17 Burst results for "Alyssa Smith"
WNBA Nation
"alyssa smith" Discussed on WNBA Nation
"She's kind of the senior leader of this team, as you said, she's in the prime years of her career. We were all psyched for the Emily inkster destiny Henderson picks because we watched them in the final four last year and they were some really fun players. But I think Melissa Smith is really a game changer. Yes. For them. I think would have been an obvious rookie of the year candidate in many other seasons. In fact, she was still a candidate, I guess, technically. But potentially wins it on several other seasons that we've watched. Right. She has the goods and then queen ecpo. Maybe I just love her because she was like The Rock of my fantasy team this past season. It's such a solid very happy. Yeah, she's such a solid addition and there's obviously lots of room for movement with this team, but no one's making the big paycheck right now besides Mitchell. If they've got someone in charge, who knows what they're doing in a coach, who can get galvanized a young group, I think this is going to be a team that's excited about aliya Boston joining the roster in the coming year. Basically everybody's going to be familiar with her because they all played together because they're all rookies and sophomores. It should be really fun. I'm happy for you. I think you actually could have a you could have a really strong potential to land a big name free agent in the next one to two years. Because if you've got an Alyssa Smith and you've got Aaliyah Boston coming in, which is what we're just going to assume. You've got Kelsey Mitchell as one of your back court. Queen egbo really solid, you know, could be that come off the bench, then you get Emily angst who's just the, like, the Swiss Army knife that can do a little bit of everything out on that kind of that three spot. I'm just picturing like a starting group of Kelsey Mitchell, Emily engler, Melissa Smith, and aliyah Boston. And I like those four and you bring in just one more player into that. You know, if you can land kind of a bigger name, another guard potentially, you could really have a strong, strong team in the Indiana fever coming up. I think this is such an intriguing team. And they've got about them getting the number one pick. If you're any sort of historian of women's basketball, they've got Lin Dunn as their new GM, who's been in women's basketball for 50 years. I mean, she was a GM over in Seattle for a little while. She just won a bunch of games. Sometimes it's good to go and get young blood, new ideas, stuff like that. I think Indiana went the right direction with hiring gun and being like, look, nobody knows this business
The Her Hoop Stats Podcast
"alyssa smith" Discussed on The Her Hoop Stats Podcast
"We love that. I'm like, I'm a support full person. That's how you know you love it. Exactly. I'm like, I don't even want to discount. I'll pay for it. But nigella, we didn't get this from, but I loved benign last year and I was so hyped coming into this year and then bless her soul. But then also gets knee surgery and then casually comes back in four weeks, just what is that? So benign Delaney, the comeback is coming, right? Yeah, I love that. I love that you gave a recognition. I feel like a lot of people don't, first of all, she just made the USA team for world championships after coming off of that knee surgery, playing the playoffs, still didn't look like herself, but then clearly did enough in camp and training camp to make that team. But she's, you know, girl from Philly, like her mother coached me in AAU, so I grew up playing against her. So that is like a heartfelt thing for me. It's like, when I see benign clea copper like killing it, I'm like, no, stop. Y'all don't understand. You know the struggle. And that's the thing too, is she wasn't just walking on a scene like a star, right? Improved over time, great pick, love that, Danielle. Yeah. And then I also have Michaela onion way because she went to UCLA and I love her. Every face of the ball, I like hearing her talk to the media. I love watching her play basketball. I love seeing what she's wearing. Like, didi Richards on a woman mention I guess for that too. And then my last one, I wanted to pick somebody who was newer. Emily engler from the fever this year. Ah, my world. Fun, to watch. She made the fever worth watching, right? Yes. 100% in place, you know, she's straight from the city, straight from New York. Sometimes she plays. She plays with the edge. You know, I'll either hit you or hit the ball. It doesn't really matter. Like, I'm getting to it. Yeah, I love that. And I think Emma had a really good rookie year. I think especially for the fever having all of those rookies, but managed to find her role and stay consistent and seem like, okay, like you could build a franchise around her. I truly believe that like as a four player in this league as a three player in this league, we should get really dangerous on perimeter that you can build something around her and Alyssa Smith and queen egg bow. So I love that. Well, I kind of want to hug you right now 'cause you like shout out all my favorite people. I was a little bit waiting for an illicit Thomas at the end. It didn't come, but it's okay. I know you love her and your soul 'cause I can feel our connection, but I love people who play basketball like AT, which I know is gonna be controversial to say, but I like tough players. But Emily was my one to watch. Sylvia was my farewell one. But not just my comeback and mikaela's my rookie of the year. I have them all. Yeah. I love it. I love it. That was so well thought out. I'm just glad Kelsey was on the list 'cause I was like, I know that was a nice MVP pick. It would be Kelsey. Also because and Dan knows this story, I went to my first WNBA game this year, which again, this is the number one thing you could do like, show with your feet, right? Go to the games. So I went to my first game, I went to the aces sparks game because I wanted to see the aces, of course. And I get there, and I'm like, is that Kelsey plum? She's so little. She's funny. And that's not little. I'm 5 8, but I was like, oh my God, that gives me hope that I could have played in the WWE. I mean, if I was this talented and fast and anything. But she's only 5 8 and she plays like a bulldog. And you would never know that from watching her on TV. Yeah, 100%. I think I've loved hearing about her fitness journey. That's why this is past year. She had to be in the best shape possible. She knew in order to play her game at the highest level. And so she's 5 8 and then like really toned. And there's like, look, she looks like she has like .6% body fat. Like you eat a burger at all. Did you guys see the video of her eating salad? Recently, it was like the parade. Did you see that? Okay, yeah, she's a little lit after they were like celebrating. She's like picking salad and like, hey, I'm like what? No, but to that point, if you look back at pictures of her from Washington, it is a completely different human being. Like, she looks so young, like a child. College college athletes aren't children, but I'm called her short, we've called her childlike. No, we love Kelsey. We're obsessed. Yeah. In a good way. So we're recording this on Wednesday or Thursday. September 22nd, so the feeble World Cup just started as we kind of alluded to earlier that the Nigel laney talk, I mean, the games are definitely late for us in America because the games are all in Australia. But are there any international players that or teams that you'd love to get a chance to watch or see play during this people World Cup over the next two weeks? I have not been following the international stage of this enough. Unfortunately, I have to pay attention to football as well. Oh yeah. A lot of my time has been siphoned away to that unfortunately for my job. But I do have to say that I'm looking at the roster for Team USA and I'm thinking that's who I want to watch. That's the team that I want to watch while they put together here. So you guys can speak to this a little bit better than me, obviously, having paid attention to it more. Well, and then I was so excited to watch marine Johannes play. For France, and then she got hurt, but if you do get a chance to have some free time, go watch the Gabby Williams highlights from this morning. It would have been at three 30 a.m. your time, Danielle. So I can 6 30 a.m. for us. Are you serious? Yeah, I'm more of a night out. I'm definitely not a morning person. Oh, wow. Oh, I thought you said I'm usually awake. I was like, wow. Really why I work in sports because they all happen at night. In that case, in Canada is a good team to watch. Because Canada has a lot of WH stars, like Natalie O'Connell, Kia nurse plays, Eli Alexandra, who used to play in the W plus 19. So I would think the Canadian team would be a good team to watch as well for a lot of W players. It's so good to see Kia nurse back. Danielle, I don't know if you ever torn ACL. I know you have the ankle and foot stuff, but ice you towards my knees are fine. Yeah, too. I've had two. Two, too many. Two ACLs? Choice, yes. The soccer or basketball. Basketball.
