Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're listening
Speaker 1: to new music from Mountjoy Camp and counting pros while
Speaker 1: we put Big X's on our calendars so work doesn't
Speaker 1: interrupt our college hoops watching. It's Thursday, March sixth, and
Speaker 1: on today's show, we'll be chatting with ESPN's Alexa Philippoo
Speaker 1: about just how mad this March will be, her front
Speaker 1: runner for Player of the Year and her favorite memories
Speaker 1: of Diana Tarassi, plus keeping tabs on unrivaled rosters. A
Speaker 1: legislative win we can actually celebrate Anna twenty four year
Speaker 1: pro decides it's time to hang them up.
Speaker 2: It's all coming up right after this.
Speaker 1: Welcome back slices. Here's what you need to know today.
Speaker 1: Let's start with some news out of Washington, DC. A
Speaker 1: bill that would have redefined Title nine with the goal
Speaker 1: of prohibiting transgender athletes from playing school sports has failed
Speaker 1: in the Senate. The bill, which passed in the House
Speaker 1: in January, would have codified into law Trump's executive order
Speaker 1: threat to remove federal funding from schools that allow transgender
Speaker 1: girls and women to compete on teams consistent with their
Speaker 1: gender identity. As a result, of the bill failing in
Speaker 1: the Senate. That executive order is all that exists at
Speaker 1: the federal level for now to Unrivaled, where we've got
Speaker 1: some roster movement to update you on heading into the
Speaker 1: final weekend of the regular season.
Speaker 2: First up the good news.
Speaker 1: Marina Mabry made her Unrivaled season debut earlier this week,
Speaker 1: playing twelve minutes in the Phantom's ninety two to seventy
Speaker 1: nine loss to the Lunar Owls on Monday, and Mabor
Speaker 1: even Millie Rock during her introduction, showing off her biggest
Speaker 1: area of improvement so far at Unrivaled dance moves. The
Speaker 1: Phantom are currently last in the standings looking for a
Speaker 1: Hail Mary to close out the regular season. Maby's return
Speaker 1: helps because they won't have Sabrina Yenescu for the final run.
Speaker 1: Per the league, Yenescu is done for the season due
Speaker 1: to prior commitments that she made before signing on for
Speaker 1: the league's inaugural season. Lace's BC player Natisha Heideman has
Speaker 1: been reassigned to the Phantom to help even out team numbers.
Speaker 1: We've been super enthusiastic about Unrivaled all season, but I
Speaker 1: do think by next year need to tighten up some
Speaker 1: of these things. I don't know that they'll be treated
Speaker 1: as completely legitimate if they have players who are incapable
Speaker 1: of playing out an entire season because of commitments, or
Speaker 1: if they're consistently moving around players from team to team.
Speaker 1: But for now we understand season one some kinks iron
Speaker 1: out unrivaled regular season wraps up this Monday, with the
Speaker 1: top four teams qualifying for the semi finals on March sixteenth.
Speaker 2: The Lunar Owls and.
Speaker 1: Roseby C have both locked up playoff spots, with Vinyl
Speaker 1: Missed Laces and Phantom fighting for the final two. Speaking
Speaker 1: of Sabriana and NSCU, she also made news this week
Speaker 1: by being introduced as an investor in NWSL team BAFC.
Speaker 1: She'll also be serving as the club's official commercial advisor,
Speaker 1: a role that, according to the team's press release, will
Speaker 1: allow her to quote support BAFC athletes as they work
Speaker 1: to build their portfolio of brand endorsements. End quote more
Speaker 1: NWSL Houston Dash forward Yuki Nagasato has announced that she's
Speaker 1: retiring from soccer following a twenty four year professional career.
Speaker 1: The Japanese international made her Olympic debut in two thousand
Speaker 1: and four, and was a member of the country's twenty
Speaker 1: eleven World Cup winning squad. She played eight seasons in
Speaker 1: the NWSL, spending time with the Chicago Red Stars, Racing
Speaker 1: Louisville and Houston Dash. In twenty twenty, Nagasato also made
Speaker 1: history as the first woman to play for a Japanese
Speaker 1: men's team when she joined her brother's team, which played
Speaker 1: in Japan's second tier professional league. Yuki is a fan favorite,
Speaker 1: a team favorite, and an all around wonderful, joyful light
Speaker 1: of a person. The game will really miss her more.
Speaker 2: Soccer. Let's start by.
Speaker 1: Rewinding back to last May, when FIFA announced its intention
Speaker 1: to host a Women's Club World Cup in early twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six, featuring sixteen teams from leagues around the world
Speaker 1: like the NWSL, WSL and more. Now, the soccer organizing
Speaker 1: body says it needs more time and is postponing the
Speaker 1: event until twenty twenty seven at the earliest, per the
Speaker 1: Athletic The decision was made with input from clubs, confederations,
Speaker 1: leagues and players unions, with those groups also advocating that
Speaker 1: FIFA hosts a smaller four or six team event next winter. Instead,
Speaker 1: keep you posted as we learn more. To motorsports news,
Speaker 1: friend of the Show, Catherine leg will make her NASCAR
Speaker 1: Cup Series debut this weekend, competing in the Shriners Children's
Speaker 1: five hundred in Phoenix on Sunday. In doing so, she'll
Speaker 1: become the first woman to compete in a Cup Series
Speaker 1: race since twenty eighteen. Way to go, Catherine, and if
Speaker 1: any of you slices miss that episode with her, go
Speaker 1: back and listen ahead of Sunday's race.
