Episode 228: Women's DI College Basketball Preview
In this episode, Lindsay Gibbs and Amira Rose Davis preview NCAA DI women's college basketball. But first, they share their favorite women's soccer moments of the week. Then, it's all about college hoops! They share a recap of last season and coaching changes, preview the Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Pac-12 conferences and highlight the players they are excited to watch.
There is no new interview this week due to US Turkey Day but Lindsay gives an update on tennis player Brittany Collens's fight against the NCAA, who Jessica interviewed on the show a year ago. Next, they burn all the worst garbage of sports this week in The Burn Pile. Then, they celebrate those making sports better, including Torchbearers of the Week, the Washington Spirit who are now NWSL Champions. They wrap up the show with what's good in their lives and what they are watching in sports this week.
This episode was produced by Tressa Versteeg. Shelby Weldon is our social media and website specialist. Burn It All Down is part of the Blue Wire podcast network.
Links
Women's NCAA Tournament expanded to 68 teams, Selection Monday moved to Sunday: https://theathletic.com/news/womens-ncaa-tournament-expanded-to-68-teams-selection-monday-moved-to-sunday/fg5AAH8TpeC7
AP top 25 poll: https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-women/d1/associated-press/
Syracuse coach Quentin Hillsman accused of improper behavior, bullying: https://theathletic.com/news/syracuse-coach-quentin-hillsman-accused-of-improper-behavior-bullying-sources/MyKYogDUD3t7
Katie Barnes on Azzi Fudd: https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/30930267/azzi-fudd-unbreakable
Women's college basketball: South Carolina, UConn and the women's Battle 4 Atlantis https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/32660481/women-college-basketball-south-carolina-uconn-women-battle-4-atlantis
Transcript
Lindsay: Hello, hello, hello, flamethrowers! Lindsay Gibbs here. Welcome to Burn It All Down, the feminist sports podcast you need. It is just today me and Amira Rose Davis. We've got the Gemini crew here. [laughs] Ready to very, very messily captain the ship. [laughs] Thank you all so much for listening. We're very excited about today's episode. We're going to do a little NCAA women's hoops preview, because me and Amira love women's college basketball. I should go ahead and note, there is no interview this week. It is Thanksgiving here in the United States. So, take the day off if you can, enjoy it with your family if you want to, eat if that's what makes you feel good.
But at the top, I know Amira and I both watched some exciting women's soccer this week. The NWSL championship game, where the Washington Spirit defeated the Red Stars. It was a great championship game. There were over 10,000 people on hand in Louisville to watch, and, you know, the Washington Spirit – as we’ve discussed on the show many times – have had quite a season. It's been really, really rough for them off the field: ownership disputes, their coach getting fired – also COVID protocols, they had a forfeit a couple of games. So, you know, a lot to talk about.
But this game, I mean, it was Trinity Rodman. Trinity Rodman was everything, you know? She is so good, and her pass to Kelley O'Hara and then Kelley O’Hara's finish…I always love when defenders score goals, you know? This was Kelly O'Hara’s first goal of the season, which is always…You know, what a time to do it. But that connection, rookie the vet, you know? 19 year old to, I think, the oldest player to ever win an NWSL championship game, was my favorite moment of the game, for sure. It sounds like Louisville really put it on, made it really an event, which I think is just such a good step for the game. Amira, what soccer were you watching this week?
Amira: Yeah. You know, I'm watching the NCAA women's postseason tournament. They are in this wild weekend where you go and you cut the fields down with back-to-back games. And so they're in the second round, they're playing campus sites, and then there's games today. And then the field will be…We’ll basically go into the third round, leading into the college cup in Santa Barbara, California, the first week of December. So of course I am watching Penn State women's soccer. You know, it's been a rocky year due to a lot of injuries, but people are now coming back. Jordan Canniff is back, Peyton Linnehan is back from injury. And it's kind of gelling at the right time. So, I was watching their big second round game with 11th overall, and the number two seed in their division, USC. And they were playing in LA at USC, and they went up first, early, and then USC tied it up. And then they were leading 2-1 with four minutes to play.
