Previewing the Top of the Big 12 with Jamie Steyer Johnson

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome into another episode that they've got. Now, this is
your host, Mark Schindler, as always before you started day.
If you've not already, should you go rate and review
the show over on Apple Podcast, check us out wherever
you listen, and of course subscribe on YouTube. I'm excited
to be joined today by Jamie Styer Johnson, which means
already we're talking about the Big twelve today. But first
and foremost, Shamy, how are you doing?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Oh my gosh, I'm great, Mark, I'm super excited. I
always love cutting it up with you. Went through the
notes that we shared, and immediately there's stuff jumping out
that I'm like, that's crazy, that's the exact same thing
that's in my notes that I literally wouldn't anticipate from
anyone else. So I'm excited to get going. I'm excited
for women's college basketball. But yeah, I'm I'm just excited.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yeah, I'm I'm very excited. I think just in general,
this conference is like I wanted to I did a
Big ten you like a month ago, but I wanted
to talk like now that we're getting into like actual
conference preview time because October is next week, which is
still jarring to think about. I really want to talk
about like all the conferences in depth, and I wanted

(01:13):
to start with Big twelve because I just like I
was going through it the other day or I guess
it was a couple weeks ago. I want to hit
you up. Was like going through stuff because I was
starting to do prep and I was like, this is
like a mess and like the best and worst ways
possible because there's just so much going on here that
we'll get into. But first I want to plug Obviously,

(01:34):
you have a new podcast that that you have started
up with over at her hoop Stats. I wanted to
give you a moment to plug it. I haven't gotten
to listening yet because I've been just all over the place.
But yeah, how has that been so far? Where can
people find it? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, no, totally understandable, but it's been an absolute blast.
That's called press Break. It's over at her hoop Stats.
Like you said, we've got a trio that are all
co hosting together, so it's myself, Tyler Caluca, and Chelsea
Late So some different perspectives. Obviously, Uh, Tyler has been around.
He does a lot with Oklahoma, so he and I

(02:10):
were both in the Big twelve last year. Now he's
moving over to the SEC, but he knows a little
bit of everything. And then Chelsea's up in Canada, so
giving us a little bit of a different perspective. We
can talk about our shared love of Bridget Carleton and
you know, all that fun stuff. But it's been super
super fun. As anyone who follows me knows, I get
into really deep, like statistical rabbit holes. So her hoopsats

(02:32):
was just a very natural fit. So we're still covering WNBA.
We'll move into the college season and we'll just kind
of be rolling year round.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Well, yeah, I don't know if you are. Have you
ever seen this always on in Philadelphia? Oh yeah?

Speaker 2 (02:44):
I mean did I literally start to rewatch last night? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Absolutely perfect, perfect, So this, this little one makes sense.
I always get made fun of for making analogies that
people don't understand. I felt like the Pepe Soviet scene
when I was like looking at and trying to piece
together the twelve, because I like, you know, we gotta
like the mail, the male, we gotta talk about the mail,
except this is the Big twelve. And the more I
try and like put everything together on this whiteboard, the

(03:10):
Google doc I ended up sending you was fifteen pages long,
and I don't feel like it like it helped me
put stuff together. But also I was like, wow, this
is just like a lot of words and stuff that.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
And you're looking around like is no one else noticing
that it's no one else talking about this?

Speaker 1 (03:27):
And then it turns out that Pepe Sylvia is not
actually a real person and Max just hasn't slept in
thirty six hours. But Okay, I think the first thing
that I want to start off with is who are
the players that to you are realistically, if you are
putting in a quote unquote vote for Big twelve Player

(03:50):
of the Year, who are you who are the players
that are immediately coming to mind that you think are
going to have that impact.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, so I think that there's a I think there's
a pretty definitive top four to me, and the really
easy ones are the two returning unanimous first tivers in
Aoka Lie and Attie Crooks. Obviously, both of them had

(04:18):
really significant production last year. They were top four in
the league in scoring, they were one and two in
field goal percentage, they were you know, they were very impactful.
When you're a unanimous pick, that's easy The difficulty for
Ayoka is staying healthy. That was her issue last year.

(04:39):
That was a big reason, if not the reason why
she wasn't the player of the year in the league
last year. And then for Audi, you know, making that
sophomore jump is is really difficult, and so it's okay,
can you maintain that level of production? What does Iowa
State look like with more weapons? Does any of that
production decrease? Things like that. The other return that I

(05:00):
think is a pretty easy person to throw in there
for various reasons is JJ Quinnerley at West Virginia. She
was the defensive player of the year. She was second
in the league in scoring. Okay, like that goes I
think really under the radar for how impactful she is defensively,
she was up there and assa. She also sipped in
the league in field goal percentage as like a small guard,

(05:22):
so I think that's extremely impressive. And then the other
one that I throw in there is john Anipkins from
Utah because she has been an incredible player over her
career at Utah ended up being hurt last year and
it's really difficult to come back from injury for a
lot of reasons. And then when you're getting into a
different conference. You know there's a lot that's going to

(05:45):
be going on there, but just because of her caliber
of play, she's definitely someone that needs to be in
the conversation as well. A couple of sleepers i'd throw
in there would be like Sabia Nichols from KU she
was really into girl as a freshman last year for them,
and then Darianna Littlepage Bugs from Bayler I think has
been extremely underrated. We'll get into some other players I
put on there on that list later, but she is

(06:06):
so versatile, she could score, she could rebound. I think
that her ball handlings improved, She's become more you know,
well rounded, and so she's going to be maybe the
key for their success this year. So those are a
couple of ones that if those two teams are playing
at their peek, it's probably because of those two players,
and they could get into the conversation as well.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yeah, no, I love all those mentions. I think the
first two you shout out where the two that immediately
came for me, with Audie Crooks and Aokhale, I just
want to reiterate again, I think essentially like and Madison
Booker was incredible, and I think she deserved freshman year.
She was fantastic, I think, especially when you talk about
how much she had to deal with with how many

(06:51):
injuries that team was was was going through at the top.
I think it was definitely close, though, And I think
when you look at what at what AUDI did, basically
the only player who had done that in the Big
Twelve in the last twenty years as a freshman was
Courtney Harris at Oklahoma. Like even like Audie Crooks's numbers
were like even more stand out than Brittany Grinders. And

(07:13):
that's not saying that she's better, but like that's just
pointing out like her efficiency, her production. It was a
historic season, and I think in some ways it still
went under the radar, which is just kind of wild
to think about. And I don't want to like make
the I don't want to go into the full ISU
thing right now, but I agree, I think, like I
want to see how Audi grows because I think part

(07:35):
of what is always so tough for me and projecting
this stuff out because like very similar to the W,
Like in the W and just in professional basketball in general,
I always look at the young teams. I get really
excited about them. I'm like, ah, well, I think they
can make some noise in the playoffs. I just very
much got to the point when like playoff experience matters greatly, right,
And I think I feel the same way with second
year players too. Would agree, Like it's really hard to

(07:58):
come in and just keep getting better every single year. Like,
obviously you're going to get better in some ways, but
I think there's just always going to be outside of
like you know, like the very special talents, which I
think Audio has a chance to be and addie or
teammate has a chance to be. I think the difficulty
though is like you just kind of don't know until

(08:19):
it happens and you see it, right, Like this is
not saying that this player isn't a special talent, but
like I think it was so much of like Cody
McMahon and what she did as a freshman at Ohio
State and last year she really had to kind of
figure some things out during the first month a big
ten play and in noncom before she really hit her
stride again. You know, teams have had a whole year
to scout you, they have a whole offseason to kind

(08:41):
of rewatch things on you and come in with a
different level of preparation, and I think it's just different
because this ioway say team, I don't want to say
that they caught people less surprised. I think people are
genuinely like they know, like Bill's teams are always going
to be serious. You can't just kind of underrate them.
But also like, I don't think anybody expected this team
to be as competitive as they were when you looked

(09:01):
at them from top to bottom at the start of
the year.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yeah, I mean, and especially considering like you start out
the year without Emily, Bryan and you, so you have
injuries there, did not look particularly good in a lot
of the early non conference and started yea. Yeah, the
develop the development was kind of absurd as the season
went on, And so that's where I do think there's

(09:25):
a lot of potential because they will be less weight
on the sophomores than there was last year because of
the kind of talent they brought into the transfer port.
But yeah, it's I've I've obviously seen them a lot
over my life, but I've been around at practice and
stuff like that. They look good, but it's it's impossible
to really predict. It's the same issue with the transfers

(09:47):
with from year to year. I do think that the
most difficult jump is freshman to sophomore, and so that's
just what makes everything kind of I don't know, it's
it's nebulous. It's that's why this is such a weird
league to preview to discuss.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
No, absolutely, I totally agree with that, Okay. I want
to throw out some other deep shot names because I
agree with all the ones you mentioned, and I love
that you brought up West Virginia early because I think,
just sneakily that team has like just not gotten nearly
enough talk this year. The other names that I went throughout, like,

(10:22):
I loved you mentioning Darian a little pitchbugs. I do
want to throw out Sarah Andrews's name, who we will
talk about more when we get to Baylor. I would
also shout out Madison Connor from TCU. She got injured
right towards the end of the year, but she was
phenomenal last season, and I think this TCU team is
just they are so much deeper, They're much better equipped

(10:45):
to handle the season before them, and I'm really impressed
with a lot of stuff that we saw from Mark
Hamill's team last year. I think if I had to
throw out one last name or I guess I would
do too one. Serena Sundel Inky State's getting better. She's awesome.
I love her game. Big part of what made k

(11:05):
State so good last year was just how composed and
kind of for all around impact and every way last
year thought she really improved as a defender and was
a big part of what that team did. And then
just as kind of in the similar vein to Samia
Nichols at Kansas. I have no idea what to make
out of Oklahoma State right now. This is just a
very different team. But Staley Hurt was incredible last year,

(11:26):
especially in Big twelve play, Just like very multifaceted, a
tough player to guard somebody who I think, you know,
if she makes that secondary leap, she could definitely I
could see you're finishing with some votes for it for sure,
you know, at least like ending up on that ballot
towards the end of the year.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah, a lot of those, I feel like, to me,
it always gets into all right, you have to be
like top three of the league if you're going to
win Player the year. Most of the time and so
that projecting how you're going to be who else is
going to contribute all of that? But Staley Hurt, I
mean she's someone who apply should be in the conversation
for you know, preseason at least I'll be twelve teams,

(12:05):
things like that. And then if again, she's another one
where if Oklahoma State is performing near the peak of
their potential, it's mostly going to be as a result
of her and her lifting up the team around her,
just because again of her versatility and what she brings.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
To the floor. So this can get us into our
next part because this is kind of talking about all
these players, right, how many teams if you had to
just put out a number, and we'll go through the teams,
but how many teams do you realistically think could win
the Big twelve regular season title? So not accounting for
the term because actually there's always going to be some
potential messiness in that. If you had to look right now,

(12:42):
what number would you put on the amount of teams
that can win the Big twelve regular.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
Season I I would say there are three that I
think are the main contender, and there's three that have
an outside chance, and there there's a lot of questions

(13:11):
with the latter three that I don't feel confident in
predicting one way or the other enough to put them
in that top tier. But especially we've seen how impactful
injuries are. We've seen that there's a lot of times
that a team on paper does not perform in the
way that we anticipate potentially. And then the one thing

(13:33):
I haven't really done is get into the meat of
the uneven scheduling, and so that certainly is going to
be impactful as well. And if any of those you know,
quote unquote second tier, which it's like you know, one A,
one B, if they have a more beneficial schedule, that
could also help them. But I would say that you