Speaker 2: We'll link to it in our show notes.
Speaker 1: Speaking of friends of the show, Bob's letter Alana Meyers
Speaker 1: Taylor will be in action at the World Bobsled and
Speaker 1: Skeleton Championships in Lake Placid, running today through Sunday and
Speaker 1: March fourteenth through sixteenth.
Speaker 2: These are the first.
Speaker 1: Bob Sled and Skeleton World Championships to be held in
Speaker 1: the US since twenty twelve. Want to see how Alana does,
Speaker 1: We'll link to the website where you can find the
Speaker 1: schedule and race results in our show notes. Speaking of
Speaker 1: fast cold sports and yet another friend of the show,
Speaker 1: We've got a little cross country skiing news. The bi
Speaker 1: annual World Championships in that sport are currently underway in Norway,
Speaker 1: and on Wednesday, the American duo of Jesse Diggins and
Speaker 1: Julie Kern won silver in the team sprintcond and straight
Speaker 1: podium finish in the event after they claim.
Speaker 2: Bronze two years ago.
Speaker 1: And last, but not least, we want to send a
Speaker 1: huge congratulations to US women's national team and Portland Thorns
Speaker 1: forward Sophia Wilson formerly Sophia Smith, who's pregnant with her
Speaker 1: first child. Wilson and her husband Michael, a wide receiver
Speaker 1: for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals, made the announcement via a
Speaker 1: post on Instagram yesterday and included photos of the two
Speaker 1: holding sonogram images and the caption quote, life just keeps
Speaker 1: getting sweeter, speaking asweet. If you haven't seen Michael rattling
Speaker 1: off all of Soph's acomplishments and saying.
Speaker 2: If she can do it, he can do it. Get
Speaker 2: ready for some serious cheese in, y'all.
Speaker 1: We'll link to that video and their baby announced post
Speaker 1: in our show notes. We're wishing you a happy and
Speaker 1: healthy pregnancy. So we got to take a quick break.
Speaker 1: When we come back, we're talking besketball. I love that,
Speaker 1: but I shouldn't be singing right now. My voice is trash.
Speaker 1: Alexa Philipoo caught up with her yesterday. It's coming up next.
Speaker 2: Joining us now.
Speaker 1: She covers college hoops and the WNBA for ESPN. Previously
Speaker 1: covered the Yukon Huskies and the Connecticut Sun for the
Speaker 1: Hartford Current, and her work has appeared in the Dallas
Speaker 1: Morning News, Seattle Times, and Cincinnati Enquirer. A Stanford alum,
Speaker 1: her past jobs include interning at the House Committee and
Speaker 1: Oversight and Government Reform, and founding and working as head
Speaker 1: chef of gourmet cookie company Mad Moose Bakery.
Speaker 2: It's Alexa Philippoo, a high school chef.
Speaker 3: I did not think that was going to ever see
Speaker 3: the light of day on something work related, but yes,
Speaker 3: I loved Here's the thing, Sarah, though, I like to
Speaker 3: bake the cookies, but I don't eat cookies.
Speaker 4: So like it was like I lost out most of
Speaker 4: the fun. I just was doing it because I enjoyed it,
Speaker 4: but I never.
Speaker 2: Really Okay, Yeah, where'd we get the name Mad Moose Bakery?
Speaker 4: Oh? It's honestly a long story. But I was selling
Speaker 4: them to my cousin and his nickname was Moose. I
Speaker 4: don't even remember how that came about. So it was
Speaker 4: a playoff of like moose, like the animal, but then
Speaker 4: like moose, like you know, a dessert.
Speaker 2: Moose, So chocolate moose. Yeah, exactly right, sounds sounds very
Speaker 2: high school.
Speaker 1: Well, congratulations on being entrepreneurial even at a young age.
Speaker 1: And congratulations on the ESPN contract extension that was just announced.
Speaker 1: So you're sticking around with the Worldwide Leader. Happy to
Speaker 1: hear you'll be sticking around, especially because we love getting
Speaker 1: your expertise on all things college hoops. Conference tournaments are underway,
Speaker 1: so any upsets you're watching.
