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Unknown Speaker 0:00
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Unknown Speaker 0:12
Hey, everybody, and welcome to another episode of sports prep live, prep live, where we unbox the mic and talk excellence in athletics.

Unknown Speaker 0:29
Welcome back to sports prep live. There has been a lot of things going on in the sports world since we last had an episode of the pep talk. So you know, we had to come back and do another one. Great and Prescott K B. You know what's going on? Let's jump right into it. You're ready to go.

Unknown Speaker 0:45
I'm ready.

Unknown Speaker 0:46
All right. So let's start with women's college basketball. Yes. First off, to start the year LSU opened as the number one team UConn was to an iOS three. It was three correct since then all three of those teams have been beaten. Quite a few upsets Ohio State, also a top 10 team. They were upset by USC. Yeah. What do you think of that?

Unknown Speaker 1:13
Well, the rankings came out of everyone's performance in the NCAA playoffs last year. So we had plus who them taking a look at who was returning on some of those rosters. So I think the powers that be felt they had a pretty good indication of what teams we're going to be like. Caitlyn obviously lost a big one in Monica says I know. South Carolina, losing Alia Boston, but still had an incredible recruiting class and had some awesome transfers come in. So I think and they were they were pretty low coming in, you know, versus their established history in terms of, you know, the AP roster. I think they were a number eight. Yeah. And so I felt like there was going to be some chaos. I felt like there was going to be a little bit of movement. But my hair was blown back. Based on what happened the first two weeks in women's college basketball, like you said, there were just upsets left and right. Some of them decisive, others nail biters. But all of them filled with drama. I can't wait to crack into it and talk about some of these individual upsets in the teams that either took part in the upset or the teams that were upset. But yeah, there's a lot to get into. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 2:34
And you said that you can't wait to talk about some of the upsets. So let's not wait. First upset that happened was LSU. Right. I believe they were the first game of the year. And they got beat by Colorado. Yes. You and I both watched the film for that game. What were your takeaways from that upset? And how do you think Colorado was able to defeat LSU?

Unknown Speaker 2:58
You know, I think Kim, not I think Kim coming into this Katie KIM MULKEY, head coach for Louisiana State had a feeling that this thing could go off the rails. And she actually mentioned that it could be a decisive victory. In that she felt her team needed a wake up call that they were a little high on the horse, and they were feeling themselves a little too much. And so it would be a good test for them. Colorado, I think, you know, Iowa played Colorado in the NCAA Tournament, I think they only beat them by 10 points. Colorado is an incredibly talented team. They are dogs, pit bulls. You know, they've got this guard Sherrod, who is just unbelievable. And so they're, they're experienced, and I think they returned every one. So you knew at the outset, even before, you know, jump ball, that it was going to be a tough game for LSU. And I just don't think that they took a good measure of who the Colorado Buffaloes were. And they paid for it. I mean, Colorado came in and slap them around. It really wasn't close, even in the early, you know, in that first half, where it appeared that LSU was just kind of hanging around. You could tell by the way that Colorado was playing, that this was going to get away from LSU. And it was going to get away from them pretty darn quickly. And the second half was really just an average. And, you know, the score at the end of that game. does not tell the whole story. I mean, it was decisive. But yeah,

Unknown Speaker 4:42
there were some garbage time buckets for LSU. Right. Right. I believe it was a 20 point game.

Unknown Speaker 4:48
Yeah, it could have easily been 30. Yeah. 30 Plus,

Unknown Speaker 4:51
Colorado has a lot of shooting that LSU lacks, right so they can't space the floor as much and they can't Take advantage of maybe some mismatches that they may have had in the pain because they just can't space anything out and Colorado could double. And they did they doubled and fronted the post on Angel, most of the nights because they knew, even though some people might have a different opinion of this LSU thinks angel is probably their, their go to it was she certainly was in that game. She didn't shoot well, but she got the most opportunities to shoot, right. And Colorado. What they did was they fronted the post, and then they sent another defender and help side to dissuade Angel from making a good play. And it worked it did she shot below frustrated her Yeah, yeah, she shot below 50%, I believe she only had 14 points, still had 1012 rebounds. But compared to what we saw from her last season, when they had a weak schedule, that was not what you would have thought coming from a player who claims to be the best player in the country.