WNBA Nation
"alyssa smith" Discussed on WNBA Nation
"That's where you can find all of our episodes, our blog, our merch site, all of that, make sure you check in that stuff out. But yeah, that's pretty much it. Let's go ahead and hop right in two things. First of all, shout out to Chicago. Love that city. We did not have a chance to get out to the game because, well, there's fault number one. And you've heard already on the show, our opinions on this, but the fact that this was announced this location and date was announced so late compared to all the other leagues and places that have like, yeah, the NCAA final four is going to be here in we know like four or 5 years out in advance. Others, leagues all star games are always determined well in advance. The NBA already knows that it's going to Utah next season. I want to be able to plan out an all star weekend visit. And when you give us like a month or two, a lot of times, things are already scheduled. That plane tickets in short notice aren't necessarily always the cheapest. You can't watch them for a while and see if you can catch it when the flights drop. It just wasn't feasible for us to make this trip out to WNBA all stars. The first one we missed in several years and we did feel bad about that. But that does not take away from some of the on court activities that we're able to see. Let's go ahead and start with the skills challenge. First of all, here's a huge W for the WNBA. Here's a big win that I think they got this weekend. And that was the idea to team up the all stars with high school standouts. I think that's fantastic. I think that was a really, really good really, really good move. When in the finals, you have nilis Smith and Sabrina and escue. Each teamed up with Victoria Flores and Zooey Giles. Zoe Brooks, not Zoe Brooks. Ready to go in. The competition itself. I think that was really, really cool. To be able to see high school students and high school girls teams in attendance at the game itself and hopefully we'll see some of these very same girls that were on the court in a few years as women in the WNBA and perhaps even participating in the skills challenge as a WNBA player as opposed to the high school standout. I think that was a lot of fun. I think that was a huge, huge move, great idea, fantastic work by the W to get that put together. Congrats, obviously, to Sabrina and sq and I'm going to throw, I'm going to throw a congrats out to Melissa Smith as well for making the finals as a rookie and as a big. That's not always the case in these skills challenges. So that was really cool to see as well. The same night as the skills challenge with Sabrina winning. Before I move on before I move on. A little bit of questioning. Did was she dragging her foot too much? Was sliding too far forward on her passes. Probably a little bit, but it wasn't called Beck. It wasn't changed. And she and at least in the final absolutely smoked Alyssa Smith and was really, really far out ahead anyway, that it wouldn't have mattered even if she had to stop and shoot pass all three, wouldn't have had a real bearing on what was going on there. That's my two cents. I think that yes, she probably did. Drag her foot, Rebecca lobo was there calling her out, which is just fine. But I think she would have won it anyway. So it didn't really bother me one way or the other. Okay, same night. Just minutes later, we got a chance to see the three point contest. And that was a lot of fun. We got to see some players that maybe we didn't expect to make the final aerial Atkins and Ryan Howard both making the final, along with, of course, Ali quigley. But some of favorites obviously Ali quickly is going to be the favorite anytime she competes. But some favorites that we were hearing a lot and even we as hosts had were players like Kelsey plum or jewel Lloyd and those players did not do well at all. In fact, we'll get to more of Kelsey plums weekend a little bit later. But Asia Wilson had some commentary while Kelsey was shooting. Which was a lot of fun to hear. But then also. I love that let me pull up the tweet here. Let me pull up the tweet. All right, so she kept saying like loosen up a little bit, you know, loosen up a little bit. I had a chill chill and plumb did not shoot well at all. I think she missed her first, I think she only made one of her first ten or 11 shots. It was crazy. Asia, of course, tweets out when Becky Hammond says brick by brick. I don't think she means this Kelsey plum. Good job though, sweetie, we know you'll be back. I will say this. If I'm an aces fan and I see a tweet like that from Asia and I see Kelsey's reaction to that tweet as super positive, that is a huge sign of a really, really good locker room. A locker room that can publicly say things like, man, you bricked it on national television in front of everybody. And everybody's cool. That says so much. That says so much. So I really, really liked what we saw from Asia Wilson and Kelsey plunge reaction. I thought that was a blast. But no star shown brighter than Ali quigley during the three point contest. Goodness, four time champion. Four time champion, no man or woman has ever done that before. Absolutely phenomenal, really, really impressive. Not only that, but she dropped a 30 spot. What I loved is that she was about halfway through her the fourth rack when she ended up winning at least tying or winning. And you could see as she finished up that fourth rack and she had her the 5th rect to go. You could see
WNBA Nation
"alyssa smith" Discussed on WNBA Nation
"Was one of my favorites of the weekend. Yes. Obviously, 18 points a game so far is a big part of what they want to do there. And then you have the return of the most consistent star in the league in terms of when she's on the court. I know she sat a game, but Elena delle donne did make an appearance at a home opener. And just like we said in the team preview, if she plays 30 minutes, what she did, she's going to get 20 points, which she did 21. She got her 9 rebounds. She didn't commit a turnover. She is eternal. If she's on the court, you know what you're going to get, and it's going to be great. And I hope that we see a lot more of her this season. So between kind of looking like Dylan of old, even though we haven't really seen that player in like four years, between Natasha cloud going out and kind of having a bone to pick with people in the league who doesn't think that she's an elite scorer and a really fun rookie at forward. I don't know, maybe the mystics have some stuff. It's too small to say, we need to blanket this whole episode under. We're looking so single games in most situations. It's still more than zero games, which is what we were going off of before, so that's true. Based on what we know, it looks like the mystics aren't just going to roll over and dive this season and not try to make the playoffs. We've got players that want to accomplish some things. That makes me happy. Absolutely. Melissa Smith came out and had a really, really solid opener as well. If we're going to stick on rookies, she had 13 points, 13 rebounds. And immediate double double for her for the Indiana fever there. I think that there's a lot to be said about Indiana. And especially them picking up crystal dangerfield after a dangerfield was waived by the way by the Minnesota leaks. And so I'm excited to see what Alyssa Smith can do and I think that this Indiana fever just in general is feeling very energized. They're going to lose a lot of games. And I think they've already started out the season, they've already started out the season zero and two. So. It doesn't feel as bad in hopeless as it felt in years past. Yeah, look at the starting 5 and you're like, I like Kelsey Mitch. We've played this comparison game a lot where they're not going to have an advantage at a lot of these positions when they go against some of the teams. I think this year. But in terms of your future prospects, Kelsey Mitchell and destiny Henderson, great backcourt, Disney Anderson, another rookie that we could talk about having a nice debut, maybe not putting up, I know she had like 19 one night and then not quite as she didn't have quite the scoring night the other game. But she's been playing half the minutes so far. She's in the lineup. Which for a player that Indiana had several chances to.