And I was like, oh my gosh, I'm about to buy a ticket to LA! And then USC tied it up 2-2, and then we went into not one but two overtime periods, and there was still no decisive victory. So, they went into PKs and, you know, PKs no matter what are always thrilling and also terrifying. But they went up early on PKs. Kat Asman blocked the first one for USC. So it just meant everybody else had to hit, and they all did. And so they're moving on. They'll actually play today at the time we’re recording in LA as well, versus University of South Carolina. So they got one on USC and they're going on to another one. And so it's an exciting weekend of women's college soccer.
Lindsay: I love it so much. All right, today we are going to take us into the women's college basketball season. We're a couple of weeks in now. There are a couple of really big tournaments over the Thanksgiving long weekend that you should cuddle up, hopefully find a free trial for FloHoops and, you know, watch these great games. It feels like it has been a lifetime since March and since our tournaments this year. So, just want to give a quick breakdown of where we stand, where the landscape is. If you remember last year, Stanford won it all, taking down Arizona in that ridiculously nail-biting championship game. The other two final four teams were South Carolina and UConn. Last year's player of the year was Paige Bueckers, and then NaLyssa Smith got the Wade trophy.
And then, you know, coming into this year, the big news is – well, that just happened this week, honestly – is that the women's NCAA tournament has expanded to 68 teams. So, from 64 to 68. The fields will be announced on Sunday, the same day the men will. So, selection Sunday will be men's and women’s. We are recording this on Sunday morning before the game that I'm most excited about, which is Baylor versus Maryland this afternoon. So, hopefully this conversation is still relevant. We've already had some other big top five games, and the first game of the season, South Carolina defeated NC State – number one defeated number five, 66 to 57. So, it's just right out the gates we are started with really big.
I wanted to just quickly give an overview of the top 10 in our AP top 25. As of November 15th, we got South Carolina at number one, UConn at number two, Maryland at number three, Indiana at number four, NC State at number five, Baylor at number six, Stanford at number seven, Iowa at eight, Oregon at nine, and Louisville at ten. Although I guarantee you Louisville will not be in the top 10 [laughs] by the time you're listening to this. Amira, can you kind of recap…There were some coaching changes during this offseason. Will you remind people where we are with the coaching changes?
Amira: Absolutely. The coaching carousel was in full swing. So, first off, Nikki McCray-Penson of course announced in early October that she was stepping down at Mississippi State after one year there due to health concerns. So, Doug Novak is taking over as interim head coach, and we're sending all the love and healing vibes to Nikki, definitely. Quentin Hillsman is out of Syracuse because, you know, inappropriate behavior – please read about that at The Athletic. Vonn Read is taking over as head coach. Of course, one of the biggest storylines on the offseason was Kim Mulkey leaving Baylor. She's returning to her home state of Louisiana, and is coaching at LSU. Nicki Collen is taking over at Baylor in her place. And Lindsay Gottlieb is head coach of USC. Also, coach Vivian Stringer is sitting out the season due to COVID-19 concerns up at Rutgers.
And so you see not only there's a lot of coaching swings, but even that top 10 [laughs] that Lindsay shared with us, you can already see, not only with Louisville being in the mix, but you can already see a lot of changes and rollercoaster rides of the season are starting. Of course, South Carolina's Raven Johnson is out for the year already with a left knee injury; was a top recruit. And so we'll see if South Carolina can retain that number one. They’ve received 25 of those votes for first place, with UConn also receiving five. And so I think that you can also see in the top 10 that there are so many conferences represented, which means we're in for a really, really fun year in terms of both conference tournaments and the overall picture. I personally cannot even wait til March at this point.
Lindsay: Oh, I know! [laughs] It's so fun. But it seems like the non-conference schedules get more exciting every single year, too.
Amira: Absolutely.
