The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: I'M TELLING A STORY!

Episode Date: April 2, 2024

Today's Cast: Amin, Greg, Chris, Jeremy, Mike, Roy, and Tony. After we watched last night's showdown between Iowa and LSU, our all-male cast of characters discusses the game from every angle possible. Amin is flabbergasted by LSU's defensive approach against Caitlin Clark, Greg Cote has praise for Caitlin's excellence, and the Shipping Container helps them break down Kim Mulkey's strategy, Hailey Van Lith's effort, and Angel Reese's postgame comments. Plus, Lucy joins us to discuss all the topics we got wrong, why she loves Angel Reese AND Caitlin Clark, USC and UConn, and, thanks to Amin, "uhhhh, the landscape of Women's College Basketball." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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and all it has to offer throughout the show. DraftKings, the crown is yours. You ever lead host a show and forget that you were lead hosting And just in your own world kind of like I just know wait for this show to start and then you hear your your Ep say all right. Let's have a show guys. Oh shit. That's me That's my cue What's up guys? Good Greg Cody's here. he's chuckling. Good morning. He's amiable.

I am amiable. I'm an amiable man. You know what I love more than anything, Greg? When we have perhaps the biggest night in women's college basketball history. Great. And we have no women on the show. That's my favorite. Let's mansplain the entirety of last night, ladies and gentlemen. That's a good point by you. What the bros are gonna talk about.

This is what I think. No, this is a, I haven't watched any LSU all season long. Well, luckily for us, Lucy will be here in a half hour. Oh, awesome. Great. Because I've got questions. I've got questions. I have admittedly, I'm not gonna sit here and pretend

like I am beat by beat up to date with all the goings on. I am. All right, so can I ask you questions? You were pretty critical earlier before the show. I'm about to be critical right now. I'm doing the preface right now. I like this honest perspective of, I really tuned in wire to wire for the first time

all season last night and I have thoughts. I like that perspective and we can contrast that with Lucy who's watched every minute of Iowa basketball this season. I'm dying ass Lucy because Lucy, most of my criticisms are towards LSU. And when I say LSU, I don't mean Angel Reese, I don't mean Johnson, I don't mean Morrow, I mean Mulkey. Easy.

That's the person I'm like, this is your amazing greatest coach ever This this is is this the person we wrote a little lightly. Oh, and also don't tread on me No bit of a pickle last night must admit So you're saying that she should have defended Caitlin Clark better than she did Greg make an adjustment Yeah, make an adjustment make an adjustment when there's more than three minutes after the game dot i'd by the i don't know maybe i'm spoiled

maybe i i i i'm too busy watching guys ago i don't know spoh steve carer greg poppets and i i've been warped into thinking all that's what coaching is is It's like something's happening, okay, let me put my players in the best position to account for this. Nope, we got Haley Van Lyt shrugging as she got lit up like a Christmas tree. Haley Van Lyt was her name last night.

She was lit up. You've got Angel Reese, who had it cooking early on, and I know she twisted her ankle at some point, but demanding the ball as she's walking to the sideline she was a defensive force but watching LSU play defensively switching on screens was not on the table until like three minutes left in the fourth quarter forget switching on screens like contest so the game started with them going under on screens against Caitlin Clark in in in NBA parlance

When shit like that happens they say as we're running back up court must not have league pass That's what we that's what we say when someone does we go under on Steph Curry Must not have league pass Meaning you must have never seen any film on this player before. If you thought. Wasn't that Joe Missoula in the NBA finals for a little bit?

That was like the whole strategy. Well, he's watching the town the entire time. He's not watching league pass. So then, they got out of that. They're like, okay, we're gonna fight over screens. And if I may, I'm gonna stand up, I'm gonna try to demonstrate. Hopefully the mic is gonna be able to pick up.

So you said switching. You don't have to switch. The first step before you get to switching is, as she's coming off the screen like this, and Hailey Van Lipp is getting clipped, the big, don't switch, hedge. Hedge. Just take a step out.