WNBA Nation
"alyssa smith" Discussed on WNBA Nation
"Now if you go to pretty much any mock draft from any source, you're going to find Ryan Howard and Alyssa Smith going one and two. That's just the reality of what happens with this draft. However, the three through 12 here are kind of, this all just depends on who you prefer. And so as we go through these, I've had players move up and down quite significantly through these particular ranks and you'll kind of see what I'm talking about here if you've paid attention to my previous one two mock drafts. At number three, I do have Shakira Austin 6 foot 5 center out of old miss going to the Washington mystics. I pretty much thought that the mystics were gonna take Ryan Howard because they needed some more help in their back court. However, at the number three pick, I don't know if they want to reach down for somebody who's likely going to be going at 7 or 8 because I don't have another guard going until at least pick 6 and 7. So at the number three pick, do they risk taking one of those? Or do they just simply go with the best player available? And if they go with the best player available, I believe that to be Shakira Austin. Austin has fantastic size. She's 6 foot 5. She's pretty athletic. Her defense is going to be the reason why a lot of teams are interested in her. She snagged 9 rebounds per game and she usually gets at least two or three blocks and steals, I think she, if you were to combine those together as far as grabbing a turnover from the other team, she's always like three plus on that. So she's a really solid defender, she's not a great scorer as far as efficiency goes, but she does put up numbers. She averaged just over 15 points per game last season. And honestly, one of her biggest weaknesses and I've mentioned this before is her free throw shooting. As a big that's going to get to the line quite a bit you'd imagine she needs to be able to knock down free throws out a little bit better pace. So hopefully she gets into the league. She has some attention that can help her develop a little bit better shot. And she could end up being a really solid piece to Washington's puzzle. Let's go ahead and move on to our number four pick. The Indiana fever again. They actually have the number two, the number four, the number 6, and the number ten picks in the first round. So this feels very similar to what Dallas had in previous drafts where they just are loaded with first round draft picks. I've got the Indiana fever taking Emily angst at number four, 6 foot one, guard slash forward, kind of a wing type player out of Louisville. Engler has often been tabbed as kind of a Swiss Army knife type of player. And honestly, it's really fitting for her. She was pretty much the only Louisville player who could figure out a way to score against that insane South Carolina defense that we saw all season long. Louisville really struggled offensively with South Carolina as did pretty much every team that played against them. But engler was kind of the one player that could do it that could figure out a way to get in and get some shots up. So that, to me, showed that even against really stout defenses, angst are configured at a way to score. Now, her scoring output isn't necessarily anything to write home about. She averaged just under 12 points per game. However, if she can find her way onto a roster in the WNBA, her shooting percentage is have seen a steady increase every single year since her freshman season at Syracuse. So she has done very well in progressing as a shooter. And so I think that if she can keep that up, she rebounds, she passes, she dribbles, she defends. She kind of does everything. She's kind of one of those players that isn't going to hurt you in any one area. But isn't necessarily a specialist in a particular area as well. So I do think that Indiana needs a player like that. And so that's why I've got angst are going at number four. All right, number 5 pick New York liberty. We're going to go ahead and go with niara Sauber Lee out of Oregon. She's 6 foot 5 center and a lot of you who were around when satu got drafted. Yes, this is another solid. Yes, it's out of Oregon. Yes, it's in the first round, and yes, it's after her junior season. However, these are not the same player. They really aren't. Nyara has a really different game from saw two. She's she's definitely a WNBA talent and she scores a lot. She scored 15 and a half points per game, 7.8 rebounds. She's really raw still to the game of basketball. She really needs a lot of development still. However, she's progressed really, really quickly. At Oregon in just those couple of years. And so I think that a team like the New York liberty, who have players in that same position who can kind of maybe take Saudi under their wing. Show her the ropes a little bit and develop her athleticism is really strong. Her wingspan alone, that makes her an interesting pick, but honestly, a lot of where she's lacking is just experience. Her defensive instincts in particular are a little bit weak right now. Knowing where to be on defense and just making the right, making the right choices without having to consciously think about them, just making them instinctual and just that your body automatically goes there when something happens. That's where Saudi will needs a little bit more development. But that's understandable. She just hasn't she is a little bit underdeveloped for who she is. But I've got solidly going number 5 to.
WNBA Nation
"alyssa smith" Discussed on WNBA Nation
"Up WNBA nation? Kyle Haywood here and I am really excited about today's little small episode. It's finally time to give my final WNBA mock draft for 2022. This has been a lot of fun all season long. Being able to go back and reflect on each of these players where they've been. I've watched way more games and way more game film than I intended because I just got really, really into this year's draft class and to be honest, I'm looking forward to continuing to do this each and every year. So before we hop into the actual draft itself though, I do want to take a second and just give a couple quick announcements. First of all, we are now on TikTok. You can find us at W at WNBA nation pod just like our Twitter handle. You can find us on TikTok. We should have some pretty good content coming your way there. And probably the bigger announcement is that we now have a website. You can go ahead and check out WNBA nation dot com. There's so much there. You can listen to episodes right there from the website. You can check out the blog where I will have typed up an actual mock draft on there. You can also connect directly to our Twitch channel. You can email us, you can contact us. You can read a little bit more about our show. As well as probably the part that I'm the most excited for, and that is the store. We have totally revamped and recreated our merch store. We've eliminated some past designs that we had up and we've simplified it and we did a lot of research. We got a lot of different products and we just wanted to make sure that the stuff that you guys were receiving was really solid quality. Every once in a while, we would have someone purchase something in the past that just wasn't good quality. And we felt bad about that. And so we totally revamped our store. You can check that out. It's actually a teespring store. And if you go to WNBA nation dot com and click the store link right there, you can check out all of our different designs and different things for you to pick up. So go ahead and check that out. And yeah, let's hop right into this year's final mock draft. All right, we're going to start things off with the number one pick. This is now the Atlanta dreams pick after a trade that went down between the Atlanta dream. And the Washington mystics, they swapped pick number one and pick number three and Washington also picked up a couple other a couple other portions with that for Atlanta basically if you're sitting in that number three spot, that's a rough spot to be in because really a lot of people are looking at this draft as kind of a two person draft between ray and Howard and Melissa Smith. So dropping to three was kind of a big deal for Washington because either a, they didn't necessarily care for either of those top two picks, or B, they felt like what Atlanta was offering in this trade could allow them better opportunities in the future. So Atlanta now with the number one pick, let's hop right into it. I've got Atlanta taking Ryan Howard 6 foot two guard out of Kentucky. Now, the reason I'm going with Howard and I actually may have looked at nalyssa smith going number one overall had someone else been picking, but with Atlanta in particular, they no longer have Kennedy Carter. They no longer have Courtney Williams, and there is a lot to be desired in that Atlanta back court. Ryan Howard really could provide exactly hopefully what the dream we're looking for there. She's a very, very good on ball and off ball defender. She's got a really solid efficient shot. She averaged 20.5 points per game and 7.4 rebounds per game and shot 44% from the floor. She shoots about 38 from behind the arc her senior year. And honestly, she really could end up being a big time franchise player moving forward. As the number one to pick. She also at 6 foot two, that's a rare size that you can have for a guard in the WNBA. And if that ends up being something that Atlanta can hone in on and how it can become a really strong piece of theirs moving forward, I think that this trade will end up being a smart move for the dream. So that's what I've got. Number one, Ryan Howard. Number two, the Indiana fever are gonna be selecting as all of you already know. Melissa Smith, 6 foot four, forward, out of Baylor. Basically the Indiana fever have a really easy job to do this upcoming draft with the number two pick. And that is, whoever Atlanta takes number one, you just take the other one number two. So nalyssa Smith is honestly, she very well may end up being the best player taken in this draft. The fever are in desperate need of a big who can rebound and can score efficiently. That's exactly what nalyssa Smith provides you. She averaged 22.1 points per game, 11.5 rebounds per game. And led a really strong Baylor team who many considered worthy of a number one seed as they headed into the March Madness tournament. Now obviously they got eliminated pretty early in the tournament, but still Baylor had a fantastic season. Melissa Smith is honestly, I think she's probably the best rebounder in this class. And she moves into space, really, really well on offense, which allows guards to make entry passes to her. She just reads the floor really well. And moves really well without the ball in her hands. She doesn't have a fantastic outside shot, most of what she does is inside the key or within ten feet and but she does a really good job there and, you know, she doesn't necessarily need to be a stretch big. So we'll end up seeing, we'll see what happens, but I've got Melissa going to the Indiana fever at number two. All right, now if you go to pretty much any mock draft from any source, you're going to find Ryan Howard and Alyssa Smith going one and two. That's.
