Hello everyone and welcome back as we're coming off a great
weekend of basketball here in Bloomington on the Crimson Cast
Women's Basketball Podcast as the Hoosiers advance to the
Sweet 16 for the third time in five years and fourth time in
program history. Indiana got started off with two
wins here in Bloomington and now are going to Albany, NY for the
next round. Amanda, it was a really crazy,
crazy week of basketball. Really fun, honestly covering it
here in Bloomington. But yeah, how are you?
I'm doing well. I'm not going to lie.
I'm pretty tired after that crazy weekend of basketball
because it felt like I just lived at Assembly Hall for about
four days, which I think like most of us, most of us did.
We were there for a long time, but it was super enjoyable.
Super, super great basketball all around.
Really fun to be a part of. It was my last time in Assembly
Hall as a student reporter. So Needless to say, Monday night
I did not want to leave and hung around for longer than I
normally do because that was my last time in there as a college
student, which is I didn't think about it very much, which was
probably a good thing because I was more focused on, you know,
the the reporting aspect of everything.
But yeah, it was. It was a great time, it was a
great weekend and I'm very excited for this next coming
weekend where there's going to be even more good basketball.
Yeah, I think you're, I think you're right.
I mean, we were there four days in a row, right?
Because you have availability on the first day, Friday, Friday
and the game. On Saturday Availability Sunday.
Game on Monday. And then Monday.
Yeah. So, I guess.
And interspersed a little bit of baseball in there for me on.
Friday so that. Friday was a crazy day.
Friday was a long day, but no, it was great.
I I live for this time of year. Honestly, I love, I love all
that kind of stuff and all the running around is kind of fun
sometimes so. Well, that's what we do as as
student journalists, student media, the.
Grind never stops. The grind never stops, but
anyway, we'll kick things off with the first game of the March
Madness tournament for Indiana. The Hoosiers won the opening
game in comfortable fashion. It was a close contest in the
first half, but then the Hoosiers were able to scrape up
everything in the second-half. Got to win 89 to 56 over
Fairfield. It was a really fast-paced start
to start this game. You know, at halftime it was 38
to 34. Indiana had a 34, not a 34 point
lead, a four point lead at the break, but then just sort of a
defensive halftime adjustment by Terry Moran and the coaching
staff kind of led to the team dominating in the second-half.
Indiana outscored the Stags 51 to 22 in the two quarters.
Obviously the biggest take away from that game.
Amanda, you wrote about it. It was the Sarah Scalia game.
She had one of her better performances.
If not, you know, I don't want to say her best performance,
right? Because I'm highlighting.
Maybe the most important. Maybe the most important is a
good way to put it. Definitely one of the best
performances as a Hoosier. 27 points, 4 rebounds, two assist,
Lethal from behind the arc. She also reached her 100th 3
pointer of the season. Chloe Moore McNeil, Yarding Gear
Zone and Mackenzie Holmes all each had thirteen points to help
the Hoosiers earn the victory in the opening round.
Fairfield's was 31 and one coming into the game.
Now we're 31 and two and obviously their season of is
over, but it's snacks snaps. A 29 game win streak for
Fairfield, but really good game, Really good win to start off the
tournament. It was it was fun.
It was fun right Leading again, bringing up the availability we
mentioned just sort of the pace. That was the biggest thing that
Indiana was talking about, how you know, Fairfield gets a lot
of their production from outside and and that's kind of what we
saw. Yeah.
Well, when we saw in the last few minutes of the second
quarter right before halftime came around, was when Indiana's
defense really stepped up and and locked in.
That first quarter was very back and forth.
It was very fast. Fairfield was controlling the
pace and Indiana was really kind of just trying to keep up is
what it looked like And then they kind of locked in towards
the towards as halftime kind of crept up on them And then
obviously you like you like you said carried through into the
second-half. Sarah Scalia came alive in that
third quarter and that meant everybody else came alive too.
And that was like you said, kind of what I wrote about is that
she is able to fuel everybody and give everybody so much
energy with the way that she plays.
And Fairfield was talking a little smack in her ear a little
bit and she got fired up by that and that.
That was the game kind of from from there on out.
And you mentioned her stats. And one thing that I wanted to
touch on is that defense almost never shows up on the stat
sheet. But her defense, like even in
that first half, she was up in people's faces.
She was pesky. And that's one of the things
that I really like about her game that has evolved since
she's come to Indiana. Like, obviously we see all of
her offensive production and everything like that, but her
defense has become one of the biggest parts of her game.
Or even if she's not scoring a whole lot.
