April 2, 2025 • 57 mins
In this episode of Full Circle, Lexie and Mariah sit down with WNBA superstar Diamond DeShields. Lexie and Diamond throw it back to their AAU days, dive deep into Diamond’s decision to transfer from North Carolina to Tennessee, and her bold choice to go pro early. The three get real about the state of women’s college basketball today, the game-changing impact of NIL deals, and the whirlwind world of the transfer portal. Plus, Diamond shares insights about her new team, the Connecticut Sun, and excitement of being part of a rebuild. Tune in next week to hear more basketball — no filter, all facts.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Full Circle is an iheartwoman's sports production and partnership with
Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hey, everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Full
Circle Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
I'm Lexi Brown here with my girl Mariah.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Rose, and we have a very special guest today. I
say this about all our guests that they don't need
an introduction and then proceed to list out their incredible resumes.
So I'm just going to keep it short and sweet.
We have the Natesmith Player of the Year, former National
Freshman of the Year twenty eighteen, third overall pick twenty nineteen,
(00:40):
All WBA Second Team player, and All Star twenty twenty
one WNBA champ, and one of my best friends in
the entire world since we've been little babies. I would
love to welcome Dive into Shields to the podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Clap it Up, Clap it up.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Yeah, Yeah, you gotta say that. You gotta say that
a little bit louder because people like to forget, you
sure do. People like to forget to forget.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
That's why I had to include all of the things. Diamond,
Oh my.
Speaker 5 (01:10):
Gosh, Oh my gosh, look at us. I'm all right.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Are you feel like a third wheel already? Sorry?
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Honestly, no, like I feel like i'm watching, I feel
like I'm in the audience.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Diamond, welcome.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
You know.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
I just I just would like to acknowledge over fifteen
years of friendship. You know, can't too many people stand
on that like that. And I'm just really grateful to
be here part of your podcasting career and journey, and
you know, thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
I'm so happy that you're here.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Before we get into all things Diamond, we got to
talk about the games over the weekend. So, Diamond, what
if your thoughts been about the tournament so far?
Speaker 5 (01:57):
Yeah, I mean, I think the tournament has been dope.
You know. I think that there have been some really really.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Good games, Whereas I think that like when we were
in college, it was like a lot of blowouts, you know,
probably until around the early eight So it's been good
to see all the ladies out there competing, all the
ladies out there really standing on business, like the platform
is here and they have continued to deliver on having
(02:25):
that platform. I've just really appreciated seeing such a good
product be put out each and every night.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
It's been cool.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, this weekend's games where I was on the edge
of my seat.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Now Duke moment of silence.
Speaker 5 (02:40):
So close.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
But I told you all the score was going to
be mad low, Like I told you that was gonna happen.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
But I just may be locking up.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
I mean that defense beyond point they just.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Like when you play all that defense and you don't
want to go school like I just I'm just not understanding,
like the life of capitalizing.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Off of all the stops that they get.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
That's the only thing that's been frustrating to me about
Duke since Caren got there.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
I mean, she's been doing a great job, but like their.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Inability to like score the ball consistently has been like
so frustrating for me. And I hope that they can
fix that because they got this close. They got the
ACC championship.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
No they don't. They really who.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
How many Let's talk about it, because how many teams
really got snipers on there?
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Like, let's let's think about it.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Girl carrying, Okay, she's carrying. In terms of I was
gonna say, shame bro.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
I feel like at the end there Duke was handing
it away I felt like they were missing costly shots.
I felt like the turnovers were crazy. I was getting upsid,
like they will get the stop and then do nothing exactly.
It was so frustrated.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Fel the same way.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
And I just and that's not just a duke saying
I've been locked into the tournament and these are the
best teams in the country that make the tournament. And
it's like the lack of of shot creating the lack
of consistent outside shooting, and not even I shouldn't say
the lack of consistent the lack of shooting period. Like Texas.
I think they shot five threes last game. And I
(04:13):
know everyone's been compleating, oh too many threes, too many threes,
but it's like the.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Game is changing.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I mean, they made it this far, so you can't
really say too much about it, but the fact that
they're taking less than seven eight threes a game, it's
so crazy because and it makes me sad because every
when you get to the next level, shooting is so vital,
it's so important, and it's going to keep you employed
because every team needs a shooter. And I'm looking at
college and I'm not seeing no shooters.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
I just feel like it's not nobody that we're like
after a timeout, you like make sure you got her
they're fin a runner off a stagger, or you know
she coming through an elevator.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
It's like, so whatnot?
Speaker 5 (04:51):
Please?
Speaker 6 (04:54):
Do y'all feel like that?
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Do y'all feel like it's because of a lack of
shooting or it's because of high level of defense being played.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I think it's a combination.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Well, just you have good defense, the scores, they gonna
find a way to score. They gonna find a way
to get their shot off. And maybe we got too
comfortable watching like the Caitlin Clarks and the Ariquez players.
I mean, I didn't even shoot that many threes when
I was in college. But I feel like the last
like five ten years, there's always been like two or
three players that gonna hit like a ton of threes
(05:25):
in a game, or it'll go on like a burner
for like a few games.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
And we don't have that right now, And I don't
like that.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
It looks like a I don't know, the releases look slow.
Releases just don't look they don't get as quick in
order to like be deemed like a pure shooter, like
a lot of players have this like gather or this
the ball is not getting where it needs to go
fast enough, so like by time they release it, it
(05:53):
just you can tell when somebody's a shooter pretty much
like even when they missing, you could just tell by
how they mechanically are approaching their shot. And it's not
a lot of players that I've seen in college right
now that like really have that.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
I would say the last like shooter like that I've
seen in college was Taylor mike Azelle and she was
in Sparks training camp this past year. She came and
played in Athletes Unlimited. And that girl can shoot the ball.
Oh my gosh, like brou think about.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
I mean, okay, before we get into that.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I just want to say put out there, I'm heartbroken, Cho.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
I'm heart too. And they but they were even before
Ju got hurt.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
They were not hyping this matchup up like I thought
they would have, Like you would have thought that they
was on the same team, like the way that they're
being like aligned.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Together, which I love.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
But this rivalry that everybody thinks is absent in women's
basketball is right there. It was right there, and we
decided to not. It wasn't the wasn't the right rivalry.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I guess.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Like I guess we talked about that, they still had
the opportunity to market that the same way they marketed
Caitlin Angel, bad Girl, good girl, whatever, whatever.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
I guess looking at.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Both Page and Juju, both of them are so cool
that it is kind of hard.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
To pull like.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
That. We said it last week. Why do we need
a villain like that? Men's College don't got a villain
right now?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
They got Cooper Flag and everybody else.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Okay, I wouldn't compare it to that though, because I'm
bored out of my mind with that, Like, I like,
the game have been great. I was at I can
we talk about men As far as the story, tournament
is one seed, one seed, one seed, one seed.
Speaker 5 (07:42):
I know.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Forever.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I think it's like only the second time ever, and
I'm like, I mean, that's great. You do want the
best teams to make it to the end, obviously, but
like that's boring.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Cinderella's nothing. It boring.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
It is boring, and they they thrive off of that because,
as I always say, the women's tournament has the advantage
of having.
Speaker 6 (08:07):
Storylines of us seeing them play.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Each other for so long that we get hyped up
and create these rivalries, whereas the Menu's tournament doesn't have that.
So all they really have for us to become obsessed
with the team is the Cinderella.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Stories, and there's been a lacking Cooper flag.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
I always look forward to seeing like Florida Gulf Coast. Yeah,
that does not happen anymore.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Like those days are over. Those days are over.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I'm seeing freaking transfer portal news already, people committing to
new schools already.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I'm like, Dan, can the tournament end? Don't get me
started on the truck.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
We don't talk about that too. I think me and
Diamond are both transfer kids. Okay, So if you guys
didn't know, me and Diamond have been friends since the
seventh grade and we met playing on an AAU team together.
I was still living in Florida, she lived in Atlanta,
and the team name was the Georgia Ice. So, Diamond,
can you tell the people a little bit about that team?
(08:59):
Because because we were iconic and we were only twelve.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
So the Georgia Ice was a group of rowdy twelve
year old girls who were going to come into your
fifteen U tournament and win it. Every weekend and by
the time people realized what was happening, it had already happened.
(09:23):
And we were playing up about two age groups every
weekend and we were killing people like calling.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
I don't even know how to describe it. We had
a team. We had five dads on the team who
played professional sports. Guys.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
We were the NEPO kids. We were of a So
it was.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
Me my dad.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
My dad played for thirteen years in MB Lexi's dad
played in the NBA.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
Obviously.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
We had Taran Griffey who was the daughter of King
Griffy Junior. We had Kayla Davis who's the daughter of
Antonio Davis Painting Witted. His dad played Pro Christina Kevin
Witted Christina and Nelson her Did played in the NFL.
So we was just like a big We were just
big and like athletic and just like we had the
(10:13):
flights shoes we had. We had players flying in on
a private jet to practice once a week like and
were coming in. They were coming in to practice on
a PJ.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I this was like because I've been waiting for years
to have this platform with Diamond so we could talk
about what the hell we was doing in middle school.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Listen, if we had ni L when we was in
middle school, we'd be we'd be in.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
A very all of us, all of us.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Yes, I mean, it was like we were one of
those teams that gathered for tournaments. Like we were in practice,
like we had a we practiced after every week and
Karen got on a little private plane and flew to
Atlanta for the day dog.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Like we were moving so different and we were kids.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Social media wasn't a thing yet, Like we didn't even
realize what type of life we were living.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
We played a tournament in Orlando one year and the
whole team stayed at the Griffis that's how to make
their house was And it was bowling alley in the basement.
It was a go kart track around the house. It
was like the craziest house I've ever been in. And
we were just in there. You know, we couldn't make
no tiktoks in there. We couldn't really show off what
(11:32):
was going on. But like we all stayed in that
house was comfortable.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
To everyone if they wanted one, but you know us,
we all slept on the sectional watching movies, scary moviess.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Man, it was so great.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Yeah, y'all know, y'all are gonna have to bring it
back when you have kids one day.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Oh you're gonna have to daughters playing tennis.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
Look, I'm just trying to survive in this economy right now.
Like we were going to revisit the kids.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Real as amazing as our friendship was, we did have
a little rough patch Diamond, and yeah we did. I
want to tell everybody that me and Diamond were actually
supposed to go to Maryland together and she went to
North Carolina instead. So honestly, I've never really even asked
you about what that thought process was like because we
(12:27):
were kids. I've been committed to Maryland since tenth grade.
So I've been spend in the last two years of
my life trying to convince Diamond to come to.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Maryland with me. And I thought we had her.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
We went on a visit together and everything, and I
wake up one morning and she going to North Carolina.
I said, oh girl, So I mean it was a
great choice. I mean at the time, like it made sense.
But I want to know, like, and you can tell
our listeners, like what that decision was like, and like
the hype around it, like it was just different back
then like again, no social media nothing. So when you
(12:58):
were like one of them girls, you was really one
of them girls. And that was diamond when you got
that ESPN alert. Yeah, committing to North Carolina. So like
what was that like decision like and how did they
convince you to go there?
Speaker 3 (13:12):
All that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
Yeah, I mean it was you know Maryland, North Carolina,
Duke Tennessee or Yukon.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
Was my top five.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Moment.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
That is tough.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
And you know, so it wasn't an easy decision, right,
Like there were so many Well I can't say that
making that decision in this day and age would have
been easier or harder, but you know, back then you
had to really try and gauge what a career would
look like at this you know, a four year career
(13:46):
would look like at these universities. It wasn't oh, I'm
gonna just go see if I like it and then
like leave. So by the time I had made my decision,
you know, obviously I had our AU coach at the time. Know,
he was very influential in me making that decision, you know,
laying out the cards of what it could look like
(14:07):
if I went to the school to school to school
to school, and so yeah, it was a pretty spontaneous decision.
I mean, looking back on it, like I would have
done things very very differently, Like I didn't even tell
my parents that I was committing.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I was her best friend. She didn't even tell me.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
I didn't tell anybody.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
Yeah, so you know, I'm not proud of that, but
that's how it happened for me.
Speaker 5 (14:33):
That's my story.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I'm curious when you made that decision to go to
North Carolina. What was it about North Carolina that made
you want to go there so much so that it
was like, Okay, I'm making this decision.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
I don't care what nobody else has to say about it.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
I just felt like there was a big opportunity for
me to kind of brand myself as like this female
MJ type of character in women's basketball.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Obviously there was Maya Moore who you just you could
never touch.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
But I was like, you know, what if I go
to North Carolina and I wear number twenty three, and
I go there and do all the things that you know,
I know I'm supposed to do. You know, everything was
about setting yourself up to make money at the next level.