WNBA Nation
"alyssa smith" Discussed on WNBA Nation
"You know, that when a game's close and Stanford needs someone to just turn it on and just take care of business, it's always Lexi hole. Every single time she just goes off and can just, you know, the old NBA jam video games, he's heating up. He's on fire. Like Lexi hole hits that in you know, she goes zero to 60 in at the snap of a finger. She's so so quickly can heat up and immediately drop 8 straight points on you before you've blinked. And I think because of that, she could easily find a good spot in Connecticut and I think that they would be a great landing spot for her. So anyway, that's where I've got my current two draft picks I've got Ryan Howard, then Alyssa Smith, Shakira Austin at third, Nas hillman at fourth sika kone at 5 destiny Henderson at 6 Alyssa ELISA kunen at 7 Ashley Jones at 8 Kirsten bell at 9. Veronica Burton at ten Emily engler at 11 and Lexi hole at 12. Some of you also know that I have some other very strong potential first rounders that I really do think that any of these other 5 players could easily find their way into the first round. And that's ray Burrell, lorela kubai, avena Westbrook, Kristen Williams, and Caleb pointer. I think that a lot of teams will be very interested in those players as well. And I do think that after you, after you kind of move on from Ryan Howard and Melissa Smith, that once you kind of drop out of that tier that a lot of these players, a lot of these players, it's just what do certain teams prefer. So that's where I've got it right now. Also, I did this last time, so in case you missed my one, I will just really quickly run through my top prospects of the next few draft classes. 2023 is going to be the year of Aaliyah Boston. I know it. You know it. Everybody knows it. She's a generational talent that I think is going to have a major impact in the WNBA. And everybody's going to be just hoping to get that lottery pick for 2023. 2024 is a very top heavy draft class. At least as it sits right now. You've got players like Caitlyn Clark, Paige Becker's Haley van Lyft and several others. But I think Caitlyn Clark and Paige beckers are going to be your one two punch and not necessarily in that order. I don't know which order right now I don't even know who I would take. As it stands right now. So those two obviously are going to be the story of 2024. I think 2025, however, has probably another just top two everybody needs to be paying attention to. And that's anissa Mauro. The double double queen out of depaul and Olivia miles who has turned everybody's heads and absolutely kind of brought back this Notre-Dame program that has been struggling for the last few years. So Olivia miles just it's crazy to watch her play and especially here in March and realize that she's only a freshman because she does not play that way. So I'm excited to see where each of these draft classes how those end up. Again, as I go ahead and sign off here, everybody. Just a reminder, I will be releasing a new final mock draft when once we have a better idea of who will and won't be declaring for the draft. Once that all goes final, probably post final four, I'll be updating this obviously these players make their decisions on Monday, but those players who are in the final four, if there's decisions to be made there, I will create my last final mock draft and get that released pretty quick after the final four and championship. Thank you for listening. We will be actually at the final four. So for those of you who are going to be there or if any of you have been to Minneapolis and you want to give us some suggestions of things to go and do or places to eat, we're going to be there early early in the morning Friday. We're actually flying in Thursday night kind of middle of the night. And so on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, we will be there. We fly out Monday afternoon. If you've got suggestions for things to go and do or places to eat, please hit us up. If you are going to be there, please hit us up. We would love to catch up with you. And meet in person. But thanks for listening, everybody..
CBS Sports Eye On College Basketball Podcast
"alyssa smith" Discussed on CBS Sports Eye On College Basketball Podcast
"True. You and I will be there, Megan. Is there a Bridgeport Rhode Island? Because I think I might be who knows. I feel like New England reuses a lot of town names, so they're probably is. Newport Rhode Island, maybe you've heard of that, right? I think my sister and my dad went to a Bridgeport Rhode Island if it exists. If not, they want to connect. Regardless. That region is there specifically not specifically, but it is like kind of tailored towards Yukon. It is meant to bring in their fans to have really good women's basketball games because they have been a hub of women's basketball for so many years. So they are going to get at least some sort of advantage from being close to the home in the, if they get out of the first two rounds because obviously the first two rounds will be at their home stadium in stores. If they get out of the first two rounds, gets a street 16 in the lead 8, they're going to have a mass not a massive advantage, but at least some advantage over the other teams because their fans are already there. So I think you have to factor it in and believing that they can go far. Yeah, I mean, it's going to be, I would expect Bridgeport to be a home court type environment. I think you saw it at the biggies tournament last week, when you can sign, which is basically about the same amount of distance from stores this Bridgeport is. So you're going to see a lot of your confidence there. They turned out loud for the biggie's tournament, which I was you can't probably has a lot less implications than March Madness regional. So I think you could expect it. But it was in Connecticut though, right? So I'm not sure about that. Were you at the Albany regional? I think that's what 2019. What was that? It was also a UConn crowd. You can fence travel. I mean, until this year, really you could count on Yukon probably being the number one seed in that regional at home because they had up until every two, three years ago. They were easily undefeated one loss going into the postseason you knew they were going to be the number one seed of that region. So those bands of the travel involved to get 6 months ago. And I guess the final four is I've been to certainly I've seen the Yukon fans travel well. But yeah, I think that I guess I'm a little bit of a contrarian actually. I think I'm not as high as you can. I remember, I think making you an I spoke about this once, maybe in like January. I'm not sure we've ever actually seen them be essentially one of the, I don't know, 8 to ten best teams in the country. They've been like potential the whole time. You've talked about because they've had this crazy journey. I think, as you said, Gabe, if they're healthy, if they're clicking no doubt, right? In particular, beckers is talent, but if she's not a 100%, I think it's a challenge. I think I would be a contrarian. I think everyone's kind of penciling him in smash penciling them out of the Bridgeport regional because it's going to be in Connecticut. But I think that I think I'm going to go the other way on this one. I think NC state is not going to be intimidated by them, right? They've been playing at a very high level for a long time. And I do think it's one question I was thinking to myself as you were talking Gabe is I wonder how much the Yukon brand really intimidates teams now versus say 5 years ago, right? Is it sort of like Notre-Dame football where there's the rich tradition? Are we starting to get to the point where they're a good team? But not sort of what they were it's actually during Briana Stewart or my wars heyday. Yeah, I mean, I actually, I mean, not to spoiler alert. I actually have them losing in the elite 8 because I think in the end a bad match for them. And in the end, on the other side also has injury issues. That's why I think the road is kind of paved a little bit. Nicely for Yukon if Indiana is hurt and Paige Becker's is not a 100%. Well, those two cancel out and then we'll see what happens in the late 8. But yeah, I don't know. I'm still afraid of be afraid of you. Honestly. It's Gino. It's not that far removed from these from these people cutting down the nets. And the amount of media coverage that easy and page generate. I think it is in and of itself intimidating. You've seen their highlights. Where the odds that they've seen your highlights, if they haven't been watching you on tape, right? So I think to me, I do think there's still a little bit of intimidation factor. Also, I was thinking about Bridgeport West Virginia. Okay. Very lovely covered bridge that's in one of my favorite video games, Red Dead Redemption two. That's what I was thinking about. My kids haven't gotten Red Dead Redemption two. It's a game for all ages, as long as those ages are above 18. But yes, I don't know. Megan, do you still think there's that mystique around the program? I feel like there is. I think sometimes, but I think there's definitely a little less of it. I think you see it in Villanova coming into you kind of beating you kind this year. I think if you come into that game scared, you don't win it. It doesn't, if you come in with that with that attitude, you're not going to win. And I think we've seen it. And some of their closer biggie schemes this year. So I don't necessarily think it's as prominent. I think with this, you come to the way you can't have banned the past few years. Yeah, they still get a lot, but they haven't won as much. They're not one or 200 number ones undefeated going into the postseason. Like some of those past you come teams have been a hundred straight wins, all that kind of stuff. That stuff's intimidating. That's not what this Yukon team is. So I don't know how much that's going to factor in. I would think that's probably not going to be as big of a fact. Yeah, I mean, I think Becker's is a superstar and so I could see her being intimidating, but if she's not at full strength, like who else is like three Gatorade commercials? Well, yeah, I think two years from now, easy fun at all. I'll definitely scare you, but I would be watching if I give AZ fudd like two extra inches on the perimeter. She's gonna make me pay for it. Perez is not scared. I can tell. Let's talk about another number two C that I think we're all excited about speaking of talented players and Alyssa Smith..