Like we saw this in the Oklahoma game, which we're going to talk
about, or at least I I noticed it is that even when she wasn't
scoring, she was still like a part of everything because she
was up there getting in people's faces up at like the top, on the
perimeter. And so she, she brings so much
to this team. And I've talked about it a lot,
but I I really, really enjoy writing about her because she's
one of those people that you don't really notice unless
you're looking sometimes where she's like she's on the court.
But if you really pay attention to how she plays her game and
you her facial expressions and how she interacts with her
teammates and everything like that, she's she's really, really
interesting. And for me has become one of the
my favorite people on this team to to cover honestly.
Yeah, I mean I I don't remember at one point of the weekend I I
brought this up to you. I I'd assume it was after the
Fairfield game or during, but I mean if we go back to the first
episode, right, we said that Sarah had to be the the most
improved player on this team and and that's exactly what she has
been for this, for this team this season.
And I mean I think you said really well right there and not
just her shooting ability but like her overall game, right.
And and you know one of the things that we see that is just
the emotion, right. She comes over, transfers over
here and you know, is just a quiet player on the floor,
right? Not very, not very vocal, not
very emotional. Nobody really knew anything
about her except that she played basketball and shot 3 pointers.
Yeah. And I mean we've seen it these
what like the past two months just kind of that emotion
starting to to pour out from her, you know in the, in the.
Middle of the game. The first time that I noticed it
was when they were down in Florida.
And 'cause I was, I wrote, I wrote about it, I think when
they were playing Tennessee. And then from then on it's like
skyrocketed from that point. That was around Thanksgiving.
That was the end of November and and it has come out and like the
game against Iowa at home and and some really big time
moments. That that's the thing and and
you know you can say that a lot about this team this season as
we as we talking to Oklahoma. I'll touch on that later.
But just the big moments Sarah had, the team in general hasn't
really shield away from it in general, but Sarah specifically,
right. Sarah was the player to go for
Indiana in that game, right. You know eventually they pulled
away and and you know like everything, right, you you make
adjustments in the second-half was was pretty easy I would say
for Indiana. But yeah a lot of a lot of that
had to do with Sarah Scalia. You know a couple numbers.
Fairfield shot 31% from the field, 32% essentially 31.8 from
the field. They threw up 33 three pointers,
which is a. Lot of three-point shooting.
There was a lot. Indiana threw up 26 of their
own, which is a lot on its own. And.
Yeah, just trading shots. It kind of felt like as the game
was going that Fairfield was, you know, because Indiana was
kind of starting to pull away. You would they were kind of
thinking, OK, if we get a little bit of shots going from the
outside, let's just try to outscore them from the outside
and some. Desperation shots by the end of
it, for sure. Yeah, And it makes sense with
the type of team that that they hold, right?
But, you know, it was a really good season for them, really
good win for Indiana and a really fun game.
That kind of set the tone, set the pace for the upcoming game,
which was the second game obviously for Indiana as they
took on the fifth seed, Oklahoma Sooners, they won that 175 to
68. It was, I mean, the definition
of a nail biter. A comeback victory in the fourth
quarter for Indiana. A really emotional game like we
already touched on. But Indiana with the victory
clinches another Sweet 16 appearance.
It was 3029 at halftime. Oklahoma was leading by one.
And it it was weird because it was 2, two different halves,
essentially a lot, you know, not much offense in the first half.
The second quarter, yeah, the second quarter was not good for
either team. Either team struggled mightily
in those in that second quarter. The pace was incredible.
To start off the start off the game, it was, you know,
unbelievable. And, you know, shots weren't
necessarily falling. Another thing is the physicality
in that second quarter, we kind of started to see a lot.
We saw a good amount in the third quarter as well.
Yeah. Well, in the the first half,
compared to the second-half, the the way that the game was being
called, the first half allowed for a lot more physicality.
I think whereas down the stretch in the third and fourth
quarters, the whistles might have been blowing a little bit
more. Yeah, that was I was I was going
to bring that up. There was a bit more free flow
in the first half and then similar to.
The Fairfield game. Yeah, yeah.
But I think there was a certain point where in the in the
second-half of Oklahoma, Indiana, it was kind of like,
all right, like, you know, there was, there was a good amount of
free throws being free throws, fouls being called that wasn't
necessarily being called in the first half and there was a few
people pointing that out online. But you know, regardless, yeah,
the the story of the game, if we're looking at it in general,
was Mackenzie Holmes in that fourth quarter.
Holmes won that fourth quarter for Indiana.
Pretty much just put the team on their shoulders and closed out
the victory for a little bit of a late run.
And you know, that was it was one of the more fun games this
year, one of my favorite games. I've gotten the cover so far.
As a student, I bet you agree you know, wholeheartedly.
But yeah, yeah, I mean, what did you a lot to unpack in this one,
but so. Much.
There's no, you're you're absolutely right.
There's so much to unpack. I feel like I could talk about
this game for a very, very long time.