And so at the time that felt like, you know,
there wasn't a lot of games being televised on women's basketball.
You know, like if you wanted to play on TV,
(15:23):
you went to the five schools that I just that
were in my top five. Everybody that could make decisions
around those five schools was doing it, And yeah, it
just it felt like the right kind of fit for
the image.
Speaker 5 (15:33):
And the archetype that I was trying to become.
Speaker 6 (15:36):
Then not honestly, you did the right thing by making
the decision and just doing it.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
I had a little bit more context for y'all because
Diamond didn't, like, look at North Carolina, it was like,
oh no, I'm going They had the number one recruiting
class that they like magically assembled in like record time,
Like what was it, five of y'all?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Four y'all?
Speaker 5 (15:55):
It was four of us?
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Yeah, And after I committed, I called each and every
one of them and it was like I just committed,
you know what y'all trying to do?
Speaker 5 (16:03):
And they all committed the same thing.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
You assembled the Avengers.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Basically it was like, yeah, basically the little freshman avengerlus
coming in and like you fast forward to like twenty
twenty five and that happening, Like they gonna be on Slam,
they gonna be doing interviews, they gonna be in commercials together.
Like that's how big of a deal that decision was
at the time because people was not teaming up like
(16:27):
that going into college, Like people would maybe eventually team
up via transfer portal things like that, but like doing
it straight out of high school like that was something
that I had never been done before. So yeah, I
was pissed. But then I was like, I mean, I
get it. And then you hear her explanation and as
mad as I was, I was like whatever. We actually
didn't speak all through college though.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
How we didn't it was it was quiet, but all
of the years from freshmen to.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Draft connected at the draft, Wow, it was like a real.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
And even then like she was still a little tight
at me, and then like COVID hit and it was
like I went to the house, We had a glass
of wine.
Speaker 5 (17:11):
We realized we still loved each other.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Yeah, we had a right We had red table talk
my mom.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Both our moms were like for years, We're like, y'all
need to like no, like this.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Is not supposed to have.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Well, both of you had. I wasn't there for any
of the situation.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
But looking on it, this is something that people can
relate to as far as recruiting goes. It's like, Diamond,
you had a decision to make for yourself that you
felt like, you saw it, You saw how you can
market yourself.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
You saw it was gonna work, and you I have
to know that first TikTok.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
But the moment but Lexi you at the same time
were like.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
But I had this literally rush, and.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
So I see both sides of it that like, which
is good that you came together.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
You know, she had that amazing year, But you decided
to transfer. So what went into that decision? And it's
different now, Like you have to sit out a whole year,
so you take it all that momentum and putting it
literally on hold for an entire year. So I know, yeah,
I mean I transferred to Like it's not easy. So
when you decided to transfer, Like, what was that like
for you?
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Yeah, so it was it was a couple of things,
like when I decided to transfer. And again this is
something that people don't know. I had a stress fracture
my senior year of high school. I had a stress
fracture in my shin that I played through, you know,
like every day in high school. My senior year, I
had a walking boot on or I was in crutches,
so I would literally crutch into the arena for games,
(18:31):
put my shoes on, play, and crutch out. And so
when I got to North Carolina, I was still dealing
with that stress fracture, and it was the same situation.
I had a walking boot off season pretty much, I
was getting multiple PRP shots in my shin. I just
my leg was like, y'all saw Kevin ware snap his leg,
like that was gonna happen.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
To me at any given moment.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
So when I decided to transfer, it was kind of
like I needed the rest for one because I had
to get surgery, so to me kind of made sense
in terms of my health. But then there was also
just like the basketball of it, Like my freshman year,
I never got to play for. Two of the coaches
actually that I made my decision behind was Tricia Stafford Odom,
(19:15):
who had recruited me at the time. She had came
from Duke. She's the one who put that entire freshman
class together, and when we all committed and signed, they
fired her, And yeah, it broke all of our hearts.
So even coming in I was already just like and
they said, you know, you shouldn't make a decision because
of the assistant or whatever. But man, the assistants are
the ones who really be on the phone with you.
(19:36):
They're really the ones who get to know your family
and who take that time out. You can't always necessarily
be on the phone with a head coach constantly.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
They have so much to do. So that happened, and
then even from just the moment I stepped on campus,
it was just like, this is this is not what
I came here for.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
So they all left though, guys, the whole class, they
all slid. So when you transferred, you get to Tennessee,
you had your surgery into so like being hurt and
sitting out, like mentally, I know where you were a
baby at that time, Like what was that like for you? Recovering,
sitting out, people questioning your decision every day pretty much
(20:13):
like how was you?
Speaker 3 (20:14):
How are you dealing with that?
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's just a different time,
Like it was just like when you're one of those
faces in women's basketball back then, everything just feels a
lot heavier, you know, So it was it was the
aftermath of my transferring via un C fans and the
lums and all of that. Then there was also just
(20:37):
the anticipation in Knoxville of like when she gonna play.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
You know, we're so excited. Da da da.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
So it was like, yeah, I was mourning my freshman year,
my decision. I was like pretty sad about it all,
but there was also just so much excitement that I
had to look forward to for when I could finally
play a year post making that decision, So like I
was good, Like I wasn't really tripping, you know, I
was in Knoxville. My mom went to UT so I
spent time in Knoxville growing up, Like that was where
(21:06):
I wanted to be at.
Speaker 5 (21:08):
So I had just I was just like eyes forward
the whole time.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
And you finally were gonna get to play healthy Yeah exactly.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
So it was yeah, like again, it was just a
different time. You know, you had to consider that sit
out year and you had to really say is it.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
Gonna be worth it?
Speaker 4 (21:25):
And so anybody who transferred during that time, like they
knew that that's what they wanted to do. It was
important for them to find a new home somewhere else.
Who's on the team then Mercedes Russell, Jordan Reynolds, Jamie Nard,
Andrea Carter, but Shard Graves Isabelle Harrison.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
That's three WWA players on one team. These are not
fringe w players. These are like key rotational pieces to
WNVA teams. And I mean, I don't think people also
realize that about how different women's college landscape is now,
Like you're you're not seeing that really on teams anymore.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
You're not seeing.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Three, four, sometimes five at Yukon because that's what it was.
WNBA players are on the same team.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yeah, And for me, like I feel like it's a
good and about thing.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
So I'm like interested to see how you feel about it, Like, yes,
like the parody is good, but you also want to
see like the best players playing with the best players.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Yeah. I mean, look, like I said, it was just
a different time. We were all trying to be relevant
in conversation and the only way you could do that
was going to those one or two camps in the summer,
playing in those three or four AU tournaments, and going
to these eight to ten schools. Like it wasn't you
(22:41):
had to go up against the best players to even
be mentioned in those conversations. So I think there was
a lot more joining of forces because of that, And
I think that the money and the nil everything kind
of just spread everything out.
Speaker 5 (22:58):
So now it's really you just try to get paid.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Yeah, it seems I was gonna say, now, it's interesting
to hear you talk about you being somebody who would
have definitely capitalized so much off of nil even in
high school. But hearing now, there's a benefit to being
the girl on the team.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
You don't want to join forces and risk not being
the girl on the team, because then when there is
time to pick somebody to be in the commercial, they're
looking at her and they're not looking at you.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
So it's like, I don't.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Know if I want to team up like that because
that might hurt my bad.
Speaker 6 (23:28):
Plus this little small school over here might pay me this.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Like the fact that these are the conversations we're having
about college kids is nuts.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
And I knew this was going to happen when the NC.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
DOUBLEA was like here, damn no rules, no regulations, no nothing.
And I just the world underestimate the power of like
college athletics, of women athletes, Like I just feel like
the NC DOUBLEA was like okay, like you're y'all gonna
fall in y'all's face because y'all gonn't know what to
do with it. And I think that it's been bigger
(23:59):
and crazy than they probably was even imagining.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
I would argue if they had anil back then in
social media and TikTok and everything, because you look at
the top five most followed athletes in March Madness right now,
top four women, and the fifth is Cooper Flag and
he's the most popular player in the men's tournament. So
I feel like we honestly probably would be in a
different space if women were getting marketed the same back then,
(24:24):
because as you can see, when we are getting marketed,
which we've gotten to taken our own hands because of
social media, it works when you look at the way
that they do their nil deals or the way that
they do their ads, or the way that they make
their tiktoks, like y'all's tiktoks at the sleepover when you
were twelve would have been way more interesting than college
basketball player going to canes and.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
Yeah, I got you, I love Kanes. That's literally how
they here's my canes.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
And it's just like we were very marketable, you know.
So it's like, to y'all's point, like a lot of
the deals getting done, it's like take an athlete and
just give them a script and then have them stand
in front of the sign, and it's just like, where's
the character, where's the personality, where's the desire to want to,
you know, make this a lasting partnership. I feel like
(25:13):
for a lot of these kids, it's just coming in
so easily. They're just like, you know, come by this,
we'll do you know. But there are those other athletes
right like Flage. I mean she making music, she doing
the song, the acting, her own podcast. Yeah, yeah, she
(25:36):
she maximizing. So shout out Flawjack Lexi.
Speaker 6 (25:39):
You talk about all the time you were doing the
social media thing.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
In college and the internet, and I was like, no,
I won't.
Speaker 5 (25:46):
How about this. We weren't even allowed to be on
the internet in college. You couldn't be on social media.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
And on the road trips they taking that phone, Yeah,
that phone get took after the game.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Don't lose, don't lose on the road.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
They was hating out the gate. They ain't want y'all
to be nothing other than this.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
Across the front.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
We couldn't even post pictures in the uniform unless we
were at like media stuff.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Wait, I'm shocked by this. That is I know it
was bad girl, and I say it.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
I say it all the time and people are like,
let's see, shut up. No, it affected everybody, and not
everybody is as vocal about it, obviously, but it didn't
just affect me.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
I just kept doing it. It was clocking my shit.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Twenty four to seven, I got pulled in the office
to like take pictures down, like, oh my.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
God, like they was on that yeah, and it's are
you tweeting? At midnight?
Speaker 4 (26:44):
I had a compliance meeting for my senior pictures. It
was like, are you modeling? Are you getting paid?
Speaker 5 (26:50):
Y'all? Those are my.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Clients, bro.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
They were like enemy number one, like just clocking you,
Like I don't think you guys understand. Like when we
talk at this NIO stuff, not only could we not
get money for things, we couldn't even get things period.
Like if a brand wanted to send us some clothes
or something, no violation.
Speaker 5 (27:11):
You could be starving. You couldn't even get a damn
hot dog at the tail tracks.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
You're right, we couldn't even take food at the tailgates.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
We'll be at the tailgate, the boosters be wanting to
feed us, y'all.
Speaker 5 (27:22):
The food be looking so good. Barbecue benefit.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
It's a benefit. You can't take it. It was strict.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
It was strict, and everyone's like, y'all just hating because
they know we're not hating. We are so happy for
y'all because college used to be prison. I'm so I'm
so happy, but like now it's like a free for all,
Like you don't even have to.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Your team doesn't have to be good anymore.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
You don't even have to anymore.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Let's start there, because we're talking about flag As, you know,
one of the college girls who's doing all of the
right things. I do also want to out of Dejah Kelly,
who I feel like is another one that is capitalized
more than anybody. And she has her own podcast called
nilas Sophie. I want to say, so she talks like
nile stuff, So that's fire.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Shout out to her. And I saw a clip of
her with Raven.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Johnson from South Carolina and she was on there talking
about yeah, you know, they just they're bringing me deals
and deals and deals, like I don't have time to
like do anything because we're at shoots for like three
to four hours a day and all this kind of stuff,
And that's always been my thing.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
I'm like, when do y'all have time to like get
better for real?
Speaker 5 (28:33):
Mike?
Speaker 2 (28:33):
And I think maybe that's why we've seen the stagnation
in the players.
Speaker 5 (28:37):
They do not matter.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
I'm just like cause I know me and I know you.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
I was in the practice facility hours before practice, after practice,
at night time.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
I lived in our practice facility.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Yes, I want a big proponment twenty four hours in
a day, but I don't know how them girls are
doing it.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
I really don't.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Fashion Week, the Matt Gala, Nike commercial, Get Right, commercial
afflat commercials. I mean, you can't help but be so
happy for all of them.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
But it's just like, all right, like at what? At
what costs? Now?
