February 4, 2020 • 47 mins
Pac-12 Networks' Ashley Adamson and Mary Murphy react to the first Top 16 reveal in which five Pac-12 teams were included (2:39). Ash and Mary discuss the significance of the Ducks dominating win over UConn (3:40) — their first ever road win over a Top 5 opponent — and Mary explains why Oregon has the potential to play even better (6:40).
Aari McDonald joins the show (9:40) and reacts to Arizona being included in the Top 16. Aari shares what her mindset was going into their win over UCLA (12:50) and how she has grown to become a more vocal leader this year (14:00). The reigning Pac-12 player of the week tells Ash and Mary about Adia Barnes’ influence (15:13) and what Tee Tee Starks support has meant to her (16:00). Aari praises her teammates and shares what they have allowed her to do differently in her game this year (17:50). She also shares what her favorite part of her game is (18:30) and what bucket she has prized the most this year (18:59). She reminisces about playing with guys while growing up and what it brought to her game (20:56) and confides what it will take for her Wildcats to upset Oregon in Eugene (21:53). The Pac-12's leading scorer wraps her interview praising the fan support at McKale Center (24:45) and what her experience has been like playing under Adia Barnes (27:00).
Ash and Mary discuss the grueling triple overtime win Arizona State had over USC (29:08). Even after being swept over the weekend, Mary explains why the Trojans still deserve credit (30:34). Ash and Mary discuss UCLA's size potentially being an achilles heel this season (32:57) and the significance of Cal getting their first PAC-12 win this season (33:47).
In this week's Murphy's Law, Mary highlights what makes Cal's CJ West's performance so special (36:28). Mary also highlights the significance of Oregon blowing out UConn and what made Oregon's reaction so significant (37:30). She also gives her current coach and freshman of the year picks (41:04). Ash and Mary wrap the episode breaking down the road to a top four seed in the Pac-12 Tournament (42:00).
Aari McDonald joins the show (9:40) and reacts to Arizona being included in the Top 16. Aari shares what her mindset was going into their win over UCLA (12:50) and how she has grown to become a more vocal leader this year (14:00). The reigning Pac-12 player of the week tells Ash and Mary about Adia Barnes’ influence (15:13) and what Tee Tee Starks support has meant to her (16:00). Aari praises her teammates and shares what they have allowed her to do differently in her game this year (17:50). She also shares what her favorite part of her game is (18:30) and what bucket she has prized the most this year (18:59). She reminisces about playing with guys while growing up and what it brought to her game (20:56) and confides what it will take for her Wildcats to upset Oregon in Eugene (21:53). The Pac-12's leading scorer wraps her interview praising the fan support at McKale Center (24:45) and what her experience has been like playing under Adia Barnes (27:00).
Ash and Mary discuss the grueling triple overtime win Arizona State had over USC (29:08). Even after being swept over the weekend, Mary explains why the Trojans still deserve credit (30:34). Ash and Mary discuss UCLA's size potentially being an achilles heel this season (32:57) and the significance of Cal getting their first PAC-12 win this season (33:47).
In this week's Murphy's Law, Mary highlights what makes Cal's CJ West's performance so special (36:28). Mary also highlights the significance of Oregon blowing out UConn and what made Oregon's reaction so significant (37:30). She also gives her current coach and freshman of the year picks (41:04). Ash and Mary wrap the episode breaking down the road to a top four seed in the Pac-12 Tournament (42:00).
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Here hello, the podcast of thathighest class of women's schools, Pack twelve.
Look at the rankings. If youneeded the proof numbers snap for lin
either do want speaking the truth ofthe common the chaos will bring into passion
and the player of the year who'llbe a crown Shay, Let's get the
cracking. What's happened? And MaryMurphy and Ashley Adams saying here week back
(00:23):
again, Ah, welcome back tothe podcast, everybody, Ashley Adams and
Mary Murphy calling Farrell so happy thatyou have found us on the first February
edition of the Inside Pac twelve Women'sbasketball podcast Oregon. Y'all. Who there's
statement games and then there's what happenedin Stories Connecticut last night. We're going
(00:46):
to dive into all that in asecond. I want to mention that our
guest today is the Pactrol Player ofthe Week, the one and only Airy
McDonald. But I gotta start,ladies. I smiled this morning when I
looked at the date, because exactlyone month from today, do you know
where we will be? Vegas Babyon a plane to Las Vegas Baby for
four magical, magical days at MandalayBay And now would be a good time
(01:10):
to remind people. If you haven'tmade plans to go to the women's basketball
tournament, just get your tickets packed. Ash twelve dot com slash tickets.
Mary and I are gonna be there. It's gonna be a blast. We
cannot wait. It's gonna be wild, it's gonna be exciting. Um okay,
so yeah, we got a lotto talk about today and I'm super
pumped. Did everyone recover from thesuper Bowl? By the way, are
we all feeling okay today? Oh? The Niners got mahoned. They did,
(01:34):
they did. I thought the adswere great. I mean if the
spot pack was my favorite? Oh, that was awesome. But isn't it
weird because you're used to like lookingat your phone during commercials and you're locked
in and you're just I can't doanything but watch Yeah, the TV for
hours? There were there were somegood ones. Um, I in particular
was a fan of the halftime show. I know that there was maybe there's
(01:56):
It's been a little bit controversial forsome reason, but Jlo and Shakira absolutely
fringed it. They are incredible.It makes me excited to be fifty years
old. Went I went to aZomba class. Afterwards, I just felt
like I needed to do some movement. Colleen, I should ask you have
you have you recovered from Super BowlSunday, because you have a different reason
than you wouldn't be recovered. Youran. You ran a day half marathon.
(02:19):
Yeah. The only reason I runthese things is just so I can,
you know, drink drink beers withreckless abandon and eat all the things
that are put on the table.And so I hope you did that after
you ran your half, of course, of course. Okay, good,
I'm good. All right, Well, we are here to talk about a
lot of awesome basketball to day.I'm fired up for this and we're gonna
get into the Oregon Yukon game inone second. But let's talk real quick
about what happened at halftime of thatgame last night. Because the NCAA Selection
(02:44):
Committee in veiled its first top sixteenseeds of the season, and there are
five pack twelve teams. So Oregansfour, Stanford A six, Oregon State
is nine, US is eleven,and Arizona is thirteen. Mary, I
know what jumps out to me,but whichumps out to you? The number
of teams. I just think that'ssuper exciting Arizona certainly being in the reveal,
(03:07):
Like, wow, that was justpretty awesome. I just think the
totality of it. And we've beentalking all year about how great this conference
is and there it was, rightup there on my Giant TV. It
was awesome. Yeah, that wasthat. There are two things obviously,
Arizona and lined to host are you'reremoved from the wn I T And we're
gonna ask Gary McDonald about that ina minute because that is just awesome.
(03:28):
And then the other thing that wasinteresting was that Yukon was ahead of Oregon.
Obviously, after what we saw lastnight, we assume that will change
the second reveal of the two revealsas March second. But we got to
dive into to what happened at Gamblelast night because it felt like watching this
organ Yukon game, it provided sortof a tangible snapshot of the progress that
has been made, because if youthink back Sabrina and Esco and ruthy Hubert's
(03:51):
freshman year, they lose to Yukonby thirty eight in the Elite eight.
Last night, they go into theirplace on the end of a three game
road trip, and they not onlybeat Yukon. They hand the Huskies their
worst loss in the history of GamblePavilion. They snapped their sixty six game
home win streak. The significance ofthat win was what to you marry A
(04:12):
lot of things. One I thinkon the stage that it was in Yukon
on ESPN, with Rebecca Lobo andtheir their number one crew doing the game,
it's a statement to the country thatthis team's for real. There's been
some doubts because of the couple oflosses. You know, they lost to
Louisville, but Louisville and the revealsthe third seed Arizona State, you know,
head of that fantastic weekend, andI just think that from top to
(04:36):
bottom, Sabrina almost with a tripledouble in that setting. I thought Ruthie
was fantastic twenty two and twelve,the efficiency Satu Sable Bully was great to
start, really got them going withthe three point shots a minon Moore,
I don't know if she's ever playedbetter. It was like us that what
(04:57):
she did best at usc combined withwhat she's learned while she's at Oregon.
It was just a beautiful meld.And she was fantastic but the points in
the paint people forty four to fourteenforty a plus thirty in points in the
paint for a team, and youcould see at times Ruthie looked a little
tired, Saw two looked a littleIt didn't matter. It was like they
(05:17):
were running a marathon, but theywere running a sprint and they just they
really they talked about come fly withus, and like, I think we
were all flying with them last night. It was awesome. And the the
you know, the line of theweekend, Colleen, as you mentioned,
was Sabrina and her postgame interview saying, you know, I think we should
be the barometer now and it doesn'thappen overnight, and certainly this is one
(05:40):
game, but it did sort offeel there was something about it that felt
symbolic to me, like a littlemaybe not a change into the guard.
I don't want to go that far, but GINO, RMA and Yukon has
been the standard for so long andfor Oregon to come in and beat them,
it was their first ever top fiveroad win in program history, is
their first ever win over Yukon.They had been oh and three coming into
this game. It just felt like, you know, this there's something really
(06:04):
special. We know that going onin Eugene, and this was like really
good tangible evidence of how far they'vecome. It was and I thought the
way they did it, we knowthat team can be a lot that organ
can be even a lot flashier thanthey were. It was almost workmanlike,
and it was at one point Yukonmade a little bit the door opened a
(06:25):
little bit because of a scoring droughtby Oregon, and they never let Yukon
go through the door. They justall right, you had you a little
moment, and then they just cameback and it was a It was a
grinding, efficient, fantastic performance.And I think Oregon there's a lot more
upside. I think they can playeven better. But it's amazing what they
(06:45):
were able to do after three games. We've talked about it flying across the
country. But now the challenge reallyis as you turn to this weekend,
because today is Tuesday, they playFriday. This is normally their off day,
you know, and then they'll startgetting ready. So it's still you're
still on this run, aren't you. It's not the end point. Well,
it's exactly what Kelly Graves told uson the podcast last week, just
(07:08):
that they're in the middle of thisridiculously tough stretch and as you mentioned,
so now it's a short week toto kind of regroup and get ready for
two ranked squads coming to town whoare tough as nails in Arizona and ASU.
And I want to talk a littleabout the Wildcats before we have Airy
come on. So they're now upto number twelve in the AP rankings.
That's their highest ranking since nineteen ninetyeight win a Da Barnes was wearing the
(07:30):
long time ago. Yeah, andagainst Speaking of statement wins, like Friday's
win over UCLA, it felt likea statement game. It was their first
top ten wins since two thousand andfour. They had lost fifty two in
a row against top ten opponents cominginto that. You know, it snapped
a thirteen game losing streak to UCLA. What did you see from that group
on Friday night? Well, Ithink McDonald we expect so much from her,
(07:53):
but I thought the emergence of SamThomas in a game that was so
important. She plays twenty four minutesand has twenty points and goes three for
three from four. I mean,she goes four for four from three and
when the way that McDonald can makejust find open players. If Thomas can
hit those threes, it's much likeBolie that stretches the floor. It makes
(08:13):
Arizona a much better team. Andto go eleven of twenty four from three
that got to the free throw line, they only turned it over ten times.
