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Season 2 Episode 10: Let's get Clinical! with "Dr." Mikayla Pivec
72 Plays5 months ago
Lachy and Squin are back with regular programming to cover Round 8 of NBL1 East 2024.
They review the Manly-Waringah Sea Eagles vs. Norths Bears (M) game; plus 'Jersey of the Week' and the All-star five for the round.
This week they interview someone truly down-to-earth, who puts on an absolute clinic on and off the court. It's the former Beaver and current Bandit herself, Mikayla Pivec!
00:00:00-00:03:00 Intro
00:03:00-00:21:40 Round 8 Recap
00:21:41-00:46:00 Game Review
00:46:00-00:47:00 Round 9 Games to Watch
00:47:00-00:51:30 News & Gossip
00:52:31-00:53:20 Jersey of the Week
00:53:21-01:00:00 All Star 5
01:00:47-01:52:52 Interview with Mikayla Pivec
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to East Got Game Podcast
00:00:11
Speaker
back to another episode of East Got Game, an unofficial podcast about the MBL One East competition for 2024. My name's Jacinta and with me as always is someone who looks like he's got a great main jumper on from camera, but also you're still in a jumper and I'm still in a t-shirt. It's Locky France. How are you Locky?
Interview with Mason Bragg
00:00:35
Speaker
Colder than you, Squint. Colder than you.
00:00:37
Speaker
That's right. That's right. And also another big thanks to you for jumping in at the last minute and flying solo last week. Interviewing Mason Bragg sounded like a very, very good conversation that you had. So yeah, thanks again for jumping in last minute. I got you. Don't worry about it. No drama. I owe you one bud. No, you do. You do more than enough. You definitely are. You shoulder the heavy load in this partnership.
MBL One East Round 8 Update
00:01:06
Speaker
So I got a massage on the weekend, so that helped. So I can't believe that we've now just reached round eight of MB01 East. What was your weekend like in the competition?
Weekend Recap: Sharkies' Performance
00:01:19
Speaker
The Sharkies had a win and a loss. The women fell to a loss, but the men got up in an absolute bomb-burner again. It was great. We had Retro Night at Sutherland.
00:01:29
Speaker
which was quite fun. A bit of 80s music, 90s music. I got my Houston Comets jersey out of the wardrobe. Cynthia Cooper, WNBA Houston Comets jersey made an appearance. I had a choice. I could go the Cynthia Cooper or the Tisha Panettiero and I went to Cynthia Cooper.
Nostalgia for Houston Comets Jerseys
00:01:50
Speaker
How long ago did you buy those Comets jerseys? A few years ago now. I think I was still living in Enmore. So seven or eight years ago. That's amazing. That's almost like a relic.
00:02:00
Speaker
It is. I mean, it's Houston Comets and Sacramento Monarchs. Neither of those teams exist. Do you reckon they'll ever come back?
Branding of the Valkyries
00:02:07
Speaker
Well, we now have a team in Northern California. The Valkyries. The Valkyries. How good? How good is their kit, by the way? Oh, I am so sold just by the branding alone. The club game, the logo, the story behind the logo, the merch. I am all in. I'm putting my chips all into the middle of the table. There we go.
00:02:29
Speaker
Valkyrie's biggest fan in Australia is Squint. And what's really funny is that my brother and I were talking about it last week and he happened to remember me saying, I will never go for a women's team that associated with the Warriors. And he's right. I did say that and I forgot because I was blinded by the branding. So color me, hypocrite. Shout out to the Golden State marketing team.
00:02:57
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, you got me good. You got me good.
Canberra Gunners' Close Wins
00:03:00
Speaker
But anyway, we are here to talk about MB01 East, the MB01 conference we know and love, and you were covering the men's competition this week. What did it look like? It looked pretty eventful. It was. There are a bunch of very close games, including, if there's any Canberra Gunners fans left that didn't have a heart attack, well, good on you. Because they won two games this week by a combined six points.
00:03:24
Speaker
We'll start it off at the top with the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence taking on the Central Coast Crusaders down in Canberra.
Basketball Australia COE's Victory
00:03:33
Speaker
All five COE starters in double figures in a 96-89 win as they held off the Crusaders who were led by Robbie Heese 31 points.
00:03:44
Speaker
Manly Waringa and the North Bears in the Spitbridge Stouche, Sydney's fiercest rivalry, and an absolutely insane ending.
Manly Waringa vs North Bears
00:03:53
Speaker
So Manly Waringa get up 83-82, as per usual, Matt Eldridge, Jonas Harper and Mason Bragg with big games for the Sea Eagles all passing the 20-point mark, whilst Mandrel Worthy had 25 of his 31 points in the first half.
00:04:11
Speaker
Hornsby Coringay took on Hills in the brick pit up there in Thornley and it was Hills getting the win 89-81.
Hills Hornets vs Hornsby Coringai
00:04:23
Speaker
It was Stephen Hall with 24 points for Hornsby Coringay but Chris Bryant CB 33-11 for the Hornets.
00:04:32
Speaker
Illawarra hosted the Bankstown Bruins and it was Illawarra sneaking the upset win 90-79. Riley Abercrombie 29 points for Illawarra. Hayden Blankley and Naaman Hightower both passing the 20 point mark for the Bruins and Hayden Blankley doing a little bit of everything in there as well.
Maitland's Mustangs' Triumph
00:04:52
Speaker
Maitland hosted the Comets up there at the Federation Centre and it was a team effort for the Mustangs. 100 to 78, five players, six players in double figures, sorry. Will Cranston landed 16 and 13 to lead the way.
00:05:07
Speaker
for Maitland. As I said earlier Sutherland took on Newcastle and Sutherland getting a crucial win as they look to hang on to the coattails of the top
Sutherland vs Newcastle Recap
00:05:16
Speaker
eight. Brian Williams for the first time this season as successful as he was aggressive in getting 27 points and six steals. Just a much better performance from the Sharkies. Miles Cherry with a double double 12 and 11 for the Falcons.
Aubrey Wodonga Bandits' Win
00:05:33
Speaker
The Bandits hosted Penrith down there on the border at Lauren Jackson Sports Centre. And it was the team from Aubrey Wodonga getting up 86-71, Kevin Blalock 27 points, Lachie Cummings 22 for the Bandits on that occasion. Inner West hosted the Canberra Gunners at ELS Hall Park.
Canberra Gunners Narrow Victory
00:05:53
Speaker
And it was Canberra getting up 80-78 after trailing to start the fourth quarter.
00:06:00
Speaker
Will Mayfield, Big 18 and 10 leading the way, five players in double figures for Canberra, and four players in double figures, including 18 and 15 for Alex Higgins' teacher for Inner West. So, Comets took on Canberra Gunners at Comets Stadium, and Canberra, again with another thrilling victory, 81-77 on this occasion, four players in double figures for the Comets, led by Matty Wachas, 19-6 and 6, OBJ with a second double figure effort of the weekend.
00:06:28
Speaker
James Toohey 21 points and five steals leading the way for the Gunners on that occasion. COE took on Illawarra at the AIS Basketball and Netball Centre and came up with a 115-76 win. James O'Donnell and Kai Savage both posted 20-point games. Jimmy O'Donnell picking up 12 rebounds as well. Whilst Riley Abercrombie continued his excellent form one of the breakout players of the season.
00:06:54
Speaker
29 on Saturday and 20 more here on Sunday. Bankstown would have been stinging after that loss to Illawarra on Saturday but they turned it around with an 87-81 win over Central Coast. Andre Walford continuing his good form with 29 points after dropping I think 37
00:07:16
Speaker
absolutely lit up the net from three point range this week doing it with nine of nine free throws as part of his 29. Hadam blankly with 20 again. Robbie Heath with 18 and Ben Stephens finally making appearances for Central Coast had 15 points on the Saturday and then followed up with 14 and 14 on the Sunday.
00:07:34
Speaker
Newcastle made the trek home after falling to Sutherland to take on a North Bear site who would have been stinging from that loss. And despite 25 points from Francis Weneira-Moville Hill, the Falcons fell to a 79-71 defeat to North Mandrill Worthy, again with 30 points alongside nine rebounds.
00:07:54
Speaker
So a very, very entertaining week in the world of the men's competition.
Top Teams in MBL One East Standings
00:08:00
Speaker
We turn to the top eight. It is now the Canberra Gunners sitting 11-1 by virtue of that double header this weekend, sitting atop the table. Maitland also with just the one loss, but having played one game fewer, sitting at 10-1. Manly Warringa still only played nine games, so a very heavy backloaded schedule, seven and two. Centre of Excellence, nine and three and fourth.
00:08:23
Speaker
Aubrey Wodonga sitting 5th at 8-4, Inner West 8-5, Hills 6-4 and then tied for 8th it's the North Bears and the Bankstown Bruins both teams who would have been thinking that this could have been a weekend where they got two wins but had to go one and one so neither team really managing to set themselves apart. All to play for down the stretch in that battle for the final couple of spots.
00:08:50
Speaker
Yeah, halfway point, top eight. That's what's going to be the focus now for the rest of the season. And a couple of notes from your recap of round eight. I'm starting to think that the likes of Jonas Harper and or Mason Bragg have got to be contenders for all star five.
Riley Abercrombie's Leadership
00:09:07
Speaker
And Riley Abercrombie has to be leading the way for youth player of the year in the men's competition as well.
00:09:14
Speaker
I could not agree with you more, especially on Riley Abercrombie, because the team he's doing it in. He's not just putting up big numbers, but he's actually turning into a leader of the team. Don't know if that's what the voters will
00:09:28
Speaker
look at, that's definitely something I'd take into account if I was voting for Young Player of the Year. I mean, not by any stretch, saying it's easy for a player, say it's COE or something, but to actually step up as one of the two or three best players in the team that is struggling at the bottom of the ladder, just great work by Riley.
00:09:50
Speaker
And he's got a couple of people tweeting about him trying to get the attention of some NBL clubs to have a look at this kid. So he's obviously making a good impression everywhere.
Canberra Gunners' Championship Prospects
00:09:59
Speaker
But how about those Gunners? They know how to close out a game. They certainly do. Those are the kind of wins that get you your top two spot, get you championships in the end. They came back from down against Inner West and just managed to eke it out against Comets as well. And those are not easy opponents.
00:10:17
Speaker
Definitely not, no. It's going to ramp up in the back end of the season now in that men's competition. As you mentioned, two teams locked at eighth position, so we're probably going to keep a close eye on that. Reflecting back on last year's three-way tie again, we might see ourselves in another situation like that.
00:10:36
Speaker
Yes, I will say though, that those eight are starting to, or those nine are starting to separate themselves, which is bad news for the rest of the table when you've got two teams tied for eight, two wins ahead of everyone else. So you basically, you've got to keep winning and maybe hope that two teams slip away. It's like we said, we've said in the previous episode, just keep winning. It's just that easy. That's right. Yeah, just keep winning. How hard can it be? How hard can it be? Cam, we're doing it.
00:11:04
Speaker
Both Canberra teams were doing it this weekend.
Canberra Nationals' Win
00:11:06
Speaker
They were. The Gunners we just spoke about and I'll get stuck into the women's results where we see the Canberra Nationals also winning this weekend. But at the top it was the Basketball Australia COE hosting the Central Coast Crusaders. Crusaders getting the split, winning this one 66-88 on the road. So really solid win after they lost to COE at home by six points earlier in the season.
00:11:31
Speaker
Crusaders had five of their main performers in double digits including Christina Moore who had 18 points, three rebounds and two assists and for COE Jade Crook with a double-double with 18 and 12. And then Manly and North's the big match-up of the round, the big rivalry of MBL won East and North's just snatching this one in an away game
00:11:58
Speaker
beating Manly Waringa Segal 68 to 52. They're really stamping their authority and led by Matty O'Hare from Norse who had 20 points and four rebounds and for Manly it was Bree Delaney who was best on the day with 13 points and four rebounds.
