WEBVTT - Getting Delusional with Geno Auriemma 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:03.000 Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where for the 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:05.960 first time in our lives, we're actually glad that one 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:11.160 specific bracket challenge doesn't include a women's bracket, probably because 0:00:11.200 --> 0:00:14.120 anyone smart enough to fill out a women's bracket knows 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:16.239 better than to be interested in a trip to Mars 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:20.080 on a piece of SpaceX debris. It's Thursday, March twentieth, 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:22.320 and on today's show, we'll be talking to legendary Yukon 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.799 hoops coach Gino Oriama about why being delusional is a 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:28.880 good thing at least of your pagebackers, the changes that 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:31.400 he wants to see in the NCAA tourney format, how 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:34.600 his coaching approach differs when it's NCAA tournament time, and 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:38.400 the moment he officially retired from playing basketball, Plus a 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:41.120 comedy we can't wait to watch, a warning to all 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:44.640 who apply, and the wait for Unrivaled begins again. That's 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:52.160 all coming up right after this welcome back slices. Here's 0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:56.240 what you need to know today. Let's start with Unrivaled, 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:58.920 where the inaugural season wrapped up on Monday with Rose 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:01.560 BC taking the chachampionship with a sixty two to fifty 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:04.920 four win over Vinyl BC, one day after scoring thirty 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:07.160 nine points in the semi finals against the Laces. 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:09.080 Chelsea Gray recorded. 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:11.640 Eighteen in the final, including a half court buzzer beater 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:14.039 to give her Rose team a two point lead heading 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:16.800 into the fourth quarter. It was Britney Sykes who scored 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:19.800 the championship winning shot, a free throw to finish the 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:23.200 game with her season high twenty one points. Each Rose 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:26.080 player took home fifty K in prize money, and Gray 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:29.080 was named Finals MVP. By the Way, shout out to 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:32.600 Rose coach Nola Henry and Vinyl coach Teresa Weatherspoon, the 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:35.040 two teams with women at the helm ended up in 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:38.080 the championship coincidence, we think not. 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:40.240 One last piece of unrivaled news. 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:43.720 To wrap up a spectacular inaugural season, the league also 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:46.319 announced the remainder of its end of season award winners, 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:50.200 with Nafisa Collier earning MVP honors, Angel Reese, who missed 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:52.840 the championship game with a hand injury, taking home Defensive 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:55.880 Player of the Year, and DJ Sackman, whose Lunar Owls 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:59.279 posted a thirteen to one regular season record, named Coach 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:02.240 of the Year to College Oops while Tomorrow is the 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:05.280 official start of the sixty four team NCAA Women's college 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:08.920 basketball bracket. We've got two more first four games today, 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:12.760 including Niches alma mater, William and Mary taking on High 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:14.600 Point tonight at nine pm Eastern. 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:15.799 And while we're. 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:18.639 Talking March madness, don't forget to fill out a bracket. 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:20.840 To be part of our good game pool. You got 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:24.280 to get it in before eleven thirty am Eastern on Friday. 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:28.120 Link is in the show notes. More Women Soups. There's 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:31.320 a scripted comedy show about the WNBA in the works 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:34.760 called The w It'll be executive produced by Cheneo Gumackay, 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:37.000 who played in the WNBA till twenty twenty three and 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:40.080 is now an analyst for ESPN, and her longtime agent, 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:43.400 Allison Gaylor, with the show loosely based on their relationship. 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:46.119 The show will be developed by Peacock, with Carly Mensch 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:49.600 and Liz Flahive, the creators of Netflix hit Glow, serving 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:50.600 as showrunners. 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:52.280 Even More Women Soups. 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:56.120 The ESPN original series Full Court Press has been renewed 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:59.840 for a second season. The series gives viewers unmatched access 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:02.720 insight into the journeys of select hoopers at schools across 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:04.960 the country through exclusive interviews. 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:05.680 Game footage, and more. 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:09.160 This upcoming season will feature Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo, 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:14.000 USC forward Kiki Eriefen, and LSU guard Flaje Johnson. The 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:17.120 first season, produced by Omaha Productions and Words and Pictures 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:18.080 in partnership with the. 