They shot at I mean they wereThey shot a great percentage on the
game fifty five percent. In frontof all those people, it just felt
like, after all the frustration atthe end of last season, prior to
the w NBA, at the wn I T and then some of the
(08:35):
losses this year, that they finallyhad their moment where you kind of move
past and say, now we're goingon to bigger and better things. Who's
the player? Because we can wetalk about Arion McDonald all the time,
and Kate reis I think it hasreally stepped up. There's so many different
players that you can point to,but who's who's making a difference that we
need to be shouting out more?Well, to me, it's really the
whole team. I cannot point toone person because and I'm sure we'll talk
(09:00):
to Arie about this. Is itwas always just Arie was Arizona was Arizona.
Last year, it wasn't you knowthe Wildcats, And this year they're
a team, and they're a teamYou've got to prepare for, not just
one person, and that's what turnsyou into a very good team that gets
into a reveal on Monday on ESPN. Yeah, no doubt about it.
And oh man, they got abig one coming up Arizona at Oregon six
(09:22):
o'clock on the PAC twelve network onFriday night. So for more on what's
going right in the Desert. Weare fired up to have their stud guard
on with us today. She's yourPAC twelve Player of the Week. She
was just named the Wooden Award lateseason Top twenty list, and she also
happens to be the leading scorer inthe Conference of Champions. Aaron McDonald,
Welcome back to the podcast. Thankyou for having me. It's awesome to
(09:43):
have you on. Congrats on allthe accolades and things coming your way.
It's been awesome to watch you playthis year and we got a lot to
talk to you about. But Ifirst things first, I got to ask
you where were you watching that OregonYukon game last night? I was at
home in my bed when watching thegame. Yeah, what what what came
to mind as you were watching Sabrinaand Ruthie and Mignon go to work against
the Huskies. It was like,see, we got our handsfuls for Friday.
(10:11):
Yes, and we're going to talkabout that game in just a minute.
But I also wanted to get yourreaction because obviously if you were watching
the game, you were watching thehalftime show. What was your reaction to
when the top sixteen teams were revealedby this election committee? Because if if
the tournament started today, you guyswould be hosting right now a four seed.
Yeah, it was full of excitement. I was talking to my dad
(10:33):
as they were revealing the teams.I'm like, oh, we can possibly
host like that? Sweet And it'sjust like us being picked for like four
seed. That's just a testament tolike where our program as and where we're
headed. And it's just it's justgreat to be a part of the Wildcat
family. Arie just to see ncatournament and Arizona sort of in the same
(10:54):
concept and have people talk about you. I mean, being a host is
great, but that the NCAA andyour names are in the same sentence.
What did that feel? Like itfelt good. Um, honestly, this
is one of our goals head intoseason, like we just don't want to
make the turn of like you wantto win and keep advancing, but just
(11:16):
to have an into Double A inthe same sentence as our team, it's
crazy and it's just we're ready towork and I'm just excited. I know
my teammates and one coaches are excitedas well. You know, I think
so much about you guys and andhow last year ended. Everyone thinks about
the w n I T but likethe two point loss at Washington State,
the two point loss at Stanford,the overtime loss at CAW and then losing
(11:37):
to Oregon, you know in thetournament, it's you guys were so close
last year to the NCAA. Whatwas the work and the mindset that went
into getting ready for this year.So there wasn't a rerun of the end
of the last year as far assort of the regular season. So our
mindset was just like we have tocome out strong. We can't like play
(12:00):
with teams. We need to winthe games that we need to win.
And just like we have putting againstteams like Oregon, organ stay in the
Stanford, just like we cannot haveany slip uss, like we have to
be locked in for forty minutes.And I think that the losses that we
had against Oregon and organ State early, like a couple of weeks ago,
I feel like, you know,we had a couple slip ups, but
(12:22):
I think that now that we've seenwhat we messed up on, I think
that we're gonna come out Friday andSunday and just correct all those little errors,
and I think that will be goodto go. But honestly, it's
just we have the experience now tohandle like top ten teams, and I
just I'm proud of my team andour defense have been really solid the last
couple of games. So we're good. Yeah you are. And you were
(12:46):
locked in for all forty minutes,and you mentioned being able to go up
against top ten teams. You guystake down UCLA on Friday, and we
were just talking it. It feltlike a statement game for you guys and
everything that you were able to accomplishwithin that when first time you slept the
LA schools since two thousand and five, which was also the last year the
program made the tournament. Walk methrough that game, Ary because it just
(13:09):
I loved your postgame interview afterwards andeverything that you had to say there.
But what was going right for youguys, and what was your mindset coming
into that one heading into the UCLAgame was it was personally we lost them
early in January, and we didnot like that at all, Like we
were so mad and we didn't havethe donal nique and Helena wasn't filling well
(13:31):
those like h but it definitely lefta bad taste in our mouth, and
we knew that we played well onour home Core'm like, okay, guys,
like we had to stay focused,play together, everyone do what they're
great at, and we just cameout really high. We kept our foot
on their necks, so that's whatWorksfords, and our defense was great.
You know, your teammates have talkeda lot this year about how different you
(13:54):
are from a leadership standpoint, thatyou're not always a big talker, but
when you talk, it's it's timeto listen. How you changed as a
leader and how receptive have your teammatesbeend I've changed tremendously. I've started to
be more vocal and that was noteasy for me. I'm not really a
(14:15):
talker like that, like I'm tomyself, but I know to get to
that next level, and as apoint guard, you have to open up
your mouth. You have to bethe extension of the coach on the floor.
And I think that I've really steppedinto that role this year. I
know I want to make it tothe next level on my team makes the
next level, and I know thatI can't be silent while running things on
the course. So I just hadto get comfortable with being uncomfortable and I
stepped out of my shell big time. And my teammates are very receptive and
(14:39):
they take my advice well, andthey just they corrected the next play.
And I really love that. Who'sworked on that with you, Arrie?
Because I assume your coaches or maybesome of your other teammates have have talked
to you about that, And howhave you gotten more comfortable doing that?
It starts in practice just just talkand like hey, like I got you,
(15:01):
like trust me, I got you, Like just just saying little things
like because like like coach Blarrence says, I rather you say something to be
wrong than not saying the thing atall. So it just starts with in
practice, like just saying some stufffor my teammates, and this coach Blarrenes
has emphasized, like, you know, you have to be comfortable with being
uncomfortable, so she kind of putme in positions like that. And then
uh TT also plays a big partof that. During the game, when
(15:24):
she sees something like going well,she's like, hey, hey, like
tell the team this or I thinkyou should do this. So she's also
been health and much She's like,heyy they talking to your team, and
so I think that really helps me. You mentioned t T Starks, and
I wanted to ask you about her. There was a great article by p
J. Brown in the Arizona DailyStar about how much of an influence she's
still having on your team, andobviously the example that you just gave speaks
(15:45):
to that. But you know,we had so much fun getting to know
her at media day, and Iwas devastated to hear the news about her
shoulder surgery that has precluded her frombeing able to play with you guys today.
But how has she what what hasher role been on the bench.
On the bench T has she's likeanother coach on the bench. M She's
very knowledgeable, she knows the gameof basketball, and she obviously she's not
(16:07):
playing, so she sees things thatwe're not able to see right away.
So in any little break our movementin the game, she like cause either
one of us to the bench orshe would tell us something in a time
out like hey, like you guysneed to do this, or you know
they're not reading this well. Andso I think that she has been a
coach on the bench and she's honestly, she's a great leader as well,
and she just talks, so she'sreally encouraging and she's just the mature when
(16:30):
I was a bunch. You know, one thing I see consistently from coach
Barnes and then articles written about you, is what a better job in decision
making you're you're doing this year andreally distributing the basketball and taking care of
the basketball and that possessions are moreprecious. What flipped the switch in that
area for you? Just every playcounts in games. I have to take
(16:56):
care of the ball. And earlierin the season I had like eight turneals.
I'm like, wow, like that'sterrible, Like i'mants to have a
double double point in n everyone,that's just terrible. Yeah, I've got
it's terrible. And so just everygame is cluesome now, like everyone like
anyone can be deep in its confidenceand I just like have the mind,
(17:19):
so like you need to take careof the ball, like every possession counts,
value the ball, and just putyour teammates in a more successful position.
And so I think I've been doneat the last couple of games,
and my turnals have cut down tremendously. And you talk about your teammates,
tell us about some of your teammates, because last year it felt like all
we talked about was you, likeyou were the only person on the team.
And this year, so many peoplehave really stepped up, having a
(17:41):
career years and you guys are ateam. This is not just airy playing
basketball in the desert, right,It's crazy how everyone has stepped up.
Like Kate, Kate is getting doubledoubles almost every game and that is just
so fun to watch. And yeah, she's improved a lot. And Helena
(18:02):
as a freshman coming in being ableto knock down threes, being able to
get to the basket and dish itto other players, So like that's just
it's crazy. And just Dominique comingback off injury and scoring fourteen on Sunday
like that. It's just crazy.Sam starting to get hot, She's starting
two more. It's crazy, andit's They're honestly making my job like less
(18:23):
difficult. I'm like, okay,like I can play defense more because they're
scoring, so they're making my jobeasier. You've mentioned defense a number of
times now with us this morning.Is that where you pride yourself for most,
Like, what's your favorite part ofyour game? Mary? Defense?
And honestly seeing my teammates score,like on my past give him a good
pass and just seeing them score thatjust brings joy to my heart. But
(18:45):
I just love playing defense, honestly. Okay, you love playing defense.
But you've also one of my favoriteyou know, stats about you is that
you've been in double figures in fiftyeight straight games, which is the longest
active streak in the country. What'sthe favorite bucket that you've hit this season?
Do you have a favorite A favoritemake? I will have to say
(19:07):
the shot to go into overtime again, so a s U that was probably
my favorite shot for those that forthose couldn't really celebrate, Yeah, yeah,
you couldn't really suffer because you hadto go out and play some more.
But yeah, for maybe for thosepeople who didn't see it, walk
walk us through that shot. SoI know there's about two seconds left on
the on the clock and Cluse Barnslike, hey, like get it on
(19:30):
the run and shoot it. Andat first I looked at it was like,
um, if I miss, it'slike that's a miss shot attempt.
I don't want that on my thatone. And then and then I got
it and I was like, okay, and I want to release. That
was good and I made it imyes, and then just Michelle and that
my teammates are crazy. Inside,I was just on the outsight. I
was just composed, like okay,we're still down three, We're heading the
(19:52):
half time, this momentum to staycalm, head to the locker room,
like yes, she was yelling forme. It felt good, but it's
like we was still down. Youknow, you don't get to a place
that you guys are right now withoutworking really hard in the off season.
And I've wrote a bunch of commentsabout how you worked your butt off in
the off season. What'd you dothis offseason to get where you are right
(20:14):
now? For the first part,I rested because my body took a beating
on all the games really almost likeforty games. My body took a beating
and playing like thirty plus minutes.I ranted a little bit. I was
still watching basketball, watching all thesegames, but I just rested and after
that just shooting, working on ballscreens all that, and just working on
(20:36):
my fundamentalness, stamp bows and justtrying to get stronger. So worked on
a lot. You know, Iread a couple of articles that said,
you know, you started playing againstguys when you were younger, going in
the gym, playing pick up,and it's similar to what Sabrina Juanescu did
as a kid when she'd go tothe playground with her brother and play.
What does playing with guys when whenyou're younger, when you're little, what
(20:59):
does that bring to your game thatnow is an important part of who you
are on the floor. I woulddefine say plan with guys helped me be
more aggressive and physical, so I'mable to take hits and in a game
and it's like, oh, thatdoesn't phaze me because I've been through this.
I played with this like during guysand just I want to say my
(21:21):
confidence like with me holding my ownagainst guys. It definitely boosting my confidence
a lot, like we'll plan withyou know, like in the league and
just around a country. So thatkind of helped me be very physical,
aggressive and just boosting my confidence.All right, So, Aery, we
got to talk to you about Fridaynight's game. I know we started off
and you mentioned that you know,you guys are gonna have your hands full.