00:12:17
Speaker
And how about those Hornsby Keringa spiders? Hey, they got a win at home against the Hills Horn.
Jessie Mae Hall's Stellar Performance
00:12:23
Speaker
It's 91 to 81 in a very high scoring affair for both of these teams. Leading the way is the best guard in Australia for her age group. It's Jessie Mae Hall with 33 points, four rebounds, three assists and 11 steals. So she got a double double with steals this week. She was supported by Kira Hudson who had 22 points.
00:12:47
Speaker
and for Hills Hornets they had Meg Jefferson with 21-8 and Emma Carey with 20
Sydney Comets' Victory
00:12:54
Speaker
points and 13 rebounds. Illawarra stayed at home and hosted Bankstown in a very close game and Illawarra getting this one 74-69 so something was in the air down in the snake pit with both Illawarra teams beating the Bruins in round eight.
00:13:10
Speaker
For Illawarra, Elladent shined with 33 points, seven rebounds and three assists. And for Bankstown, it was Brittany Wright who led the way with 23 and nine.
00:13:22
Speaker
Maitland Mustangs are back at home against the Sydney Comets and they lost 55 to 71. Shakira Riley had 16 and 10 for Maitland and for Sydney we saw the return of Shyla Hill and she was supported by Davida Dale who had 12 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists and 9 steals. So almost a quadruple double.
Newcastle Falcons' Win
00:13:47
Speaker
Sutherland were in the shark tank against the Newcastle Falcons and Sutherland going down by 10 points 83 to 93. Isla Juffman's was big for the Newcastle Falcons with 25 points and 14 rebounds. And for Sutherland sharks, Vanessa Penussis just three rebounds shy of a triple double with 18 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists.
00:14:14
Speaker
Aubrey Wodonga were back in the hideout against the Penrith Panthers and they won 99-76.
Aubrey Wodonga Bandits' Dominance
00:14:21
Speaker
With 5 players from the Aubrey Wodonga Bandits getting into double digits and for Penrith it was Talia Tupai with 30 points and 4 rebounds.
00:14:34
Speaker
Inner West Bulls were back at home against the Canberra Nationals and the Nationals getting a must-needed win beating the Inner West Bulls 51-98.
00:14:45
Speaker
Inner West Bulls had three players in double figures and led by Tyler Mundine who had 15 points and eight rebounds and two assists. And for Canberra, it was Kelly Bourne who had a double double with 19 points, 10 rebounds. And she also added four assists and four steals. The COE played their second game of the round against Illawarra Hawks also at home, winning that one 75 to 56.
Central Coast Crusaders' Win
00:15:13
Speaker
Georgia Andorff for Illawarra Hawks had a double-double with 19 and 12. And for the COE, Monique Babongi had 25 points and 13 rebounds with four assists and three steals. And I learned on the weekend that the basketball jeans run deep in that family as her little sister, Cheyenne, plays for the Mackay Meteorets in NBA one. And I didn't know she was only 15. Okay. I knew she existed and I knew she was good, but I didn't know she was 15.
00:15:43
Speaker
15 according to John Guana on the call and he he would be right. He's the king of the north 15 and she's a starting guard for nbl1 north and holding her own so uh I Wouldn't be surprised if she's at the coe in a couple of years then we'll back at bankstown where they hosted the central coast crusaders and they just let this one slip losing at 81 to 87 and
00:16:07
Speaker
Geehueham Park for Bankstown was huge with 25 points, seven rebounds for assists and two steals for the Bankstown Bruins. And for Central Coast Crusaders, again, getting their starting five all in double figures, including Michaela Dompkins, 24 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists, so almost a triple double. And thank goodness the girl finally got a highlight reel on the MBL1 socials.
00:16:35
Speaker
Then we were back in Newcastle where the Falcons hosted North's.
North's Bears Win
00:16:39
Speaker
It's a big weekend for North's having manly a Newcastle in a double header, but North's capitalized winning that one 82 to 78. For Newcastle, Isla Juffmans with another double double with 15 and 11. And for the North's Bears, Emily Simons led all scorers with 18 points and seven rebounds.
00:17:02
Speaker
the
Canberra Nationals' Close Win
00:17:03
Speaker
final game for the round Sydney Comets were back at home against the Canberra Nationals and the Canberra Nationals let the good times roll getting another win on the road winning that one 81 to 75. For the Comets, Davida Dale backed up with another double double
00:17:19
Speaker
with 20 points and 10 rebounds. And Shyla Hill had 20 points with Janine Camp with 16 and 16, but still not good enough to get over the Canberra Nationals with Jasmine Butsos leading the way with 19 points and three rebounds. And she was well supported again by Kelly Bourne who had 18, five and five.
Aubrey Wodonga Bandits Lead Standings
00:17:43
Speaker
So we head to the ladder for the MBL one East women after round eight,
00:17:49
Speaker
And Aubrey Wodonga Bandits are sitting firmly in first place with 12 wins and no losses. They are one of four teams in the entire NBL1 competition who are still undefeated in the league. The others include the Rockingham Flame women's team, the Northside Wizards women's team in the North, and the Mackay Meteors men's team in the North as well, all undefeated.
00:18:17
Speaker
which is pretty huge given we're halfway through the season. Second place is Norse Bears with 11 and 1. Third place is Manly Waringa Seagulls with 8 and 1 but they haven't played, they've only played nine games compared to Aubrey and Norse who have played 12. Newcastle Falcons are now in force with 10 and 2.
00:18:39
Speaker
Central Coast Crusaders are in fifth with eight and three. Illawarra Hawks have soared to sixth place with six and six, but Centre of Excellence are also sitting in seventh place on six and six with the Hawks getting the advantage based on percentages. Then we've got a tie here for eighth place between the Sydney Comets and the Canberra Nationals who are each on a five and seven and have dead equal percentage at 95.40.
00:19:09
Speaker
How often does that happen? It is. I had to, yeah, I had to go and look to see if it was split or percentage because it came down to literally three decimal places. Crazy, but it is only halfway, so plenty of time where I'm sure the latter is going to shuffle once again. But I mean, Aubrey, if they haven't already, they're one win away from qualifying for finals. Yeah, they've got a double header this weekend and, uh,
00:19:38
Speaker
Just looking at, I mean, they could go to 14 and 0. There's only four other teams in the comp that can even, could even better that. Because at that stage, their max losses would be six. And one of the teams they play in round nine, part of that double header is the Crusaders. And they will be without Lauren Jackson, because she's just touched down in China for Opal's tour. And I'm not sure if all of the Crusaders will be there either.
00:20:06
Speaker
So both teams I think are going to be missing some very important pieces. Oh, squint with the scoop. Scoop. Good for something. And then the bandits also play manly in that same double header. So that's a, that's a big trip away. It's a tough weekend, but if they get two wins, they
00:20:27
Speaker
If they get two wins and go to 14-0 and manly have two losses, you can pretty much say that Norse are the only one that could topple them. Because I can't see all Riverdonger losing two games if they are sitting at 14-0. I can't see them losing two games sitting at 12-0 to be honest. And when we were talking about Youth Player of the Year with O'Reilly Abercrombie, for me in the women's competition it's probably tied at the moment between Monique Babongi and Jesse May Hall.
Youth Player of the Year Contenders
00:20:54
Speaker
pretty much feel the same. I think Linneke has been, she's just been on a tear lately. So you just write 25 and something in the box score for her before the games even started, it feels like. You'll be on the money. And I'm Jesse May. Jesse May, like I said, with Riley Abercrombie, just emerging as a leader in that team. But Jesse May, the whole family, because her cousin Steve had a big game for the men's team as well. Whole family can ball. It's a game of genetics between the Halls and the Babongis. And I think
00:21:23
Speaker
Jesse May and Steve's grandfather was a rugby league player back in the day. I think you're right actually, yeah. I think athleticism and sporting talent runs
00:21:33
Speaker
deep in the family. Yes, actually, he has a trophy named after him for under 17s rugby league. So yes. Wow. Well stick to basketball for now, please, Jesse Mae. To change it up this week, we're going to review one game from round eight and really kind of sink our teeth into it. And how could we not go past the manly Waringa Seagal men versus the North Spares? And it looked like a heartbreaker, depending on who you were barracking for.
00:22:00
Speaker
Nonetheless, I'm sure there were plenty of calls to triple zero for heart problems. You could break down the last 10 seconds for half an hour of that game.
Manly Waringa's Last-Second Win
00:22:10
Speaker
Take me through it. I think we'll get to the last 10 seconds later because the game did start with the first quarter, not the fourth. Recapping
00:22:21
Speaker
what the actual result was. It did see Manly winning 83, 82 on the back of some last second free throws from Mason Bragg. But it was close throughout, wasn't it?
00:22:36
Speaker
Norse got out a little bit in the second quarter, but I found in the first quarter that really right at the start, I mean, great to see Mike Jung and Brendan Reimer both back on the court for Norse in recent weeks. And I thought Mike had a really good game. But it felt like in the really early stages, especially for a rivalry game, teams were settling for shots a little bit in a really early pace.
00:23:00
Speaker
Um, where I thought they'd come out really aggressive and you know, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth kind of thing. It's, it did seem a little bit like they were settling for shots, but I think, um, I think manly stepped up the aggression more early. There's their big, their big story of Eldridge Harper and Bragg.
00:23:19
Speaker
started getting into it quicker than North's. We know Mason Bragg, he's got all the tricks in his bag to get to the basket, but it wasn't always like that. Matt Eldridge, I like how he's always, he's always got his eye on the pass. If he backs someone down and it's not there, you know, if you've got, you know, a human fridge in Cooper Wilkes or Nate Musters or Lewis Holley there and you're trying to back them down, you know, you're not going to move them out of the way. He's always open for a pass.
00:23:50
Speaker
sometimes to a fault. And I don't know if you noticed this, but after he threw one pass and it went straight over Jonas Harper's head, Tim Hill was literally doing this on the sideline in the first quarter. He's like, Matt, just shoot it, shoot it.
Matt Eldridge's Shooting Strategy
00:24:02
Speaker
And, but to be fair, if you look at his shot chart, he started shooting and I think only two of his, two of his shots for the entire game were actually in the paint. But yeah, that was really unusual for him because his bread and butter is usually under the basket.
00:24:17
Speaker
He was happy to shoot it and had success shooting it from the perimeter and from the mid range and just off the block. Yeah. And if you look at his shot chart, um, some of the threes that he made is literally like the spots where you go and practice your three point shooting when you're at shooting practice. Like top wing corner kind of thing.
00:24:36
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. That's where you practice your shooting from. I actually found a lot of a few guys were a little too happy to pass except for mandrel worthy. And I don't mean this in a selfish way. I mean this enough. He picked the perfect time to put the ball in the hole, go to the rack or just shoot a midi. And that's why he was racking up points early and continue to as I mentioned earlier, 25 in the first two quarters.
00:25:02
Speaker
Yes, so 2319 manly after a quarter and the note I wrote about Worthy was in the back half of the first quarter. He carried that on into the second. Mason Bragg responded in kind, got a lot more aggressive driving to the basket. Worthy just too good. Honestly, I mean, I don't want to make it all based on mandrel Worthy, but
00:25:23
Speaker
He really did take over the game in the second quarter and got Norse up to a 47-42 advantage with those points. There was times he just handed his face. I don't care. I'm shooting over you. Buried it. Getting to the rack, shooting midranges, just doing bits of everything, really. I mentioned Brad got to the basket well. Doesn't mind a drive and kick or even one of those round the corner passes.
00:25:51
Speaker
What I noticed also is that Zach Kimball got some good minutes. Really had a good effect. That's manly player coming off the bench. Interesting to get your perspective on manly, especially, and this carried over the third quarter a bit, but how high they were picking up the ball handler person to person to fit who was picking up the ball handler rather than just putting someone on the ball handler was who was picking him up.