Winsidr WNBA Show
"alyssa smith" Discussed on Winsidr WNBA Show
"I mean, I don't hate it. I don't hate it. I don't really have any other thoughts than that. Other than this is just a massive demolition from the fever, their positioning themselves to be a lottery team. For the coming years, we can talk about Aaliyah Boston. We can talk about all sorts of these high caliber level players that are coming down the pike the next couple of years. Are you positioning yourself to kind of be in a shot to build your franchise, but this is going to end up being just years in the making for Indiana. At this point. And you know, I guess I just want to run down some Tierra macallan stats because hearing you talk about like, okay, she started 49 games. Out of her career 88 games, right? Yeah, this is going to be. She last year started the most games out of her career 23 games. She averages 23 minutes a game throughout her three seasons in this league. She's shooting just north of 50%. As she should overall, as she should, her free throw percentage needs to get better. She's an averaging 68% averaging ten points a season. Right around 9 rebounds a game. Sorry, ten points a game over three seasons. Ten points a season. I agree with you on this. I think the super interesting aspect Rachel is when I look at this Indiana fever roster, I kind of go okay, maybe I'm missing something, but why did you pick, you know, Tiffany Mitchell, Kelsey Mitchell over tiram account. That's essentially my whole thing. And some people are much more hyped on Kelsey Mitchell than I am. I don't know. I feel like you had two young players who play opposite, the bookends, basically, for your starting 5, and you move on too quickly, in my opinion, you just move on too quickly. I like what Dallas is doing. I mean, now Dallas is going to have the tough situation of most likely, in my opinion, dumping Charlie Collier. Because you just look, they have, what Izzy, you gotta walk, you got Charlie, and you got Bella, and then you add in McAllen. And that's just too many bigs. Someone's gotta go. And I don't know. I mean, I guess it was one of those moves that you just kind of sit back and you're like, huh. I agree. I think the more you talk about it, the more you think, okay, Dallas, Dallas won this. What I think is insane is the fever now on the number two, the number four, the number 6, and the number ten overall selections in the first round of this year's draft, which is wild to me. Will there be more moves? I mean, there's obviously, obviously, anything is possible, I think. I think it's entirely possible. This could be a move that tease up another move. You know, I think that is to be determined. But if it holds as is, that's wild to me, you know, to see four of those first round picks all going to Indiana. And there's some talent. I mean, you know, you look at number two, who can you get there? It's going to end up being Rhine Howard or Melissa Smith. Then at number four, you potentially have a shot at looking at someone like even Shakira Austin. I don't think she'll fall that far to four, but there's, I don't know, they can really, they've really, this was clearly about the picks for the fever if it stays as is. They feel so strong. Well, so Rachel, you're the genius NCAA computer mind over here. No, talk to me like, all right, we've seen a last year no one wanted the number one pick. I mean, it was like hot potato. Leading up to the draft. I guess my question for you is, is does this draft have the depth that these picks can truly, I understand like any draft there's a gamble to it, right? But is this draft good enough that we can sit here and go, okay, there are at least, you know, with those four picks in the first round, there are at least looking to get two good players that will have immediate impacts on this team, or are we sitting there saying they're hoping that they hit a home run with one of their picks because and maybe this is wrong and maybe with the whole GM change from tamika to Lin Dunn, things are a little bit different, but I would argue that, you know, the Indiana fever, historically, have not been like, I will go, I will die on the hill of the only reason Indiana fever won a championship or were considered one of those good teams for a period of time, was because tamika catchings just carried this team through thick and thin. And so to sit here and go, oh, we can we're bringing back lindon. We're gonna do so much better. I haven't gone and looked at her drafting track record. But I just find it humorous if you've been following the W to say that Indiana won this trade by getting more draft picks when essentially cleared the boat of all their recent draft picks, except Kelsey. Again, and we're assuming that it stays as is. You know, and if the motivation truly behind this was for picks and owning, really the draft class, you know, you've secured yourself an opportunity to have either Reinhart or in Alyssa Smith. After that, you know, there is a shot of Shakira Austin out of old miss who I'll talk about. I just came back from SEC tournament was phenomenal to watch. But then you go down the list, you know, Nas helmet out of Michigan is an absolute, I love her. This undersized post, that's just an absolute workhorse that gets it done. But then you go down the list, you have Alyssa kune and you have Saba Lee out of Oregon who's not talked about enough. I don't know for sure, maybe they've announced it. I don't know whether she's actually going to return to Oregon or enter the staff, but she has a massive ceiling as well. Ray Burrell, destiny Henderson of the South Carolina Ashley Jones, I was state lorella Cuba at a Georgia Tech. She's another one. I personally love just her defensive tenacity in her experience out on the court has been phenomenal to watch. And then we get into some of the Louisville players Emily is phenomenal on the defensive end of the floor and she can do things that really you look at her and you don't quite understand like there's really no one else that she can be compared to in the strap. She's just a beast in certain aspects and has such great instincts and you have Keanu Smith so you have the ability.
WNBA Nation
"alyssa smith" Discussed on WNBA Nation
"Number 8, Minnesota will be on the clock after Indiana and Minnesota, I think, is the perfect perfect destination for one Veronica Burton out of northwestern. And not just because northwestern is somewhat close to Minnesota. But because Veronica Burton is an absolute beast on the basketball court. She is, she's the type of player that can go for a triple double at any point. Like literally could just could wake up and drop a triple double anytime. And she's been really, really close to it a couple times throughout the season. So most notably against a Michigan who I just was raving about she was too rebounds away from a triple double against that really tough Michigan Wolverine squad just about a week or two ago. So I really, really like what we see from Veronica Burton. I had her down at number 13 prior to the last few weeks and I bumped her all the way up because I also think that she could be a, I think she fits with what Minnesota has to offer right now. I think that Minnesota is pretty solid at a couple positions. But I think that Burton could be Burton fits in with the roster. You know, she is exactly the type of player that could be a plugin, you know, come off the bench like a 7, if you're going 7 deep, she might make that 7 deep on this Minnesota roster and you all know how I feel about Minnesota's roster right now. They're absolutely insane. So I'm going to start to speed these up a little bit to kind of wrap up the rest of the first round here. Number 9, Los Angeles, I think that if this player is available, I think Los Angeles could easily take a list of name out of North Carolina state. She is a 6 foot 5 senior there who's been a really strong part of North Carolina states. Success over the last several seasons. She's averaging 13 points per game. Not quite 8 boards per game. But she's really efficient in her scoring. She's very efficient. She doesn't shoot a lot of threes, but she's shooting them at 41% on the season right now. So if she's got a three look and it's open, she's probably going to knock that down. She's scoring her field goal percentage is 50 2.3%, which is shy just, I think, of only Alyssa Smith on this on this list. And it's not like NC state is some just little team that isn't doing anything and see states rate number three in the country right now. So she's the real deal. I know that some others have dropped her a little bit lower. I still think that Alyssa canan could be could pan out to be a really strong WNBA player and could carve out a nice career in the league. So I think that if your LA canine is a great option for you at this pick. So let's see, I've got coming up after Los Angeles is Indiana with their third first round draft pick of this of this draft. So they've got the number two, the number 7 and the number ten. All right, Indiana, you've snagged a really strong big. You've snagged a solid point guard at this point. So why not go out and snag another another big body in 6 foot four lorella kubai, she is playing absolutely great basketball for Georgia Tech. I think that she is the type of player who just the way that she plays the game and her size alone. Is going to be welcome in the WNBA. I think that she fits that very, very well. She's not like a consistent scorer. That's probably her biggest knock and why she probably won't go much higher than where I have her at number ten. And that's because, you know, she might drop 22, she might drop one. And that's literally what has happened in the last four games. She dropped 22 against Clemson and then only had a single point at Florida state. So, you know, really, really struggled in certain elements there. So the consistency isn't there for goodbye, but the potential of what she could do under the right management with the right team with the right coach. It could develop into a nice player. So I think that she's a great backup, I guess, security pick. If you've gotten Alyssa Smith and you're looking for another big body to potentially develop goodbye is a solid one that I think Indiana could should really be taking a strong look at. Number 11 overall Las Vegas on the clock and another new name to this list, but that's simply because I was only talking about seniors. We're going to talk about Kirsten bell out of Florida Gulf Coast. All right? Now if you want to talk about someone who absolutely just fills the stat sheet, it's this player right here. It's Kirsten bell. FGC does not play, you know, the big dogs of college basketball very often..