You watch what the Ducks were ableto do in Stores, Connecticut,
(21:45):
handing yukon their worst loss at gampleEver, you said, there are some
things that you guys want to cleanup from the first time that you played
them. What specifically has to cometogether for you guys to get that win
in Eugene on Friday. We cannotbe stagnant on offense. You know that
Oregon runs and affective zone and it'svery long, so it's hard to see.
(22:06):
So we just can't be stagged.We have to move the ball,
move it out the ball as well, and we just cannot go on scoring
drops. Our defense is there,but it's like we can't score an offense
game. We can't convert, Sowe just can't go on scoring drops.
Have to take care of the balland we have to move the ball and
move it out the ball, anddo you relish the opportunity to guard Sabrina
and guard Mignon and just get outthere and just sort of the we talked
(22:30):
about the game within the game.I mean, there's a lot going on
on the floor five on five,but sometimes the one on ones are pretty
interesting as well. Yeah, theone on ones are very interesting. I
know that for probably most of thegame, I think a Mario Carter is
gonna be guarding Sabrina and so I'llbe guarding Mignon. But it's definitely gonna
be some great matches on the core. All around you have Sam Gardens two,
(22:52):
yeah, k Garden, Ruthie.So it's gonna be interesting on Friday.
That it is. We cannot waitto see how it all goes down
down. I know you appreciate greatnessAriy, and since you played the same
position and you're with her a lot, what makes Sabrina special in your mind?
She has a dog mentality like she'sa very intelligent player. She puts
(23:18):
her teammates and successful positions, andshe's a great pastor. She can choose,
she can do it all, andshe's a great leader. All this
year to talk to her teammates andstuff like that, like Kelly Grays of
you have to say much because Sabrinashe's taking care of it on the court,
and so that just speaks volumes totheir program. And they've been a
great program because I've in the pasttwelve conference and just she's a tremendous player
(23:41):
to want here. I'm just happyI get to play with her and against
her. Honestly, Scurat and youguys are really you're sort of elevating into
that that situation as well. Ayear ago, you're under the radar,
no one really expects much from you. Now there's a lot that the expectation
level for the Arizona Wildcats is startingto climb. When you're to reveal like
that on national TV and people arestarting to talk about you in the same
(24:03):
breath as Sabrina, that brings differentpressure than you've had in the past.
Does it feel different for you,guys, I don't think it feels different.
We're just playing, you know,We're still excited about the things that
are coming our way and all theaccolades, but it's like we still haven't
finished business, take care of we'recreating history as we're going and we just
(24:25):
want to really get out there andplay and we want to bring something special
back to the city of Tucson.Yeah, it's interesting. It's what it
is, says Leve a Legacy.She talks a lot about and she and
you guys have done an amazing jobof getting people in the stands and embracing
and being embraced by the city ofTucson. Yeah, it's it's been crazy.
Just looking back when I first transferredhere, it was probably like fifty
(24:48):
people in the stands and you canhear a pin drop, including employees.
Now that, Yeah, now thatwe're winning and we're doing great things,
we're probably out doing like four orfive thousand like a game. So that's
just crazy and it gets so well. And we just really love our fans
support. What does it do foryou all? It helps us for minutes,
(25:10):
like I said, when we goon stretches and we can't score or
we're like not getting rebounds. Justhearing enough fans yell like come on ladies,
like that just boosts our confidence andit just it just gives pers Okay,
they're here to watch us and needto go meet to pick it up.
And it just helps us so much. It's it's been fun to watch
and obviously, um, you know, you guys there's a basketball town and
(25:30):
there's a lot of basketball fans therein Tucson, and it's been just wonderful
to see them embrace you guys asthey should. A lot of that is
certainly because of the efforts of yourcoach, Adia Barnes and everything that she
does on social media and to getthe word out and to get you know,
some butts in the seats. DidI see that it was her birthday
yesterday? It was would you didyou get her anything? Well? No,
(25:53):
we know. We just wrote somenice words to her and she popped
them and they came out of theloom, so and then got her cake.
That's about it. What kind ofcake it was like strawberry was pink
and was just I'm gonna say vanillavanilla as well. But it was really
good. But was it pretty?Did it look good? Because you know,
Ida, you gotta look it.Yetta look good? Speaking of which,
(26:17):
I gotta ask you about her wardrobebecause it's it's always been fire like
she just she brings it. She'sgot awesome style and I just feel like
this year if it was possible,she kind of kicked it up a notch,
like I legitimately can't wait to seewhat she's wearing on game days.
Oh Na, she definitely kicked herwarding. Her wardrobe came up with She's
(26:41):
go wearing Gucci's more like whoa Okay'sfancy, look good, feel good,
play good. That's what they say, right right. What is it like
having her as your head coach?Though she she obviously knows exactly what it's
like to be in your position andfor her, we talked so much about
fit and how important that is andhow critical that is with head coaches and
(27:03):
where they are, and it justfeels like Adia Barnes is meant to lead
this team. What does she tellme about your relationship with her? And
kind of what what you've learned fromher Coach Barnes in our relationship is it's
very solid. I've been on CoachBarnes so I was like a sophomore junior
in high school, and so wejust got him closer each year and just
you hit it right on the mail, just point the someone who's been here
(27:25):
and had to experience with us isgoing through what we're going through. It's
amazing, Like she knows the gameof basketball. She's very knowledgeable. She's
very relational, and that's a bigthing with a coach and player relationship,
Like you want someone that cares aboutus from the corporal. Also, like
here's about a well being. Sothat's the thing that sticks out with me.
And the thing she does in acommunity. She has a community service
stuff and that just speaks volume toher as a person much a really good
(27:49):
person, and she's a great coach. And I think that she feels well
with us and we fit well withher, and I just wouldn't want anyone
else for I love that. Yeah, it's it's great synergy. And we
just can't just tip our hats towhat you guys have been able to do
this year. Only three losses areall the top ten teams. You've won
five in a row, first timeyou guys have won five conference games in
(28:10):
a row in twenty years. Soit's going to be a special season.
We hope you close it out strong. We look forward to seeing you in
Las Vegas next month and best ofluck in Eugene. This is this is
going to be a fun one sixo'clock on the PAC twelve network. We
will be locked in Aery McDonald,thanks so much for joining us. We
cordiate, thank you, thanks forhaving me. She's awesome. I love
(28:33):
chatting with Airy McDonald every chance weget. Corvallis. By the way,
you gave a shout out to Corvallisat the very end of that, So
yeah, we should mention there's aTop twenty showdown between ASU and Oregon State
that's at eight pm. And nowagain is another great time to remind everybody
to download the app because if youhave the PAC twelve napp, you can
get your double screens going. Youcan you can watch all sorts of things
because there is a lot of actionon our air on Friday night. And
(28:57):
let's talk about as U for aminute, because as that triple overtime win
against USC on Friday, not onlydid it give Charlie Turner Thorne her five
hundredth career victory, but it reallyI just feel like watching this team,
they are finding different ways to win. And you said it like, how
many big shots have we seen Rileyrichardson hit? Yeah, I mean it
(29:18):
just exemplified what being a devil isall about, and just the perseverance it
took and shout out certainly to USC. That game was just amazing. But
Riley Richardson just big shot after bigshot, and I tweeted about maybe the
only person that's had more in thisconference is Sabrina Unesco. But Riley,
(29:38):
whatever the situation, her coach neededit, her team needed it. I
thought. Robbie Ryan came up bigas well, but nobody bigger than just
the cool as a breeze Riley Richardson. And it was just a lot of
fun to watch. It was sofun to watch. I also really enjoyed
the postgame interview. They all hadthose T shirts that they had been that
they had made for CTTS five hundredwin, and her reaction to those T
(30:00):
shirts was priceless because they, Igotta say, they kind of made her
look like mister T. Like thatthe like caricature of her face. It
wasn't CTT is is much more beautifulthan that picture would indicate, but her
her face was kind of like whatwhat what are these? What are these?
Are ready? Acid? They wereread about it. It was huge,
(30:22):
um and you mentioned USC, Solet let's just give a shout out
to Mark Track Squad because they wereyou know, obviously so close against as
U, and then they played reallysolid at Arizona too. They were in
that game, they really weren't.You can't see enough about this team.
And as U has benefited by thetransfer of Jatavia Tapley, a graduate transfer
out of USC. Minon Moore can'tsay enough about what she's done for organ.
(30:45):
You take those two out of theequation for USC. And this is
why everyone we had their violins outon media to oh poor Mark track.
It's it's just such a sad situation. It is not a sad situation.
This is a team that competes KlaOverbeck played fifty four minutes in the triple
overtime. It's a team that youknow, they just show up with their
lunch buckets, they put on theirhard hats and they go out there and
they just work their butts off andso impressed by what they did. And
(31:08):
they were within four points to Arizona. You know, a couple days later,
he's doing a great job. Theyhave terrific recruiting class coming in,
so don't take your eye off SCand no coach in this conference is doing
that. Yeah, and and elicsaPelee, she was the Freshman of the
Week. And she's just I mean, you talk about your hard hat and
your lunch pail like she epitomizes thatexactly right. I mean, if she
(31:30):
pins you, that ball's going inthe teammates doing a better job of finding
her. But just love the wayshe plays. I'll see here this weekend
at Stanford and can't wait, can'tjust can't wait. Yeah, so you've
got UCLA at Stanford, another topten showdown? Why not? Why not
tell me what you're looking forward toon the farm. Well, I think
(31:51):
Ucla, you know, sort ofin their their time right now that where
you play Arizona State, you playArizona Now, they're going to come up
to the Bay and it's it's gonnabe a big, big ball game for
them, and how do they handlethe size of of Ashton prectal inside and
just you know, Keana Williams,And it's gonna be and Lexie and Lacy
Hall. It's gonna be a greatgame at eight o'clock on Friday night,
(32:14):
and it's gonna be a terrific matchupof coaches and mindsets and UCLA looking for
a continued build and Stanford, youknow, they went up to the That's
a tough trip to go to Washingtonand Washington State. You go a long
way, tough travel. They comehome and see what they can continue to
put together another twenty win season forStanford. Here we go just never ends.
(32:35):
Taxes and twenty one seasons. There'sno doubt about that. To bring
up Texas, you see like,yeah, get get them done, folks.
April's coming. Um, you knowfor the Bruins, they they you
know, they absolutely just get ahanded to them by Arizona. But then
they had a really big critical bounceback win and Tempe on Sunday. They
they come out, they don't hangtheir heads and they and they get it
done. What do you make overallof the Bruins right now? Do they
(32:58):
have an Achilles heel that that's gonna, you know, maybe prevent them from
getting what they want to accomplish thisseason, or just overall what do you
make of that squad? Well?I think you know, they don't have
the kind of size that a lotof teams in the conference have, So
you've got to find a way.They got to turn people over that you've
got to do a great job attaking care of the basketball. They when
they take care of it, they'vebeen successful. When they turn it over,
things become problematic. You know,your three point shooters have to produce.
(33:22):
And what can you say about michaelaOnion wedding. I mean she leads
them at both ends, but Ithink size can be an issue and they've
got to rattle teams. They've gotto get turnovers and they got to go.
I think Corey Close is doing aterrific job with this team, and
Friday Night's going to be a greattest for both Steamforday and UCLA. Chris
Osborne, I think is going tobe another big star coming up, no
(33:43):
doubt. Talking about her a loton this podcast in the years to come.
