This week on The IX Sports Podcast College Basketball Edition, hosts Michael Waterloo and Melissa Triebwasser preview the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) ahead of the beginning of women’s college basketball.
Before they jumped into a detailed breakdown of top programs in the conference, they revisited news from last week’s podcast — the news that Kate Koval, after choosing to leave LSU, was granted permission to transfer this year. She will play at Baylor University this season.
“I’m super happy for Kate Koval. I’m glad the NCAA did the right thing …. I’m working on a story for the nine, previewing a couple of the Big 12’s most interesting teams, and I had kind of put my thumb on Baylor as one of those because they weren’t a big talked-about team in the off season. They made some nice transfer portal moves,” Triebwasser said.
The ACC
Then Triebwasser and Waterloo introduced a new segment in the run-up to the start of the college basketball season. Each week, the pair will pick the teams from each conference they think will make the NCAA Tournament come March.
To make those picks, Waterloo and Triebwasser flipped a coin. With the first pick, Waterloo chose Duke.
“So Duke, very defensive minded program. Kara Lawson at the helm. Of course, we just talked about her winning the [FIBA] gold medal. Toby Fournier is back, and one of my favorite players, Aaliyah Crump, is making the jump from Texas to Duke. is going to be huge,” Waterloo said.
For her first pick, Triebwasser selected Louisville, citing Head Coach Jeff Walls.
Waterloo then picked Notre Dame, citing Hannah Hidalgo’s senior season and the Princeton graduate transfer Madison St. Rose as big threats in the backcourt. The team also boasts four top 30 recruits in its freshman class.
Tune in to the episode to hear the rest of the picks to make the tournament — and who was left out.
New Face, New Place
On the newest segment of the podcast, Triebwasser and Waterloo highlighted someone new at a new institution this season. This week, that was Aaron Roussell, who was named the new head coach at the University of Virginia this spring. Roussell previously coached the University of Richmond Spiders, taking the team to three back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.
“It was a really interesting hire, I thought, by Virginia, a little bit outside of the box,” Triebwasser said.
Be sure to tune in this week, and share your thoughts on who will succeed in the ACC this year!
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