I,

I do.

First of all, what happens when a product becomes more and more attractive to audiences and TV networks? The playoffs expand because the playoffs are the time when everybody can make the most money, right? So it obviously makes sense from a business standpoint.

This has been an undervalued asset for a little while now, and it's a huge money-making opportunity for the league and for the networks.

Um, but even beyond that, just from the pure basketball of it all.

So this is my 14th year doing WNBA games when I was first doing it.

And we were talking about this with Cheryl Reeve a little bit the other day before we did the, uh, link fever game.

And Ryan, please, I pooped through the log.

i love that jordan

The it's funny that the and when you know, like the international game is different and FIBA is different and you could tell.

Right.

If you just watch like it's weird when you watch a FIBA game because there can be like the most obvious aggressive contact that is not called.

And then they will call some random weird ticky tack thing that the very next possession.

And so I feel like you just have to have a mindset of like nothing's going to be called.

Right.

She had 32 for the tournament, obviously what you saw in the second half of that gold medal game.

Now, what's your story, your origin story, Ryan, with getting here?

So my origin story is when I was at Fordham at WFUV, my mentor there who actually just passed away, Bob Ahrens, who really taught me the art of play-by-play, he had created the Marty Glickman Award, which was given to the best play-by-play broadcaster each year.

And so for all of us, that was like, you know, the ultimate.

That was winning, you know, the Larry O'Brien.

And... on the panel for the Glickman was a compilation of different either producers or on-air people in the industry, one of which was Pete Silverman, who at the time was the executive producer of ESPN Radio in New York.

Robin definitely remembers him.

I don't know if you guys are post-Pete or not, Alan and Peter, but anyway...

Oh, that's terrible.

How about someone calling that game the other night and even last night with the two plays he made in the field? What has it been like getting to see him up close and personal the last 36 hours or so in two games?

It's been awesome, man.

You know, it's like when you just when there's someone so dynamic and your eyes are drawn to them and you're just wondering what are they going to do next? And I was talking about it with Paul and.

and our producer Troy Benjamin in one of the breaks, like just in two games, now you're kind of excited any time you see a ball headed towards shortstop because his defense has stood out that much.

And look, we know he's going to make mistakes.

He's going to struggle in different ways at different times.

That's the big leagues.

What is it like on a day-to-day basis when you're in the booth with O'Neal?

How about someone calling that game the other night and even last night with the two plays he made in the field? What has it been like getting to see him up close and personal the last 36 hours or so in two games?

It's been awesome, man.

You know, it's like when you just when there's someone so dynamic and your eyes are drawn to them and you're just wondering what are they going to do next? And I was talking about it with Paul and and our producer Troy Benjamin and one of the breaks like just in two games.

Now you're kind of.

excited anytime you see a ball headed towards shortstop because his defense has stood out that much and and look we know he's going to make mistakes he's going to struggle in different ways at different times that's the big leagues it's a game of failure and how you handle the failure but anybody who knows this game can watch him just play defense these first two games and realize that you He's got it there.

You know, like just the way he moves, the fluidity, how smooth he is.

And he's already made a couple of incredible plays.

What is it like on a day-to-day basis when you're in the booth with O'Neal?

How about someone calling that game the other night and even last night with the two plays he made in the field? What has it been like getting to see him up close and personal the last 36 hours or so in two games?

It's been awesome, man.

You know what it's like when there's someone so dynamic and your eyes are drawn to them and you're just wondering what are they going to do next.

And I was talking about it with Paul and our producer Troy Benjamin in one of the breaks.

Just in two games, now you're kind of excited any time you see a ball headed towards shortstop.

because his defense has stood out that much.

And look, we know he's going to make mistakes.

What is it like on a day-to-day basis when you're in the booth with

Why did it take so long to get him up here?

That's a good question, you know.

I mean, I, he, he, he probably would've had a shot to be up here earlier if he, he hadn't had the injury he had where he missed about a month.

Um, and then, you know, he really quickly, after coming back, was, was on this run that he's continued on, um, which he ended i- not al- some of this was pre-injury, some of it was post.

But he ended his triple A s- stretch on a 30-game on base streak where, you know, he was hitting 330 during it.

Um, I think you definitely can make an argument that they should've had him up here a week ago.

Uh, I think they're also...

Who needs to step up, and particularly with this lineup, to kind of give this team some momentum and a boost, uh, as they get ready for the Braves?

How about someone calling that game the other night and even last night with the two plays he made in the field? What has it been like getting to see him up close and personal the last 36 hours or so in two games?

It's been awesome, man.

You know what it's like when there's someone so dynamic and your eyes are drawn to them and you're just wondering what are they going to do next.

And I was talking about it with Paul and our producer Troy Benjamin in one of the breaks.

Like, just in two games, now you're kind of excited any time you see a ball headed towards shortstop.

Yeah.

his defense has stood out that much.

What is it like on a day-to-day basis when you're in the booth with O'Neal?

... do you go in where you've not scripted but you've planned, hey, if he should hit a home run, obviously the circumstance is what it is, but I'm thinking about a call that's gonna resonate, or is it completely off the cuff in the moment?

So I think it depends.

The, it, it depends on the circumstance and the situation.

I try and be thoughtful ahead of time just in the sense of, like when I'm calling, uh, uh, the end of a championship, right? Like I wanna know, okay, what, what would I like to say if it's a eight-point game and we're hitting triple zeros and it's not ending in some dramatic way, but I wanna make a final call that's sticky.