Lindsay: So like, it used to be I kind of skipped over the first couple of months of the college basketball season and then woke up for conference play, but–
Amira: And can we also talk about that, like, for folks who aren't knowing the kind of rhythm of a college basketball season for women's college basketball, it's a weird thing, because it kind of just starts, but like with a whisper, because they're playing random non-conference games, they’re playing schools that there's some lopsided victories. You're like, is this really starting? How much stake should we put in the first few games? And then everybody goes and does tournaments, which are really great. And then like, you're kind of chilling and you're like, oh, nothing matters. And then all of a sudden you look up and it's like a big game! Big game! Big game! Conference play! High stakes, dah, dah, dah. And you're like thrown into it. So it's a weird season where it doesn't necessarily start with a bang, but all of a sudden like on a random Tuesday you look up and you realize so much is on the line.
Lindsay: Yeah, except this year, like I said, you know, we started with South Carolina–NC State. We've got Baylor–Maryland right now. You know, teams are going a little bit more out of their way for some bigger non-conference games. Although there are always a few. But anyways, we want to give you kind of a quick preview. This is not comprehensive, [laughs] because we would be here til Thanksgiving day itself if we were giving you a comprehensive, full preview. But we did want to just kind of go into talking a little bit about the conferences, kind of the four biggest conferences that have the most news. I want to start with the Big Ten, which is not usually where you start when previewing women's college basketball, I got to say. [laughs]
But this year's Big Ten…The conference had a great season last year, had a great showing at the NCAA tournament. And then this year you've got Maryland at number three, Iowa’s at number eight. Indiana's there at number four – three Big Ten teams in the top 10 right now. Michigan's also in the top 25. They're ranked at #13 – Naz Hillmon, Naz Hillmon, Naz Hillmon! They can be really good this year. Ohio State at #21 also has a chance to be really good this year. And then, you know, you've got a lot of other great teams: Northwestern always can make some moves, Michigan State always has a say in things. I got to say, I paid more attention to Big Ten when I started covering Maryland women's basketball when I moved to DC in 2016, and even just five years ago, the Big Ten was so bad. Like, all we did was watch Maryland at their home games and conference play pretty much just roll over every single Big Ten opponent. But then they get to March Madness and, you know, they weren't really tested.
So, it's just wild to see how far the Big Ten has come over the past few years. Indiana just has…I think it’s a very unique team because it's got so many players coming back. You've got a lot of, you know, six year players who've been around for six years on that team. And so really no superstar stand-outs. Of course, Iowa, we've got Caitlin Clark back, so let's see how her follow-up season's going to be. Maryland, I mean, we'll talk more about the players I've got an eye on there, but you know, from top to bottom, they are thrilled. And like, I really just want to see Maryland in the tournament right now. I really want to see them back in a final four. But I don't know. I mean, I just love how gritty and tough the Big Ten is, because it was such an afterthought for so many years. Amira, I know you've got your eyes on one conference in particular. [laughter] How’s SEC lookin’?
Amira: When you talk about gritty and tough, like, I’m glad the Big Ten is building back up. But gritty and toughness coincide with the SEC for me. It is a really tough conference with a lot of intensity, and that's like a very delicate way of saying it. [laughter] So, yeah, it's a really interesting conference. There's a lot of things happening in it this year. Of course you have Dawn Staley's Gamecocks as the big dogs, number one – not just in the conference, but overall. They have a lot of expectations on them. And I think that everybody in the SEC has built up their programs to take aim at the Gamecocks, with good reason.
And so I think that when you think of the SEC, its revival has been a place where you see teams build to beat Dawn's teams, and you see ADs hiring people in Dawn's image. It’s not a coincidence that the SEC is the place where you can find the most Black women coaches in women's college basketball. But it also means on the court there's a lot of drama, because in many ways they're trying to figure out how do we put together a team that will be competitive in SEC play first and foremost. So you have the Gamecocks leading the way.
Of course, you have Texas A&M, the Aggies high up in those preseason polls, coming off a good postseason. They also had a number of their seniors return: Kayla Wells in particular, Jordan Nixon is still there. And they have a pretty good team. Of course my cousin played on the Aggies last yea; she has transferred to LSU to reunite with Kim Mulkey, who's the coach that she started her career with at Baylor. And there's a lot of storylines around Mulkey and what she'll bring to the SEC, even though it's going to take a minute to build up a program, of course. But she is going in with a lot of eyes on her, because it’s Kim Mulkey and it’s women’s college basketball, so of course there will be. And getting the team that's a fairly young team into a place of competition in this conference will be really interesting to watch.