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Like I feel like as many pros are there is,
the cons are starting to pile up a bit, and
I mean, yeah, money.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
I think Sadonah said it, Sadana Princeman TC who actually spearheaded.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
I'm gonna you know, I know people have their opinions
on Sadona right now. I know they do but you
got to give her credit for like she jumpstarted all
this shit with her little weight with her with her
weight to TikTok. So whatever, feel how y'all feel about her, whatever,
But the fact is, if Sadona doesn't post that video,
we're not here right now. I don't care what nobody says,
(29:41):
It's not happening. She made this thing jumpstart. But even
her saying, you gotta like think long term sometimes sometimes
that little hunter k like it might look pretty right now,
but like long term, like you gotta you gotta weigh
your options. She said that this whole thing gave her
the ability to play basketball probably longer than she might
have in the past with injuries, transferring off court stuff.
(30:05):
But her NIO stuff has like kept her relevant despite
all the off court stuff. So even you look at
Haley van Litz covid NIO, the way she was able
to get that.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
Additional year, it's changed her career.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
This put her career back on track that fast.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
I would have spoke y'all about being transfer kids, because
there's been a lot of talk in the media about
the transfer portal, and I know I get asked by
my audience all the time about the transfer portal. But
I feel like no better two people to speak on
it than y'all and Diamond you speaking on I had
to really decide where I wanted to call home because
I was gonna have.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
To say, man, bring that set out, bring bring that
set out. Rule, what do you guys think the solution.
Speaker 5 (30:50):
Is, bring it back, bring it back.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
You still get to leave.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
I don't think they should put any hindrance on NIO deals.
Nothing but stitch your ass down or go back to
the one you get one time to leave, We get it.
One time, J Bellis went on TV and he said
that they need to start signing kids to contracts like
multi year.
Speaker 5 (31:11):
Did I think so too? That's that incentivize them to stay.
Speaker 4 (31:16):
It's like you wouldn't have this platform or this opportunity
to be this version of yourself if you weren't coming
to this university. And so there should be some sort
of obligation, binding obligation to players, because if not, then
you get what you have right now. And you can
(31:38):
see how it's been hurting the men's side right The
women's side hasn't got to that point yet.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
It's about to.
Speaker 4 (31:45):
But the proof is right in front of you. You
know this, if this continues, you know, you might run
into the same issues on the women's side. So you know,
I think contracts would be good. I think the one
year set out would be good as well, because players
need to really think about why they want to leave
a place and if it's worth leaving.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
You could transfer every single year if you want it.
Speaker 5 (32:08):
And make more and more and more and more.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
And yes, that's amazing, great, But like Diamond said, there's
no like incentives. So yeah, the players who are getting
their endorsement stuff off outside of basketball, Like, that's not
going to change whether you make them sit whatever, that's
not going to change the money that people are getting
from the universities. I think that's the only place they
can regulate in any capacity. Is that money, the outside
(32:35):
money that has nothing to do with the school, Like
whether they're at this school, a toad school, that school.
If the companies and brands are attracted to this particular player,
they're going to follow them, so like, let's not even
think about that stuff.
Speaker 6 (32:47):
Well, and I'm thinking for the school themselves.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
There's also that added incentive of well number one, like
Diamond mentioned, it should be a thought before you leave
a place where you want to go next. You should
really have to think about that. But also you commit.
You should just be committing anywhere because oh, they're offering
me this amount of money, and I could stay for
a year, and I could leave if I really want
to and make more. And then on top of that,
it benefits the schools to have some structure in place
(33:10):
for them to have to stay for a certain amount
of time, because if lage is at a different school
every year in the Google comprice doesn't make sense.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
What does that do for the schools. It's confusing.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
And at this revenue share in, schools are about to
be paying even more to their student athletes, so it's
gonna be even more money. I mean, you see the
girl Oklahoma, she just signed for like one point three.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
I'm telling you all the top players are going to
the SEC in the next three years. Every top player
is going to be that money. Yeah, there's no there.
The other conferences simply can't compete because they got the
TV money, they got the football money. Their boosters are
clearly just super wealthy and they love their universe. I
(33:51):
will say people of these who go to SEC schools
have a lot of pride whether their athletes or not.
So I know that's all right, yeah yeah, So it's
like that much is coming in from everywhere. So like
I foresee the SEC running the table. I mean they're
running it right now. Look key, they're on the way
and they're doing it for men already. So football, women's basketball,
(34:12):
men's basketball is all gonna live in the SEC. And like,
I don't know what that's gonna look like for the
rest of the schools, Like what are they what are
these what are these other schools gonna do? Like they're
they're gonna be Power five schools with one two star
recruits because everybody's going to the big everyone's going to
the same conference now, so like you're gonna have well what.
Speaker 5 (34:30):
If they privatize that conference.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
And like something, something dramatic is gonna happen. Something dramatic
is gonna happen.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Oh my god, what about the other sports? Exactly? What
about the other sports?
Speaker 2 (34:43):
Like let's start with that, Like we are so hyper
focused on basketball and football, but like, yes, like what
about the other freaking sports. Your team, your men's basketball
team and women's basketball teams, the football teams suck. Those
other programs are gonna get cut.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
It's so sad.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
I was talking, you know, one of my friends who
was telling me about the SMU coaching staff getting fired
because SMU look like a JV high school team in
the ACC. That I was like, oh, so, now the
whole staff you lose your jobs because y'all made a
selfish decision to move a team that has no business
being in the ACC playing in the ACC. And now
(35:20):
you have a lot of unhappyness going on because why
are y'all in that conference?
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Well what about the travel? Yeah, the travel is a
mess right now?
Speaker 5 (35:28):
Yeah, I can't make sense of it. I can't make sense.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
I mean when in USC and Cal and Stanford, even Stanford,
Like I don't I didn't watch Stanford play that much
this year, but like Stanford has never They've always been good,
like no matter what, like whatever they have a superstar
and not a superstar whatever, They've always been solid. I've
never seen a Stanford team look like the one that
they had this year. And I'm gonna say that the
(35:52):
travel was probably insane. You're in the ACC, right, They're
in the ACC.
Speaker 5 (35:56):
Now.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
I went to watch their their back volleyball team play
Georgia Tech, and I'm sitting are thinking, these girls are
in college, they got class tomorrow Atlanta playing a volleyball game.
Speaker 6 (36:05):
What the hell?
Speaker 4 (36:06):
Like that we already know, like that trip, that trip
after the game.
Speaker 5 (36:10):
You getting in at three am? You got an eight
am class.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
First of all, you have to have the early class
as a student athlete because you got practice in the afternoon.
So you got them eight ams, you got the ten ams.
So if you get in at two, three, four am, guess.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
What gets up. There's just no rhyme and reason behind it.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
And yeah, I think we all got so caught up
in like, yes, athletes are making money like fuck n Cuba,
but like no, it's the shit show now.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Well, people are quiet about the actually making money from
the school park And that's why I think a lot
of people have less reservations about it because not as
many people. Obviously, we're in sports circles, so we're aware
of dang you made how much to transfer toware But
the average fan, the media is not gassing that up
like they're gassing up.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Oh they were in a Google commercial. Yeah, like that
doesn't have anything to do with the SMA.
Speaker 4 (37:04):
Majority of the players are making their money from the
university there is only a handful who have TV deals
and who have big brand deals, Like that's like the
nth percentile. Yeah, you know, like most every college athlete
is getting paid from the.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
Collective and it's not that much.
Speaker 4 (37:20):
Well, then turn to the revenue share, which is like
I don't know how many millions of dollars distributed amongst
what men's men's basketball, women's basketball, and football. I believe
it's like twenty five million.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Dollars and then the rest of the sports get the crumbs.
But it's crazy because even I just read an article
about South Carolina women's basketball team and that they lost money.
They lose money every year, right, So the business of
college sports and the business of professional sports, it's so different.
You lose five four to five million dollars a year.
(37:53):
You're not paying anybody because you can't. So in college
it's so different. It's like it's just as backwards to
me because as amazing as the South Carolina program is
and they're selling out arenas and they're winning championships, they
have still lost money every year.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
And that's not a dig at the program. It's numbers.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Well, but then you also have the boosters, like I
was just joking with my friends when we were at
the Elite A the other day. I was like, man,
if Georgia basketball don't get it together, I'm gonna have
to make me some money so I can start paying them.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
And I'm nil money myself.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Like I have a friend who was like, if I
have money, I would give it to the nil collective
want to? I want them to get money too. I'm like,
people really feel that way about the athletes.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
I'm like, I'd be going out to recruit myself if
I had just like throw away money, if I were
one of these big billionaires that went to a school man,
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
So it's like, okay, so now you look at the
business of sports now, because now that's what we're turning.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
That's what college is.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
It's not just fun shits and gigs anymore in college,
Like this is now real money is being made and
distributed to the athletes or whatever. What does that look
like for sports programs that don't make money because now
they're implementing this revenue share thing. I feel like it's
not gonna be good for the majority.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
How do you stay competitive? It's not you're losing six
million dollars a year.
Speaker 4 (39:14):
Schools are like hiring general managers now, you know, like
I'm telling y'all, like it's becoming.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
They are this close to becoming pro It's.
Speaker 4 (39:24):
About to be like that pipeline, you know, like in
Europe where you could play like second division, third division.
Speaker 5 (39:30):
It's going to kind of be like that.
Speaker 4 (39:31):
I feel like it's gonna be like a pro league.
But certain teams of certain universities are going to exist
separate of the university and they're going to exist in
like a league.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
It's insane. Then what a school come in mar You know,
they don't care about school.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
They haven't cared about school for a way before nil,
trust me, but now they definitely don't. And now what
does that mean for the actual pro leagues that exists, Like,
are we going to have to start having like WNBA, NCAA,
like separate things like you have. These are the twelve
players I finna get drafted, so we're gonna put them
(40:08):
in an academy.
Speaker 5 (40:09):
I just think there's so much change still yet to come.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Yeah, I mean, and that's just the basketball nerd and
business of basketball nerd and me. These are these things
keep me up at night, guys, They really do because
I want to be a general manager. But like, and
I'm like, shit, do I want to be a college
general manager? Because there's a hell of money in that.
(40:50):
So now we're gonna pivot since you mentioned like the
European style, you know, since Juju got hurt, there's been
a lot of conversation about, you know, how she's gonna
make her return.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
Is she gonna stay for her all of her eligibility years,
blah blah blah blah blah. They need to change the rule.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Players need to be able to leave after one season,
all this kind of stuff. If y'all didn't know, Diamond
had one year of eligibility left at Tennessee and she
decided to go pro.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
So this has happened before. Players have not.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
Done all their years of eligibility, they've left. Diamond's done it.
I think Juweloyd did it. I think Jackie Young might
have came out early. So for for y'all, like early
means you have to be twenty two in the draft year.
So whether you turn twenty two before the drafts or
after drafts, it just has to be in that year.
So nobody is stopping anybody from leaving early.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
But diamond.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Can you like talk about like how you made that decision?
And I remember when you did make that decision, it
did not go over well, So can you like watch.
Speaker 4 (41:52):
I mean, like you said, there are certain parameters that
have to be met before you can even just make
that decision to turn pro on the female side, which
a lot of people don't know about. So you have
to either be twenty two years of age or you know,
have graduated college, which again is why players in the
w are just so smart and intelligent, because we all
(42:14):
have degrees. But yeah, I mean when I made my decision, obviously,
like there was no money being made in college and
the draft had already passed, so the only thing that
I could do was go play in Europe. And when
I saw that contract and I saw that dollar amount,
it was pretty much a no brainer for me that
I was gonna leave. So I went and played in Turkey,
(42:36):
had a blast, and then got drafted the following year.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
When people talk about like the college holding holding players
back and the WNBA needs to change the rule, I'm like,
y'all want us to change an entire rule for like two.
Speaker 4 (42:48):
It really amazes me how mediocre people think the W
is talent wise.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
That is a hill I've been dying on for months.
Diamond literally crucified.
Speaker 4 (43:01):
How common the thought is that there are multiple pros
in college right now in the draft class rather that
can go to a training camp and make a team.
I'm like, you guys don't pay attention. You don't really
understand the depths of these rosters and how some most
(43:23):
teams don't even have a spot to take or make,
you know, So stay in school is pretty wise, especially
considering the amount of money that.
Speaker 5 (43:34):
Can be made.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
Yeah, but I'm saying like, because I don't even know,
like with our CBA stuff, diamonds in these these meetings too.