I was nervous just sitting there not knowing what was going to
happen on either end. Oklahoma is a really, really,
really good. Basketball team.
So fun to watch. So, so good.
And they controlled the first half.
They were, they were hitting shots.
I mean they controlled it really up until that fourth quarter to
be perfectly honest with like hitting three pointers, playing
in the post, being physical literally everywhere.
They were just playing better than Indiana to a certain
extent. Indiana looked lost and that was
we don't see that too much. Terry Moran was very emotional
on the sidelines and and on the bench, which you know when you
obviously it's a very big game and everybody cares a lot about
it And so that was not necessarily unexpected with the
way that Indiana was playing. There were there were a lot of
emotions and there was one point that I'll I'll admit that I
wondered if because usually Indiana plays very emotionally
and it works in their favor and I wondered for a little bit if
they were playing with too much emotion which is which is hard
because it was obviously a very big game because it's the last
game in Assembly Hall for the seniors.
You don't want to be stuck in the same position that you were
in last year with the Miami game.
So there was like everything a lot of it a lot of stuff were
was on their minds but they were able to I think kind of refocus
in that fourth quarter. And Mackenzie Holmes the the
thing with Mackenzie Holmes like she was not having a great game
excuse me in the first in the 1st 3/4 just shots were rolling
off the rim. She wasn't necessarily getting
great touches because of Oklahoma's defense, which was
very, very good. Sarah Scalia was kind of taken
out of it from an offensive standpoint for most of the game
in yard. And because of the defense on
the perimeter, which I wasn't necessarily expecting, I thought
that they would be able to get a little bit more going for Sarah.
And they kind of did towards the end in terms of like she got
fouls and she went to the free throw line.
But that was about it. But Mackenzie, she there was
looking back on it and obviously this is different if they would
have lost. But looking back, there was no
way she was going to let them lose that game realistically.
Like she was going to do everything in her power to win
it and she did and she was part of there was a 10 O run in the
final two minutes of the fourth quarter that was basically just
her. And I think at that point, you
and I were talking about this coming out in the third quarter.
Both teams looked really tired. And then I think Oklahoma picked
it up and got their energy back and then they dropped off again
and towards the end of the fourth quarter.
And then Indiana picked it up because by the end of it, like
Mackenzie was getting the ball in the post and going up for
like any old layup and didn't really have a whole lot of
competition down there in those last few minutes.
And then they were drawing fouls and they were making their free
throws. And then, you know, by the end
of 7568 is not in the, in the last 30 seconds it was not you
kind of, you could feel where it was going because that's just
kind of how that kind of game goes.
But man, there, Oh my gosh, like the crowd, the energy, it was
loud. It was really, really loud in
there. It was the the fact that the
seniors could win their last game.
Mackenzie led the whole team up into the student section, just
like she did two years ago when Indiana beat Princeton to go to
the Sweet 16. That it was a whole kind of full
circle moment, if you will, and also just really nice to see
that they were able to do that for their seniors.
And Grace Burger was there and and they talked about it.
They're like having Grace there. When they lost last year in her
last game, I'd like part of it. Like they kind of did it for her
too. So I think it was just, it was
very emotional. It was a great, great, amazing
basketball game. Very stressful.
But it was. It was a really, really good
one. Yeah, to go.
But well I want to touch on the emotion here in a little bit
because that's kind of what I wrote about sort of Indiana
finally, not finally, but kind of getting that discussed of
last year off their back, right they they Terry opened up a
little bit to my question actually I was, I was really
happy the answer that I got from Terry about just what this game
meant considering their loss last year.
But briefly, I mean just the fourth quarter again to about
Mackenzie Holmes, it was really incredible.
I mean she 12 of her 29 points came in that quarter and.
On five O 6 shooting. Five O 6 shooting?
Yeah, correct. And I mean, she was active the
entire day. I mean, she took 23 field goals.
But Mackenzie just kind of lit up.
I mean, you mentioned the 10 O run there to finish out the
game. Indiana also outscored them 15
to 4 in the final 2 1/2 minutes. 241 if we want to be exact.
But well, 41 seconds is kind of a lot.
Yeah, I mean, I'm near 3 minutes.
Yeah, round round it up a little bit more.
Yeah, so Indiana, just completely, when it mattered
most, played their best basketball.
That's in in the clutch. Moment.
Yeah, that's one thing about this team that I think you and I
were talking about for the most part.
Granted, you can point to to some of their losses like the
Stanford and the Iowa and the Ohio State, but overall this
team comes through when they have to and they will pull
whatever they have to do to get a win, which has been impressive
to watch because they like this was not a perfect game by any
means, by any means. Here's the thing, They did not
shoot well throughout the entire.