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.280 Worldwide Leader, premiered in May of last year. 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:23.679 That one featured iOS Kaitlin Clark, South Carolina's Camilla Cardoso 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:26.919 and UCLA's Kiki Rice. It was a really good watch. 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:30.360 I'm super excited for this edition. First two episodes of 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:33.360 this Full Court Press Season two will premiere May third 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:37.880 at one pm Eastern on ESPN. To the NWSL, where 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:41.320 the owners of Expansion Side Denver announced plans this week 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:44.320 to build a fourteen thoy five hundred seat stadium. The 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:47.080 brand new facility will be located at Santa Fe Yards, 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:49.840 a spot just inside the city limits that has access 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:53.160 to public transportation. While the team, which doesn't yet have 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:56.240 an official name, will begin play in twenty twenty six, 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:58.160 they'll have to wait a little longer to play in 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:00.800 the stadium, which is expected to open into twenty eight 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:04.320 per ESPN. Details on a training facility and temporary stadium 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:06.400 are expected to be announced later this month. 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:08.360 More NWSL news. 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:11.360 Racing Louisville's Bethany Balser, one of the league's most prolific 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:14.720 scorers and a former NWSL Rookie of the Year, announced 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:17.000 on social media that she's taking some time away from 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:19.080 soccer to focus on her mental health. 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:19.760 Quote. 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:22.240 I've always preached that when soccer is no longer fun 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:24.880 and you don't find joy in doing it, something needs 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:27.440 to change, and it seems I haven't been listening to 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:30.200 myself for a while. The last year and a half, 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:33.560 I've found my identity slowly slipping away. Being consumed with 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.560 soccer and being a professional athlete, I've been chasing things 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:39.760 that are material. I've become bitter and have lost my 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:43.440 love and joy for the game. End quote, per ESPN's Jeffcasoof, 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:46.800 a Racing Louisville spokesperson, confirmed that Balser has not officially 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.480 decided on taking leave, and she remains on the team's 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:53.360 active roster as an excused absence. Last August, Balser was 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:55.880 traded to Louisville by the Seattle Rain. At the time, 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:58.039 her thirty three goals over the previous five years were 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:00.880 tied for third in the NWSL. She's long but a 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:03.440 strong advocate for mental health, and last year she launched 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:06.760 a brand called BB eight Bring Your Best. In her 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:09.040 Instagram post, Balser went on to say that she's excited 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:11.760 to explore her identity outside of the sport and that 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.400 she's confident she'll return to the field again. We're sending 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:18.520 Bethany our best and we're happy she's taking care of herself. 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:20.359 We got to take a quick break. 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:22.559 When we come back, we get d Lulu with coach 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:24.760 Gino Oriema stick around. 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:31.960 Joining us now. 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.120 He's the head coach of the Yukon women's basketball team. 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:36.240 He holds the record for most wins and highest winning 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:38.960 percentage among college coaches men's or women's. Since becoming head 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:41.680 coach at nineteen eighty five, he's led Yukon to nineteen 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:44.920 undefeated conference seasons, including six that were part of undefeated 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:48.600 overall seasons. He's led the Huskies to eleven national championships, 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:50.920 the most in women's college basketball history, and has won 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:54.120 eight National Naysmith College Coach of the Year awards in 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:56.080 his time as coach to the US national basketball team. 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:58.840 The team won two World championships and two Olympic gold medals. 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:01.080 He's in the Naysmith Oral Basketball Hall of Fame and 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:03.359 the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. He's got his own restaurants, 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:06.120 wines and sauces, And contrary to popular belief, he was 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.080 not the inspiration for the Carl Fredrickson character in Up. 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:11.440 It's gino Oriema. What's up? Coach? 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:15.960 It's always a long bio no matter how much you 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:19.839 try to trim it. Coach, just an unbelievable career and 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:22.880 here we are again, getting ready for another NCAA tournament. 