(13:53):
have like six that you could realistically have a conversation
about with three of them taking the bulk of it.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
Okay, so I have it at three and two. Who
are the who are your top three teams? Without listed?
Like we don't not in order, obviously, I don't think
that we have to do an order, but like.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
In alphabetical order, it's it's Baylor, Iowa State in k State.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
Yeah, okay, we're in the same boat.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
There's it's pretty it's play clear cut. I think at
the very top.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
Yeah, I kind of want to start with Iowa State
because we just talked so much about Audie right there.
I think again, like a team that sneakily had one
of the best transfer classes in the country, because this
is not just like a transfer class that is talented,
like obviously very talented, like Mackenzie Hair was very good

(14:41):
for Marquette last year. Lily Hansford was a big part
of Oregon State's run. But I look at I look
again like Sidney Harris, a player who played at TCU
who you didn't really get to see the entirety for
There was some some stuff with injury that kind of
kept her sideline, and so that was like there was
a little bit of muddleness someone her season was last year,

(15:01):
but was phenomenal at Central Michigan the year before. Again,
like three players who can all just shoot the absolute
leather off the ball, and especially when you look at
Sidney and Lily, like players who can really play on
the wing with size that can shoot the ball. That
just adds to the depth. I think, you know, to me,
one of the few areas that I could look at
at this team is like quote unquote having some weaknesses

(15:22):
last year was maybe like depth in the front court
and on the wing, Like there's a lot of guards,
a lot of like obviously the freshman who could make
an impact, but I think like having more size, like
Lily Hansford six to two, she's more of a guard,
but she's six to Sidney Harris is six one, Like
that adds a lot. And then one of my sneaky
favorites too, like somebody who I didn't really get to
see a lot during the year, but after doing kind

(15:44):
of a deep dive on some stuff in the A ten,
Lily Talaway is good, Like she was really good for it.
Like granted, this UMass team struggled a lot last year,
which I think is understandable considering how much they were
in flux with you know, they had their Nash, that
they were changing conferences, they had a coaching change, so
they went through a lot. But Lily Talaay was like

(16:06):
a star for that team last season as a freshman.
She six ' three, can play both the four and
the five, and I think it's somebody could really round
out what this front court is in a lot of
ways that they kind of missed some things last year,
just kind of seeing all this stuff coming together. What
have you thought of that group so far?

Speaker 3 (16:23):
Well, as soon as soon as I was looking at
the notes that we shared, I was like, see, this
is why I love working with Mark Because as soon
as I saw don't sleep on Lily Talaay, I was like,
he knows his step.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
And that's the thing is. Even statistically she wasn't a
statistical standout. That's the thing is, you know, you average
like six something points per game. People are like, okay,
like cool, maybe, oh she's young, she can develop. That's
not really actually the case if you watch the film,
it's that there was just something of a lack of

(16:57):
opportunities for her. And as you said, you know, there
was a lot of kind of inconsistency just because of
how much occurred in the offseason at UMass last year,
and so she struggled at times situationally, not really in
her play, just because there were some issues with the

(17:19):
perimeter play. They had a hard time feeding the ball inside.
And so when you're a post player, when you're a
four or five, you simply are not going to be
creating for yourself, especially as a freshman. You have to
have someone get you the ball. And so I watched
the film, I was blown away. I think she is
going to take a lot of people by surprise. She
is already extremely capable, was before she got to campus

(17:43):
for Iowa State and then has continued to even improve.
And then the other player that gets I think kind
of forgotten about a lot of the time because of
the fact that she was a red shirt is Alisa Williams,
who came in from LSU last year, and so she
was out all last year as a red shirt. She
was a late entry into the portal, decided not to
even try to fight for getting that year immediately because

(18:05):
she said, no, I need the time to get prepared.
Hadn't really played much at LSU, and both her and
Lily I was at practice the other day saw them
actually playing against each other for the first time this season,
and I was extremely extremely impressed, really happy with what
I saw from those two, just hoping that, okay, hopefully
one of the other can give you some backup five

(18:27):
minutes now, like I very much think that both of
them will have the opportunity to be impactful. And then,
like you said, the other three transfers in this year
are It's honestly kind of absurd to return what they
return and then to also pick up those players where
pretty much anywhere, not anywhere. There's a lot of places
they could have gone and been guaranteed this many minutes,

(18:50):
been guaranteed a starting spot, things like that, those promises
were not made in this situation. They all understand that
they are going to have to fight for playing time,
that nothing is going to be promised or given, but
they understand what the potential of the group as a
whole is, and so just a level of buy in,
the level of just competitive edge is really impressive. There's

(19:14):
a lot of shot making near Yeah, at one point
there was a streak of like, I think ten possessions
four on four against the scout team, and it was
like eight of them they scored, and six of them
were from the perimeter. And so you're looking at like
in out Audi, should you know, double potentially triple her

(19:35):
assists this year just because she's going to be continuing
to draw the double triple team and have even better
shooters available on the perimeter, which is kind of crazy
considering how well a lot of players shot last year.
And then across the board right now, everyone's looking healthy
and so that certainly helps as well. But yeah, there's
going to be bumps to the road. There's going to

(19:56):
be some things to figure out as far as lineups,
as far as minutes, things like that. But I'm I'm
super optimistic. I'm really really impressed with what I've seen
so far.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
Yeah, I think the biggest thing too, is, like we
talked about, part of what is gonna be so fascinating
with this group because like you mentioned enough top like
they have I love what they did with the schedule.
They just said we're going out and we're gonna We're
gonna do it. And I think especially part of what
I don't know, I used to be somebody who was
very much like, oh, well, you need to have like
an A plus schedule every year, And I think it's

(20:27):
so tough because, like you you have to win every year.
You have to put yourself in a position to have
some whiggel room right to especially when you're a group
where like with just how young this team was last year,
I think that and they still had a good non
con to be fair too. But I think like when
you have that, you have everybody coming back for the
most part, and you have this uh you know, all

(20:50):
this talent coming in, I like going for it and
kind of seeing what this can look like, because I
think there's a chance for this group is maybe they're
just a little bit better than last year, which is
still a very good team, like that's the top four
finish in the Big twelve, or maybe they elevate, they
take a step, they win one or two of those
massive marquee games, and they put themselves in a very

(21:13):
special place, and I you know, you can't really predict
where that's going to go because that's I just at
the place now where like not to like sound like
a fence sitter, but like I just you just don't
know until you see it sometimes, right, Yeah, But I
think there's a chance that this can end up being
like a very special season in names and continuing what
has been a really special freshman class.

Speaker 2 (21:33):
Yeah yeah, I mean definitely having this schedule, Iowa State
is kind of known as the one that like they
they'll kind of do whatever. And so you know, when
you're when you're locked into this Thanksgiving tournament and they say, yeah,
so your matchups are going to be Middle Tennessee State
and South Carolina, a lot of teams would push back
on that. Uh, but they just you know, they go

(21:54):
with the flow, and so generally they've had a top five,
top ten non conference schedule. Last year was a little
bit of an outlier, and even so it wasn't terrible,
but kind of getting back to the more typical this
year because you have to challenge yourself, and you have
to challenge yourself early otherwise you're going to be trying
to figure things out in conference season and no one
really wants to do that. So definitely knowing what's on

(22:16):
the table this year, it's a really motivated group and
they've obviously put themselves in a position where they can
make some noise early. They're going to know sort of
what they're made of pretty much right off the bat.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
Yeah, which is going to be really fun to watch
because again that's just fun. Like I think last year
for me when it really hit, I was like, okay,
the Iowa game, it felt like that was a game
where was like okay, wow, like yes, they ended up
losing that game, where I was like you could see
like that was kind of when they started to turn
the corner, you could see like, Okay, they have some
stuff to them. They're not just going to like because again,

(22:47):
they went down pretty decently early in that game and
we're able to kind of fight back and really make
it a game that showed something and I felt like
you can really see some stuff built off that. So again,
just very excited to watch that and how they kind
of keep building off that. Let's shift to talk about
ky State. Now, KSE State for me is like k

(23:08):
State is tough because like I'm a team, I'm a
person where like I don't I try my best to,
Like I don't know, I don't I don't like the
idea of like playing favorites. But case State was just
one of the teams that I like, I could not
get enough of last year because early on in the year,
you just you saw it with them. I was like, ah,
like this group like has like a special verb. They

(23:28):
moved the ball like they they they found like a
higher level of defense that had not been there before
because they were one of the top defensive teams in
the country last year. You saw them as one of
the first teams that really kind of I wouldn't even
say blueprint. They just they're so big, they're very mobile.
They have like a lot of players who are six
one or taller, and they in that early matchup in

(23:49):
Iowa City like being able to give Caitlin Clark some problems.
They beat Iowa. They obviously had the rematch with them
later again, and I was like, Okay, this team, Like
there was a point where when I was doing bracketology,
they were a one seed for a couple of weeks
and then Aoka's injury happened and they just really were
never really able to find that again. But you look

(24:11):
at everything that they add and like, for people who
haven't gotten to see her play, they it's so interesting
because this group, it's not that they weren't deep last year.
I think they like if you look at the box sport,
maybe wasn't deep. Obviously they really didn't have the ability
to replicate anything with Aoka gone, which makes sense, but
they found ways to kind of play differently without her.

(24:32):
But now I think they are just an even deeper
team this year. I love their additions in the transfer portal,
like tamiro Poindexter, who played at Tulsa last year was
one of the best all round scorers on the wing
outside high major basketball, and just in general last year,
six ' to one like pretty smooth can shoot It

(24:52):
has a really good in between game, and I think
especially when you lose somebody like Gabby Gregory, who was
really good for this team as like a secondary scorer
last year, having somebody who can fill that out in
a different way this year is going to be really
crucial because like, is she the same shooters gap to
get Gregory? No, but she like I think when you
talk about like okay, she can attack and post up
smaller guards. She really brings a lot of like mismatch versatility.

(25:15):
That's something this seem didn't have a ton of last year.
So just having players who can do things outside the
flow of the offense is big because I felt like
so often if they did not have a Oka League
going last year, they could not score that That's what
it came down to a lot of the time, Especially
like in the answer, they reliant, So I think like
having more options this year outside that is really big

(25:37):
and I'm excited to see that. I also really like
again going back through I felt kind of badroom Missouri Stakes.
Missouri State was a good team last year in the
I believe it's the NVC that they're in with Belmont
and they have all their best players transferred out, which understandable,
like you know, people get to see them play well
and like added Kennedy Taylor again was another really good addition.

(25:59):
Sixty three can really get on the glass, is efficient
much more like a depth player. But like again, having
players like that for if you if you have injuries
or if you need somebody to like kind of be
subbed out when you're up ten like that, that's meaningful.
So I really, I mean this team has the foundation
to be a last weekend team, like they have that

(26:21):
level of potential. I think all the three teams that
we're talking about at the top have that level, but
I think Case State to me has the highest ceiling
when you look about you know what they're you know,
the veterans that they have already and kind of just
in general what they've been able to put this this
foundational group with Jeff Midey staff, I think a lot
just comes down to health. Like the biggest question mark

(26:42):
is can AOCA least stay healthy for a whole season,
which I am very hopeful the answer is yes, because
again when you look at what the beginning of that
season was last year, that's what that team can do,
and that was like not just like a random spur
like that was. They played against good teams. They were
very clearly dominant to start Big twelve play. The injury

(27:04):
just completely derailed them.