This is right out there with LeBron and JJ Reddick. Oh my god. Cody and Amino has him. He's so right. The big, all they have to do is show. Show, and you hold on to the big over here. So I haven't, we not switching. I'm staying home, but I'm doing this

so that Caitlin Clark has to take one extra step that buys her some time to get a better contest, to get on top of her, to maybe chase her off of that. Nope! Get clipped. I'm staying home with this girl who hasn't got the ball all night long. Let her get a clean look again and again and again and again. It took to, again, late in the fourth quarter of the game for them to make any sort of, they wouldn't even have a different defender on her. I find your perspective to open this show means super refreshing because I think

the natural takeaway from last night's spectacle, don't get it twisted, pretty much wire to wire. I know it got a little out of hand towards the very end of the game, but there was still drama in that to see the reactions. That game delivered last night. It was an immense win for women's sports, for the game of women's

college basketball, for the viewers at home, it was huge. And you're firing out the gates with Monday morning quarterbacking. It's great. I'm going to tell you this. This is exactly what I said after the final last year. I said, you know how I know? We've reached a new place. Because of the conversation Greg the day after that final last year Was not about women's sports or women's this or it was about hey They did the thing that she usually does and that's not cool And I was like oh look we're having the same conversation We'd be having if it were the men and so this year instead of talk about well the greatest night of women's basketball

Because juju walk into page beck's put on the show as well, in the second game. We're talking about basketball. And that's how it should be. We should be talking about the game. Greg, as a man who has seen all of this growth happen over however many centuries you've been alive. Yeah, a couple of centuries.

I don't want to seem obtuse here, but like is there any part of you that's like, oh my god, I never thought this day would come? You know what, I think the championship game last year, LSU and Iowa, was 10 million people viewed it, right? A record number. that was the beginning and this season has taken that and and moved it further up by i i i think not only women it it's a great time for women's sports in general uh... women's soccer is booming

uh... but but basketball i am more and this is just anecdotal i'm more interested in the women's game right now that the the the four teams that played last night the two games i was enthralled I watched every minute of it it was probably then and this is something I probably shouldn't be admitting to it was the first time that I watched a women's doubleheader where I actually could name players from all four teams like like the star power was tremendous I thought in every team had a superstar on it including

uh... juju i by wish i can say that without thinking of juju got it haha i almost wish he had made it because caitlin clark uh... hands the baton to her i mean what are uh... a freshman uh... sensation she's been so i'm thrilled with the women's game right now you know i'm not mad that you do lost last night because she's a freshman and because this is women's college basketball,

it's not like, oh, she's coming out of the league. So she's got plenty of time to kind of do this. And this might be like a huge learning step for her. I want the vets in there because we're not going to see them again. They're going to leave. And so I thought that was alright, but NC State and UConn have both men's and women's teams in the final four, which is like a step beyond what Miami almost did last year, isn't that right Mike?

Yeah, just a small step. Just a small step. I will say though that NC State, for the second consecutive day I will say, that NC State was Miami's best win on the women's side of things. And they dominated that game. And now NC State finds itself in a final four.

It was an absolute joke that Columbia made the women's tournament over Miami. It was appalling. Every expert that covers that sport that is a bracketologistogist had Miami in easily even if they didn't win a game in the ACC tournament they ended up winning a game in the ACC tournament and now NC State's run to the Final Four has justified that this was a criminal offense by the transitive properties right Miami's a Final Four I love transitive properties

transitive properties the greatest thing property is the greatest thing. I agree with Mike. College football has handed out championships because of transitive property. Look, I'm a transitive property fan as much as the next as a UCF guy. And I find a way to bring UCF or the Heat into every conversation. But to be less than 10 minutes into our reaction to LSU and Iowa and make it about UM women's basketball

is just spectacular, Mike Ryan. Jeremy, I didn't do that. but to be less than 10 minutes into our reaction to LSU and Iowa and make it about UM women's basketball is just spectacular. Jeremy, I didn't do it. Amin did. All right, either way. And I was just responding to it. However, thank you for the fun. And I will say, I really hope Dan Radikovic hires a coach.

