Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jack Kebling here with my good friend Matt Sloan a
graph of oochemists. Big summer here, Matt.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
That's right, Jack.
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Speaker 1 (00:27):
Papacy, Matt in the gang here on West Grand riverd Okamtz.
They're making Fred Michigan Day, women rob and Action tonight
season opener nationally ranked as well. That's right. I want
to welcome in Dalton Schetler, the voice of MSU women's basketball. Dalton,
what can you tell us about tonight? A couple hours away? Right?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Yeah, we're coming pretty close for about an hour and
a half from air time, hour forty five from zipping
off the new season. And what I could say a
night about Michigan State, it's quite a bit. What I
can tell you about Mercy Hurst not so much this
is a whole new mercy Hurst team, not many returners,
they got a first year head coach, so there'll be
a lot different about the Lakers.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
But of course a lot of people.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Are focused on what Michigan State has and you mentioned
nationally ranked twenty third in the country, and this looks
like a year and a team that can take the
next step for Robin Freelik in the Spartans. You know,
year one, you make the NCAA tournament. Year two you
win your first NCAA Tournament game in six years.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
What is that next.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
Step in the year three? That's what we're hoping to
find out today.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Dalton, I should know this, and I'm sure you do.
How many schools have teams that are ranked preseason in
men's and women's basketball? I know Michigan does, so that's
two from the state of Michigan. How many others are
ranked in both?
Speaker 4 (01:53):
You know what, leave it to you, Jack to always
leave me stone to something when I'm on here.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Now I'm not sure, but that's a that's.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
A good thing to check out.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
You can let us know your.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I'm gonna say you find your answer an hour and
forty five minutes.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
But no Nonetheless, there's only thirteen teams or thirteen schools.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
That had both the men and women make the NCAA
Tournament from a year prior. Okay, you can say it's
one of those as well.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
So I mean you're you're funneling down to a pretty
elite class.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
It looks like everyone thinks that this will be you
ce LA's Big Ten championship, to lose Lauren BET's back,
and USC getting the blow of not having Juju Watkins
for the entire season. But there are some teams behind
UCLA that I think would be dangerous and might be
(02:49):
better come tournament time. And when we spoke earlier, you
mentioned three of them. Do you want to talk about
those teams?
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You know it's interesting.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
I do a podcast as well with the Voice for
Indiana women's basketball. It's called The Dribble Drive, and we
cover everything Big Ten women's basketball and the consensus that
we've come up with from talking to people. Everybody believes
UCLA is number one of the Big Ten to your point,
but after that, at least what he and I believe
do you have a group of Maryland, Michigan State in
(03:20):
Michigan shortly behind Maryland. You can never count out Brenda Freeze, right,
I mean, she always has that program competing at such
a high level.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
And so much talent.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Kayleen Smichael is back after having an all conference type
of season a year prior. Brey McDaniel comes back after
having torn in ACL the year prior. And then you
add in yard End care Zone, the transfer from Indiana
who is their star now is on the turps as well.
And they picked up Aluchi from Duke who is a
strong defender. So Maryland's got a lot of talent. Michigan,
(03:49):
when you and I were talking, Jack, I mean you
mentioned that freshman core that Michigan had last year with
Silas Swords, Olivia Olsen, Mia Holloway. That is a strong,
strong group. They all came back and they added some
more pieces and inform Michigan State. You bring back Grace
van Salutan, who was averaging fifteen and a half points
a game last year. They're in Hall like that spark plug.
(04:11):
But then you start to mix in some other pieces
as well. You bring in Jalen Brown from Arizona State
who is scoring eighteen points a game, Rashunda Jones who
is scoring ten points a game at Purdue. But really
will be the one counted on to set the table
as the point guard for this offense. You bring in
mere A Dykstra from Montana State, who is a stretch
for I say, Alexander gets to play for the first
(04:31):
time in three years, which plains of physical presence this
team had been missing. I mean, there's a lot of pieces,
and that's not even talking about Emma's shoemate who was
shooting fifty percent.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
From three and big ten play last year.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
There's in talking with Robin and you'll catch some of
this as part of the pregame conversation for the listeners
that jump over and tune into that at six fifteen.
When we talked with Robin, we'll talk a little bit
about the depth because Robin's been able to do some
pretty cool things early during her time in East Lancing,
but she has yet to have a team that's as
deep as the one she has for this year, and
(05:04):
that part's really exciting.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
One of the things that we have come to know
about Freylik ball is that it is frenetic and high octane.
I mean, the pace is incredible, lots of three point
shots going up, lots of pressing around the court, Larry
Lage would love this team, and lots of steals, lots
(05:27):
of touchdowns off turnovers, as Tom Is likes to say.
So when you look at that, is it unreasonable to
think that in a lot of these games Michigan State's
going to be in triple digits.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
No, I think we saw that quite a bit last year,
and I keep telling people, I think, for the month
in November, this squad, I believe, is going to be
averaging high eighties, maybe even nineties for a scoring average
per night.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Like that.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
That goes to tell you how exciting and how high
it is. The exhibition they had a couple of weeks
ago against Michigan Tech, they had thirty eight points in
the first quarter. They very much are going to play
the style you talked about. And the other thing too, Jack.