For the CBA, like I've always like thrown around the
idea of possibly guaranteeing rookie contracts at least like their
first two years, because when people are like, oh, yeah,
they can come out early and dah da da da
those it's not like the NBA those. If you're a
(43:57):
first rounder, you can get cut in training camp the
year you get drafted, like and we've seen it happen.
So now I'm like, you're asking you want nineteen twenty
twenty one year old women to leave school degreeless and
then just be out in the wild, like that's what
y'all want, because y'all think two players in the last
ten years have been pro ready early, which again going
(44:20):
back to the thinking the league is mediocre, We've seen
plenty of pro ready players early in their career.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
Diamond actually was one of them as well.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
So I just think that conversation is done. But like
talking to someone like you, Diamond that left early, did
you think that helped you or hurt you? Like, do
you wish you stayed, you know, money aside. In hindsight,
are you still like happy that you forewent your scene?
Speaker 4 (44:46):
I mean, in hindsight, I was happy with my decision because,
you know, again the landscape was so different. I was
finally able to get paid for doing a job that
I'd been doing for free for so long. You know,
I was coming out of the leg surgery. You only
get to play basketball for so long, and so at
that time, you know, staying in college for four years
(45:08):
was just like it was a major sacrifice on like
prime playing years for a female basketball player. However, economically,
you know, it made sense for you to stay in
school and get your degree because an event that you
leave and you get cut from a team. Now you
don't have no job, and you don't have a degree,
and you don't have no money. So again, when I
(45:32):
was making my decision, I had already graduated college, so
that was the big make or breaker for me. I
had the degree, so I would have been staying to
do a grad year where I wouldn't have been in
no classes. I would have been a professional athlete for free,
and that just didn't make sense. So yeah, the degree
was the big you know, make or breaker for me.
Speaker 7 (45:54):
After I got that, it was time to go, said,
I'm out, Like.
Speaker 1 (46:08):
You said, a lot of people underestimate how hard it
actually is to maintain a spot in the w let
alone separate yourself enough to have a long withstanding career
and be a star to make the kind of money
they might be making in college. And I think that
it feels like I hate when this conversation comes up
because maybe just as a fan, it feels so simple
to me.
Speaker 3 (46:29):
But why would you not choose.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
To get your degree for free because you're on scholarship
and then now you're also getting paid, So that's like
a whole other thing.
Speaker 3 (46:37):
A lot paid amounts of money that there's no salary cap,
there's no rules, you're getting paid whatever.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
And then number three, you're still getting to do the
commercials and the endorsement deals and get sent.
Speaker 3 (46:47):
Stuff and do all that stuff. Exactly what's the benefit.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
And then also on top of that, when you were
speaking about Diamond earlier, the idea of getting to make
a name for yourself at this university because of the
fandoms that the university already has, the history that these
universities already have. Like you're getting to establish yourself, make
a name for yourself, get a degree for free, and
get paid.
Speaker 6 (47:06):
Why would you why would you want to rush that
process at time?
Speaker 5 (47:09):
It makes sense as if you're a guy and you're walking.
Speaker 4 (47:12):
Because your windows where you're making twenty million or however much.
Speaker 3 (47:16):
The name like it's.
Speaker 5 (47:18):
Perfect right now to be a female athlete in college.
Speaker 4 (47:21):
It's the most no brainer is thought process of stay
your ass in school for.
Speaker 3 (47:27):
As long as as as.
Speaker 5 (47:28):
Long as you can.
Speaker 4 (47:29):
You see the dude at Florida's pro day, he's like
twenty seven, and he's like, I'm like, yeah, do that.
Speaker 3 (47:36):
If you can do that inside, stay forever.
Speaker 5 (47:40):
It makes it's just what makes the most sense.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
But also I feel like it's good for new fans
of the W because coming in when you've seen Juju
all four years or whatever at USC and you starget
hurt and she comes back, she's a crazy year blah
blah blah blah, all this stuff and then carries that
momentum with her. Like, as a fan, that's I'd rather
see that story see her leave prematurely and not Juju specifically,
(48:02):
because she's obviously incredible, but see people leave prematurely and
then get cut and I'm like or.
Speaker 3 (48:09):
Buried on the bench.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
And that's what used to happen, is like you have
these all Americans getting drafted and out of the first round,
maybe two or three get real minutes their rookie season.
Speaker 1 (48:21):
We and Lexie talk about that all the time, rookies
getting benched. That's another thing that I feel like, as
the media starts talking more about women's basketball without actually
watching it, that's the thing I hear a lot of, Well,
you should just play them because we know that we
know who they are and we've been hearing about them.
Speaker 3 (48:35):
But there's a balance. But what do you guys think about?
Speaker 1 (48:39):
Because I hear them in the sense where it's like, okay,
marketing whatever, but you can't sacrifice the level of basketball
being played for that.
Speaker 2 (48:46):
Well, we saw that happen probably in like the last
third of the season.
Speaker 3 (48:50):
I feel like a lot of.
Speaker 2 (48:51):
Teams were like, okay, go, rookies, go, and then that
playoff push come in and they're like.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
All right, y'all need to chill out, sit.
Speaker 2 (48:57):
Down, and we're gonna put the vets on the floor
to go win a championship.
Speaker 3 (49:02):
But I mean, I like.
Speaker 4 (49:04):
It's evident what wins and what has success, and the
franchises and the organizations who keep that at the forefront
in terms of people who work hard, people who are professionals,
people who play hard and who are consistent, they're the
ones who have success. You know, you can play that
game with the media and you know, lose players out
(49:26):
there too, but you're gonna lose, and you know you're
going to continue to enhance this idea that that's what
it means to be, you know, a star player in
this league when that idea only just started to exist.
You know, we've had stars in this league for decades
(49:46):
who didn't get no credit, none of the props and
attention that they deserve.
Speaker 5 (49:51):
That they should have had.
Speaker 4 (49:52):
I think that we would be doing the League of
disservice if we continued or started to kind of.
Speaker 3 (49:58):
Do that pander.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
I call that pandering, and I'm tired of it. Yes,
I'm sick of it. And I hope that this season,
I hope everyone learned when they looked at who was
in the finals what pandering does for you. It gets
you sent home, because we saw two very veteran heavy
teams in the finals and gave us an amazing product.
Speaker 3 (50:19):
So with stars, with stars actually, like with czars.
Speaker 1 (50:22):
I don't but the media controls who the stars are.
That's a whole other conversation for a whole their day.
But who we're talking about and who we're pushing are
going to be the stars well or not. And so
you if you put these people that are just magnets
for being talked about out in the forefront on the
basketball court up against people who've been in the league
(50:44):
for years and years and years that are like, please,
you're only you're doing them into service too, because then
they look bad.
Speaker 2 (50:49):
But you know, it's crazy, it's crazy that you said that,
because you know, we were talking about how in college
and everybody's like spreading out and the W it's like
it's going opposite. Everyone's trying to team up. Now it's
like completely it's like opposite now. Like now in the W,
it's like you're more powerful as a collective, you know,
if you've got a group of us that are outgoing
(51:11):
have good brand can hoop, Like you're better off if
there's more of y'all doing that. And in college, you're
kind of better off if you're all kind of spread
out a little bit more. So, it's like very interesting,
how like the dynamic has like completely flip flopped between
college and Yeah, I think.
Speaker 4 (51:25):
The course of events by which marketing has been incorporated
into women's sports, it definitely has peaked in college before
it has met the pros. So you know, it makes
sense in college because you know, it's just such a
big thing in college right now. But you know, for
those of us who've been professional, it's like, you know
(51:47):
a lot of us still trying to get brand deals,
still trying to get paid outside of just your basketball salaries,
whereas it's just a bit more common in college, it seems,
and lucrative, no for sure.
Speaker 1 (52:01):
Well, another thing with the whole it being spread out
in college to make money, whereas like in the league,
it seems to be doing the opposite. I feel like, listen,
I'm not the WBI, so you can y'all can tell
me if I'm wrong. But I feel like that's also
because you get judged when you're in the pros based
off of winning performance, winning championships.
Speaker 3 (52:20):
So if we team.
Speaker 4 (52:21):
Up, win and maybe we got to see if you're
gonna still be here in a few years, because how
many players do we see come out and by.
Speaker 5 (52:32):
The second year, you'd be like, damn where they go?
Speaker 4 (52:36):
You know, you can't as a brand, You're not about to,
you know, create a multi year partnership with somebody where
you don't even know if they're gonna be on a team.
Speaker 2 (52:46):
On the team anymore. I mean, you said, I'm dealing
with that right now. They're like, damn, we thought she's
for b LA for a minute. Now the opportunities shift
a little bit, they change, like.
Speaker 1 (52:55):
Well, LEXI, you're about to benefit from what I was
just talking about winning coaching.
Speaker 3 (53:00):
Okay, before we get out of here.
Speaker 2 (53:02):
Diamond, if y'all didn't know, Diamond is now on the
Connecticut Sun and the organization has been a bit under
attack as of late.
Speaker 3 (53:10):
So Diamond, I want you to.
Speaker 2 (53:11):
Provide some hopefully positivity and some light on what y'all
got going on in Connecticut. I'm very excited for you,
by the way, to be there and be able to
get back to hooping the way you hoop. So if
you can let our listeners know what the vibes are
in Connectic.
Speaker 3 (53:25):
You were just up there. You did a broadcast for
the Celtics, which was fire. That's right. Give the listeners
a little insight on what was going on.
Speaker 4 (53:32):
Well, the vibes in Connecticut are great. Actually, you know,
whole front office, everybody is really looking forward to this season.
You know, obviously a lot of departures in the off season,
big departures.
Speaker 5 (53:45):
But I've been a part of a rebuild before.
Speaker 4 (53:48):
I've successfully rebuilt before in an organization in Chicago where
you know, it was kind of a mess when I
got there, and you know, then we won a championship.
So you know, this is not foreign territory for me.
Like I'm excited about the opportunity to be a part
of a franchise that honestly has winning pedigree, has that
(54:12):
DNA still exists, and just continuing to build on it. Like,
you know, you can say what you want about the
team and the decisions that have been made, but you know, Lexi,
on any given night, anything could happen, any team could win.
We have a talented team, We have a good group.
I'm really excited about playing for Rashid and the rest
(54:33):
of the coaching staff. One of the big things for
me is just like no narratives, you know, we get
to go there and just like.
Speaker 3 (54:41):
Hoop, just play, Yeah, just play.
Speaker 5 (54:45):
Which people underestimate and undervalue. You know.
Speaker 4 (54:47):
It's really nice to be in a space where basketball
is the focal point. So yeah, there's a lot to
look forward to in Connecticut, you know what I'm saying.
And you know, for those who maybe feel differently, it's
kind of just something that you just have to wait
and see, you know. And again, all eyes we appreciate.
So even if you're watching.
Speaker 3 (55:07):
To see if it's a ship, shall yeah, like you.
Speaker 4 (55:11):
Know, we're still here, Hey watch you're here, so.
Speaker 3 (55:16):
Still watching, y'all still watching.
Speaker 4 (55:18):
So I'm you know, I'm excited, and I'm really grateful
and fortunate for the opportunity. Man, Like, having a job
in this league is a blessing. You never take it
for granted, no matter where it is. So I'm really
happy good.
Speaker 2 (55:32):
I'm glad see y'all. It's not horrible up there. It's
not as bad as y'all think.
Speaker 8 (55:37):
Because people was going in on the Connecticut Son, I
was like, all right, y'all, I mean it was a
little there was question marks, but again, we're all professionals here,
and y'all have y'all don't have a y'all's team is
not trash by any mean y'all gonna be all right.
Speaker 4 (55:50):
Next to you know, like you already know, Bro, everything
ain't always what it seems. Unless you're there on the
day to day, you can't really speak on it, right,
that's the truth.
Speaker 3 (56:01):
Y'all heard that.
Speaker 4 (56:02):
Say it again, Diamond, Is you there on the day
to day, bro, shut out, speak on it, shut your mouth.
Speaker 2 (56:09):
Okay, Lord got a good place to end because I
felt like that was a nice little call out to
people who got too much things to stay with very
limited information. But Diamond, I'm so happy we've made this happen.
I hope you guys enjoyed this conversation and I will
see y'all next week on the Full Circle Podcast.
Speaker 5 (56:30):
Bye.
Speaker 3 (56:30):
Y'all, thanks for listening to Full Circle.
Speaker 1 (56:33):
We'll be back next week with more basketball for the Girls,
by the girls.
