The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Good Follow - LaChina Robinson Joins The Show, Uconn Wins NCAA Championship + 2026 Preview, WNBA Mock Draft & More
Wed, 09 Apr 2025
This week on Good Follow: Ros & Logan decide if Uconn is heading into another era of dominance, react to Ta’Niya Latson transferring to South Carolina, discuss which teams can make a run at the title in 2026, and debate if the 2020 recruiting class will go down as the best ever. Then, Ros sits down with WNBA analyst LaChina Robinson to talk about Paige Bueckers’ storybook ending, Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd’s dominant performance, and the growth of women’s college basketball. Later, Ros and Logan share their WNBA mock draft, and other prospects to keep an eye on, and discuss how Paige Bueckers can elevate the Dallas Wings. Finally, Logan shares her NWSL pick of the week presented by DraftKings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who are the hosts of Good Follow and what is the show's focus?
Hey, what's up, y'all? Welcome to Good Follow, presented by DraftKings. I'm Roz, Golden Woody, and that's my co-host. That's my girl. That's Logan Hackett. What's up, Logan? How you doing?
I'm actually doing really well. I feel refreshed now that March Madness is over, like the chaos. But in a sense, I also really miss it. And I just want to keep on like, bing, bop, boom, you know, back to back to back. But you were there and I want to know all about it. How was it?
Oh, you flourish in the madness, huh? Yeah, I love it. Yeah, I was in Tampa girl. It was so beautiful out there. I love warm weather, so the weather was amazing. It was a hot the hot spot for women's basketball like everyone was there. This is a place to see and be seen to be networking. WNBA players, coaches, executives, media members. Like it was all there in one place.
It was, you know, really exciting within the women's basketball community. I was there doing the national radio game broadcast for the games at the Final Four. So I had a lot of like really cool opportunities to spend a lot of one-on-one time with the teams and the coaches and the players. I got to really, you know,
see in the minds of Gino and Dawn and what gets them going and how they're strategizing. Spent a lot of time with UConn and South Carolina, obviously. And then with the players, just getting to know the personality of these teams and getting to know the players. So for me, I really cherish the opportunity in Tampa to interview, to talk with all of them.
There was actually one, I think it was a South Carolina game. At halftime, Dawn was walking to the locker room and you're on the feed running after her with your little notepad.
I was like, oh my God, that's Ross. First of all, I'm mad old school. I still use my notepad. And then I kind of have to time it up. It's almost like double-dutch. I'm watching her walking off the court and I know I've got to speak to her coming off the court and then the other coach coming out onto the court. So I'm like, one, two, there she goes. Dawn, what's your message to the team?
But it was really cool. But beyond that, we're also celebrating today, Logan. Yay. We're celebrating. We hit 1,000 subscribers. Actually, it's such a big deal for us. It's not just one bell. It's two bells. It's three bells. We are so grateful. We are so excited to reach 1,000 subscribers on YouTube, that is. You know, we relaunched this at the start of the new year.
We've been doing this, building this with y'all for three months to hit 1,000. It means a lot. And we pledge to continue to bring great energy and enthusiasm and creativity to how we cover women's sports for y'all, okay? That's our promise.
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Chapter 2: How did UConn dominate the NCAA Championship and what does their future look like?
So it's very much giving all of the insider info, vibes, stories, tea from the scene at the final four. We've got a full show, Logan, so let's get to it.
let's get to it ros you mentioned that new champion has been crowned and yes yukon took out the title and it was a bit of a shock for how they absolutely dismantled south carolina 82-59 and we saw the trio lead the way once again paige beckers az fudd and sarah strong
but i don't know if anyone else feels the same way i was super surprised by their dominance in this tournament and i think it comes from them playing in the big east because leading up to march madness you're able to see where teams are failing or where teams are excelling and take a conference like the sec or the acc you're able to kind of see how dominant a team is going into the tournament but with yukon being in the big east i mean they've won 23 big east titles there's not much there so
Oh my gosh, I'm still taken aback by it and I don't have much more to say. But another thing that I found really interesting is that their average margin of victory was 36.8 points and Paige was averaging 24.8. So if you just put that on paper one to one, is Paige leaving really that big of a deal? And it begs the question, is this the start of another dominant era for UConn?
You know, I actually think it could be the continuance of dominance coming out of this championship for UConn. And they may not feel the loss of Paige Beckers, who was an incredible talent, but I still think UConn can be great even after now she graduates. Because when fully healthy, UConn was head and shoulders better than the competition. They gassed UCLA and South Carolina.