Unknown Speaker 6:03
And I think that there were also some uncertainty on the part of, you know, the transfers, and even some of the veterans. You know, Angel Reese has come under a lot of scrutiny. And I don't know that she's handled it all that well. She had a very busy summer, and who at one time, or at least most people think of as her arch nemesis. They both had very busy summers, and I'm speaking of Caitlin Clark from the University of Iowa. But they also had very different summers. They were both very busy. And it appears to me, following social media, news reports, some of their own videos and things that they've posted interviews that they've done. Caitlin's was heavily focused on basketball, she was in the gym a lot. And I do not begrudge angel for taking advantage of the opportunities that were presented her. But you could see this movie coming from a long way away. Yeah, I was not surprised by the outing that she had. And I think some of those, though, transfers and you know, Haley van Lith. And then some of the, you know, now veterans who were, you know, younger and didn't feel like they were as big a contributor to those championship teams. For Elijah Johnson. A nice amaro is there. I think those players are coming into their own now. And they're not going to differ quite as much, and may recognize that I'm going to get mine as well, whether or not Angel Reese does, and the fact that angel is away from the team, and they won a couple of games, and they have won them in impressive fashion. Yes, they have. The ball has moved a lot more without her in there. You know, the players have moved, they're playing freer. You can see that there's no ego. And Kim has kind of spoken around that without wanting to be critical. Yeah, she has of Angel. But I think when angels down there anchoring that offense, it creates some dead weight. And without her in there, that ball moves a lot more in the the other players move a lot more. And they are playing outstanding. So it's going to be interesting. Gray to see what happens when and we'll talk a little bit about why she's gone. But when Angel does come back, it's going to be interesting to see what happens with this offense. That has really been free flowing. Since she has missed a couple of games here.

Unknown Speaker 8:43
I like the way you said anchor in the offense. And I do not believe you meant anchoring is in leading I think you meant anchoring isn't holding it down. Correct? Yes. I like that. Yeah, I like that terminology. You also mentioned that other players on their team will not differ nearly as much right. Especially since the way they've been playing. Do you think that has led to the meltdown that we've seen from Angel at present time?

Unknown Speaker 9:17
I think that has something to do with it. You know, a nice Memorial

Unknown Speaker 9:22
can hope to she's she had 42 Yes Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 9:26
42 points. Like if that's not a coming out party, I don't know what it is. We all know Haley van LIFFE can hope and I think Haley and this is to be expected. Haley came into the offense, you know, wanting to get in where she fits in wanting to find her groove not wanting to step on any toes. But I think Kim wants from her up the Haley van Lith that played at the University of Louisville. That's the the Haley van lift that we want. That if you see a good shot, you take that shot. If obviously, if you can bring someone down off the dribble do that. She's an outstanding player. So I think that's what they've gotten back to a little bit more. But yes, I do feel like some of that deference, that that may have been there coming out of that championship game. And this is not just my opinion, but I'm gonna say it as my opinion. I don't think that angel Reese performed all that. Well, in the championship game. She was out of the game for without trouble for a good portion of that game. Yes, she was. And were it not for six or seven threes from Jasmine Carson, and incredible difference. Defense from Alexis Morris. I don't know that they would have won that game. But I'll say it here on Sports rep live, it wasn't because of Angel Reese. And I think there was just too much deference to her. And I think that I think the team is now past that. And I think they're gonna they're gonna play better as a consequence of feeling like, Hey, we are a part of this team to pin if there is a bucket that I feel that I can get as an individual player on that team. I'm gonna go get

Unknown Speaker 11:02
Angel Reese. And I think this comes from this stems from a lot of the attention that she got. Post tournament, right. She now this is the report. This is what the official wrote allegedly, allegedly. She's out because she's having an attitude problem. That's, that might be the the G rated version.

Unknown Speaker 11:28
Let's put it in mild,

Unknown Speaker 11:29
putting it mildly of what's going on. We're just going to lay down what we know. Right? Kim Moakley has commented on this. We have mother's feuding flaws as a mom and angels. Angels mother. Yeah. And I'm gonna I'm gonna expand on that in a second. We have Angel commenting, you know, don't believe what you hear. Don't you hear? So, this is interesting. Flush a Johnson's mother. In a Twitter post, I believe here Brooks. I

Unknown Speaker 11:57
think her name yes.

