Rebecca Lobo Interview + Civil War Preview

Pac-12 Networks' Ashley Adamson and Mary Murphy discuss expectations this weekend as No. 4 Oregon and No. 7 Oregon State clash in the Civil War (1:12). Mary breaks down Stanford's second half comeback against the Beavers (4:20), and the Cardinal's response after freshman Haley Jones went out with a knee injury (5:53).  Ash and Mary also give credit to the Trojans who beat their crosstown rival in double overtime, handing the Bruins their first loss of the season (7:45). Mary shares the high praise Tara VanDerveer had for Sabrina Ionescu (11:00) and goes over yet another record that Ionescu is on the cusp of breaking.

ESPN analyst and Hall of Famer Rebecca Lobo joins the show, and shares what she saw in Oregon's dominant win over Stanford (16:00).  Rebecca talks about how Sabrina Ionescu reminds her of Diane Taurasi (20:15), and explains why the Pac-12 is the toughest conference in the nation (23:27). The ladies talk about the crossover of the men's and women's game (24:16), and Rebecca shares how defending the integrity of the women's game brought her to her husband (26:41).  Rebecca dives into her experiences coaching youth basketball and dealing with parents (29:30). The former WNBA player also gives her take on the new CBA, and what she felt was the most important part of the new deal (39:35).

Ash and Mary wrap the episode discussing the Territorial Cup (45:05).  Mary tells us the difficulties of guarding the Ducks and Beavers offenses (46:40), and gives a shoutout to the hot shooting of the Utes (52:18).

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Yeah, Hello, allow me toget yours the podcast of that highest class
of women schools, packed twelve.Look at the rankings if you needed to
proof numbers. Never lie even towind speaking the truth of the calm,
the chaos we bring into passion andthe player of the year who'll be a
crown shapin. Let's get the cracking. What's happened? And Mary Murphy actually
Adams saying, here we back again. Oh, yes, we are back

(00:28):
again, coming off another wildly entertaining, stunning, comeback filled record setting weekend
impact all hoops, I miss anythingthere? You didn't? I mean?
In our little rap song we talkabout calm and the chaos, the chaos
is taken over in our little rapsong. Yes, Mary Murphy actually Adamson,
welcome back to the podcast. Wegot a Hall of Famer joining us

(00:50):
on the pod today, the greatRebecca Lobo, former Yukon and w NBA
star, current ESPN analyst. She'sgoing to join us in just a few
minutes. She actually called the organStanford game on Thursday Day and looking forward
to that very much. Can't waitto get her take on that as well
as what's going on nationally. TheCivil War game coming up on Friday night
is something that we are also goingto be talking a lot about a huge

(01:12):
Top ten showdown between Oregon and OregonState, and Mary Murphy and Anne Shots
will be on the call for uson the PAC twelve network. You sent
out a tweet about the going ratefor a ticket to that game that really
just made my day. Yeah.I just went to StubHub and ticket master
and thought, geez, this'd beinteresting to see what you know. And
there's certainly general admission tickets, butthe last thing I saw last night was

(01:34):
two tickets at the mat for includingfeasts, which you know are always extraordinarily
high. One one hundred and seventytwo dollars and forty cents for two lower
bowl kind of nice seats. Yet, I mean, it's a good thing
you have your credential and getting forfree, and think about where we get
to sit. I'm exactly. It'seven at GIL one person was selling two

(01:59):
tickets or almost a thousand of pophands Now, we don't know if they'll
get a thousand of pop. Butnone of this includes parking. There's no
like luxury suite dining. This isjust a seat, not Chase Center.
No, I mean, this isamazing. But that is awesome, and
it speaks to you know, thelevel of love and interest and excitement about

(02:20):
what's going on. And here's myfavorite thing. So if I didn't click
all the way through truly, becauseyou know, I'm still paying off my
Christmas bills, but it says apop up comes out that says, complete
your purchase tickets for Oregon Duck women'sbasketball versus the Organ State Beavers women's basketball
are going quick? Why your ticketstoday before they're gone? There? You
go there, I mean they're yeah, they're popping up on like stub Hub

(02:40):
with this. Well, and Isaw Oregon sent out a tweet I think
it was yesterday and they they're numberone in the nation and total attendance one
hundred and one thousand, six hundredand thirty three people so far, and
their number two in average attendants.They average over ten thousand a game.
So it is just you guys aregonna have a fabulous game on your hands.
And you actually, you guys sawsome great basketball at guil Coliseum this
weekend. Tell me your best storyfrom Corvallace. You and and shots were

(03:04):
together there, um well, outsidethe building was you know, it's kind
of cold and rainy there, andwe're walking to dinner and at the dairy
Queen there's a lineup for like,you know, getting ice cream on a
why not on a you know,like a Saturday night, you know,
so just going there, and it'sjust it's an amazing place. I'd never
heard so many studded tires. Iknow you went to school in Colorado,

(03:29):
right, But you're driving down theroad and you hear all this noise and
Anne explain that when you live inOregon you have to have snow tires that
have studs on them because of snowand ice and stuff. And then you
need this special rack in your garageand you stack all your tires up.
And I said, well, whatif you don't have a rack, What
if you don't have a car poortor a garage? What do you do
with your tires? Like to havea garage, I mean a closet where

(03:51):
you keep your extra tires in yourThese they are all good questions and really
complicated. Yeah, because I haveone set and I need new tires and
I don't even want to buy anew set of hart because they're so expensive.
You're a California girl, I amis what we're getting to? Yeah,
yeah, I think I am too. Now. Yeah, I put
my Colorado in my upstate New York, and my Indianapolis and Michigan days all
behind me, and my Chicago daysand Indiana days and Wisconsin days goodbye.

(04:13):
So let's just real quick, andwe got so much to talk to you,
But about I want I want toask specifically about the game that you
guys called on Sunday, you andann Um. I think I was really
curious to see how Stanford would comeout after getting just throttled by Organ on
Thursday. I don't think anyone sawa thirty two point game in that matchup,
and we're gonna talk, you know, to Rebecca Lobo about that coming
up. But I want what didyou see from Stanford in that game?