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:25.800 I have to say we have mostly talked about parody 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:28.160 in the women's game this year. In fact, just the 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:30.839 second time in nineteen years that there is no zero 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:33.279 or one loss team in the field. So I have 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:35.719 to start by asking you when exactly would you say 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:38.160 Yukon stopped being bad for women's basketball. 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:42.960 Uh, yeah, it's a good way to put it. I 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:48.800 think there was a drop off right after FISA Katie 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:52.919 Lou when that group graduated. I think there was a 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:56.719 drop off in the level of talent that we had 0:06:56.760 --> 0:07:02.479 at Connecticut, and that coincided with more players going to 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:10.720 more diverse schools, and so as people were getting better, 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:15.080 we came down a little bit, and so that had 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:18.800 we been able to maintain that. But it's hard to 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:21.280 go to the Final four every year, you know, and 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:24.000 we went, well, we've gone fifteen out of the last 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:24.960 sixteen year or something. 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:27.600 Not bad. Not bad. Yeah, I mean in a lot 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:28.240 of ways, it. 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:29.840 Was I think, and I used to argue this on 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:32.000 ESPN all the time. It was good for the game 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:34.920 to have this team that everyone was trying to knock off. 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:37.200 And now it's good for the game that there are 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:40.040 many teams that people want to watch and get behind. 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:43.960 It's all about the cycles and the different times. I 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:46.000 want to actually go back to the very beginning. I 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:48.679 don't know if I really know the story of why 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:51.280 you ended up in women's basketball. You emigrated with your 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:54.600 family from Italy when you were seven, You taught yourself English, 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.520 Your parents were working factory jobs in Pennsylvania. How do 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:00.880 you end up a hoops fan and end up coaching women? 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:07.440 Well, when we came over here, we moved in with 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:10.440 my uncle and my aunt, and they happened to live 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:14.120 right across the street from an elementary school. Dad had 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:17.800 a playground and I happened a good fortune of living 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:19.960 next door to a guy that was older than me. 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:22.440 He was probably twelve, I was seven eight. So he 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:24.000 took me under his wing. We would get a catch 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:26.560 every day, and baseball became my first love. I wanted 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:30.920 to play baseball every single day, winter, summer, spring fall. 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:33.640 I didn't care. So I grew up just doing that. 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:36.400 And then you know, I met some guys. You know, 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:40.160 they played basketball, you know, blah blah blah, and I 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:43.280 got cut from my freshman team in high school, and 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:45.360 then you know, I said, forget it anyway, I don't care. 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:48.600 I just want to play baseball anymore. And then sophomore year, 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:51.320 a couple guys say, hey, coach saw you playing in 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:53.719 this pickup league, you know whatever. He wants you to 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:55.320 try out for the team. So I did. I made 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:57.840 the team. I ended up starting my senior year. 0:08:58.200 --> 0:08:59.160 Just like Michael Jordan. 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:04.319 Yeah yeah. And so you know, I went to college 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:11.720 and I played, and Jim Foster, coach at Saint Joe's Vanderbilt, 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:16.200 Ohio State all those years, just came back from Vietnam. 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:20.280 So he is in school and somehow we strike up 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:23.520 a friendship and one day he comes in and he goes, hey, 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:27.000 I just got a job coaching girls basketball at Bishop 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:31.840 mcdavidd High School. I go, yeah, that's great, congratulations. He goes, can, I, 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:34.600 you know, can you come and help me? I said no. 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:37.760 And this was like ten times he kept asking me. 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:40.199 I kept saying no. If I wanted to coach, I 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:42.640 would coach boys. Why would I ever want to coach 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:45.120 girls basketball? All they did was take up court time 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:47.160 when we were in high school. That's how you thought 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:51.440 back in the early seventies, right, So no, no, no. 