Speaker 5 (56:37):
We want to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (56:39):
Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, and tell us
what you want us to talk about. Full Circle is
hosted by Lexi Brown and Mariah Rose. Our executive producer
is Jesse Katz. Our supervising producer is Grace Fuse. Our
producer is Zoe dang Lap. Listen to Full Circle on
America's number one podcast network, iHeart, open your free iHeart
app and search full Circle with Lexi Brown and Mariah
(57:00):
Rose and start listening
Full Circle is an iheartwoman's sports production and partnership with
Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hey, everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Full
Circle Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
I'm Lexi Brown here with my girl Mariah.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Rose, and we have a very special guest today. I
say this about all our guests that they don't need
an introduction and then proceed to list out their incredible resumes.
So I'm just going to keep it short and sweet.
We have the Natesmith Player of the Year, former National
Freshman of the Year twenty eighteen, third overall pick twenty nineteen,
(00:40):
All WBA Second Team player, and All Star twenty twenty
one WNBA champ, and one of my best friends in
the entire world since we've been little babies. I would
love to welcome Dive into Shields to the podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Clap it Up, Clap it up.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Yeah, Yeah, you gotta say that. You gotta say that
a little bit louder because people like to forget, you
sure do. People like to forget to forget.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
That's why I had to include all of the things. Diamond,
Oh my.
Speaker 5 (01:10):
Gosh, Oh my gosh, look at us. I'm all right.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Are you feel like a third wheel already? Sorry?
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Honestly, no, like I feel like i'm watching, I feel
like I'm in the audience.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Diamond, welcome.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
You know.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
I just I just would like to acknowledge over fifteen
years of friendship. You know, can't too many people stand
on that like that. And I'm just really grateful to
be here part of your podcasting career and journey, and
you know, thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
I'm so happy that you're here.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Before we get into all things Diamond, we got to
talk about the games over the weekend. So, Diamond, what
if your thoughts been about the tournament so far?
Speaker 5 (01:57):
Yeah, I mean, I think the tournament has been dope.
You know. I think that there have been some really really.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Good games, Whereas I think that like when we were
in college, it was like a lot of blowouts, you know,
probably until around the early eight So it's been good
to see all the ladies out there competing, all the
ladies out there really standing on business, like the platform
is here and they have continued to deliver on having
(02:25):
that platform. I've just really appreciated seeing such a good
product be put out each and every night.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
It's been cool.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, this weekend's games where I was on the edge
of my seat.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Now Duke moment of silence.
Speaker 5 (02:40):
So close.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
But I told you all the score was going to
be mad low, Like I told you that was gonna happen.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
But I just may be locking up.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
I mean that defense beyond point they just.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Like when you play all that defense and you don't
want to go school like I just I'm just not understanding,
like the life of capitalizing.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Off of all the stops that they get.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
That's the only thing that's been frustrating to me about
Duke since Caren got there.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
I mean, she's been doing a great job, but like their.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Inability to like score the ball consistently has been like
so frustrating for me. And I hope that they can
fix that because they got this close. They got the
ACC championship.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
No they don't. They really who.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
How many Let's talk about it, because how many teams
really got snipers on there?
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Like, let's let's think about it.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Girl carrying, Okay, she's carrying. In terms of I was
gonna say, shame bro.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
I feel like at the end there Duke was handing
it away I felt like they were missing costly shots.
I felt like the turnovers were crazy. I was getting upsid,
like they will get the stop and then do nothing exactly.
It was so frustrated.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Fel the same way.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
And I just and that's not just a duke saying
I've been locked into the tournament and these are the
best teams in the country that make the tournament. And
it's like the lack of of shot creating the lack
of consistent outside shooting, and not even I shouldn't say
the lack of consistent the lack of shooting period. Like Texas.
I think they shot five threes last game. And I
(04:13):
know everyone's been compleating, oh too many threes, too many threes,
but it's like the.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Game is changing.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
I mean, they made it this far, so you can't
really say too much about it, but the fact that
they're taking less than seven eight threes a game, it's
so crazy because and it makes me sad because every
when you get to the next level, shooting is so vital,
it's so important, and it's going to keep you employed
because every team needs a shooter. And I'm looking at
college and I'm not seeing no shooters.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
I just feel like it's not nobody that we're like
after a timeout, you like make sure you got her
they're fin a runner off a stagger, or you know
she coming through an elevator.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
It's like, so whatnot?
Speaker 5 (04:51):
Please?
Speaker 6 (04:54):
Do y'all feel like that?
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Do y'all feel like it's because of a lack of
shooting or it's because of high level of defense being played.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I think it's a combination.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Well, just you have good defense, the scores, they gonna
find a way to score. They gonna find a way
to get their shot off. And maybe we got too
comfortable watching like the Caitlin Clarks and the Ariquez players.
I mean, I didn't even shoot that many threes when
I was in college. But I feel like the last
like five ten years, there's always been like two or
three players that gonna hit like a ton of threes
(05:25):
in a game, or it'll go on like a burner
for like a few games.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
And we don't have that right now, And I don't
like that.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
It looks like a I don't know, the releases look slow.
Releases just don't look they don't get as quick in
order to like be deemed like a pure shooter, like
a lot of players have this like gather or this
the ball is not getting where it needs to go
fast enough, so like by time they release it, it
(05:53):
just you can tell when somebody's a shooter pretty much
like even when they missing, you could just tell by
how they mechanically are approaching their shot. And it's not
a lot of players that I've seen in college right
now that like really have that.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
I would say the last like shooter like that I've
seen in college was Taylor mike Azelle and she was
in Sparks training camp this past year. She came and
played in Athletes Unlimited. And that girl can shoot the ball.
Oh my gosh, like brou think about.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
I mean, okay, before we get into that.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I just want to say put out there, I'm heartbroken, Cho.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
I'm heart too. And they but they were even before
Ju got hurt.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
They were not hyping this matchup up like I thought
they would have, Like you would have thought that they
was on the same team, like the way that they're
being like aligned.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Together, which I love.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
But this rivalry that everybody thinks is absent in women's
basketball is right there. It was right there, and we
decided to not. It wasn't the wasn't the right rivalry.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I guess.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Like I guess we talked about that, they still had
the opportunity to market that the same way they marketed
Caitlin Angel, bad Girl, good girl, whatever, whatever.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
I guess looking at.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Both Page and Juju, both of them are so cool
that it is kind of hard.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
To pull like.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
That. We said it last week. Why do we need
a villain like that? Men's College don't got a villain
right now?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
They got Cooper Flag and everybody else.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Okay, I wouldn't compare it to that though, because I'm
bored out of my mind with that, Like, I like,
the game have been great. I was at I can
we talk about men As far as the story, tournament
is one seed, one seed, one seed, one seed.
Speaker 5 (07:42):
I know.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Forever.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I think it's like only the second time ever, and
I'm like, I mean, that's great. You do want the
best teams to make it to the end, obviously, but
like that's boring.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Cinderella's nothing. It boring.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
It is boring, and they they thrive off of that because,
as I always say, the women's tournament has the advantage
of having.
Speaker 6 (08:07):
Storylines of us seeing them play.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Each other for so long that we get hyped up
and create these rivalries, whereas the Menu's tournament doesn't have that.
So all they really have for us to become obsessed
with the team is the Cinderella.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Stories, and there's been a lacking Cooper flag.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
I always look forward to seeing like Florida Gulf Coast. Yeah,
that does not happen anymore.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Like those days are over. Those days are over.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I'm seeing freaking transfer portal news already, people committing to
new schools already.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I'm like, Dan, can the tournament end? Don't get me
started on the truck.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
We don't talk about that too. I think me and
Diamond are both transfer kids. Okay, So if you guys
didn't know, me and Diamond have been friends since the
seventh grade and we met playing on an AAU team together.
I was still living in Florida, she lived in Atlanta,
and the team name was the Georgia Ice. So, Diamond,
can you tell the people a little bit about that team?
(08:59):
Because because we were iconic and we were only twelve.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
So the Georgia Ice was a group of rowdy twelve
year old girls who were going to come into your
fifteen U tournament and win it. Every weekend and by
the time people realized what was happening, it had already happened.
(09:23):
And we were playing up about two age groups every
weekend and we were killing people like calling.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
I don't even know how to describe it. We had
a team. We had five dads on the team who
played professional sports. Guys.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
We were the NEPO kids. We were of a So
it was.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
Me my dad.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
My dad played for thirteen years in MB Lexi's dad
played in the NBA.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
Obviously.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
We had Taran Griffey who was the daughter of King
Griffy Junior. We had Kayla Davis who's the daughter of
Antonio Davis Painting Witted. His dad played Pro Christina Kevin
Witted Christina and Nelson her Did played in the NFL.
So we was just like a big We were just
big and like athletic and just like we had the
(10:13):
flights shoes we had. We had players flying in on
a private jet to practice once a week like and
were coming in. They were coming in to practice on
a PJ.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I this was like because I've been waiting for years
to have this platform with Diamond so we could talk
about what the hell we was doing in middle school.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Listen, if we had ni L when we was in
middle school, we'd be we'd be in.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
A very all of us, all of us.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Yes, I mean, it was like we were one of
those teams that gathered for tournaments. Like we were in practice,
like we had a we practiced after every week and
Karen got on a little private plane and flew to
Atlanta for the day dog.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Like we were moving so different and we were kids.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Social media wasn't a thing yet, Like we didn't even
realize what type of life we were living.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
We played a tournament in Orlando one year and the
whole team stayed at the Griffis that's how to make
their house was And it was bowling alley in the basement.
It was a go kart track around the house. It
was like the craziest house I've ever been in. And
we were just in there. You know, we couldn't make
no tiktoks in there. We couldn't really show off what
(11:32):
was going on. But like we all stayed in that
house was comfortable.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
To everyone if they wanted one, but you know us,
we all slept on the sectional watching movies, scary moviess.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Man, it was so great.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Yeah, y'all know, y'all are gonna have to bring it
back when you have kids one day.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Oh you're gonna have to daughters playing tennis.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
Look, I'm just trying to survive in this economy right now.
Like we were going to revisit the kids.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Real as amazing as our friendship was, we did have
a little rough patch Diamond, and yeah we did. I
want to tell everybody that me and Diamond were actually
supposed to go to Maryland together and she went to
North Carolina instead. So honestly, I've never really even asked
you about what that thought process was like because we
(12:27):
were kids. I've been committed to Maryland since tenth grade.
So I've been spend in the last two years of
my life trying to convince Diamond to come to.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Maryland with me. And I thought we had her.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
We went on a visit together and everything, and I
wake up one morning and she going to North Carolina.
I said, oh girl, So I mean it was a
great choice. I mean at the time, like it made sense.
But I want to know, like, and you can tell
our listeners, like what that decision was like, and like
the hype around it, like it was just different back
then like again, no social media nothing. So when you
(12:58):
were like one of them girls, you was really one
of them girls. And that was diamond when you got
that ESPN alert. Yeah, committing to North Carolina. So like
what was that like decision like and how did they
convince you to go there?
Speaker 3 (13:12):
All that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
Yeah, I mean it was you know Maryland, North Carolina,
Duke Tennessee or Yukon.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
Was my top five.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Moment.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
That is tough.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
And you know, so it wasn't an easy decision, right,
Like there were so many Well I can't say that
making that decision in this day and age would have
been easier or harder, but you know, back then you
had to really try and gauge what a career would
look like at this you know, a four year career
(13:46):
would look like at these universities. It wasn't oh, I'm
gonna just go see if I like it and then
like leave. So by the time I had made my decision,
you know, obviously I had our AU coach at the time. Know,
he was very influential in me making that decision, you know,
laying out the cards of what it could look like
(14:07):
if I went to the school to school to school
to school, and so yeah, it was a pretty spontaneous decision.
I mean, looking back on it, like I would have
done things very very differently, Like I didn't even tell
my parents that I was committing.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I was her best friend. She didn't even tell me.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
I didn't tell anybody.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
Yeah, so you know, I'm not proud of that, but
that's how it happened for me.
Speaker 5 (14:33):
That's my story.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I'm curious when you made that decision to go to
North Carolina. What was it about North Carolina that made
you want to go there so much so that it
was like, Okay, I'm making this decision.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
I don't care what nobody else has to say about it.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
I just felt like there was a big opportunity for
me to kind of brand myself as like this female
MJ type of character in women's basketball.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Obviously there was Maya Moore who you just you could
never touch.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
But I was like, you know, what if I go
to North Carolina and I wear number twenty three, and
I go there and do all the things that you know,
I know I'm supposed to do. You know, everything was
about setting yourself up to make money at the next level.
And so at the time that felt like, you know,
there wasn't a lot of games being televised on women's basketball.