00:26:16
Speaker
which I found interesting that they would guard the same person a little bit, different amounts of pressure depending on who was guarding it, rather than just throw someone on a particular ball handler. I didn't, yeah, I didn't really pay, I didn't really notice until you mentioned it actually, that is a bit of an interesting point. It could just be the way players like to defend, pick him up high and then drop kind of thing.
00:26:38
Speaker
Something I noticed a little bit. Don't know if it really had much effect, but I mean, Norse are out to a nine, I think a nine point lead at one point in the first half, the R.
00:26:49
Speaker
the analysis tab may tell me different, but that's what I had written down. Manly got back into it back within five at halftime. Yeah, so North get out to a 10 point lead and then, yeah, so that was with just two minutes left, but they let Manly score the plus five points of the second quarter. Nate Musters missed a couple of free throws.
00:27:12
Speaker
which wasn't you know didn't help proceedings but yeah mason bragg kind of just managed to get his team back into the into proceedings because at that stage a 10-point lead it didn't feel like a game where anyone deserved a 10-point lead and i feel those are the kinds of games where it's really hard to bring back a 10-point lead um
00:27:37
Speaker
So North's just allowing Manly to get back in there, just to turn overlaid a couple of missed shots. Lewis Holley had a shot right at the end, didn't go. I don't think Manly would have had too many qualms about anything at halftime, except mainly mandrel
Manly Waringa's Defensive Adjustments
00:27:53
Speaker
worthy. And what I wrote down was when one guy has 25 points at the half, the opposition then have 10 minutes to plan how they're going to stop him. So someone else,
00:28:05
Speaker
had better put up big numbers if he doesn't. And Mandrel only had six points in the second half. Straight up, Adosho was the first player of the second half. It was very early double team immediately on Mandrel Worthy, which they hadn't done a lot of in the first half, if at all. Pretty much they forced, I mean Worthy, they brought Worthy off. So there were some times where Rymer Jung, Rymer Jung and Worthy were on court,
00:28:34
Speaker
a lot of time also where it was Rymer and Jung. And Mikey was good.
00:28:38
Speaker
Mikey, I enjoy watching Mikey. I mean, we all know he's quick, he can be aggressive, gets the ball up court. He likes to use his speed. I mean, finished with 16 points, shot it from inside and outside. Yeah, 25 and then shutting Worthy down to six, I thought was really big from merely Waringa. And Jonas Harper, his list of defensive accolades at college is as long as you're on. When you can double on a player that's doing really well and you put Jonas Harper on him,
00:29:06
Speaker
It's just a luxury that Tim Hill has and he's a smart enough coach to take advantage of the opportunity.
Norse's Small Lineup Strategy
00:29:11
Speaker
Yeah, he definitely filled his roster with the right personnel because, you know, Jonas isn't having the best game offensively. You can always rely on him to bring some good defense. But I was also impressed that, you know, typically you see
00:29:26
Speaker
games where someone will have a huge half, a 25-point half. And then you would expect, especially at this level, that that has to be limited somehow in the second half. But you'd be surprised how often that doesn't happen. And sometimes you have to, the changes that you want to implement can only come in the second half when you want to shut down that 25-point player. Because sometimes if you throw too many changes, you're like, oh, look, Mandrel Worthy, he's really hot.
00:29:54
Speaker
We gotta shut him down straight away. Sometimes if you try and make too many changes, then it just confuses everyone and can be more of a hindrance. So I think it was smart just to let him have his 25 in the first, but please, now it's halftime and we can have a good chat about it. Please make sure he doesn't get another 25.
00:30:12
Speaker
Yeah, it's very hard to explain a whole new defensive game plan in a two-minute quarter break or a one-minute timeout. It's not gonna happen. I can't remember which coach it was. It was somebody really famous who said, just make sure in a timeout your first point is great and your last point is great because most of the time the players don't even hear what's in the middle. Because they'll be listening right at the start when they sit down and they'll be listening right at the end and they'll be lucky to get the message of the middle.
00:30:40
Speaker
And then you always reiterate the first point again. I mentioned earlier Eldridge, great score. And that was where he really started to hit some shots away from the basket. Well, that's when I noticed it more than anything. I have a lot of mainly based notes here. And I think that's because Bragg, Eldridge and Harper just took over the game so well.
00:31:00
Speaker
Which they always do, they are such, such a focal point. Can I keep using that phrase? Just in my lexicon, I'm sorry. They're just such focal points that you can really notice them. And the fact that Harper and Bragg played the full 40 minutes means they were pretty much impossible not to notice. Talking about big minutes, I feel like Worthy sat for a little bit, but not very much. He ended up playing 37 minutes.
00:31:28
Speaker
did mandrill worthy and mike young played 38 friend and rhyme are still still on the comeback trail really i'm sure he's you know showed glimpses of
00:31:36
Speaker
how good he can be, but I'm still trying to get his legs under him. Get to the rack a few times, and I think just having Mikey back there is just such, you know, it's gonna be so great for the win. All three of those guys are fully, fully healthy, fully fit, fully going. They ran with the three guard set at times, so there was times out there when they ran with Reimer, Jung, Worthy, and I think this might have been in the fourth, but it might happen in the third as well, Robbie Moore and Lewis Holley.
00:32:04
Speaker
That's a real small liner to go yet, to go with, which I found really, really interesting. One time I didn't last her too long. They brought him, they brought him Batalasi. So that would have moved him to the four. I just found that really, really interesting that they ran with that liner. Even then, Batalasi is a small four and Holly is a small five. Exactly. Yeah. And you can go without one of two ways. I mean, Eldridge.
00:32:33
Speaker
Eldridge is doing so well from outside, but he still defends the paint so well. It's not like a player would say, oh, they've got this big who can't bang. Well, no, they've just got this big who defends the paint like a madman, but can go outside when he needs to. So you can't just go and throw Nate Masters and Cooper Wilkes in there and go, okay, we're just going to hammer them. Through three quarters, Manly did retake the lead 61-58, but
00:33:00
Speaker
Then start the fourth quarter, they kind of deviated from type. Harper, Eldridge, all scoring well. And then we go into a Mitch Evans post-op turnaround jumper. And I just wrote down, nah fam, mid-range Mitch. Loves the mid-range, can't hit them, but I just don't think, you know, in that situation, shooting over, well, any of the big, blanky Norse bigs is really the go. Once they got that out of their system, they looked all right again. Mason Bragg started to facilitate a bit more.
00:33:31
Speaker
Jonas Harper knocked down some shots to open the fourth quarter. I mean, Bragg finished with 11 assists because he's Mason Bragg and he always finishes with 11 assists. He really got Jonas Harper open on a couple of shots. Manly having a bit of trouble guarding Mikey Jung. They threw Zach Kimball on him for a little bit.
00:33:49
Speaker
I think Mikey had a pretty good fourth
Mason Bragg's Pivotal Free Throws
00:33:52
Speaker
quarter. I mean, it remained close throughout. The lead went back and forth. I think the only thing that, not sure how many actual lead changes there were, but it must have been up there with the Indy 500 that I watched this morning, the number of lead changes there were. Trust me, there were a lot of lead changes in the Indy 500 this morning. We got to 8079 and holy, it was 8079 Norse in the dying minutes.
00:34:18
Speaker
Lewis Holy got an o-board, but then merely were able to tie him up and win possession on the held ball, so the possession arrow. I just think if they just, I mean, it was a scrap for the ball on the floor, but I just think if they, I mean, that would have given Norris a chance to go up 82 or 83, 79.
00:34:41
Speaker
instead mainly for able to, I think go one of two at the line to tie it up at that stage. Yeah, so Harper managed to draw a foul on Battle Lassie, but he went one of two at the line and tied it up. But then after scoring a grand total of four points for the second half after scoring 25 in the first half, who comes up with the shot to put North up 82-80?
00:35:11
Speaker
it's that man Mandrel Worthy. Sometimes, I mean, sometimes good players, great players step up. When you need them, I know we'll get to what happened in the, I know Manly and North and anyone who watched this will get to what happened in the dying seconds, but you know, they needed a basket and Mandrel went out and got it. And you know, fair play to him. Manly did a great job stopping him, but he went out and got the basket.
00:35:39
Speaker
Nene North at the other end doing everything they can to get the ball out of Mason Bragg's hands. I don't know if you noticed that they were just straight on him, double tanked straight away when he had the ball. Then things got really interesting after Mandrel Worthy's 82 basket of 82-80 because Bragg managed to get to the cup and
00:36:05
Speaker
On first look, it looked like Worthy absolutely eviscerated him with a block. Lewis Holy bumped him at the same time and was called for the foul. I mean, you can't blame Holy for going up in that situation because if Worthy doesn't get the block, Holy probably gets the block himself. But just the contact
00:36:25
Speaker
Bragg goes one of two at the wine and then, Norse call the timeout of course, and then Harper picks off Holy's pass. I mean there was still 30 odd seconds left so he barely didn't need to steal. Harper gets the steal, run the play, and then
00:36:43
Speaker
Harper has a three-point shot, it misses, and there's a jump around for the rebound that takes the clock all the way down to, it says one second on the play-by-play, the times didn't exactly marry up with the clock, and you can't actually see the scoreboard. It's behind the backboard at Maryland. And the tipped rebound, it goes out of bounds off Mandrel Worthy, and allows Maryland a timeout to draw something up. I mean, you think in the NBA,
00:37:12
Speaker
They get that steal, they bring it up, they call it life ball timeout. Don't have that luxury in fever ball. And then somehow a tipped rebound goes their way with a second to play and they managed to draw something up and the camera didn't quite reach the corner. I don't know if you noticed that. The camera didn't right reach the corners. I couldn't see exactly where Mason Bragg was set up for the play, but he was in the corner to get the ball.
00:37:37
Speaker
So I imagine he was somewhere close to there in the first place and he gets the ball and just puts up a corner three. And for a man who did so well in the first half of the game, heartbreaker for worthy to commit the foul and three pointer. Do you think, do you think the shot was going? Oh, it looked pretty good off the hand. It looks pretty good.
00:37:59
Speaker
It wasn't like one of those falling out of bounds where it's fading away and never going to make it. It had to be a contest. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I could kind of trust Mason Bragg's abilities. Hold on, let me just, I'm just going to pull it up again so I can replay it. I certainly think it needed the contest. I don't know. That's tough. That's tough. I don't reckon it would have gone in, actually, on second review.
00:38:25
Speaker
That's the thing. It's tough to, it's tough to tell about what we're doing because we're, yeah, we're, yeah, great contest to get it. Yeah, where they got a good piece of it. But like you said, it was a very quick catch and release. Mason having to catch it on his side, then having to turn and release from the corner. I mean, that's a Kawhi Leonard
00:38:50
Speaker
Oh, we love it. We need random guy in a suit down on the corner. Jordan Lloyd. Yeah, it's really tough to say if that was going in or not because Mandrill got such a big piece of it. That was my thought. Yeah, that can't be grudged into the contest. He got such a good piece of it. Mason put the pressure on himself though. Because he needed two out of three to take the lead and he missed the second.