Speaker 4: For upsets, I mean, I think we have to talk
Speaker 4: about the SEC. I mean at the time that we're
Speaker 4: recording this, I know, like Tennessee just they won their
Speaker 4: game very comfortably against Texas adem but they're a nine
Speaker 4: seed in the in the SEC tournament, which is wild, right,
Speaker 4: So that conference is just so deep, So I don't know,
Speaker 4: necessarily it feels like, yes, maybe we'll have South Carolina
Speaker 4: and Well Text I guess like be the ultimate teams
Speaker 4: that will face off in the final, But just because
Speaker 4: of the depth of the conference, then you know, you
Speaker 4: just don't know. Maybe if a certain if Kentucky gets hot,
Speaker 4: if at Tennessee refinds its groove after that huge loss
Speaker 4: to Georgia, so maybe we'll see some upsets. And then
Speaker 4: you know, acc I want to see if Knitter Dame
Speaker 4: kind of refinds its groove, if anyone else can really
Speaker 4: challenge them, or if you know, it's really they're still
Speaker 4: the team to beat. So those are the two I
Speaker 4: really have my eye on. And then I think with
Speaker 4: Big ten, we're probably just expecting UCLA USC Part three,
Speaker 4: Big twelve. Yeah, I think I would probably picked TCU
Speaker 4: at this point to they seem like they're the best
Speaker 4: team right now, especially with Kanadasity a little injured, So.
Speaker 2: Yeah, who knows.
Speaker 4: We'll have to see. Well.
Speaker 1: And with Notre Dame, you mentioned NC State, you know,
Speaker 1: technically the number one seed because of the tie breaker
Speaker 1: in that one. So yeah, it's whether or not they
Speaker 1: can be the team that they were kind of most
Speaker 1: of the season, or they have a particular issue trying
Speaker 1: to beat the wolf Pack in this tournament. Going forward,
Speaker 1: let's look ahead to the NCAA tournament. For new or
Speaker 1: maybe for those who are unfamiliar, how much do these
Speaker 1: conference tournaments matter and how much does regular season success
Speaker 1: impact seating.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, well, obviously we have a wealth of
Speaker 4: data up to this point that the committee is using
Speaker 4: to decide what the bracket looks like, and we were
Speaker 4: able to see specifically with those top sixteen teams in
Speaker 4: the reveal last week, what they're thinking was up to
Speaker 4: that point. Of course, so much has happened literally since
Speaker 4: that reveal that day, there were a ton of upsets.
Speaker 4: Throughout the last week, there have been a ton of upsets,
Speaker 4: and I think what's unique about this year is that
Speaker 4: you know, you have it's all also, we should say
Speaker 4: different for each conference and different for each team. Some
Speaker 4: teams are fighting to make it into March period, but
Speaker 4: when we're talking about some of these real contenders or
Speaker 4: the power for you know pretty much which teams are
Speaker 4: probably going to make it. But then it is, like
Speaker 4: you said, all about seating, and for this year, it's
Speaker 4: really interesting because the top sixteen teams, it feels like
Speaker 4: a lot is fluid. There's still number one seeds up
Speaker 4: for grabs. The teams that get to host those are
Speaker 4: the top sixteen seeds I've been referring to, So that's
Speaker 4: all really fluid as well. There's been upsets like Ohio
Speaker 4: State losing that like right now, they're not slated to hosts.
Speaker 4: According to Charlie Gums projections, could a team like Maryland
Speaker 4: go on a run and get back in that position.
Speaker 4: Kansas State is a little bit of a precarious spot too,
Speaker 4: So we're looking at who's going to host. We're also
Speaker 4: looking at who's going to get that number one overall seed,
Speaker 4: and I think that who ends up having a really
Speaker 4: strong run the next week is We're going to termine
Speaker 4: a lot of that. So I think it's exciting because
Speaker 4: there's a lot of intrigue and it doesn't feel like
Speaker 4: anything in the Stone.
Speaker 2: So much parody wide open field.
Speaker 1: You mentioned we got our first look at what the
Speaker 1: top sixteen looks like from the Basketball Committee before those
Speaker 1: upsets and thing offers tournaments. But UCLA, Texas, USC and
Speaker 1: Notre Dame the number one seeds. And to your point
Speaker 1: about the home advantage, it's a debate that's raged for
Speaker 1: several years in the women's game of should we still
Speaker 1: be giving home court advantage and host opportunities to teams
Speaker 1: or should it be like the men's tournament where it's
Speaker 1: neutral sites. Do you think we're still at a place
Speaker 1: in the women's game where it's beneficial to have those
Speaker 1: home sites and to encourage tickets and attendance and everything
Speaker 1: by you know, placing them in basketball hotbeds, or are
Speaker 1: we at a spot where we might be able to
Speaker 1: move toward neutral sites.
Speaker 4: Personally, I love that teams could host in a women's game,
Speaker 4: and I think there's nothing like I just remember actually
Speaker 4: one time walking into it was a second round game
Speaker 4: here in stores. I'm saying here in Stortside. I'm literally
Speaker 4: here in stores after having to do some interviews here
Speaker 4: and so just walking into the gamble pavilion and it
Speaker 4: was like an atmosphere for a second round game. I
Speaker 4: was not expecting, but it was electric. You could feel
Speaker 4: just like the tension brewing, and it was a really
Speaker 4: actually tough game for Yu Kong. As we're playing, I
Speaker 4: think it might have been you see yes at the
Speaker 4: time or yeah, that sounds right. So I think it's great.