You know, like if you wanted to play on TV,
(15:23):
you went to the five schools that I just that
were in my top five. Everybody that could make decisions
around those five schools was doing it, And yeah, it
just it felt like the right kind of fit for
the image.
Speaker 5 (15:33):
And the archetype that I was trying to become.
Speaker 6 (15:36):
Then not honestly, you did the right thing by making
the decision and just doing it.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
I had a little bit more context for y'all because
Diamond didn't, like, look at North Carolina, it was like,
oh no, I'm going They had the number one recruiting
class that they like magically assembled in like record time,
Like what was it, five of y'all?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Four y'all?
Speaker 5 (15:55):
It was four of us?
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Yeah, And after I committed, I called each and every
one of them and it was like I just committed,
you know what y'all trying to do?
Speaker 5 (16:03):
And they all committed the same thing.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
You assembled the Avengers.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Basically it was like, yeah, basically the little freshman avengerlus
coming in and like you fast forward to like twenty
twenty five and that happening, Like they gonna be on Slam,
they gonna be doing interviews, they gonna be in commercials together.
Like that's how big of a deal that decision was
at the time because people was not teaming up like
(16:27):
that going into college, Like people would maybe eventually team
up via transfer portal things like that, but like doing
it straight out of high school like that was something
that I had never been done before. So yeah, I
was pissed. But then I was like, I mean, I
get it. And then you hear her explanation and as
mad as I was, I was like whatever. We actually
didn't speak all through college though.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
How we didn't it was it was quiet, but all
of the years from freshmen to.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Draft connected at the draft, Wow, it was like a real.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
And even then like she was still a little tight
at me, and then like COVID hit and it was
like I went to the house, We had a glass
of wine.
Speaker 5 (17:11):
We realized we still loved each other.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Yeah, we had a right We had red table talk
my mom.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Both our moms were like for years, We're like, y'all
need to like no, like this.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Is not supposed to have.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Well, both of you had. I wasn't there for any
of the situation.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
But looking on it, this is something that people can
relate to as far as recruiting goes. It's like, Diamond,
you had a decision to make for yourself that you
felt like, you saw it, You saw how you can
market yourself.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
You saw it was gonna work, and you I have
to know that first TikTok.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
But the moment but Lexi you at the same time
were like.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
But I had this literally rush, and.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
So I see both sides of it that like, which
is good that you came together.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
You know, she had that amazing year, But you decided
to transfer. So what went into that decision? And it's
different now, Like you have to sit out a whole year,
so you take it all that momentum and putting it
literally on hold for an entire year. So I know, yeah,
I mean I transferred to Like it's not easy. So
when you decided to transfer, Like, what was that like
for you?
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Yeah, so it was it was a couple of things,
like when I decided to transfer. And again this is
something that people don't know. I had a stress fracture
my senior year of high school. I had a stress
fracture in my shin that I played through, you know,
like every day in high school. My senior year, I
had a walking boot on or I was in crutches,
so I would literally crutch into the arena for games,
(18:31):
put my shoes on, play, and crutch out. And so
when I got to North Carolina, I was still dealing
with that stress fracture, and it was the same situation.
I had a walking boot off season pretty much, I
was getting multiple PRP shots in my shin. I just
my leg was like, y'all saw Kevin ware snap his leg,
like that was gonna happen.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
To me at any given moment.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
So when I decided to transfer, it was kind of
like I needed the rest for one because I had
to get surgery, so to me kind of made sense
in terms of my health. But then there was also
just like the basketball of it, Like my freshman year,
I never got to play for. Two of the coaches
actually that I made my decision behind was Tricia Stafford Odom,
(19:15):
who had recruited me at the time. She had came
from Duke. She's the one who put that entire freshman
class together, and when we all committed and signed, they
fired her, And yeah, it broke all of our hearts.
So even coming in I was already just like and
they said, you know, you shouldn't make a decision because
of the assistant or whatever. But man, the assistants are
the ones who really be on the phone with you.
(19:36):
They're really the ones who get to know your family
and who take that time out. You can't always necessarily
be on the phone with a head coach constantly.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
They have so much to do. So that happened, and
then even from just the moment I stepped on campus,
it was just like, this is this is not what
I came here for.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
So they all left though, guys, the whole class, they
all slid. So when you transferred, you get to Tennessee,
you had your surgery into so like being hurt and
sitting out, like mentally, I know where you were a
baby at that time, Like what was that like for you? Recovering,
sitting out, people questioning your decision every day pretty much
(20:13):
like how was you?
Speaker 3 (20:14):
How are you dealing with that?
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's just a different time,
Like it was just like when you're one of those
faces in women's basketball back then, everything just feels a
lot heavier, you know, So it was it was the
aftermath of my transferring via un C fans and the
lums and all of that. Then there was also just
(20:37):
the anticipation in Knoxville of like when she gonna play.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
You know, we're so excited. Da da da.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
So it was like, yeah, I was mourning my freshman year,
my decision. I was like pretty sad about it all,
but there was also just so much excitement that I
had to look forward to for when I could finally
play a year post making that decision, So like I
was good, Like I wasn't really tripping, you know, I
was in Knoxville. My mom went to UT so I
spent time in Knoxville growing up, Like that was where
(21:06):
I wanted to be at.
Speaker 5 (21:08):
So I had just I was just like eyes forward
the whole time.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
And you finally were gonna get to play healthy Yeah exactly.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
So it was yeah, like again, it was just a
different time. You know, you had to consider that sit
out year and you had to really say is it.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
Gonna be worth it?
Speaker 4 (21:25):
And so anybody who transferred during that time, like they
knew that that's what they wanted to do. It was
important for them to find a new home somewhere else.
Who's on the team then Mercedes Russell, Jordan Reynolds, Jamie Nard,
Andrea Carter, but Shard Graves Isabelle Harrison.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
That's three WWA players on one team. These are not
fringe w players. These are like key rotational pieces to
WNVA teams. And I mean, I don't think people also
realize that about how different women's college landscape is now,
Like you're you're not seeing that really on teams anymore.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
You're not seeing.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Three, four, sometimes five at Yukon because that's what it was.
WNBA players are on the same team.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yeah, And for me, like I feel like it's a
good and about thing.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
So I'm like interested to see how you feel about it, Like, yes,
like the parody is good, but you also want to
see like the best players playing with the best players.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Yeah. I mean, look, like I said, it was just
a different time. We were all trying to be relevant
in conversation and the only way you could do that
was going to those one or two camps in the summer,
playing in those three or four AU tournaments, and going
to these eight to ten schools. Like it wasn't you
(22:41):
had to go up against the best players to even
be mentioned in those conversations. So I think there was
a lot more joining of forces because of that, And
I think that the money and the nil everything kind
of just spread everything out.
Speaker 5 (22:58):
So now it's really you just try to get paid.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Yeah, it seems I was gonna say, now, it's interesting
to hear you talk about you being somebody who would
have definitely capitalized so much off of nil even in
high school. But hearing now, there's a benefit to being
the girl on the team.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
You don't want to join forces and risk not being
the girl on the team, because then when there is
time to pick somebody to be in the commercial, they're
looking at her and they're not looking at you.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
So it's like, I don't.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Know if I want to team up like that because
that might hurt my bad.
Speaker 6 (23:28):
Plus this little small school over here might pay me this.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Like the fact that these are the conversations we're having
about college kids is nuts.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
And I knew this was going to happen when the NC.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
DOUBLEA was like here, damn no rules, no regulations, no nothing.
And I just the world underestimate the power of like
college athletics, of women athletes, Like I just feel like
the NC DOUBLEA was like okay, like you're y'all gonna
fall in y'all's face because y'all gonn't know what to
do with it. And I think that it's been bigger
(23:59):
and crazy than they probably was even imagining.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
I would argue if they had anil back then in
social media and TikTok and everything, because you look at
the top five most followed athletes in March Madness right now,
top four women, and the fifth is Cooper Flag and
he's the most popular player in the men's tournament. So
I feel like we honestly probably would be in a
different space if women were getting marketed the same back then,
(24:24):
because as you can see, when we are getting marketed,
which we've gotten to taken our own hands because of
social media, it works when you look at the way
that they do their nil deals or the way that
they do their ads, or the way that they make
their tiktoks, like y'all's tiktoks at the sleepover when you
were twelve would have been way more interesting than college
basketball player going to canes and.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
Yeah, I got you, I love Kanes. That's literally how
they here's my canes.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
And it's just like we were very marketable, you know.
So it's like, to y'all's point, like a lot of
the deals getting done, it's like take an athlete and
just give them a script and then have them stand
in front of the sign, and it's just like, where's
the character, where's the personality, where's the desire to want to,
you know, make this a lasting partnership. I feel like
(25:13):
for a lot of these kids, it's just coming in
so easily. They're just like, you know, come by this,
we'll do you know. But there are those other athletes
right like Flage. I mean she making music, she doing
the song, the acting, her own podcast. Yeah, yeah, she
(25:36):
she maximizing. So shout out Flawjack Lexi.
Speaker 6 (25:39):
You talk about all the time you were doing the
social media thing.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
In college and the internet, and I was like, no,
I won't.
Speaker 5 (25:46):
How about this. We weren't even allowed to be on
the internet in college. You couldn't be on social media.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
And on the road trips they taking that phone, Yeah,
that phone get took after the game.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Don't lose, don't lose on the road.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
They was hating out the gate. They ain't want y'all
to be nothing other than this.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
Across the front.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
We couldn't even post pictures in the uniform unless we
were at like media stuff.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Wait, I'm shocked by this. That is I know it
was bad girl, and I say it.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
I say it all the time and people are like,
let's see, shut up. No, it affected everybody, and not
everybody is as vocal about it, obviously, but it didn't
just affect me.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
I just kept doing it. It was clocking my shit.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Twenty four to seven, I got pulled in the office
to like take pictures down, like, oh my.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
God, like they was on that yeah, and it's are
you tweeting? At midnight?
Speaker 4 (26:44):
I had a compliance meeting for my senior pictures. It
was like, are you modeling? Are you getting paid?
Speaker 5 (26:50):
Y'all? Those are my.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Clients, bro.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
They were like enemy number one, like just clocking you,
Like I don't think you guys understand. Like when we
talk at this NIO stuff, not only could we not
get money for things, we couldn't even get things period.
Like if a brand wanted to send us some clothes
or something, no violation.
Speaker 5 (27:11):
You could be starving. You couldn't even get a damn
hot dog at the tail tracks.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
You're right, we couldn't even take food at the tailgates.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
We'll be at the tailgate, the boosters be wanting to
feed us, y'all.
Speaker 5 (27:22):
The food be looking so good. Barbecue benefit.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
It's a benefit. You can't take it. It was strict.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
It was strict, and everyone's like, y'all just hating because
they know we're not hating. We are so happy for
y'all because college used to be prison. I'm so I'm
so happy, but like now it's like a free for all,
Like you don't even have to.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Your team doesn't have to be good anymore.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
You don't even have to anymore.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Let's start there, because we're talking about flag As, you know,
one of the college girls who's doing all of the
right things. I do also want to out of Dejah Kelly,
who I feel like is another one that is capitalized
more than anybody. And she has her own podcast called
nilas Sophie. I want to say, so she talks like
nile stuff, So that's fire.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Shout out to her. And I saw a clip of
her with Raven.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Johnson from South Carolina and she was on there talking
about yeah, you know, they just they're bringing me deals
and deals and deals, like I don't have time to
like do anything because we're at shoots for like three
to four hours a day and all this kind of stuff,
And that's always been my thing.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
I'm like, when do y'all have time to like get
better for real?
Speaker 5 (28:33):
Mike?
Speaker 2 (28:33):
And I think maybe that's why we've seen the stagnation
in the players.
Speaker 5 (28:37):
They do not matter.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
I'm just like cause I know me and I know you.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
I was in the practice facility hours before practice, after practice,
at night time.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
I lived in our practice facility.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Yes, I want a big proponment twenty four hours in
a day, but I don't know how them girls are
doing it.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
I really don't.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Fashion Week, the Matt Gala, Nike commercial, Get Right, commercial
afflat commercials. I mean, you can't help but be so
happy for all of them.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
But it's just like, all right, like at what? At
what costs? Now?