Unknown Speaker 11:58
She responding to angels mother said, um, I guess angels mother might have messed something up grammatically. Right? And floridays mother says, No, I'm not quoting. But I'm paraphrasing. Yes. No wonder you had the grammar issue considering your daughter has below a 2.0 GPA, right? Do we think that angel is out because her GPA is sub two? You know that? That will get you kicked off the team? That

Unknown Speaker 12:34
comment is so hard. Yeah. Write it even you even struggled with just reading it? Because when you read it from the screen, you know what's out there in Twitter verse or wherever it is x verse, whatever they call it. No. Just to read it, it's jarring yet is that one star players mother would go after the other star players mother on something on an issue such as this and not keep this stuff in house close to the vest, you know, within the family, as coach Mulkey likes to to say, Yeah, I do believe like, I think everyone knows that if you are pushing under a, a 2.0. As a college athlete, it's going to be difficult for you to be on the floor. There has to be some standards. And it's that's in high school, that's probably in at any level nowadays, that you cannot be failing and participate in athletics, especially high level athletics representing a major division one university. So if that is the case, then there are a lot of people believe that that is the case. And you would have to think that Miss Brooks, philosophy, Johnson's mother is a credible source of

Unknown Speaker 13:56
information such as this not something you would just make up,

Unknown Speaker 13:59
right? You're not just going to throw that out there. And it wasn't refuted. Right. You know, we're here on the box, what we call the radio, sometimes, we're here on the box. And so we check our sources, we research we make sure that we know what we're talking about when we bring a subject matter to the listening audience. This is what is out there. And you would have to think that that Miss Brooks, like I said, is a credible source. And Miss Angel Rhys Webb, which I think is Mother's Day. Yeah, that sounds a little confusing. But this web did not push back on this. In fact, she probably did the smartest thing that you can do. Shut up. Yes. Thank you. She remained silent after that comment. And that's probably the best thing that she could have done in this in this situation.

Unknown Speaker 14:53
But then again, because she remained silent, that's a telltale sign that there was some truth true. It

Unknown Speaker 15:00
was spoken. Yeah, the truth was spoken. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 15:03
that's a that's a situation you don't want to be in both as a team organization and player. And

Unknown Speaker 15:09
we wish we could tell you when Angel was coming back but we don't know because KIM Yeah, she she said and house. I disagree with this, you know she Angel Reese is a public figure now. She is a brand endorser. She represents several brands. She is a person of notoriety. She is a grown woman, and she is representing division one university. And she does this for in her words, people that look like her. So if you are a public figure, you can't just take all of the accolades. And then when it comes to accountability, you're nowhere to be seen. So I disagree with this notion that coach Mulkey has put out that we don't have to say anything about the situation that is going on. Because we are a family. I understand that your family and that's that's a great ethos to carry forward. But Angel Reese is a public figure and something should be said.

Unknown Speaker 16:10
I think Coach Mulkey is trying to protect

Unknown Speaker 16:13
the UN. I don't do not begrudge her that. Yes, she is she's

Unknown Speaker 16:16
trying to protect the camaraderie of the team, especially if angel comes back. Sure. She doesn't want to step on anybody's toes. Sure. There's a lot of nuance to this situation. I'm

Unknown Speaker 16:25
so absolutely.

Unknown Speaker 16:26
I can't I can't hold that against her for trying to I agree with you protect Angel from that. But at the same time, you know, you got to have some accountability. And if Angel wants to be so public, we should probably know what's going on. However, this is a likely a humiliating situation for it's tough for Angel. It's a tough situation to be in. Yeah. So I I can't hold that against Coach Mulkey for being silent. But I can hold it against Angel because, you know, say something if

Unknown Speaker 16:58
you're the one island any other time

Unknown Speaker 17:01
you want to talk about all this. Best, please me and Caitlin and I should be higher on the draft list. And this is a disgrace. Correct? Correct. If you want to talk about all this arrogant stuff, then why don't we talk about it when we want

Unknown Speaker 17:14
to hear from you now? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 17:17
Another team in college basketball. Now. This team hasn't had nearly the drama The Yes, but they have had some on court. They have had an N one on court problem is Iowa. And specifically, Kaitlyn know she's averaging 31 points a game she's doing her thing. But I do think that their game against Kansas State raised a red flag to do. I'm just gonna lay out some statistics here. So Kate Martin, who was a returning senior, she went scoreless, and she was projected to be one of their biggest players in the game against Kansas State. Yes, she went scoreless, and she's supposed to be one of their top players and a starter. She's a startup. She played 22 minutes. Gabby Marshall played 28 minutes. She scored two points. And they lost the game by five Caitlin shot nine for 32. That's 28% and two for 16 from three, which is worse, that's 12 and a half percent. This raises the big question Can Iowa win if Caitlyn has an off night?