Speaker 2 (27:06):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's interesting. You know, Kansas State returns
the most production in the league by by a pretty
wide margin. You know, they're returning eighty percent of their
minutes and over eighty percent of their scoring, rebound, assists,
defensive statistics, so steals the blocks all of that. And

(27:28):
it's it's hard because it was impossible to get a
real grasp on what case State was top to bottom
because of how different they looked when a Yoka played
versus when she didn't. And it's internal. In season inconsistency
is extremely difficult to overcome. So when she's in and

(27:49):
out a little bit, when you're having to make those
adjustments game to game, it's tough. Gavin Gregory looked very
different last year because she had stepped into the fu
point of the offense in her first year there. The
year prior, she had been able to you know, she
kind of was there five at a lot of the time,
and so she usually had some sort of matchup either

(28:10):
she was able to take a post player to the
perimeter or able to take a guard defender inside, and
she kind of struggled to find her footing. With Aoka back,
she obviously made a really big impact, but not as
significant as the year before. And then with Aoka, It's
what I keep coming back to is how good they

(28:31):
would be if they played her for like twenty five
minutes a game, because she would be able to be
as efficient as she is. But I think it drops
the injury risks so much. Like I just I always
think back to how jarring it was when she was
just coming back from being out and she comes to

(28:52):
Aims and we play in a double overtime game and
she plays like thirty plus minutes and it just it
felt I was so blown away. And obviously I'm not
in those meetings, I'm not the one that has that information,
but that was really shocking to me. And then she
goes back out after and so I think, especially with

(29:14):
the addition of those those other transfers like you mentioned,
with both Timir Poindexter and Kennedy Taylor, they're not her,
but their additional depth that can play in the interior,
and so if they can get her minutes down a
little bit and just balance it out more. I think
that they are so threatening. I think their depth is

(29:35):
extremely underrated. I think that Eliza Moppin when she has
good games is so good and the worst part for
me is that she gets so much more opportunity when
like Ayoka is out or when someone else is hurt,
and I just want her to get that consistent opportunity
because I think she's like six player of the year

(29:56):
potential easily. Ziata Walker too, She's one I talked about
last year as a potential sixth player of the year
just because there wasn't a clear cut one in the
league and so those two especially can really contribute. Uh.
And so yeah, when you look at what they did
last year, if they can stay remotely healthy, they are

(30:17):
so so scary. But the fact that that hinges on
Aoka staying healthy and the fact that I just I
don't know if she can And I love Postla. Aoka
is maybe my favorite player in the league that doesn't
play at Iowa State. I am obsessed with her. I
adore her, and she's like by all accounts, an amazing

(30:38):
human being as well. So like I'm a stand but
I just I I need to see evidence that she
will stay healthy the entire season, and that hasn't been there,
and so I, you know, I desperately hope she does
because I want the league to be as good as
it possibly can, which means that I want every team
to be as good as they can be. But they
have to make some majure change for the way they

(30:59):
did things last year in order for that to be
the case. But you know, hopefully they come to that
same realization and so we can see them really reach
their peak potential, because their peak potential is absurdly high.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
I love what you brought up with Eliza Moppin because
she was a player who again I think part of
was difficult, Like this wasn't a team that plays very fast,
so like you have to kind of keep that in
mind and remember, like, okay, box score is not always
like the most showing of production. I think that gets
lost sometimes and so like you look at what Eliza did,

(31:33):
because I think, you know, in talking like it gets
lost some times too, Like yes, they lost the Yoka,
but then they still won like three or four games,
including like they beat they beat Baylor. I think at Baylor,
I can't remember it was at Baylor or I think
I want to say it was a Faral Center. I
can't remember off the top of my head.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
But that's yeah, because it was a weird one. It
was a really weird one.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
But point being like that was I think two games
after Oka went down because they beat Kansas beforehand.

Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, then with both Jackson Andley out, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
It sucks. And then Eliza steps in and has like
a sixteen to nine game. She's so good running the floor,
awesome in pick and roll. But part of what's difficult
is like Aoka Lee is not a pick and real
big Aoka is, like we post her up and then
she's a really good playmaker, way better than I think
her stats give credit to. Again, like they're so good

(32:28):
at like just playing that four out one in like that.
But then there was like a three or four game
stretch where they really had things clicking, playing like Okay,
well now we're just gonna play faster, We're gonna play
with more like rim running. Giselle Sanchez, who again a
player who I really liked last year. Oh yeah, along
with Eliza like kind of played the five We're just

(32:49):
gonna play again really long, really fast, and it worked.
But then when you when you tried to mesh everything together,
that's where it just like it just felt very much
a push pull as the year went on, where they
were still good, but they just didn't have that, you know.
And so I'm just so interested to see how they
try and mesh that together this year because I think

(33:12):
if they can do that, that's, you know, that's what
sets them in apart as a group. But also have
to shout out a Moni Lester player who I think, like,
I'm insured, yeah, what kind of steps that she takes
for this year, like you talked about, I think just
the depth in general for this team is like pretty
stand out. So I'm very excited for that. I don't
know if you have anything else to add on k State.

(33:34):
I don't even think I'm trying to remember. Let mean,
I'm looking up the schedule right now because I thought
that I had it pulled.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
But I mean, my my only other big thing on
them is just that, you know, you mentioned Serena Sundel earlier,
and I think she's an extremely underrated player. She's gotten
some accolades, but like, I don't think that people realize
how integral she is to the success of that team
as a whole. You know, she's all the time. We

(34:01):
internally and you know, I in discussions compare her.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
To like, for you're about to say something, Okay, you
might say something that I was about to bring up,
So go ahead, sorry, go ahead.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
She reminds me a lot of for Iowa State Emily Bryan.
She is like they are very very similar in that
everything runs through them and so like for me, I
mostly talk with Iowa State people, and so you have
to contextualize within their own program. But she is just
she's a great playmaker, she's long, she's she does everything,

(34:31):
and so I just I think that she's a terrific player.
I really like Case State is a group, Like I
really like their team. But Serena Sundel I think gets
forgotten a little bit for how incredible Aoka Lee is.
But a lot of the success they have with Ayoka
out as a result of Serena being able to kind
of hold it down and so that maturity is so

(34:53):
so crucial. But there's there's a couple other ones that
I compare. I'm interested to hear who you are thinking.

Speaker 1 (34:59):
Yeah, Harrison, I've made so like as like we've talked
about before I do. A lot of my work is
in draft and scouting stuff. And for people who aren't aware,
I announced I am no longer with a WNBA and
my goal is to work in front office slash for
a team. So hit me up. I think Serena number
one a player who absolutely should be somebody people are

(35:21):
excited about this draft, like just a such a good playmaker.
And it's not just like not just playing with the
decision making, like it feels like she always is trying
to make the right play and do it quickly. That's
why she reminds me a ton of Tyrese Alberton, like
so much like Tyree watching him at Iowa I mean
at Iowa State, like a player who just like so

(35:42):
long but like you obviously like like very similar in
terms of yeah, they came into college is like kind
of underdeveloped physically as players like. I remember talking to
Serena last year. She said she came in she came
into k State at six to one, but was one
thirty five when she first came in, which was a
big reason why k State was one of her only
Power five offers. Like, and you look at the development

(36:05):
in the way that she has grown and grown her
game obviously, but also just grown her frame like a
player who really has a good shot to be a
very good pro. So I'm excited to see what that
looks like this year. Again, not everything is one to one,
but I think very similar to me of like kind
of what Tyres's development curve was.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
Like, and that reminds me of like a thing like
a drum. I kind of pound a lot, which is
that the two most easily impactful positions and the two
toughest positions to fill are a good true point guard
and a good true post, because you know, everyone wants

(36:43):
to do the positionless thing, and so to have a
post truly capable of playing inside consistently and buying in
and impacting the game is tough. And then point guards
are just you know, they are so rare anymore. I
get a true point guard where they you know, they're
cool with being pass first, they're obviously the best, are

(37:04):
also capable of being real scoring threats. But I think
that those two are just so difficult because there's less
wiggle room and what makes us successful. One of those positions,
you know, you can do a lot of things really
well as a forward, as a wing, but there are
some things that are just non negotiable in the post
and as a point guard. And that's what really is

(37:27):
a big strength of Kansas State, assuming that Aoka is
healthy and now that they have some more of the depth,
and that is also a strength of Iowa State, and
I think what makes their stealing really really high. And
there's more of that in the third school that I
think if you and I both have in our top

(37:48):
three this year, which is so interesting.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
Yes, we have a lot to talk about with that one.
I do just want to ask because some news just broke.
We now are getting a new like a random term
tournament in the middle of January just popped up called
the Kreta Scott King Classic that will be taking place
in Newark, New Jersey, on January twentieth. Ucla and Baylor
will face off and Texas and Maryland will face off.

(38:13):
This is awesome. It impacts in the Big twelve less
than we're used to impacting the Big twelve, which I'm
still just so not used to Texas and Oklahoma not
being a Big twelve place. But that is a that's
a big it's a big thing happening, So I'm very
excited about that will be taking place on Martin Luther
King Junior Day. That's a big time I guess not tournament,
but like just kind of too two team I mean

(38:34):
to two game classic to have happened.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
I love that. That's something that the NCAA is, especially
on the women's side, is starting to really get going.
Like I alway States a couple of them this year,
and so I think that those are super, super fun
and it's just a really good way to get a
lot of fans of the game as a whole, because
that's what we've really been adding here recently, is people
that are following the entire landscape as opposed to just

(38:59):
their local team or whatever, and so they are just
they're so good and those are going to be such
good matchups. Oh my gosh, like Baylor and u c LA.
I'm like, I'm ecstatic that is that is awesome. I
am so fascinated. I am so intrigued by what that's
going to look like. Oh my gosh, this is just like,
oh this made my day. I love good basketball me too.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
That makes me very excited. Okay, So I have to
mention too, just real quick. Looking at k State's schedule,
I actually think their schedule is a little bit stronger
this year than it was last year. They played green
Bay again, I believe they played green Bay last year. Belmont,
who will be solid although they had a lot of
transfer I still I mean, Bart's a really good coach.
They'll still be good. Oh, Creyton, who will not be

(39:42):
quite as good this year, but should still be pretty solid.

Speaker 2 (39:45):
One of the oldest teams of the country still, so
you're going to see a lot of experience between those two.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
Definitely. They played Duke in the Bulldogs Classic on November
twenty fifth, and then they'll either play the Paul which
is not quite as good but could potentially play Oklahom
so that could be fun. Very excited about what that
could look like. And then the other games it's a
little bit easier on out and then they take on
Texas A and m the Middle Tennessee in mid November

(40:12):
mid December. I think those will be solid, So I'm
looking forward to that. I think it's a strong non
con headed into what should be a very interesting Big
twelve season. We can talk about Baylor now because I
think Baylor is a team that I just in general
like you and I talked about them a ton last year.
I think I was very excited about them early on there,
I was excited about them all year. They went through

(40:33):
like kind of a lot of ups and downs throughout
the year, right like they started off with just an
incredible start to the season. I think, like, I mean,
they went to the Sweet sixteen, could have very easily
gone to the Elite in a game that went down
to the wire against Southern cal But I think you

(40:54):
look at I mean, this team is returning a lot,
but also they do have some key departures, particularly in
the front with both Asia Blackwell Andreon Edwards moving on
to the pros. But I think they brought in one
of my one of my favorite pure like bit transfers
and also talent like Aaronet Vonley is going to make

(41:15):
this team so much better. A very mobile defender who
can just like really play. Obviously brings a real size
like Asia Blackwell Andreana Edwards did a lot playing in
the post, but they were both six ' one six
foot aeronet Vinland' is like legit sixty three, So I
think like that just brings like a different element, especially
like the Big twelve is like they are very post heavy.