It's been two weeks, which is an eternity in this cycle. Is Tennessee going to hire a coach before Miami does? We have a great in-house option. I would love it to be Fitzroy Anthony, but I would love all coach in position because right now you have kids in the portal, you have kids on this roster wondering whether they should jump in, you have recruits wondering aloud if they should take visits. It's tough when you wait this long to make a hire. Well you got to make the right one though, right? I mean would you rather him make a hire just to

be quick? Look, I think you're conflating time it takes to make a hire with making the right hire. This is aging in dog years. When you get to two weeks in this part in the calendar, when the portal is open already and people are jumping in and out, this is tough. You need to make a quicker hire if you're Dan Radikakovich. You need to make the right one, but you can make the right one inside of five days. The Dan LeBattard Show with Stu Gotz is sponsored by BetterHelp. It's time for a self-check-in. How's your social battery doing right now?

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Find your social sweet spot with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash D L B today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H E L P dot com slash D L B. Hello darlings, this is Lisa Vanpump. Will you join me in France for a new reality show? Meet my hand selected staff as they work, live and play at Chateau Roosevelt. Their job is to provide once in a lifetime experiences for our guests. And of course they'll have to meet my standards and not everybody has what it takes. Vanderpump Villa has first class luxury and world class drama.

I'll be there, will you? Vanderpump Villa premieres April the 1st, streaming on Disney+. Don Lebatard! All of us who were watching college football elevated everything the weekend was because we missed football in general so very much. You didn't watch the ending of UTEP Jacksonville State. It was awesome. A doozy. Boom. Stugats. It's such a lane for you. Just everything in college football is awesome. Any single

thing that happens she gets deliriously happy about. Don't you miss viewing sports through that prism though? Like I'm envious of Lucy. Like I wish that I could still be happy. This is the Don LeVatar Show with the Stugarts. I don't think we've actually said Caitlin Clark's name yet. I don't think we've actually said Caitlin Clark's name yet. Caitlin Clark was spectacular last night. Nine threes and I know she had a high volume, but her ability to get open space, you know, you talk about the contest, but her ability, there was one three-pointer that she hit

where she was driving into the paint and then literally just backed out to three and was double covered and while moving her momentum backwards still was able to get off the shot and it was so unbelievable to see the way that she set up her teammates obviously unlike Lucy I haven't watched every game of Iowa basketball I've watched some 12 assists last night and 12 assists that were so efficient she didn't really have a ton of turnovers and it was setting up her teammates for success in that at the beginning of the game it was a lot of backdoor a lot of backdoor cuts by her teammates where she was feeding it in but then as As LSU did adjust a little bit defensively to that you saw her passing over the top

You saw her getting her teammates out in transition in the pace in that first half was Unbelievable, particularly the first quarter the offense in the first quarter was better than anything I've seen from the Heat outside of their win against the Blazers. Well, look who just made it about the Heat. I will say what Caitlin Clark provided on the glass was especially impressive because Iowa was on their heels a little bit

because LSU was very formidable inside and it wasn't so much the shots that they were missing inside, it was the shots that they all, Caitlin Clark included, refused to take inside because of how imposing that interior defense was for LSU. I think there's a chance, I mean you mentioned Mulkey's failure to adjust defensively to stop Caitlin, there's a chance that Caitlin Clark on the money like last night is is pretty unstoppable. I mean she hit her first three and she was in fuego the the teammate that lead the teammate right to the yeah

I like it I mean, it's a good sign that she's trying to get her teammates involved in the next level It's probably gonna be a better teammate But also in that game you actually notice that Caitlin Clark's got room to improve to and Ryan Ruko also pointed it out there were there were a lot of opportunities where she passed it off to a To sometimes an unsuspecting teammate, where she could just stop, add a runner to her repertoire, just stop and shoot a mid-range shot,

and Ruko pointed out that that'll get developed at the next level. To watch that game and realize that there's room for growth, that is incredible. Look, she's a very good passer, she's an excellent shooter. I just don't believe that you can defend someone like that pretty much the same way for the entire game. And then say, oh, it's because she's a great passer.

Make her prove that she's a great passer when blitzed. Make her prove that her teammates can be trusted. Because that's the number one way to get a great score, to stop passing. Not to make them turn over on their passes. It's to pass it to people who F up. And then it's like, man, I can't pass it to you anymore. I gotta do this myself.

I can't, exactly. That's where you wanna get them to. She was in a zone, she wasn't even forcing, it wasn't a I'm putting a team on my back, she was like this is what. It was one half court shot, which isn't a terrible shot for her. I had to explain to my kid why it wasn't a terrible shot.