I mean 38% is low for this Indiana team, extremely low
considering they've been you know, around the edge of 50%
from the field the entire year. And I mean three for 16 from
319% is not great no matter who you are.
Right. But we we've seen throughout the
season, if they really want to win, they can for all accounts
and purposes, like for the most part they can figure out how to
make it work and that's what they did this time.
Yeah. I think one of the things that
you really saw on in that game against Oklahoma was sort of the
the how disciplined this team is and really how well the message
that Terry tries to preach to this group is installed in their
brains. That's kind of what we saw.
And you know, because they very easily could have lost, I mean
look, I mean to be honest I thought I didn't think they were
going to win at half. I I didn't, I didn't think they
were going to be able to do it at half, you know, it was
obviously just a one point deficit at the break.
It felt like so much more, though.
Yeah, it it felt like Oklahoma was.
It was controlling things in the first.
Half they were 100%. They were, I guess.
But again, it goes back to just kind of the awful second quarter
that both teams had. Neither team really had an
advantage. Neither team was particularly
playing good basketball. It was just kind of a lot of
misses. And it was, as the game got on,
it was like, OK, well, who's going to take advantage of the
moment and who's going to collapse under the pressure,
Right? Oklahoma kind of did.
See, I don't know if I would say they they collapsed.
Maybe collapses, I think. Collapses is a little bit too
strong, but they faltered where Indiana didn't.
Yeah, it it's it's just, you know, this is kind of what I've
been touching on. I touched on a lot this past
weekend. Asking Terry was just kind of
the how, how do you go about the mental aspect of playing in
March, right? Everybody wants to look at the
XS and those. But I, you know it when it comes
down to winning in March, I mean, there's how many games of
the tournament do we see come down to the last two
possessions, last three possessions or or, you know,
there's two minutes left and you got to make a play right?
You know, I think the mental aspect of March is extremely
valuable and and I kept asking Terry about that.
That's what I really wanted to know.
And funny enough it worked out in my favor that you know,
everything I've been asking about the entire weekend kind of
culminated culminated in into into what game you're laughing
because I mispronounced that culminated culminated into into
this game. But yeah, it's look, I mean it
was it was a game with a lot of emotion but just the mental
aspect of it, of Indiana's, what really stuck out to me.
It's kind of that's. I mean, that's what I wrote
about. Yeah, when going off with that,
it was whoever wanted it more and Indiana wanted it more.
So they willed themselves to a win and it Mackenzie didn't want
to leave, shouldn't didn't want to have a loss, and so she
didn't let her team lose. Yeah.
And and to get back to the sort of this kind of closing the
chapter of of last year's loss. Yeah, I mean, that's out the
window now. Yeah, of course, of course,
right. And I mean, look, even even at
the beginning of the season, it was out the window, right, A
little bit I would say just because like, I mean I I don't
think it's ever healthy for you know, teams to look back on, on
on any of the losses. No, but they talked about it in
Media Day. They did talk about it in media
day, but you know, it was really, really never a point of
conversation throughout the season.
But you know, it was, it was something that, you know,
Indiana had to had to overcome, right.
They had to overcome. And I'm trying.
I'm pulling up my article right now.
To find the exact quote of of Terry so so ask answering my
question. Terry goes, I try not to go down
the rabbit hole yesterday with you guys in terms of did it
still bother us on how things went last year.
Obviously talking about the loss to Miami but it did bother us.
It really has if they gave some, if this gave them some extra
motivation that were very well could have.
You know, I selfishly wanted Mackenzie, Sarah and Ariel to
win their last game in the Hall, but to be able to do it on the
trip to the Sweet 16 makes it even sweeter.
Look, I mean she, you know, she gave me a good answer, but I
think those few words kind of tell you a lot, a lot more than
you needed to know. I mean this team or last year's
team was extremely upset with themselves on on how they lost.
You know last year they were obviously the ones he last year
best season in program history. You know it.
It was. It was.
And it wasn't a good game. And Miami, yeah, you know,
Indiana, Indiana didn't play. You know, it just wasn't.
And and you know, this kind of closes it, right.
You're kind of, you kind of, you kind of are finally able to, you
know, just take a step back and be like, all right, you know,
we, you know, we close that chapter.
We close, close it. And and I mean, again, Grace was
there, right, Which is a cool little touch.
And you know, Mackenzie, I think one of the biggest moments of
the day, Again, shout out to the social media team over at
Indiana whether when they're breaking down the huddle after
the victory and you just hear in the background, the camera was
pointed up at Terry. It's on Twitter, It's on
Instagram if you guys want to go find it.
But the camera was kind of down, pointed up at Terry.
And you just hear Mackenzie say, can we run through the student
section? Terry takes like 1/2 a second
pause and smiles and says of course.