00:39:16
Speaker
And that changed the situation. If you get make-make there, you can intentionally miss and pretty much prevent Norse from taking the time out to advance the ball. And they pretty much got a launch with 0.8 on the clock. But he had to make the second and Norse were able to call the time out, inbound and Eldridge just stuck his hand out and broke it up. That was game after Eldridge is still. But I think it was so fitting that for Norse,
00:39:45
Speaker
Worthy had that go-ahead basket and then for Manly, Harper with the steal, Eldridge with the rebound contest and Mason Bragg with the free throws. You know, all the players who were huge in the game were all instrumental in what was an absolutely cracking finish. Yeah, that's what I kind of liked about this game too in a sense where like that's when you can tell some real really talented players is that they're able to start
00:40:12
Speaker
a tough game really well and they're able to maintain it throughout the whole trials and tribulations and gauntlet of a close game that they're able to be the the people that stick around to perform very well to the end because it doesn't always happen like that like we mentioned you know you have your half times you have your new game plans you're able to
00:40:34
Speaker
Shut down your mandrill worthy type 25 point quarters from people, but yeah when you've got the big three of manly warring her in Papa Eldridge and brag Being that consistent that's really impressive Really is and we got to see the IRS in use the instant of the instant replay system I don't know if it's the first time in a I don't think it would be because I think it would have been used on
00:41:00
Speaker
Maybe on the Brittany Wright tip-in, that happened pretty close to the end of the game against the tip-in into the own basket against Hornsby. Sorry to bring that up, but maybe there, but it's definitely the first time I've seen it in a game I've like, recapped.
Instant Replay in Close Games
00:41:17
Speaker
I'm glad that it was there for them to use because it's not something that you would want to be second guessing yourself with. Especially for a situation like this. I mean, it's just great that it exists now because you think last season Comet's Maitland game where Sid Hunter had what was called a buzzer beater tip in and people were taking screenshots of the stream saying the game was over. And they're just like, well, if we had instant replay, we could have watched this, but we don't yet.
00:41:47
Speaker
what sucks about leagues that have great streaming and like MBL1 before this season don't have instant replays that anyone can cut a screenshot of the livestream showing something happening that you can't go back and review it using that very same video in real time.
00:42:01
Speaker
If someone can go and screenshot it, surely we have technology to do one better and have an instant replay. Gosh, these two teams certainly didn't disappoint this game. I really liked how it did have the ebbs and flows of a, it was pretty much a game that we were hoping for. It was a close contest. It was high intensity and had the ebbs and flows of people performing really well and then having to battle their way through and coming up.
00:42:29
Speaker
when the team needed the most so it had that real classic narrative of a tight game and a close contest that you kind of wanted. You still always feel bad for the team that lost though. Especially in a rivalry game. On the road you gotta cop that and lose in that way. That's just tough. Yeah, at least they will meet each other again though later in the season I think. Is that right?
00:42:53
Speaker
Yes. Final round of the season, Friday night, July 12th. All the rivalries for Norse. They've got Maley Waringer on the Friday night and then Hills on the Saturday afternoon. So a Spritbridge Stouch and then the Life Members Cup. Final round of the season. Amazing. Amazing. You might have to have some people from Norse for an episode around, around round 14.
00:43:16
Speaker
Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Foreshadowing. And looking at the statistics of this game, you know, the big three we mentioned from Manly, all getting in 20 plus points with Harper and Bragg playing 40 minutes a piece. Eldridge with the double double of 21 and 13. Going to North, yeah, Worthy having that 31 points. Jung having 16 and five assists. But yeah, if you go statistics, you know, comparing the overall team statistics,
00:43:45
Speaker
They were locked at 36 rebounds each to assist difference with North's having 18, Manley having 16, Manley having nine steals, North having seven. So very, very close in those overall team statistics, even down to field goal percentage. Manley shot 46.27 and North shot 49.23 with Manley having two shots more at 67 field goal attempts overall.
00:44:14
Speaker
So even on the statistics, it was very, very tight. Yeah. It wasn't like one team blew the other out in one statistic and the other did something else better. It wasn't like Norse had 20 offensive rebounds, but nearly had 18 steals. Or Norse, or Norse had 20 extra field goal attempts, but couldn't shoot and merely put theirs in the basket. It was, it was even in every way, shape and form. So tight. So tight. I'm just,
00:44:43
Speaker
Even three point percentages, uh, manly were 46.3%, Norse were 40%, so both teams shooting a pretty decent clip from there. Free throws guys, come on now. Come on guys. You know, Norse had shot their free throws, if either team had shot their free throws it wouldn't be that close.
00:45:01
Speaker
But then again, they both struggled. So Manly was 8-14, was real blow, blow by blow. It was a very, very close contest statistically. Yeah. So I'm not surprised. It was a one point game really. Just one of a myriad of close games this weekend in the East, especially in the men's competition.
Upcoming MBL One East Matches Preview
00:45:20
Speaker
just turned to next week. The Battleasi battle because Norse take on Canberra at home. Manly Warringa face Maitland on the road and then Aubrey Wodonga at home. Oh, geez. Oh, so that will really test the credentials of a team that's sitting at seven and two and haven't played as many games as everyone else. Oh, it's great to be a spectator and a fan of the NBA One East. It really is. Get around it.
00:45:45
Speaker
Although if you're listening to this, I'm sure you are all well and truly around. All right. So that was our game review for round eight.
00:45:56
Speaker
Next week we will definitely be reviewing a women's, a game from the women's competition. Does any, any games in round nine in the women's competition stick out to you, Locky? Round nine women's games? Well, Sydney Commons versus Hills Hornet stands out, but that's because I'll be there calling it. The rematch of Hills Penrith in the women, like the look of that. And then Sunday afternoon, up at Northern Beach's indoor sports center, mainly Waringa Sea Eagles taking on the Aubrey Widonga Bandits.
00:46:26
Speaker
Can't really go past that. Potential grand final. I mean, there's plenty of potential grand final possibilities, but that is certainly one of them. And a quarterfinal rematch from last year. Certainly is, but a very different Aubrey Wodonga. Not a very different Aubrey Wodonga, but the players they've added from that roster, very, very good. Some of those a mash up of their last two rosters.
00:46:49
Speaker
Correct, I was going to say it's the all-star lineup of their rosters from the last two years, now that they've added unique. Yeah, I think that would definitely be the one to watch as well. So let's roll into the next segment, which is news and gossip. I've got a tiny little bit of news, but not a lot. I'm sure that you've probably got a little bit more lucky. I think we've already, like we found some new players returning,
00:47:16
Speaker
coming into the league, but we already mentioned those in Shylah Hill coming back.
00:47:21
Speaker
Jihyun Park. We should hopefully see Lauren Nicholson in for the Sharks soon, hopefully. Selfishly I say that, but I think all fans of the league would like to see play of her caliber. What's your news, Squint? Oh, it's small, but still important news. The 2024 Sapphires squad was announced in the last week, and this is the team that will compete at the FIBA Under-17 World Cup in Mexico in July.
2024 Sapphires Squad Announcement
00:47:51
Speaker
So, um, a couple of NBL one East representatives in this team. Uh, one being Jessie May Hall, who we mentioned earlier for the Hornsby Keringai spiders. Uh, the other being Ruby Perkins. So despite still being a junior, she's had to step up and play for North in NBL one East for a couple of games while they battled through illness and injury.
00:48:14
Speaker
So big congratulations to those two, again, two of the best guards of their age group in the country. In this squad is also a lot of the COE members, but also in this squad, not necessarily, I think actually, maybe perhaps made some appearances in MBL one East or at least in the squad, but Erica Finney from North Bears. I think she also had to fill in a couple games. She made the World Cup squad. Zoe Jackson also from North.
00:48:44
Speaker
Uh, she has also made the world cup squad as Zara Russell, who's actually from the ACT. So that's some of our MBL one East representatives, uh, home and grown, but then also making up the roster is a lot of COE athletes, um, including the likes of. Sienna Lemon and Zatea Fagan and Amelia Daikic, all making up the squad and former COE athlete Lara Somfi, who made a
00:49:13
Speaker
very quick, but impressive impact on NBA One East last season, who now goes to IMG Academy. And last but not least, Jade Crook has made the squad as well, just coming off a double double in the weekend. So congratulations to them for making the squad and they will be coached by Tom Garlett from, from North's as well.
Under-18 Asia Cup Team
00:49:35
Speaker
Speaking of this, did we ever mention the under 18 Asia Cup women's team that was released a couple of weeks ago?
00:49:43
Speaker
Oh, I don't think we did actually, but we can. Because that's full of COE and New South Wales talent as well, because, uh, from New South Wales, there's Opal Bird, Jade Crook, Saffron Shields, and then obviously, and then Zara Russell again, making that under 18's Asia Cup team. So she'll, these players have a very busy queue, few weeks and few months playing.
00:50:10
Speaker
for the national team, but that under rating women's team also from Sirui, Monique Babongi, Amelia Dukic, Bonnie Diaz, Monique Williams, Sienna Harvey, and that's rounded out by Lara Stomphai, and then Queensland pairing Hilary Fuller.
00:50:27
Speaker
Have you met Hillary yet? It's going up in North. I haven't officially met Hillary just yet, but I gave her a shout out on the call on Saturday night when I called for Brisbane Capitals for making this team. Um, but haven't met them just yet. And another Queenslander into, uh, Tiana Bond is currently playing NBL one North for the Cairns dolphins. Her and her sister just dominating. Um, again, more, more junior females up here.
00:50:56
Speaker
who are 15, 16, 17, and you would never pick it by the way that they play up here. It's really impressive.
Regional Players' Early Experience
00:51:03
Speaker
Oh, that's the thing we talk about so much with players in regional centers. They get the chance early because, you know, they're young, but they go up against, you know, senior players very young because there's just not as many players to go around. I mean, they call it the Wagga Effect, particularly in cricket, but in rugby league and other sports as well, because you can be playing, especially in cricket, you're playing first grade when you're 13.
00:51:26
Speaker
going up against fully grown adults at a very young age and you learn quick. Now, more importantly, we're getting into our most new-ish segment, which is Jersey of the Week. I like the look of the one you've got in the background, Locky. Share with our audience what you've got this week. I certainly would. So this is actually a holdover from last week because when we chatted with Phil DePuge,
00:51:51
Speaker
He mentioned Cortez Groves and how he's still doing work down in the old war, being in the old war. If you don't know Cortez Groves, either you...
00:52:00
Speaker
weren't watching NBL back in the day or you're too young to watch NBL back in the day. You can look him up. Um, so he played for the Wollongong Hawks they were back then. I originally got this out because it is a Beck Dalinger number 14, Kansas state Jersey. And when we did the previous episode, she just graduated from college. So I did that as put that up for as kind of a shout out to all the college players, but Cortez also went to Kansas state. So a couple of people,
00:52:29
Speaker
the new, you know, the older generation and the new generation of New South Wales basketball represented by Kansas State. So there we go. So that's my Beck Dallinger K-State jersey, which arrived in the mail one day after I left for the States.
Locky's Kansas State Jersey Story
00:52:48
Speaker
So I couldn't wear it to the K-State Iowa game. That hurts. That hurts a lot.
00:52:53
Speaker
But Beck brought me a K-State t-shirt to wear, so it was awesome. Oh, okay. That's good. Alicia had a very reliable backup. You went to all the effort to buy the perfect jersey for the game and the post system failed you. It did. Awesome. Yeah. So if you can, and if you're willing to, please post a picture of that jersey on the Eastcott Game Instagram. I 100% will.
00:53:20
Speaker
And before we get into our athlete interview this week, which by the way is going to be epic and certainly one for a lot of different types of basketball fans that might listen to our podcast.
Choosing the All-Star Five
00:53:33
Speaker
We have got to finish off with the All-Star Five for around eight. And it was another struggle of a week to pick just five players.
00:53:43
Speaker
Really really was I mean you think how many great performances we mentioned during the round recap You can only pick five players so right now like Hayden blankly had two big games for Bankstown I can't believe I had to leave out my guys Brian Williams from Sutherland and Andre Walford from Bankstown Particularly shout out Andre because we didn't record last week and he hit eight of nine stories So I just want to shout him out because he did probably you didn't get his due last week when I'm sure he would have been in the all-star fight
00:54:11
Speaker
that like Kevin Blalock was close. Alex Higgins, teacher 18 and 15 and that loss to Canberra. Robbie Heath had a 30 point game that fell to a loss. Multitude of other players, but all mentioned during the round recap. But I'll kick mine off starting with the kids. James O'Donnell from COE, two big double doubles, 15 points, 14 rebounds and three steals.