My kid was like, that's a terrible shot. I'm like, no. She's hit seven in a row at this point, or whatever it was. And like that point, if you hit that shot, that is lights out for LSU. I do want to point out one thing though. Kim Mulkey, horrible weekend for her, right? Like this Washington Post expose comes out,

even though it wasn't as objectionable. Nothing better. LA Times actually made her win on the media cycle for the weekend, it was weird. Terrible. And then she coaches that abomination of a game last night, but then we get this post-game handshake. Classic Kim Moky.

This is just B-roll, so we're gonna have to talk over it, but it's just a classic aggressive, they're doing the handshake line. I can't see it, so I'm just taking a word for it. I mean they haven't hit it yet, I thought they would be listening to me and hit and going. They'll take the cue eventually, but anyways, it was a viral dab and Kim Mulkey was asked after the game,

what did you say to Kaitlyn Clark? And Kim Mulkey was actually pretty chill about it, she said, I'm so thankful you're leaving. I'm just really glad that you're leaving because you're incredible. An aggressive bring-up. The hand behind the neck. Last week, I told the story of running into Mike Tyson

and thinking I was about to die. And then he pulled, that's exactly how he did it. Can we run it back again one more time? With the hand behind the neck? That's exactly, pull it close, because again, I'm taller than Mike Tyson, like Caitlin Clark is taller than Kim Mulkey. And it's right there, it's like,

alaikum salam, brother, right there in my ear. See, I think this doesn't look great, but I do think she's, like, this is Kim Mulkey being heartfelt. Oh yeah, of course. Like, I think that's about as, like, kind as she gets right there. No, no, this is good sportsmanship.

She had another, another video went viral. The Dap. The Dap, I thought that was the one that we had, maybe not. Very, very clean Dap, say what you will about Kim Mulkeyie clean dapp she went dapp no look dapp no look no it's not to the end I would have been like damn hold up for some of the for some of the more melanin deficient that might that is a

quite the feed that is quite the feat for her to be able to dapp not even make eye contact with that girl keep moving man I would love to picture the outkick, the coverage newsroom as they aggregate, as they just put out there, Iowa's out for the national anthem, LSU's nowhere to be seen, someone's gotta be throwing their hands up, guys, guys, no, Kim's an ally, what are we doing? Wait, you're saying outkick, I wanna know about

problematic Zagacki. I can fix her. Can lie. Conflicted. Although Iowa does play the game the right way. There you go. Who would he be rooting for? Kim Mulkey or Caitlin Clark in a game like that?

He was trying to decide yesterday. It's a hard one for him. House divided for him. Yeah. He had like the split hat where it's just like just Kim Mulkey and then also Katelyn Clark. Ready, Quinn's sister. By the way, Kim Mulkey in a green pantsuit, that was a very sedate outfit for her.

I thought so too. It also made for some very unfortunate photo shops. Oh, because of the green screen? Yeah. Oh man. Yeah, I wanna talk to you about something everyone was reacting to the game and something that, and the DAP after the game there was something Purely insane that happened before the game that if this happened before an NBA final

It would be wild. Did you guys I had to make sure that I wasn't being April Fooled by it so Kaylin Clark's warming up before the game and Angel Reese comes out and puts a crown on the LSU bench and walks away. There is a crown as a message being sent to Caitlin Clark. The DraftKings is the network that you wanna watch and that's the sportsbook you wanna use, right? The crown is yours.

The crown is yours. Hell yeah. Can you imagine if LeBron did this before an NBA Finals game while Steph is having his pregame shooting routine, this somehow was pretty quiet on the social media front. I think most people had the same reaction, like, this can't be real. Is this real?

I think if LeBron does it, everybody loves it. Everybody loves the bravado. WhenBron does it, everybody loves it. Everybody loves the bravado. When Angel Reese does it, people don't react as well. There's a double standard there. Well, I don't, I have no idea if she does this before every game. She very well might, but it's undeniable with all the added attention with Caitlin Clark there and all the, all the added eyes that that is a message being sent.