In year one with Robin Freelik, the Spartan set of
school record for most points per game average at eighty
(06:17):
two point eight and also set a record for the
most threes ever made by a Spartan team in a season.
Last year, Michigan State broke a record for the most
steals they've ever had in.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
A single season.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
So to your point, those are going hand in hand,
and they're looking to still play a high oxde up
tempo system. The other thing that's really interesting jack I
asked Robin yesterday, Look, you had a team that did
that with the threes. You had a team that did
that with the steals. I asked her, did you know
your teams were capable of that before the season's heading
(06:49):
into it? And she said, no, no, we didn't find
that out until, you know, a month into the season.
We started to get some.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Data, some feedback, and we looked and we said.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
Oh, this is what we're really good at.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
And she says, you know about this year squad, I
don't know what that is yet.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
We'll find out in the next month as we start
to collect data, and then we'll find out what we're
really strong at and we'll try to amplify that. But
that's going to be one of the interesting things to
pay attention to. What is in for Michigan State that
is so strong that they're going to look to grow
during the course of this season.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
What do you think the starting lineup will be tonight?
Speaker 4 (07:22):
You know, well, the exhibition had Rashanda Jones at the one,
Sarah Hallick at the two, Merret Dyksch at the four,
Grace van Slutin at the five, and at the three
was Kennedy Blair. And Kennedy Blair is one of the
best stories you're going to find around, not just for
(07:42):
women's basketball, not just from Michigan State, but collegiate athletics.
I keep saying, Jacket taps into kind of what the
spirit of college sports kind of used to be about.
This is somebody who committed to Robin when she was
at Bowling Green, then when Robin got the job here
said I want to come there. I mean, she's from
State of Michigan. She grew up a Spartan fan, so
(08:03):
she decided to jump to the MSU as a preferred
walk on mis her entire first season with the stress fracture,
never got to play this pat the off season after that,
she ended up what do you a want to work in?
Getting a lot better? She found a little bit of
a role last year in spots, but that work has
even amplified again and now she's in a spot where
(08:24):
she's in the starting lineup, and not just to get
ahead of the narrative. Jack, it's not because the team
just needs somebody to fill out that starting lineup. I
mean she is beating some of the highly talented players
to be in that starting lineup. And of course it's
all a team effort, right, and the starter is an
end all be all. But Jalen Brown scores eighteen points
(08:46):
a night, and Kennedy Blair did something to get in
the lineup there.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Yeah, last thing for you, when we talk about ice
A Alexander coming back and we don't know how much
she will play, but certainly gives them a different look.
There's another player who had been a starter on this
team and then last year disappeared. And when I saw
her at MSU Madness, I said, Abby Kimball is not
(09:13):
only back, she looks better than she ever has. She
looks like she's having fun again. What can her role
be on this team?
Speaker 4 (09:22):
It's such a good point, and it's worth noting too
that Abby Kimball and Grace van Slutn are the two
captains that the team voted for.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
And so you go back a couple of years ago.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Her sophomore season, Abby Kimball is starting just about every
single game.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
For that year, and then last year, to your point.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Has a hard time finding a spot on the floor. Now,
I think She is another one of the compliments to
what this team's depth is because she'll come in and
she's going to cause a little bit of chaos in
that full court pressure. She is a great shooter that
has never changed.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I think a big thing jack.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
With her game is watching for her to take more
of those threes.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
I think this team needs her.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
To pull the trigger quite often and when she gets
in looking for that confidence and look, the team has
confidence in her. That's partially why she's seen captain, right,
But for them to put that confidence into her in
her show it and go ahead and take some of
those shots. If she does some of that, she's going
to be having a pretty big role. I think alongside
him a shoemade and others.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Right, just had a quick message before we let you
go from one of our regular listeners who loves women's
basketball but pulls his hair out because he thinks that
Darren Hallick is out of control and wants to know
if Robin Frelik is installed a governor on her to
(10:47):
keep her speed down the way you would a NASCAR car,
do you think she is going to play one hundred
and twenty miles an hour. Again, that's just the way
she's wired.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Right, Yeah, I kind of think that's her DNA. And
it's to that listener's point that it is a double
edged sword. I mean, there is a reason why at
Illinois last year she scored what was it, twenty six
points in the fourth quarter by herself. Yeah, because she.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Runs by everybody. She's that fast.
Speaker 4 (11:15):
But there are times where it can be a couple
feet too quick. I mean Robin Freelik has said she's
kind of like Sonic the Hedgehog the way her feet
just kind of blur by.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
I mean it does. It works both ways, like it
is a double edged short.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
But she's she's looking.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
For a big year. But it's a funny visual what
that listeners shared, Yes.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Exactly, Dalton. Have fun tonight and we'll talk to you
frequently throughout the season.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Terrific.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Thank you for having me, Jack and Robin.
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Speaker 1 (12:15):
Jack Kevling here with my good friend Matt Sloan at
Graph of Ochemists. Big summer air, Matt.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
That's right, Jack.
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