You also have teams like Arkansas, teams like Kentucky, right? Kyra Elzy and her first year, last year as an interim. This is her first true year as the head coach. It will be really interesting to see what these teams that had really kind of scrappy moments last year, that unexpectedly…You know, Alabama has its first appearance in postseason play, right? A lot of these teams outperformed and were really hard games for folks in the conference. To see what they build, to see what they continue to build off of those years. Tennessee is climbing its way back up to being a powerhouse again.
Joni Taylor’s Georgia Dogs of course can never be out of the conversation. You saw Joni Taylor of course meet Dawn Staley as the first two Black women ever in an SEC championship game. And so it's a conference that has very clear heavyweights, but also so many people that are positioned to take the crown or at least make it really hard for you to hold on to it. And I, for one, of course, am enjoying the show that they all are going to put on.
Lindsay: Yes, same, same. You know, being back here in North Carolina, it does have me go in full out on watching the ACC this year. I'm very excited, I have to say, to have more access to those games and those teams and those players. And to me, there's just so many big time questions about the ACC. Like, I have no idea what's going to happen this season, and that’s kind of cool. I think we don't know what a lot of these teams are. You know, a lot of these teams are kind of in a rebuilding phase. You've got Notre Dame with, you know, coach Ivey, it's her second full year as head coach. Notre Dame had an off year last year, but I can't see that program being down for too long, right? So like, what are we really going to see from her?
In the same vein, we didn't get to see Duke under Kara Lawson much last year because they stopped the season due to COVID concerns pretty early. And so there's been so much hype about Kara Lawson getting to Duke, getting that team back in the mix. And we've all heard Kara Lawson’s speeches – I can't imagine that they're not going to be a factor for so long! And she's got some really great recruits and great signings over there. NC State, this is the year. You got my Greensboro gal, Elissa Cunane, who is your center there. She's now an upperclassmen and no longer surprising anyone with her great play.
NC State's ranked number five right now, but is this like the year they're really, really going to take that home from like fun, middle of the pack threat, you know? Like, they're not a Cinderella anymore. They're no longer a feel good story, right? It's time for them to get to the final four. It's kind of a final four or bust type year for NC State. And at the same time, you know, you've got Louisville, who was upset by Texas early in the season; as I mentioned, will not be in the top 10 by the time you're listening to this. And we're very curious, you know, they don't have Dana Evans anymore. How are they going to react? What's North Carolina doing? They're also in a rebuild type year.
Florida State, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech – so many programs that I don't feel like we know who they are right now. There's been so many coaching changes and kind of just so much turnover. But that to me is really exciting. I just cannot wait to see what shakes out in the ACC, and I cannot make any predictions, even. That is a conference that I’m just buckled up and along for the ride. Amira, what about the conference that really showed up all other conferences last year? [laughs]
Amira: Yeah, absolutely. We're talking about the conference of champions: the Pac-12, of course having not one but two teams in the national championship game, in Stanford and Arizona. Stanford of course winning it all last year, and also making coach Tara Vanderveer the winningest coach in the game. And they look like they are not stopping anytime soon! It will be very interesting to see what Stanford does, but I'm also mostly really interested in what Adia Barnes does in Arizona. Of course, Aari’s not on the team, right? Went into the league. But her roster in many ways is deeper than it was last year, and I'm really excited to see how Arizona continues to build off of last year’s success and where that takes them. In the preseason poll they were just outside of that top 10.
But in addition to Stanford and Arizona, you're talking about a conference, of course, that has Oregon, right? It has up and coming Oregon State. You can never really count out some of these other teams like UCLA. And I mean, even teams like Utah [laughs] look like they could at least threaten some in-conference rivalries. So, it'll be very interesting to see, you know, who ends up emerging victorious from the Pac-12. Of course, all eyes are really looking at Stanford, Arizona, and Oregon kind of vying for these top positions. But, you know, they've kind of branded themselves the conference of champions, and we'll see how not only conference play goes, but how many of their teams show up in a meaningful way in the postseason.