(41:37):
This year. I don't know if you felt that going
through everything. I'm so happy it's gonna I mean like
it plays a part obviously because like Aoklis here obviously
Tiana Jackson is not here anymore, but like still, like
every team it feels like has a six to four
taller post that you have to contend with. But then yeah,
so adding AARNet is huge. I think that's like a
post presence that they did not have last year because

(42:00):
as good as Drianna and an Asia, where like I
just don't think they were quite that lovel of like
you could really just drop the ball into the post
for them, Like I think there were times where you could,
but often one of the issues, like this team started
off amazing on offense last year. That was the bread
and butter. They were fantastic offensively, and then it hit
a point where it was like, Okay, we're not going

(42:20):
to help in the post and then you have to
play one on one and you're going to struggle. And
I think that was something they had to work through
last year and they got better a little bit. Yeah, yeah,
I think they really figured it out as you went
on and got better with it, Like jam Van Gettenbeek
was really huge and kind of settling things down and
they became a much stronger half court team as you
went on. I think Aaronett gives them a much stronger

(42:42):
foundation off rip for like having that, because this is
a team with a lot of play makers, a lot
of players that can make things happen, but I think
having a player like Aaronnett who can kind of settle
them down in the post, along with some of the
growth of the players on the wing, the law firm
of Little page Bugs and Final Roy which I'm very
excited about for than entering as upper classmen this year,

(43:03):
and obviously Sarah Andrew's back. Like this is again there's
so much talent on this team, and I was really
impressible what Nikki Colin did as a year, you know
again kind of figuring things out as a year went
on last year. There's a lot of potential for this
group to do things this season. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
Absolutely. I mean they're another team that returns a lot
of experience. You know, they're returning over seventy percent of
their meat their minutes, and then you know the drop
off is obviously they return only half of their rebounding
but That's something that I think is, honestly, with their personnel,
about as easy to replace as any situation where you

(43:38):
lose the caliber of rebounders that they had in both
Blackwell and Edwards, and so obviously adding von Lay is massive.
I have I have a friend that I discuss a
lot of transfer stuff with and the second that news
broke that von Ley was transferring, I text her and

(43:59):
I said, that is a Baylor Bear. It was like
the most obvious thing in the world to me. And
I'm not saying, like I've heard things like that's that's
not what I'm say. I say, I looked at it,
and you knew that Baylor was hunting in the portal
for a five man and for whatever reason, they just

(44:19):
had not gotten one done yet. And as soon as
she went in, I said, that is the perfect fit.
She can run the floor, she is versatile, she can defend,
she does have that length, she's so efficient. Like That's
what really blew my mind is especially because of how
difficult it is to watch the PAC twelve. I didn't

(44:39):
get to see as much of Colorado last year as
I really would have liked because of how interesting I
find them as a team on the whole. But like
the fact that she was doing what she did in like,
what was it, twenty five minutes a game something like that,
like her official see is just absurd, And I yeah,

(45:03):
I thought, I think she's the perfect fit, kind of
under the radar as well an addition for them as
they signed a really good JUCO player in Wada Jennings,
and so I mean that's there's a little bit less
need outside of the post, as you know you kind

(45:23):
of alluded to in our note things like that. But
she was really good. She is all over. She is defensive, offensive,
and so especially given some of the struggles that Baylor
had defensively last year, I think that she's someone who
sneakily could be extremely impactful. She's five to nine, she
can play out on the perimeter, but she averaged three

(45:47):
and a half steals in a block per game last year.
Like that's I mean, that's just so impressive to do
that consistently. So, you know, she was the WBCA two
year College Player of the Year. She's she's extremely talented,
and so that with everything they bring back and of
the players that you and I have already listed, that's

(46:08):
not even getting into the fact that Yah Yah Felder
I think had some times where they were trying to
figure out how to use her, how she would adjust,
and she really came along as the year went on,
as well as Jada Walker, I think is extremely underrated
for all the attention that Sarah Andrews gets. The fact
that Baylor can consistently run the two point guard system,

(46:28):
which we talked about a lot last year, That's something
that they really try to do a lot of. And Jada,
I mean, she is she is massive with that. I
think that if they could even get ya Ya involved
and reduce Sarah's minutes slightly, her efficiency would go way up.
She had to play a ton this past year. Her
efficiency was a little bit down from past years. But

(46:48):
if they can get those other players and Janna, I
mean down the stretch like she is maybe the biggest
reason that they've really pulled things together and went on
that run in the tournament, just because I mean, she
brought so much to steadiness. She was always, you know,

(47:10):
very consistent there again down the stretch, and I mean,
I think that she has a chance to make a massive,
massive impact this year. But yeah, that guardcore is very intriguing.
Baylor has been kind of up and down with Nikki
Colin in that they've they've had some really significant success,
but there's been some time where you just kind of

(47:31):
scratch your head and say, well, wait, but why did
they struggle in this game, or well, why did they
go on this skid? And they've They've ultimately had pretty
consistent performance at some point in every season. But I
think that as more of the players are more consistent,

(47:53):
you know, when you are not having a lot of
transfers in this year, when you have players that have
played together for at least a year and some of
them for multiple years, that's what you can really start
to get a rhythm going. And so I think that
Baylor has some of the most potential this year just
because of that consistency. I'm just really interested to see

(48:13):
if they can fully take advantage of it.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
Yeah, I think that there's a chance this group ends
up better than last year's team. Like I'm very them.
I know that's not really saying much, but like, yeah,
I think, and to me that's saying it is saying louse.
Like I think this group has potential to be like
outside shot Final four team, Like I don't think it's crazy.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
Again to be more consistent.

Speaker 1 (48:38):
Yes, because I think the consistency piece is so huge,
like you talked about, I do want to say, like
to be fair Sarah Andrews, I know, I believe she
was coming off of an injury that she sustained like
early on in fallfore the season happened, So it just
kind of never felt like she got fully right from that,
like you know, in terms of like just like being

(49:00):
you know, her self conditioned wise, it didn't seem like
she was herself until like maybe later on in the
season and just looking at you know, the sheer consistency part,
I think that's what I really want to see from
Sarah's game. I think that has been a thing with
Baylor and her at Baylor, is like getting her to
be consistent because like you just look at this the
discrepancy between wins and losses, and obviously any player is

(49:21):
going to have a discrepancy and wins and losses, but
like she shoots forty one percent from the field and
wins twenty eight percent, losses twenty seven percent from three
and losses thirty nine percent and wins, Like I want
to see that even out right, Like I want to
see her be able to be that. Like she still
has the same level of impact in a game, don't
let me wrong, but like you got to have that

(49:42):
same level of like makes in a game too, And
I think getting to that level will be really big
for her, you know, extending her as a pro too.
Like that's just kind of where it is. And I
think when we talk about her being a player that
your candidate, if that becomes more consistent, I think that
she's absolutely in that conversation because what I mean you
just look that game that they played against USC. They

(50:02):
do not come close to having that be a close
game without the performance she has against them. I mean
that was that was like the game where you're like, okay, yeah,
that's that's why Sarah Andrews is such an important player.
Like I mean, obviously you can point out to that
in every game, but I think watching that game in particular,
I mean, she took what thirteen attempts from deep like yeah,
that that's have it right in front of me. That

(50:23):
was what it was like. And especially to part of
like what the last thing I'd want to hit on
with Baylor two. I think in some ways this year
is almost I don't want to say better for them,
but I think like there are there are true posts
in this league, for sure, But I also think so
much of like the new teams coming in, it's about

(50:43):
their guard play. And I think again, part of what
made this team so successful in the NCAA tournament. This
team has really good guard play. This team has the
ability to really shoot the ball, and they also have
the ability to really defend the perimeter. I think you
watch what what Daryn a little Page and Bellafano Roy
did in that game agains Juju Watkins. I think personally

(51:04):
that is the most uncomfortable Juju Watkins looked as a
player all of last season. And obviously she still did
really good things. She had a case to be National
Player of the Year. And that's not saying that you know,
she's you know, bad or something like yeah, clearly not,
but point being like, I think, when you have those
two players and this team built around them, and then

(51:28):
as part of it, I should say like they have
the capabilities to make every single like any player who
is a strong guard uncomfortable. So that's why you have
to be like excited about what the team can do
in the postseason, because they have the tools to really
just like extend a run and make something difficult in
a tournament setting. So I'm excited about Baylor. Did you

(51:51):
have anything else you want to hit on with them?

Speaker 2 (51:53):
No, I think we got it.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
Okay, we could just go really quickly through the three
teams that I think you and I are in agreement on,
because I have an assumption on who you added in
as your third. I had two, and I think the
third is the team that I thought about and could
lump in. I'll go first, obviously, TCU. I know we
have TCU there. I don't really I mean, I don't

(52:15):
really think we even need to say a ton about TCU.
I was really impressed with a lot of stuff we
saw from them last year. We talked about this the
last time we pought, which was surprisingly long ago. They
are they run good stuff. Mark Campbell's system is very
good at developing a high class offense, and they're just
way deeper this season, Like they brought an insane amount

(52:37):
of transfers, all very good who are proving college players,
at most of them at the Power five level. Haley
van Lyth is a good college player when you know, obviously,
I think this system is going to be better shuited
for her than what it was at LSU last year.
I think Maddie Shear is a player who has probably
gone underrated just because because of Kentucky's troubles. She's a

(53:00):
player who fits that ability to you know, take and
make really difficult shots, particularly on the move, strong defender
and keep the ball moving. Like you see the bones
of this team becoming like just a very good, well rounded,
deep team that is going to be one of the
better offenses in the country.

Speaker 2 (53:17):
The transfer I even think could be the most impactful
is Donovant Hunter. To have her running the point after
you know, Jaden Owens was so crucial for them. They've
really struggled to replace her at the point guard position
after she got injured. And so to have Donovan Hunter
coming in, someone who is tall as a point guard

(53:39):
six foot, really was able to do a lot for
Oregon State last year, so has played against good competition.
She has several years, she has three years left, so
that's really big for them as a program. But then
you know, we saw how Fann Lived at times was
put into, you know, having to try to run the
point and that's just not the preferred position. Having her

(53:59):
as like the off guard is definitely more suited to
her skill set, and so to have someone else who
you know for sure is going to be capable of
running that point is absolutely massive for them. And then
you're also returning over seventy percent of your production from
last year. They are certainly very intriguing. Having more depth
also helps a lot of the time with injury issues

(54:20):
that we know extremely well that that was an issue
for them last year. So yes, that is that is
an intriguing spot for sure.

Speaker 1 (54:29):
Yeah, I'd add too because I love you bringing up
donovand Hunter because I think to me, like, obviously they
brought in a lot of good trans she was my
favorite transfer they brought it. I think she is the
one I look at like that is.

Speaker 2 (54:38):
The player my top kick as newcomer of the year
from that team.