Unknown Speaker 18:34
I'll wait for the audience to answer that question. Is a resounding no. But that should not be the case. Yeah, here we are talking about just to digress for a moment injuries and how spectacularly LSU has played without their quote unquote best player on the floor. And although Iowa does not have the talent behind Caitlin, that LSU has, along with Angel Reese. The point still stands that you need to be able to have contributions from your supporting cast. And for Kate Martin to go scoreless in this game. It was against a team that she's familiar with Kansas State beat Iowa last year they did

Unknown Speaker 19:25
Kailyn rolled her ankle at the end of that game.

Unknown Speaker 19:29
And Gabby Marshall to only have two points Stokey to have two turnovers in the last two and a half minutes and I believe score nine points.

Unknown Speaker 19:37
She did have 11 rebounds. So you didn't she didn't do horrible. Okay, she did her job. Okay, you she gave you she's the center she gave you 1112 rebounds. She did. She gave you about 10 points, but two turnovers in the final two minutes. Okay, well if we're gonna, we're gonna say final two minutes errors. Caitlin shot. Shoot your five threes in a row. Yes. And they're down one point. And then you can see three points that I think

Unknown Speaker 20:05
the reason you get into this situation. And I'm glad you bring that up. The reason that Caitlin gets into that predicament in the first place, is because teams are identifying, we know who's going to hurt us, everybody in the country knows who's going to hurt us. And if we lock in on that individual, if our defense shifts, and we pay more attention to Caitlin Clark, have the others proved that they can step up and pull out a victory. And support Caitlin Clark, and I don't think this year, at least, that case has been made. It hasn't. And I think, you know, people are loath to fault, you know, that supporting cast, but you cannot go in entire game and be a to play the two position, that's a shooting guard and have zero points. That's unacceptable. So now they did bounce back. They had an incredible game, there was an incredible balance. So hopefully that message got through to that supporting cast. It does seem like it based on the the ensuing game that they had following that Kansas State debacle. But they need to know they have to step up. And I think that leads to Kaitlyn taking some of these ill advised shots because no one else can even get a shot off. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 21:30
When they played Virginia Tech, who, at the time, I think was seventh or ninth right in the country. And I was third. They beat that team. Caitlin. Now Caitlin had 44 points. But she did get help. From Correct. Hannah, Sophie did really well, art and Gabby Marshall, all all of them chimed in and helped. So if Kaitlyn gets the help, I I really think I was still going to be a challenging team to beat. And, you know, Virginia Tech played well. They're point guard. 31 points, Georgia or more. Yeah, she's tough. 31 point he is tough. She is. And then their National Player of the Year candidate. She didn't do poorly. Yeah, surely. Yes. She was 20 and 10. So they had a great game. But I was still had balanced and they were able to knock them off. On the road. Right. But then Kansas State a team that's familiar with them. I don't think they came in thinking, Oh, they're second in the country. They're gonna beat us. No, they came in with a game plan. Yes, they came in, we're going to focus on her, we beat them last year, we can beat him again. And Iowa just didn't they didn't execute. Nobody executed. I mean, Caitlin had 24 points, but shooting 28% from the field and 13% from three. That's right.

Unknown Speaker 22:57
And I'm a huge Caitlin fan. But I do attribute and I'm not going to make excuses for but I do attribute a lot of that inefficiency to her just trying to do whatever she could to make up for a really deficient outing from her teammates. And yeah, and hopefully, you know, whether it's the Iowa Press citizen or the Cedar Rapids group, because they're in Iowa, or the Quad City Times out there in the Quad Cities. I think that they've been taken to task. And I think that they have heard the feedback that that is unacceptable. Yeah, you don't have to give me as a teammate of Caitlin Clark, you don't have to give me 20 points per game. But you got to give me something,

Unknown Speaker 23:42
you got to give me eight to 10

Unknown Speaker 23:44
Correct. You got to give me as a shooting guard, you have to give me something. And if you give me something you're gonna go a long way. You know, Caitlin will take you a long way. So I think they both made mistakes, the team made mistakes and not being there to support her. And then I think, you know, Kaitlyn made a mistake in trying to do it all by herself. However, I do understand why she felt like she had no other choice.