And then the camera pans over and you know Mackenzie is is
running off into the studio section celebrating, celebrating
the win and and there was a lot of emotion, a lot of a lot of
teams of joy from this team. And again, it it, it was just a
very good ending to to, you know, the first round, first,
first, second round. Yeah, no, it was, it was great.
It was. I was a little surprised that
there wasn't more emotion when the game ended, honestly,
because I noticed when Sydney, Sydney Parish made those two
free throws towards the end and everybody came off the bench.
There was a time out right after and Mackenzie went up to her and
gave her a big hug and was like, I love you.
She she had tears in her eyes in that moment and there was like a
minute left. I was like, oh, here we go.
But then she was fine for the like, she came back in and it
was like nothing like she wasn't she was just playing any old
game and then obviously later on got got more emotional about it.
But no, it was just, it was a really, really good way for
everybody to close out this, this season at Assembly Hall.
I mean you finished undefeated at home and but it's like I said
I think last week that even just getting out of the second round
and winning at home and even making it to the Sweet 16,
regardless of who you play, which we know who they play,
that's a win. Because you like that is a
moment that this game for the seniors is something that is
like you can't ever take that away from them.
And so I think, like I said last week, that no matter what now
you can look back and say like, OK, this was a good, it was a
good tournament, it was a good run, Whatever happens, happens.
But at least we wanted Assembly Hall and we did it in this way
and we got to experience all of this all together.
Yeah, I mean, and you got to remember, Indiana would have
been undefeated at home last year if they won the Miami game,
right? And and that's something that
Indiana has consistently prided itself on these past couple
years. It's like we're not losing at
home and Indiana did that all the way up until the Miami game
last year. But yeah, I mean, it was a
really good win, Really, really good win it.
It was a super, super interesting night.
Just seeing it all right. And and one thing I want to
bring up that I thought was really interesting that that I
talked to Sidney and and Chloe a little bit before.
This was after the Fairfield game, but we touched on it again
after the Oklahoma game. Is everybody on the team feels
like this year they're just a lot more connected than they
were last year. And granted last year you had a
lot of new faces on this team and you know it was a it was a
new roster pretty much. But it it it's just the
connectiveness of this team. You see that now and and and I I
thought it was really curious or interesting that they brought
that up because you know it's not about comparing right?
You know oh this team is connected more than this team,
right? And when in terms of years, but
I don't know, I I I was just very interested when they
brought that up to me. I've yeah, I always thought that
this was one of the most connected teams from the from
the get go based off of their their summer trip and how I
remember talking to Sydney about it.
Yeah, that's a good point. We can go back to the grease.
And media day that they were all just very close and I think they
immediately all clicked with each other.
So to hear them, to hear them talk about it, especially at
this point, was was not surprising for me at all.
Well, I I I asked Sydney about it and Sydney was talking about
she just said like the way she was saying it with her
expression and and her tone of her voice was like this year's
group is more connected than I could ever imagine right?
As somebody from the outside and you know that's that's right.
And it's just like, I mean, I don't know it it was just
something the way she expressed herself to me about how
connected this team is. Really.
Obviously this team is connected, right.
You know, they've been playing the an entire season together
and they spend 99% of their time together.
But it it I, I think that's when it hit me.
I was like Dang, I was like this team really there, there
there's, you know, very few teams that are connected in this
way, right? This team right now cares about
scoring points as a collective. They're not caring about, you
know, am I going to score 10 today?
Am I going to do this today? Am I going to, you know,
whatever it may be individual achievements.
No. This team is is really just
focus on one goal and and and trying to score as many points
obviously to get the win. So yeah, no, this team has gone
through a lot of crap this year. So there's been something.
Perfectly like they they have. Struggled.
They well, yeah. But I would say they've gone
through more this year than they did last year of course, because
you think about it too. This team is the team that had
to regroup after that loss. It wasn't that team because that
season was over. They've multiple people have
gotten hurt. They've had some really
difficult losses early in the season.
They've been questioned by the media, by fans, by national
people of you know where they are.
They really that tough. Are they really that good?
Mackenzie talked about it post game after Oklahoma that they
were. They proved some people wrong
and coming together and and winning these games and even
being a four seed. So they've they've dealt with a
lot and that brings people together obviously when there's
adversity and I think that's what set this group apart from
from past years is that there's there's been a lot that they've
had to deal with and work through as a group.
Yeah. Well anyway Indiana gets the
first two wins, gets a win over Fairfield and gets a win over
Oklahoma and and now we, we talk about the game that you probably
listen to or click this podcast for.
You know, Indiana takes on. It's it's you.
Want to sound a little bit more? Exciting, I know I it's it
scares me to say, but Indiana. Indiana takes on the best team
in women's college basketball, the number one overall seed in
the entire tournament, the South Carolina Gamecocks.