And so for me, the point that I make doesn't even need stats to be proven. It's more about qualities and characteristics and culture of the program. I'll point to the pace of play that UConn plays with. I'll point to the execution of cuts of passes in their offense, the backdoor passes, the beauty of it.
against tough defenses and then on the other side uconn's not just an offensive team they were tough on defense and they were able to create defense um offense off of that defense this is a team that's incredibly unselfish sacrificing roles for one another and one thing that really stands out about uconn over the course of decades is their conditioning level
they have a fitness x-factor and even when i was playing at stanford against yukon teams of old they always were so well conditioned that over the course of the game they would just wear on you and then suddenly they'd be pulling away because fatigue said and it's harder and harder to execute so For these qualities, I'm less worried about Paige Becker's graduating.
As great as she is, Gino's a brilliant coach. The offense will further just kind of focus in on working around Sarah Strong, who, Logan, Sarah Strong as a freshman had a great case for the most outstanding player of the Final Four. you know, and easily could have won that if it didn't go to AZ Fudd, who was also great, who next season will now have two, a second year of being healthy.
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Chapter 3: What impact will Ta’Niya Latson’s transfer have on South Carolina's team?
But as a starter, often coaches want to see you be a bit more deliberate because you've got to set the style of play for your team. You've got to engage your teammates. You've got to run sets. So that'll be a healthy challenge for her next season. To your point, they're gonna miss Tahina Pau-Pau, not only for her leadership, but her three-point shooting.
Her three-point shots were like daggers for South Carolina. So even with Tenaya Latson coming in, I wonder, like, where does spacing continue to come from for South Carolina? Ashlyn Watson? How does she come back from injury? If she's able to be fully healthy in her full self, that's huge for South Carolina. And it was a huge loss not having her.
Obviously, Chloe Kitts, I thought she finished the season really strong for South Carolina, continue to build on that. But here's like this overarching storyline that the Gamecocks get to have coming into next season. Pain is a great teacher and so is embarrassment. And that's what they felt. They felt that against UConn.
And now that can be bundled up and used as fuel in this off season and perhaps a chip going into next year.
I think Tanaya could have put the cherry on top to them winning the championship. It was like the key piece that they were missing.
What a shoulda, coulda, who knows now? They have next year to show it.
With that, UConn and South Carolina aren't the only teams who have championship capability next year. I mean, USC, UCLA, and Texas are still looking good. And then UCLA and Texas are returning their own stars. Still staying in Texas, TCU just picked up Olivia Miles, Clara Silva from Kentucky, and will potentially add more to their roster. So I want to do a way too early prediction.
Which teams do you think could give UConn and South Carolina a run for their money next season?
Well, I'm going to point out UCLA. You know, first of all, I think experience really showed itself in the Final Four, and that experience mattered. Like, you know, UCLA now has seen what it takes. They've seen the different level, what the Final Four looks like, what the conditioning level looks like to be at that level. I think for Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice, they come back even more improved.
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Chapter 4: Which teams besides UConn and South Carolina could contend for the 2026 title?
Yes. I was at the Tampa Final Four here. And, you know, it was it was good for Candace Parker to get that championship.
And I was asking her, I was like, do you remember? Because she said, I don't remember anything about the city, but I remember everything about the game itself. And I was like, really? She said, no, I don't remember hotels, data, anything like nothing feels familiar to me. But I said, so you remember everything in the Stanford game?
She was like, more so the LSU game because the Stanford game wasn't that close.
I was like, oh, y'all already controlled the whole time? Candace always has jokes. I'm going to have to get her for that one. But you want to see the difference?
You want to see the difference of maybe like the type of player we were? Right. Right. I actually don't remember anything about the game against Tennessee. But what I do remember is all the stuff around it. Yeah, see, you were opposite. I was opposite. Candice was focused on the games. And I remember the Tampa Final Four. All the teams came in on yachts. They had us all come in on boats.
And then each team, I think, had a boat. And we came off the water in the boats after sailing. And he came off a red carpet and then went in to party. Yes.
They used to do that. I don't know if they still do the dinner. They don't. They bring all the teams, the four teams together and have a night, have a dinner. That used to be, that was fire. I was on the red carpet for a few of those. Oh, really?
Yes. And that was a nice time. We both came from the court. And when UConn was given their trophy, they brought all of their alum on. and all of their former champions. And it was kind of cool to see the level of greatness. We're talking about Hall of Famers, Olympians, but also people across generations, people that you went through or they went through you.
And one of the coolest things happened to me Maya Moore walks by, and she's like, Roz. And I'm like, love you. And I was like, dang, one of those championships you got went through us. And she was like, you know, you also stopped us from one. And so I was like, you know, these competitors, they don't forget anything. They don't forget anything. I also got a picture with Diana Taurasi. Did you?