WNBA Nation
"alyssa smith" Discussed on WNBA Nation
"To New York's advantage, that if they can pick her up at the number 5 overall, I think could be a really awesome, awesome opportunity for them and be able to, she could be a huge, huge part of the WNBA in the future. This is kind of like a high ceiling, really low floor, like a wide range. We just don't know because we don't see we haven't seen her compete against the same level of competition that some of these other draft prospects have been playing against. So it'll be interesting to see where she ends up going. I think that New York, where they're sitting right now, they're probably not a title contender, but in the next couple of seasons, I know they're wanting to make that run. And if they can just snag an absolute diamond in the rough, your snack of gem out of this draft class, I think that this just might be that kind of somewhat hidden gem. From the 2022 draft class. Let's move on to number 6 Dallas Dallas with their second pick in the first round I had them taking Ashley Jones at number four and at number 6, I've got them taking Nas hillman. The story behind the story behind Michigan and what they've done with their women's college basketball this season has been really, really impressive, you know? Being top 5 top ten really strong and top 5 for a good chunk of the season. There are 21 and four, are they were 21 for overall? What are they right now? I haven't even checked. There were 21 O four at the last rankings when they came out. Hillman is honestly the start and finish of this Michigan of this Michigan squad. And you know, she's a 6 foot two forward, has played some really, really good minutes. She's averaging 21 points per game. 9 rebounds per game. That seems to be like that range. Everybody on this list seems to be averaging between 20 and 22 points per game and about 9 rebounds per game. But that's where hillman is. Playing in a really, really strong Big Ten schedule. And yeah, I think that she's a huge part as to why Michigan has been as strong as they as they are currently. Now, I did have, I did have her a little bit higher up on my rankings. Previously, I had her as high as number four, but I think that at this point I might take Ashley Jones over her. But if you're Dallas and New York really does take Coney and I'm projecting right now. You'll get both Jones and hillman. And I would be very happy as a Dallas wings fan if that ended up being the case. So really like what we see out of Helmand and I think that I think that she's going to be able to find a good spot on a WNBA roster. All right, Indiana at number 7, here's the thing Indiana taking Alyssa Smith as a big. I really feel like Indiana right now. They have like one really strong all star caliber player. And that's Kelsey Mitchell. They've got some other potential good pieces. They've got Sierra mccown on the inside. They've got Daniel Robinson. They have some, they have some pretty solid pieces here and there. But shoring up that back court with the loss of Julie almond, you know, going to go into Chicago. I think that, you know, trying to snag someone who's going to be a solid backcourt general for you. I think destiny Henderson just might be that piece. Destiny Henderson has been playing for South Carolina who has I guess you could call it like a WNBA light roster, you know, she's been playing with big time stars like Aaliyah Boston and others. And she's she's putting up some great numbers, but it's not even like, it's not even her numbers that are impressive to me. She's currently just on the season. She has 96 assists and 48 turnovers. That's right at that two to one ratio that every coach is dreaming of from a point garden from their players. If their point guards can get them to assist to every turnover, you are just you're in the gold, right? You're making money right now. And that's where she's exactly at two to one ratio. For assisted turnovers. For this South Carolina squad. And she's not just, she's not just a distributor, she just dropped 17 against Texas a and M and averaging 11 on the season. So a strong shooter, you know, 44% from the floor, 37 and a half percent from the three point line. Is you have to respect her offensive game while also recognizing that if you play up in key on her scoring too much, she's going to be able to get around and distribute. I like destiny Henderson a lot. And that's why I think if you are Indiana, you snag her at number 7 if she isn't taken before then. So that would give you a really, really solid pick in Melissa Smith at number two and then destiny Henderson at number 7. And if that's what Indiana comes out within those first couple picks, I think that the fever are moving in the right direction. If that's what we end up seeing there. Number 8, Minnesota will be on the clock after Indiana and Minnesota, I think, is the perfect.
WNBA Nation
"alyssa smith" Discussed on WNBA Nation
"So it's a way for you to be able to freely support the coverage of women's basketball. So we do appreciate all of the Twitch love that we have over there. Let's get into this. Let's hop in and actually start talking about this draft. I'm actually going to tie each of these picks not only to the number of pick, but to the actual team. And I went a little more in depth this time as far as looking at team needs or team personalities. Or where I think that teams might be maybe they're history of players that have been successful for them as a franchise, could influence if I had a couple of two or three players that were really close. That I was looking at in a specific pick for a specific team. I went really in depth into each of the team rosters and kind of where they're at and tried to make some determinations there. But let's go ahead and get started with our number one pick that is going to go with the Washington mystics and if you would have asked me a week or two ago to have this episode, I would have switched my number one picks. But the last couple of weeks have been good to the Kentucky wildcats and to Ryan Howard in particular. Starting to turn things around here. So I think Washington is going to go with Ryan Howard for the number one overall pick. For the last two weeks, I moved nalyssa Smith up from number two up to number one. Simply because Kentucky was looking like they were struggling. Howard seemed to be still putting up some pretty good numbers, but just wasn't being it wasn't able to take over games in ways that she could and should. She had a really strong showing against South Carolina, which ended up in a 9 point loss for Kentucky. But since then, they've rattled off 5 straight W's and are looking like they are going to make the NCAA tournament, which it was looking pretty shaky there for a few weeks, but it looks like they are going to be making the tournament as long as the wheels don't totally fall off. These last few games of the season. So Ryan Howard, here's the reason why she is still my number one overall pick. And that is simply because she is a big guard that she has some really great size for a guard. That's been a really helpful element for a lot of successful guards in the WNBA. Not only that, but she is so comfortable with the ball in her hands. When she's dribbling, shooting, passing, everything she does, it just looks easy. It looks natural. And so I think that, you know, getting into a WNBA franchise working alongside with teammates that are going to be significantly better than her Kentucky teammates, I think that she's going to be really, really able to flourish as a point guard. She's got a fantastic basketball IQ. She has a nose for the ball on defense. She honestly, she's a faster version of Chelsea gray and has a better shot. That's kind of where I see that. So she's really solid there. So I've got Ryan Howard as my number one overall pick again that could easily change. It's still a razor thin margin between Howard and Melissa Smith and B but also, again, taking into consideration team need. I do think that the Washington mystics that Howard fits their roster and fits their team needs very well there. I think that being able to have Howard as kind of an incoming young generation of a guard in that in that roster is going to be a really solid move for them. They've already got quite a few big bodies and so that's why I leaned with Howard going number one as opposed to Alyssa Smith. So I bet you can't guess who is going number two overall to Indiana, Kenya. Number two, overall pick going to the Indiana fever is Melissa Smith. Melissa Smith has done absolutely everything this season to secure her as a lock for the number one number two spot. And she's currently averaging 21.2 points per game, 11, just over 11 rebounds per game as well. And she isn't like a prolific block blocker, you know, she doesn't she doesn't block a ton of shots, but she does play some really solid defense in his in positions to cause the other team, not that she gets a hand on the ball, but the way that she positions herself defensively can affect a lot of the other teams shooting and that's also why she's in place for so many defensive rebounds. She had 14 defensive rebounds just the other day against Oklahoma state. So she's a fantastic player, really excited to see what Alyssa can do in the WNBA. She actually, the way that she moves, I feel that she has a similar vibe, she's kind of like an Asia Wilson light right now. She has a she can move into space on offense. She has a real, just natural, she naturally finds herself where her teammates can get her the ball. And that helps her. She's one of the best, she's one of the most efficient scorers in all of basketball right now. She's shooting 55% from the field. And her free throw shootings looking better and better as the season progresses. She's now up to 70 7% from the line. Started out a little shakier than that. Previously, but looking really strong right now. Melissa Smith, here's the thing. Whether Smith goes to Washington or Indiana. She's going to be a mainstay in this league for a long time. I think there was a lot of question marks about the last couple top prospects going into the league last year. I don't have any question marks around Alyssa Smith. I think she's going to come in and probably be an immediate contributor to whoever decides to take her, whether that's Washington or Indiana. I don't see a circumstance where we see like we had last year with Charlie Collier and owa queer in Dallas where they both got drafted number one number two and then really didn't sniff the floor. So I don't see that being the case for either Howard or Smith here, I think that they're going to be immediate contributors and I'm excited to see what they do. There is a little bit of a gap. I feel like Smith and Howard, number one, number two, I think that's a lock at this point. I mean, even, I mean, even a major injury to either of these players, I still think they go number one number two overall. And which makes the next few picks really interesting. I've gone back and forth and there's been a lot of moving up and down for my picks like three through 12. All right. I constantly am tweaking these picks a lot more than I am my number one number two. However, my number three pick is actually someone who I've had up at number three for the majority of this season. I really, really like what I see from this player. And that is 6 foot 5 center out of old miss Shakira Austin. Shakira Austin has a WNBA ready body. She's able to not just her height, but the strength that she has, she moves really well. I like a lot from what we see from Shakira Austin. If she wants to study some film, if I were her, I would do everything I could to become Sylvia falls two..
