January 23, 2023 

Locked on Women’s Basketball: Pac-12 and West Coast WBB action heating up

Missy and Michelle chat all things Pac-12

It’s time for another episode of the Locked on Women’s Basketball podcast. Five in the Pac-12 teams ranked in the Top 25 AP Poll this week, including No. 2 Stanford. Can anyone de-thrown the Cardinal from the top spot in that league? What are the keys to No. 8 UCLA and No. 9 Utah continuing their great seasons? The Next‘s Michelle Smith, longtime WBB journalist and current AP voter, joins host Missy Heidrick to discuss what happens next for these teams and others in the Pac-12.

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Michelle talks about what she sees in Stanford since their loss against USC, plus their win against Colorado this past weekend:

“What I saw from them this weekend was defense, well being comfortable at home back to Maples Pavilion where they win a lot of games and it’s a pretty strong home court advantage. Colorado is a physical team and they’ve got some different weapons and things. Stanford took them out of what they wanted to do. Stanford asserted their will on the defensive this weekend. Haley Jones had back-to-back double-doubles and the rebounding numbers were huge, again, speaking to cutting off the team’s ability for offensive rebounds and second chances and things.”


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Michelle talks about whether coach Tara VanDerveer should stay with a short rotation:

“I think it’s going to depend on the game. And that’s the beauty of her depth and the number of different folks at different positions that she can decide on a given game. I’m going to go heavily with my starting five today because I think that’s the best group I have a chance to win. But if I’m playing somebody else and I have a chance to get Emma-Nnopu or I have a chance to put Brooke Demetre in for a large amount of minutes or whatever, like she’s got bodies. And so I think it’s situational. And I think yesterday, situationally, provided that people stayed out of foul trouble.”


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Here at The Next, in addition to the 24/7/365 written content our staff provides, we also host the daily Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast. Join us Monday through Saturday each week as we discuss all things WNBA, collegiate basketball, basketball history and much more. Listen wherever you find podcasts or watch on YouTube.


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Written by The Next

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