00:54:38
Speaker
in the 96-89 win over Central Coast and then follow that up with 24 points, 12 rebounds and another assist just for good measure in that big 115-76 win over Illawarra. So the University of San Francisco commit in good form before he goes over. I think you mean that's a double, double, double, double. It is the double, double, double, double.
00:55:00
Speaker
On the subject of young players and men we've already mentioned today, Riley Abercrombie, 29 points, five rebounds, three assists and a steal leading his Hawks to a 1979 win over Bankstown and then a valiant effort against COE, 20 points, two rebounds and another assists in that 115-76 loss. And we move to two players from our game of the week,
00:55:23
Speaker
Mason Bragg, 24 points, seven rebounds and 11 assists and the three throws to win it in that 83-82 win over North. And then Mandrel Worthy, a pair of 30 point games, 31 points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals, two blocks, and that narrow loss to Manly Waringa. Betty backed it up in a winning effort against Newcastle, 30 points and nine rebounds as they got up 79-71.
00:55:51
Speaker
And then the final member of the men's All-Star Five, getting his team over the line in the Penn and Hills Road Derby. It's Chris Bryant of Hills, 33 points, 11 rebounds and assists, two steals and a block against Hornsby, 89-81 winners, the Hills Hornets. And I think I need to change that Derby name. I think based on where Castle Hill Road beats Penn and Hills Road, we might go the Thompson's Corner tussle.
00:56:20
Speaker
Oh, that's very good. That is very, very good. Thompson's Corner Tussle. Have you got an active list of all of these rivalries that you're creating? Of course. I think it's, it's always in my recent files. I think including officially named, I'm up to 23. How many Central Coast ones are there?
00:56:50
Speaker
Uh, Central Coast have got two at the moment. They've got, oh, they've got the, they've got the F3 Derby, of course, against Newcastle. But then how could we forget the squint skirmish, Canberra versus Central Coast. Oh my God. I didn't know I was involved in a rivalry. That's amazing. I might have to hand, I might have to pass that baton on to Mattie Penn. The Mattie Penn melee.
00:57:16
Speaker
Oh, there you go. I'm sure she won't mind sharing that rivalry with me, given that we are both Canberra and Rebels and Central Coast people. Wow, I didn't know I had one. That's amazing. What an honour. What an honour. Yes, more pressing issues await us with the Women's All-Star Five.
00:57:36
Speaker
Yeah. And look, it was also a toughie. Um, we probably gave out a couple of shout outs during the round review as well. Um, including the likes of Isla Jaffamans who had a very big weekend statistically, but I heard that she was a little bit unwell when she played against the Sharks. Locky. Uh, it certainly did look like, yeah, she was, she was going through a few tissues.
00:57:59
Speaker
But she still had 25 and 14, so... Yeah, honestly, if I hadn't seen her before the game, I wouldn't have known. No, what an outstanding performance. And I'm glad that she's been able to find her way back to the court so quickly after that.
00:58:13
Speaker
yucky knee injury, she unfortunately suffered at under 20s earlier in the year. So it's nice to see her back and playing on home soil. So my all-star five started with Double Double Dompkins, Mikayla Dompkins from Central Coast Crusaders. She had
00:58:32
Speaker
Unfortunately, not she had a double double, but not a double, double, double, double. She had 19 points, six rebounds and six six versus COE. And then she also had 24 points.
00:58:45
Speaker
16 rebounds and 7 assists versus Bankstown Bruins and she shot at 50% and that was coupled with a lovely little highlight reel on the NBL1 socials. Then I had Jessie Mae Hall from the Hornsby Keringai Spiders with 33 points and 11 steals.
00:59:04
Speaker
including four rebounds and three assists just for good measure versus hills in a lovely 10-point win for the Hornsby Keringai Spiders. Then Ella Dent came up big against Bankstown Bruins to snatch that win on the road. Oh no, actually that was at home. She snatched that win at home. She had 33 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
00:59:27
Speaker
and then the return of Shyla Hill who against Maitland away in her first game backed into MBL1 East had 30 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists shooting at 60% overall and that absolute ankle breaker that you can find on the MBL1 socials as well.
00:59:46
Speaker
And then if it's not Lauren Jackson, it's Nicole Munger that's in the All-Star Five. I think she's still probably the one NBL, one East athlete who has had the most appearances in any All-Star Five since we've started it. So against the shark, she had 35 points and 15 rebounds. And then against North the next day, she had 31 points, four rebounds and five assists.
01:00:12
Speaker
Everyone scored 30, except for double-double-domkins. So that ends the round eight recap in every angle that you could possibly look at it. Next week, as mentioned for round nine, we'll come back with a game review from the women's competition. In the meantime, we're gonna take a break and get you prepped and ready for our interview with our athletes this week, who I imagine, Lockie, you are pretty excited to have on the show. Yeah, kinda.
01:00:42
Speaker
little bit, just a little bit. All right, we'll be back after the break. This week's guest is someone who made an immediate impact on NBL One East in their debut season in 2023.
Guest Introduction: Michaela Pivik
01:00:56
Speaker
The Oregon State alum reached 1,000 career rebounds, set Oregon State's career record for rebounds as well, and in their senior year were named in the All-Pac-12 team, the Pac-12 All-Defensive team, and were a semi-finalist in the Naismith Trophy for Defensive Player of the Year.
01:01:15
Speaker
After spending some time playing overseas, this player found their way to the MBL1 East competition in 2023, suiting up for the Aubrey Wodonga Bandits. While she is an absolute demon on the court, she is certainly one of the nicest and most down-to-earth athletes you will ever meet. This week's guest is none other than Michaela Pivik. Hello Michaela, how are you?
01:01:38
Speaker
Hello, hello. Thank you, Jacinta and Laki. Excited to be here. Go Beebs, big bee fan, RIP pack 12, but yeah, excited, excited to be here. We're very, very excited to have you as well.
Michaela's Return to Albury Wodonga
01:01:50
Speaker
Certainly someone that was high on the list to get you as a guest and equally excited when we learned that you were returning to MBO1Aced.
01:02:00
Speaker
Yeah, it was an awesome opportunity. I really enjoyed my time last year with Albury and knew the team would be really talented this season and wanted to be a part of that. And so had a great start 12-0. I'm really enjoying my teammates.
01:02:14
Speaker
This has been the first time I've returned to an overseas team. So it's nice kind of, instead of starting fresh, like, you know, people, you don't have to explain your life story in two weeks when you first get there. You just have a sense of comfortability and like easier transition. Good to hear. And coach Sammy Mack, I'm sure was rubbing his hands knowing that you were coming back and he did a very good job of keeping it a secret.
01:02:40
Speaker
You didn't know? It was, I guess, I'm trying to think of what I signed. It was in, I think February or like early March. So I'm not sure how long he kept it until you found out. But that's the timeline. Signed in like late February or March. And then came April, April 1-ish.
01:03:02
Speaker
I can't quite remember the timeline either but yeah, I don't think I think he was hinting at something for a period of time.
01:03:11
Speaker
Yeah, I think I saw something on Instagram that was kind of, yeah, hinting at it, but not, not official. That's right. That's right. I think that's how it went. He's teased us with a lot of signings and they, there's a lot, there's been a lot going on down there. And he tries to do the buildup. Yeah. I love Sammy. Um, he was one of the reasons why I wanted to come back to last year. He was an assistant, um, and just loved how encouraging and supportive he was. And, um, one thing I appreciate about his style is his collaborative nature.
Coach Sammy Mack's Style
01:03:40
Speaker
Like he,
01:03:41
Speaker
he wants to learn, he wants to listen, like what are you seeing and giving him that feedback and won't like always use it, but he wants to hear it and wants to have that input, which is really cool to have that kind of connection with the coach. Yeah, certainly. Cause sometimes it can be a little bit more militant and a bit more of a dictatorship, but I wonder if that kind of style of coaching is getting phased out a little bit too, depending where you go.
01:04:06
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I think that's definitely how in college and a lot more college systems, which is like the kids are 18 to 22 and maybe you have to be a little more stern. They're just getting away from like their parents control and like maybe they're exploring. They're trying to be a little more devious. I don't know, but maybe they need that more stern hand. But in the pros, like it's nice to have that type of supportive leader and collaborative leader to play under.
01:04:36
Speaker
Okay, and we're going to start the official run of questions and we start with the question that we like to ask all of our guests on eScott game.
Michaela's Basketball Journey
01:04:46
Speaker
So Michaela, tell us where and how your basketball journey started. Yeah, long, long time ago, 26 now. So dating myself, I first started playing soccer with a lot of girls, I think in America, a lot of
01:05:02
Speaker
parents first put their kids into soccer as their first sport just to have them like run in a little mass and get some exercise and a lot of my soccer friends also played basketball and they were like hey would you be willing to come out and play basketball for a local like boys and girls club team and I was like yeah it sounds like fun so played soccer for the first time in kindergarten and after they like nagged me each year to come out I think in fourth grade I first started playing basketball and once I
01:05:31
Speaker
first started playing it like really enjoyed it really loved it um liked using my hands more than my feet like a little more clumsy with my feet and so basketball was a nice change get the cardio get a little bit of contact it's a skill game um and just enjoyed like five people on the court versus i don't know like 10 on 9 or 10 i don't know how many 10 11 on soccer clearly not a soccer expert um but yeah there was just a lot more um
01:05:59
Speaker
interaction you'd have with the ball and like I played softball too growing up and it was a little slow for me. You'd sit there. I was catcher for a little bit which I got more action but when I was like second base you're like kicking the dirt like drawing things in the dirt waiting for the ball to come but basketball is a little more quicker and you always are more engaged with the play. So when did you realize that basketball was something you could take to a higher level?
01:06:24
Speaker
Yeah, I always enjoyed it in like middle school. You start playing in older, better competition. I think what helped me is like in sixth grade, I played up against seventh graders. So I think that helped me be confident playing against like older, better competition. And then
01:06:43
Speaker
through high school, started to be on travel teams. And then my freshman year of high school got my first college scholarship offer to a local school called Seattle U, Seattle University.
Choosing Oregon State
01:06:57
Speaker
And I think once I had that first offer, it kind of opened my mind like, oh, I can do this basketball thing past high school. And so that was kind of when my eyes opened and kind of changed my perspective of, okay, like,
01:07:10
Speaker
there's a potential for me to get my school paid for and compete like past high school. So that's kind of when my perspective changed of like doing it for fun with my friends and like obviously training hard, seeing where it's trying to be as good as I could be, but changed my perspective like, oh, now I'm training for college. Like this is preparation for the next step. And did anyone in your family play basketball, follow basketball, or did you bring basketball to your family? Were you the conduit of basketball?
01:07:40
Speaker
My dad played basketball in high school, but that was like his ceiling for basketball. My dad played soccer in college, University of Washington, and my mom ran cross country and track at University of Idaho. So they weren't like basketball inclines. My mom was horrible at basketball, but she could run. And so they were Wolf athletes, but not basketball specific.
01:08:05
Speaker
So perfect combination. So you got the skill from your dad and the the endurance from your mom because sometimes there's games where I'll watch you play and you'll play the close to the full 40 minutes. I'm like this girl doesn't look tired.
01:08:20
Speaker
I'm glad I don't look tired. Nova, I think the endurance piece helps like running around across the country and track in high school and have some decent genes for my mom. And so I think being in shape and like having that endurance background has been an advantage for me to keep going. I think like I
01:08:40
Speaker
I rebound really well, and I think one of the things that helps me when rebounding is just being relentless and going after as many rebounds as possible. Even if you pay yourself a position to get every rebound, you're not going to get every rebound. Just give yourself more chances. Maybe you go in there 15 times, but you get it four times for rebounds for your team. And so I think that relentless drive and endurance background helps there. Yeah. Ken, confirm you are very good at rebounding.