Lindsay: I'm ready! Of course, there are a few conferences that we're not getting to in this preview, probably most notably the Big 12. It's got Baylor and Texas, who…Texas should be a top 10 team by the time you are listening to this. Well, depending on what happens. We got a Texas-Tennessee game on Sunday as we're recording this, so we don't know what's happened in there, but they have some contenders there. Of course, UConn is not in any of these big conferences, but early, early in this year, they look as good as anyone. For me, when we talk about – which is what we're going to pivot to now – kind of players that we have our eye on as we're coming into the season, we're going to kind of do this rapid fire.
To me, a big thing was, like, how is Caitlin Clark and Iowa and then Paige Bueckers at UConn going to follow up their huge freshmen seasons? So far, especially for Paige, we're doing pretty good. Also, Ashley Owusu in Maryland is my favorite player to watch, [laughs] the point guard. When she goes downhill, girl, there is no stopping her! Like, it is power personified. Rhyne Howard at Kentucky has been one of my favorite players to watch for years. Aliyah Matharu at Texas is already making waves. And then of course, of course, Aliyah Boston at South Carolina who, you know, just be happy you're living in the era of seeing these big women in college basketball going after it!
And then if I'm talking freshmen, it's Azzi Fudd, once again at UConn, who has had so much hype. A good friend of the show, Katie Barnes, wrote a big profile on Fudd. I've been following Fudd for years, because she was in the DC area, so I have lots of friends covering her. So, really excited to see what her freshman season ends up being, even though I don't love watching UConn. Sorry, Shireen. Amira, what players are you keeping an eye out for?
Amira: Yeah. I think it's a really interesting freshman recruiting class over at University of Texas that Vic Schaefer has there, including Aaliyah Moore and Amina Muhammad. It will be really interesting to see how some of these young teams match up. I think that there's this really interesting dynamic that's happening, whether it's like young players paired with a few fifth year seniors, right? And so you can watch teams kind of rebuild for the future while trying to win now with this interesting mix. I think Texas is a place where you see this happening, and it's also happening of course at LSU.
I'm obviously biased, but I'm watching my cousin, Alexis Morris. She's playing, like I said, at LSU, and it's really great to see her back in the starting lineup. She's played two games so far and been the second leading scorer in both of them. She's just like a walking highlight reel. I think that they put together a little package of her return, where she hit a shot and then ran back and blocked a shot and then had to steal within like 90 seconds. [laughs] So, it's always enjoyable to kind of watch that develop.
And then I'm obviously watching to see what it looks like for her to be a leader on the court and to really step into being an upperclassmen leader, you know? She's had a rocky journey in her college career, but it'll be really interesting, what it feels like, you know, full circle, of course, for her to be back playing under Mulkey. You know, Lindsay named all the other players I have my eye on – of course Rhyne Howard, and some of these sophomores that had their debut seasons in the weirdest year ever. And kind of seeing what this season looks like when it’s not as COVID-y and it's, you know…Is it a sophomore slump? Is it something to build off of? That's really exciting to see. And so I'll be looking forward to that as well.
Lindsay: I also wanted to mention a player I didn't bring up, is Shakira Austin at Ole Miss, who is probably a really top WNBA prospect. She was at Maryland her freshman year. So, I got to follow her very quickly, so I'm very excited to see what she does. Like Amira said, did last season even count? Do you know what I mean? [laughs] Did last season even exist?
Amira: It was like a blur.
Lindsay: A blur! And I think that's why I have so many questions about so many teams that are so different from 2019 because, you know, I think last season left more questions on the table then gave us answers, in my opinion. All right, we want to end this segment with a bold prediction. [laughs] Something that people can really hang over our heads. Amira, I’m gonna make you go first.
Amira: My bold prediction is that Arizona is going to be back in the final four.
Lindsay: I love that. I love Arizona and Adia Barnes. I think having faith in Adia Barnes is a smart move. [laughs]
Amira: Yes, yes.
Lindsay: Honestly, not that bold, but–!