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:56.120 Finally I went went to practice. I'm twenty one, kids 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:59.320 are seventeen, and I'm like, yeah, okay. So we go 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:01.280 over a couple of things. He's run some drills and 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:03.839 they look at me like I know what I'm talking about, 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:06.000 and they're like so happy. I go back the next 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:07.319 day and the next day and the next day and 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:08.920 the next day. Next thing you know, I end up 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:10.960 helping them for the whole year. Next thing, you know, 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:12.880 he calls me and he goes, hey, I just got 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:16.559 the job at Saint Joe's. I go, what you He goes, yeah, 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:20.480 a Saint Joe's and they want, you know, I want 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:24.520 you to be my assistant. Oh Jesus Christ, I know, well, 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:27.560 they're going to pay you a thousand dollars. I'm in 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:29.440 for the year, right, I'm in. 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:30.079 For the year. 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:33.760 For the year. So I had to have a construction job. 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.040 I worked in a steel mill. I did anything I 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:38.679 had to do just so I could coach. And it 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:42.960 was And now Phil Martelli's running the Kathy Rush basketball camp, 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:45.760 the number one basketball camp in the country. And I 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:48.040 go to work at that camp. And next thing you know, 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:52.160 Phil goes, Listen, I'm the head coach at year Old 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:56.680 High School and I need an assistant. And I went, 0:10:56.960 --> 0:10:59.959 of course, I'm going to coach. That's what I'm gonna do, 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:04.199 coach high school boys, teach English. I'm in and I 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:07.120 hold there and I do it, and out of nowhere, 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:11.880 he gets a phone call from Debbie Ryan at Virginia. Hey, Phil, 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.560 I need assistant. You interested. Phil goes, no, but I 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:16.120 got a guy who might be who used to do 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:19.480 that stuff. I go down there. I'm like, what this 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:21.520 is what colleges look like. I thought they all looked 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.840 like Saint Joseph, Penn and Temple. I go down there 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:27.920 and the rest here. I am so not something I 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:29.640 set out to do, and I'm stuck. 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:31.560 When do you think, at what point do you think 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:35.720 it was your first choice and not. I guess I'll 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:37.959 do it because but eventually I'll get back to the 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:38.680 boys and men. 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:41.440 Yeah, I think when I when I was coaching high 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:43.520 school boys, I thought that's it, That's where I'm going 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:46.839 to be. Then I realized high school coaches that were 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:51.200 teaching English and history, I would be teaching history. We're 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:54.640 making like thirteen thousand dollars a year, yea, And they 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:58.400 had to teach just so they could coach. So when 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:00.760 I found it, I can have a full time job 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:03.480 doing this and that's all I have to do is coach, recruit, 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:06.440 blah blah blah. That's when I went down there to 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:10.480 the UVA spent four years there, and that's when I realized, Okay, 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:12.360 this is what I'm going to be doing, and I 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:13.920 want to make sure that I'm really, really. 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:17.120 Good at Yeah. I want to talk about Page Beckers. 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:20.480 Just an incredible talent on the court, but so special 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:22.240 off of it too, and you have such a fun, 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:23.880 quirky relationship together. 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:26.439 I wonder what it's like coaching Page. 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:31.120 Frustrating as hell, would be one way to describe it. 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:36.240 Another would be very much enjoyable because you get to 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:39.360 see on a daily basis what other people maybe just 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:42.440 see on game day. Right, you get to experience the 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:47.400 lows that people don't see. Right, You see her as 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:52.120 something other than you know, Page Beckers, So you get 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:56.200 a three sixty view of who she is and what 0:12:56.320 --> 0:13:00.040 she's all about. And like anything else, there's always a 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:04.720 sides to what you see on the basketball court. You know, 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:06.439 thirty sometimes a year. 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:10.119 Yeah, fans sort of when she gets injured, she disappears 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:12.280 and then we wait till she's back. But for you, 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:16.040 those moments, those stretches, are you trying to keep her 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:19.280 spirits up, keep her motivated, keep her enthusiastic about when 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:20.040 she comes back. 