Speaker 1 (54:41):
Yeah, because again, like her box score wasn't anything crazy,
but Oregon State played a little bit slower. I think
they're going to play really fast at TCU. It's just
going to be a different kind of environment offensively, and
a player who just improved every single month, Like you
look at each month, her scoring went up, her efficiency

(55:01):
went up, and she played her best basketball during the
NCAA Tournament. I thought she was fantastic against Notre Dame.
Obviously everybody on that team had trouble against South Carolina,
but I think she's still very much hung up as
an athlete. Yeah. I love what she brought up too,
about like just being able to have HBL more comfortable, Like,
you know, what she can do is like kind of

(55:22):
that scoring combo guard who can really play off the
ball get into things. Having a player like Donovan who
can initiate sets really keep things moving. Like, there's just
a lot of variability in what this team brings, kind
of similar to Baylor, obviously in a different light, you know,
and being able to have multiple playmakers who can really
create I think one of the two players so I'm

(55:44):
just kind of most interested to see how they fit
into will be the Asian Brrell and Natalie Majerik. Because again,
like sort of like we talked about with Aoka League,
Sodona Prince being healthy is just so instrumental for this team,
Like they cannot really hate an injury to her at least,
I mean last year, I should say that was not
something they could deal with. Obviously, Agnes Hamonopu and Alia

(56:07):
Robertson were both very solid last year and did good things. Actually,
I thought Agnes was fantastic, Like he was somebody who
was like a really bright spot for me that I
really loved getting to see grow.

Speaker 2 (56:15):
She's definitely on my like underrated list for.

Speaker 1 (56:18):
Yeah, she was really good. So I think just overall,
like you look at this and there's the chance for
this group to really click and be very good. I think,
like we talked about, Madison Connor was fantastic last year.
I'm excited to see how that all plays together. I
just what does the defense look like is kind of
going to be my thing because they didn't really find
a like again, it's hard because we just as soon

(56:41):
as they started to get into the meat of their
schedule is when all the injuries started to hit. So
I just felt like we didn get an awesome look
at what this group could do, you know, when they're
fully healthy. I feel like we're gonna get a better
look this season. But I mean, knowing what Mark has
been able to do, you know both here and at
Sacks Stay in terms of like building out an offense

(57:02):
that is going to be just a juggernaut I'm pretty
confident this is got to be pretty good this year.
I think a last is gonna depend on consistency and
injuries and kind of figuring out some of the things
around that, and may.

Speaker 2 (57:14):
Even struggle at times early against you know, top level competition,
But I think that they have the pieces to be
pretty confident that they will figure it out to sell degree.

Speaker 1 (57:26):
Yeah, and there there's gonna be It's gonna be interesting
for them too, because their non conference is stronger than
last year. They'll play NC State and South Carolina both
in non conference, so that's a lot. And then they
go to the Cayman Island Classic and they'll play to
of USF, Notre Dame, Utah in Missippi State, so some
good stuff in there as well. They don't have any

(57:47):
freshmen on the team, which kind of adds to a
point that we talked about before we got on. But like,
I'm not sure there has been a conference hit harder
by realignment than the Big twelve. Other evan kick a
conference that still exists that has been hit harder than
the Big twelve. Pack twelve be damned, like there are

(58:08):
just there are multiple teams in the Big Twelve this
year that have one freshman or less. And granted, like
I think part of that's just like how the game
has gone and where it's evolving to. But also like
in general, you just look at how many transfers are
on each team from this past season, it's pretty jarring,
Like especially a lot of the teams that are coming
out of the pack and even a lot of the

(58:31):
teams that were very sustained in the Big Twelve this
past year, Like, there's just so much turnover. So I'm
just again I'm fascinate to see what that means long term,
because right now, like I think there's just a lot
of like seniority in the Big Twelve, which is gonna
be cool for competition, but in terms of like what
this looks like long term, I will be really interested

(58:52):
by that.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
Yeah, I mean, over half of the players in the
league are, by some rough figures, are at least at
some point transfers. And then you've got about thirty five
percent of the league our seniors, whether that be fourth
or fifth year. And so obviously this is the last
like true year of having the fifth years. There's still

(59:13):
going to be that with redshirts and whatever, but it's
an old league. But it's a new league in a
lot of senses where you have a lot of experienced players,
but not a lot of people that have been in
the same spot for a long time. And that's what
happens when you know, you have people moving conferences, you
have coaching changes, all of that. So it's it's definitely
very odd, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's a

(59:36):
consistent thing with TCU as long as Kible's there, at
least because he is someone who has a long history
with recruiting. He's extremely well connected. But you know, he's
already been able to bring in these transfers and have
success with them. And so if you could kind of
position yourself as that, you know, not to say like

(59:57):
a true transfer you, but you know if the sh
you fits like I can see that continuing to be
something that they keep going back to, because if they
have successful with it this year, that's starting to be
more of a pattern.

Speaker 1 (01:00:11):
Yeah, no, I agree. I'm I'm really excited to see
how they keep building out because even you just think
about what this team was, you know, a season and
a half ago and kind of having to rebuild that
roster on the fly to get to where they're at now.
I'm just excited to watch them come together because some
of the ball that they were playing early on there
was so fun. I do have to say, though, to

(01:00:33):
anybody who had the great displeasure of seeing this game.
They played a non conference game against Nebraska in in
for Worth and the camera to record it, so it
wasn't broadcast live. The camera to record it was put

(01:00:53):
on the scorers table. It was like one of those
three sixty cameras that like tracks the ball automatically. And
the amount of times I bitched about this film to
like other people who like work in video, it was
it was it's legitimately like the worst thing I've ever
seen put on Synergy. It was so bad, Like, did

(01:01:15):
I watch the.

Speaker 2 (01:01:16):
To go look at it immediately after that?

Speaker 1 (01:01:18):
I like, I almost watched. I'm pretty sure I get
a flag for a video violation if I did it
right now, so you'll just I'll have to send you
a screenshot of it later. But it was like, dude,
it's legitimately so bad. You're like, it's like the sideline
RAF point of view, except it's like you're also wearing
like coke bottled glasses, so you can't see anything. One
of the worst things I've ever seen, but just you know,

(01:01:39):
neither here nor there. Let's move on to our next team,
who I almost put in the top tier, and that's
West Virginia. And I think, yep, it's fun because I
feel like you and I might be two of the
only people who have talked about West Virginia being in
this tier. This team brings back almost everybody, Like they

(01:02:00):
graduated a few players, but I believe almost everybody's back.
The majority of their starting lineup is back, and they
were really good last year. Like I think that just
continues to go under the radar. Like, yes, they lost
in the second round of the tournament, granted against an area
team that went to the national title game. Can't lose that,
and they beat a team that should not have been

(01:02:21):
as both just quick soapbox thing. Both West Virginia and
Princeton should not have been seated as low as they were.
I think that was such a mistake by the committee.

Speaker 2 (01:02:31):
They waited so heavily on the way teams finish the season.
It was like it was.

Speaker 1 (01:02:35):
Very annoying, Like Princeton lost to Colombia in the that
championship game, but like they had beat Columbia multiple times
during the regular season. They've been good in non con like,
don't even get me started. Same thing with West Virginia.
Like West Virginia was good in the Big Twelve too,
Like they had beat multiple teams in the Big Twelve. Yes,

(01:02:56):
they did not do great in the Big Twelve tournament.
I don't care. That team was so much better than
where they got seated. But whatever point being, they bring
back JJ Quinnerley, they bring back and who I'm one
of the players I'm most excited for in this in
the conference, Jordan Harrison. I love Jordan Harrison, Like JJ

(01:03:17):
Quinnerley deservedly got a ton of love for this team
last year. But I think, like, I mean, what Jordan does,
she's a five to six card, but like so big
in what they do with their ball, pressure defense, was
so good attacking against Iowa and Princeton, just getting the
ball off the dribble, like one of might have the
quickest first step in the conference. One of the things

(01:03:40):
I keep coming back to, I have no idea how
she didn't go power five right out of high school,
like was with Mark Kellogg at Steven F. Austin before
he made the transfer over to West Virginia and she's
just been awesome. Like she's been so good again JJ
Quinnerley too, Defensive player of the Year. Like this team's
defense is so good. I think the only question that
I have holding them back is post play. Like we've

(01:04:03):
talked about, I think the post play at the top
of the league is what sets a lot of those
teams apart. They bring back Tears and More, who was
very good, but she is a little bit smaller, she's
six foot. I do like some of the players that
they brought in in terms of being able to fill
some of that spot out, like you know, like the
Jordan Thomas, their post, their freshman post who they brought in.

(01:04:26):
I'm not sure how much she'll play this year. I
think she has a chance to fill in. They brought
in some community some JUCO slash community college transfers as
well that I think could make an impact there. But
point being like this is largely the same team as
last year. They're a little bit older, and again, like
they added some guards who are going to be good
as well, like Sydney wood Woodley was very good for

(01:04:48):
Long Beach State. I'm interested to see her impact bigger
aspect to Like Sidney Shaw was a really key part
of Auburn last year and I think fits in so
well to this West Virginia team. Like Auburn plays a
very similar style to West Virginia, you know a lot
of like playing off the dribble offense kind of in
that dribble drive and playing a lot of pressure defense.

(01:05:12):
Like I think Sydney could fit in so well with
this and be like pretty perfect is a third guard
for them. So I'm just fascinating to what that looks like.
What Sorry, I've been like going on, where are you
at with this Auburn team? No, Jesus West Virginia, you
know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (01:05:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I'm I'm extremely high on them
as well with the obvious caveat of the post presence.
The other player that I think is really interesting to
me is Dian Nugent, now that she's I think healthy
this year, was injured last year, but she also came
over with Kellogg from Steven F. Austin and so that's
just more guard depth. The thing that really blew my

(01:05:49):
mind that I had somehow completely like had leave my
mind until I was doing front for this. They fully
played last season with a maximum ten player roster like
they had preseason injuries and then a couple of preseason
like eligibility things with transfers that left them with ten

(01:06:10):
total players and two of them only played twenty one
games due to injuries and stuff like that's crazy. And
let's also make note that that's with the absurd pace
that they play at. Yeah, like that's crazy. Jordan Harrison,
you are speaking my language. Extremely extremely underrated. Was a

(01:06:33):
second team All Big twelve player. She was third in
the league at wind share like she was ahead of
JJ Quinnerley in win share. She had a five point
two like that crazy. She was so impactful, she did
so much for them, and having both her and Quinnerly
as options. I think that they play off of each

(01:06:53):
other so well, which for how similar they are in
some ways is not easy, and so that just really
impressed me. I thought that they played really cohesively as
a group. I thought that Kellogg had an incredible coaching job,

(01:07:14):
had just a lot of really tough situations, especially with
like I said, the lack of death, some struggles in
the post. I was continuously really impressed. I felt like
they kind of maximized their talent in a lot of ways,
and so I'm very intrigued by them this year. They're
a team that I'm never really going to bet against.
I think that the interior is going to be the

(01:07:39):
I mean, it's it's the obvious question mark that's going
to be the limiting factor as to what their floor is,
what they're ceiling is, Like you, Satis and More was solid,
but she's just she's not big enough to be the
go to if they're going to be truly elite. She's
a solid option, but I don't know. I think that
if they can get some decent minutes out of Jordan Thomas,

(01:08:02):
like she's six three, she's a top one hundred recruit.
If again it's it's a tough spot to come into,
but if she can come in and even be a
defensive presence, that raises their ceiling dramatically. Because they were
great defensively on the perimeter, and so if they could

(01:08:24):
make it really difficult to feed the ball inside, then
that was kind of their recipe for success against teams
with elite post players. But as soon as you got
the ball in, it was generally kind of game over.
Either there's a foul or they're just easily scoring. So
if you can even put her in there to defend,

(01:08:44):
I mean her or Man. I thought that Danelle eric
Babu made huge stride throughout the course of the season
where you don't even need them to be huge offensive presence.
Their whole thing is defense and that they create off
of their defense. So if a couple of those players
could even be options for ten to fifteen minutes a game,

(01:09:07):
that's going to be really crucial for them. But I
think what they return is enough to say, yes, they
are going to be good, but it's about how good
they can be.