(04:36):
Because one of one of the thingsI noticed is that Oregon State jumped all
over him thirteen two. Yes,and Tara and you pointed out on the
broadcast, Tara did not call atime out. I want to figure it
out, Just go figure it out. What did you see from Stanford?
And obviously we'll talk about the biginjury that happened, but what did you
see from Stanford, Well, youjust have to stay with it. And
I think Tara talked a lot aboutthis getting ready for that game after Oregon,

(04:59):
is that you've got to learn frompast experience. And when you're as
freshman laden as they are and asyoung as they are, they got rolled
at Oregon. What happened? Imean, Sabrina went off, had an
epic ball game the place you justcould feel the momentum, the energy,
and it just like tidle wave themand just flush them right out of Eugene.
Right, So what are we goingto learn from that when the same

(05:20):
thing happens again, We've got tochange something. So your mindset's got to
change. You've got to stay focused. You can't just say, oh my
god, here we go again andthen let the wave take you right out
of guilt. And I think theytook a stand. They'd played better defense,
and they just kind of played withthem themselves. And I thought Ashton
Prectel came in and did some reallygood things, gave them some positive energy

(05:44):
scoring and just solid play inside defensively, and they were able to withstand,
come back, take the lead,and ultimately win that ball game. And
they were able to do that whilelosing one of their best players, Hayley
Jones, the freshman that was justwatching her go down. In the third
quarter was tied at that point,and again you are all over at the
camera showed Nadia Fingal, who wasvisibly upset, and it's because she obviously

(06:06):
knows the feeling. She tore ACLa year ago. We don't know what
Haley Jones is. We have notheard yet she had an MRI and we're
still waiting to hear back on theresults. It did not look good though,
and not not to speculate, buthow did you see the team respond
after she went down? I knowyou talked to Lexei holl after the game
about it as well. Well.It was interesting because every team, most
teams have a Nadia Fingle. It'slike the mom of the team that just

(06:29):
emotionally sort of takes control the situation. And you could see her lean over
and you could see Haley whisper inher ear, and as Nadia walked away,
she just got really emotional and youcould see people rubbing her back and
trying to get her. But youneed naughty in the wall game, like
if she goes in the tank,emotionally, the whole team's going to go
in the tank as a senior who'sbeen through the ACL injury, and they
just really they rallied around each other, and Lexi spoke to that in the

(06:51):
post game, and you can goback and to the Pac twelve app or
Backpack twelve website and see that,and just it was all about let's do
this together. And they really dida nice job of rallying and playing together
and especially on the defensive end,just getting the stops that they needed because
Destiny Slocom at times was utterly unstoppablein that ball game. She was I

(07:15):
mean the first half she couldn't missit was she was phenomenal. So we've
got a little bit of shuffling inthe rankings. We still got four teams
in the top ten. Oregon isfour, Stanford six, Oregon State seven.
UCLA drops to ten, which we'regoing to talk about right now.
But we've also got, you know, now all six teams are in the
top twenty because Arizona ASU also movedup after they swept their Washington road trip,

(07:36):
and that sets up an awesome,awesome territorial cut matchup which were again
going to get too later in thepodcast. But when you look at the
standings now, you've got Oregon,Stanford, and UCLA in a three way
tie for first place in the league. They're all sitting there at five and
one, and I think this isthe right time to talk about what happened
at the Galen Center on Friday night. The last undefeated team in the nation

(07:59):
undefeated no more, thanks to MarkTrack and the Trojans. And this one
was just wild married because you know, USC, they take down their crosstown
rival and double overtime. Obviously,michaela Onionwede did not play. It sounds
like she rolled her ankle at practiceand that obviously affected the Bruins, but
they scored two points the entire secondquarter. I mean, it was so
just tell me a little bit aboutwhat you saw in that game. I

(08:22):
want to give us some left becausewe haven't talked about Mark Track's team yet
this year. They were owing fiveon conference play coming into this thing,
exactly right, and we can talkabout the injuries that UCLA had going into
that. But USC Stephanie Watts,you know, before she got hurt early
in the season, ten points agame, six rebounds, She Alexis Aaron,
a great three point shooter with alot of experience, foot injury before

(08:43):
the season, and a freshman.They expected big things from Madison Campbell up
for the season with back issues.But this is a team that was able
to just kind of handle the pressure. We've talked about great freshman Alyssa Peely
just time and time again rising tothe occasion. Nothing phased her. A
team that had four players play overforty minutes. Des Ray Campbell played forty

(09:07):
eight minutes I think in that ballgameand UCLA ties it at the buzzer for
the in the first overtime. You'regoing to a second overtime, your USC
you go down six. And trustme, when you're sitting on the bench
as a coach and you go downsix and overtime, you're thinking about what
you're gonna say in the locker room. You're just like, oh, this
is really too bad. We didsuch a good job and now we're gonna

(09:28):
lose. And but no, we'renot gonna lose, dang it. And
they just went out there and youknow, they just played hard and got
that win. And it just speaksso much to Mark Track. You know,
the people that left Mignon, Moore, Tapley, you know, graduate
transfers got out of there, andnow it's his people. What are we
gonna do, How are we gonnawhat's our culture gonna be? We got

(09:50):
a great example of USC culture andMark trak right there, and it's a
huge win for them. The crosstownrivalry is real and I'm just fired for
them. They deserve their moment inthe sun. And you mentioned Mark Shack
didn't have a whole lot of timeto celebrate. It sounded like after the
game, no, he's going recruiting, and you know you're on a clock
when you know you got a flight, especially at lax On Sunday, which

(10:11):
is like a disaster, you know, it like takes four hours to get
there, and he's getting downsed withwater. He didn't do the post game
because Erica hughes his assistant coach becausehe had to catch a flight. So
you win this massively awesome game athome and everyone's fired up, and you're
like gotta go, hey, everyone, great job, and that's the job
that he's rebuilding. You gotta getout and recruit, and then you got

(10:33):
to walk in that room and say, yes, we just beat the only
undefeated team in the country, UCLAcome to us. I was just gonna
say, it's a pretty good toget on the plane to go recruiting and
going into some homes with that andcoming off of that, and maybe your
suit still went from Yeah, soyou mentioned some of the freshman lisppeally,
yes, she was Pactwell Freshman ofthe Week. And then of course,

(10:54):
no surprise, sabrinian Escu was gPactwell Player of the Week. And we're
gonna again a couple of minutes beforeBecca joins us, and we're going to
talk about her more. But itjust feels like it's Sabrina's world, Mary,
and we're just living in it.Tara Vanderveer, who is not one
for hyperbole, she said after thatgame on Thursday that her young players got
a chance to see the best playerin college basketball right now, up close
and personal. And I loved herquote, even going further. They hit

(11:16):
Sabrina and we didn't. I mean, it harkens you back to Gino Orimo
when he would say we have DianaTarassi and you don't. That's the level
of player that Sabrina is and andpeople may get tired of hearing about it,
but don't get tired of hearing aboutit, because someday she'll be gone
and well, you know, we'llbe harkening back to these days someday soon.
Yeah. No, I think thatI want people to remember that,

(11:39):
like, this is a moment intime and Sabrina and Escu's do not come
in to the world all that often. Like she is doing something really special,
and I hope that people are trulyenjoying it and not feeling like,
Okay, Sabrina again, Sabrina again, because every time she goes out,
she's breaking her record. Yeah.And the thing that I am enjoying watching
Sabrina and I've talked about this somuch, is just how ferocious she's playing

(12:01):
the game. You know, wehad the NFL playoffs this weekend, and
you see ferocious football players. She'splaying ferocious basketball. Like. There's been
some great shots of just her comingoff screens and when she makes threes,
and you know, all the celebrationwith just the competition, the moment when
you just see her eyes and youjust think, wow, man, I'm

(12:22):
glad I'm not guarding it. Like, yeah, you and me both,
there's no doubt about it. Andfor those who haven't been keeping track of
the records. She had a couplemore this weekend. Against Stanford on Thursday,
she had a career high thirty sevenpoints, and in the process,
in that game, she became Oregon'sall time leading scorer. And then on
Sunday against Cal she ties Gary Paytonfor the all time pack twelve assists records.