The Gamecocks led by Don Staley are a perfect 34 and O34 win
streak coming into this game and are looking for another
championship to add under their belt.
They've they've got two in this in the past couple years, 2017
and 2022. It's going to be a tough
matchup. Honestly, there's no other way
to put it but S South Carolina is the best team and has been
the best team in the country the entire season.
There's not many flaws to this team.
Indiana's going to play have to play near perfect to come out
with the victory. Just a few crazy stats that I
was sort of looking at heading into this one.
Obviously I just mentioned the Gamecocks have only won lost one
game the past two seasons. That was last year in the Final
Four against Iowa. Catch this, this, this was it
was baffling to me. Since the 2122 season, they are
106 and three. If you take away the COVID year
and include their season from 19 and 20, they are 139 and four.
That is think about that for a second.
Think about that for a second. And the reason I say take out
the COVID year because they I was like I don't have the number
right here, I should have put it, but they were like 26 and
and like 5 or 26 and five, yeah, 26 and five, I got it right
there on the button. I've got it pulled up.
So, but you know, that was the COVID year every everything was
weird. So I mean 20.
Six and five is like very. Respectable, great.
Yeah. I mean that's still, that's
still a great record, but I mean that's.
What, 9 losses in the last five years or something?
Yeah, that's. Crazy.
That's That's insane. Talk about consistent winning
within a program. I mean I don't know.
You know we we've obviously seen it historically with with UConn.
But I think this is another like this is, this is a different
level, this is a different level of dominance that we've seen
from Carolina. South Carolina.
I keep saying Carolina, but South Carolina over the past
couple seasons. But so the Gamecocks, obviously
the number one seed in the tournament, won their first two
tournament games by a combined score of 97 points, won their
first game by 52 points, and then won their second game
against North Carolina by 47 points.
How do you pronounce that? That's cool that they that.
Presbyterian. Presbyterian OK, thank you.
They beat them by 50. I didn't want to say I was.
I was reading my notes and I was like, oh goodness.
But the interesting thing about I was reading up on this after
the North Carolina victory that they had against the Tar Heels.
Don Staley referred to that and I quote as their best
performance in a long time. Well, so when your bench scores
51 points. That's the thing.
There. You go, there you go.
I was about to say, look I it's it's going to be an interesting
match. Up right is how well will
Indiana be able to do what they do best is feed into the post
and then Kick It Out. But really, I mean the the size,
the athleticism, the talent on on South Carolina is vast.
It it's you're talking about. Encompassing.
You're talking about. Yeah.
You're talking about a program that has very little flaws right
now, a program that is arguably playing their best basketball
right now of the season, which is what you want to do this time
of year, right. If you're if you're fighting for
a national championship, you know in in Amanda, you obviously
know how how I feel about this because like you said we just
spent all weekend together and you know we've been around the
games. But I I just think it's going to
be very hard for Indiana to to pull out the victory in this.
I mean, yeah, there's no, there's no sugar coating it.
That South Carolina is majorly favored for good reason.
The the thing, the interesting thing about this matchup is that
on paper, from a statistical standpoint and like a gameplay
standpoint, if you you can't do this.
But if you take out like the athleticism and the the
chemistry and the connectedness and everything and you just look
at like from a basketball standpoint.
These are two of the top teams in the country in both perimeter
and post play. Because Indiana, they're both in
the top three and three-point percentage.
Indiana is shooting 39.6% S Carolina is shooting 39.75%
according to the NCAA stats that I looked up earlier.
Also, let me mention two of the best defensive teams in the
country I. Was you beat me to it that in
three-point shooting post play when you have Mackenzie Holmes
and then you have Camila Cardoso and then like defensively, like
these are two teams that are very.
Good at what they do. They I, they match up well in a
way because they're both so good.
And you know, like I don't really know.
I don't know how to put it into words because they they match up
well and then they don't. When you kind of think about it
in terms of how aggressive South Carolina can be and how much
more physical and a dominant they have proven themselves to
be in a lot of aspects. But it's it's interesting
because both of these teams have the capabilities of being very,
very skilled and very like efficient in both their scoring
and their defense. And so I do agree that Indiana
is going to have to play near perfect and South Carolina is
going to have to struggle in one way or another.
And South Carolina to me has no real viable flaws, which is like
to be perfectly honest, like there's a reason that nobody's
figured out how to beat them. It's because they're really kind
of, they're unbeatable because you have people who can play
every which way and you can't just play bully in the post
anymore because they can go shoot 3 pointers.