Speaker 4: I think you know, they're really well attended. You're not
Speaker 4: seeing environments where it's like no one's in the stands
Speaker 4: and it's like, what's the point here? And my argument
Speaker 4: for keeping that too is like you should you know,
Speaker 4: I know this doesn't apply to maybe some of the
Speaker 4: lower mid majors, But for the most part, if you're
Speaker 4: in the conversation to host, you know you have the
Speaker 4: like if you want to host like investor program, do
Speaker 4: well in the regular season and in your conference tournament,
Speaker 4: and then you can be in a position to have
Speaker 4: that you know, quote unquote advantage. So I think it's great.
Speaker 4: I would probably be really disappointed they move away from it.
Speaker 4: I see why people like neutral sites, but like, we
Speaker 4: do get neutral sites obviously once we get to the
Speaker 4: regionals and then the final four, so we have that
Speaker 4: built in. But I just think campus sites, it's still
Speaker 4: college athletics. And yes, also too, they're gonna be upsets,
Speaker 4: like we're seeing more and more upsets in the women's game.
Speaker 4: So hopefully it's a good balance, like for the whole
Speaker 4: scope of the tournament that you have a little bit
Speaker 4: at that college field, but also the neutrality and the
Speaker 4: later on.
Speaker 1: How many teams deep do I have to go for
Speaker 1: you to say that they have a legitimate chance to
Speaker 1: win it.
Speaker 4: All, I'd say six. Do you want me to name
Speaker 4: them or do you want to game them together?
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's hear.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I think, let's you know you have at
Speaker 4: the top Texas USC. I might be messing up the
Speaker 4: exact rankings right now, South Carolina, UCLA, Yukon and Notre Dame.
Speaker 4: Notre Dame, I think those are the six for me.
Speaker 4: Some people like to put else you in there, but
Speaker 4: I haven't seen that championship level play for them. I
Speaker 4: mean I wouldn't be I don't think i'd pick them
Speaker 4: to make the final for her right now, but I
Speaker 4: wouldn't be shocked if they do, because they just obviously
Speaker 4: have the talent. But yeah, for me, it's been to
Speaker 4: six that I really think have the shanga shot. I
Speaker 4: think that's been honestly pretty consistent throughout the season that
Speaker 4: those above the rest.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they've kind of shuffled around the top the top rankings.
Speaker 1: Are there any potential dark courses? Is there a team
Speaker 1: maybe LSU is one, but is there a team that
Speaker 1: you think if everything is hidden, yeah, they could do
Speaker 1: some damage.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think so. The Big twelve is interesting because
Speaker 4: I feel like they've it's been like a very the
Speaker 4: ones completely emerge as a power, like you kind of
Speaker 4: saw that from TCU, but then they've had their own
Speaker 4: ups and downs. Kansas State. I think it's unfortunate Aoka
Speaker 4: Lead has been injured, especially towards like the end of
Speaker 4: the season, so that's a factor for them. But like
Speaker 4: those are two teams I would definitely watch, like if
Speaker 4: they really catch fire at the right time, Kansas State
Speaker 4: again would need I think Aoka Lead healthy and contributing
Speaker 4: and on the floor to be able to go in
Speaker 4: a run. And TCU obviously, I know we talked about
Speaker 4: them before the last time I was on with their
Speaker 4: kind of duo of Helly Van Left and Stoner Prints
Speaker 4: and then I don't know if I feel that strongly
Speaker 4: about this in the sense that they just were upset
Speaker 4: in a really kind of maybe tellyway against Georgia. But
Speaker 4: Tennessee again, like they have to they could probably Like
Speaker 4: I guess what we could say about them is like,
Speaker 4: obviously they could lose to anyone. They just lost to Georgia,
Speaker 4: but I also think it could beat a lot of
Speaker 4: good teams, and we saw them against a lot of
Speaker 4: the good SEC teams earlier this year, come really close
Speaker 4: to Vega, and then they have the big win against
Speaker 4: you go too against.
Speaker 1: Yeah, any under the radar storylines, we should be following
Speaker 1: either on the court or off the court.
Speaker 2: Entering the tournament.
Speaker 4: I'm just really interested to see. You know, this is
Speaker 4: the first year after you know, Caitlin Clark had kind
Speaker 4: of taken the whole basketball scene by storm. I think
Speaker 4: a lot of people in the sport were saying, you know,
Speaker 4: she's obviously a star in her own right, but there
Speaker 4: were other stars too that were, you know, really doing
Speaker 4: great things. And so now that you know she's moved
Speaker 4: on to the WNBA, I'm really eager to see which
Speaker 4: stars are going to show out the most in March.
