So excited to see the ladies play in person for the first time in decades!

I’m at the NC State exhibition game against High Point, seeing lots of new names and faces for the Wolfpack.

How’s turnover on your team? How are you feeling about your team this upcoming season? About the conference as a whole?

I think Duke is going to be great this year. Curious about Notre Dame in HH’s senior year, and curious how Zam will work out at Louisville 😒

But I don’t know much about the composition of those teams or any other teams in the ACC, interested in your takes!

Come on Indiana. It's miserable being behind an Ohio State's band.

Lots of excitement here - as expected a lot of UCLA fans but lots of UConn fans as well which is surprising to me given that their team is also in the Men’s Final Four and I thought their fan would split. I think UConn fans out number USC fans by 1.5 to 1. Beer selection is noticeably worse than Sacramento- drinking a WOW wheat for 20 bucks. Rip off.

Anyway, should be a great evening out here!

I'll be having tests this week to determine if my cancer has come back, and chances are pretty great that it has.

I really appreciate the exposure and fundraising.

(In the spirit of Play4Kay, please allow any discussion to continue in this thread. Thanks!)

Let's go Gophers

Should be a good one. Go Huskies!

I was at the game tonight and so much happened that I find myself still wide awake. I thought I’d relay what I saw tonight for whomever might care to read.

We were sat near JuJu’s family & friends section, row 3, pretty close to Clarissa Shields (side note: her championship belt was a pretty bad ass accessory). It seemed pretty clear from the jump that the directive for MSST was to be extra physical, forcing JuJu to run through hard screens on D and to collapse on any drivers in the paint. There were at least two plays prior to JuJu going down when this was clearly the case, including one that saw Kiki getting roughed up. I think JuJu’s aunt was amongst the several fans yelling, “This ain’t football!” in regards to MSST’s defense.

When it came to the play of concern, JuJu drove right into the defense, I remember a help defender—I think it was Thomas—bodying up hard enough to almost drive an elbow into her as JuJu past her. Though others have noted that the specific moment of the injury itself was “non-contact”, there was a good amount of contact around and leading up to that play. I should say this was how we remembered it, as I haven’t watched any replays or high/(low)lights of the game.

JuJu went down hard. After the initial fan uproar, it got extremely quiet. I’m a lifelong Los Angeles sports fan and that’s definitely the quietest I’ve personally heard an arena, especially considering how loud it was before and after that (enough for Kiki to call us fans the 6th man in her post-game presser). The worst was seeing and hearing JuJu cry. Agonizing. Trojan Fever section stood understandably with bated breath. JuJu was clutching her right knee and was clearly in a tremendous amount of pain. She was carried out of the game behind MSST’s bench. Her pops soon stood up and walked over to speak with USC personnel near the same exit. He motioned for his wife, JuJu’s mom, and both of them eventually followed their daughter out through the same tunnel.

After an extended break, play resumed. As soon as MSST got their first possession, the arena literally thundered with a chorus of boos. It didn’t take long for Samuels to go down as well. Coach Gottlieb was visibly shaken—understandably—and rushed the entire length of the court over towards Samuels, gesturing at a ref as she passed him, what felt like more mom than coach in that moment, protectively like What the hell??

We didn’t have great phone reception but folks around us were trying to find live updates to her injury. A little later, a USC personnel leaned over the front row railing and fetched JuJu’s mom’s purse and exited. A dude we believed was JuJu’s agent was going to and fro and then said bye to other folks in JuJu’s section. It seemed clear then that both JuJu and her folks had left the arena.

We were all crestfallen, but there was definitely a palpable spirit that all of USC was going to rally and finish the game strong. Kiki and Rayah got their flowers, Heckel & Howell balled out, and Iwuchukwu and other last string players got to tuck their jerseys in and get some pt as well.

Unfortunately, some bad blood carried over to the handshake line when I think Marshall and a MSST player got into it a bit. Even Kiki was sort of guided by hand by an assistant coach/staff, away from the exiting MSST team. As an obvious USC fan and also alum, it’s unquestionably tragic but I’m not one to spit any unnecessary venom towards Mississippi State.

Our hearts go out to JuJu and her family, fight on my fellow Trojans, let’s go Spokane.

Pretty Damn Excited!! Major plus that they have Piney the Elder on tap!

I’m so conflicted. Always loved HH and SS. Going to be a great game nonetheless.

Peep the floor decal and the 2nd pic is the jersey banner before the big moment

First time both teams are ranked in the top 15, should be a fantastic game! Hoping for a much better result than the men had on Friday.

My wife and I are going to the Diamondbacks game and wanted to take some photos to share. The only street sign I didn’t see was UConn. I love when events come here cause I am an overall sports fan so I love being around others who love sports, especially women’s!

No Pliny the Elder today. Just a Bloody Mary…

Should be a great game!!

From the Coppin State v. South Carolina game yesterday! 🔥

Coppin State were lovely hosts even if SC fans outnumbered. The cheerleaders were great! 👏🏾

Dawn Staley is so tiny, but she's in the midst of that large crowd and she was there for a while chatting, signing stuff, shaking hands and kissing babies. 🤙🏾

The applause and standing O she received was massive. She really is the draw! The moment! Dawn is so sweet and so fine! 🥰

Her and Raven Johnson, of course. 😭 I will be crying when she plays her last games. 😂🥲

This era of Richmond basketball started here in November 2023. Two years and four months later, I'm back for the last game I'll attend of this era. Go Spiders.

This is the first time the Cards have done a stripe out for women’s basketball, and I’ve gotta say it looks a lot better than I thought it would.

I do wish that they sold enough tickets to a big game like this that they needed to open up the upper levels, but in the grand scheme of women’s college basketball, that feels like a small complaint. Go Cards!

Go Gophers

This is the biggest crowd I’ve seen this year and we haven’t even gotten inside yet!