Whereas that wasn't the case maybe a couple years ago when
people were beating them. They have talent in literally
every aspect and then they have a bench who can outscore teams
like fully 100% and that that to me, I think the bench is the
best part about South Carolina's game this season right now,
because you need a strong bench, especially in the tournament and
they have it, whereas we've talked about Indiana's problems
with their bench. So it's going to be, it's going
to be interesting. As of right now, South
Carolina's favored by 16 1/2 points.
I think that's pretty fair. I think that's pretty accurate.
The initial line jumped was at 15 and it's jumped up a little
bit. Yeah.
And so we'll, we'll see. It's going to be, it's going to
be something I'm really excited for it.
I think it it's it's March, you never know what's going to
happen. It's going to, I think, I think
some people are expecting it to be a complete and total blowout.
I don't think that's going to happen.
I think if it happens, it'll come in the last, like in the
last quarter in the last little bit.
I honestly don't see it like I see it being a game in the first
half. See, I do fear that it's going
to be a little bit of blowout and and here's the reason why I
think Indiana's injuries is is really going to come and bite
them here in this game. I mean it's.
This is all or nothing. Fair.
But I mean we Sydney had a had a good weekend.
She played really well, but there were times throughout the
game where I was watching her and I was like, man, her like
she's she's a step slower and it's not because she like she's
it's just the injury that she had suffered earlier, right?
Now that it's that's. True.
And that's a that's a big deal. And you know, McKenzie, look,
McKenzie literally looked looked fine.
McKenzie looked fine. Yeah but then you look at the
you know if you take away the Sidney injury it goes back to
the depth of this team and and that's kind of what I've been
saying about this March this tournament that this team its
major flaw is that they don't really have a bench to go to.
And you know fair you're you're, you can play your starting 535
plus minutes in this game. You're probably going to see
that from this Indiana group and.
I would be surprised. If we didn't you're also it goes
back to the strength of of this Carolina South Carolina team in
March and it's it's the bench right.
It's just top to bottom they have people that can play the
entire, the entire time. And another thing is just this
team has for the past couple years Don Staley has been has
done an incredible job of recruiting tall athletic
players. South Carolina is the tallest
team in the country right? I don't.
I don't know if, like, literally they're the tallest team in the
country. But I say that knowing everybody
on their team oversizes. Indiana and Indiana's got a team
that has, like, decent size. But.
Not short, you know, Mackenzie's a little bit of a smaller post
player, but I mean then you have Yarden and Sydney who are right
there and and Sarah's a good size for for A2, right?
But that's the biggest things for me.
It is the athleticism and the size that South Carolina holds
and just the depth that they have, right.
And it's two things that Indiana doesn't have and and so for me,
it's a little bit difficult. I'm, you know, obviously
Indiana's a very talented team, a team that does a lot of things
extremely well. But I think that South Carolina
does what Indiana does as well, a lot better.
Not saying that Indiana doesn't do it well, right, Obviously.
But. What does Carolina does
everything better than every team.
That's why they are what they are.
But I think I want to touch on this.
I think it is neat. It's kind of like a full circle
moment. When Mackenzie Holmes was a
freshman, Indiana played South Carolina in 2019 and beat beat
them and that was when Aaliyah Boston was on the team.
And I was looking back at an article that I wrote after the
main game When I wrote about Mackenzie and her brother Cam
and that game when she was a freshman and she scored, she
played for 16 minutes, came off the bench, scored eight points
and had six rebounds against Aaliyah Boston, who is obviously
now WNBA Rookie of the Year. And that was the first time that
Cam was like, Oh my God, my sister's really good and like,
Oh my God, she's actually going to be very successful.
And so I think that when you think about a game like this,
it's also, it's another very emotional one because it it's
going to, in theory, a lot, going to be a last for people.
It's going to be a big moment for a lot of people regardless
because you've got a team in the Sweet 16.
And I think it's just one more part for Mackenzie and her
family that it's just like an it's another full circle moment
where you know you have a brother watching his sister play
as a freshman, realizing how good she is.
And then you have him watching her play four years later,
knowing how good she is and knowing everything that that
she's accomplished. And I just think that's cool.
And I think that it's something to keep in mind that no matter
how the game goes and no matter how how things play out and pan
out, that there's still a lot of good that will will kind of come
out of this game in a way because it's going to.
It gives a lot of people, you know, it'll bring up memories.
It'll be maybe like a sort of sense of like closure in a way
because, you know, you made it to the Sweet 16, you're playing
the top team in the country and and there's a lot that'll that
goes into that. And it's it's a testament to how
good that Indiana has been for the last few years that they've
gotten to this point and are in conversations like this, I
think. Yeah, I mean, you know, you not
every season is is, you know, unless, you know, if you don't
win the national championship, which is probably more than
likely for 99% of the teams across the country, right.
That doesn't mean your season's a failure not, Oh my God, no.
I mean this season especially. If you lose to a dynasty.