We gotta give a big shout outto Sharman Smith. First Pack twelve
win and it was not easy.You mentioned going up to Washington and Washington
State, so cal you know they'reup big. It looks like they've got
the win in bag. On Sundayin Seattle, they were up seventeen in
(34:04):
the second half and you give creditto the Huskies for coming all the way
back and forcing overtime. Ambermel Gozawas huge at some big time shots.
Season high thirty five. Yeah,but in the end, the Bears came
back and got it done and it'sit's it's a big deal and something that
you know, again, it's goingto be an uphill battle for this cow
squad. And we've we've talked aboutthem a little bit this year, but
they that was a crucial win forthem to be able to win not just
(34:25):
their first back to well win,but to do it the way they did
it. Yeah. I mean theydid not play well and got pummeled at
at at Washington State, and thenyou make that trip back to you dub
and you got to get yourself afraidto go. And Charmon Smith really went
to her her senior junior group ofJaylen Brown and Elaysia Styles and c J.
West and said, I need morefor you guys. You know we've
(34:45):
got great freshmen, but we can'tlean on them. I'm leaning on you
and I need you guys to stepup. And those three to a person
stepped up. And those are thesame people when they announced that Charman Smith
was going to be the coach,like head tears running down their eyes,
like we want to do this,Sherman, and I guarantee you that's exactly
what was in their mind. Yeah, they how easy if you let a
(35:05):
twelve point lead late just smelt awayand you go to that huddle and you
sit down like you're not getting atowel to like wipe off sweat. You're
like, can I go to acorner and cry? I mean just the
emotion of that. That's not whathappened. They just came back and they
just dominated in that overtime and said, no, we're winning this one.
And C. J. West spoketo exactly that in our postcame interview just
about how they they've kind of hadto hit the reset button on their mindset
(35:27):
and how you know this is goingto be a different team for through the
stretch runs so looking forward to seethat you deb man so so close in
so many games. They three overtimelosses in their last four games, Like
does that mess with your psyche alittle bit? And four overtimes this season
doesn't mess with your psyche? Youbetter believe that it does. But the
thing about them is note they neverfeel like any game is too far away,
(35:52):
but they just have to find away to finish. And they've been
right there, and you know theimportant thing is to stay together and keep
working and finally come away with thosewins. But yeah, that is tough.
But Jody Winn has the right mindsetwith this team and with ambramel Goza
and Miss Peterson and the rest ofthat crew. You know that they're going
to come out fighting every single game, no doubt about it. Are we
(36:14):
ready for our favorite segment? Iam always ready for that. And now
from Murphy's Law, the word forthe day is represent And we just alluded
to Cal and what they did andmy number one person representing this weekend with
(36:35):
C J. West, six fourthsenior out of Bakersfield, their first pack
twelve win this year, overtime overWashington thirty three minutes, twenty two points
nine rebounds. You might say,who cares chronic back issues, had a
concussion earlier this year, lost herfront teeth last year diving for a ball
and overtime loss. This is awoman that when I go to Cal to
do a game, like, I'mnot sure if she's going to play,
(36:58):
like we don't know her back justfor years, could have just retired and
said, you know, I'm justgoing to get my degree. You know,
she's already working in her community.She wants to start a nonprofit where
he has fundraising in place. She'sgot people, big time people that she's
talking to. C J. Westto me represent herself for family, or
dad, come and mom driving fromBakersfield to watch the team play even when
(37:22):
they know their daughter's not going toplay. Represent who you are as a
family. That's why CJ. Westis who she is. And then my
second represent is the organ Ducks,the entire conference in all sports, all
kinds of ad looking at that gamethat represents a big thing, going to
Yukon and winning a game and winningit the way they did, you know,
(37:42):
just going away wearing that green andsaying, yeah, this is who
we are. And it was aperformance that you know, you're at halftime,
you're during the broadcaster at the endof the game, who are they
talking about Pac twelve? How goodthe pack? They couldn't have said Pac
twelve enough And it was like,oh my god, they're saying, like
thousands of times it was amazing.And you lose that game. Those Ducks
lose that game, and everyone,yeah, overrated. Oh there you go,
(38:07):
they're overrated, And they just madea statement that all of us we
can just kind of you know,puff our chests out a little bit.
And my favorite thing was when theywere talking about the adjustment that Gino Oremo
was making during the game on Sabrina. Every coach in this conference and assistant
coach in this conference has made thesame adjustment. We're gonna double her hard
(38:28):
off of that, we're gonna justsingle her and let her score a lot
of points. We're gonna hard hedge, or we're gonna ice, or we're
gonna ice hedge and double her.We're gonna do where we're throwing where you
have a kitchen sink in the lockerrool, throw the kitchen sink at her.
You know, Gina, They've everyone'stried it, like all of this
is this is not new, andand she just showed why she's Sabrina.
I just love the whole thing.Represent Yeah, man, I was gonna
(38:50):
say, like, usually it's femaleanalysts or game analysts for covering women's game
have a text thread with them,and then for the analysts on the men's
side have a text thread with them. Rarely do you know, world's collide,
unless of course they're covering both sidesof the game. Casey Jacobson,
he discovers the men's game for PactrolNetworks and Fox Sports One, and for
(39:13):
him to text me, which hasnever happened, about the Oregon Ducks and
be like, hey did did SabrinaThe Ducks just blow out Yukon? I
mean, I just think it thatscore going across the ticker all night long
and and people picking that up.It was so huge. This wasn't a
blowout at Texas, this wasn't ablowout at South Carolina a great team as
(39:34):
well. To do that in Gineo'shouse is was was so huge for the
conference. M I cannot, Icannot. I can't say enough how big
that was for the Ducks going forwardand to that point calling you know,
I same thing that there are afew handful of people that I'm texting all
the time about, you know,whatever's going on in the women's game.
(39:55):
And last night starting at four thirty, so people are obviously leaving work.
I was getting text messages from fromfriends and family members that were watching the
game, and it just it's peopleare paying attention. In my perspective,
people are paying attention now more thanever and it's, um, you know,
it's about time. But I wouldsay it's It's cool to see and
and Oregon, and and and Sabrinaand that entire squad um what they were
(40:19):
able to do and the way thatpeople are. I mean, they're the
real deal. Like they I havea they can stay healthy. I have
a real good feeling about the finalfour this year. Yeah. And the
other thing that I liked is,you know, act like you've been there
before. They didn't act like theywon the national championship last night. They
were humble, They played well asa team. They showed grace, they
showed respect. You know, anyof the shots saw with Gino before and
(40:42):
after and with the team, itjust it was like this was just like
another We talked about checking the box. Go into a gil check the box,
go to gamble, check the box. This is a team that's just
they're just running down their list andjust watching Satu Sabie play the way she
did, and Ruthie and Mignon anduh and of course Sabrina. It's it's
a lot of fun. Who's yourcoach of the Year at this point,
(41:05):
Mare, I think I'd have tosay Kelly Graves because they've handled the pressure.
They've lost a couple of games,and the run that they've been on.
When you know you can beat OrganState twice and Stanford, you go
to the Mountains and then you goto Yukon. I think right now you're
the coach of the year. Yeah, hard to argue with that, certainly,
how about freshman of the year.That's a hard one, it is.
(41:29):
But right now I'm I'm with ElissaPelee from from USC. I just
think to step into those minutes,into that situation and do what she's doing.
Especially in conference play. You goto all these different statistical categories and
she's right in the top five inan incredible conference with so much talent.
This freshman is out there, shineand bright. It's impressive for me and
(41:52):
the one thing and you you keepreminding us that we need to talk about
this, and I agree, Solet's talk about it right now. That
the race for the top four seedsfor Vegas because it's critical. I mean,
to get to get a first roundby in Vegas with all the talent
that we have is crucial. Andso right now you've got Oregon and Stanford
sitting at the top at nine andone. Obviously Organ owns the head to
(42:14):
head right now, Ucla third ateight and two, Arizona fourth at seven
and three, and then you gotorgan State at ASU right behind there at
six and four. So how doyou see this thing playing out? Obviously,
this weekend is gonna matter a lot. I have no idea how this
thing is going to play out becausethere's so much fun. Yeah, there's
so many big games to come.I mean, ASU finishes their season against
(42:34):
Stanford. Arizona is in that weekendas well. Stanford's got a crazy weekend
finished. They go Oregan State,Oregon at Arizona at Arizona State. Those
are their final conference games. UCLA, you know, they're in the middle
of a tough stretch after this.They have organ and organ State at home
next weekend Oregon States. So Imean, there's we have no idea.
(42:55):
This is like the best salad everand it's just gonna key being toss until
we get to the tournament. Butknow that there are two teams that will
be playing on Thursday. Whether it'sUCLA, Arizona, Oregon State, Arizona
State, you know, Stanford,or whoever whoever doesn't quite finish strong,
they will be playing on Thursday.That's how strong this conference is. Yeah,
(43:16):
no doubt about that that's one ofmy favorite analogies. Do you do
you like think about those analogies?Do they just kind of come in your
head? Unfortunately they come into myhead so that they're inexplicable. Um okay,
can I can I close with ashout out? Yeah? Chanel Melina
and michaela pivoc this weekend both hitlike what eighty foot shots. They didn't
(43:37):
count because they didn't beat the buzzer, but they were both absolutely absurd.
Uh you you called the Pivocs.It was like a dart. I mean,
it's like Patrick Mahomes out there.It was. And it was funny
because she did the post game withus, and I had of course done
a little research on this in herlongest javelin throw at Oregon when at Oregon
(43:57):
State when she was on the trackteam was one hundred and forty two four
were okay? So I said,so you know it was kind of javelin
like with the one forty two four, and she just looked over and goes,
that's good. You know how I'llunderstated it was like that's good knowledge.
Um yeah, she just she justit was I mean, there was
no ark on it. It wasjust like a straight I don't even know,
you know, the laws of physics. I don't know how that went
in. And Chanel Malina did thesame thing again. They they were They
(44:20):
didn't beat the buzzer, but man, they were the love that you did
research on that Mary, of courseshe did. Only you were like,
Okay, how do I find outhow how how far she can throw something?
Well, it's just isn't it somethingthat you're an All American basketball player?
And oh, I'll just you know, we talked about what will you
throw for the track? No,I'm gonna play pro basketball instead. I
mean she's just, yeah, she'swhile I'm passioning the homeless. Yeah,
(44:43):
I mean, she's specialists him.And there's no doubt about that. Um.
All right, so we mentioned it. You're gonna be at Stanford eight
o'clock on Friday night Top ten showdownwith the Bruins. That's the same time
as ASU was playing at Oregon State. Maybe some payback for the beams.
Yeah, see, you're gonna behungry. I think paya ac is uh
like a word that's being used alot this conference season. No doubt you
(45:04):
heard airy. I mean she wastalking about how you know, piss.
They were about the Bruins and howthey took that personal and they came out
mad and it obviously showed Yeah.And then of course Arizona at Oregon six
o'clock on the patrol of network.Again. People just make sure that you
download the apps so that you canwatch all of the gas multiple devices.