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Like I feel like as many pros are there is,
the cons are starting to pile up a bit, and
I mean, yeah, money.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
I think Sadonah said it, Sadana Princeman TC who actually spearheaded.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
I'm gonna you know, I know people have their opinions
on Sadona right now. I know they do but you
got to give her credit for like she jumpstarted all
this shit with her little weight with her with her
weight to TikTok. So whatever, feel how y'all feel about her, whatever,
But the fact is, if Sadona doesn't post that video,
we're not here right now. I don't care what nobody says,
(29:41):
It's not happening. She made this thing jumpstart. But even
her saying, you gotta like think long term sometimes sometimes
that little hunter k like it might look pretty right now,
but like long term, like you gotta you gotta weigh
your options. She said that this whole thing gave her
the ability to play basketball probably longer than she might
have in the past with injuries, transferring off court stuff.
(30:05):
But her NIO stuff has like kept her relevant despite
all the off court stuff. So even you look at
Haley van Litz covid NIO, the way she was able
to get that.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
Additional year, it's changed her career.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
This put her career back on track that fast.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
I would have spoke y'all about being transfer kids, because
there's been a lot of talk in the media about
the transfer portal, and I know I get asked by
my audience all the time about the transfer portal. But
I feel like no better two people to speak on
it than y'all and Diamond you speaking on I had
to really decide where I wanted to call home because
I was gonna have.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
To say, man, bring that set out, bring bring that
set out. Rule, what do you guys think the solution.
Speaker 5 (30:50):
Is, bring it back, bring it back.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
You still get to leave.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
I don't think they should put any hindrance on NIO deals.
Nothing but stitch your ass down or go back to
the one you get one time to leave, We get it.
One time, J Bellis went on TV and he said
that they need to start signing kids to contracts like
multi year.
Speaker 5 (31:11):
Did I think so too? That's that incentivize them to stay.
Speaker 4 (31:16):
It's like you wouldn't have this platform or this opportunity
to be this version of yourself if you weren't coming
to this university. And so there should be some sort
of obligation, binding obligation to players, because if not, then
you get what you have right now. And you can
(31:38):
see how it's been hurting the men's side right The
women's side hasn't got to that point yet.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
It's about to.
Speaker 4 (31:45):
But the proof is right in front of you. You
know this, if this continues, you know, you might run
into the same issues on the women's side. So you know,
I think contracts would be good. I think the one
year set out would be good as well, because players
need to really think about why they want to leave
a place and if it's worth leaving.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
You could transfer every single year if you want it.
Speaker 5 (32:08):
And make more and more and more and more.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
And yes, that's amazing, great, But like Diamond said, there's
no like incentives. So yeah, the players who are getting
their endorsement stuff off outside of basketball, Like, that's not
going to change whether you make them sit whatever, that's
not going to change the money that people are getting
from the universities. I think that's the only place they
can regulate in any capacity. Is that money, the outside
(32:35):
money that has nothing to do with the school, Like
whether they're at this school, a toad school, that school.
If the companies and brands are attracted to this particular player,
they're going to follow them, so like, let's not even
think about that stuff.
Speaker 6 (32:47):
Well, and I'm thinking for the school themselves.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
There's also that added incentive of well number one, like
Diamond mentioned, it should be a thought before you leave
a place where you want to go next. You should
really have to think about that. But also you commit.
You should just be committing anywhere because oh, they're offering
me this amount of money, and I could stay for
a year, and I could leave if I really want
to and make more. And then on top of that,
it benefits the schools to have some structure in place
(33:10):
for them to have to stay for a certain amount
of time, because if lage is at a different school
every year in the Google comprice doesn't make sense.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
What does that do for the schools. It's confusing.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
And at this revenue share in, schools are about to
be paying even more to their student athletes, so it's
gonna be even more money. I mean, you see the
girl Oklahoma, she just signed for like one point three.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
I'm telling you all the top players are going to
the SEC in the next three years. Every top player
is going to be that money. Yeah, there's no there.
The other conferences simply can't compete because they got the
TV money, they got the football money. Their boosters are
clearly just super wealthy and they love their universe. I
(33:51):
will say people of these who go to SEC schools
have a lot of pride whether their athletes or not.
So I know that's all right, yeah yeah, So it's
like that much is coming in from everywhere. So like
I foresee the SEC running the table. I mean they're
running it right now. Look key, they're on the way
and they're doing it for men already. So football, women's basketball,
(34:12):
men's basketball is all gonna live in the SEC. And like,
I don't know what that's gonna look like for the
rest of the schools, Like what are they what are
these what are these other schools gonna do? Like they're
they're gonna be Power five schools with one two star
recruits because everybody's going to the big everyone's going to
the same conference now, so like you're gonna have well what.
Speaker 5 (34:30):
If they privatize that conference.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
And like something, something dramatic is gonna happen. Something dramatic
is gonna happen.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Oh my god, what about the other sports? Exactly? What
about the other sports?
Speaker 2 (34:43):
Like let's start with that, Like we are so hyper
focused on basketball and football, but like, yes, like what
about the other freaking sports. Your team, your men's basketball
team and women's basketball teams, the football teams suck. Those
other programs are gonna get cut.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
It's so sad.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
I was talking, you know, one of my friends who
was telling me about the SMU coaching staff getting fired
because SMU look like a JV high school team in
the ACC. That I was like, oh, so, now the
whole staff you lose your jobs because y'all made a
selfish decision to move a team that has no business
being in the ACC playing in the ACC. And now
(35:20):
you have a lot of unhappyness going on because why
are y'all in that conference?
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Well what about the travel? Yeah, the travel is a
mess right now?
Speaker 5 (35:28):
Yeah, I can't make sense of it. I can't make sense.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
I mean when in USC and Cal and Stanford, even Stanford,
Like I don't I didn't watch Stanford play that much
this year, but like Stanford has never They've always been good,
like no matter what, like whatever they have a superstar
and not a superstar whatever, They've always been solid. I've
never seen a Stanford team look like the one that
they had this year. And I'm gonna say that the
(35:52):
travel was probably insane. You're in the ACC, right, They're
in the ACC.
Speaker 5 (35:56):
Now.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
I went to watch their their back volleyball team play
Georgia Tech, and I'm sitting are thinking, these girls are
in college, they got class tomorrow Atlanta playing a volleyball game.
Speaker 6 (36:05):
What the hell?
Speaker 4 (36:06):
Like that we already know, like that trip, that trip
after the game.
Speaker 5 (36:10):
You getting in at three am? You got an eight
am class.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
First of all, you have to have the early class
as a student athlete because you got practice in the afternoon.
So you got them eight ams, you got the ten ams.
So if you get in at two, three, four am, guess.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
What gets up. There's just no rhyme and reason behind it.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
And yeah, I think we all got so caught up
in like, yes, athletes are making money like fuck n Cuba,
but like no, it's the shit show now.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Well, people are quiet about the actually making money from
the school park And that's why I think a lot
of people have less reservations about it because not as
many people. Obviously, we're in sports circles, so we're aware
of dang you made how much to transfer toware But
the average fan, the media is not gassing that up
like they're gassing up.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Oh they were in a Google commercial. Yeah, like that
doesn't have anything to do with the SMA.
Speaker 4 (37:04):
Majority of the players are making their money from the
university there is only a handful who have TV deals
and who have big brand deals, Like that's like the
nth percentile. Yeah, you know, like most every college athlete
is getting paid from the.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
Collective and it's not that much.
Speaker 4 (37:20):
Well, then turn to the revenue share, which is like
I don't know how many millions of dollars distributed amongst
what men's men's basketball, women's basketball, and football. I believe
it's like twenty five million.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Dollars and then the rest of the sports get the crumbs.
But it's crazy because even I just read an article
about South Carolina women's basketball team and that they lost money.
They lose money every year, right, So the business of
college sports and the business of professional sports, it's so different.
You lose five four to five million dollars a year.
(37:53):
You're not paying anybody because you can't. So in college
it's so different. It's like it's just as backwards to
me because as amazing as the South Carolina program is
and they're selling out arenas and they're winning championships, they
have still lost money every year.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
And that's not a dig at the program. It's numbers.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Well, but then you also have the boosters, like I
was just joking with my friends when we were at
the Elite A the other day. I was like, man,
if Georgia basketball don't get it together, I'm gonna have
to make me some money so I can start paying them.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
And I'm nil money myself.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Like I have a friend who was like, if I
have money, I would give it to the nil collective
want to? I want them to get money too. I'm like,
people really feel that way about the athletes.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
I'm like, I'd be going out to recruit myself if
I had just like throw away money, if I were
one of these big billionaires that went to a school man,
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
So it's like, okay, so now you look at the
business of sports now, because now that's what we're turning.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
That's what college is.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
It's not just fun shits and gigs anymore in college,
Like this is now real money is being made and
distributed to the athletes or whatever. What does that look
like for sports programs that don't make money because now
they're implementing this revenue share thing. I feel like it's
not gonna be good for the majority.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
How do you stay competitive? It's not you're losing six
million dollars a year.
Speaker 4 (39:14):
Schools are like hiring general managers now, you know, like
I'm telling y'all, like it's becoming.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
They are this close to becoming pro It's.
Speaker 4 (39:24):
About to be like that pipeline, you know, like in
Europe where you could play like second division, third division.
Speaker 5 (39:30):
It's going to kind of be like that.
Speaker 4 (39:31):
I feel like it's gonna be like a pro league.
But certain teams of certain universities are going to exist
separate of the university and they're going to exist in
like a league.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
It's insane. Then what a school come in mar You know,
they don't care about school.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
They haven't cared about school for a way before nil,
trust me, but now they definitely don't. And now what
does that mean for the actual pro leagues that exists, Like,
are we going to have to start having like WNBA, NCAA,
like separate things like you have. These are the twelve
players I finna get drafted, so we're gonna put them
(40:08):
in an academy.
Speaker 5 (40:09):
I just think there's so much change still yet to come.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Yeah, I mean, and that's just the basketball nerd and
business of basketball nerd and me. These are these things
keep me up at night, guys, They really do because
I want to be a general manager. But like, and
I'm like, shit, do I want to be a college
general manager? Because there's a hell of money in that.
(40:50):
So now we're gonna pivot since you mentioned like the
European style, you know, since Juju got hurt, there's been
a lot of conversation about, you know, how she's gonna
make her return.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
Is she gonna stay for her all of her eligibility years,
blah blah blah blah blah. They need to change the rule.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Players need to be able to leave after one season,
all this kind of stuff. If y'all didn't know, Diamond
had one year of eligibility left at Tennessee and she
decided to go pro.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
So this has happened before. Players have not.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
Done all their years of eligibility, they've left. Diamond's done it.
I think Juweloyd did it. I think Jackie Young might
have came out early. So for for y'all, like early
means you have to be twenty two in the draft year.
So whether you turn twenty two before the drafts or
after drafts, it just has to be in that year.
So nobody is stopping anybody from leaving early.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
But diamond.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Can you like talk about like how you made that decision?
And I remember when you did make that decision, it
did not go over well, So can you like watch.
Speaker 4 (41:52):
I mean, like you said, there are certain parameters that
have to be met before you can even just make
that decision to turn pro on the female side, which
a lot of people don't know about. So you have
to either be twenty two years of age or you know,
have graduated college, which again is why players in the
w are just so smart and intelligent, because we all
(42:14):
have degrees. But yeah, I mean when I made my decision, obviously,
like there was no money being made in college and
the draft had already passed, so the only thing that
I could do was go play in Europe. And when
I saw that contract and I saw that dollar amount,
it was pretty much a no brainer for me that
I was gonna leave. So I went and played in Turkey,
(42:36):
had a blast, and then got drafted the following year.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
When people talk about like the college holding holding players
back and the WNBA needs to change the rule, I'm like,
y'all want us to change an entire rule for like two.
Speaker 4 (42:48):
It really amazes me how mediocre people think the W
is talent wise.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
That is a hill I've been dying on for months.
Diamond literally crucified.
Speaker 4 (43:01):
How common the thought is that there are multiple pros
in college right now in the draft class rather that
can go to a training camp and make a team.
I'm like, you guys don't pay attention. You don't really
understand the depths of these rosters and how some most
(43:23):
teams don't even have a spot to take or make,
you know, So stay in school is pretty wise, especially
considering the amount of money that.
Speaker 5 (43:34):
Can be made.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
Yeah, but I'm saying like, because I don't even know,
like with our CBA stuff, diamonds in these these meetings too.
For the CBA, like I've always like thrown around the
idea of possibly guaranteeing rookie contracts at least like their
first two years, because when people are like, oh, yeah,
they can come out early and dah da da da
those it's not like the NBA those. If you're a
(43:57):
first rounder, you can get cut in training camp the
year you get drafted, like and we've seen it happen.