WNBA Nation
"alyssa smith" Discussed on WNBA Nation
"My top ten current seniors in NCAA women's basketball. This is not an official like draft prediction. Because I'm not going to be including any juniors that could be eligible for the draft as well as overseas players. I am specifically looking at players who are finishing up a senior season and will be eligible for the WNBA draft without having to choose that. So that's what we're looking for today and I'm going to be giving you my top ten. I've been watching a lot of film. I've been watching a lot of games. I've been poring over stats. I've been looking at different team fits and a lot of different things that have kind of helped me come up with where I'm currently at with these rankings. So just so everybody knows, these are pretty fluid. I update these probably every other day. I go through and take different notes. And I may move players around. I currently have a full top 24 written out. I'm not going to go into that because that would just be too much for one episode. Last episode, we broke down heavily my top 5 as it stood back towards the beginning of December, I think, is when I released that last episode. Today, as we're getting a little bit closer, we're here in mid January. We're going to be taking a look at the top ten seniors. So we'll see how this plays out, obviously, with different juniors declaring in other overseas players coming into effect. We will be taking all of that into account when we do our official WNBA mock drafts when those come available. So just so a clarification. If you're wondering where your favorite player is that is overseas or your favorite player is that is a junior and very likely to declare from the drift, they will not be included on this list. There you have it. Several players will be just barely missing this list. Don't stress. If your favorite players, not in the top ten, again, like I said, I literally, I spent probably another hour and a half tonight going through and making sure that I was updated on everything in exactly where I wanted things before I pressed record. So you are getting the you're getting this, you're probably not listening to this until the 15th of January. I believe is when this is going to get released. However, I'm recording this the night of the 13th. I've got a really, really busy Friday and Saturday morning. And so I didn't, I know I'm not going to have time to record that. So there may be some games played. There may be injury, I don't know. You're getting this as of ten, 45 p.m. mountain standard time on Thursday, January 13th. So this is where I stand at that point in time. Before I hop right into my list, I do just want to thank each of you who listened to our show, we're seeing some incredible results as far as, as far as where we've been with our with our downloads with our ranks. We mentioned we recently popped into the top 100 basketball podcast and as far as we've been able to find, we are the only WNBA and women's basketball podcast to be included in that top 100. We also are in the top 1% of all podcasts in the world. And if you had told me that 5 years ago, when we started this idea that eventually a podcast about the WNBA and women's basketball would reach a tough 1% status. That would have been, you know, and that would be our show. That would be pretty hard to believe. So we just are super appreciative of each and every one of you and the support that you show us to support that you show this incredible league and that you show women sports across the board. Everywhere and anywhere across the world. So thank you, thank you, thank you. One way to continue to help us to get more and more results get in front of, I was going to say get in front of our eyes, but really just, I guess, into more ears, would be the more appropriate way to say that is if you happen to be on a. Podcast listening service that allows subscriptions, make sure you hit the subscribe button. If you can like the episode, do that. If you happen to be on Apple podcasts, you know, you're using the podcast app on your iPhone or something like that. Go ahead and drop just a quick 5 star review if you will scroll down, scroll down on our show. You know, just right towards the bottom, click tap to rate, super fast, you know, adds that quick 5 star review, we will be reading out loud, any written 5 star reviews that come through out loud on any of our most recent podcasts. So thank you. Thank you for doing that. We really appreciate it. Let's jump into things. All right, here we go. All right, so last time I recorded this I had Ryan Howard at number one and Alyssa Smith at number two. And I mentioned that they were kind of my top tier that it was really going to come down to those two as far as who I thought would go number one. I think it still is that way. I still put those two players in the top tier. And right now, Ryan Howard is my is still my current number one however the gap that was already not very big. It was a pretty small gap. It's razor thin currently. Because Melissa smith's having some she's playing some fantastic basketball. You know, things are looking really strong for her. Just over her last 6 games. You know, she's averaged 25, 25, 21, 28, 12 and 30 points per game really, really strong showing. She's been in double digit rebounds just about every single game this season. There's only one, two, three, three games, this entire season that she hasn't had double digit rebounds. So now let's just playing fantastic basketball..
WTOP
"alyssa smith" Discussed on WTOP
"The capital's crews to a two nothing lead over the kings in the second period but would not score again in a three two loss How does that happen Connor mcmichael I just think that we weren't playing with the same intensity as we were in the first I thought we came out really strong They played last night so we wanted to get all over them early and I think we did that and then we kind of just let them back in the game and they got momentum The assistant make Michael's first period goal was from herndon native Joe snively who got the call up from Hershey to make his NHL debut for his hometown team in front of friends and family Cool got some good sponsor for sure Yeah It was a loud Bill in the night was really fun The mystics won the WNBA draft lottery earning the first overall pick in the upcoming April draft just two seasons removed from the franchise's first championship Elena delle donne has played just three games since then so it's fair to ask coach and GM Mike TiVo will her status affect who you select I don't know that it will first of all Elaine is making great progress I think you have to take who you think is going to be a great player for a long period in the league and start with that premise first The consensus top two picks are Kentucky's rein Howard and Baylor's Alyssa Smith the wizards game Tuesday night in Brooklyn has been postponed one of 5 games the NBA has moved due to COVID issues One of the headline games of NFL week 15 was the Baltimore Ravens 31 30 lost to the Green Bay Packers It is the ravens third straight loss on a late failed two point conversion to fall out of the AFC playoff picture The Washington football team also out of the playoff picture after New Orleans improved to 7 and 7 with an upset shut out victory in Tampa Tiger Woods and his son Charlie shot a course record 11 straight birdies but were runners up in the PNC championship to John Daly one and two by just two shots Rob would fork WTO sports It's two 47 What's all the buzz about nasal irrigation and Navajo Nawaz Here's the science Airborne germs invade through your nose when your nose gets clogged it's less effective and germs multiply Eventually your immune system can get overwhelmed and you get sick Nawaz pulls out the bad stuff so you can breathe better Sleep deeper snore less and feel healthier At Walgreens CDS right a target bed bath and Walmart or go to Navajo dot com for a free gift with purchase.
WTOP
"alyssa smith" Discussed on WTOP
"The capital's crews to a two nothing lead over the kings in the second period but would not score again in a three two loss How does that happen Connor mcmichael I just think that we weren't playing with the same intensity as we were in the first I thought we came out really strong They played last night so we wanted to get all over them early and I think we did that and then we kind of just let them back in the game and they got the momentum The assistant mcmichaels first period goal was from herndon native Joe snively who got the call up from Hershey to make his NHL debut for his hometown team in front of friends and family It's cool got it Some good sponsor for sure Yeah It's a loud building tonight It's really fun The mystics won the WNBA draft lottery earning the first overall pick in the upcoming April draft just two seasons removed from the franchise's first championship Elena delle donne has played just three games since then so it's fair to ask coach and GM Mike TiVo will her status affect who you select I don't know that it will first of all Elaine is making great progress I think you have to take who you think is going to be a great player for a long period in the league and start with that premise first The consensus top two picks are Kentucky's rein Howard and Baylor's Alyssa Smith the wizards game Tuesday night in Brooklyn has been postponed one of 5 games the NBA has moved due to COVID issues One of the headline games of NFL week 15 was the Baltimore Ravens 31 30 lost to the Green Bay Packers It is the ravens third straight loss on a late failed two point conversion to fall out of the AFC playoff picture The Washington football team also out of the playoff picture after New Orleans improved to 7 and 7 with an upset shut out victory in Tampa Tiger Woods and his son Charlie shot a course record 11 straight birdies but were runners up in the PNC championship to John Daly one and two by just two shots Rob would fork double the utopia sports Okay rob and coming up here on some help for police.