That is key. I usually don'tencourage multiple devices at the same time,
but in this situation, I thinkit's appropriate. I will I will say
(45:25):
simply this my um my cell phonebuild this month. I've already gotten two
notices that I've I've over twice andlike we're gonna add because like where they
all got to do the yeah autoadd because I've been watching so many games
like that in my car, butmaybe in my car. I mean,
it's just it's like the triple overtime, what do you do? Like you
(45:47):
have to leave for a game andyou're like, so's you gotta gotta Speaking
of which I'm listening to you callthe Oregon State game. You were you
and Krista. Right, We're onthe organ State game on Saturday, and
I'm walking with both my kids andI'm pushing Collins, my three year old
in the stroller and I have thegame on, you know, just in
(46:08):
the little thing, and something happened, I like lost service or something like
that, and the broadcast stopped andCollins had been quiet for like twenty straight
minutes, which was a new recordfor him, and he just turned at
me and he said, Mama,put that friend back on? Where is
my friend? Where is she putthat where to go? Put that game
back on? And I was justlike, Oh, you're That's why you're
(46:29):
quiet, because you're listening to what'sgoing on, which I really appreciate it.
So Collins is a big fan ofyou and Kristen. He was very
upset when I when I turned itoff. Well, you know, he
is my favorite barista. Yes,I have a lot of good baristas in
my life, but he's my favorite. Brest the Best makes a mean latte,
that three year old true. Allright, folks, remember to rate,
review, and subscribe. It ishuge. It is important. It
is critical for this podcast. Andwe also really would love to hear from
(46:52):
you. I want to start doinga segment where we get to you know,
Mary's going to answer a fan questionor all answer one or Colleen whoever.
But if you've got a question orif you've got a comment, tweet
me, send us a video.Maybe we'll play on the podcast. I
don't know, you could get wecould get wild, right, we could
do that. Yeah, Sorry saysyeah, Colleen says yeah, okay,
all right. Great to hear fromyou guys, as it always is.
(47:15):
I love you, Mary, Ilove you Colleen. Shout out to Greg
maraz are awesome researcher who brings itevery single week. Enjoy the games this
weekend. It is going to beepic as it always is, and we'll
be back next Tuesday to dive intoeverything that we saw. Enjoy your lives
Here hello, the podcast of thathighest class of women's schools, Pack twelve.
Look at the rankings. If youneeded the proof numbers snap for lin
either do want speaking the truth ofthe common the chaos will bring into passion
and the player of the year who'llbe a crown Shay, Let's get the
cracking. What's happened? And MaryMurphy and Ashley Adams saying here week back
(00:23):
again, Ah, welcome back tothe podcast, everybody, Ashley Adams and
Mary Murphy calling Farrell so happy thatyou have found us on the first February
edition of the Inside Pac twelve Women'sbasketball podcast Oregon. Y'all. Who there's
statement games and then there's what happenedin Stories Connecticut last night. We're going
(00:46):
to dive into all that in asecond. I want to mention that our
guest today is the Pactrol Player ofthe Week, the one and only Airy
McDonald. But I gotta start,ladies. I smiled this morning when I
looked at the date, because exactlyone month from today, do you know
where we will be? Vegas Babyon a plane to Las Vegas Baby for
four magical, magical days at MandalayBay And now would be a good time
(01:10):
to remind people. If you haven'tmade plans to go to the women's basketball
tournament, just get your tickets packed. Ash twelve dot com slash tickets.
Mary and I are gonna be there. It's gonna be a blast. We
cannot wait. It's gonna be wild, it's gonna be exciting. Um okay,
so yeah, we got a lotto talk about today and I'm super
pumped. Did everyone recover from thesuper Bowl? By the way, are
we all feeling okay today? Oh? The Niners got mahoned. They did,
(01:34):
they did. I thought the adswere great. I mean if the
spot pack was my favorite? Oh, that was awesome. But isn't it
weird because you're used to like lookingat your phone during commercials and you're locked
in and you're just I can't doanything but watch Yeah, the TV for
hours? There were there were somegood ones. Um, I in particular
was a fan of the halftime show. I know that there was maybe there's
(01:56):
It's been a little bit controversial forsome reason, but Jlo and Shakira absolutely
fringed it. They are incredible.It makes me excited to be fifty years
old. Went I went to aZomba class. Afterwards, I just felt
like I needed to do some movement. Colleen, I should ask you have
you have you recovered from Super BowlSunday, because you have a different reason
than you wouldn't be recovered. Youran. You ran a day half marathon.
(02:19):
Yeah. The only reason I runthese things is just so I can,
you know, drink drink beers withreckless abandon and eat all the things
that are put on the table.And so I hope you did that after
you ran your half, of course, of course. Okay, good,
I'm good. All right, Well, we are here to talk about a
lot of awesome basketball to day.I'm fired up for this and we're gonna
get into the Oregon Yukon game inone second. But let's talk real quick
about what happened at halftime of thatgame last night. Because the NCAA Selection
(02:44):
Committee in veiled its first top sixteenseeds of the season, and there are
five pack twelve teams. So Oregansfour, Stanford A six, Oregon State
is nine, US is eleven,and Arizona is thirteen. Mary, I
know what jumps out to me,but whichumps out to you? The number
of teams. I just think that'ssuper exciting Arizona certainly being in the reveal,
(03:07):
Like, wow, that was justpretty awesome. I just think the
totality of it. And we've beentalking all year about how great this conference
is and there it was, rightup there on my Giant TV. It
was awesome. Yeah, that wasthat. There are two things obviously,
Arizona and lined to host are you'reremoved from the wn I T And we're
gonna ask Gary McDonald about that ina minute because that is just awesome.
(03:28):
And then the other thing that wasinteresting was that Yukon was ahead of Oregon.
Obviously, after what we saw lastnight, we assume that will change
the second reveal of the two revealsas March second. But we got to
dive into to what happened at Gamblelast night because it felt like watching this
organ Yukon game, it provided sortof a tangible snapshot of the progress that
has been made, because if youthink back Sabrina and Esco and ruthy Hubert's
(03:51):
freshman year, they lose to Yukonby thirty eight in the Elite eight.
Last night, they go into theirplace on the end of a three game
road trip, and they not onlybeat Yukon. They hand the Huskies their
worst loss in the history of GamblePavilion. They snapped their sixty six game
home win streak. The significance ofthat win was what to you marry A
(04:12):
lot of things. One I thinkon the stage that it was in Yukon
on ESPN, with Rebecca Lobo andtheir their number one crew doing the game,
it's a statement to the country thatthis team's for real. There's been
some doubts because of the couple oflosses. You know, they lost to
Louisville, but Louisville and the revealsthe third seed Arizona State, you know,
head of that fantastic weekend, andI just think that from top to
(04:36):
bottom, Sabrina almost with a tripledouble in that setting. I thought Ruthie
was fantastic twenty two and twelve,the efficiency Satu Sable Bully was great to
start, really got them going withthe three point shots a minon Moore,
I don't know if she's ever playedbetter. It was like us that what
(04:57):
she did best at usc combined withwhat she's learned while she's at Oregon.
It was just a beautiful meld.And she was fantastic but the points in
the paint people forty four to fourteenforty a plus thirty in points in the
paint for a team, and youcould see at times Ruthie looked a little
tired, Saw two looked a littleIt didn't matter. It was like they
(05:17):
were running a marathon, but theywere running a sprint and they just they
really they talked about come fly withus, and like, I think we
were all flying with them last night. It was awesome. And the the
you know, the line of theweekend, Colleen, as you mentioned,
was Sabrina and her postgame interview saying, you know, I think we should
be the barometer now and it doesn'thappen overnight, and certainly this is one
(05:40):
game, but it did sort offeel there was something about it that felt
symbolic to me, like a littlemaybe not a change into the guard.
I don't want to go that far, but GINO, RMA and Yukon has
been the standard for so long andfor Oregon to come in and beat them,
it was their first ever top fiveroad win in program history, is
their first ever win over Yukon.They had been oh and three coming into
this game. It just felt like, you know, this there's something really
(06:04):
special. We know that going onin Eugene, and this was like really
good tangible evidence of how far they'vecome. It was and I thought the
way they did it, we knowthat team can be a lot that organ
can be even a lot flashier thanthey were. It was almost workmanlike,
and it was at one point Yukonmade a little bit the door opened a
(06:25):
little bit because of a scoring droughtby Oregon, and they never let Yukon
go through the door. They justall right, you had you a little
moment, and then they just cameback and it was a It was a
grinding, efficient, fantastic performance.And I think Oregon there's a lot more
upside. I think they can playeven better. But it's amazing what they
(06:45):
were able to do after three games. We've talked about it flying across the
country. But now the challenge reallyis as you turn to this weekend,
because today is Tuesday, they playFriday. This is normally their off day,
you know, and then they'll startgetting ready. So it's still you're
still on this run, aren't you. It's not the end point. Well,
it's exactly what Kelly Graves told uson the podcast last week, just
(07:08):
that they're in the middle of thisridiculously tough stretch and as you mentioned,
so now it's a short week toto kind of regroup and get ready for
two ranked squads coming to town whoare tough as nails in Arizona and ASU.
And I want to talk a littleabout the Wildcats before we have Airy
come on. So they're now upto number twelve in the AP rankings.
That's their highest ranking since nineteen ninetyeight win a Da Barnes was wearing the
(07:30):
long time ago. Yeah, andagainst Speaking of statement wins, like Friday's
win over UCLA, it felt likea statement game. It was their first
top ten wins since two thousand andfour. They had lost fifty two in
a row against top ten opponents cominginto that. You know, it snapped
a thirteen game losing streak to UCLA. What did you see from that group
on Friday night? Well, Ithink McDonald we expect so much from her,
(07:53):
but I thought the emergence of SamThomas in a game that was so
important. She plays twenty four minutesand has twenty points and goes three for
three from four. I mean,she goes four for four from three and
when the way that McDonald can makejust find open players. If Thomas can
hit those threes, it's much likeBolie that stretches the floor. It makes
(08:13):
Arizona a much better team. Andto go eleven of twenty four from three
that got to the free throw line, they only turned it over ten times.
They shot at I mean they wereThey shot a great percentage on the
game fifty five percent. In frontof all those people, it just felt
like, after all the frustration atthe end of last season, prior to
the w NBA, at the wn I T and then some of the
(08:35):
losses this year, that they finallyhad their moment where you kind of move
past and say, now we're goingon to bigger and better things. Who's
the player? Because we can wetalk about Arion McDonald all the time,
and Kate reis I think it hasreally stepped up. There's so many different
players that you can point to,but who's who's making a difference that we
need to be shouting out more?Well, to me, it's really the
whole team. I cannot point toone person because and I'm sure we'll talk
(09:00):
to Arie about this. Is itwas always just Arie was Arizona was Arizona.
Last year, it wasn't you knowthe Wildcats, And this year they're
a team, and they're a teamYou've got to prepare for, not just
one person, and that's what turnsyou into a very good team that gets
into a reveal on Monday on ESPN. Yeah, no doubt about it.
And oh man, they got abig one coming up Arizona at Oregon six
(09:22):
o'clock on the PAC twelve network onFriday night. So for more on what's
going right in the Desert. Weare fired up to have their stud guard
on with us today. She's yourPAC twelve Player of the Week. She
was just named the Wooden Award lateseason Top twenty list, and she also
happens to be the leading scorer inthe Conference of Champions. Aaron McDonald,
Welcome back to the podcast. Thankyou for having me. It's awesome to
(09:43):
have you on. Congrats on allthe accolades and things coming your way.
It's been awesome to watch you playthis year and we got a lot to
talk to you about. But Ifirst things first, I got to ask
you where were you watching that OregonYukon game last night? I was at
home in my bed when watching thegame. Yeah, what what what came
to mind as you were watching Sabrinaand Ruthie and Mignon go to work against
the Huskies. It was like,see, we got our handsfuls for Friday.
(10:11):
Yes, and we're going to talkabout that game in just a minute.
But I also wanted to get yourreaction because obviously if you were watching
the game, you were watching thehalftime show. What was your reaction to
when the top sixteen teams were revealedby this election committee? Because if if
the tournament started today, you guyswould be hosting right now a four seed.