So now I'm like, you're asking you want nineteen twenty
twenty one year old women to leave school degreeless and
then just be out in the wild, like that's what
y'all want, because y'all think two players in the last
ten years have been pro ready early, which again going
(44:20):
back to the thinking the league is mediocre, We've seen
plenty of pro ready players early in their career.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
Diamond actually was one of them as well.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
So I just think that conversation is done. But like
talking to someone like you, Diamond that left early, did
you think that helped you or hurt you? Like, do
you wish you stayed, you know, money aside. In hindsight,
are you still like happy that you forewent your scene?
Speaker 4 (44:46):
I mean, in hindsight, I was happy with my decision because,
you know, again the landscape was so different. I was
finally able to get paid for doing a job that
I'd been doing for free for so long. You know,
I was coming out of the leg surgery. You only
get to play basketball for so long, and so at
that time, you know, staying in college for four years
(45:08):
was just like it was a major sacrifice on like
prime playing years for a female basketball player. However, economically,
you know, it made sense for you to stay in
school and get your degree because an event that you
leave and you get cut from a team. Now you
don't have no job, and you don't have a degree,
and you don't have no money. So again, when I
(45:32):
was making my decision, I had already graduated college, so
that was the big make or breaker for me. I
had the degree, so I would have been staying to
do a grad year where I wouldn't have been in
no classes. I would have been a professional athlete for free,
and that just didn't make sense. So yeah, the degree
was the big you know, make or breaker for me.
Speaker 7 (45:54):
After I got that, it was time to go, said,
I'm out, Like.
Speaker 1 (46:08):
You said, a lot of people underestimate how hard it
actually is to maintain a spot in the w let
alone separate yourself enough to have a long withstanding career
and be a star to make the kind of money
they might be making in college. And I think that
it feels like I hate when this conversation comes up
because maybe just as a fan, it feels so simple
to me.
Speaker 3 (46:29):
But why would you not choose.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
To get your degree for free because you're on scholarship
and then now you're also getting paid, So that's like
a whole other thing.
Speaker 3 (46:37):
A lot paid amounts of money that there's no salary cap,
there's no rules, you're getting paid whatever.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
And then number three, you're still getting to do the
commercials and the endorsement deals and get sent.
Speaker 3 (46:47):
Stuff and do all that stuff. Exactly what's the benefit.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
And then also on top of that, when you were
speaking about Diamond earlier, the idea of getting to make
a name for yourself at this university because of the
fandoms that the university already has, the history that these
universities already have. Like you're getting to establish yourself, make
a name for yourself, get a degree for free, and
get paid.
Speaker 6 (47:06):
Why would you why would you want to rush that
process at time?
Speaker 5 (47:09):
It makes sense as if you're a guy and you're walking.
Speaker 4 (47:12):
Because your windows where you're making twenty million or however much.
Speaker 3 (47:16):
The name like it's.
Speaker 5 (47:18):
Perfect right now to be a female athlete in college.
Speaker 4 (47:21):
It's the most no brainer is thought process of stay
your ass in school for.
Speaker 3 (47:27):
As long as as as.
Speaker 5 (47:28):
Long as you can.
Speaker 4 (47:29):
You see the dude at Florida's pro day, he's like
twenty seven, and he's like, I'm like, yeah, do that.
Speaker 3 (47:36):
If you can do that inside, stay forever.
Speaker 5 (47:40):
It makes it's just what makes the most sense.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
But also I feel like it's good for new fans
of the W because coming in when you've seen Juju
all four years or whatever at USC and you starget
hurt and she comes back, she's a crazy year blah
blah blah blah, all this stuff and then carries that
momentum with her. Like, as a fan, that's I'd rather
see that story see her leave prematurely and not Juju specifically,
(48:02):
because she's obviously incredible, but see people leave prematurely and
then get cut and I'm like or.
Speaker 3 (48:09):
Buried on the bench.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
And that's what used to happen, is like you have
these all Americans getting drafted and out of the first round,
maybe two or three get real minutes their rookie season.
Speaker 1 (48:21):
We and Lexie talk about that all the time, rookies
getting benched. That's another thing that I feel like, as
the media starts talking more about women's basketball without actually
watching it, that's the thing I hear a lot of, Well,
you should just play them because we know that we
know who they are and we've been hearing about them.
Speaker 3 (48:35):
But there's a balance. But what do you guys think about?
Speaker 1 (48:39):
Because I hear them in the sense where it's like, okay,
marketing whatever, but you can't sacrifice the level of basketball
being played for that.
Speaker 2 (48:46):
Well, we saw that happen probably in like the last
third of the season.
Speaker 3 (48:50):
I feel like a lot of.
Speaker 2 (48:51):
Teams were like, okay, go, rookies, go, and then that
playoff push come in and they're like.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
All right, y'all need to chill out, sit.
Speaker 2 (48:57):
Down, and we're gonna put the vets on the floor
to go win a championship.
Speaker 3 (49:02):
But I mean, I like.
Speaker 4 (49:04):
It's evident what wins and what has success, and the
franchises and the organizations who keep that at the forefront
in terms of people who work hard, people who are professionals,
people who play hard and who are consistent, they're the
ones who have success. You know, you can play that
game with the media and you know, lose players out
(49:26):
there too, but you're gonna lose, and you know you're
going to continue to enhance this idea that that's what
it means to be, you know, a star player in
this league when that idea only just started to exist.
You know, we've had stars in this league for decades
(49:46):
who didn't get no credit, none of the props and
attention that they deserve.
Speaker 5 (49:51):
That they should have had.
Speaker 4 (49:52):
I think that we would be doing the League of
disservice if we continued or started to kind of.
Speaker 3 (49:58):
Do that pander.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
I call that pandering, and I'm tired of it. Yes,
I'm sick of it. And I hope that this season,
I hope everyone learned when they looked at who was
in the finals what pandering does for you. It gets
you sent home, because we saw two very veteran heavy
teams in the finals and gave us an amazing product.
Speaker 3 (50:19):
So with stars, with stars actually, like with czars.
Speaker 1 (50:22):
I don't but the media controls who the stars are.
That's a whole other conversation for a whole their day.
But who we're talking about and who we're pushing are
going to be the stars well or not. And so
you if you put these people that are just magnets
for being talked about out in the forefront on the
basketball court up against people who've been in the league
(50:44):
for years and years and years that are like, please,
you're only you're doing them into service too, because then
they look bad.
Speaker 2 (50:49):
But you know, it's crazy, it's crazy that you said that,
because you know, we were talking about how in college
and everybody's like spreading out and the W it's like
it's going opposite. Everyone's trying to team up. Now it's
like completely it's like opposite now. Like now in the W,
it's like you're more powerful as a collective, you know,
if you've got a group of us that are outgoing
(51:11):
have good brand can hoop, Like you're better off if
there's more of y'all doing that. And in college, you're
kind of better off if you're all kind of spread
out a little bit more. So, it's like very interesting,
how like the dynamic has like completely flip flopped between
college and Yeah, I think.
Speaker 4 (51:25):
The course of events by which marketing has been incorporated
into women's sports, it definitely has peaked in college before
it has met the pros. So you know, it makes
sense in college because you know, it's just such a
big thing in college right now. But you know, for
those of us who've been professional, it's like, you know
(51:47):
a lot of us still trying to get brand deals,
still trying to get paid outside of just your basketball salaries,
whereas it's just a bit more common in college, it seems,
and lucrative, no for sure.
Speaker 1 (52:01):
Well, another thing with the whole it being spread out
in college to make money, whereas like in the league,
it seems to be doing the opposite. I feel like, listen,
I'm not the WBI, so you can y'all can tell
me if I'm wrong. But I feel like that's also
because you get judged when you're in the pros based
off of winning performance, winning championships.
Speaker 3 (52:20):
So if we team.
Speaker 4 (52:21):
Up, win and maybe we got to see if you're
gonna still be here in a few years, because how
many players do we see come out and by.
Speaker 5 (52:32):
The second year, you'd be like, damn where they go?
Speaker 4 (52:36):
You know, you can't as a brand, You're not about to,
you know, create a multi year partnership with somebody where
you don't even know if they're gonna be on a team.
Speaker 2 (52:46):
On the team anymore. I mean, you said, I'm dealing
with that right now. They're like, damn, we thought she's
for b LA for a minute. Now the opportunities shift
a little bit, they change, like.
Speaker 1 (52:55):
Well, LEXI, you're about to benefit from what I was
just talking about winning coaching.
Speaker 3 (53:00):
Okay, before we get out of here.
Speaker 2 (53:02):
Diamond, if y'all didn't know, Diamond is now on the
Connecticut Sun and the organization has been a bit under
attack as of late.
Speaker 3 (53:10):
So Diamond, I want you to.
Speaker 2 (53:11):
Provide some hopefully positivity and some light on what y'all
got going on in Connecticut. I'm very excited for you,
by the way, to be there and be able to
get back to hooping the way you hoop. So if
you can let our listeners know what the vibes are
in Connectic.
Speaker 3 (53:25):
You were just up there. You did a broadcast for
the Celtics, which was fire. That's right. Give the listeners
a little insight on what was going on.
Speaker 4 (53:32):
Well, the vibes in Connecticut are great. Actually, you know,
whole front office, everybody is really looking forward to this season.
You know, obviously a lot of departures in the off season,
big departures.
Speaker 5 (53:45):
But I've been a part of a rebuild before.
Speaker 4 (53:48):
I've successfully rebuilt before in an organization in Chicago where
you know, it was kind of a mess when I
got there, and you know, then we won a championship.
So you know, this is not foreign territory for me.
Like I'm excited about the opportunity to be a part
of a franchise that honestly has winning pedigree, has that
(54:12):
DNA still exists, and just continuing to build on it. Like,
you know, you can say what you want about the
team and the decisions that have been made, but you know, Lexi,
on any given night, anything could happen, any team could win.
We have a talented team, We have a good group.
I'm really excited about playing for Rashid and the rest
(54:33):
of the coaching staff. One of the big things for
me is just like no narratives, you know, we get
to go there and just like.
Speaker 3 (54:41):
Hoop, just play, Yeah, just play.
Speaker 5 (54:45):
Which people underestimate and undervalue. You know.
Speaker 4 (54:47):
It's really nice to be in a space where basketball
is the focal point. So yeah, there's a lot to
look forward to in Connecticut, you know what I'm saying.
And you know, for those who maybe feel differently, it's
kind of just something that you just have to wait
and see, you know. And again, all eyes we appreciate.
So even if you're watching.
Speaker 3 (55:07):
To see if it's a ship, shall yeah, like you.
Speaker 4 (55:11):
Know, we're still here, Hey watch you're here, so.
Speaker 3 (55:16):
Still watching, y'all still watching.
Speaker 4 (55:18):
So I'm you know, I'm excited, and I'm really grateful
and fortunate for the opportunity. Man, Like, having a job
in this league is a blessing. You never take it
for granted, no matter where it is. So I'm really
happy good.
Speaker 2 (55:32):
I'm glad see y'all. It's not horrible up there. It's
not as bad as y'all think.
Speaker 8 (55:37):
Because people was going in on the Connecticut Son, I
was like, all right, y'all, I mean it was a
little there was question marks, but again, we're all professionals here,
and y'all have y'all don't have a y'all's team is
not trash by any mean y'all gonna be all right.
Speaker 4 (55:50):
Next to you know, like you already know, Bro, everything
ain't always what it seems. Unless you're there on the
day to day, you can't really speak on it, right,
that's the truth.
Speaker 3 (56:01):
Y'all heard that.
Speaker 4 (56:02):
Say it again, Diamond, Is you there on the day
to day, bro, shut out, speak on it, shut your mouth.
Speaker 2 (56:09):
Okay, Lord got a good place to end because I
felt like that was a nice little call out to
people who got too much things to stay with very
limited information. But Diamond, I'm so happy we've made this happen.
I hope you guys enjoyed this conversation and I will
see y'all next week on the Full Circle Podcast.
Speaker 5 (56:30):
Bye.
Speaker 3 (56:30):
Y'all, thanks for listening to Full Circle.
Speaker 1 (56:33):
We'll be back next week with more basketball for the Girls,
by the girls.
Speaker 5 (56:37):
We want to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (56:39):
Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, and tell us
what you want us to talk about. Full Circle is
hosted by Lexi Brown and Mariah Rose. Our executive producer
is Jesse Katz. Our supervising producer is Grace Fuse. Our
producer is Zoe dang Lap. Listen to Full Circle on
America's number one podcast network, iHeart, open your free iHeart
app and search full Circle with Lexi Brown and Mariah
(57:00):
Rose and start listening
Hosts And Creators
Lexie Brown
Mariah Rose
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