So I'm glad we have segue to this topic because ladies and gentlemen, if you want absolute equality in women's sports, this is what happens. You get guys like me who's gonna be like, if you're gonna talk the talk, you better walk the walk, because this was Angel Reese after the game. I get to speak out on things just because I just try to ignore and I just try to

stand strong. Like I've been through so much. I've seen so much. I've been attacked so many times, death threats. I've been sexualized. I've been threatened. I've been so many things and I've stood strong every single time. And I just try to Stand strong for my teammates because I don't want them to see me down and like not be there for them. So I Just want them to always just know like I'm still human like All this has happened since I won the national championship and I said the other day I haven't had peace since then

And it sucks and but I still wouldn't change I wouldn't change anything and I would still sit here and say like I'm unapologetically me I'm gonna always leave that mark and be who I am and stand on that and hopefully the little girls that look up to me and hopefully I give them some type of inspiration that no hopefully it's not this hard and all the things that come at you but keep being who you are keep waking up every day, keep being motivated, staying who you are, stay in center and toes, don't back down,

and just be confident. So we did some digging. Chris Cody finds out, and Chris Cody searched the internet. Angel Reese does wear a crown during pregame intros, and at least dating back to the Sweet 16, she did have the crown out on display on the bench. Lot of people learned this last night, myself included.

I'm gonna say this, death threats, not cool. Sexualizing people, not cool. But, again, I'm not absolving any of that behavior, it's abhorrent. But, if you're talking about people being mean to you on the internet, I'm assuming it's not people at the supermarket, people on the internet being mean to you. You put a crown on a seat before every game.

You better win. It's the same thing I was talking about Caleb Williams last week, right? Like the same concept. You can do that. I support you and you being you and ten toes down and standing on business and whatever internet patois we wanna use for the day.

But you better be nice as, oh. You can't turn into a human after you talk all the, or after you do the Superman talk trash. I am not gonna pretend like I have any idea. I know what online abuse is like, but the specific online abuse that a woman receives. That she's receiving,

I don't really have a connection point to that. I did, before the game, ESPN's pregame coverage centered around the fact that this is a rematch, these are two huge personalities, the start of the rivalry was basically Angel Reese taunting Caitlin Clark and there was on-court banter. And one of the clips that they showed in their pregame package was Diana Taurasi

and I think Sue Bird had a watch along last year for that game. And when Angel Reese was doing that, it's like, that's great, we love that. If you dish it, you gotta be able to take it. Now, that is not necessarily being able to take it. This is Angel Reese, an athlete, that has just had a devastating loss.

They're very clearly going to be taking this at a really difficult time, in a really difficult fashion. But to Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi's point, you know, it comes with the territory. That's what I'm saying. And DT especially, she's someone who talked a lot of shit, college and pro and to this day, but never ever, ever like had a moment of,

well hold on guys, I'm just human. Hold on now, man. Hold on, there's a difference between reacting to what social media says, which Angel Reese is going through, that Diana Taurasi never had to go through in the same way as a professional, like during the time that she played. Angel Reese as a college athlete, as a young woman,

has gone through some crazy shit on the internet, and that's an entirely different thing from what DT went through. And when you're talking about shit on the internet, and that's an entirely different thing from what DT went through. And when you're talking about talking on the court, like that was never the issue. You saw her go back and forth with Caitlin Clark last night. Like, and by the way. I also don't know what Diana Taurasi went through.

I'm not, no of course not. Hold on, hold on. I'm not talking about talking on the court, although again, DT did her fair share. Right. It goes back to when LeBron came here, you guys remember this, and he was trying to be the villain and he didn't really like it. Reggie Miller was saying like, in order to be the guy I got, you gotta wear that black hat and you

gotta like to wear it. You gotta like to wear the black hat. If you can't wear it, then don't wear the black hat, white hat be be be this is great Be that person be like the positive everything is okay, but when you want to be the bully Like it attracts a certain kind of attention and then and I'm not saying Harlem Shake happened after that and yeah There was a tonal shift right so I'm not saying that the attention that she's attracted was warranted or allowable. I mean, very clearly not. I also want to say I'm wrong. Diana Taurasi played far longer than I realized. She played until 2023.

What are you talking about? I'm looking at you like, you're in social media era. I just meant in her college career. This is why Jeremy doesn't get the, you know what? Penalty box aside, the next segment. Whatever, man. I was just trying to. I actually thought he was important and necessary boys. Don Lebatard Teammates can't shoot from three

Now they're gonna see a different Jimmy Now he's just, just playing Nickelback in the locker room and Stugats They'll play D and show threes As they chase the Nats for the sixth seed These five words in his head Scream, are we winning games yet?