Yeah, it was full of excitement. I was talking to my dad
(10:33):
as they were revealing the teams.I'm like, oh, we can possibly
host like that? Sweet And it'sjust like us being picked for like four
seed. That's just a testament tolike where our program as and where we're
headed. And it's just it's justgreat to be a part of the Wildcat
family. Arie just to see ncatournament and Arizona sort of in the same
(10:54):
concept and have people talk about you. I mean, being a host is
great, but that the NCAA andyour names are in the same sentence.
What did that feel? Like itfelt good. Um, honestly, this
is one of our goals head intoseason, like we just don't want to
make the turn of like you wantto win and keep advancing, but just
(11:16):
to have an into Double A inthe same sentence as our team, it's
crazy and it's just we're ready towork and I'm just excited. I know
my teammates and one coaches are excitedas well. You know, I think
so much about you guys and andhow last year ended. Everyone thinks about
the w n I T but likethe two point loss at Washington State,
the two point loss at Stanford,the overtime loss at CAW and then losing
(11:37):
to Oregon, you know in thetournament, it's you guys were so close
last year to the NCAA. Whatwas the work and the mindset that went
into getting ready for this year.So there wasn't a rerun of the end
of the last year as far assort of the regular season. So our
mindset was just like we have tocome out strong. We can't like play
(12:00):
with teams. We need to winthe games that we need to win.
And just like we have putting againstteams like Oregon, organ stay in the
Stanford, just like we cannot haveany slip uss, like we have to
be locked in for forty minutes.And I think that the losses that we
had against Oregon and organ State early, like a couple of weeks ago,
I feel like, you know,we had a couple slip ups, but
(12:22):
I think that now that we've seenwhat we messed up on, I think
that we're gonna come out Friday andSunday and just correct all those little errors,
and I think that will be goodto go. But honestly, it's
just we have the experience now tohandle like top ten teams, and I
just I'm proud of my team andour defense have been really solid the last
couple of games. So we're good. Yeah you are. And you were
(12:46):
locked in for all forty minutes,and you mentioned being able to go up
against top ten teams. You guystake down UCLA on Friday, and we
were just talking it. It feltlike a statement game for you guys and
everything that you were able to accomplishwithin that when first time you slept the
LA schools since two thousand and five, which was also the last year the
program made the tournament. Walk methrough that game, Ary because it just
(13:09):
I loved your postgame interview afterwards andeverything that you had to say there.
But what was going right for youguys, and what was your mindset coming
into that one heading into the UCLAgame was it was personally we lost them
early in January, and we didnot like that at all, Like we
were so mad and we didn't havethe donal nique and Helena wasn't filling well
(13:31):
those like h but it definitely lefta bad taste in our mouth, and
we knew that we played well onour home Core'm like, okay, guys,
like we had to stay focused,play together, everyone do what they're
great at, and we just cameout really high. We kept our foot
on their necks, so that's whatWorksfords, and our defense was great.
You know, your teammates have talkeda lot this year about how different you
(13:54):
are from a leadership standpoint, thatyou're not always a big talker, but
when you talk, it's it's timeto listen. How you changed as a
leader and how receptive have your teammatesbeend I've changed tremendously. I've started to
be more vocal and that was noteasy for me. I'm not really a
(14:15):
talker like that, like I'm tomyself, but I know to get to
that next level, and as apoint guard, you have to open up
your mouth. You have to bethe extension of the coach on the floor.
And I think that I've really steppedinto that role this year. I
know I want to make it tothe next level on my team makes the
next level, and I know thatI can't be silent while running things on
the course. So I just hadto get comfortable with being uncomfortable and I
stepped out of my shell big time. And my teammates are very receptive and
(14:39):
they take my advice well, andthey just they corrected the next play.
And I really love that. Who'sworked on that with you, Arrie?
Because I assume your coaches or maybesome of your other teammates have have talked
to you about that, And howhave you gotten more comfortable doing that?
It starts in practice just just talkand like hey, like I got you,
(15:01):
like trust me, I got you, Like just just saying little things
like because like like coach Blarrence says, I rather you say something to be
wrong than not saying the thing atall. So it just starts with in
practice, like just saying some stufffor my teammates, and this coach Blarrenes
has emphasized, like, you know, you have to be comfortable with being
uncomfortable, so she kind of putme in positions like that. And then
uh TT also plays a big partof that. During the game, when
(15:24):
she sees something like going well,she's like, hey, hey, like
tell the team this or I thinkyou should do this. So she's also
been health and much She's like,heyy they talking to your team, and
so I think that really helps me. You mentioned t T Starks, and
I wanted to ask you about her. There was a great article by p
J. Brown in the Arizona DailyStar about how much of an influence she's
still having on your team, andobviously the example that you just gave speaks
(15:45):
to that. But you know,we had so much fun getting to know
her at media day, and Iwas devastated to hear the news about her
shoulder surgery that has precluded her frombeing able to play with you guys today.
But how has she what what hasher role been on the bench.
On the bench T has she's likeanother coach on the bench. M She's
very knowledgeable, she knows the gameof basketball, and she obviously she's not
(16:07):
playing, so she sees things thatwe're not able to see right away.
So in any little break our movementin the game, she like cause either
one of us to the bench orshe would tell us something in a time
out like hey, like you guysneed to do this, or you know
they're not reading this well. Andso I think that she has been a
coach on the bench and she's honestly, she's a great leader as well,
and she just talks, so she'sreally encouraging and she's just the mature when
(16:30):
I was a bunch. You know, one thing I see consistently from coach
Barnes and then articles written about you, is what a better job in decision
making you're you're doing this year andreally distributing the basketball and taking care of
the basketball and that possessions are moreprecious. What flipped the switch in that
area for you? Just every playcounts in games. I have to take
(16:56):
care of the ball. And earlierin the season I had like eight turneals.
I'm like, wow, like that'sterrible, Like i'mants to have a
double double point in n everyone,that's just terrible. Yeah, I've got
it's terrible. And so just everygame is cluesome now, like everyone like
anyone can be deep in its confidenceand I just like have the mind,
(17:19):
so like you need to take careof the ball, like every possession counts,
value the ball, and just putyour teammates in a more successful position.
And so I think I've been doneat the last couple of games,
and my turnals have cut down tremendously. And you talk about your teammates,
tell us about some of your teammates, because last year it felt like all
we talked about was you, likeyou were the only person on the team.
And this year, so many peoplehave really stepped up, having a
(17:41):
career years and you guys are ateam. This is not just airy playing
basketball in the desert, right,It's crazy how everyone has stepped up.
Like Kate, Kate is getting doubledoubles almost every game and that is just
so fun to watch. And yeah, she's improved a lot. And Helena
(18:02):
as a freshman coming in being ableto knock down threes, being able to
get to the basket and dish itto other players, So like that's just
it's crazy. And just Dominique comingback off injury and scoring fourteen on Sunday
like that. It's just crazy.Sam starting to get hot, She's starting
two more. It's crazy, andit's They're honestly making my job like less
(18:23):
difficult. I'm like, okay,like I can play defense more because they're
scoring, so they're making my jobeasier. You've mentioned defense a number of
times now with us this morning.Is that where you pride yourself for most,
Like, what's your favorite part ofyour game? Mary? Defense?
And honestly seeing my teammates score,like on my past give him a good
pass and just seeing them score thatjust brings joy to my heart. But
(18:45):
I just love playing defense, honestly. Okay, you love playing defense.
But you've also one of my favoriteyou know, stats about you is that
you've been in double figures in fiftyeight straight games, which is the longest
active streak in the country. What'sthe favorite bucket that you've hit this season?
Do you have a favorite A favoritemake? I will have to say
(19:07):
the shot to go into overtime again, so a s U that was probably
my favorite shot for those that forthose couldn't really celebrate, Yeah, yeah,
you couldn't really suffer because you hadto go out and play some more.
But yeah, for maybe for thosepeople who didn't see it, walk
walk us through that shot. SoI know there's about two seconds left on
the on the clock and Cluse Barnslike, hey, like get it on
(19:30):
the run and shoot it. Andat first I looked at it was like,
um, if I miss, it'slike that's a miss shot attempt.
I don't want that on my thatone. And then and then I got
it and I was like, okay, and I want to release. That
was good and I made it imyes, and then just Michelle and that
my teammates are crazy. Inside,I was just on the outsight. I
was just composed, like okay,we're still down three, We're heading the
(19:52):
half time, this momentum to staycalm, head to the locker room,
like yes, she was yelling forme. It felt good, but it's
like we was still down. Youknow, you don't get to a place
that you guys are right now withoutworking really hard in the off season.
And I've wrote a bunch of commentsabout how you worked your butt off in
the off season. What'd you dothis offseason to get where you are right
(20:14):
now? For the first part,I rested because my body took a beating
on all the games really almost likeforty games. My body took a beating
and playing like thirty plus minutes.I ranted a little bit. I was
still watching basketball, watching all thesegames, but I just rested and after
that just shooting, working on ballscreens all that, and just working on
(20:36):
my fundamentalness, stamp bows and justtrying to get stronger. So worked on
a lot. You know, Iread a couple of articles that said,
you know, you started playing againstguys when you were younger, going in
the gym, playing pick up,and it's similar to what Sabrina Juanescu did
as a kid when she'd go tothe playground with her brother and play.
What does playing with guys when whenyou're younger, when you're little, what
(20:59):
does that bring to your game thatnow is an important part of who you
are on the floor. I woulddefine say plan with guys helped me be
more aggressive and physical, so I'mable to take hits and in a game
and it's like, oh, thatdoesn't phaze me because I've been through this.
I played with this like during guysand just I want to say my
(21:21):
confidence like with me holding my ownagainst guys. It definitely boosting my confidence
a lot, like we'll plan withyou know, like in the league and
just around a country. So thatkind of helped me be very physical,
aggressive and just boosting my confidence.All right, So, Aery, we
got to talk to you about Fridaynight's game. I know we started off
and you mentioned that you know,you guys are gonna have your hands full.
You watch what the Ducks were ableto do in Stores, Connecticut,
(21:45):
handing yukon their worst loss at gampleEver, you said, there are some
things that you guys want to cleanup from the first time that you played
them. What specifically has to cometogether for you guys to get that win
in Eugene on Friday. We cannotbe stagnant on offense. You know that
Oregon runs and affective zone and it'svery long, so it's hard to see.
(22:06):
So we just can't be stagged.We have to move the ball,
move it out the ball as well, and we just cannot go on scoring
drops. Our defense is there,but it's like we can't score an offense
game. We can't convert, Sowe just can't go on scoring drops.
Have to take care of the balland we have to move the ball and
move it out the ball, anddo you relish the opportunity to guard Sabrina
and guard Mignon and just get outthere and just sort of the we talked
(22:30):
about the game within the game.I mean, there's a lot going on
on the floor five on five,but sometimes the one on ones are pretty
interesting as well. Yeah, theone on ones are very interesting. I
know that for probably most of thegame, I think a Mario Carter is
gonna be guarding Sabrina and so I'llbe guarding Mignon. But it's definitely gonna
be some great matches on the core. All around you have Sam Gardens two,
(22:52):
yeah, k Garden, Ruthie.So it's gonna be interesting on Friday.
That it is. We cannot waitto see how it all goes down
down. I know you appreciate greatnessAriy, and since you played the same
position and you're with her a lot, what makes Sabrina special in your mind?