(12:43):
So she's got right now nine hundredand thirty eight assists, which is
exactly what the Glove had when heleft Oregon State. So how about this
Mary record that has stood for thirtyone years is about to officially go down
next Friday in front of an absolutelyinsane crowd at the mat, and you
will be on the call. Igotta ask you just for a little bit
of insight when when you're prepping fora game like that of that magnitude that

(13:05):
has so many storylines, like what'syour process? What do you do well?
I think you trying to get thebasics. I mean, I made
a big conversion over the holidays.I used to do everything on paper,
and I had notebooks about every team, and I switched to an iPad Pro
twelve point nine, and I'm havethis new app that I'm using and so
I'm still trying to get to getto know that. Anyone who knows that

(13:26):
mc barrett at at Cal's says,it's like my kindergarten project with my little
mini scissors and my paste and everything, but do you get your glue stick?
Don't have them anymore, And soit's just get to know as much
as you can. But I thinkit's really sort of sitting back and saying,
watch the game, what are youseeing, what are you watching,
what's happening, what's changing? Justyou know, what what is the difference

(13:50):
and try to find that not obviousthing that's happening that people want to know
about, like who just came inthe game, and why did that sub
come in? And why is harddoing this? And why scot Ruick doing
that, and just trying to sitback, and you know, I write
little posts to myself like think,think, think, why, why is
it happening? What's going on?Is the crowd taking over? I'll take

(14:13):
my head gear off and just listenand just see if I can see something.
And the thing about basketball, likeany sport, there's a million things
you can watch. On the courseof a ballgame. You can watch the
bench. You can watch individual peopleon the bench, you can watch matchups,
you can watch outside of the floor, the defense. There's so much
you can watch, and there's somuch going on, and it's it's it's

(14:35):
it's a blast, you know.I love that insight, and I think
that's great advice for I don't knowif there's any aspiring young broadcasters that listen
to this podcast. Hopefully there are, but I think that's something that was
really hard for me early in mycareer when I would go do sidelines,
say for a game, and Iwould get so caught up in making sure
that I had the most prep thatI was ready for every single possible outcome.
And if they talk about this guyor this guy or if he has

(14:56):
a big game, I've got somethingI've got a nugget about, and in
the process, you miss what's happeningright in front of you. That's your
job to be the eyes and earsof people at home who are watching on
TV, who don't get to seeTara or Scott Ruik on the sideline,
who don't get to see what's happeningwith the fans in the arena, and
that is the job. So thefact that that's how you think about it.

(15:16):
That's why you're the best in thebusiness. Well, I don't know
about that, but it is surefun. It's a great it's a great
gigs, a great job. There'sno doubt about it. One of the
other best in the biz is theHall of Famer Rebecca Lobo and I have
been looking forward to this. Iknow, I feel like I say that
with every single guest, but it'strue because we've just got some awesome,
awesome people joining the podcast and Rebeccajoining us. Now, Miss Lobo,

(15:37):
how's your week been? Oh,it's great? Thank you. How's your
week? Our week is great.It couldn't be better. Yeah, there's
I mean, we've got so manythings to talk to you about. We
are so fared up to have youon the podcast. Thanks so much for
making some time for us here ona Tuesday. Now, you were on
the call. Let's start with withThursday night in Eugene. You were on
the call for ESPN with Adam Amineand Hollyrow. You guys did a fantastic

(15:58):
job. I don't think though,and maybe you did, but none of
us saw thirty two point win foreither team as a real possibility in this
game. So just from your perspective, what sort of changed in the third
quarter that broke that thing open forthe Ducks. Well, Sabrina started doing
what Sabrina can do, right,Yeah, I don't think. I think

(16:18):
all this expected it to be alittle closer than it was, especially because
Oregon, you know, they hadn'tuntil that game, hadn't really found their
groove that we saw in their gameagainst the National team. You know,
we've been waiting for them to kickit in a high gear and just be
better, so much better than everybodyelse, and they hadn't quite gotten there
yet. And then in that game, not only did Sabrina start taking over

(16:44):
offensively, but I was really impressedwith Oregon on the defensive end of the
floor. I mean, they wereall over Stanford at every position. They
were denying, they were hyped up, they were playing with a different level
of energy on the defensive end thanI'd seen from them most of the season.
So they just I think part ofit was their experience. You know,
Stanford had so many young players,and I think Oregon, thriving off

(17:08):
of the crowd again like we sawin the National team game, just went
to a different level that Stanford couldn'tmatch. You know, it's interesting,
Rebecca that you talk about their defensebecause that's maybe been their their weaker link
as you look at them big picture. And I texted Kelly after the game
and said, Wow, really impressedwith your defenses. I mean from the

(17:29):
man to the one, two twoto the two three. I didn't know
if they could effectively play zone againstStanford, but god, they were big
and active and they just had nooption. Stanford just couldn't find anywhere to
get good shots off. Yeah.I think the activity is the biggest thing,
because as you know, Mary,you know, it doesn't always matter
what zone you're in if the playershaven't bought in and if they're not just

(17:52):
hungry, and no matter what theywere in, the players were hungry and
unlike last year, you know,when Stanford had Djna Carrington in the past
World Championship game. I think that'san area when you look at Stanford right
now that they're missing as a playmaker, somebody who can just go and get
hers. And Keana Williams can doit a little bit. But I thought
this was the game where they reallymiss dejon A because she's a little bit

(18:17):
bigger, more physical presence who cango get her own and Stanford needed that
kind of player in this moment andthey simply didn't have her. And I'll
expand on that when you talk toTar about Deja. The reason she's the
missing link as well is because emotionallyshe is the most kind of Sabrinol fired
up, let's go, and theyneed more of that on this team and
with Djna, you know, notthere. It's a big gap in both

(18:41):
of those areas. Yeah, yeah, without question, And uh, you
know, I really enjoyed watching Stanfordshoot around. You know, their players
are engaged, they were active,they were talking, they were everything you
want a team to be, um, and I think you know they were.
They were certainly all tar of theend of your teams will all always
be ready in terms of their gameplan and that sort of thing. Um,

(19:03):
I just don't know that they wereready for the moment. And when
I stay ready, I mean interms of their experience overall, the freshmen
in that moment, they hadn't quitebeen in that moment before in an environment
like that, and it's I thinka real situation where their their youth came
through and and there's not a wholelot you can do about that book.