This is the Dan Lebatar Show with the Stugats. So, let's see what we got here. This is a local hour, right? Let's do some local talk. There's a topic on this sheet that I was trying to get Mike's attention about, but he didn't have his headphones on, so he didn't hear me, so I was yelling Mike, Mike, Mike,

Mike, Mike, but it says Jeremy ruined the Panthers. Oh yeah, 100%. And since we ended the last segment sending Jeremy to the penalty box, I'd like to continue to pile on here. Jeremy, turn your mic off. Tell us, Mike, how did Jeremy ruin the Panthers? Jeremy was featured on the Panthers broadcast

for the first time all season. And he did a cool, I actually gave him kudos in one of the group chats, and hey, great job at Pantherland and touring the new facility. The Panthers came out and put up their worst early performance to start a game at Toronto. A big game, especially when you check the standings, a possible playoff preview. They just laid an absolute egg. What was interesting enough about that game is the Panthers brought

it within one at the very end. They were down 5-1 and then Toronto adds a late goal. But this is all Jeremy's fault. He likes to tout his spectacular record when he's working sidelines for the Miami Heat. He blew it last night. He should never be on the Panthers broadcast ever again. We'll get back to that in a second, but we have Lucy on the line now. Lucy, live from Albany?

Is that where you are? No, I got COVID, so I'm in my apartment. Okay, close enough. Close enough. Lucy, I have a question for you. Are you okay? Are you stressed okay? She's great. I just want to check in on her. I mean, she just said she had COVID. You're moving right onto the game. She looks like she's beaming right now. I had a rough weekend. It wasn't fun.

I don't recommend COVID. It's still got hands in 2024, but we're back. Caitlin Clark saved me. There you go. Resurrection Monday, right, for you. Lucy, I asked this question to this room full of men and they couldn't answer me because none of them watched enough women's college basketball. Have you ever seen a team with that confusing of a defensive game plan against Caitlin Clark? It was mind boggling. I think one of the craziest parts about that

was like they were talking during the broadcast about how Haley Van Leth needed an IV that day because she was like so sick and Kim. Okay is like yeah, I'm gonna have her guard Kailin That's who I want chasing Kailin down. It was what like I think that I would deserve to win that that game They were awesome. They were the better team last night But that was just if anyone lost that game for LSU, it was Kim Moky. What in the world was that defensive assignment? Hailey Van Lyth on Kaitlin Clark? That was insane! It was Hailey Van Lyth on Kaitlin Clark to start with. Hailey Van Lyth on Kaitlin Clark, as the game is continuing, she clearly has no answer to the point where she's shrugging.

She is a meme today, right? Yeah. Shout out to Juju who posted on the Levitart Show accountging she is a mean today right yeah the shadow to do do posted on the level to our show account this is what i'm gonna say when my boss says uh... hey you haven't got that done yet no that's that look right there but then also not to have any other defendant not to have anybody switching not to have any big showing off come as is coming off the screens they went under on the first

couple of them to start the game and and so can i ask I ask how does this compare and contrast with the final from last year, how they defended her? Well, so actually last year they didn't defend Kaitlyn particularly well. I think that's kind of been something that's lost. If you watch last year's game, LSU just hit every shot. Jasmine Carson was the real difference maker. She hit like 17 threes in that game. It felt like they, Caitlin dropped almost 40 in that game as well. I think the

real difference between this is one, I don't know what they were doing, not double teaming Caitlin. Caitlin even came out and was like, I thought Flau'jae should have been on me. Like I, that's the defensive assignment I was preparing for just because the length of Flau'jae would have kind of disrupt Caitlin. And you saw that when finally with four minutes left in the game came okie decided to switch the assignment and i think the real difference maker was they didn't really do anything to stop caitlin but they didn't do anything to stop sydney a folder they do anything to stop cate martin and that was the

difference in last year's they've they said hey we're gonna isolate this game to caitlin but we're gonna take everyone out of it they didn't isolate the game big to gail and this year they didn't take everyone out of it. They didn't isolate the game to Caitlin this year and they didn't take anybody out of it. When you look at what's happening in college basketball on the women's side, we don't have the numbers yet for the ratings. Do you expect last night to beat the final from last year? Did you forget you were hosting again for a brief moment?

Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely, 1,000%. I was just like, all right. Just looking around. Dad, way to be there for your teammates. I heard it as a dramatic pause. It was.

I enjoyed it. Did you hear it? Uh-uh. Basically, I'm gonna tell you what. State of women's basketball. What I did, what I did was, subconsciously I said, well, my good questions are out there. All right, Dan, take it away.

Yeah. Dan? Dan? Dan? Yeah. I also very quickly reminded you in the previous segment of Joe Mazzullo sending his Celtics to go under screens

in the NBA finals, ya dick. No, I asked about Iowa though. That's a great analogy, sure. I could have given you that one too. Yeah, I didn't have any other comps in the women's game. Of all the women's games that I've seen, especially in person on the season i i i gotta tell

you haven't really seen people going under the under the screens but i did pull from a fairly famous example uh... which on the zoo gave great analysis unfortunately what i asked was has anyone got a kit lanclaar like that okay you know what i don't even remember your question i just can't shake the start but to your question so i'm gonna ask lucy my question. Lucy, we could have used you in the last segment because we talked about Angel Reese's response

in the post-game presser. You just took offense to me saying we could have used you in the last segment. Yeah, but we definitely could have, but not for that basketball analysis, for the discussion that you tried to cook Jeremy on. You can put your- Which I tried really hard, by the way.

Yeah, you did, and we needed the voice, and unfortunately Lucy got sick. So I wanna talk to you about Angel Reese and how we talk about it. Because I mentioned before the game, there was last year, Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, they were mentioning about the Tony Ayo that you can't see me, and if you dish it out,

you gotta be able to take it. And some people, not ignoring totally the words that Angel Reese said before about the online harassment, the sexualization, but they saw her demeanor and it'd be completely different from when she was winning to when she was losing, and they had all sorts of opinions on that, Arshio included. What was your takeaway? You know, winning obviously changes everything.

I think something people don't realize about me, I love Angel Reese, I'm a huge Angel Reese fan. I think it's hard for me personally to separate LSU and Kim Mulkey, and that hard for me personally to separate LSU and Kim Mulkey and that's the issue I have with LSU. But like, you know, Angel Reese, one, we don't really know what happened when she went into those cameras and she twisted her ankle and she went back and she went out of the game. She came back and you can arguably say she wasn't the same then. And so, yes, she could have re-aggravated that ankle injury, which could have led her to, you

know, not play as well, which that would have anyone emotional. Angel Reese, I do believe when her and Haley VanLeth and Flage said that she's the most scrutinized player in college basketball, I agree. I think that Angel plays tough all the time, but that's kind of a tough act to keep up. And I'm not saying that she's not tough,

but I think that that's a girl that has really just a very heavy weight on her shoulders. And I think that that's a girl that has really just a very heavy weight on her shoulders. And I think it was honestly kind of refreshing to see her sort of outside of that, you know, like you can't see me demeanor and just, you know, authentically, you know, hey, I haven't felt happiness since I won the national championship. I thought it was really refreshing to see. I like Angel Reese and God, I hope she goes to the WNBA because I can't wait to cheer

for her and not cheer for Kim Loki at the same time. I'm so excited for that. Now Lucy let me ask you, given that the conversations that we've had on the show thus far have all been super duper basketball oriented, how much joy does that give you? Like to know that we're not talking about like the spectacle of women's sports and you know, it's literally just treating it like what it is, a great sports story. It was just like yesterday, which by the way, I knew I was gonna win.