She has a dog mentality like she'sa very intelligent player. She puts
(23:18):
her teammates and successful positions, andshe's a great pastor. She can choose,
she can do it all, andshe's a great leader. All this
year to talk to her teammates andstuff like that, like Kelly Grays of
you have to say much because Sabrinashe's taking care of it on the court,
and so that just speaks volumes totheir program. And they've been a
great program because I've in the pasttwelve conference and just she's a tremendous player
(23:41):
to want here. I'm just happyI get to play with her and against
her. Honestly, Scurat and youguys are really you're sort of elevating into
that that situation as well. Ayear ago, you're under the radar,
no one really expects much from you. Now there's a lot that the expectation
level for the Arizona Wildcats is startingto climb. When you're to reveal like
that on national TV and people arestarting to talk about you in the same
(24:03):
breath as Sabrina, that brings differentpressure than you've had in the past.
Does it feel different for you,guys, I don't think it feels different.
We're just playing, you know,We're still excited about the things that
are coming our way and all theaccolades, but it's like we still haven't
finished business, take care of we'recreating history as we're going and we just
(24:25):
want to really get out there andplay and we want to bring something special
back to the city of Tucson.Yeah, it's interesting. It's what it
is, says Leve a Legacy.She talks a lot about and she and
you guys have done an amazing jobof getting people in the stands and embracing
and being embraced by the city ofTucson. Yeah, it's it's been crazy.
Just looking back when I first transferredhere, it was probably like fifty
(24:48):
people in the stands and you canhear a pin drop, including employees.
Now that, Yeah, now thatwe're winning and we're doing great things,
we're probably out doing like four orfive thousand like a game. So that's
just crazy and it gets so well. And we just really love our fans
support. What does it do foryou all? It helps us for minutes,
(25:10):
like I said, when we goon stretches and we can't score or
we're like not getting rebounds. Justhearing enough fans yell like come on ladies,
like that just boosts our confidence andit just it just gives pers Okay,
they're here to watch us and needto go meet to pick it up.
And it just helps us so much. It's it's been fun to watch
and obviously, um, you know, you guys there's a basketball town and
(25:30):
there's a lot of basketball fans therein Tucson, and it's been just wonderful
to see them embrace you guys asthey should. A lot of that is
certainly because of the efforts of yourcoach, Adia Barnes and everything that she
does on social media and to getthe word out and to get you know,
some butts in the seats. DidI see that it was her birthday
yesterday? It was would you didyou get her anything? Well? No,
(25:53):
we know. We just wrote somenice words to her and she popped
them and they came out of theloom, so and then got her cake.
That's about it. What kind ofcake it was like strawberry was pink
and was just I'm gonna say vanillavanilla as well. But it was really
good. But was it pretty?Did it look good? Because you know,
Ida, you gotta look it.Yetta look good? Speaking of which,
(26:17):
I gotta ask you about her wardrobebecause it's it's always been fire like
she just she brings it. She'sgot awesome style and I just feel like
this year if it was possible,she kind of kicked it up a notch,
like I legitimately can't wait to seewhat she's wearing on game days.
Oh Na, she definitely kicked herwarding. Her wardrobe came up with She's
(26:41):
go wearing Gucci's more like whoa Okay'sfancy, look good, feel good,
play good. That's what they say, right right. What is it like
having her as your head coach?Though she she obviously knows exactly what it's
like to be in your position andfor her, we talked so much about
fit and how important that is andhow critical that is with head coaches and
(27:03):
where they are, and it justfeels like Adia Barnes is meant to lead
this team. What does she tellme about your relationship with her? And
kind of what what you've learned fromher Coach Barnes in our relationship is it's
very solid. I've been on CoachBarnes so I was like a sophomore junior
in high school, and so wejust got him closer each year and just
you hit it right on the mail, just point the someone who's been here
(27:25):
and had to experience with us isgoing through what we're going through. It's
amazing, Like she knows the gameof basketball. She's very knowledgeable. She's
very relational, and that's a bigthing with a coach and player relationship,
Like you want someone that cares aboutus from the corporal. Also, like
here's about a well being. Sothat's the thing that sticks out with me.
And the thing she does in acommunity. She has a community service
stuff and that just speaks volume toher as a person much a really good
(27:49):
person, and she's a great coach. And I think that she feels well
with us and we fit well withher, and I just wouldn't want anyone
else for I love that. Yeah, it's it's great synergy. And we
just can't just tip our hats towhat you guys have been able to do
this year. Only three losses areall the top ten teams. You've won
five in a row, first timeyou guys have won five conference games in
(28:10):
a row in twenty years. Soit's going to be a special season.
We hope you close it out strong. We look forward to seeing you in
Las Vegas next month and best ofluck in Eugene. This is this is
going to be a fun one sixo'clock on the PAC twelve network. We
will be locked in Aery McDonald,thanks so much for joining us. We
cordiate, thank you, thanks forhaving me. She's awesome. I love
(28:33):
chatting with Airy McDonald every chance weget. Corvallis. By the way,
you gave a shout out to Corvallisat the very end of that, So
yeah, we should mention there's aTop twenty showdown between ASU and Oregon State
that's at eight pm. And nowagain is another great time to remind everybody
to download the app because if youhave the PAC twelve napp, you can
get your double screens going. Youcan you can watch all sorts of things
because there is a lot of actionon our air on Friday night. And
(28:57):
let's talk about as U for aminute, because as that triple overtime win
against USC on Friday, not onlydid it give Charlie Turner Thorne her five
hundredth career victory, but it reallyI just feel like watching this team,
they are finding different ways to win. And you said it like, how
many big shots have we seen Rileyrichardson hit? Yeah, I mean it
(29:18):
just exemplified what being a devil isall about, and just the perseverance it
took and shout out certainly to USC. That game was just amazing. But
Riley Richardson just big shot after bigshot, and I tweeted about maybe the
only person that's had more in thisconference is Sabrina Unesco. But Riley,
(29:38):
whatever the situation, her coach neededit, her team needed it. I
thought. Robbie Ryan came up bigas well, but nobody bigger than just
the cool as a breeze Riley Richardson. And it was just a lot of
fun to watch. It was sofun to watch. I also really enjoyed
the postgame interview. They all hadthose T shirts that they had been that
they had made for CTTS five hundredwin, and her reaction to those T
(30:00):
shirts was priceless because they, Igotta say, they kind of made her
look like mister T. Like thatthe like caricature of her face. It
wasn't CTT is is much more beautifulthan that picture would indicate, but her
her face was kind of like whatwhat what are these? What are these?
Are ready? Acid? They wereread about it. It was huge,
(30:22):
um and you mentioned USC, Solet let's just give a shout out
to Mark Track Squad because they wereyou know, obviously so close against as
U, and then they played reallysolid at Arizona too. They were in
that game, they really weren't.You can't see enough about this team.
And as U has benefited by thetransfer of Jatavia Tapley, a graduate transfer
out of USC. Minon Moore can'tsay enough about what she's done for organ.
(30:45):
You take those two out of theequation for USC. And this is
why everyone we had their violins outon media to oh poor Mark track.
It's it's just such a sad situation. It is not a sad situation.
This is a team that competes KlaOverbeck played fifty four minutes in the triple
overtime. It's a team that youknow, they just show up with their
lunch buckets, they put on theirhard hats and they go out there and
they just work their butts off andso impressed by what they did. And
(31:08):
they were within four points to Arizona. You know, a couple days later,
he's doing a great job. Theyhave terrific recruiting class coming in,
so don't take your eye off SCand no coach in this conference is doing
that. Yeah, and and elicsaPelee, she was the Freshman of the
Week. And she's just I mean, you talk about your hard hat and
your lunch pail like she epitomizes thatexactly right. I mean, if she
(31:30):
pins you, that ball's going inthe teammates doing a better job of finding
her. But just love the wayshe plays. I'll see here this weekend
at Stanford and can't wait, can'tjust can't wait. Yeah, so you've
got UCLA at Stanford, another topten showdown? Why not? Why not
tell me what you're looking forward toon the farm. Well, I think
(31:51):
Ucla, you know, sort ofin their their time right now that where
you play Arizona State, you playArizona Now, they're going to come up
to the Bay and it's it's gonnabe a big, big ball game for
them, and how do they handlethe size of of Ashton prectal inside and
just you know, Keana Williams,And it's gonna be and Lexie and Lacy
Hall. It's gonna be a greatgame at eight o'clock on Friday night,
(32:14):
and it's gonna be a terrific matchupof coaches and mindsets and UCLA looking for
a continued build and Stanford, youknow, they went up to the That's
a tough trip to go to Washingtonand Washington State. You go a long
way, tough travel. They comehome and see what they can continue to
put together another twenty win season forStanford. Here we go just never ends.
(32:35):
Taxes and twenty one seasons. There'sno doubt about that. To bring
up Texas, you see like,yeah, get get them done, folks.
April's coming. Um, you knowfor the Bruins, they they you
know, they absolutely just get ahanded to them by Arizona. But then
they had a really big critical bounceback win and Tempe on Sunday. They
they come out, they don't hangtheir heads and they and they get it
done. What do you make overallof the Bruins right now? Do they
(32:58):
have an Achilles heel that that's gonna, you know, maybe prevent them from
getting what they want to accomplish thisseason, or just overall what do you
make of that squad? Well?I think you know, they don't have
the kind of size that a lotof teams in the conference have, So
you've got to find a way.They got to turn people over that you've
got to do a great job attaking care of the basketball. They when
they take care of it, they'vebeen successful. When they turn it over,
things become problematic. You know,your three point shooters have to produce.
(33:22):
And what can you say about michaelaOnion wedding. I mean she leads
them at both ends, but Ithink size can be an issue and they've
got to rattle teams. They've gotto get turnovers and they got to go.
I think Corey Close is doing aterrific job with this team, and
Friday Night's going to be a greattest for both Steamforday and UCLA. Chris
Osborne, I think is going tobe another big star coming up, no
(33:43):
doubt. Talking about her a loton this podcast in the years to come.
We gotta give a big shout outto Sharman Smith. First Pack twelve
win and it was not easy.You mentioned going up to Washington and Washington
State, so cal you know they'reup big. It looks like they've got
the win in bag. On Sundayin Seattle, they were up seventeen in
(34:04):
the second half and you give creditto the Huskies for coming all the way
back and forcing overtime. Ambermel Gozawas huge at some big time shots.
Season high thirty five. Yeah,but in the end, the Bears came
back and got it done and it'sit's it's a big deal and something that
you know, again, it's goingto be an uphill battle for this cow
squad. And we've we've talked aboutthem a little bit this year, but
they that was a crucial win forthem to be able to win not just
(34:25):
their first back to well win,but to do it the way they did
it. Yeah. I mean theydid not play well and got pummeled at
at at Washington State, and thenyou make that trip back to you dub
and you got to get yourself afraidto go. And Charmon Smith really went
to her her senior junior group ofJaylen Brown and Elaysia Styles and c J.
West and said, I need morefor you guys. You know we've
(34:45):
got great freshmen, but we can'tlean on them. I'm leaning on you
and I need you guys to stepup. And those three to a person
stepped up. And those are thesame people when they announced that Charman Smith
was going to be the coach,like head tears running down their eyes,
like we want to do this,Sherman, and I guarantee you that's exactly
what was in their mind. Yeah, they how easy if you let a
(35:05):
twelve point lead late just smelt awayand you go to that huddle and you
sit down like you're not getting atowel to like wipe off sweat. You're
like, can I go to acorner and cry? I mean just the
emotion of that. That's not whathappened. They just came back and they
just dominated in that overtime and said, no, we're winning this one.