01:09:10
Speaker
I think last season you were averaging a double-double and then how many times Lockie did Michaela get a triple-double? I think more often than not. I think that's generous, yeah, I think a couple times. But you mentioned getting an early scholarship offer to Seattle U, but you ended up at
01:09:28
Speaker
This is not a slight against Seattle U, but at a much higher level going to Oregon State as I think their highest rated recruit of all time at the time. So you must have been in pretty high demand. How did you end up at Oregon State?
01:09:43
Speaker
Yeah, so I was the highest recruit at that period of time since been surpassed, which is a good good thing to have for Beaver Nation. But yeah, I came down to three schools for me, I took three official visits, you're allowed up to five, but I felt like these potential three would be
01:10:01
Speaker
the good fits and didn't want to waste anybody else's time. So I went to official visit at University of Washington, actually with a player named Destiny Slocum, who later committed to Maryland and then transferred to Oregon State with me later.
01:10:14
Speaker
But we went to our visit to University of Washington together. Mike Neighbors was the coach there. Kelsey Plum was a senior, or she was a junior, going to be a senior. So if I had committed there, my freshman year would have been her senior year. And so she was on the visit. I remember going to, being just wowed by the facilities, going to morning practice.
01:10:37
Speaker
Kelsey Plum put me and Destiny through a workout, probably maybe her second or third of the day. But I was just so cool to be a part of that. And I was a hometown Husky fan. Dad went there. And then Oregon State was one of the first Pac-12 schools. It was UW. WSU and Oregon State were the first Pac-12 schools to show a lot of interest and provide an offer. And so that really meant a lot to me in terms of their trust in me and belief in me.
01:11:07
Speaker
I was UW, Oregon State, and then my final visit was Stanford. And so like big time nerd, like love the classroom and thought that would be a great academic school. Obviously, they're very good. Basketball wise too, Hall of Fame coach. And they talked with me, but they weren't as assertive or they weren't as high on me. And so they're just kind of keeping me along until they had
01:11:37
Speaker
their three spots filled in their last spot. I think maybe someone went out and so they brought me to a visit and on my visit they offered me. And that was like, I felt, just felt something off on the visit where it didn't feel like home, didn't feel like where I was meant to be. And so later committed to Oregon State. But I was like, I just didn't feel as wanted. It's kind of the theme of
01:12:06
Speaker
great school, great academic school and just to feel as wanted there and felt like I would be very happy
School Transfers for Athletes
01:12:14
Speaker
at Oregon State based on how much the coaches got to know my family, got to know me and the proximity to like five hours from where my parents grew up so not close enough where they can just drop in on me but far enough where they have to give me a little heads up that they're coming down to watch or coming down for a weekend.
01:12:32
Speaker
And I feel like that's a story we hear about a lot of players who transfer is when they get a laid offer from a school that they're, you know, they might get a, you know, a laid offer from a Stanford or a USC or a UConn and take it. And then they think, well, maybe I should have stuck with the school that wanted me three years ago or two years ago.
01:12:54
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's, I'd say it's 2020, because sometimes you're like, oh, Stanford degree, or like, you try and tell yourself, oh, it's not that valuable. But I think about just how many friends I made at Oregon State, and how special a time it was there. And like, grass isn't always greener, you never know. And so if you were like, happy with your situation, like,
01:13:16
Speaker
We did, we, our team had a lot of success there. Um, like Pac-12 championship, um, two speed 16s, one elite eight. Um, and then senior year, like tournament canceled, like question mark there. Um, yeah, so our subject. Um, but yeah, um, I really enjoyed, really enjoyed my time there.
Oregon State Connection
01:13:35
Speaker
And so you're like, you have these what ifs, um, but like I'm happy with my choice that I'll like
01:13:40
Speaker
thought I put a lot of effort into like pros and cons list of what I needed, what I wanted out of it. And so feel good about the decision. And I think sometimes your gut really knows, like if you go to a place and you meet the people and your gut is telling you something's off, I don't think you can really ignore, ignore your gut sometimes in those situations. But I think more and more what I'm hearing as well from local athletes who are going over for visits or expressing interest in college,
01:14:09
Speaker
I think recruiters are now more conscious that you've got to get the family on board too, because it is a big commitment, especially for kids coming from Australia to college, big commitment, lots of change and far from home. If you're a parent, you want your kid to know that they're going to be looked after. Yeah.
01:14:29
Speaker
It's like their parent away from, away from home. And I didn't realize like how far Australia is from the States until that flight. I'm like, Oh my gosh, we're still going. Like, what is this? Europe seems like easy compared to that. Yeah. And we're, it's so funny cause we're, I guess for us to go anywhere, it's at least eight hours, like to go anywhere. Oh, well, except for New Zealand, which is only a couple and the islands and stuff, but even for us to go to eight, it's still eight hours.
01:14:58
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. We forget how big Australia is too, until I'm like, oh, I'm just popping over to Singapore or something. And I'm like, oh, the whole day. I didn't really tell Australia how big Australia was until I sat on the map compared to the US. Like I always think of like, this American mindset of I admit America is so big and amazing. And I like saw Australia on the map like, wow, like Australia is huge. Yeah, like the Sydney to Perth flight is the same as New York to LA.
01:15:28
Speaker
crazy. Yeah. Did you happen to watch March Madness, the most recent March Madness, where Oregon State made the Elite Eight, I think, again? Yeah. I watched them every game. I was able to go to their first two rounds in the NCAA tournament, where they played Eastern Washington and then Nebraska, with Jazz Shelley and Jess Petrie, I think, a couple Aussies on Nebraska. And so I got to watch that game in person in Corvallis.
Supporting Oregon State
01:15:58
Speaker
And then as they kept advancing, um, the drama built up and like went in Portland, had a number of events cause they had a regional too. So I went there and like watched them on TV with a lot of Beaver fans. So super cool to follow that. Um, also like 18 million views in the championship for the women and versus like 15 for the men. So like go women's sports. Um, yeah, super, super happy with Oregon state's performance is just so sad because
01:16:27
Speaker
like due to Pac-12 being no more and then women's basketball for the Biebs, they'll be in the WCC next year. So we just had like everybody transfer out, which like don't blame them because they need to do what's best for them, but also like sad as a Bieber fan. It was like out of, we were so close against South Carolina, we got into foul trouble. And if like we didn't get into foul trouble, you never know, but we have that like same team back. If everybody comes back, you're like, okay, a lead eight with this team young,
01:16:56
Speaker
next year, final four or more, that what if factor just like hurts your heart as a Beaver fan. I mean, you played at a time when, I mean, the Pac-12 is always stacked, but it was ridiculously stacked when you were there.
01:17:12
Speaker
Obviously you talked about that season where the tournament was cancelled where I think Oregon and South Carolina fans are still arguing over who would have won it. So obviously you played against players like Sabrina obviously, but who are some of the other memorable players you faced off against?
01:17:29
Speaker
Yeah, Pac-12, women's basketball, that's one of the saddest things about this whole thing of Pac-12 going away largely because of the football decision, but women's basketball, that was the place to be in 2020. Oregon would want it.
01:17:42
Speaker
They were so good. And the only solace Oregon State fans took in the cancellation of the tournament was like, at least Oregon couldn't win it. Couldn't win it that year. But they had Sato, Ruthie. They had, I think, Jazz Shelley was maybe on the teams. Obviously, Sabrina. They had a number of other really key role players as well. So they had a good depth like Mignon Moore, I think, was on the team transition from USC.
01:18:12
Speaker
trying to think, you know, baby Jess Shelley, I think was on that team as a freshman. And she had like 10 threes in the game, I think her freshman year. And so she was a huge threat. But yeah, I'm also in Pac-12, had like Lexi Holt, had Keanu Williams, Dejana Carrington,
01:18:33
Speaker
see Destiny Slocum on our team, trying to thank other W players in that.
Scrimmaging Against Team USA
01:18:39
Speaker
Aria McDonald, yeah, I'm probably missing a few here. Sorry to those I'm missing, but yeah, a lot of really good talent. But the best
01:18:47
Speaker
players we played my senior year, our Oregon State team got to scrimmage against Team USA. And so we got to get our butts whooped by Asia Molson and Dana Tarasi. I remember, Sue Bird was there, we got to play against Sue Bird. I remember Sylvia Fowls, I like drove on Sue Bird, like, okay, I'm gonna post up on Sue Bird and then like turn for like,
01:19:15
Speaker
a hook shot and didn't see Sylvia Fowles coming and got rocked. I just got it rocked. I was like, oh yeah, I could post it on suit, did not see help side. I got one of the worst blocks I've been in my career. But yeah, Sylvia Fowles.
01:19:32
Speaker
was, was, yeah, Chelsea Gray was on that team, Leisha Clarendon, who else? I don't know if Kelsey Plum was on, traveled with them on this one. Yeah, definitely Sue Diana, Asia, Sylvia Fowl, Chelsea Gray, Alicia Gray, I think was here, maybe Skylar Diggins, but a lot of, a lot of star power, for sure.
01:20:02
Speaker
Lauren Jackson, I'll have to say that one on our team, playing with her, which is a nice change up versus playing against Sylvia or DT. But LJ is not the first Aussie you've played alongside because you played alongside Jazzy Simmons at Oregon State, who's also from down in that area of the world out in Golgol, just on the New South Wales side of Mildura.
Jazzy Simmons' Transition to AFLW
01:20:24
Speaker
Do you guys know, how is she doing? I don't know, that's the women's AFL? She's in AFLW now, yeah.
01:20:31
Speaker
What team is she on? Port Adelaide, I'm pretty sure. She was at Adelaide and then she moved to Port Adelaide. Really sweet girl. Um, and so lived with her for a year in Corvallis, um, and super athletic, um, like super athletic and felt like, um, she could have got more time if it was like a different system. Like if we were in up and down running team, like running, gunning, defensive oriented, like,
01:20:59
Speaker
high speed team, like she would have thrived in that, but we were like, um, Oregon state was more of like slow down and, um, set up, set up the offense, which I just don't think maximized her potential. Um, but yeah, freak athlete and I'll have to go watch a footy game because I want to see her out there.
01:21:17
Speaker
Yeah, she still looks like super fit and yeah, still got her athleticism about her for sure. I think, like you said, in terms of the style of basketball play that suits her best, I think Aussie rules really suits her too.
01:21:34
Speaker
Yeah and she, we played, each year we'd have like a retreat where we'd go to the like coast and do a lot of like team building as well as play football against the coaches and she would always like dominate for like the long jazz. So she would always dominate that and I could see like Aussie rules her being really effective there. And I did want to bring up one other Aussie, Alana Smith.
01:21:58
Speaker
Stanford. Yeah. Back in those days, I think there were Aussies at nine different Pac-12 schools. So about everywhere you turned, there was an Aussie somewhere. There's a lot of W Aussies as well. So doing really well there. Yeah, Alana Smith. I went to my visit at Stanford. I think Alana had just got there. Like it was just going to be her freshman year, I think. And I was like watching
01:22:27
Speaker
this like 6'3 girl who could run and shoot. I'm like, who's that? Like, who's that recruit? And it was a lot of Smith, yeah. Figured that
Drafted to Atlanta Dream
01:22:36
Speaker
out later. After an electric career at Oregon State, you were selected in the WNBA draft, 25th overall in 2020 to the Atlanta Dream. Tell us about that experience with the draft, because it's not something what players get to go through.
01:22:53
Speaker
Yeah, so kind of strange year to be in the draft. So it was right after the COVID tournament had to be canceled. So we didn't have like our March Madness tournament, just drafted based upon like your career and regular season. And COVID was...