Amira: I was about to say, I don't know how bold it is to be like, “I trust Adia Barnes,” but I feel like in the time where people are like, oh, that was like a kind of flash in the bottle year, like, I guess my bold prediction is being like, watch out! Because Adia’s not going anywhere.
Lindsay: Yeah. My bold prediction is going to go with a team in the SEC that, I don't know, I just feel like this is their year to bounce back. I feel like it's time for Tennessee to kind of…I like what Kellie Harper has been building there. I liked some of the games they played. They were very inconsistent last season, but had a high ceiling. Rebuilding that program after Pat Summitt, and then after Holly Warlick left, it's a tall task, but I really love what Kellie Harper is doing there. I don't know if I'm willing to say final four. I say though, getting back to the elite eight for the first time since 2016, that you're going to see Tennessee back in the mix, which I think is good for everybody. You know, because talk about fan bases that are loyal and are loud.
Amira: [laughs] Yeah.
Lindsay: We have no new interview coming out this week, but if there is an interview that I want you to go back and listen to specifically this week, it's our one from November 12th, 2020, and we'll put it up on our socials this week, where Brittany Collens talked to our Jessica Luther about taking on the NCAA. And unfortunately that leads us straight to our burn pile this week, because this week the NCAA announced Wednesday that the appeals committee had upheld the penalties against Massachusetts men's basketball and the women's tennis program.
If you do not know how bullshit that is, let me remind you. So, the women's tennis program and the men's basketball program received extra financial aid, impermissible financial aid, totaling $9,100 to 12 athletes over three years – so when you do that division, we're not talking about a lot of money – that made them ineligible for competition. The NCAA had previously used this to void and vacate results from 2014 to 2017 that included 59 basketball victories and an Atlantic 10 conference championship in women's tennis. You might say, well, but if they received extra money, they deserve to be punished.
Well, let me tell you what that money was for. Like in the case of Brittany Collens, that money was unknowingly receiving $252 each in extra scholarship money that was intended for a landline phone jack. She did not know she'd received this extra money, and when Massachusetts realized what it had done, it self-reported the violations to the NCAA, saying this was our mistake. And yet the NCAA said it doesn't matter if it was an innocent mistake. It doesn't matter how small an amount of money this is. You still paid these players a little bit extra money, and that means they were playing while ineligible. And they upheld that decision.
I just think it's a good reminder as we're moving into, you know, while name, image, and likeness is a thing, and maybe the NCAA is changing its ways a little bit and becoming more modern and getting better…Nope. At the core, they are still the same rotten, ridiculous institution that is holding on to the last gasp of power it has. Brittany tweeted this week, “Today is a pretty sad day. The NCAA never acknowledged us, our petition, or asked us to participate. I truly cannot believe they denied the appeal standing with the decision to erase our careers. This is who the NCAA is. They do not care about athletes in the slightest.” Once again, NCAA, you've got a permanent residency here in our burn pile.
Both: Burn.
Lindsay: Amira?
Amira: Yeah. I want to talk about a sensitive and ongoing situation, and I'm talking of course about tennis player Peng Shuai, who is 35, and for the last few weeks has been rising concerns about her safety and wellbeing. This follows a note that she posted November 2nd, a long though on Weibo, which is a social media platform in China, in which she detailed being coerced into sex with Zhang Gaoli, who is a former vice premier, high ranking official in the communist party in China. And then she detailed a complicated consensual relationship that followed this initial encounter. She talked about humiliation at the hands of his wife and talked about the kind of way that this relationship was both something that she took part of and initially felt coerced into, and something that left her really kind of mentally feeling quite broken by and discarded by.
After this long post appeared, there was obviously a great deal of a reaction because there was a long fight by feminists in China to have victims of various types of assault and harassment come forward, and has usually been met with censorship and pushback. And this is one of the highest ranking kind of cases of this. And what we saw within minutes of this note appearing on her account was a complete scrubbing of her entire account from the Chinese internet, and what ensued has been a digital blackout. This lack of transparency has continued to shine a greater light on the situation. If you've noticed the hashtag #WhereIsPengShuai, because there has just been no further information.
