 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:21.200 and Juju, you know, there's multiple stars to talk about 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:23.360 where it doesn't feel like it's all centered on one person, 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:25.800 and then everyone is that person's rival or someone to 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:30.120 compare them to. I've certainly heard people comparing Paige to Caitlin. 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:32.680 I've certainly heard people saying Juju hasn't had the draw 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:35.280 of Caitlin last year, but it just hasn't felt as 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.719 fraut this year, and I hope that that just means 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:41.080 it going forward, we could keep it this way. 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:42.360 But that's been nice. 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:45.279 Yeah, I totally get where you're coming from with that, 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:49.000 and I think I understand what you're saying about Caitlin 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:52.359 and Angel crawling so that these folks could run. And 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.920 even during the WNBA season, I didn't hear as much. Still, 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:58.880 besides the typical folks who've been around women's basketball forever, 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:00.640 I didn't hear enough about what they were doing on 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:02.760 the court. And I think the thing that's spectacular about 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:05.640 this season is not only are we talking more about 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:07.679 what's happening on the court, but like we're talking about 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:10.840 with this question, it's living up to expectations. Juju, until 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:14.960 she got hurt, was doing miraculous things. Page has had 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:18.920 an excellen season. Hannah Hidalgo Olivia, all of these players 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:21.440 have all individually lived up to the hype as well, 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:23.840 and that's you know what I mean, That only lends 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:28.000 itself to us having real basketball analytical conversations. So as 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:29.560 a hoop nerd, I'm right there with. 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:31.320 You, and it proves the point we've been saying with 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:33.520 this show since the very beginning, which is you just 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:36.560 have to give people enough information to be able to 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:39.000 have better conversations, and then they care more and then 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:42.200 they watch games on and on it goes. Before it 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:45.160 was literally like if Caitlin Clark opened a little door 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:47.520 for a lot of people to start watching. They didn't 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:50.480 have any context to talk about Madison Booker in Texas. 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:53.520 They didn't really understand what Hannah and Juju had done 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:56.880 as freshman. It was a lot of just oh, women 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:59.200 are playing basketball. Wow, it's physical. 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:02.360 They're mean to each other like the dumbest shit. 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:05.360 And now it's like, Okay, I built on a year 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:07.760 of learning about some of the teams and names, and 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:09.720 now I can actually talk about the basketball. 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:11.440 Not me personally, but the people were. 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:15.440 Talking about I think also credit to Juju's team. You know, 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:18.720 she's just a sophomore, but she has so much going 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.840 on around her. Right with this docu series and all 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:24.520 of these other kind of business endeavors that she is 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:28.120 involved with, and so I think she has almost she 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:31.760 has created ahead of time before she became a huge, 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:34.920 huge name, a narrative around her and some of the 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:38.400 infrastructure that for too long in the space, the players 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:40.920 were only reaching that point and getting that kind of 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:44.120 media infrastructure around them, And so I think she's helped 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:46.079 set the narrative to in terms of who she is 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:47.160 as a player and a person. 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:50.600 And shout out to some brands who saw it when 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:53.160 she was still in high school, because they're part of 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:55.200 the reason that they were able, you know, to start 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:57.559 to put that together. She started get invested in as 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:00.760 a future star, and it allowed her to create that infrastructure. 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:03.000 But you're totally right, it's when she reaches her moment 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:05.240 people already like, oh, I kind of knew this was 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:07.760 coming or know a little bit about her. The excitement 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:11.800 for this weekend is I just have to say, like 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:14.160 I mentioned this right at the beginning of when the 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:16.160 show started, but I just want to repeat it, like 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:19.679 I spent thirteen years basically almost always in men's sports 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:23.160 spaces and then around espnW and my efforts to work 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:24.840 in the women's sports space. I would get these little 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.680 reprieves a couple weeks every year where I would drop 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:31.040 in to women's sports events, women's conferences. I would be 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:32.920 in my meetings with all my w people, and I 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:35.319 would just have this like feeling of like these are 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:37.160 my people, right, And then I would go back into 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:39.080 the men's sports spaces, and sometimes they were very fun 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:40.640 and very cool, and there were awesome people there, and 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:41.959 a lot of times they had a lot of bro 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:44.679 energy and it was swimming upstream to try to get 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:46.560 them to talk about women's sports and to care about 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:49.040 the things that I wanted to care about. And so 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:52.000 now it's been like two years or so of really 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:55.000 being just stripped down to the stuff I care about 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:57.800 and wanting to work in the women's space, and events 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:00.200 like the Final Four, like this one are like like 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:03.280 the pinnacle of the joy of being in this space. 