(19:23):
Get older. Yeah, and it'sit's a good thing that you know,
you experienced this in January. Andthen if you've got a Hall of Fame
coach like Tarav Andervir, obviously they'regoing to be more well equipped once Marsh
rolls around. I do want toask just one more thing about Sabrina,
because I think you know, whenyou talk about Sabrina, there are people
and I would say that critics mightcall it cockiness, like her bravado.
I would call it sort of thesupreme confidence that she has. The way

(19:48):
that she you know, is inher postgame press conferences, the way she
waved at Stanford when she went tothe bench, Like, are those some
of the reasons in your mind thatthat she has sort of become the face
of college basketball? Obviously, whatshe's doing in the number is that she's
putting up are just eye popping.But is there a bit of her personality
that that's creating, you know,so much stir among Kobe Bryant, Lebron
James and all these people who arenow really truly paying attention across the country

(20:12):
to what she's doing. That's that'sthe thing that separates her. I mean,
you look at her. Her sizedoesn't separate her, Her athletic ability
doesn't separate her. Her skills certainlyare there, but it's that attitude.
And uh, you know, youdon't like to throw around this comparison too
much, but it's like an attitudesimilar to Diana Rossi. A supreme confidence,

(20:33):
a feeling that when you're you're onthe floor, all of your teammates
will play better and have a strongerbelief that they're going to win because you're
there alongside them. And that comesand it's not a you know, a
kind of a fake bravado that somepeople have. It's a true belief and
confidence that she has that separates her. She's a competitor, she's a winner.
And you know, those are traitsthat aren't necessarily measurable in terms of,

(21:00):
you know, how high you canjump on how fast you can move,
but it's what champions have and shecertainly has that. Rebecca, it's
so interesting that you mentioned tarassium whenI was thinking about questions. I think
about you interviewing and you used tohave that segment where the five questions you
ask people and just looking for theirreaction. I'm gonna ask you a question,
your top five competitors women's basketball playersthat you've seen, and here's my

(21:22):
list, Tarassi, Kim Mulki,Carol blazed Jowski as a player, Sabrina
and I really couldn't come up witha fifth. Just people that like the
Molki was guarding you or Monkey wasplaying like you look at her coach,
but when she was playing, sheplayed the way she coaches, I mean,
and blazed Jowski was just like,give me the ball and get out
of the way. And Tarassi,we all know what she does. And

(21:45):
I think Sabrina belongs in that.In that group, yeah, I would
agree with you. I mean,there's certain players that just have that hit
factor. You know. You mightthrow suberd in there too. You know,
we've seen that over the course ofher career, whether it was when
she was in college. But shenice, she's so nice even yeah,
yeah, but she's not nice onthe core the uh you know, if

(22:06):
you do, you remember the MichowVolpal article where you know Sue's nick's nickname
was sued dB Bird and then dBstood for died um Place. That's what
her opponents would call her. Soforgive my language, but uh, but
you know, like that is theperception from all the people she's played against.
I think I think all of thosepeople that you mentioned have that kind

(22:26):
of mentality. Yeah, it's youknow, it's uh yeah, they're dbers
and um and so I certainly agreewith your list. You know, I
remember Carol Blaze Chauki a little bitas a player, but she was my
GM for five years when I waswith the Liberty, and she was the
same way as a GM, shewas a dB. I'll agree with you
a that. I love it.I love that. Yeah, that's good

(22:48):
Mary. You get Mary's a dberon the call. I think sometimes yeah,
I get a little excited. LittleMary gets a little excited. She
gets a little into it. Bigpicture, Rebecca, tell me kind of
from your perspective, because we talkall the time, and obviously this is
a pactual women's basketball podcast, sowe are all in on the PAC twelve,
and I think sometimes we get thatthat singular focus that it's hard for
us to see sort of the nationalperception. So give me a feel for

(23:10):
what the national perception of the PACtwelve is this year. Obviously, we've
got six teams, right now inthe top twenty, and you know,
I think some some legit Final fourcontenders. But what what from a national
perspective as you as you work onESPN that that you think this conference is
all about right now in this year, I think anyone who's paying attention recognizes
that it's the best conference in women'scollege basketball right now. You know,

(23:32):
last weekend or whenever it was whenwhen you know, we're watching the upsets
by Arizona State, Um, Iwas, you know, just sitting there
thinking, how would you who wouldnot want to play in this conference?
Right now? The fans are rabbit, they're coming out and watching. There's
such great basketball. Um. Youknow, I mentioned this on our telgat
other night, like it's killing mybedpipe my Friday nights by Saturday mornings.

(23:53):
I had to get up early onSaturday mornings to go coach youth basketball and
it's crushing me. Um. ButI think everyone's everyone's aware of what's happening
out there, and you know,it's been growing over the past few years
obviously, but I think there's areal recognition this year, you know,
of what's happening and how good theconference is. And I think a lot
more people are paying attention to what'shappening out there. And when you talk

(24:17):
about people paying attention, actually alludedto it a little bit like Kobe doing
the goat emoji with Sabrina and Lebronand like Clay Thompson was up in uh
Pullman for his big jersey retirement andthen he presents the ball to Bobby Hirstova
for her two thousandth point. Imean, the crossover for men men and

(24:41):
the NBA and w NBA and thecollege game. What where's this coming from?
It this didn't exist, you know, just a couple of years ago.
Yeah, it's really cool to seethat it's coming over to the college
game as well, because, youknow, Mary from covering the LA sparks
like, it's been the last fewyears where the NBA players have really seeing
this form some sort of synergy withtheir w NBA counterparts. You know,

(25:03):
they come to games, they tweetabout the players. Sometimes you see the
NBA guys wearing w NBA players jerseys. It's been happening the last couple of
years in the w NBA and it'snice to see that it's now filtering into
the college game as well. Um, whether it's Lebron or Kobe or whoever
it's going to be. It feelslike that movement is happening, and you

(25:26):
know, kind of in line withwhat we've seen in the crossover in the
w NBA the last couple of years. And uh, and that's exciting because
you know, for so you know, for so long, it's been you
know, some casual fans or justidiots, you know, uh, making
fun of women's basketball or denigrating women'sbasketball. But it's never been NBA players

(25:48):
who have done that. You know. I've always felt like the players and
the people who give the female athletesthe most respects are the guys because you
know, they've come up in thecollege system. Uh, you know,
seeing how far the women work,They've appreciated the game. They appreciate what
the women are doing. And uhand and I think you're seeing that more
and more. Rebecca, you saidsomething that I just have to have to

(26:08):
follow up on. Um, theidiots that maybe weren't paying attention. So
you have a fabulous podcast with yourhusband that you've been doing for a couple
of years, I think, andfor listeners who may not know you're married
to Steve Russian a very well known, well respected writer and sports journalist known
for his work with Sports Illustrated.Your podcast is called Ball and Chain.

