The WNBA season may have ended last weekend — but college hoops are back.
This week on The IX Sports Podcast College Basketball Edition, Melissa Triebwasser and Michael Waterloo celebrate the return of college basketball with a final preseason ranking of players and programs.
Waterloo said he is “all in” on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this season. The team put up 99 in the Eternal City Tip Off against Villanova Sunday, and Waterloo said he thinks this will be a big year for Hannah Hidalgo on the court.
“Just the way that she has grown, her defense, her tenacity, the in-your-faceness that she has, her ability to kind of change an entire opposition’s offense just from her ability to cut off the court, meet people at the point of the attack like she can — and you better not dribble the ball around her because she is going to take it and then just hold her hand like this, because she’s going to hit that three in your face,” Waterloo said.
Waterloo said that he would put Hidalgo, Sarah Strong, JuJu Watkins, Madison Booker and Olivia Olson on his preseason First Team All-American list. Triebwasser concurred — except she swapped Olson for Mikayla Blakes.
The pair had differing views on potential Rookie of the Year candidates. Waterloo said McKenna Woliczko of Iowa was his top candidate, and Triebwasser picked Kate Harpring as her prime pick.
Waterloo said Aaliyah Crump of Duke is one player he will be watching for a potential breakout season; Triebwasser picked Lara Somfai of Texas Christian University.
Tune in to hear picks for Player of the Year and predictions for Second Team All Americans.
Make sure to subscribe to The IX Sports Podcast for in-depth coverage of women’s soccer, hockey and basketball; and tune in each weekday morning for a quick overview of the biggest headlines on Women’s Sports Daily, like WNBA news and PWHL expansion updates.