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.720 My texts are just full of all the people coming 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:09.840 to Tampa. What's this event? Like my friends that are 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:12.040 running events, like, oh, this is my vision. So it's 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:13.720 gonna be a rooftop and we're gonna get to make 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:16.719 friendship bracelets and then we're gonna have like basketballs and 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:20.240 we're gonna and it's like all this feminine times masculine energy, 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:23.400 all this sharing of all the things we care about 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:26.680 it once instead of feeling like bifurcated and separated. It's 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:28.400 not like a men's event where it's like and then 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:30.319 here's a little thing for women over here that has 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:34.120 like sparkles and bullshit. It's like, here's your whole person. 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:36.960 For me, at least, my whole person is like talk shit, 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:39.959 drink a beer, make a friendship bracelet, and talk about 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:42.199 Taylor Swift. Like it's like all the things at once, 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:44.520 And so many people that go to these events are 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:47.360 like that too, so for me, like it's just another 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:51.240 reminder of the beauty of the space of women's sports. 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:54.360 And I think it's gonna be just the best weekend 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:56.920 of all my favorite people and people who buy into 0:10:56.960 --> 0:10:59.880 all this stuff just like being so excited. 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:02.280 That's what it's That's what it was always supposed to be, 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:04.800 which is the crazy part, right, it was always supposed 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:06.680 to be this. I remember going to a Final four 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:10.120 I want to say it was twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:12.280 when it was in Nashville, and I went with my 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:17.600 parents and it was just amazing on its own right, 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:21.480 But that compared to what we experienced at WNBA All Star, 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:24.400 which is what I'm comparing. You know, hopefully the final 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:27.480 four feels that same way. It's a totally different level, 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.120 Like you're saying, it's a totally different level, and they're. 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:33.800 Catering to us, right, they're catering to us. 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:35.920 It's not yeah, we care about you, but we're also 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:38.560 trying to get all these brands and no, they're here, No, 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:40.600 everybody's here, and we're just here to have a good time. 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:41.800 Yeah, it's what it's supposed to be. 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:45.960 The investment has changed, the parties, the activations, the people, 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:50.560 the size of the event, the halftime entertainment, Like all. 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:54.680 That really is gonna be performing? Are you kidding? Man? 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:56.800 Yeah, it's just it's gonna be a ton of fun. 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:00.640 And it's it's the value it has earned, it deserves, 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:03.400 and the value that it needs for other people to 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:05.959 believe it's something that people who aren't on board yet, 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:08.440 you have to show them that something matters and that 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:10.400 you care about and you've invested it if you expect 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:12.240 them to invest in We talk about this all the 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:15.280 time with like why aren't women watching women's sports? 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:16.320 You know why aren't you? 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:18.680 Because when we have the opportunity to go to a 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:20.480 men's game that you've put a bunch of money and 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:22.920 has a ton of entertainment and everybody's there and everyone's 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:24.959 talking about it, we're this thing over here that doesn't 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:26.679 have a lot of money and not that many people 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:28.840 know about or care about. We're going to pick this 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:31.360 one unless you know we're our die hard and until 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:33.760 you start to give us the value that we know 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:35.880 that it deserves, it's going to be harder to pull 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:38.360 people over there. And we're seeing that change out, which 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:42.000 is just freaking awesome. Okay, let's break down these semi 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:43.600 final games because. 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:47.240 I don't even know. 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:50.600 I'm like so excited and so nervous and so confused 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:52.760 at the same time. Because you could not get me 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:55.040 to put a significant sum of money on either of 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:58.120 these games, I have a feeling, I feel like I 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:00.920 have a pick, But none of these games are going 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:02.440 to be a blowout. In my opinion, these are going 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:06.280 to be real time. Let's start with Texas versus South Carolina. 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:12.200 Texas for me, wins if they can make it their 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:14.520 tempo and their style of play. It's what they've been 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:18.199 able to do throughout the tournament. Low scoring games, defensive 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:22.280 minded games where you kind of get into lulled into 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:25.080 submission into playing their style. And then they have such 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:30.320 effective offensive players, particularly Madison Booker. I mean we saw 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:32.880 with Kylo Oldacre in the last game, the ability to 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:35.640 pull off some stuff as bigs that you might not expect, 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.880 and then their defense just slowing you down, getting you 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:40.480 in the muck and keeping you from doing what you 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:43.480 want to do. For me, that's the key for Texas 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:47.080 South Carolina. It's not as strong as the team as 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:49.640 they've had in recent years. It doesn't stand out to 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:52.480 you as like big and scary like Don Staley's teams 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:55.120 often have of late. But part of their issue and 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:57.720 what makes them scary is that they have multiple people 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:01.320 who can be too and if they're all on, you're fucked. 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.920 Yeah, right, South Carolina to me feels like a team 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:08.040 of adults, you know, like real No, I don't really 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:10.280 feel like kids, Like they feel like people that know 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:12.320 how to handle the pressure and trust each other. And 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:14.040 you looked at on Staley and I think that's the 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:17.160 reason why, right this is their fifth straight final four appearance. 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:18.680 I think I almost want to make a joke like 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:20.640 is South Carolina bad for women's basketball? 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:22.160 Maybe? 