The Her Hoop Stats Podcast
"alyssa smith" Discussed on The Her Hoop Stats Podcast
"Definitely going to be a tournament team, what kind of run that they can make now that they've got some size inside, especially with the type of way they play basketball and the way they shoot the three. They get hot, they can definitely upset someone. Yeah, the puzzle has been fun to watch. Just because of their ability to shoot from for years now from deep and just it's just about to watch them rack up 90 points and it's like a lot of fun compared to other college teams. So yeah, I agree. I can't wait to see what they do in big east play and the NCA tournament, which is always fun. So that's exciting. Yeah, for sure. I'm very interested to see what they look like as we get. Down the stretch here. So not down the stretch we're so far. Ways away. But you get what I mean. But yeah, I mean, just a team that's going to be really interesting and more is a big part of that. Thank you as a freshman self. We're excited to see what she's going to do for the rest of this year, but I also think she's going to be a name that we're going to be saying a lot over the next three to four years. Yep, for sure. Well, on that note, we also have some really big games this weekend. We had some big games last weekend with Louisville Kentucky and South Carolina, Maryland, but this weekend, we've got first on Saturday. There's a double header at mojica son the basketball Hall of Fame showcase. And it opens up with Baylor versus Michigan and then you call Louisville following. So I believe Miller Michigan is number 5 versus number 12 and then you come Louisville's number 6 versus number 7. So some big rank match ups on Saturday or sorry Sunday on Sunday. I think one thing that I am looking forward to the most in that first game is one of course Melissa Smith versus nasal and babbling for sure. Rematch of the elite parasite sweet 16 battle that we got last year, that's gonna be a ton of fun to watch. Yeah. Wait to see now film and match up against. And Alyssa Smith and ELISA smith's bid off to a terrific start. A lot of people are starting to think that she might be getting closer to becoming the top overall pick override Howard. I still however have Howard as my number one draft pick, I think there's just there's a lot to her game that I still think would do well in the WNBA. But NASA Smith has been off to a great start. I can't wait to see her against nasal and what they and then see how they play against each other. I can't wait to see what Baylor does against Michigan. So it'll be really fun and it's a great way for a WNBA fans and women's college basketball fans to come to watch to see the future. For sure. And I think I'm particularly interested in how Baylor does in this game because I don't really think we've seen Bella be tested a whole lot this season. They just have the one loss to Maryland, but that was that Maryland squad that then went down to The Bahamas and got pretty badly by NC state and Stanford because they were struggling with a lot of injuries and they lost that game. So I'm really interested to see what Baylor looks like against a really top tier opponent in Michigan, Michigan's right off in the country. It could be the toughest game that bailer has had to play so far this season and really their best win right now is like a two point win over mizu. So this is a chance for them to prove that they're a top ten team and get a win over Michigan or they might have some quite more questions to answer and I'm interested to see. They fall on Sunday. Yeah. And it'll be a fun first game of the double header. For sure. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. And now it's in Connecticut, so there's probably gonna be like a heavy Yukon game feel to it, but I hope that people go down for both games because I think that game is going to be a spectacular people would be missing really good basketball if they chose to just go to one. And then that second game, you come Louisville, I think, is also going to be a very interesting one given just how you can't have played over the last week or so in the absence of page beckers and 85 and you can be all break open as well. If you want to give this full list, but it means the absence of page backers is obviously the headline there. Yeah. And not only that, but Louisville is actually off to a great start. Not only that, I think Louisville will actually win this game and I don't think they're probably gonna win by I'm gonna say like less than ten because I do think UConn will compete. I do think they will try to make it a game, but I just think Louis will has a little bit more in their tank and in terms of the players and their ability to score and to be effective, then Yukon does right now, which is why I would pick Louisville to win, but when, but I think that game will be really fascinating just to see how Yukon has, you know, how you can will continue to move on with page for a while and just to see what Louisville still capable of. Yeah, I think one thing that really impressed me in labels game against Kentucky this weekend was the way that hilly van lipp just took over the game down the final stretch, not very different than what data Evans used to do for them last year..
WNBA Nation
"alyssa smith" Discussed on WNBA Nation
"Has gone down, but I think that's because she's been able to find herself being more of a facilitator and well rounded player rather than just a peer score. Currently she is my number one overall pick. So if your team snags that number one or potentially that number two, Ryan Howard is a name to remember and to pay attention to the rest of the way. All right, let's move on. I've gotten Alyssa Smith as my number two overall out of Baylor. She's a 6 foot four forward and if there were a player I would pick to potentially surpass Ryan Howard is the number one overall and Alyssa is my pick there. In my opinion, the best rebounder in this class this draft class and I don't think it's close. She has an absolute knack for finding the ball and getting there both defensive rebounds and offensive rebounds. And that's a huge, huge part of the game and especially in the WNBA. Players like Sylvia fowles and Rebecca Brunson and others who have done just such a great job at rebounding and making that a hallmark of their career, I see a lot of similarities in the way that they have a sense of how the ball is going to bounce and they're positioning. I see that in Melissa. And I get really excited to see that. Her offensive gameplay really does remind me of Asia Wilson. She, you know, except for she's right handed. So. She basically goes into space just effortlessly. She has a real sense for where space is on the court and just moves into that space. Effortlessly and finds where she can be open to get to receive the past. Finding that open space, I think, is really what has helped her become one of the most efficient scorers in the country. She shoots nearly 70% from the field during her junior year. She's done a fantastic job there. Big time player there in a big time program in Baylor. And I really do think that there's a lot to be said about in the list. I think that her size and her ability to work the interior on both offense and defense is something that I think could really benefit several teams in the WNBA. So again, I think that she's probably going to go one two or maybe three, but I do think she's a top two draft pick currently. Let me just read you off where she's at right now as far as her statistics for this current season. She's averaging 20.4 points per game and 13.2 rebounds. Absolutely insane. Absolutely insane. She got 11 blocks on the season. And where I really like what I really like to see is that her percentage, she shooting 57% from the field, slightly down from last year. But look for that to average back up. Again, she's shot nearly 70% from the field last year. So we know that's in there. She's very efficient. I think the reason why her percentage has gone down is teams are keying in on her. She's a absolute difference maker on both ends of the floor. And teams have to account for. They're in Baylor. That's my take on Melissa Smith. Watch out for her coming into this season's WNBA draft. All right, number three, I really do think that Howard and Smith are kind of in their own tier up at the top from here on, I really think that any of these players, this is where I think I'm going to see the most movement in perhaps my own personal rankings. And again, if you were to ask Steve or Logan or Jason to give you their personal rankings, it likely would look different from mine. Perhaps from this time forward, I know that a lot of them are pretty high on Howard and Smith. But the rest of these, the rest of these, you really could move around quite a bit. The rest of my top ten really here. I've got Shakira Austin currently at my number three. 6 foot 5 center out of old miss Shakira is just phenomenal. I love watching how Shakira plays basketball. She's a big that really knows how to draw a lot of fouls. However, which is big time. If you can get the other teams bigs or if you can get the other team into foul trouble, that gives you so much of an advantage moving forward in any game. And she does a fantastic job of that. She gets to the line constantly. The one drawback to that is that she currently is only shooting 65% from the field this season. So she really could step it up in that regard, getting a little bit better from the line. If she can become a really, if she could become a 75 to 80% free throw shooter throughout the remainder of this season, watch out because I think that there's going to be some teams really clamoring to take a look at Shakira Austin. That's where she's at. She's also a rebounding machine. She's averaging a 9.1 rebounds currently. So not quite where Smith is, but what does a great job there? One knock that I've heard on her is that she can be a little bit turnover prone. She, you know, she'll she'll lose the ball potentially. However, she really makes up for it on the other end of the court, because the amount of blocks and steals that she gets is honestly like Sylvia fowles esque. It's incredible. Fantastic defensive presence on the court. Really needs to just kind of shore things up on her shot on her scoring efficiency and if she can do that, I think that she's gonna carve out a nice place for herself in the league. All right, moving on to my number four.