Unknown Speaker 24:06
Yes, I've read some I've read some articles recently. And I'm sure you have two podcasts talking about Caitlin not being as great of a player she gets credit for due to her sometimes inefficiency. And I would like to touch on that just a second and offer some context. It's hard to be efficient when the other team's game plan is to double or triple every is to stop

Unknown Speaker 24:36
to your ball because to stop you one player. That's their game plan.

Unknown Speaker 24:39
I mean, there were times against Kansas State there's this defense box in one and you know you played basketball I'm sure you're familiar with the boxing one right. You set up for players at elbows and block or nowadays since the spaced out wings and then high post and One player guards the ball. Kansas State at times was running a triangle and to two players stopped Caitlin, and the other three cover the other four players. Correct. That just, that's a testament to how deadly Kaitlyn can be as a player. So despite her off shooting night, there has to be some context to why she's inefficient. And if your teammates aren't playing well, I mean, two points from a starter and zero from a starter, right. It's hard to trust them to take the shot. It

Unknown Speaker 25:37
is hard, but I think you know, harking back to my era, and I'm going to jump to professional sports here real quick. You know, one of the biggest bouts of confidence that the current coach of the warriors Steve Kerr, got from his playing days with the bulls, is Michael Jordan, getting him the ball, when Michael was being double and triple teamed, and trusting him to make a big shot. And not losing faith in him. If he did not Dr. Knockdown that shot. And I think Caitlyn has to make sure that she has those moments with her teammates. Yeah, that she's got to trust them, even when they're not shooting. And I'm not even gonna say not shooting well, they're just not shooting. Yeah, she's got to bring them around to make sure that hey, in moments like these, when I am being doubled and triple teamed, I need you to step up and take the shot that goes in it goes in if it doesn't, we keep playing. But she has to entrust them to take that shot. That's a part of her role as a leader on the team, so that they do feel confident enough not to just sit and watch her play basketball against five other people. Yes,

Unknown Speaker 26:58
and I think that's what actually led to there. I don't think it was surprising. But for some people that was tournament run last year, there were games, really to Georgia. Caitlin had an off night, significantly off night worse than her performance against Kansas State. However, in that game, the supporting cast came Martin and Gabby Marshall were excellent. And that's what got them the victory. Absolutely think they won by absolute 10, maybe eight to 10. They were in that range. And Caitlin only had 2022 points. That's

Unknown Speaker 27:38
a good night, out of the office.

Unknown Speaker 27:40
If and I think Kate and Gabby each gave them 15 Plus, if you can do that. And you don't have to do that every game because Caitlin's not gonna have off nine every game right? But if you can do that, just to pick up some slack from when Caitlin's getting triple teamed and double teamed? I was gonna go a long way.

Unknown Speaker 27:57
I'm worthy number two ranking.

Unknown Speaker 27:59
I'm not worried about them. But I just think that the supporting cast needs to realize they got to step up. I agree. Agree. No, I just want to point out, we don't forget about men's college basketball and men's sports. It's just very dull.

Unknown Speaker 28:18
There's not a lot of drama. Right now. If you and I are off making amends for it. And you and I are off. We're about to head out of here. We're off to the to the bishop Gorman. The state championship game against Liberty so we'll have something to talk about. On the next episode, that will be really interesting.

Unknown Speaker 28:36
I don't want to go out. I'm gonna go out on a limb here. I think we're gonna know what we're going to be talking about. Next time. Don't jinx them. They 149 to six last time. I'm not gonna Jinx them. All right. All right. Thanks, everybody, for tuning into this episode of sports prep live. We had a great time. All as always, have a great day, and we'll see you next time. Peace out. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of sports prep live. I'm grading Prescott and don't forget to catch all of our episodes on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and be sure to follow us on Instagram or Twitter at sports rep law. Thank you

Transcribed by https://otter.ai