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:24.760 But it was so Bundy, Like Sanaia Fagan was asked 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:27.560 after the Elite a like, hey, fourth Final four in 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:29.760 four years, like is this what you expected when you 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:32.840 signed on? And she was like yep, yeah, it's like 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:35.680 a great answer. I love it, you know, And and 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:38.160 Don has said that, like she has literally said, this 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:40.360 is not one of my better teams. She knows that 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:42.480 they have a lot of weaknesses, but I think it's 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:46.320 that kind of experience and that trust under pressure, like 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.840 they're not a team that gets flummixed easily. 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:52.520 Yeah, and that's shown right the last few games they've 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:54.920 played have not been blow up. They have had to 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:57.960 go down to the wire with Duke and then go 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:00.880 like it hasn't just been a for them. 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:01.760 I agree. 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:04.480 It makes it really hard to call uh Sarah because 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:06.760 you just don't know where it's gonna come from. And 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:09.040 that also begs the question like what if it doesn't 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:10.600 come who is gonna step. 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:11.880 Up and be that go to person? 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:15.280 So for me, that's the one thing that scares me 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.160 about South Carolina in that game. But if they can 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:23.480 get like ten from three different people and crash the 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:25.320 boards like they do, play the defense that we're used 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:26.000 to seeing them play. 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:27.440 I think they can walk away with this one. But 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:29.000 for Texas, if they. 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:32.040 Want to get this job done, Rory Harmon is gonna 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:36.440 do what Rory Harmon did against against TCU, right, She's 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:38.280 gonna have to step up, especially if they end up 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:41.240 in an offensive law because South Carolina does play that defense. 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:43.680 Rory Harmon, the point guard, is gonna have to go 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:46.320 get those paint points, pull up jumpers, all that good stuff. 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:47.800 I also think this has. 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:50.640 To be the Madison Booker twenty five plus game. I 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:55.120 really do, because South Carolina's guards, they're relentless defensively, They're 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:56.920 gonna get what they want in the post with Chloe Kids, 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:01.200 Joyce Edwards, all those folks down low. But if Texas 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:02.960 and Vic Shafer want to walk away with this, they 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:06.160 have to play their normal Texas defense, hard nose pressure. 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:07.800 But Maddie has to go off. 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:11.200 She has to take over and away, and she's so 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:14.520 hard to guard because she plays a forward, but she 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:16.320 can be a guard. I can't do any when Matt 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:19.920 when Harmon was out, she essentially ran the point. So 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:24.000 you've got Bree Hall and Raven Johnson probably gonna be 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:25.400 tasked with guarding her. 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:27.480 Tessa Johnson off the bench will take some of that 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:28.080 as well. 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:30.640 And I like two of those three matchups for Maddie. 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:33.320 Hall is the best matchup for her to me, I think, 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:34.760 so those other two she got to eat. 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:38.280 I will say, though, yeah, because you mentioned Bree Haul 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:41.800 in that SEC tournament game, she held her to zero 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:46.040 points until late in the second quarter, like she did 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:48.520 not look like herself. Maddie, I think, to your point, 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:51.520 needs to be super aggressive off the top, and it's 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:53.600 kind of like what we've seen with Page, Like every 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:54.760 once in a while she goes all right, I guess 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:56.480 it's on me now, and then she just scores like 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:57.600 eleven y points in a row. 0:16:57.880 --> 0:16:58.720 Like Madison Booker. 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:00.400 Has to decide that that's who she is and that's 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:03.240 the position she's in this game. She'll get help from others, 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:06.119 they'll find theirs, but she needs to approach it with this. 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:08.439 Is my game. I gotta go big. I want to talk. 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:11.040 Vibes in this one. I mean, first of all, Don 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:14.440 Staley is a queen. I mean, find someone with something 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:16.520 bad to say about her not only as a leader, 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:19.840 as a coach, as a person in this business, in 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:22.880 this industry that is changing things for everyone that follows her, 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:27.560 but also just like vibes, just everything about her makes 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:31.160 you understand why players want to win for her. Vick 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:34.800 Schaeffer is a completely different dude, and yet there is 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:39.239 something so special and sweet and sincere about him. Some 0:17:39.320 --> 0:17:41.600 of the quotes that he had after that last win, 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:47.120 we're so moving, he said, I'm not these players' lives, 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:49.920 but their mine, like these. 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:50.760 Players are my life. 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:53.359 And the way he talked about what it means to 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:55.800 him for them to get so close so many years 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.359 in a row, and then to make it to see 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:00.960 Harmon come back from a major in and fight, to 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:03.440 see Maddy Booker, who he's known since before she was 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:07.600 even a college player, be more and even better than 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:08.720 what was expected of her. 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:10.840 I don't know. There's like a really. 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:13.600 Special bond between Vic Schaeffer and his players that's been 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:14.800 really sweet to watch. 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:17.160 Yeah, And if you were to ask me to pick 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:19.840 a favorite based on the vibes I'm getting from them, 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:24.399 I couldn't. I couldn't because I what a thousand percent 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:27.280 be behind both of these stories ending the right way. 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:30.760 So yeah, it's it's hard to choose based on that. 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:34.640