Speaker 4: Is it going to be the pagebackers, and is it
Speaker 4: going to be the you know, the Juju Watkins or
Speaker 4: you know, could Hana Hidalgo be in that conversation, or
Speaker 4: maybe it's you know, other people we haven't talked about yet,
Speaker 4: like Mikaela Blake for example at Vanderbilt. She's one of
Speaker 4: the best freshmen in the country. There's another great freshman
Speaker 4: and Sarah Strong who could really make her name in
Speaker 4: March as well. So I just it's always that like
Speaker 4: time where you're just like, who's going to be that
Speaker 4: team or that player that really emerges. Like last year
Speaker 4: we didn't think NC State would necessarily do that, and
Speaker 4: then they're there in the final four for the first
Speaker 4: time since you know, they had been there since like
Speaker 4: ninety eight or ninety nine. So I just love that
Speaker 4: kind of anticipatory feeling of like you just don't know
Speaker 4: exactly what's gonna happen or who's gonna, you know, really
Speaker 4: pop off. And then and then once like we get there,
Speaker 4: I'm just look very fascinated to see, like who's actually
Speaker 4: in Tampa by the end of it, if it's going
Speaker 4: to be one of mostly from that group of six
Speaker 4: that we talked about, or maybe you know some people
Speaker 4: were surprised.
Speaker 1: Yes, And the stakes are really higher than ever, not
Speaker 1: just because of the eyeballs and the fan interest, but
Speaker 1: for the players, nil opportunities, the chance to make your
Speaker 1: name on the highest stage, the chance to get people
Speaker 1: to know you and make you a household name, really
Speaker 1: happens so much during tournament time. And then also this
Speaker 1: is the first year that leagues and teams get paid
Speaker 1: when their teams advance. For such a long time, there
Speaker 1: were payouts on the men's side, and there was a
Speaker 1: real benefit to investing in your program and watching it
Speaker 1: go far and on the women's side, you go win
Speaker 1: the whole damn thing and you get nothing. And so
Speaker 1: the fact that the women and the teams and leagues
Speaker 1: are getting paid when there are teams advance just ups
Speaker 1: the ante on everything. It makes everything bigger and more important.
Speaker 1: At tournament time, you mentioned a couple of the names, Hannah,
Speaker 1: Paige Juju front runners for player of the year if
Speaker 1: I give you Juju Watkins, Hannah Hidalgo, Paigebackers, Lauren Betts,
Speaker 1: and then Tanaia Latson who's leading the league in scoring,
Speaker 1: leading the country in scoring. Is there anybody that really
Speaker 1: for you has already sealed it up personally?
Speaker 4: I know some places have started to make their kind
Speaker 4: of proclamations, at least some of the media sites. I
Speaker 4: don't necessarily know if it's one hundred percent of done deal.
Speaker 4: I think Juju Watkins might have the edge because of
Speaker 4: those games against UCLA, because the fact that they won
Speaker 4: the Big Ten title and they want it outright. You
Speaker 4: can say enough about what she's done this year and
Speaker 4: specifically just like she has help around her, but she's
Speaker 4: still the centerpiece of everything they do, and she's taking
Speaker 4: on so much in different areas before But you know,
Speaker 4: if if USC stumbles in the Big ten tournament, in
Speaker 4: Hanna Hidalgo goes on a run, or Pagebackers suddenly takes over,
Speaker 4: or baby Lauren Betts finds her way again. I think
Speaker 4: it's it's interesting because these are humans making their own
Speaker 4: decisions on this, and the voting process I think probably
Speaker 4: differs based off each award or based off you know,
Speaker 4: if it's a publication for claiming someone the player of
Speaker 4: the year. So I think it's a little bit still
Speaker 4: up forgots. I don't think someone's completely separated themselves, but
Speaker 4: right now would probably say that, like the edge probably
Speaker 4: feels like it's it's juju. But we'll see what people say.
Speaker 1: Another big thing to watch for during the tournament is
Speaker 1: how YU confers and whether that will affect star senior
Speaker 1: guard Azy Fud's decision to stay for another year she
Speaker 1: has eligibility or go to the WNBA draft. Her most
Speaker 1: recent quote was, we'll see about the fifth year.
Speaker 2: That's what we've heard. Do you have a strong opinion
Speaker 2: on what her choice should be.
Speaker 4: She's such, she's in a unique situation because this is
Speaker 4: really her first fully healthy year or I don't even
Speaker 4: know if fully mostly. Yeah, since really her freshman year.