And C. J. West spoketo exactly that in our postcame interview just
about how they they've kind of hadto hit the reset button on their mindset
(35:27):
and how you know this is goingto be a different team for through the
stretch runs so looking forward to seethat you deb man so so close in
so many games. They three overtimelosses in their last four games, Like
does that mess with your psyche alittle bit? And four overtimes this season
doesn't mess with your psyche? Youbetter believe that it does. But the
thing about them is note they neverfeel like any game is too far away,
(35:52):
but they just have to find away to finish. And they've been
right there, and you know theimportant thing is to stay together and keep
working and finally come away with thosewins. But yeah, that is tough.
But Jody Winn has the right mindsetwith this team and with ambramel Goza
and Miss Peterson and the rest ofthat crew. You know that they're going
to come out fighting every single game, no doubt about it. Are we
(36:14):
ready for our favorite segment? Iam always ready for that. And now
from Murphy's Law, the word forthe day is represent And we just alluded
to Cal and what they did andmy number one person representing this weekend with
(36:35):
C J. West, six fourthsenior out of Bakersfield, their first pack
twelve win this year, overtime overWashington thirty three minutes, twenty two points
nine rebounds. You might say,who cares chronic back issues, had a
concussion earlier this year, lost herfront teeth last year diving for a ball
and overtime loss. This is awoman that when I go to Cal to
do a game, like, I'mnot sure if she's going to play,
(36:58):
like we don't know her back justfor years, could have just retired and
said, you know, I'm justgoing to get my degree. You know,
she's already working in her community.She wants to start a nonprofit where
he has fundraising in place. She'sgot people, big time people that she's
talking to. C J. Westto me represent herself for family, or
dad, come and mom driving fromBakersfield to watch the team play even when
(37:22):
they know their daughter's not going toplay. Represent who you are as a
family. That's why CJ. Westis who she is. And then my
second represent is the organ Ducks,the entire conference in all sports, all
kinds of ad looking at that gamethat represents a big thing, going to
Yukon and winning a game and winningit the way they did, you know,
(37:42):
just going away wearing that green andsaying, yeah, this is who
we are. And it was aperformance that you know, you're at halftime,
you're during the broadcaster at the endof the game, who are they
talking about Pac twelve? How goodthe pack? They couldn't have said Pac
twelve enough And it was like,oh my god, they're saying, like
thousands of times it was amazing.And you lose that game. Those Ducks
lose that game, and everyone,yeah, overrated. Oh there you go,
(38:07):
they're overrated, And they just madea statement that all of us we
can just kind of you know,puff our chests out a little bit.
And my favorite thing was when theywere talking about the adjustment that Gino Oremo
was making during the game on Sabrina. Every coach in this conference and assistant
coach in this conference has made thesame adjustment. We're gonna double her hard
(38:28):
off of that, we're gonna justsingle her and let her score a lot
of points. We're gonna hard hedge, or we're gonna ice, or we're
gonna ice hedge and double her.We're gonna do where we're throwing where you
have a kitchen sink in the lockerrool, throw the kitchen sink at her.
You know, Gina, They've everyone'stried it, like all of this
is this is not new, andand she just showed why she's Sabrina.
I just love the whole thing.Represent Yeah, man, I was gonna
(38:50):
say, like, usually it's femaleanalysts or game analysts for covering women's game
have a text thread with them,and then for the analysts on the men's
side have a text thread with them. Rarely do you know, world's collide,
unless of course they're covering both sidesof the game. Casey Jacobson,
he discovers the men's game for PactrolNetworks and Fox Sports One, and for
(39:13):
him to text me, which hasnever happened, about the Oregon Ducks and
be like, hey did did SabrinaThe Ducks just blow out Yukon? I
mean, I just think it thatscore going across the ticker all night long
and and people picking that up.It was so huge. This wasn't a
blowout at Texas, this wasn't ablowout at South Carolina a great team as
(39:34):
well. To do that in Gineo'shouse is was was so huge for the
conference. M I cannot, Icannot. I can't say enough how big
that was for the Ducks going forwardand to that point calling you know,
I same thing that there are afew handful of people that I'm texting all
the time about, you know,whatever's going on in the women's game.
(39:55):
And last night starting at four thirty, so people are obviously leaving work.
I was getting text messages from fromfriends and family members that were watching the
game, and it just it's peopleare paying attention. In my perspective,
people are paying attention now more thanever and it's, um, you know,
it's about time. But I wouldsay it's It's cool to see and
and Oregon, and and and Sabrinaand that entire squad um what they were
(40:19):
able to do and the way thatpeople are. I mean, they're the
real deal. Like they I havea they can stay healthy. I have
a real good feeling about the finalfour this year. Yeah. And the
other thing that I liked is,you know, act like you've been there
before. They didn't act like theywon the national championship last night. They
were humble, They played well asa team. They showed grace, they
showed respect. You know, anyof the shots saw with Gino before and
(40:42):
after and with the team, itjust it was like this was just like
another We talked about checking the box. Go into a gil check the box,
go to gamble, check the box. This is a team that's just
they're just running down their list andjust watching Satu Sabie play the way she
did, and Ruthie and Mignon anduh and of course Sabrina. It's it's
a lot of fun. Who's yourcoach of the Year at this point,
(41:05):
Mare, I think I'd have tosay Kelly Graves because they've handled the pressure.
They've lost a couple of games,and the run that they've been on.
When you know you can beat OrganState twice and Stanford, you go
to the Mountains and then you goto Yukon. I think right now you're
the coach of the year. Yeah, hard to argue with that, certainly,
how about freshman of the year.That's a hard one, it is.
(41:29):
But right now I'm I'm with ElissaPelee from from USC. I just
think to step into those minutes,into that situation and do what she's doing.
Especially in conference play. You goto all these different statistical categories and
she's right in the top five inan incredible conference with so much talent.
This freshman is out there, shineand bright. It's impressive for me and
(41:52):
the one thing and you you keepreminding us that we need to talk about
this, and I agree, Solet's talk about it right now. That
the race for the top four seedsfor Vegas because it's critical. I mean,
to get to get a first roundby in Vegas with all the talent
that we have is crucial. Andso right now you've got Oregon and Stanford
sitting at the top at nine andone. Obviously Organ owns the head to
(42:14):
head right now, Ucla third ateight and two, Arizona fourth at seven
and three, and then you gotorgan State at ASU right behind there at
six and four. So how doyou see this thing playing out? Obviously,
this weekend is gonna matter a lot. I have no idea how this
thing is going to play out becausethere's so much fun. Yeah, there's
so many big games to come.I mean, ASU finishes their season against
(42:34):
Stanford. Arizona is in that weekendas well. Stanford's got a crazy weekend
finished. They go Oregan State,Oregon at Arizona at Arizona State. Those
are their final conference games. UCLA, you know, they're in the middle
of a tough stretch after this.They have organ and organ State at home
next weekend Oregon States. So Imean, there's we have no idea.
(42:55):
This is like the best salad everand it's just gonna key being toss until
we get to the tournament. Butknow that there are two teams that will
be playing on Thursday. Whether it'sUCLA, Arizona, Oregon State, Arizona
State, you know, Stanford,or whoever whoever doesn't quite finish strong,
they will be playing on Thursday.That's how strong this conference is. Yeah,
(43:16):
no doubt about that that's one ofmy favorite analogies. Do you do
you like think about those analogies?Do they just kind of come in your
head? Unfortunately they come into myhead so that they're inexplicable. Um okay,
can I can I close with ashout out? Yeah? Chanel Melina
and michaela pivoc this weekend both hitlike what eighty foot shots. They didn't
(43:37):
count because they didn't beat the buzzer, but they were both absolutely absurd.
Uh you you called the Pivocs.It was like a dart. I mean,
it's like Patrick Mahomes out there.It was. And it was funny
because she did the post game withus, and I had of course done
a little research on this in herlongest javelin throw at Oregon when at Oregon
(43:57):
State when she was on the trackteam was one hundred and forty two four
were okay? So I said,so you know it was kind of javelin
like with the one forty two four, and she just looked over and goes,
that's good. You know how I'llunderstated it was like that's good knowledge.
Um yeah, she just she justit was I mean, there was
no ark on it. It wasjust like a straight I don't even know,
you know, the laws of physics. I don't know how that went
in. And Chanel Malina did thesame thing again. They they were They
(44:20):
didn't beat the buzzer, but man, they were the love that you did
research on that Mary, of courseshe did. Only you were like,
Okay, how do I find outhow how how far she can throw something?
Well, it's just isn't it somethingthat you're an All American basketball player?
And oh, I'll just you know, we talked about what will you
throw for the track? No,I'm gonna play pro basketball instead. I
mean she's just, yeah, she'swhile I'm passioning the homeless. Yeah,
(44:43):
I mean, she's specialists him.And there's no doubt about that. Um.
All right, so we mentioned it. You're gonna be at Stanford eight
o'clock on Friday night Top ten showdownwith the Bruins. That's the same time
as ASU was playing at Oregon State. Maybe some payback for the beams.
Yeah, see, you're gonna behungry. I think paya ac is uh
like a word that's being used alot this conference season. No doubt you
(45:04):
heard airy. I mean she wastalking about how you know, piss.
They were about the Bruins and howthey took that personal and they came out
mad and it obviously showed Yeah.And then of course Arizona at Oregon six
o'clock on the patrol of network.Again. People just make sure that you
download the apps so that you canwatch all of the gas multiple devices.
That is key. I usually don'tencourage multiple devices at the same time,
but in this situation, I thinkit's appropriate. I will I will say
(45:25):
simply this my um my cell phonebuild this month. I've already gotten two
notices that I've I've over twice andlike we're gonna add because like where they
all got to do the yeah autoadd because I've been watching so many games
like that in my car, butmaybe in my car. I mean,
it's just it's like the triple overtime, what do you do? Like you
(45:47):
have to leave for a game andyou're like, so's you gotta gotta Speaking
of which I'm listening to you callthe Oregon State game. You were you
and Krista. Right, We're onthe organ State game on Saturday, and
I'm walking with both my kids andI'm pushing Collins, my three year old
in the stroller and I have thegame on, you know, just in
(46:08):
the little thing, and something happened, I like lost service or something like
that, and the broadcast stopped andCollins had been quiet for like twenty straight
minutes, which was a new recordfor him, and he just turned at
me and he said, Mama,put that friend back on? Where is
my friend? Where is she putthat where to go? Put that game
back on? And I was justlike, Oh, you're That's why you're
(46:29):
quiet, because you're listening to what'sgoing on, which I really appreciate it.
So Collins is a big fan ofyou and Kristen. He was very
upset when I when I turned itoff. Well, you know, he
is my favorite barista. Yes,I have a lot of good baristas in
my life, but he's my favorite. Brest the Best makes a mean latte,
that three year old true. Allright, folks, remember to rate,
review, and subscribe. It ishuge. It is important. It
is critical for this podcast. Andwe also really would love to hear from
(46:52):
you. I want to start doinga segment where we get to you know,
Mary's going to answer a fan questionor all answer one or Colleen whoever.
But if you've got a question orif you've got a comment, tweet
me, send us a video.Maybe we'll play on the podcast. I
don't know, you could get wecould get wild, right, we could
do that. Yeah, Sorry saysyeah, Colleen says yeah, okay,
all right. Great to hear fromyou guys, as it always is.
(47:15):
I love you, Mary, Ilove you Colleen. Shout out to Greg
maraz are awesome researcher who brings itevery single week. Enjoy the games this
weekend. It is going to beepic as it always is, and we'll
be back next Tuesday to dive intoeverything that we saw. Enjoy your lives
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