And then what we’ve started to see is sightings that have felt, you know, insufficient, as Steve Simon, the president of the WTA has said, where it's a state-sponsored journalist saying here's a video, here's a picture, she's fine. Here's a post that people are saying is not in her language, is not in her words. Just overnight, right before we recorded this, there's two video clips that Chinese state affiliated media shared that shows her having dinner with a coach and then shows her signing tennis balls at like a charity event. None of these have been posted on Weibo, they’re all just kind of tweeted through this state media. And folks in the WTA has said, like, until we hear from her herself, this doesn't feel sufficient. This doesn't feel like it's on her own terms. And calls are mounting. You have Naomi Osaka and you have Serena and you have Federer, you have Billie Jean King, people in the tennis community continuing to raise concerns around this.
And it is layering on to the spotlight being on Beijing for these winter games that are now only a few months away here, where you have people talking about human rights abuse and concerns in that way. And the WTA has now really taken a huge step to say our relationship with China is at a crossroads. We won't have any more tournaments here if we can't be assured of her safety. And this is a big step in sports organizations that usually are trying to kind of be like, we don't want to touch this situation. You even saw the IOC immediately be like, oh, she's fine. We're taking their word for it – because not taking their word for it would require you to rethink the Beijing games that you have planned.
And so it's just a scary situation, and it's quite heart-wrenching, and I know that it can be hard to file, but we wanted to, you know, out our voices to say that we have concerns and we've joined in so many others hoping that Peng Shuai is safe and sound, and can speak of her own volition to that effect soon. And for all the other stuff, the lack of transparency and the general terror that happens when you're going up against a state in this regard, you know, that I'd like to burn it down.
Lindsay: Burn, burn burn. After that, definitely needs some torchbearers this week. For our honorable mentions, Amira, who is our winner of the week? And I mean that in the forehand winner, backhand winner type of way, [laughter] if that pun wasn't clear. Okay. [laughs]
Amira: That would be Garbiñe Muguruza, who won the WTA championships with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Anett Kontaveit in Guadalajara, Mexico. She's the first Spaniard to win the title.
Lindsay: We love it. Our deadlifter of the week is Angie Houle, an Indigenous strongwoman who recently won third place at the amateur national strongman championship in Canada. This was the very first national competition for the 38 year old mother of four. Wow. Amira, who's our flame thrower of the week?
Amira: Yeah! Erin Jackson, who’s the first Black woman to qualify for the US Olympic long track speed skating team in 2018, just four months after taking up the sport. Well, she just won her third world cup speed skating gold of the season. She took the 500 meters in Norway. We interviewed her back in episode 40, if you want to check it out.
Lindsay: Woo! And can I get a drumroll, please?
[drumroll]
Our torchbearers of the week…I gotta go with the Washington Spirit. We talked about it on the top of the show. They beat the Chicago Red Stars to win their very first NWSL championship. It was a thrilling game. Aubrey Bledsoe at goal just crushed it. And Sullivan got a PK; Kelley O'Hara with the goal off of a fire assist from Trinity Rodman, who I think was the best player in the whole game. But from top to bottom, that team has come together and, look, we all know I love DC and, you know, as they say: DC, District of Champions! You know, the titles just keep flowing in. So, congratulations to the Spirit – or as Emily Sonnett tweeted last night, maybe after that celebration they should be renamed to the Spirits. [laughs]
All right, Amira, rounding up this. What is good with you?
Amira: Well, I want to start by saying a happy belated birthday to our own Jessica Luther, who celebrated her birthday this past week just in a quiet way. She went to the container store, if you want to know what Jessica Luther did on her birthday.
Lindsay: That’s perfect.
Amira: It is. It is. So, I just returned from a writing retreat in Tulum and it was good and productive and way too short, as always. And I returned home to say happy birthday to Jess and bring her some chocolates from Mexico, because my grad school friends were coming to the town and they, you know, flew to Austin to hang out with me for the weekend. And it's always nice to have friends come visit you. And that was very sweet. Sarah brought her little baby! So we had some baby time, which was wonderful. Me and the whole fam watched King Richard, which is now out, along with Tick, Tick...Boom! which me and Mari loved as well.