Speaker 4: So I think she's she does seem to really love
Speaker 4: it at Yukon and to be able to play more
Speaker 4: here might be something that she wants to do. She
Speaker 4: might want to be able to prove like I can
Speaker 4: do like a whole healthy season, or I can come
Speaker 4: back and you know, I can compete it for a
Speaker 4: national championship. You know, if she's back here with Sarah
Speaker 4: Strong leaning away, that's a pretty good, you know, two
Speaker 4: player duo that would that would be really able to
Speaker 4: compete for a championship. So but then at the same time,
Speaker 4: you go into the w n b A and you're
Speaker 4: able to just start your pro career right away. Maybe
Speaker 4: she would rather do that than you know, people talk about,
Speaker 4: you know, the risk of getting injured again or whatnot. Obviously,
Speaker 4: you know, there's only so much you can do can
Speaker 4: control for that. But yeah, and then at the WNBA,
Speaker 4: it's it's also very interesting this year because right like
Speaker 4: these players that are getting drafted this year, they're rocked
Speaker 4: into a rookie scale contract that's probably not going to
Speaker 4: be what the rookie scale contracts look like next year. Yeah,
Speaker 4: because the CBA, right the CBA will look a lot different,
Speaker 4: So there's a ton of factors. She was joking that
Speaker 4: she's not a great decision maker, which I relate to
Speaker 4: I stressed out about decisions like that. So yeah, so
Speaker 4: I'm really curious to see what she does. But I
Speaker 4: think what's really just been great about her story is
Speaker 4: that she's been able to really show, you know, why
Speaker 4: she was a number one overall recruit, why she was
Speaker 4: so hyped coming out of high school, because of what
Speaker 4: she's been able to do, especially in that South Carolina game.
Speaker 4: So hopefully either way, you know, she'll have a really
Speaker 4: good path ahead of her.
Speaker 2: Let's switch gears to the w NBA.
Speaker 1: Were there any really big off season moves that you
Speaker 1: think changed the trajectory of a team, like maybe the
Speaker 1: team that took the biggest leap as a result of
Speaker 1: the move they made this offseason.
Speaker 4: I think it's got to be the Indiana fever. I
Speaker 4: mean the way that they were able to I mean
Speaker 4: they they overhauled their roster, not by getting rid of
Speaker 4: you know, their two stars, but like everyone around them, right,
Speaker 4: So the players that they brought in are championship pedigree players.
Speaker 4: They're veterans there and then from a best ball standpoint, right,
Speaker 4: it makes a lot of sense like bringing it able
Speaker 4: to bring in a player like Natasha Howard as an
Speaker 4: upgrade from Melissa Smith. No, you know, no kind of
Speaker 4: diss on Melissa Smith, but it's Natasha Howard. And then
Speaker 4: you have Dewana bon or Sophie Cunningham. I have an
Speaker 4: experience point guard to back up Kaitlyn Clark and Sydney Coolson.
Speaker 4: So I mean, I think the Fever are showing that
Speaker 4: they are in the contender conversation, and that is not
Speaker 4: necessarily where most of us we weren't. We just weren't
Speaker 4: sure if they would be able to make that leap
Speaker 4: that soon. And you know, basically your two of Caitlin
Speaker 4: or your two of Kaitlyn and Aaliyah Boston being in
Speaker 4: the on the court together. So I think by far
Speaker 4: that they they really made the most noise. And for agents.
Speaker 1: Speaking of noise of free agency, Marina Maybray asked for
Speaker 1: a trade out of Connecticut after they essentially got rid
Speaker 1: of their entire starting five.
Speaker 2: She was only there for part of the season.
Speaker 1: After being traded from the Chicago Sky they said we
Speaker 1: will not trade you, not only because of what we
Speaker 1: gave up to get you, but because we're also optimistic
Speaker 1: about adding pieces around you and having you on the team.
Speaker 1: I see both sides of this, like why do you
Speaker 1: want to play around that doesn't want to be there?
Speaker 1: And also, we can't afford to have no leverage in
Speaker 1: a trade situation when you've already made public that you
Speaker 1: want to leave and not get back enough in return
Speaker 1: for somebody that we gave up pieces to have and
Speaker 1: build around. Where do you sit on how this will
Speaker 1: be received by the rest of the WNBA watching the
Speaker 1: Connecticut Sun operate, or even by Maybury and her ability
Speaker 1: to if she sticks around, put it behind her and
Speaker 1: play hard and well for that team.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a really interesting situation because we haven't, at
Speaker 4: least since I've started covering the w BA, we haven't
Speaker 4: had a ton of really public, you know, trade requests
Speaker 4: and then a team just coming out and saying we're
Speaker 4: not gonna follow through with that. But I think, you know,
Speaker 4: Marina Mayby is someone who is really competitive, and so
Speaker 4: I I have a hard time imagining her completely just
Speaker 4: like wanting to, like, I feel like when she's if she's.
Speaker 2: Not gonna James Harden it Yeah, like.
Speaker 4: She's gonna want to win and want to like do well,
Speaker 4: and you know, she's if she can prove her worth,
Speaker 4: like whether or not she's in. Let's assume she's still
Speaker 4: at the Sun and she can prove her worth in
Speaker 4: twenty twenty five, that would set her up well in
Speaker 4: twenty twenty. Sorry, I'm just like what twenty twenty six?
Speaker 2: Like what year is it? Yeah, what year is it?