(26:29):
It's an awesome listen. I'm gonnagive it a plug. You guys should
if if any subscribe, yea,if anyone on this podcast it doesn't subscribe,
please do you two record it fromyour basement at home in Connecticut.
I want to ask you kind ofhow that started and why. But I
got to ask you the story ofhow you met Steve, at least from
what I saw on the internet,is kind of legendary. Can you can
you tell that? Can you sharethat story with our listeners? Yeah?

(26:52):
Sure, of course. Uh SoI was playing for the New York Liberty
and Steve was writing for Sports Illustratedand lived in Manhattan and H and I
had. I was coming back froman ACL injury, so I was reading.
You know, I'd have to ridea stationary bike at my physical rehab
every day for like an hour,so I was constantly reading stuff while on
the bike, and Sports Illustrated wasone of those things that I would always

(27:15):
read. And so Steve had aweekly column in the magazine and I would
read that every week and at onepoint, he and within a column he
made a joke about the w NBA, you know, just a throwaway line,
something like, you know, muchlike Wilt Chamberlain, I too,
slept with eight thousand women last night. I was in the stands at a
New York Liberty game or something likethat. So anyway, I was sub

(27:40):
letting an apartment from a friend ofmine in New York who also happened to
work at Sports Illustrated. He wasshowing me the neighborhood. We went out
to this local dive bar called theDublin House, and he said to me,
you know, I've got a buddywho's gonna a couple of buddies who
are going to meet us up fora drink later. And I was like,
okay, great. So one ofthe people that came in was Steve
Russian and and so pretty soon afterI met him, I said to him,

(28:03):
aren't you the guy who made funof the MBA in a recent column?
And he said, yeah, Iam. And I said, well,
how many w NBA games have youbeen to? And he said none?
And I said, well, firstof all, if you had been
to a game, you would knowthat you were sleeping with thirteen or fourteen
thousands of people, because that's actuallyhow many we draw at Madison Square Garden.

(28:23):
But anyway, we eventually a friendshipdeveloped, and you know, later
on that year we started dating andnow we're married. And he is still
horrified about that comment whenever anybody bringit up, because he like, he's
not one of the idiots out there. He was just I think looking for
a throwaway line that he thought wasfunny. But yeah, he I don't

(28:44):
think he will ever live that now. You know what though, but maybe
that was the line that got youto talk to him. So in the
end, I mean, it's likeone of the greatest comeback stories of all
time. Yeah, yeah, thatis true. He certainly picked himself off
off the match. Ye. Nowwe have four kids, four kids,
three of them our daughters. Hehas been to countless youth basketball games,
including you else. Well, rightnow we have a fourth grade daughter playing

(29:07):
girls basketball, and anyone who's seenfourth grade girls or boys played basketball,
it's not pretty. So um sohe's more than Payden does, that's for
sure. Rebecca. I coached afifth grade boys team ten year olds.
Is that fifth it was? Yeah, it's a disaster. Yeah, that's
that's right. I can't. It'sa disaster. But you coach youth UM

(29:29):
basketball. And I love your commentsabout parents at youth games. UM and
UH give us your best take onlike what parents should be doing at youth
basketball games. UM. Parents shouldbe completely silent at youth basketball games.
They should have occasionally collapsed, theyshould never yell at the rest, and
they should never ever coach, UMbecause I mean, basketball courts, you

(29:53):
know, are small and UH,and kids are already confused. They already
have a who's trying to help themunderstand where to go and what to do.
And it's never helpful when when parentsare thrown in their two sense worth.
You know, cheer and be happyfor your kids, but please don't
coach. We had a situation acouple of years ago. This was an
eighth grade girls team I was coaching, and and yeah, I think it

(30:17):
was the playoffs or something like.I'm a big believer that in youth basketball
I should only play man to mandefense. It's the only way kids are
really going to learn how to dothe things the right way. But anyway,
it's the playoffs and the other teamhad UM, I think a kid
who just flat out couldn't score.So we weren't guarding this kid. We
were like helping in leaving her completelywide open. And the parents started Whenever
the kid would catch the ball,my parents would start screaming, like at

(30:40):
the at our players who go outand guard this kid because she was wide
open, and I wanted to walkacross the court and say no, we
want her to shoot, like coastingthe kids. Um and it's even like
it's just it's parents are interesting.I'm really lucky that most of the kids
I coached, the parents are wonderfuland good. You know, everybody has
good intentions for their own children.They just don't always know how to hard

(31:02):
to articulate those those intentions. AndI know I, of course I'm sure
do it too. But the bestplay a parent can be supportive of their
youth basketball player is too simply clapand cheer. Rebecca. My favorite story
was when I was coaching this team. We didn't win a game. We
were so bad, like my guysdidn't even know what direction they were supposed
to go. I mean, itwas it was bad news bears and my

(31:26):
I had a rotation because I didn'tthink a ten year old boy should think
he sucks at something like you're aten year old and you should never like
you're not going to play, Likeif you don't play at ten, like
you're like life is doomed for thiskid. Right. So I had a
dad march across the court and athalftime and say this is like, bs,
my kids got to play more likeJimmy, Johnny and Joey are horrible,

(31:48):
like right in front of the kids, Like these kids are horrible and
they shouldn't be playing. My kidsshould play all the time. And I
go, well, I'll tell you, mister dad, like, here's the
clip you know, because you havethe clipboard, right, here's the clipboard
you can coach. I'm gonna gosit down and goes uh no, like
and his wife is like across theway, like honey, you need to
get your boot back over here.And that was sort of the end of
that. But and he's still afriend of mine. We go out to

(32:10):
dinner bout once a week and hedenies that ever happened. But um,
and the dad of one of thekids who was horrible asked me to coach
his kids football team because he likedthe way I was approaching things. And
I said, you know, misterDad, I don't know anything about football,
but thanks anyway. I do reallythink that, like every parent who
shows up to support their their kid, and I get it. I mean

(32:31):
my dad and my mom and mygrandparents. They came out to my games
when I was in high school andjust were the lottest people in the gym,
and I appreciated it, I thinkmost of the time. But I
do think that every parent who goesin cheers for the kid, Like in
some way you should be able to. It's like everyone should work in the
service industry. You should have hadto coach a youth team to understand what