Speaker 1 (01:09:16):
Yeah, they didn't even mention that Kylie Blackson's back who
started at the five for them for most of the
last year too. I think like just kind of shoring
up that backup position is gonna be key because it
was like, okay, if she ever got into foul trouble,
it was difficult because like Weed, I think Tiers and
more did really good stuff, but just the sheer drop
off of going from sixty three to six foot was
like very difficult against a lot of the teams in

(01:09:38):
the Big twelve. Like, I think that was a big
reason why k State kind of had their number. But
it's also part of like they were so good against
playing Oklahoma because they were able to they run with them. Cool,
we can, we can run with you. We can. We're
faster than you. Like, they have a lot of the
bones and good stuff. I keep like, I'm sorry, I
feel like I keep forgetting stuff, but like I forgot

(01:09:59):
about Like, Okay, Lauren Fields is not here, so I
you know, replicating her stuff is going to be key
because she was their best shooter last year for the
most part, most consistent, I should say, you know, so
continuing to build off that, But like I just still
think like sleeping on West Virginia in any way, shape
or form would be a mistake with how good this

(01:10:20):
team was last year, with what they're bringing back and
just what they showed. I think, like, again, maybe the
offensive consistency wasn't always there because you can't always rely
on trass going. But you knew this team was going
to play insanely good defense pretty much every night. Sometimes
you're just able to break their press if you have
the right personnel. But I'm excited to watch them come back.

(01:10:42):
Last shot with them, though, is interested to see what
Chelly Rivera can do. Played at Northwest Florida State the
last two seasons and transferred in. I haven't seen much
of her game, but just in general, there have been
a lot of players who would come out of that
same program and been able to make an impact. So
we'll be watching for that. Yeah, for sure. Let's move

(01:11:03):
to our last team that we have in this tier?
Who is it for you? Because I have a feeling
off of what we've talked about already, but who is
it for you?

Speaker 2 (01:11:13):
I actually made an adjustment so I have like TCU
West Virginia, and then I have like another the tier
that I added one other one in there. So initially
it was just Kansas. Now I have Kansas and Utah
because that was an oversight on my part to not
have them in there initially. With Meakin's returning, you lose

(01:11:36):
a list appeally, Yeah, that's tough. But Utah returns so
much more than a lot of Big twelve fans I
think are going to be aware of. And so I
am extremely extremely interested to see what that looks like
between having like I said, Niekins back, You've got Jenna Johnson,
You've got Kenny McLean, like you have some really solid

(01:11:58):
players there. I don't really have them as ones that
are them in Kansas both. I don't think they win
the conference, but I think they're going to have a
great shot at beating the teams that are competing to
win the conference.

Speaker 1 (01:12:14):
I like this tier too, because like I was, like,
I wasn't sure. I didn't feel great about projecting Utah
into that one because, like you said, I think just
they bring back a lot obviously, but losing Allissa Pelee
is pretty massive, and I just I think you bring
in a player in Mayatare who was very good at
Rhode Island the past two seasons. I'm just going to

(01:12:37):
be interested to see, Like, I mean, she cannot be
Illisipee obviously, but she kind of brings a different element. She's,
you know, a little bit taller. I think it's going
to bring a little bit more defensively that that they
didn't have in that same spot last year. But is
it the same type of threat from distance? I'll be
interested to see, like, Okay, what does that maybe look
different at Utah. We know how they kind of prioritize

(01:12:59):
things and and how they're able to get the best
out of people in that way. So I'll be fascinating
to see that because that, like Rhode Island is just
like such a stark difference in style compared to Utah.
But I think my could really play some of her
best ball in Utah, So I'm excited about that. Obviously.

(01:13:19):
Adac Kira Evans another player who can, like you know,
she's got Power five experience playing the post, so I
think that that is something that should work out. Well.
I'm trying to think if there's anything else I wanted
to add on Utah.

Speaker 2 (01:13:33):
The biggest thing with Utah is sort of similar to
me with West Virginia in like a completely different way,
but that they don't have like the big, like solid
physical post presence that is maybe solidified, Like they have
people that I think could do it and are capable,
but not that have done it there and in the
exact same way. And so that's going to always be

(01:13:56):
a question mark, especially when you're talking about competing at
the top of the conference the Big twelve, because of,
as you said, the strength that they have in the post.
But they have quite a few people that I think
could do it, and they have a lot of perimeter length,
and so you have that kind of trade off where
they are going to have that strength with the capability
on the perimeter that's going to be really difficult for

(01:14:18):
other teams to defend. So it'll be their games will,
I think, consistently be who's able to play their style
in a way that is going to be maybe like
the starkest difference between any team in the Big Twelve
and the rest of the conference.

Speaker 1 (01:14:36):
Yeah. I think the other thing I'll be looking at
you though, is like worth noting like it's cool because
she's back on staff this year in her first coaching job,
but Deja Young, who was their best defender last year,
is obviously a coach now because her time is up
as a player. But like, so I'll be fasci and to
see how they kind of fill that out. Although I
will say, like, I really liked how Maddie Will came

(01:14:56):
along last year. I thought she showed some really good stuff.
So I'm gonna be fascinating to see how she kind
of plays this season and makes growth again somebody really
plays some of her best ball further into Pac twelve play,
I don't think I have anything else on Utah With that,
I am excited to talk about Kansas though, briefly because

(01:15:17):
They're a team that I flirted with having there. I
think that they are a team that's definitely in play
to make the NCAA Tournament, which is kind of what
this tier is. We talked about Samia Nichols early. I
think her growth is probably the biggest hinge for this team.
Making that growth like they're sort of in a youth
wave to a degree, but also like they're they're here

(01:15:38):
to compete right now, Like they still have a lot
of veterans on this team. So what has you feeling
good about having Kansas year?

Speaker 2 (01:15:46):
You know, Sam Nichols, as you said, great player, extremely
capable that a lot as a freshman, was part of
a contingent that was unreal as far as conference wide
freshman performance, top the bottom. Big Twelve had I think,
unquestionably the best overall freshman group. Like when you talk

(01:16:08):
about most teams had a freshman that was consistently contributing
at an extremely high level. They had I think at
my last count, they had thirteen players that in any
other year would have four sure made All Freshmen team
in the Big Twelve, and they had I think at

(01:16:30):
least four to five that in past years would have
for sure won Freshman of the Year, like it was crazy.
So Samayah Nichols is terrific again under the radar why
Bet Mayberry. She has been really solid for them. She
can handle the ball. She is an experienced presence for

(01:16:51):
a team that only returns thirty six percent of their minutes,
that returns less than twenty five percent of their rebounding
less than forty percent of their scoring. Like you're having
to replace some main states last year they were an
extremely old team. But when you lose Tayana Jackson, when
you lose Holly kurrz Getter, when you lose a KaiA Franklin,
things are gonna look really different. But having why at

(01:17:13):
Mayberry as kind of a helper in that transition into
what the new wave is going to look like for
Kansas is really really big. And then someone that I
know you have highlighted in your notes that I of
course know and I'm familiar with, is El Evans coming
in from North Dakota State. I was State played North
Kota State last year. I was really fascinated by Elle.

(01:17:35):
She didn't have like an incredible game, but that's that's okay.
I would state, it's a team that matches up fairly
well with all guards, so she had a really solid season.
She had a terrific career at North Dakota State. She
has that level of familiarity with Kansas because I don't
recall exactly the timeline. I don't think that it would

(01:17:56):
have been any actual crossover with being there, but I
know that Margaret Too's the now associate head coach at Kansas,
had been at North Kota State prior, and so I
believe she was someone who was around when she was
being recruited initially. So that always helps to have some
kind of point of contact, point of consistency, someone that
you have previous familiarity with on staff, and so I

(01:18:19):
think that that only makes things easier for her to
move over there. But she is someone who certainly is
more than prepared for the power four level, someone who
can really do a lot. She's a six or three
legitimate guard. Like she is handling the ball, she is
a terrific shooter. I'm really really interested in what she

(01:18:40):
can do. She is going to be really crucial. Again,
there's always kind of the one player that maybe isn't
the top one on the scouting report, but that you're
or maybe not the top returner that you're saying, a
lot of their success hinges on her, and a lot
of Kansas's success I think is going to hinge on
l Evans translating well, because she is going to be,
what of the most experienced players, one of the people

(01:19:02):
who is the most used to having that sort of
weight on her shoulders, and I think she can handle it.
So again, Kansas, I don't think they're going to be
winning the conference, but I think they're one who will
be crucial and who does because they'll have a good
chance at taking down some of the teams that'll be
in that race.

Speaker 1 (01:19:23):
No, I agree. I think Elle to me is like
one of the players that just didn't really get a
lot of buzz in the transfer portal, and I think
is so exciting because she fits what Kansas does so well,
Like they want to play a ton of four out
with motion, attacking mismatches, and she's like, I mean, she
was almost a fifty forty ninety shooter the last season,

(01:19:46):
somebody who like can run a ball, can shoot off
movement like she's very very good, and somebody with a
lot of potential to keep getting better, and somebody who
I think like is one of the things that was
tough with this team last year that I think again
kind of want under the radar. Their shooting was like

(01:20:06):
pretty off at times last year. For a team that
really wants to play, it.

Speaker 2 (01:20:10):
Could be okay, but when it was bad, it was bad.

Speaker 1 (01:20:14):
Yeah. Like, for reference, they shot thirty three percent from deep,
which isn't bad, but when you compare it to the
year before, I'm trying almost like I'm going backward because
I'm almost yeah, okay, they shot thirty two percent here before.
What do I know? I swear there was like there
was like a difference in it, but like just in general,
like it felt very up and down throughout the year,
and said it consistent. I would be curious to see

(01:20:37):
if they feel the same way. That's how I felt
in watching it, so that I'm speaking my truth at least,
but point being like Elle was like a legit, like
forty plus percent shooter that I think is going to translate.
I think a lot is going to be like, you know,
how does physicality look? How does that look? You know,
what are the drives look like? Things getting to the interior.
I feel good about it, but also like a player

(01:20:58):
that I'm excited about to is Jordan played at UC
Riverside the last couple of years, wasn't the most efficient,
but I think a lot of that's what she was
tasked to do. Yes, her being able to play off
of Samaya, I'm very excited about. I think in general,
like this team will definitely be smaller this year because
you don't have Tayana Jackson, so that makes it obviously
a little bit harder. But I think in terms of

(01:21:21):
doing what they want to do offensively, I think that
this group could be still very potent like they were
the last two seasons on offense, with the chance to
maybe be even more consistent this year because I think
part of what was tough last year it felt like
obviously they put it together at the end of the year,
which is really fun to watch, but like they kind
of went through this stuff like during the year of

(01:21:44):
like Okay, well we want to play like this, but
we can't. Okay, let's just like get the ball to
Teyana and Batt'll make things work, and Okay. It's a
little bit different when you don't have a six to
six safety net every night for better and for worse.
And I don't for better is the wrong way, but
you know what I mean, Like I think just in general,
having a big twelve player you can rely up, big

(01:22:06):
twelve level player that you can rely upon set so
much up for you. But also, like I thought there
were times where they could get out of what they
wanted to do because they were like, Okay, well maybe
we have a mismatch in the post and it's not
that you didn't, but like it's just I don't know.
I think, like kind of similarly to like we talked
about with k State, It's just like, I don't know.

