Hey, everybody, welcome to Good Follow presented by DraftKings. I'm Trista Crick. We got a special guest. Woohoo.
It's me, Producer Jess. What's going on, Trista? What up, girl? We had to put Juju in timeout.
You filled in like a champ that you are. It's March Madness. Things are getting mad here. And sad here because the season's coming to a close.
We're going to have to talk about this final four. Yeah, we're gonna get right into it. The final four is set and it's the battle of the one seeds yet again. Today, we're gonna be picking up our coaching clipboards to break down what each team needs to do to be victorious in the weekend.
So first up, Trista, what do you think South Carolina needs to do to take down undefeated UConn? They just have to score every time down. That's pretty much what they need to do. Like that's really the issue with UConn is that you'll be in a game, you'll be competing with UConn, and then you'll go through a three-minute scoring drought, which almost every team always does.
The problem is UConn doesn't do that. And so you're like, oh, this game's super competitive. It feels like Notre Dame is competing. It feels like North Carolina is competing.
And you look up the score and it's a 17-point lead for UConn. And so that's, that's really kind of the issue is that UConn defensively is nasty, but offensively, they're very crisp. Sarah Strong doesn't miss a lot. A.G.
doesn't miss a lot. And they've got a lot of depth. What do you think? I think the same, but do you think that like, even if they have a scoring drought just in the very, very beginning, you know, they're a little slow to get into the start of that game.
You think that they can't come back? You think that'll be it? It depends on how early they have that drought and how much UConn is able to capitalize on it. We saw what happened in the TCU game where South Carolina went down eight points to start the game.
They're down to at halftime. But the problem that's different is Olivia Miles went down with a calf cramp. You had Marta Suarez get a knee tweak. Olivia Miles was in foul trouble as well.
And those were situations that I just don't see happening for UConn because TCU was not nearly as deep, right? So who is going to come in and take over for Olivia Miles when she's and to be able to give you some of that same scoring punch, playmaking punch. UConn has Kaylee Heckel. UConn has Ashlyn Shade.
UConn has KK Arnold. Blanca Quinones can play a little bit of point guard as well. They're very deep. So you can't hope for UConn to stumble and you to dig out of a hole when you're as good as UConn is.
Yeah. So if you're as good as UConn is, what is UConn's key to the game to take down these Gamecocks? Sleep. They just need to get sleep and be themselves.
That's right. Like you saw what happened in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight. They did look a little bit lethargic. They still beat the hell out of everybody.
But A.Z. Fudd looked tired. She looked like she wasn't really in the game for stretches. Sarah Strong in that Elite Eight game had 20 something points, 21 points, I think she had.
And she didn't even look like herself. She was missing layups for the first time I've ever really seen in her career. So they just need to get back to business and be the UConn that went undefeated in the regular season and in the postseason and hasn't lost a game since their Tennessee loss last year. What do we expect to see from them, you know, from that start, from that jump?
Like we expect to see full on, full out right away media. Yeah, I think we saw the same thing last year with A.Z. where it was like, oh, what's wrong with A.Z.? And then all of a sudden she came out in the final four and looked absolutely spectacular.
And I think that rest I talked to a former UConn player and they said, listen, the Elite Eight is the hardest game you'll play in the tournament. Everybody wants to go to the final four. You're exhausted. The turnaround time is crazy.
You've already played all these games. There hasn't been rest. And you're dealing with these long days because you're starting at five, six in the morning for shoot around and media availability. And then you have to wait for everybody else to get their game done.
And then after that game is when you can practice. Yeah. And we saw Gino call all that out, too, which was great. He really took the media and told everyone he's like this.
These times are they're not beneficial to these players. No, it's probably better for those who really are basketball junkies and want to go to one region and see eight teams. And you get a sense of who all these teams are. But that's, you know, 100 people that are in the media that get to talk to everybody.
That's 9000 people, maybe that are going to go to the game. And it's sad because there was four regions just four or five years ago. And it feels like maybe there's some momentum to get back to that again. Yeah.
And what do you think about these Final Four being the same as they were last year? Identical. The best four teams, right? At the end of the day, as much as we want to see upsets, what we don't want is a mollywop in the Final Four.
And that's probably what would have happened if TCU would have beaten South Carolina. UConn would have given them hell. I mean, you're talking about a South Carolina team that's very competitive. They've won titles before with this team, with Raven and Medina coming over in a transfer.
Dawn obviously in her bag. This is a team that's been very well coached throughout time. They're very resilient and they're starting to find their swagger. Yeah, that's true.
All right. We got to go to break. But when we come back, we'll discuss the next Final Four game. It's a family and friends event at Shoppers Drug Mart.
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Welcome back to Good Follow. Today's episode, as always, is presented by DraftKings. We got to talk about the DraftKings pick of the week presented, of course, by Chuboy DraftKings. We got to talk about this UConn South Carolina game in terms of giving our pick.
Like I said, I don't think anyone's beating UConn. The players, though, to watch for me. Number one, Blanca Quinones, who's the freshman who can do a little bit of everything. She was my most outstanding player vote when I was at Fort Worth.
Sarah Strong won the award, but I thought Blanca was fantastic. She's starting to find herself as a freshman. And on the other side of things, Joyce Edwards had her best game of the year against TCU. Had 20 something points.
Had multiple double digit rebounds, multiple blocks. So how is she going to look against this UConn team? Can she be a defensive monster? Who is she playing and defending?
Is it going to be Sarah Strong or is she going to be playing somebody who allows her on the other side of things to score the basketball? Fascinating matchup. Lots of players to watch, but those are my top two. And of course, I've got, like I said, UConn winning that game.
This segment is presented by DraftKings DraftKings. The crown is yours. The crown is yours, Trista. All right, let's take a second and break down this matchup of Texas and UCLA a little bit more.
It could really go either way. So what do we think Texas needs to do to beat down on UCLA? The thing that happened the last time out, and they basically need to do this again. Now, Lauren Betts left the game in the third quarter, but you got to stop Lauren Betts.
She's six foot seven. When she's getting it rolling and getting you into foul trouble and they're able to kick out to shooters, that's the best version of UCLA. If you can keep Lauren Betts under double digits, under 10, 12 points, and play her physical and get her rattled like you saw Duke did in the first half of the Elite Eight. And you can have that sort of fingerprint.
That's how you beat UCLA. And for Texas, that's something that they know well. They've got Kyla Oldacre, who's an absolute stud. She's been awesome.
Their starting center as well has been elite and electric. I like Kyla a lot more just based on her girth and her physicality. And she's a fan favorite, but both are great. So this is just one of those matchups that you need to focus on because when Lauren Betts is rolling, if she has like 25 and 15, that's a bad day for Texas.
That's dangerous. That's dangerous for sure. All right, so we know Lauren Betts has got to put up the points tonight if we're the Bruins. But for real, what is the Bruins key to taking down the Longhorns?
Yeah, you got to key in on Madison Booker. Madison Booker is their KD. Madison Booker against Michigan was walking wherever she wanted to go on the court and just pulling up. Just making easy shots from the corner, making easy shots from the elbow.
Literally nobody was anywhere near her, and I could not figure out what was going on. Madison is the key to everything that Texas wants to do. Make Rory Harmon put the