01:23:10
Speaker
it's hyped and no one knew what was going on but we still had to have a draft and so I was excited about that instead of it being like in person in New York they like had they sent boxes to your house if you're invited to the draft like these boxes of the 12 different hats that you could possibly be drafted to and then set you got to give you like a bull a little note from the commissioner and
01:23:34
Speaker
Like the TV system called you the day before and had everything set up try to make sure things weren't Malfunctioning and so I remember I was in Boise at the time Actually wasn't with my parents. I was with my sister Boise Idaho had a little bit like looser rules And so we got to do more freedom of like training and like staying ready and like being with my sister so I was there living in Boise and
01:23:59
Speaker
set up with one of my family friends that I played AAU with, the Anderson family. They had their TV and opened up a living room and had my parents on a Zoom call with me there. And so kind of a strange draft experience. Didn't know exactly where I'd go.
01:24:19
Speaker
Um, ended up being picked 25th overall first in the third round. Obviously you hope, um, in the W to be drafted as high as possible, just have a better shot at making a team. And so was a little like disappointed with, um, that, but it was time to go to hopefully training camp. Um, and then with the bubble, um, training camp was canceled. Um, so we didn't have a training camp. And so, um, at that point it was like, as a third round pick, really don't have a shot at making a team.
01:24:47
Speaker
without training camp to even have like some type of shot. And so then the dream was like, hey, you can either be suspended or cut. And I was like, well, suspended for the year sounds better than being
Post-Draft Challenges
01:25:00
Speaker
cut. And so then I was suspended, which like frustrated because a lot of the girl, like just ahead of me in the draft, a lot of people during the bubble year opted out. So there are a lot more openings than we initially thought. So there probably would have more room, but I was playing on
01:25:17
Speaker
an injured foot I'd like plantar plate tear on my left foot my senior year and so blessing in disguise was able to get surgery that summer and have that heal and take the time I needed to get that foot better and so then went to play in Spain during COVID and it was it was not good like our city was in a lockdown I couldn't go outside except for practice or the grocery store I remember being
01:25:44
Speaker
outside my apartment, there was curfew, like 7 p.m. dribbling a basketball outside and cops came and were like, what are you doing? They took down my passport number, like my ID and sent me back inside and like wrote me up. And so I came back home. I was like, I see you with friends and family and prep for next training camp. And so then I was, yeah, struggling mentally. I'm living by myself, not good. And then came back, expecting to go to dream training camp.
01:26:14
Speaker
And then they were like, um, we have no room for a training camp here for you. Even though like we were just, I was just suspended for them expecting the next year to have an opportunity, welcome to professional sports, um, the business side. And then got invite thankfully to Minnesota. Um, and so really enjoyed.
01:26:31
Speaker
the camp there was able to make it all the way till the last day like 30 minutes before the deadline then got cut which was which was sad like growing up always been a goal of mine to play in the WNBA and yet to do that have fallen short so far but yeah that's had the draft had cut 30 minutes before deadline next year I went to Spain was invited to a training camp with Connecticut Sun but
01:27:00
Speaker
Our team did so well like our playoffs went past when training camp ended so I wasn't able to come back The following year was invited to Atlanta dream training camp And like felt like shot really well in camp the good the going back to Minnesota Really enjoyed that coaches gave me really good feedback of like what I need to do better tighten up my handle as well as increase
01:27:26
Speaker
Or decrease my shot time. So my release time on my shot. And so that's something I'm trying to work on since then of just like
01:27:36
Speaker
increasing consistency from three, as well as my shot time and release time. And so, like, I was good. They were really positive, really enjoyed that experience. And then Dream Camp went in, like, felt like I worked as hard as I possibly could, perform well in camp. It just wasn't what they were looking for, which hurts. But, yeah, I felt good about everything I can control.
01:28:00
Speaker
going into that camp, what I did in camp, just wasn't, wasn't, I didn't bring the values to the table that they needed at the time, which sucks. But that's been my like W path. I know unique on our team also has some stories about, about that as well. But thankful to be here playing in Australia and excited about expansion on the horizon as well.
WNBA Expansion Hopes
01:28:28
Speaker
which will hopefully open up more opportunities for future women too. I can't believe it was 30 minutes, 30 minutes before the deadline. They delivered that blow like, oh, I think then relieving the news of getting cut is hard enough. But knowing that you were 30 minutes away from the deadline, I think that's really something in the wound.
01:28:50
Speaker
We were like going through the scout for, the team was playing Phoenix Mercury the next day, the very next day. And they were going through the scout of like Skylar Diggins, Dan, maybe it wasn't Skylar, but at least Dan Tarasi and Brittany Griner. And we're like, there's me and one of the girl and we're like talking like, are we gonna make it? Like, what do we think? Like joking, cause we have no idea. Just do your best and hope for the best. But yeah, that really hurt. But,
01:29:19
Speaker
All you can do is try to look in the mirror and see what you can do better and take that forward to the next opportunity you're given. Do they wait so long? Are they trying to trade players for whatever kind of value they can get back? And if they can't trade someone, then they just have to cut someone, really?
01:29:34
Speaker
Yeah, there's so much that goes behind the scenes that I don't even know about, but like salary caps, usually there's 12, roster limit of 12, but then salary cap sometimes due to what players you have and super maxes and whatnot, maybe there's 11, or maybe you have other people coming back from overseas. And so maybe they want you for two weeks until their main players coming back and they'll cut you at that point. Maybe they'll give you seven days injuries come. And so just like,
01:30:03
Speaker
Maybe you want to put your best foot forward to hopefully be available if someone does get hurt. There's just so many different scenarios that go behind the scenes. I'd love to be in those rooms, the WNBA GMs and hear what they're thinking, saying, planning. There's probably so much that goes into that. Is your W dream still alive though?
01:30:22
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I think when I was first in my career, like first two years draft and then getting cut by Minnesota, like I think I put all my worth as a player into making the W and like if I didn't do that, I was a failure. And so I think like since then I've had a healthier perspective of like what I want out of my career and what I'm trying to do is like
01:30:45
Speaker
The end goal, I would love to play in the W, would absolutely love to, dream of mine to, and try to do everything I can to possibly put myself in that position. If it happens, if it's in my cards, great, awesome. If not, not the end of the world, and I still can't hang my hat up saying, I have no regrets about my approach, and did everything I possibly can to do that. So I'd rather give everything I have and have no regrets than stop now, wonder what if. But there's a part of me with expansion that's hopeful,
01:31:16
Speaker
Um, and yeah, I think when I first like the decision, okay, do you stop playing? Maybe just something that's a little more lucrative or do you keep the dream alive? Um, and keep, keep grinding up, keep playing. Um, it was, you know, keep taking a day at a time. You never know when expansion would happen. Let's say if expansion happens and you had stopped, like how much you would regret wondering if you could have made it.
01:31:43
Speaker
So that's kind of my mindset is figure my peak is going to be like 20 to 32. So we have one team in 2025, so 12 to 13. Team number 14 in Toronto coming in 2026 and then supposedly up to two more teams by 2028. So you go from 12 to 16 and that's like 30, is that 33%? I'll look at Locky for the math confirmation.
01:32:13
Speaker
Yeah, it's just a lot more opportunity. And so that's kind of what I'm holding out for is like enjoying wherever I'm at overseas, continue to get better, continue to join that experience, but also have that like, that ultimate dream would still be pretty cool if it's still
Desire to Play in WNBL
01:32:28
Speaker
alive. And have you thought about using the WMBL as a potential shop window to the WNBA?
01:32:35
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yep. WMBL teams. I want to play in Australia. Yeah. So I would love to play in Australia this upcoming season. Really enjoy just the culture and being able to speak English with friends, teammates, coaches. The weather's not bad either. And so I would love to play in the WMBL. I've heard a lot of Americans say how much they've enjoyed that experience in that league. So I'd love to finish this.
01:33:03
Speaker
Hopefully, MBL won Seasonal Championship and then would love to continue to play somewhere in Australia. I heard there's eight teams. What's your guys' favorite WMBL team? Well, Squeen has a connection being a former player for one of them.
01:33:16
Speaker
Whoa, a couple of years ago. Long time ago. You think you're old, 26. I got some nears on you, Michaela. But yeah, a long time ago, I played for Canberra Caps. They weren't the UC caps, but they were, you know, say Canberra Caps a long, long time ago. So I'm always attached to them. But growing up, I used to watch the Sydney Flames a lot. I used to watch them as a kid.
01:33:41
Speaker
when I first started playing basketball. So that was like my who I looked up to. So I'm split between the two. I am not split in any way, shape or form. I am a Sydney Flames fan since 2009. When I moved back to Sydney from Mudgee, which makes Aubrey look huge, Mudgee does, I lived just up the road from Sydney Uni and WMBL Games with 10 bucks a pop. And I was a struggling uni student.
01:34:10
Speaker
This is some pretty cool Saturday afternoon entertainment. I have a terrible habit of getting way too involved in things that women's basketball was definitely one of those things.
01:34:23
Speaker
love the passion. You're like pizza or Sydney Flames game, $10. Good choice. Who do you follow in the WMBL? Last year I followed Perth because Ash Hannon was on there, one of my teammates here in Albury. It's on the bandits. And so I followed Perth a lot last year. But I'd say that'd be the team that I was following most closely.
01:34:47
Speaker
I knew like Lauren played on Southside, but I didn't talk to her as much just because she wasn't playing on the team, but I knew Ash a lot more. So I was ready for Perth in the finals, but I guess one of my teammates won, so that's a plus.
01:35:02
Speaker
Yeah. And, uh, it was really cool cause we interviewed Ash in season one of Eastcott game and talking about how she took a break from basketball and how she's found a way back. And we kind of talked about if she would be interested in going so far as the WMBL again, even though she'd just come back to basketball and she said, yeah, I'd love to be able to do that. Then the next season, you know, as soon as last season had finished, she yes, got a spot with Perth. So.
01:35:29
Speaker
Hopefully we can do the same for you now that you've been on eScott games. I would love the opportunity to play on any WBL team, manifest it. Yeah. Thank you. Ashley is my roommate here. And so she's super sweet. And she's had, I think four straight, like really good games. It's so cool to see her.
01:35:49
Speaker
her confidence come and her own what she's capable of. So Michaela, in between all of your accolades and successes with Oregon State, you also got picked for Team USA to compete at the Pan American Games in Lima in 2019.
Team USA Experience
01:36:03
Speaker
You had one of the familiar names on the roster is Kiana Williams, who also played in the WMBL a few seasons ago for Adelaide Lightning. Tell us a little bit more about your time in Team USA.
01:36:16
Speaker
Oh, I didn't know Kiana played for Adelaide. That's cool. Um, and she's played all over like in Turkey, um, playing, I think a couple other places in Europe, but for the storm currently. Um, and so yeah, that team in 2019 really good experience had like tryouts, um, was able to make the team, um, make the final roster and a number of W WNBA players were on that team. Um, Kiana Williams, um, had Michaela onionware.
01:36:43
Speaker
Um, she's been, I think she's on Phoenix now, but she was on Liberty for a bit, um, as well as, um, Ty Harris, Kennedy Carter. Um, so a lot of talented individuals. Bella Allery was on that team too, drafted really high in the W, um, has since gone into coaching and retired from the game, but really good player, um, really good person too.
01:37:03
Speaker
and got to experience being on kind of like an all-star team in a college all-star game was kind of like the feel of it and have three coaches, the coach that was at Michigan State, coach that's currently at Texas, Vic Shafer, as well as current coach at Syracuse, like being exposed to, I had four years at Oregon State, same coaches, and so being exposed to new philosophies, new systems in a short time was valuable for me when you're coming in to play
01:37:32
Speaker
pro in these different countries, you have two, three weeks to quickly learn the plays. And so that was kind of an environment that exposed to me early to that, where you have a new group of people, new coaches, new playbook, and try to learn as fast as possible. And then we got to go to Lima, Peru, and being like an athlete. It's kind of like mini Olympics, where you have to be like this athlete village, and got to compete against other nations.