(32:52):
it is because Rebecca, to yourpoint, like there's so much that goes
into it, and you are doingevery single thing that you can to make
the team as good as it possiblehe can be. If there's a parent
that's listening out there, like otherthan kind of be quiet and clap,
what advice would you give them onsort of raising their kid and how to
be supportive in the right way.Well, you know it always it all

(33:13):
comes back to sort of one thing. And Mary's talking about the fifth grade
team of boys ten year old boysand this year my son's in sixth grade,
and so they're eleven year old boys, and ultimately they're eleven year old
boys, they're nine year old girls, they're whatever they are. This is
one of the things they're trying todo in a life full of things that
they're trying to do. And Ithink, you know, we get so

(33:36):
competitive as coaches or parents, andwe want our kids to succeed. Of
course we do, but at thesame time, they're nine year old girls,
they're ten year old boys or whateverthey are, and I get it,
like I can get wrapped up init too. You know, my
son miss is a layup. I'mlike, oh, you know, how
did you miss that layup? Buthe miss the layup? Says he said,
eleven year old boy. You know. So I think we just one

(34:00):
thing that my husband and I havetalked a lot about is um with our
kids. And we have to remindourselves of this constantly because it's easy to
forget. But none of this isa means to an end. This is
the end. We have to suckup and enjoy every minute that we're watching
our nine year old daughter out there, you know, maybe dribbling off of

(34:22):
her face or or our eleven yearold son missing the layup or whatever it
is. You know, this iswhat it means to an end, and
they probably aren't going to play incollege, they might not play in high
school. Let's just enjoy this wholeprocess as it unfold because as all parents
will tell you, it all goesbuy so quickly, and so um,

(34:43):
let's just enjoy the moment for whatthe moment is. And and again we
lose sight of that a lot,but we try to remind ourselves of that.
And I think everybody would be goodto um to remind themselves of that.
I want to clip that SoundBite outthat you just gave us and like
broadcast it in front of, youknow, right before or every single youth
basketball game. Like I think thatwould be a good reminder for everybody in
the gym. That's that's so wellsaid. And I did mention your podcast.

(35:07):
I gotta ask, like, howdid how did you guys decide that
you wanted to do it? What'sthe goal? Because you, I mean,
it's an awesome insight into your lifeand you guys just talk about sports,
but also things way bigger than sports. How did you and Steve to
decide to start that thing. Well, I think it's part of it sort
of started on Twitter, Like Imight be on the road or I might
even be in the same house asmy husband and he would sweet something and

(35:30):
that's how I would learn about it, Like, oh, really hard she
did that. You know, likeeveryone, you get so busy in your
life, and for us, wewould get so busy and running our kids
around and doing stuff that we weren'teven liked that much communication with one another
like space to face. And wesaid, you know what, if nothing
else, if we did an hourpodcast a week, it would force us
to sit together that hour a weekand talk to each other. And so

(35:55):
anyway, that's kind of how itstarted. And you know, people would
tell us when they would see ourstuff on Twitter, like, you know,
you guys might have some interesting thingsto talk about. So we try
to do that, and um,you know, and uh and we certainly
enjoy it. But um, youknow, we did it this morning and
this will be the only probably ourall week that it'll just be the two

(36:15):
of us not talking about logistics ofwhere to get kids to that place or
that kid to another place, wherewe're actually talking about stuff and h and
so it's been fun for us.That's awesome, and amen to that,
because it's so much of what itbecomes is logistics and how's who's getting where
and when. The very first episodeyou touched on something that speaks a little
bit to me. And again,I think this is a good opportunity for

(36:36):
you guys to be able to talkabout things in an open and direct way
with no one getting offended because youtold Steve he's not a good gift giver,
Like, did he know that beforeyou started the podcast, that that
you don't think that he gives goodgifts? Um, I think you knew
that. I don't know if Iever told him that directly. Um,
but I mean, I mean,he's that bad. How would he not?
So what was the worst one?That? What's the worst gift he's

(36:58):
given you? Well, the worstone was the one we talked about on
the podcast where one year, likefor a couple of years, he would
give me truffles, you know,chocolate truffles, and I don't like them.
So actually like the third time hewould give them to you for Valentine's
Day, give them to me formy birthday. Yes, it was nice
for him to give me gifts.But eventually I told him, I said,
listen, I just so you know, I don't like truffles. And

(37:21):
so the next Valentine's Day or thenext birthday that rolled around, he gave
me truffles again. And at firstI was like, oh, this,
this is kind of funny. He'sshowing as sense to humor, and then
I realized, no, he justlike either wasn't listening or wasn't paying attention,
and so again he would he gaveme a truffles again. And it
got to the point where my girlfriendswould say to me like, oh,
you have a birthday coming up,Valentine Days coming up to Steve gonna give

(37:42):
you truffles and uh and so anyway, so I eventually called him on it
and he's like, well, Iknew you had talk to me about it.
I just didn't remember if you reallyliked them or didn't like them at
all. But I mean, likethat, at least in my experience,
that's a man for right to that. Yeah, I've got Ashley's story is

(38:05):
worse. Yeah. No, Idon't know if I was going to go
there, but I now that Marymentioned it just real quick, and I
know you've been generous with your time, and we'll let you go soon.
But Rebecca that the um and Ilove my husband dearly. Chris is the
most phenomenal man I've ever met.He for Christmas one year, and this
is before we got engaged. Butwe had been dating long enough that everyone
thought we were about to get engaged, and so there was all this pressure.
I went and spent the Christmas withhis family, and so I think

(38:28):
everyone kind of thought like, oh, this might be it. He gave
me as a gift that year,a ring holder, like just a ring
holder, no, no ring no, And it was just this full tower
ringholder that like there was no contextto it. So I'm thinking, oh
my god, it's about to happen. He ringler in front of the family
and I look and they're all kindof like ash white. No, I'm

(38:49):
thinking, maybe maybe this doesn't happen. No, he wasn't planning on proposing.
That didn't cross his mind at all. He just um. He had
gotten a tip that I was apparentlyfrom his sister who was a very dear
friend of mine, best friend,that I would like some some sort of
jewelry thing. And he confused thatand somehow got a our wingholder. So
that was that was actually and welaugh about it all the time now,

(39:09):
but it was. It was byfar the worst gift I have ever received.
I mean, they have their purposeand we love men dearly, but
they are clueless. It's that gender. It is it is Yeah, I
know, IRE's something missing in thatDNA. Yeah, exactly. Get ready,

