March 22, 2024
Locked On Women’s Basketball: NCAA Tournament time
By The Next
Host Natalie Heavren is joined by Em Adler to discuss all things March Madness. They make predictions and hope for a surprising tournament
On the latest episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, Em Adler joins host Natalie Heavren to discuss all things March Madness. They talk about the bracket layout and make predictions, discuss coaching changes, and identify players and games they’re excited to watch. They even make some final four forecasts, and analyze how easy or hard it will be for many teams to make it to Cleveland.
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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.
Natalie and Em start out the show by discussing recent developments in Virginia Tech. The news that center Elizabeth Kitley suffered a season-ending injury means that “this is clearly it” for the Hokies, Em argues. “Not saying they won’t get a win,” but “anyone diligently watching the conference tournament saw what Tech looks like without Kitley, and … they’re probably going to lose pretty quickly.” That, coupled with the news that head coach Kenny Brooks may be leaving, is an “unfortunate way to end this run for the Hokies,” Em explains.
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Em and Natalie then move on to discussing the first-round matchups they are most looking forward to. “Personally, I’m really excited about the matchup between Richmond and Duke,” Natalie shares, as she’s “so excited to see how each of these teams have grown and changed” since they last met. Em highlights Alabama v. FSU, which they describe as “one of those matches with two different teams that are … surprisingly good, and they’ve taken very divergent paths to get here.”
Later on, Em and Natalie theorize about which lower-ranked teams have the potential to make a deep run in this year’s tournament. “Vanderbilt is always a weird matchup for teams,” Em offers, “and Fairfield … Richmond … these are interesting teams that are possibly under-seeded, but definitely prone to getting weird upset vibes.” Per Natalie, “weird upset vibes would be my ideal tournament setup.”
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