01:38:03
Speaker
What was really cool is I got to live with like, we had these tall apartment buildings and got to just live and eat in the dorm, like spend time in the dorms, but also like eat in the food hall with all the different countries. And I got really invested in the pins there. And so each country had their own pin and you do pin trading and most of the
01:38:23
Speaker
countries were either like Spanish speaking or English speaking. And so I learned like Quieres Caminar, which is like, do you want to trade? And so I'd go up to all the different people and like try to get the rare pins, knock on people's doors and proud of my pin collection after being persistent with different countries that had the popular pins. I'm trying to think what else. Another cool thing was Oregon State had a number of alumni at the event. So I was there, but then we had
01:38:53
Speaker
two Canadians, Ruth Hamlin, who I think played for Bendigo last year, as well as Jamie Wisener. They both played on Team Canada, as well as another Oregon State alumni, played on Puerto Rican national team, Allie Gibson. And so we had like four beavers in this athlete village and we all had dinner one time and just like talk about Oregon State stories. At this time I was going into my senior year, they had finished their eligibility. And so that was kind of a cool moment of like being in this
01:39:21
Speaker
random country in Lima, Peru, and then all reuniting together through basketball. Yeah, so a really cool experience and got like a little silver medal. We lost the championship to Brazil, which was sad, but like it was their national team and they had big mamas there that were like out of 30 plus and were these college athletes, but they played better than we did on that day. And they got the gold and we got the silver.
01:39:48
Speaker
Um, and what I liked more is they gave us this little like stuffed animal guy. Um, they're little themed, um, themed stuffed animal that I, I thought was cuter and cooler than the metal, but, uh, my dad liked the metal more for some reason. I was actually just looking at that Brazil squad, Clarissa dos Santos, Erica de Sousa, Stephanie Suarez, who ended up in the WNBA draft. Um, Patty Teixeira. That's a, yeah, that's pretty.
01:40:18
Speaker
pretty good Brazilian squad. I think the only big name player missing for them is Damiras Dontas. They were, yeah, they were good. Um, we, we, I don't think we're mature enough or like had enough time together to be able to maximize the pieces we had. Um, but really good experience and, and they played, they played better. Unfortunately that day. I mean, just to get to the Pan American games, you had to go through a four, they
01:40:44
Speaker
rounded up 60 or so college players and you played a 14 set of trial games. What was that experience like? You know, you're going in against all those players knowing there's only 12 spots on the line.
01:40:54
Speaker
Yeah, I was nerve wracking. Obviously, there's nerves, a little bit of excitement because you get to compete against some of the best. But I growing up, I had never made a Team USA team, had never gone to any of the tryouts. And I was always like busy doing track and field stuff, like usually our state track and field championships and
01:41:14
Speaker
important championships were always when like Team USA had those tryouts and there was one year like they invited me and I was like super excited to go but I couldn't miss a track thing. It was so sad and then felt like wasn't invited again because I turned turned it down but then later got got this invite in college and so that was my opportunity to make
01:41:36
Speaker
a team USA team for the first time and just did as many of the little things as possible like hustling on defense, boxing out, making good passes, like communicating with teammates and thankful like they saw value in that and was able to make the team and had a great experience. So yeah, it was cool.
01:42:02
Speaker
It was hard, because you have a lot of your friends there, 60 of those people, opponents, friends, and so now all your friends are going to make the team. But at the very end, the last day, they line up everybody, and they have a list. And everybody's there, and they're going to name the 12 names. And they go through, they send maybe eight or so of the names so far, and they're like, Michaela. And then this first name, last name, they're like, Michaela. I'm like, yes. And they said, Onionware. And that moves by alphabetical order.
01:42:31
Speaker
And I'm like, oh my gosh, that's so close. And thankfully, like my last name was O, her last name was O, mine was P. And so like, Mikaela Pivak, I'm like, oh geez, close one. Yeah, I was super excited. But also like, a number of my friends were there that didn't make it, which was kind of sad. But so split between like, super excited and thankful and like also feeling for them because they know they wanted it too. Well, that's a once in a lifetime experience, I think. Yeah.
01:43:00
Speaker
Yeah, it has some stories for sure. Did you see the link I just dropped in the messages? 2019? This was you? What? Fancy it's day one. Aw, this is adorable.
01:43:16
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome. I think we're going to have to post that on, on Instagram, when we released the episode.
Bandits Undefeated Season
01:43:22
Speaker
And Michaela, you were saying off air before we started to record that the Aubrey Woodonga Bandits is the only team you've, overseas team you've returned to two years in a row. What was it about the bandits that convinced you to come back? Yeah, I, I loved my experience last year, um, with the girls, with the team. Um,
01:43:42
Speaker
helps being in countries that speak English. And I was able to connect a lot with the teammates that from last year's team and a lot of them returned to this team. Emma, Ash, Molly, Sarah, a lot of the same youth league girls too that we practice with and play with. And so it felt like home, felt a sense of comfortability with this group. And then new, last year there were hints of Lauren coming back. I always like wanted to play with Lauren. And so I heard she was coming back this year
01:44:11
Speaker
hurt also, we'd have UNIQUE coming back. And so adding that those pieces to like what we had last year, like Emma Mahadi, our leading scorer last year, adding UNIQUE plus Lauren, plus having Ash off of a WMBL season with Perth. Like I was just super excited about those pieces and what this team could look like and want to be part of it.
01:44:32
Speaker
Your team is currently one of a handful of teams across MBL1 in its entirety that are still at top of the table and are undefeated. Yeah. Well, you're currently at the top of the table in the women's competition at 12 and 0, which is huge. Uh, so pretty confident that you've at least qualified for finals now with 12 wins, but did you see yourself being 12 and 0 by halfway through the season?
01:45:02
Speaker
I'd be naive to say like coming into it, I, I would hope for like, I would, this is a spot I'd hope our team to be in. Like at this point, um, 12 and O is what I feel like we're capable of. Um, you never know, like one game, a team goes off and just shoots the wide out from three and you have the worst, your team plays the worst game of the season. Like those things happen in sports. So I play the game, um, but love what we'll be able to do together and how continue to get better each week.
01:45:31
Speaker
and continue to work on different things together. As Lauren has come out, as Eunique has come in, and having Emma, like going through Emma's injury, she came back, she got back from her Achilles and then a couple games in, got like poked in the eye with a nasty eye injury. And so hoped that continues to heal, but as these pieces have come in and out, impressed with our consistency and like dedication to getting better.
01:46:00
Speaker
Yeah, like Squint said, 12-0, I mean, by six days from now, you could be mathematically qualified for finals. Are you thinking, you know, championship? Do you think the teams are shot at Nationals as well?
Championship Goals for Bandits
01:46:16
Speaker
That's our goal. And so goal is to win, take it a day at a time, first small goal, each game to win. Those are the small goals, but like zooming out,
01:46:27
Speaker
We want a home final. And so fans here in Albury, the Bandits fans are special. And so we want that home advantage as long as possible. Want to qualify top two, I think. That's how it was last year, maybe. I think I've heard that this year too. So I want that home final and then seal the deal.
01:46:46
Speaker
and get NBL1 East Championship. I know you need to experience that. Molly, Sarah, Lauren have experienced that. I haven't. Last year we lost to Manly. And so got some extra motivation coming out for this weekend. They sent us back in last year. And so don't forget that. Well, Squint, Squint picked Manly to win it all this year. I picked Aubrey with Donga.
01:47:10
Speaker
Yes, but I was asked to pick championship winners and MVP winners before all the rosters were announced before. So I didn't know. I didn't know you were signing. I didn't know unique was signing.
01:47:29
Speaker
How much earlier? It was at the point where it was, it was so early that we were, the one sticking point was will LJ be at the Olympics. That's how early it was. That was pretty much what we were going off in a final with LJ at the Olympics would mainly win. That's more fair. I'll cut you some slack there. So Michaela, last question. Uh, you've already been such a great guest and we've taken up lots of your time, but we still want to know,
01:47:57
Speaker
Who is Michaela off the basketball court? Well, thanks for having me. I've enjoyed it. I'd say like off the basketball court, a little bit of a nerd. So like love reading, love learning new things.
01:48:13
Speaker
love basketball and how it's able to introduce me to new people, build new relationships, and then get involved in the community. So I think sports is such a great vehicle for connecting people and bringing people together and really appreciate them, what that's done for me. Outside of basketball, really enjoy women's sports. It's like the growth of women's sports, something you guys do a great job of bringing light to and bringing air to, really appreciate that space.
01:48:41
Speaker
love the growth there that we've seen and it's coming. And you guys have been a part of that, that growth of like the media is such a big piece to that. So I want to thank you guys. So I would love to be involved in the growth of women's sports, advocating for athlete rights and helping women be able to have basketball as like their main job, more sustainably in the future. You see so many athletes that have
01:49:08
Speaker
side hustles, side jobs, in addition to like their playing career. So we'd love to see that change in my lifetime of them being able to have basketball as their full-time job or soccer or whatever sport they may choose.
Interests Beyond Basketball
01:49:22
Speaker
And then also, I love
01:49:26
Speaker
Love like science. I was a science nerd in college. Got my degree in pre-med and so love medicine, love like the human body. Interested also in like AI, artificial intelligence and like machine learning. So like want to continue learning those fields and get better at that. But yeah, after basketball, I want to just like either in like women's sports, net growth or an athlete advocacy or
01:49:54
Speaker
something totally different in like intersection of medicine and tech. So that's kind of like where my head's at and passions outside of sport. Mentioning women's sport as an overall thing. And you mentioned earlier being in Portland. Have you been to the sports bra? I have. Yes. Yeah. Is it as good as it sounds and looks in all the articles?
01:50:17
Speaker
I think it's smaller than you would think that you picture it, but like such a cool space for women's sports fans and that's to like go crazy and have a dedicated space to like, that's just, that's just what they do. Um, that niche, um, and their food's really good. So if you're going, it's not just for like, Oh, look at the TVs. Like when you're eating the food, like the owners, um, a really good chef too. So good menu. Highly recommend going if you can.
01:50:46
Speaker
What are we ordering when we go? I think like they change the menu, but I always love just like straight up burger. So if you go with like just the burger can't go wrong, but Jenny is like the person that you ask to ask her what she recommends and that would probably be the good option. I'm gonna try and think of a pun about
01:51:07
Speaker
putting on a clinic on and off the court, given that you're pre-med. Well, you've just come up with an episode title. Hope to use my degree one day. Haven't used it yet, but it's there.
01:51:17
Speaker
Well, maybe one way we can get you to stay in Australia is if someone can, if you can do your med degree here, maybe if there's a WMBL team that has a connection between a university where they offer medicine and you can play ball at the same time. That's a big schedule though, being a pro athlete and doing medicine at the same time would be a massive schedule.
01:51:38
Speaker
Well, Mackenzie Little, the Australian javelin thrower from Stanford, does it. And you were a javelin thrower, so... Not at her level, but... You can't really stick here and there. You rolled in one year fresh off basketball and threw the fourth longest in Oregon State history at the time.
01:52:00
Speaker
I enjoyed it. I was pretty good in high school, like won the state championship, but just loved basketball more. And unfortunately, like in America, track and field scholarships aren't full. And so just like the better option for me was basketball, pay for school because it's expensive.
01:52:17
Speaker
But Michaela, it's been an absolute pleasure to have you on as a guest at eScott game. We're definitely huge fans of you and your game and we really hope that somehow you can stay either in the NBA One East or let's make it to the WNBL. Thank you. Thank you guys for having me. Go Bandits.