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:20.800 What it's going to look like. 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:22.800 And that's a big part of the job that we 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:27.040 never see. I wonder how you've seen her as a 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:30.840 person as she's gotten older, deal with setbacks differently. 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:36.000 I think one of one of Page's biggest strengths is 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:42.600 the fact that she's delusional. Okay, yeah, that just helps 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:46.160 her so much and it carries her through all those 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:52.320 things you're talking about that when she's hurt she acts 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:57.760 like it doesn't bother me. I'm fine, everything's good. I'm 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:00.600 just here for my teammates. I'm here, you know, blah 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:04.080 blah blah blah blah. But meanwhile, that's not even close 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:07.280 to the truth, because when she goes home every night 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:10.120 back in those days, from not being able to play, 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:12.400 not be able to do the one thing she loves, 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:16.640 you know, in life more than almost anything. So the 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:22.440 fact that she, you know, doesn't allow anything ever to 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:26.280 get in the way of I'm great. I'm the best. 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:28.640 No one's ever been as good as me. I can 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.160 be better than anybody that ever lived. Every time I 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:35.360 miss a shot, it's an act of God, not my fault, right, 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:40.240 not my fault. So that I think more than anything, 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.200 and I think all the great ones have a you know, 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:47.280 a little Delulu a fair amount of that, right. 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:50.760 Yeah, yeah, not just the play, but the attitude, the confidence, 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:54.160 the on court presence she is. I believe she would 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.520 be on the Yukon All Time smart Alec team. I've 0:14:57.560 --> 0:15:01.200 got her and Dinah Tarassi Art who's the next name? 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:07.640 Uh? They certainly would be one, two, three and four 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:12.120 with them. A lot of people give Sue Bird a 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:16.280 pass because she did it silently. But uh no, she 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:18.120 would not get a pass of being a smart ass, 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:18.800 not even close. 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:20.120 No, she's full of it too. 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:24.240 She's full of it one hundred percent. She's another one 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:27.080 those three people we just mentioned, and I've said this 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:30.080 one hundred times, the only words you will never hear 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:36.200 come out of their mouth. You're right, it's the best 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:39.480 you're going to get from Sue. I don't disagree. 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:42.760 Amazing, right, I love that. I love it. 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:47.000 Speaking of great player Sarah Strong, so dominant already in 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:50.920 her freshman season, your face just lit up, like, oh God, 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:52.960 I get this girl for another couple of years. What's 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:54.320 the ceiling for Sarah Strong? 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:58.280 Yeah? When you when you bring in a player that 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:02.240 you think watching play in high school, you go, wow, 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:07.800 this kid has generational type stuff, you know, And somebody 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:10.040 will say, well, what do you mean? Well, you know, 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:12.640 kids her size are not supposed to be able to 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:14.720 handle the ball the way for him. They're not supposed 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:16.360 to be able to pass the ball the way she passed. 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:18.240 They're not supposed to be able to shoot it the 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:21.640 way she shoots it. Be as smart as she is, 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:28.240 see things developed before they develop, and not at that age, right, 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:30.640 So then when she gets here, I'm thinking, okay, a 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:34.240 little bit of a learning curve, maybe none zero. You know, 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:36.960 we talked about recently, she had one really bad game 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:40.240 at Tennessee. She played like a freshman. She had five turnovers, 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:43.520 had eighteen points and nine rebounds. When that's considered a 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:49.680 bad game, right. So again, and her personality I think 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:53.840 allows her to be in the big moments. You know, 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:57.080 she doesn't say a lot when I talk to the team. 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:01.600 Her eyes are burning a hole in mind that like 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:04.480 they come out the back. She wants to know everything 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:06.720 about everything, and she doesn't miss a thing. 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:08.560 I bet she says you're right a lot. 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:11.920 Well, she doesn't speak, so she just goes. 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:14.520 You can feel it go through the eyes. 