We really enjoyed King Richard. And just as a side, if, you know, there's been some mumblings, and I just want to do a quick intersectionality lesson 101, that there is I think an amazing utility in having a video about Black fatherhood in this way, and somebody who was so maligned – and continues to be maligned – over the course of the Williams sisters’ careers. And it's very clear that the entire family, both Serena and Venus as well as their other sisters, had a great deal of impact in creating this film, which I really see as a love letter to their father, and has some absolutely beautiful moments.
Little things, like, there's something about watching a movie when you know what's going to happen, you know? So you see somebody walking through a tennis academy and saying, “Oh, that's, so-and-so Roddick over there, and he's pretty good, but he has a little brother named Andy who…” And you're like, uh huh! Uh huh! I know! [laughter] You know? So, those moments are beautiful, but it's a wonderful film and I burst into tears way too many times throughout that movie, but it was fun to watch it with the kids and with Mike. And so that's really what's good for me right now, is friendship and family and good entertainment and, you know, a little bit of writing productivity mixed into that.
Lindsay: I love that. I cannot wait to see that. It might get me actually back to the theaters, which in COVID has not been the case. For me, god, this is honestly a tough week. But I would say what's good is that thanks to vaccines and booster shots, going to be able to actually celebrate Thanksgiving with the family this year and the bigger family and get my mom out of her home and take her to Thanksgiving. And so I'm very excited for that. That's kind of where I am. I gotta say, you guys, it’s been almost a year since I moved back to Greensboro, and meeting people when you are this age…I am 35. It is tough. I’ve just been having a tough time now that my travels have calmed down a little bit. So, definitely excited to have some family in town this week to keep my schedule moving.
Now, what we're watching: we're going to be very specific about what we're watching this week, because women's basketball episode! We want to talk about these women's basketball tournaments, these Thanksgiving week tournaments. The big two are the Battle 4 Atlantis, which you've got UConn and South Carolina are in The Bahamas, Oregon as well. We can very easily get a UConn vs South Carolina game over the next week. It’s going to be on Flo Sports, and then the finals will be on ESPN. So, look for Flo Sports as well – or FloHoops. And FloHoops is also where you'll be able to see the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship – love these names!
Amira: I was about to say! [laughs]
Lindsay: The big one is on Thanksgiving day. It looks like we'll have NC State vs Maryland is already slated. And Indiana against Stanford, I cannot wait. Amira, we've also of course got women's soccer. Where can people watch that?
Amira: So, for women's soccer, the postseason tournament is heading into the second and third rounds. And so next week you'll have the quarter finals on November 26th or 27th – both the time and where there'll be playing are completely up in the air, depending on who emerges from this weekend. So, that's the one where you kind of have to Google to see who is hosting those games. But we do know that the semifinals will be December 3rd at 7pm, and then again at 9:30pm eastern; both of those semis will air on ESPNU. And then the final ends on December 5th at 8:00pm eastern on ESPNU. That's the college cup weekend. So if you want to check out the college cup, circle the December 3rd through 5th on your schedules and keep your eyes peeled to where those quarterfinal games will be played and when. There’s already big upsets: we know UCLA was knocked out of the tournament from UC Irvine, which was a big upset. So there's always some fun happenings going on in women's college championship tournaments. So, keep your eyes peeled.
Lindsay: All right, that's it for this episode of Burn It All Down. Thank you all so, so much for listening. This episode was produced by the fabulous – and fellow Gemini! – Tressa Versteeg.
Amira: Woo woo!
Lindsay: Shelby Weldon is our web and social media guru, and we are part here at Burn It All Down of the Blue Wire podcast network. You can follow Burn It All Down on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Listen, subscribe, and please rate the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and TuneIn. For our show links and transcripts, you can check out burnitalldownpod.com, and there you can get a link to our merch at the Bonfire store – which, you know, just saying, there might be some holidays coming up, some reasons to give gifts to yourself and to the ones you love. And, as always, thank you to our patrons. Your support means the absolute world. If you want to become a sustaining donor to our show so we can keep these weekly episodes coming, visit patreon.com/burnitalldown. Burn on, not out.