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Chapter 5: Will the 2020 recruiting class go down as the best ever in women's basketball?
Sarah between the points, I think 24 points, I think 15 rebounds between the blocks and the defense. She anchored everything that thwarted South Carolina. I think there were a number of candidates, but for me, Sarah Strong was the most outstanding player for me of the final four.
Someone else said that. Someone else said that to me because the game ended and Don't forget she had 22 points in the game. I think she had a high scoring game in the game before. Yeah. And as did AZ. And when the game ended, someone who I was sitting with was like, oh, Sarah Strong's the most outstanding player. And I was like, really? I thought it was AZ's fud.
And I think it could have gone either way. Either way. First of all, a freshman performing at such a high level. I mean, the poise, the toughness. I am blown away by her. Yeah. Period. Point blank. But what I think it was with AZ and Roz, you've had injuries as a player. So you get this part of it.
She started to trust her body on defense and we can look at points all day long, which she's a sharpshooter. She can score, you know, she's starting to get that timing in with her shot. But she was taking risks on defense. She was lunging. She was in the passing lanes.
You know, she was picking players like she was trusting her body to really move in a way on the on defense that gave that team a lot of momentum. And those were the things that maybe most people saw. I know I saw in in voting her, you know, the most outstanding player. But honestly, it could have gone. I thought it could have gone either way.
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Chapter 6: Who is LaChina Robinson and what insights does she share about the NCAA Championship?
What a luxury for you, Conrad. All these players stepped up so big. And it's funny because, you know, I interviewed postgame Sarah Strong. And she barely smiled. Like, she's just got a certain... She's locked in. She's locked in.
Did she take after Allison a little bit? Like, be sure her mom... She does.
Her mom is a little bit on, like, the... A little more serious. She'll... I mean, when you know her, you keep it with her.
You keep it, but on the surface, she gonna give you the straight. Right. And I see...
her mother in her stoicness. I wonder if she's silly on the side or something. Right, yeah, like behind the scenes.
But, you know, so that was something that stood out to me. Shout out to Allison, who was one of my childhood heroes. I wanted to go to Harvard because of her. And the fact that we text now during games and stuff, I'm like, I can't believe that I get to
correspond with allison booster like y'all need to get on google if you don't know who this woman is like the historic yeah it's 16 seed beating a one seed in the tournament harvard beats stanford why is stanford sorry this is a bad episode for stanford episode for stanford hey we got a lot of greatness coming through but um and then to another point you had i interviewed gino post game i
And after the championship, and I asked him what this 12th championship meant and the fact that it took nine years to get there, what it meant to the program and to the team and to him. And he heard, he basically alluded to, he heard all that talk. Oh. You know, Gino's a, you know, he got, you know, strong, like, um... He believes in the program and the work he's put in. Yeah.
And so he heard that and he said, look, if we want parity in the game, we can't be upset when it's hard to get here.
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Chapter 7: What were the key moments and player performances from the NCAA Championship game?
I agree. And the game has grown even in terms of the styles of play we see, right? And this is nothing against the teams of old because we wouldn't be here without the foundation that the teams have had success way back to the AIAW days and
The La Tech days and the Western Kentucky, like all those teams that you don't hear as much about that have been a part of the growth of college women's basketball over time. But yes, Dallas, the game just seems like there's closer contest. There's more parity. There's more talent going to different places. There's, to me, more variety in style of play.
You know, we've got YouTube and technology that's grown in terms of how these players are training and how they're preparing their bodies and minds for college.
Yeah.
And so you love to see it. And you're absolutely right. It makes it much harder now to have that kind of dominance. Tennessee, obviously, that goes without saying.
So how do we reflect on the full body of work now for our girl Paige Beckers, who has her storybook, you know, ending with the championship after all the injuries, not only injuries, she went through a pandemic, like her team was injured, and to come through with her resilience and heart.
There's just not enough positive words to say about Paige as a player or as a person. We have just watched her blossom her game on the court through the resilience of the injuries, through the perseverance. We've watched her become a spokeswoman in the face of the game of college women's basketball. But I think what I learned
in this year in particular, really this stretch of games in the NCAA tournament and in the postseason, is that Paige has the ability to rise to the occasion. There were questions about whether or not she was WNBA ready because she doesn't shoot enough and she's a pass first and does she take over enough? All those conversations that we have about great players.
And I don't know that people were giving her the grace of what she was working back from with injury. But she showed us that she can shoot that thing. Like she can score the ball and under duress, in crunch times, in big games.
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