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:19.400 She actually chose Yukon despite her mom, Alison Feaster, being 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:23.280 roommates with Carolina coach South Carolina coach John Staley back 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:26.000 in their w NBA days. Does it feel a little 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:28.760 extra good when you land a big recruit like her 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:32.040 over a great coach and a great program like South Carolina. 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:33.720 You got done in the media being like, I don't 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:35.160 know what what happened there. 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:41.840 Yeah, I think you get some that you're supposed to get. 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:44.840 You don't get some that you're supposed to get you 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:49.840 think you should get sometimes, you know. You know, one 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:53.280 of the things that I think helped us was we 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:55.359 saw Sarah when no one else knew who she was. 0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:59.800 So I remember calling USA Basketball when she was going 0:17:59.840 --> 0:18:01.720 to be a sophomore, and I say, hey, you know, 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:05.040 you guys have this thing with fifteen and unders or 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:08.400 sixteen under whatever. Uh, you're missing a kid on the list. 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:13.159 And they're like, oh, yeah, she's one of those on 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:15.240 the list of keep an eye on. I go, good, 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:17.119 you just keep an eye on her, okay, because the 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:19.919 less people know about her, the better call them. 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:22.320 You really called them to tell them that they were 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:22.920 missing one. 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:26.360 I said, you know, I obviously I have a soft 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:29.720 spot for USA basketball because and I thought, this kid's 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:32.320 better than the kids you have out there. Well, yeah, 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:33.640 we're going to keep an eye on her see if 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:34.280 she develops. 0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:38.280 Okay, who was the head coach at the time there, I. 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:40.200 Don't think it wasn't about the head coach. It was 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:41.919 about just whoever was running. 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:44.960 The committee right committee at the time. Yeah, good, good 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:45.560 Dodge there. 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:51.159 Speaking of Don Staley, she and Lindsay Gottlieb were miffed 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.920 about their team's bracket seedings. When did you turn into 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:57.640 the peaceful zen coach of the bunch that just says, oh, 0:18:57.680 --> 0:18:59.000 you play who they put in front of you. 0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:00.119 That's how it's always been. 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:09.920 You know. First things first, there's a lot of there's 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:12.360 a lot of problems with the way the NCAA Women's 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:15.960 Basketball Committee does things all right, a lot of times 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:19.800 there is there's not enough basketball people on that committee 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:22.879 that actually know this is how we do it. Okay, 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:26.760 So you're gonna get screw ups all the time. And 0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:29.639 I've had my thing to say in the past, and 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:32.840 people with bitch and moan all the time whenever go, well, 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:35.600 you play in Albany a lot or you playing Bridgeport 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:39.320 a lot? Yeah, And we also played in Lincoln, Nebraska, 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:42.160 and we played in Dayton, Ohio. And we played in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:46.000 and we played in Trenton, New Jersey, and we you know, so, yeah, 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:49.920 we've played a lot of places. The reason we play 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:53.800 close to home is because we're the number one, number 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:58.040 one seed yea ninety percent of the time. Yeah, back then, 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:01.920 So if you're that, you deserve to go a certain 0:20:01.960 --> 0:20:05.120 place that's been taken away now because there's only two regionals, 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:09.520 So that's stupid. They need to get away from that. Second. 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:12.159 This is one of those few years when everybody in 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:16.240 those top four they all beat each other, right, So 0:20:17.680 --> 0:20:22.960 is there really a big gap between number one and 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:26.880 number two in the seeds versus number three and number 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.640 four number one seeds? So if you're the number one, 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:31.760 number one, is there really a big gap between you 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:35.720 and number two in the seeding or number three or 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:39.520 number four because you all beat each other, right, I 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:42.280 think what screw what screws it up is for the 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:46.640 two seeds because now maybe you're getting the wrong matchup, right, 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:47.119 you know. 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:49.480 Well, and that's that's part of it. I think. 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:51.920 I think it was clear that Don was a little mad, 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:53.879