(39:30):
folks, Um all right, butbefore we let you go, I
can't not ask you about you knowthis this new w NBA landmarks seven year
collective bargain agreement that that was justagreed upon because we mentioned in the podcast
last week and kind of told peoplewhat it meant. But from your perspective
and as someone who played in thew NBA and who now covers it and
and it's you know, I thinkalmost the face of women's basketball right now

(39:52):
and the role that you have.What does this mean, Rebecca? I
think it means a lot on alot of different levels. Um. First
of all, I think it appeared, at least from the outside, that
it was a blueprint of how tohave a positive negotiation. You know,
you had a league going in whobasically wanted the same things for the players
that the players wanted, and oneof the worries I had was that maybe

(40:15):
the players expectations might you know,exceed reality, But that didn't end up
being the case. You know,it seems like the players fought for the
right things, not only salary,but you know, especially all of the
things included in family planning. It'sinteresting, you know, we're starting to
read about more players who are freezingtheir eggs or doing things that we never

(40:37):
hear about with male athletes because theydon't have to worry about it. But
it becomes a real life issue withfemale athletes, and it's a it's a
huge expense, and so for thatto be addressed as part of the new
CVA was huge and it step forward. And so of course people are going
to look at the salary and themax salary being one hundred thousand dollars more
than it was previously, or thatthe average salary finally getting into six.

(41:00):
Yeah, those things are important,but I think in some ways what was
more trailblazing was the other avenues thatthe women um made a priority that you
never see on the men's side.And the insurance and health benefits are two
of those. And and and Ilike that the women can earn extra money
in the off season by investing inmarketing and growing the game. I think

(41:22):
that's a huge part of it,because you know, we lose momentum when
the players have to go overseas becausethat's their only avenue to make more money.
But if we can stay here andboth the league and the teams are
invested in marketing the women more,not only financially invested, but h you
know, in all areas to growthe game, to grow the individual women's

(41:43):
profiles but also the team profiles,I think is big. So I was
thrilled to see that it was eightyears because hopefully that means Mary and I'll
be calling these WNBA games for thenext eight years. So I was really
really pleased and that it was doneso early, and that it at least
it seemed like it was not acontentious negotiation. That I'm sure there were

(42:05):
some serious bargaining habiting on both sides, but that there were a lot of
really smart people that put their headstogether and figured out a solution that would
benefit both the players and the owners. And Rebecca, I just I want
our listeners to know just what anamazing person you are, how thankful we
are for you. To take thetime to be with us. I don't
think people appreciate I mean, theyappreciate how knowledgeable you are about basketball,

(42:27):
but you're articulate, funny, You'reso gracious, so insightful and above all
things genuine. And I think ofyour mom and all those years ago when
I met her, when you wereat the Liberty and I know you guys
have a scholarship now at Yukon,but it's it's just so wonderful to have
you on we I just want peopleto really understand how much more you are
than just an analyst. You area very very special person. Well,

(42:51):
I appreciate that, and I appreciateyou guys. I mean people don't realize,
you know, I think in women'sbasketball, in terms of covering the
sport, there's a lot of womenthat really help other women. And uh
and last I think it was thepast Sunday when I'm in studio and I'm
texting you and I'm saying, youknow, are you calling this Stanford game?
Because I'm in studio. I cansee it, but I can't hear
it. What is frand believe you? Okay, what do you know about

(43:13):
Haley and her injury? And you'reresponding to me, and you know,
we get to get in touch witheach other over the WNBA season to talk
about things and um, and Ithink it's really important that women continue to
help women, and so Mary,I appreciate that from you and UM and
you know, I am jealous ofyou guys this year because the past twelve
is where it's that and we getsome of the crumbs, but you guys

(43:36):
get to see him weeknd and weekout and and you know that that's that's
where it's at this year. Anduh, and you know, I hope
you guys are enjoying it as muchas we are in our sleep surprise state.
I'll get to go to save Martinsee the robot. So you got
I'm Marty, h you and youactually you're in your old stomping ground on

(43:58):
Thursday, right, You got tennissee at Yukon. Is that one in
stores? Yep? That one isin Hartford actually, So for the first
time since two thousand and seven,Yukon and Tennessee will be playing one another.
And you know, I don't knowif it has quite the juice that
used to, but we'll see ifit does. On Thursday. That's awesome.
All right, Well that's at leasta short commute for you, so

(44:19):
we're happy to hear that. Rebecca, You're awesome. Thank you so much
for all of your time, allthe stories, all the insight. Enjoy
the rest of the season and we'lldefinitely be in touch. All right,
guys, thank you so much.How great is Rebecca amazing? I love
her. I mean I've always lovedher, but she's she's awesome. Good
job getting her on the podcast.Way to go, Mary, Okay,

(44:39):
so some things to talk about beforewe sign off here. We've got an
awesome double header on the pactrol's network, as we mentioned earlier, but we've
got the Civil War and the TerritorialCup, both top twenty matchups, and
that's coming up again Friday night onthe pactrol's network. Five o'clock it's ASU
at Arizona and seven o'clock Mary andAnne on the call Oregon State at Oregon.

(45:02):
Let's talk about the Territorial Cup realquickly, because Ariy McDonald, you
know, they were they were downhats off by the way to Ada Barnes
in Arizona. They got their firstPack twelve road sweep in nine years.
They were down nineteen points at youdub on Sunday, but Ariy just kind
of took that game over and She'slike, we're not leaving here with an
l What do you see this?What do you see going on Friday night

(45:24):
in Tucson other than a ton offans. Well, let's keep in mind
that Arizona beat Arizona State fifty onethirty nine, the first time they had
one in ten piece since two thousandwow, and that was on the thirtieth
of December back last year. Ithink that the sun doubles are much improved.
They're a lot healthier than they wereat that point in the season.

(45:46):
This is going to be a greatgame. It's going to be a very
similar environment that we've we've seen atgil and at in Eugene at the mat,
So you know that idea is goingto be like auctioning off her husband
and getting in the bill. Theplace is going to be alive. That's
going to be just an amazing game. And I think Charlie really spoke to

(46:06):
this last week when we had heron, like what happens when you have
this kind of rivalry? Now andit now Arizona is like the second epicenter
in this conference for great basketball,and it's awesome. A man and Asu.
You know they start oh and twoin pactwell play, and now they've
won five in a row. Soit's going to be I mean that that
game is gonna be awesome. Can'twait to see that one. And then
we got to talk about the CivilWar. I was gonna ask any bold

(46:29):
predictions, but I think it's actuallytime for a favorite segment. And now
from Murphy's Law, that's right,it's time. Let's do it. So
Ashley, what I want you todo. I know you're sitting in a
chair, but I can stand out. I want you to close your eyes
and visualize you are guarding Sabrina andnow Scoot, you are guarding Destiny Slocum.

