This week on The IX Sports Podcast College Basketball Edition, hosts Michael Waterloo and Melissa Triebwasser took a preseason look at the Big Ten. Last year, the national champions were from the Big Ten (UCLA Bruins), and the conference earned 12 bids in the NCAA Tournament — the most ever by a single conference.
Triebwasser and Waterloo jumped right into their new segment. Each week, the pair will pick the teams from each conference they think will make the NCAA Tournament come March.
They started out with some uncontroversial picks, with Triebwasser selecting the University of Washington Huskies to make the tournament and Waterloo picking the University of Southern California Trojans. The Trojans, Waterloo said, will be a favorite to win it all this season as JuJu Watkins returns following an ACL tear in March 2025.
Triebwasser picked the University of Maryland Terrapins, coached by Brenda Frese, as her second pick to make the tournament.
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“It’s been a long time since [UMD] won that national championship. I don’t know necessarily that this is going to be the year that they do it, but at the end of the day, I have a ton of confidence in this Maryland team,” Triebwasser said.
Waterloo took the University of Michigan Wolverines with his second pick and Triebwasser followed up with the choice of UCLA and Cori Close to make the tournament.
To hear which other teams Waterloo and Triebwasser expect to make the tournament from the Big Ten this year, be sure to tune in to the podcast!
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, it’s Sunaja ‘Nunu’ Agara, who played for Stanford last year, and this year will play for UMD and Frese.
“Last year she was over 15 points, almost nine rebounds per game, plus one and a half assist shot 47% from the field. She is a superstar, just a super high basketball IQ as well. I mean, just does everything well, and I think she’s going to fit seamlessly into that Maryland roster and Brenda Frese system,” Triebwasser said.
Be sure to tune in to this week’s episode to hear what sleeper Big Ten teams Waterloo and Triebwasser think could crack the tournament!
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