Speaker 4: And how are we already in twenty twenty six? But yeah,
Speaker 4: she can prove her worth in twenty twenty six, So
Speaker 4: you know, I think the Sun are hoping it's a
Speaker 4: sort of situation where she really just decides when she
Speaker 4: things settle down, you know, I can you know, they
Speaker 4: want her to be the centerpiece, right, they want her
Speaker 4: to have the ball in her hands a lot, So
Speaker 4: they're hoping that's an advantageous situation for both Marina and
Speaker 4: for the team. I think around the league, you know,
Speaker 4: it's just really interesting the different paths that all these
Speaker 4: different teams on and the fact that like everything is
Speaker 4: going to be a blank slate essentially in twenty twenty
Speaker 4: six is playing into this too. But right now, I
Speaker 4: think for the Sun, you know, they have some pieces
Speaker 4: that they want to you know, they have you know,
Speaker 4: the Tina Charles or Marina Mabreen, Natasha Clouds still on
Speaker 4: the roster you know as of now too, so you
Speaker 4: know they could kind of try and compete with them.
Speaker 4: But also the long term I think there are they
Speaker 4: really are trying to kind of retool their roster and
Speaker 4: build with a younger core. So that's something that might
Speaker 4: take some time to actually see come into fruition. But
Speaker 4: it's like so interesting because of the different timelines that
Speaker 4: all these teams have, and there's not really a ton
Speaker 4: of teams that are fully kind of committing to like
Speaker 4: a full rebuild and the you know in the traditional sense.
Speaker 4: I think maybe with the Mystics having so many first
Speaker 4: round draft picks, they might kind of be a little
Speaker 4: bit more like on that line. And they also have
Speaker 4: obviously new Ga Avenue head coach too. But a lot
Speaker 4: of teams are trying to compete or you know, be
Speaker 4: really good this year too, and I think part of
Speaker 4: that is just also there's so much attention on the
Speaker 4: league now that no one wants to no one wants
Speaker 4: to look bad off year, have off year, and then
Speaker 4: also like they want to maintain. They want to maintain
Speaker 4: and apeel for free agents going into twenty six too,
Speaker 4: so there's that element as well.
Speaker 1: One of the teams with the biggest changes of the
Speaker 1: Phoenix Mercury, not just because of the shuffling of a
Speaker 1: handful of players, but because Diana Tarrassi did officially tell
Speaker 1: us that she was retiring. We kind of knew it
Speaker 1: with that farewell video, but you never know what dts,
Speaker 1: so we were holding out hope and now that she
Speaker 1: has announced her retirement. You were part of putting together
Speaker 1: a really great story for ESPN untold stories about the
Speaker 1: retired WNBA legend from her teammates or competitors, coaches, family members.
Speaker 2: Did you have a favorite from that story?
Speaker 4: I did, and it was something that actually didn't make
Speaker 4: the final cut, so I waited talk about it. So
Speaker 4: I talked with Morgan Valley, who was this assistant coach
Speaker 4: at Yukon now and was Diana's roommate in college, I
Speaker 4: think for multiple years, and it was just it wasn't
Speaker 4: as much like of a specific moment, but it was
Speaker 4: more so like the story behind the bun that I
Speaker 4: thought was just like incredible. But basically she was describing
Speaker 4: to me, how like Diana used to like lay down
Speaker 4: on the couch and like have her hair hanging off
Speaker 4: the back of it, and then she would have like
Speaker 4: a brush and the hairspray and this whole get up
Speaker 4: and there was they used this like massive and I
Speaker 4: was kind of confused about this, but I guess this
Speaker 4: was the thing. It was like a massive like Rice
Speaker 4: Crispy treat that was like used as like a table
Speaker 4: and so because like they're in this like cramped dorm,
Speaker 4: you know, and so like she's using this whole like
Speaker 4: kind of setup to do the pair, to do the bun.
Speaker 4: Apparently at one point there was you know, she was
Speaker 4: doing more of like a ponytail situation. But I loved
Speaker 4: I just like could clearly picture Diane just like laying
Speaker 4: back and like spending all the.
Speaker 2: Time get it as tight as possible.
Speaker 4: And of course then you know has it's a living
Speaker 4: kind of legend at this point and of itself. So right,
Speaker 4: I love that little bit of it.
Speaker 2: Where did the Rice Krispy treat fall into place?
Speaker 4: Here?
Speaker 1: This is she was using that as a table to
Speaker 1: lean against, or maybe it looked like a Rice Crispy tree,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't.
Speaker 4: Actually, it was definitely. Morgan definitely said it was a
Speaker 4: Rice Krispy treat and they were using it as it
Speaker 4: sounded like using as a table to like put some
Speaker 4: of the stuff on, because they didn't have maybe like
Speaker 4: a huge table to begin with her a kind of
Speaker 4: stuff in the dorm.
Speaker 1: So and I'm like, interesting, I'm looking it up right
Speaker 1: now and the world's largest allegedly is only two pounds,
Speaker 1: so it just doesn't feel like it'd be big enough
Speaker 1: to use as a table. But I am seeing someone
Speaker 1: on TikTok holding a relatively large.
Speaker 2: Rice Krispy treat.
Speaker 1: So we'll have to do some further research on exactly
Speaker 1: how you can make a table out of a Rice
Speaker 1: Chrispy tree.