(46:50):
You are in a defensive stance,and your job is to stay between
Sabrina or Destiny and the basket anddon't let them, don't let them score.
So you're down. You're trying tobe big, but you've got to
think about your balance because if youkind of lean left or right even a
little bit, if you're a littleoff balance, they're gonna blow by you
in whichever direction. You're a littleoff balance. If you drop step a

(47:10):
little too much, they're gonna takethat. If you lean a little too
much, they're gonna cross over andget by you. Now, while that's
going on, behind you is RuthieHebert or behind you is Kennedy Brown,
and they are going to set abig old screen. But you can't see
that light pole behind you, butyou're gonna run smack dab into that sucker
and lose your job. And yourjob is to stay between destining Sabrina in

(47:34):
the basket. And so you're listening, but it's deafening, and you're trying
to hear your postplayers say the screen'scoming. At the same time, you're
trying to steer, you're trying toice, you're trying to think about where
they're going at the same time,especially with Sabrina at twenty five feet,
you gotta be out because you mightjust rock back and knock down the three.
So you've got to be close enoughthat you can't do that, but
not leaning forward too much that shedoesn't blow by you. And so that's

(47:57):
how someone likes Sabrina scores thirty sevenpoints, and that's how someone likes Destiny.
Slocum scores twenty one points and ahalf against Stanford with all the schemes
and makes targo to plan BC andD. So stay between your man in
the basket. When you're watching thesegames. Might seem like a really easy
thing to do, it is not. You're trying to move backwards while Sabrina
and Destiny are going forwards. Sojust walk down the street backwards and see

(48:21):
how comfortable do you feel and bein a stance and think, and now
I gotta stop Destiny and Sabrina.It's tough, you guys, and it's
gonna be tough for both of themto guard each other and whoever wants to
try to stop them. My anklesare broken just sitting here. I didn't
even get up on My ankles arejust not easy. Yeah, that's not
easy. I'm glad that I don'tI get to watch. I'm glad that
I don't have that defensive assignment.And my second thing, Murphy's law.

(48:44):
Watch the game, not the refs. People are getting obsessed with the refs.
The refs. There's a million things. Again, you can watch when
you're watching a game. You canwatch Sabrina, who's matching up with her,
who's trying to stop her. What'sthe off ball movement, what's going
on in the paint, what's goingon on the bench, who's going on,
who's checking in, who's checking out, what's the crowd doing, what's
the momentum? Close your eyes feelhow does it feel in the building?

(49:07):
You know, there's so Listen towhat the announcers saying. What are they
looking at? There's a million Ifall you do is sitting obsess about refs,
you are taking yourself out of theball game. And it happens with
coaches and players because you can't.It's like trying to drive and look at
your phone at the same time.You cannot effectively do two things at the
same time. You've got to focuson the game. You got to be

(49:28):
in the now, make great decisions. And if you're a player, there's
enough things you got to do.But if you're like hey, if you're
trying to engage the whole time,you're just not present in the now and
what you're trying to get done.And it's something When I was a coach,
oh my god, I spent halfmy time yelling at refs, chasing
reffs. Where's the closest reff.Who is it? She the one that
I can like really rip on andnot get a tea, you know,

(49:50):
and like just think about how muchtime I wasted and I should have been
coaching my team and maybe things wouldhave gone better. That is so interesting
and I feel like a very goodlife lesson too. I mean, like
the old control what you can controland just you take care of your twenty
square feet. No. I literallyI was a young head coach. I
used to watch the other coach like, oh, look how far out she
is. I'm gonna go that farout too, So I don't want her

(50:10):
to think she can do that.You know, like what the hell,
Mary, what are you doing?Coach your team? But you know,
crazy stuff goes through your head whenyou're when you're just trying to coach,
and man, the rests are doingthe best job they can. Focus on
what you can control, and it'swhat comes out of your mouth, what
you're seeing, what you're watching,trying to fire your team up and get
them on the right track. Pickyour spots. Pick your spots, have

(50:32):
four or five good ones, Likehey, you know you saw that one
right, Yeah, you know,pick your spots. I love that.
It's all about picking your spots.Um, okay, one more thing before
we let you go. You talkabout all the different things to watch when
you're at a game, and Iknow people who have played at a game
and who analyze the game like youdo see different things. But I I
gotta ask you, what, who'syour favorite coach to watch on the sideline?

(50:54):
Like that you really uh wow,that's a tough question. Let me
Kelly Graves is kind of entertaining.You know, he'll rock back and then
he'll get up, and he's kindof fun to watch. Adia's fun to
watch Charlie gets. Charlie is amazingto me because when we have her miked

(51:15):
up, the stuff she says likethat never dawned on me, Like she's
still like in terms of what becauseshe's so positive all the time. I'm
like, man, I need alike I need a positivity lesson from Charlie.
She's just so so positive. Wellthat goes back to what you said
when we had her on last weekabout how grit or toughness was actually being
positive and adversity. I read that. I was like, Yeah, that's

(51:36):
a foreign language to Mary Murphy.I had no idea what she was talking
about. But I think all ofthem are amazing to watch. And I
mean the group of coaches we haveare it's like you could keep a camera
on them. It's fun. Whatare they thinking? What are they doing?
Um, Yeah, there's no doubtabout that. And I think I
would also put Tara in that list, even though she's not the most you
know, I don't know, gregariousor effusive coach on the sideline like she's.

(52:00):
We had her micd up one timelast year for the Colorado game when
we were in Boulder doing a pieceon her mom and I just the stuff
that was coming out of her mouththat was amazing. Like she's just she's
a Hall of Famer for a reason. And speaking of Stamford real quick,
one last thing is that they playUtah this weekend. And we got to
give a shout out to Lynn Robertsbecause I don't know what the Utes had

(52:21):
for breakfast on Friday. But atColorado they made sixteen threes keep it in
the rotation exactly. They shot seventypercent from three. You know, that's
just insane, and they're due.They've got some great shooters and it's unbelievable.
What making three point shots does becauseit spreads the floor, it spreads
the defense, and suddenly everything opensup and the freshman Maxwell big part of

(52:45):
that. Denisia provo. Again,these folks coming back from the ACLS really
starting to get their game back,and it's it's fun to see and I'm
sure Stamford will be ready for Utahon Sunday. Yeah yeah, considering what
happened last year, may we remindyou all right, this was another awesome
podcast. I think it's time forus to go, but I just thanks
to Rebecca. Thanks to you,Mary, you are awesome. Thanks to

(53:07):
our producers Colleen and Ari, ourresearcher Greg, and to all of those
of you who are listening. Welove you. We want to hear from
you, so please rate, review, and subscribe. Enjoy another amazing weekend
of PAC twelve Women's Hoops, andas my friend Mary here always says,
enjoy your life. Yeah baby,