I texted Taylor, everyone can confirm with him. Yesterday before the games. Hold on, don't, you get zero. Let's say I'm telling a story. I'm COVID, you. I'm COVID. You can't interrupt me. I don't have a lot of long capacity right now. Yesterday before the games started, it was just there was this moment where my phone was

blowing up and it was everyone just actually talking to me about the game, about a women's basketball game. And it's something that I've talked about on the show a little bit, but every time my little brother calls me and we talk about a women's basketball, it's just that like I've talked about on the show a little bit, but every time my little brother calls me and we talk about women's basketball, it's just this insane, just like I sit with this, just like, wow, feeling. And I had that same feeling when we were in Iowa, when I got the COVID, um, before I got the COVID, it was really like just fit. There was one moment where the guy in front of us,

there was a, like a bad call and he stood up and he just, you know, gave the bird to the refs, very very strongly, was just like yelling obscenities and I was like, we made it. Like he's losing his mind for a women's basketball game and it was something so special about seeing the discourse last night and just like, you're seeing the tides change and hopefully this becomes the norm and the regular

and you hope when stars like Angel and Caitlin you know eventually go on to the WNBA that this can follow them there. Did you watch the second game or did you pass out in a in a glory kind of filled? So I'm a little mentally ill so I did watch the second game but I watched it as the same time as I was watching I wanted to hear what Kim Mulkey had to say about the game. So I was watching all the postgame pressers at the same time. So I did watch majority of the second half of USC-UConn. How surprised were you about USC's collapse down the stretch offensively? I wasn't that surprised.

I think they kind of run into a similar situation with Iowa, where your offense and your entire team is kind of, you know, around one person. There was a long time, I believe it was in the second quarter, where Juju didn't touch the ball one single time. That is... I hate college basketball. Run the ball through her. I hate college basketball, men's or women's. Yeah, this is a college basketball.

That's a hallmark of college basketball. Yeah, I know you're pretty incredible, but I'm going to go over here. It's crazy. It's crazy. It's like Iowa, Caitlin Clark should touch the ball every single possession. That's the same thing for USC and Juju Watkins. She should touch the ball every single possession. I even saw that with the South Carolina game when they were playing Indiana,

there should never be a possession where you're not trying to get the ball to Camila Cardoso. Like there just isn't. So like, that's something that you're right, you do see in the college game a bit, but that was like the key reason for USC and like I don't consider myself a great basketball expert, but just sitting there watching that I'm like, girl, just get the ball to her, what are you doing? The

pre-tournament prices would suggest that it was a foregone conclusion that South Carolina was going to run through this tournament. However, you mentioned the Indiana game. They erased the 20-point deficit. They've been challenged a lot. Now NC State finds itself in the Final Four. You have Kaitlyn Clark potentially matching up over there against South Carolina. Can this team actually be caught? Can this foregone conclusion be undone by possibly Caitlin Clark? I mean, absolutely. One, she did it last year, so like we know that that, you know, is a possibility. I think South Carolina is the favorite. They should be the favorite.

They've been the best team in women's college basketball the entire year. But like watching that first half of the LSU-Iowa game last night, like either of those teams playing like that could have beat South Carolina. I think that it's, you have to plan for them very specifically. I think they are so good and they're better than everyone else, but they can be beat. You saw that specifically in the Indiana game. Like I don't think it's like a foregone conclusion

that South Carolina is gonna wipe the floor with whoever, you know, they're playing against. They've struggled. You've seen that in the season. They almost lost to Tennessee. They a 20-point lead against Indiana it's very possible for South Carolina to lose and God please let it be Caitlin. Lucy before we get to South Carolina they got to go through UConn, Caitlin does, UConn is going to try to do magic against Caitlin with their defense how do they do that like

what is the best way to defend Caitlin when this season has she had a bad game? I'm not telling I'm not telling I'm not telling them But you know shit, you know So the thing is is I don't actually think there's a way you can stop Caitlin Clark And that's actually something that Kim Mulkey said in her post-game presser last night. And I mean, that's accurate. I think Caitlin's had one game in the last two years

where she scored less than 24 points. Like that's just not, you can't stop her. The way to beat Iowa is by taking everyone else out of the equation. Caitlin can score 50 points a game. We've seen it. There, she can't score 70, you know? So you have to like, to beat Iowa,

you have to take everyone else out of the mix, except for if you're Gino Orellema listening to this. That's not the best idea. That don't listen to me. I don't know what I'm talking about. Now I'm rooting for Caitlin Clark to score 70. And so I can say, Lucy, ha! You didn't call that one.

Look, if she did, look, I already got my Caitlin's crunch time ready for it. On the way out here, you wanna relive Amin Forgetting, he was hosting the show? When you look at what's happening, it's like a bad book report. When you look at what's happening, the landscape, the landscape of women's college basketball.