Speaker 4: I think I have to definitely follow with her about that,
Speaker 4: because that's us.
Speaker 2: Yeah, leave it.
Speaker 1: Leave it to Tarasi to somehow give us the most
Speaker 1: mysterious story possible, even when it's just about doing her hair.
Speaker 2: Well, everyone can check out that story.
Speaker 1: We'll link to it in the show notes because it's
Speaker 1: great to hear from all sorts of people just sharing
Speaker 1: their stories about DT and it's always great to hear
Speaker 1: from you. So thank you so much for giving us
Speaker 1: some time and your expertise as we get really excited
Speaker 1: for these conference tournaments in March madness.
Speaker 4: Yeah, thanks for having me, Sarah.
Speaker 2: We got to take another break.
Speaker 1: When we come back, one team finds a win in
Speaker 1: a step situation, stick around, welcome back slices.
Speaker 2: We always love to hear from you, so hit us
Speaker 2: up on email.
Speaker 1: Good game at wondermedianetwork dot com or leave us a
Speaker 1: voicemail at eight seven two two o four fifty seventy
Speaker 1: and you know what I'm going to say. Yep, don't
Speaker 1: forget to subscribe, rate and review, give us five stars.
Speaker 2: Tell us you love us. It's easy watch.
Speaker 1: Women's basketball coach lost to Doge cuts stick sound to
Speaker 1: lead his team to the NAIA Tournament, rating ten out
Speaker 1: of ten Middle fingers to the Doge Bags Review. Nearly
Speaker 1: twenty five percent of the workforce at Haskell Indian Nations
Speaker 1: University was fired last month as part of Doge's haphazard
Speaker 1: and politically motivated cuts, including fourth year women's basketball coach
Speaker 1: Adam Strom. My buddy Kevin Blackistone wrote a story for
Speaker 1: The Washington Post about Strom's firing, writing quote, I guess
Speaker 1: in the six trillion dollar plus federal budget. Getting rid
Speaker 1: of the Native American women's basketball coach at an indigenous
Speaker 1: university established by the government ostensibly in part to write
Speaker 1: some of its voluminous wrongs against the Native people that
Speaker 1: trampled makes a big difference.
Speaker 2: End quote.
Speaker 1: More from blackistone on Haskell University quote, Haskell is one
Speaker 1: of at least thirty five TCUs or tribal colleges and universities.
Speaker 1: They are not unlike HBCUs historically black colleges and universities.
Speaker 1: They too, were born out of refusal by this land's
Speaker 1: settler colonial class to provide any meaningful education to the
Speaker 1: progeny of the millions of indigenous people it really preferred
Speaker 1: to eradicate, or the progeny of the millions of humans
Speaker 1: it traffic from Africa to exploit. Blackistone continues later quote
Speaker 1: the mission of TCUs and HBCUs is to educate the
Speaker 1: marginalized ethnic and racial students referenced in their titles, and
Speaker 1: Haskell is even more pointed as part of a treaty
Speaker 1: and trust signed between American Indians and this country, Haskell's
Speaker 1: mission is specifically to lift up those who are members
Speaker 1: of federally recognized tribes or can prove native ancestry through blood.
Speaker 1: Last fall, Haskell enrolled nine hundred seventy eight students from
Speaker 1: one hundred and forty six tribes. Seventeen make up the
Speaker 1: women's basketball team. And that's how their women's basketball coach
Speaker 1: got swept up in the mailstream of malefaction metastasizing across
Speaker 1: the country because he was a federal employee at a
Speaker 1: federally funded entity.
Speaker 2: End quote.
Speaker 1: It's an infuriating story of politically motivated cuts to a
Speaker 1: place that doesn't deserve it and can't afford it. But
Speaker 1: Strom isn't walking away. Instead of leaving the team, he
Speaker 1: stayed on as an un paid volunteer and just led
Speaker 1: his squad to a fifty seven to fifty two win
Speaker 1: over Northern New Mexico in the Continental Athletic Conference championship game,
Speaker 1: earning a berth in the NAIA National Tournament. We are
Speaker 1: all rooting for you, Haskell and coach Strom. We'll link
Speaker 1: to that blackistone article in the show notes if you
Speaker 1: want to read it now, it's your turn, rate and review.
Speaker 2: Go do it right now, do it, do it. Thanks
Speaker 2: for listening.
Speaker 1: See you tomorrow, Good Game Alexa, Good Game Haskell Women's hoops.
Speaker 1: You you eliminating programs and firing people under the guise of
Speaker 1: saving money when it's really about cutting jobs and efforts
Speaker 1: that help marginalize folks that you don't give a shit about.
Speaker 1: Good Game With Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports
Speaker 1: production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
Speaker 1: can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network,
Speaker 1: our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive
Speaker 1: producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder.
Speaker 1: Our editors are Emily Rutterer, Britney Martinez and Great Lynch.
Speaker 1: Our associate producer is Lucy Jones and I'm Your Host
Speaker 1: Sarah Spain