Like South? Carolina.
This, this season is is has been a really good season for
Indiana. And look, it's it's, I don't
want to keep talking in the sense that like you know, we're
predicting that the season is over.
Ahead of. Ourselves, Yeah.
I don't want to get too ahead of ourselves, but it is really
going to be. It's really going to be tough
for Indiana to, to get the win, I mean.
There's a reason that everyone's saying that if they shock the
world, because that's literally what it would.
What would it what it would be? Well, not even that.
It's just like, I think it's also you're catching South
Carolina, not that they, I mean, they've really not played bad
basketball at any point this season.
But what I said earlier, and I believe the word of Don Staley,
if you know, they're playing their best basketball right now,
some of their best basketball, right.
And so that's going to be very hard to to go up against this
Indiana team or excuse me, it's going to be hard for Indiana to
go up against the South Carolina team to do it.
So yeah, I mean potentially, you know, potentially Indiana season
could be over this Friday. Again, you said it, it's March.
You never know what could happen but.
We'll have to wait and see. Yeah, we'll have to wait and
see. But for me I I just, I just, I
mean don't really don't really see where Indiana can squeeze
out of this one to be honest. Do you do you have any
prediction like score prediction?
Oh gosh, I really don't. I wouldn't be surprised if and
this is I don't have like a a final score necessarily of like
South Carolina to this and Indiana to this.
I wouldn't be surprised if South Carolina gets in the 80s or the
90s and I feel like Indiana will probably sit in like the 60s or
70s to be perfectly honest. One of the things I think and
this is obviously like in in theory if you can lose by less
than 20 that like and I think they can, I think I think that's
feasible, but I think it's going to be a relatively high scoring
game at least from South Carolina because that's just how
they operate. Yeah, I agree.
I don't think I have a certain number.
Indiana's going to score this and South Carolina's going to
score that. I do not think it is going to be
a absolute blowout like we've seen in the first two South
Carolina games, I don't think. So that's what I was saying
earlier. Yeah.
I don't think it you're going to get past 30, but I do think
South Carolina will win this one pretty much in the 20th range
20, 2225 around that range. I it's yeah it's it's it's going
to be you're you're going up against the best of the best
you're going up against the best coach in the game right now.
A coach that you know is is getting to be legendary status
if not already, right. Yeah.
You know what I mean?
She's I this. She's just solidifying herself
even more at this point as one of the best.
Yeah, so, anyway, the Hoosier anyway.
We're gonna. We're still gonna.
We're not like it's not a funeral.
It's, it's it's basketball. Phenomenal season I'm looking
for. I'm really looking forward to
our final episode, our final two episodes, whatever it may be,
just as we talk about this season, the season as a whole,
because again, you know it, it was a really, really good season
for it is a really good season for Indiana.
But yeah, I mean again. And it I turned into a better
season than I think a lot of people expected I would have
had. Earlier losses, yeah.
But then like you think about how people's confidence dipped
in them after the Stanford game, after the first Iowa game, stuff
like that. Like I think I don't think a lot
of people would have at at a certain point in this season
expected them to be to end up playing as well.
So I think that's that's another positive kind of outlook on it.
Yeah, we'll get into it in our future episodes.
So stay tuned and make sure when we post that, but the Hoosiers
will take on the Gamecocks this this Friday at 5:00 PM Eastern
in Albany on ESPN. Amanda's actually gonna be
there. Amanda's gonna, Amanda's gonna
make the trip. We gotta go.
See my family. Yeah, Amanda is lives.
Would you say 10 minutes? 1015 minutes ish.
From outside. Of outside of Albany.
What it what it's the It's like MVP Arena I.
I honestly don't know. I've never been.
Oh, OK Well. My parents moved there when I
came here. I don't like.
I've never actually lived there. Oh, really?
I only go back for summers on, like, vacations?
Yeah. Well, yeah, Amanda, but we'll be
traveling to Albany tomorrow, actually, by the time 12 hour
drive, 12 hour drive to. Everybody wish me luck.
Yeah, she's going to do it with a couple other of our really
good friends. A lot of a lot of student media
is going to go over there. So if if you want live coverage
over there for the game, make sure to follow each and every
one of us. I mean, there's too many people
to count. At least one person from every
outlet. Is going to be there, Is going
to be there, Is going to be there.
So, Indiana students, we travel, we travel, cover, cover our
teams. We can over new.
York. Yeah.
So Amanda will be there. And make sure to follow her and
read her stuff as she'll bring you live coverage from the Sweet
16. I'll get you covered here in
Bloomington. I will be making the trip, but
you can read all our stuff on inside the hall.
Amanda, have a safe trip. And so we'll talk to you guys
next to see if Indiana continues to advance in the month of
March.