(01:22:26):
It's a lot easier said than done to have a
six six sixty seven player that I think people recognize,
because like you might have a style that you want
to play, but like making it all mesh together is
just not as easy as it seems. So I'm just
gonna be fascinated how they put that together.

Speaker 2 (01:22:40):
I mean, just like to be just to be completely blunt,
like Tanna Jackson was not a consistent player, Like she
her upside is so tremendous, but if she was off,
she was off, and you also feel like well, but
because of how good her upside is, they would try
to get her going and they're there was just times

(01:23:00):
that it wasn't happening, and so there is the potential
to Again we talk about consistency and how important that
is to compete for a conference title, and that's something
that could potentially increase without having that kind of variability inside.
You know, you may have a lower ceiling at your
very very best without having that really tall presence, especially defensively,

(01:23:24):
but maybe you can figure out, like your identity who
you are a little bit earlier and maximize that. And
so that's what's really interesting for me, and also just
having Samia Nichols a little bit more settled. There were
times last year early that they kind of forced things
through her, and it did pay off later because she
got more comfortable and so she was a lot better
by the end of the season. But there were times

(01:23:44):
early where it was like, oh, is that like the
right move with how much experience they have to have
so much going through her. Well, by the end of
the season, yes, it was because they were better when
she was more capable, but it just took some time.

Speaker 1 (01:23:58):
Yeah, you said it better than me, and I think again,
part of what will be interesting this year is like,
you can't replace Stana Jackson, but like, how do you
what do they do with the five? It is kind
of my big Yeah, Deny Papa Papa Depulu is still here.
I'm so rough at saying Greek last names. She again

(01:24:20):
a player who I think is better than her box score,
Like she had like good moments of being able to
fill in. I'm not sure that she's ready to take
over a starting role. I'm gonna be interested to see
how they adjust with that. I like Freddie Wallace who
they brought in again, it would be more of like
an undersized five. I think she's sixteen last six three,
but was a good juco player. But I'll just be
interested to see what they do there because I think

(01:24:42):
in some ways they can just kind of lean in
even more to doing what they really want to do
on offense. But I do still think like being better
on defense is going to be really crucial for them
because that has been like kind of there that was,
I mean, they part of what was really difficult this
last year for me with Kansas is that they took
a pretty substantial step back on defense after being like

(01:25:02):
one of the better defensive teams in the Big Twelve
of the year before they were one of just they
were just take point blank below or average defensive team
for the majority of last season. That's just not what
you can have happen if you want to be an
NCAA tournament team. Agreed, Yeah, okay, So let's just do
a couple quick things to get out of here, because

(01:25:23):
we can't talk about every time. We've already been here
for almost an hour and a half and we've only
talked about what five teams, six teams, seven I guess
technically seven teams. So I feel a little bit better
about it.

Speaker 2 (01:25:33):
Plus Player of the Year plus yeah louse, Oh my god,
we're doing great.

Speaker 1 (01:25:37):
We've done some great stuff. I guess the first last question,
I'll ask you early Freshmen of the Year candidate, do
you have one? Yes?

Speaker 2 (01:25:48):
So we talked about this. It is really really difficult
this year because, like I said last year, how there
were so many massive contributors this year because of how
oldly is, which was the case last year. But I
don't know, there was something different about it. I guess
maybe the difference in the recruiting and just the way

(01:26:08):
that realignment has affected it. It's really hard to pick
one out. I think that my prediction for who will
be voted preseason Freshman of the Year is Kaylen Elms
from Baylor because she is top fifty. I think she's
up there. She is tall, she has you know, demonstrated

(01:26:30):
efficacy on national circuits. Baylor is a team that people
are generally going to be looking at as you know,
getting preseason awards. My personal pick is tap the Betsen
from Colorado because I think that there is the most
opportunity there and I think that she is well poised

(01:26:52):
to step into that opportunity. Again, I'm I'm not someone
who's watching a whole lot of high school film or
anything like that, so I'm not going to say that
this is based on a lot of like in depth
film watching and research, but I am going to say
that based on her being a highly ranked recruit as
well as having international experience, I think that that is
really key to being prepared to contribute at a high

(01:27:15):
level right away. I think that she is someone who
is on a team that has a lot of need,
and having played with Australia internationally several times, I think
that she could be very well poised to take advantage
of it.

Speaker 1 (01:27:30):
I see that I like that call I'm I think
I'm with you. I've seen a lot of these players
play in high school and aa you particularly, but I don't.
I think part of what's going to just be so
interesting for me to watch is like where does the
playing time come from for some of these players, because,
like we talked about, I think, especially the teams that
have a lot of the best freshmen are teams that

(01:27:52):
are trying to win right now. Like and granted, like
I think every team would like to win right now,
but it's just like you know, it's different levels to
a degree. I think if I had to pull a
player who I would probably see this is so hard,
Like I've thought about it, I think I would probably
go with Lawrence Swan for Arizona would be the player

(01:28:12):
that I threw out right now. Could well be wrong.
I really liked her at lou High. I've liked pretty
much every player who comes out of lou High. Christina
Rady does incredible, an incredible job there, but mainly, like
I think, just with how this group wants to play it,
she's probably gonna come off the bench because, like they
I mean, they brought in Polly in a Parishada Williams

(01:28:32):
is still there, see even now, because now I'm like, wow,
there's just like how much playing time is gonna be there?
I think that it's going to be there, though, because
this team's still like replacing a lot of you know,
depth that they lost from this past season.

Speaker 2 (01:28:45):
I always that's what's hard is that I feel like
all of the picks that we both would be listing
out are ones where there's so many unknowns that it's
like it's it's there's not just freshmen that could be
in the mix, it's that there's so many transfers and
you just don't know how the team's going to work
as a unit. Because I think that we both probably
have another name in mind that you almost want to pick,

(01:29:09):
but Kayak quite because of some of the hesitations, and
that for me, at least Jane Wooten knowing that she
is coming into a weird situation and she's also under size,
so it's like, Okay, how well could you adjust? Is
the playing time going to be there for you? I
think that as a point guard at Oklahoma State, very
much could be. But I wouldn't bank on it.

Speaker 1 (01:29:31):
But maybe, I mean, yeah, I like Jayden Woton a
lot point blatantly. I watched, so I've seen Jaden play
a lot in person, which is hilarious because I don't
live anywhere closely to her but to where she plays.
But like you know, that's just how things work out.
Sometimes she's so good, like we said, she's five six,
but like just incredibly good, getting into the paint, really confident,

(01:29:54):
like gets down on defense. I think she's going to
struggle with some of the small point guard stuff that
players do, but like just in general, like the quickness
and the strength she plays with I think will translate.
I just don't know what this team is going to
look like. Yeah, is my first thing. Like on the
Great ausse is back and she was like the primary
she was the primary ball handler for this team last year.

(01:30:16):
I'm just gonna be interested to see, like how do
they try and mesh that together. You have other players
who have like primarily had the ball in their hands
too that are coming in, and like I just I
don't know how this all meshes. I'm interested to see
what it looks like. But I have no idea. But
I agree I like Jade Wooton a lot. I think
she's gonna have a great career at Oklahoma State and
just in college in general. Like, I'm very excited to

(01:30:37):
see what she does. I guess so, but but largely,
I mean, I think this answers our question because like
it's so hard, because who, like, all these teams have
a lot of a lot of seniority. You have the numbers,
thet'll sit at the bottom. One hundred and sixteen of
two hundred and twenty one players in the Big twelve

(01:30:57):
are transfers. Eighty two of them are tears. This is
a very old conference with a lot of teams that
are all being competitive right now. Thank you for putting
those numbers together, because I would not have done that
myself or would not have had time.

Speaker 2 (01:31:12):
I'm gonna be honest. I had them passed along to me,
so you know I did you. Yeah, I did do
all of the all of the returning production. So I
will take credit.

Speaker 1 (01:31:22):
On that one. But if I could throw out one
last name and mainly to like, I don't really know
what uys gonna look like, but the lady Get is
really good. I like her a lot. Guard out of Canada.
I've seen play a couple of times.

Speaker 2 (01:31:34):
YU will play some freshmen.

Speaker 1 (01:31:36):
They will play something demonstrated out for the seasons.

Speaker 2 (01:31:40):
Yes, yes she is. That's one that I'm like, how
is no one talking about this? Like I see her
on lists of like y'all, she's she's out there doing
her thing. She's out there on mission. Like they are
going to be a real different team. Man.

Speaker 1 (01:31:55):
Yeah, so I just I don't know, man. Uh yeah, shoot, Okay,
like two more put questions than we're out of here.
Which team outside of teams we already talked about, do
you have the most questions about? Like you just, there's
like such a wide range of possibilities for who they
could be as a team this year.

Speaker 2 (01:32:16):
Okay, I'm gonna give you two, and one of them
actually answers your question, but another is just one that
I want to highlight a little bit. So for one,
Colorado is very intriguing to me. I you know, obviously
ninem your dew went from Iowa State to Colorado. I'm
super excited for her. It's a great move for her.

(01:32:37):
I love her to death. Uh she's she's one of
my favorites. And obviously no hard feat like people transfer,
it's especially for grad stuff, like she's super excited about
what she's studying all that. Anyway, I was out in
Colorado visiting and my cousins were playing in Colorado's team camp,
so I shot her at text. We had literally had

(01:32:57):
lunch the week before when she was moving and I'm like, hey,
I'm in a gym just and She's like, I'm coming
in to say hi. So I see her and I
got to finally meet JR. Who I am like just
the biggest fan of Like I love their program, So
it was really cool to meet her. But what I
said to her, and what I've been saying, is that
Colorado reminds me a lot of iOS State last year
in a little bit different way. It's less of the

(01:33:20):
freshmen coming in that you're anticipating having a big impact,
But you have a lot of new faces that I
think are being very much underrated. You have Nye, you
have le Or Garzan from Oklahoma State. You have you know,
Jojunor who really never was able to play at Tech
but has absurdly high potential. You have a lot of

(01:33:43):
really really good transfers that actually make a pretty cohesive roster.
And so do I think that they're going to be
competing at the very top of the Big twelve? Maybe
not but I think that their potential is a lot
higher than what people are maybe giving them credit for.
But it all has to mesh together. That being said,
the most questions I have is for sure U se Yeah, Like,

(01:34:05):
I think that the moves they made are are sneakily
very good. I think that adding Hannah Gusters is really big.
She had kind of some ups and downs, but she
is someone who certainly can give you a serviceable interior
post present, and better than serviceable, she's she's very solid inside.
They had the leading scorer in the league in Caitlin Peterson,

(01:34:27):
and so you know, with what they have returning and
then some of what they added, I'm just very interested.
I think they could look obviously a lot better than
they did last year being at the bottom of the league,
but they had flashes where they looked pretty solid, and
I think that the pieces they add could put them

(01:34:49):
solidly competing in like the middle. Like, I don't think
they're ready to break through to the upper echelon, but
I do think that they could start really putting some
stuff together.

Speaker 1 (01:34:59):
Yeah, no, I like that on UCF. I don't really
have anything to add to that, but I agree. I
think I was I liked some of what they did
last year. I think it's always, especially when you're watching
a program build, you have to kind of like watch
with a different lens of like, okay, like can you
see like where's the growth, what's the development looking like?
Can you see what this could look like in a
couple of years? And I definitely see that with UCF.

(01:35:22):
I love the Colorado Point because to me, that is
the team that just has like such a wide range
of possibilities. Like we talked about what Aaron Atvondley is
going to bring to Baylor. You obviously can't replace that.
That's really difficult. Kway Miller's gone to She was fantastic,
so that entire front porch is like gone. Jalen Sharad
currently playing in the playoffs for the New York Liberty,

(01:35:44):
love her to death, such a good player. Again, cannot
replace that. They also lost to Mia Sadler, who went
to I believe she's an all miss now. So like,
what kind of growth does Kendall Weta make is going
to be really big because they're I mean, the guard
play is really important this this this team and how
they want to play. But I also wonder, like do
they just play completely differently this year. Yeah, because that's

(01:36:07):
kind of the vibe I'm getting, especially with how things
went in the portal for them, because I think they
made really good moves in the portal personally, like we've
talked about, like I like you know me, I like
Naimer Doo a lot, I like leor Garzone. This team
has just gotten like there's a lot of length. They're
kind of like very different from me, like guard heavy
with quite a few posts last year as well to now,

(01:36:28):
Like they have a lot of players on the wing
and in the front court. How do they kind of
balance that all out? I also really like Jade Massaguayo,
who they brought to Missouri State. Another Missouri State player
that we have to shout out, Like, there's just a
lot of potential here. I think a lot's just going
to depend on, like Okay, can the guard play click
and kind of have everything, you know, get figured out
from there. But I mean Jr. Is a really good coach.

(01:36:52):
This this group has been consistently building, and I don't
really anticipate them taking a massive step back. I don't
think they're going to be a Sweet sixteen team this year,
but I think they could definitely make it into the
tournament if they're able to keep.

Speaker 2 (01:37:05):
Oh yeah, I think unless they're picked really high just
based on like reputation, they're the team that I would
be most confident in finishing above wherever they're picked in
the preseason polls, just because there are so many questions,
but there's a lot of really good potential answers.

Speaker 1 (01:37:19):
Absolutely to give my quick answer on teams that I
have the most questions about, Obviously we mentioned in Oklahoma State,
I'm right there. I've always been fascinated by some of
the stuff that they're trying to do. Like I think
you've seen like real moments of them putting some things together.
But then now they just have a completely different team,
so I'm not sure what that's going to look like

(01:37:41):
and how they go about it. The one that I
probably come back to is Cincinnati. Cincinnati is my UCF.
Like I really maybe impressed is the wrong way to
put it, but like I just felt good about what
they brought last year, Like I never felt like they
weren't in a game like they were always like they
started to build like a solid defensive foundation last year.

(01:38:03):
It wasn't perfect, They're still kind of a smaller team,
but they have good players. Jillian Hayes continues to get better.
I think the biggest thing for them is like, what
does Jillian Hayes look like as a fifty year senior.
Does she really take that leap? I thought? I mean,
she had the most efficient season of her career last
year and was obviously very good. But I think, you know,
continuing to build off that. I like some of the transfers,

(01:38:26):
transfers that they brought in to n Hilton again obviously
a player who was very solid for A and M
last year. Just in general, like I think Katrina merriweathers
building a solid program there. They've been doing some really
good stuff on the recruiting trail, which that's just you know,
people bringing players that high, that are that good and

(01:38:48):
with that much potential to Cincinnati. Keeping them in that
area is really big because like Kentucky's like a surprisingly
good hotbed of recruiting. So I think being able to
bring that and keep that in Cincinnati's big time. And
I'm I don't know, I don't think it's necessarily going
to be this year for them, but I think that
there's a step for them to Okay, would be a

(01:39:08):
team that finishes over five hundred. Are we a team
that maybe we snag an extra win or two and nine?

Speaker 2 (01:39:13):
Okay, they take that first step, then next year is
so crucial. So that's I feel like they are approaching
it the right way and like it's it's not a sprint,
it's a marathon, and they're taking it year by year.
But they certainly have the potential to continue to look
significantly better each year in some ways.

Speaker 1 (01:39:34):
Absolutely. Now to finish out, we're gonna do the ever
classic name some guys sitting around. Who are some players
to you? That are people? Who are some players you
that that people might not know about yet but should
slash will by the end of the season. Well, we
talked about one who was the first on my list,

(01:39:56):
l Evans from Kansas. I think it's going to be fantastic.
I'm really excited about her. Who are some other players
that you would you would name and my stipulations that
they haven't made in all Big twelve team yet.

Speaker 2 (01:40:06):
Yes, so I will. I will first do like my
lightning round of people we've all like mentioned already, which
is like my short list for potential newcomer of the year,
because just by default, people generally won't know them. I
want to specify Aerinet von Lett. It would be a
really easy choice if it weren't for the fact that

(01:40:27):
she's ineligible since she's been APPO Colorado and Arizona and
both have joined the league, so without her there, my
short list is el Evans at Kansas, Tamir Poindexter at
k State, Donovan Hunter at TCU, Kenzy Hare at ICU.
I think she's crazy underrated. We've talked about her a lot,
Somehow she doesn't get talked about much. She's incredible. A

(01:40:49):
couple of sleepers. There could be Haley bandlist from TCU obviously,
especially if she can get back to kind of her
old efficiency. And then you've got Wada Jenning I mentioned
from Baylor, really really productive at the JUCO level. If
she makes a jump, Hey, but there's not as much
opportunity at Baylor. I think that Macy Heward at Oklahoma State,

(01:41:12):
especially knowing that there's a whole lot of opportunity there.
She's really young, she's just a sophomore. She was really
good at Montana last year. You've got Shoot Arizona has
a whole lot of options. But anytime you're getting someone
in from South Carolina that's going to be some potential,
especially just knowing that there's going to be a whole

(01:41:33):
lot of opportunity at Arizona. Jack could be a little
bit of a sneaky outside pick there. But beyond that,
some of my most underrated players there. I think Addie
Brown's maybe the most underrated player in the league. I
still get a little bit heated when I think of
how little she was discussed last year for what she did.

(01:41:54):
She averaged thirteen points, just over eight rebounds, and just
under five assist about four point eight assists her game
last year. She's one of four players to do that
in the country, and she's the only freshman to do
that in the last twenty five years. Like that's oh, sir,

(01:42:15):
excuse me, fifteen years. I can't do math either way
over a decade, Like that's insane. What she was doing.
Her efficiency, what she can do at all levels is incredible,
and so the fact that she gets to kind of
fly under the radar is a benefit to her, I think,
because if someone of her caliber gets still catch people

(01:42:36):
off guard, that's kind of crazy. The other big one
that I have that we have already mentioned a little
bit is I think that ednes Emonopu at TCU just
is really underrated because similar reasons. She's really versatile. She
was so so good for them defensively. I think that

(01:42:58):
she is an extremely capable player, and especially if she
has more consistent support around her. She's one of the
very few people who started the entire season who was
able to stay healthy, and so just having that maturity
returning is really really big. And then there's kind of
an off the wall from West Virginia, which is that
Kya Watson is their fourth returning starter that doesn't get

(01:43:21):
mentioned a whole lot because her numbers aren't extremely flashy,
but she's someone who again was just consistent. She showed
up and she did kind of what needed to be
done for the team, and so I can really see
her being able to take a bigger jump if she
isn't having to play quite as many minutes. I think

(01:43:41):
that she can be a more efficient scorer as well.
So kind of interested in what she can do.

Speaker 1 (01:43:47):
Yeah, no, I like all those shouts. I'll do a
couple quick ones. I also love what you mentioned about
at you because dude, she's just she's so good like
essentially was the point guard for this team for large
stretches of the last with Emily being out, and obviously,
like you want to see the turnovers come down this year,
at which I think will be a natural thing happening

(01:44:07):
with you know, all of the obviously the guards are
getting older, She's she's going to be a sophomore this year.
Like there's just growth in that in and of itself.
But yeah, I couldn't agree more with that. But I
think for me, so in my Arizona shoutout will be
Skyler Jones, somebody who like when they cut down to
a they played like Arizona just had a wild season

(01:44:30):
last year. For people who did not get to watch
the Pac twelve in their final iteration, they basically lost
multiple players for the season dude injury, had a couple
players transfer out at different times throughout the season, and
basically played a six player of rotation to end the year.
And Skyler Jones, who was a freshman last year, really

(01:44:51):
played her best basketball over the last month or so
of the season. Like a six foot wing that can
you know, kind of create her ow shot a little bit,
really good slasher, brought it defensively because you have to
if you play for Adia Barnes, And like I just
I'm excited for her to continue growing. She might not

(01:45:12):
necessarily like be a giant breakout star this year, but
I think she's just gonna be a really good player
over the course of her career at Arizona. Other players
that I would bring up Jalen Brown at Arizona State.
I don't know what Arizona State is gonna look like
this season because again, like we talked about Oklahoma State
having a lot of transfers, I think that Arizona State

(01:45:34):
had the most transfers in out of anybody in the
Big Twelve. Yeah, but Jalen Brown is one of the returners.
She's a returning leading scorer. I think, you know, cleaning
up efficiency is gonna be able, like absolutely, a player
with pro potential, like really smooth, very athletic, can create
her own shot, can create for others. And it's still

(01:45:54):
growing in that regard. Like just a player that's very
fun to watch and I would love to see more
people get to know about her as hopefully Arizona continues
to get better. I mean, Arizona State continues to get better.
I'm trying to think if I had any others I
wanted to bring up, I think that is it for me.
Is there anybody else? One?

Speaker 2 (01:46:16):
Last one? Bela Fauntleroy at Baylor. Like she's she's been solid,
She's been recognized at points, but I think that her
capability is so much more than anything that we've seen yet.
I'm a huge fan of hers. I think that defensively
she's better than she gets credit for as well, and
she's also like a very good shooter. She's a beautiful shot,
so I would be interested to see I think she

(01:46:36):
has the potential to make like the biggest jump on
that Baylor team this year.

Speaker 1 (01:46:41):
Yeah. No, I agree. I'm excited to keep watching her,
excited to keep watching all these players. Jamie, what do
you Is there anything you want to shout out before
we get out of here? Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:46:51):
I mean just I'll be doing all this over on
the press break this year. That's actually I'm bouncing straight
from here to go record that today, so you know,
that's that's where I'll be. I also still covering the
Big twelve over on the ten twelve podcast. Uh, and
beyond that, you know, just throwing stuff out on social
media left and right. But no, I'm super excited, and

(01:47:11):
I'm sure that we'll I'm sure that we'll catch up
as the season gets going, too, because if we could
talk about this much before the season even starts, just
think of what.

Speaker 1 (01:47:19):
We can get. It's a problem, but it's a good
problem to have. I appreciate you being willing to talk
about basketball for this long because I could, like, like
we tout said, I think we could keep going, but.

Speaker 2 (01:47:29):
I want to get into film with you sometimes. That's
my that's my dream.

Speaker 1 (01:47:33):
We can absolutely I would love to, you know, we
could do something during the year where like we just
pull some stuff from especially because like the Big twelve
is like one of the conferences that is not asking
nine about like having clips from.

Speaker 2 (01:47:45):
I understand how important media is.

Speaker 1 (01:47:48):
The AC tell that to acc Acc is like, oh
my god, awful. Acc and Foba are like they'll haunt
you down. But yeah, point being, we'll have to do
something with that for sure, because it'd be very fun.
But to everyone listening, of course, follow Jamie and everything
she's doing. Keep up with the press break, which I
need to start doing. So I'm excited to listen in
on that one and most importantly have your the rest

(01:48:10):
of your day and thank you for listening, slash watching

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