Have you ever done football, or no?

Yeah, I have.

I have, and I, I did a lot of it, um, when I was first starting out my, uh, my career post-college, post-Fordham, I was doing some college football for ESPN, and then I was doing some NFL on radio for ESPN.

And, and I still would do it periodically up until about, eh, I guess, like, seven, eight years ago.

... do you go in where you've not scripted, but you've planned, "Hey, if he should hit a home run," obviously the circumstance is what it is, but I'm thinking about a call that's gonna resonate, or is it completely off the cuff in the moment?

So I think it depends.

The, it, it depends on the circumstance and the situation.

I try and be thoughtful ahead of time just in the sense of, like, when I'm calling a, a, the end of a championship, right? Like, I wanna know, okay, what, what would I like to say if it's a eight-point game and we're hitting triple zeros and it's not ending in some dramatic way, but I wanna make a final call that's sticky.

Have you ever done football, or no?

Yeah, I have.

I have.

And I, I did a lot of it, um, when I was first starting out my, uh, my career post-college, post-Fordham.

Do you go in where you've not scripted, but you've planned, hey, if he should hit a home run, obviously the circumstance is what it is, but I'm thinking about a call that's going to resonate, or is it completely off the cuff in the moment?

So I think it depends.

It depends on the circumstance and the situation.

I try and be thoughtful ahead of time just in the sense of, like, when I'm calling at the end of a championship, right? Like, I want to know, okay, what would I like to say if it's an eight-point game and we're hitting triple zeros and it's not ending in some dramatic way, but I want to make a final call that's sticky.

Right.

When it comes to something like last night, the only thing I kind of knew going in is I'm not just going to give a generic call, right? I'm not going to say something benign.

I want to try and come up with something that's unique and singular to the moment.

Have you ever done football or no?

What has impressed you most about what you've seen from them so far in these playoffs that lead you to believe that they can get there?

Well, first of all, I just think, you know, they have a lot of talent and they have a lot of depth.

You know, if you look at how complete their roster is, um, and, you know, the amount of two-way players they have, and then also the players who aren't two-way guys, right, like a Towns and like a Brunson.

They're so great on one side of the ball that you can live with it, right? There have been times where, you know, they've been exposed defensively over the last couple of years when they're on the floor together in the playoffs when you put, you know, Brunson, Towns in a two-man game.

But, uh, if you look up and down the roster, you know, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, even getting back Deuce McBride, who was critical to what they were doing early then was injured for a while.

You know, Mikal Bridges, as long as he's slotted into his correct role, you see the way he can really swing the team as well when he is just hitting some shots like we saw when the Knicks started to separate last night when they went on that late fourth quarter run against Philly.

I, I just think the Knicks are the most complete team that is left in the playoffs.

[laughs]

Right.

Then he comes back and he doesn't play in game three, and you're like, "Wait, it's a different injury? What's going on?" But you know what? It is a different injury.

Like, I think sometimes the facts actually are the facts, and I think the reality is he actually has a, an ankle injury that's significant enough that he is absolutely not able to play.

Um, and I don't think it was smart for him to not be on the bench in game three.

I, I ...

That is a terrible optic, and I don't care what, like, rehab is going on, whatever, I feel like you can probably time that so that you're on the bench with your team during the playoffs.

That I understand people being upset with.

Uh, Ryan, what are you hearing, uh, what are you hearing in terms of Austin Reaves and his return to the Lakers here?

Ryan, what are you hearing, uh, what are you hearing in terms of Austin Reaves and his return to the Lakers here?

You know, just going on, on Shams, it seems like, you know, they're expect- or Austin was expecting to be able to play.

But I know from having the Lakers, uh, earlier in the season when Austin kinda also went through this period where he was listed as questionable and game-time decision and then wasn't playing, and from knowing JJ and then also hearing his responses, like, I think this is the kinda thing where they're not going to bank on it until he's, like, 100%, gone through his warm-up, and been like, "I'm good to go," you know? Because I, I just feel like they've had a lot of times with Austin where it seems like he's close and then he doesn't play.

Um, and so it would feel, I think, kind of irresponsible to assume he's going to.

You know, I...

Once he got upgraded to questionable, you would've thought he was playing, right?

Yeah.

And one thing that we see time and time again this, this time of year, is when you have a roster that has athletic prime two-way guys, that can upset teams, you know? I think we saw Boston when they went on that first run surprise teams like that because they had prime age two-way athletes.

And she's been able to do this the last couple of years with the transfer portal.

It's amazing.

You know, what Dawn has built in South Carolina is remarkable.

And I think there's a couple of ways in which, you know, Dawn separates herself as a coach or maintains consistent excellence.

You know, one is her teams always play their best this time of year.

Like she is great at having your teams ascend at the right time.

And if you were to watch South Carolina earlier in the season, you might have really thought like that team is is incredibly vulnerable and you know i i'm not so sure it's a given they're going to the final four and then she gets them to a point where you know you're watching them in late february and you're like oh my gosh of course they're gonna go to the final four you know and that's what she does and and i think if you look at their last like couple months their only blip was the sec championship game and there were some mitigating circumstances there now texas is incredible and they played great but Tessa Johnson and Raven Johnson were both like a little nicked up in that game.

What has stood out for you about UCLA, not just in this tournament, but all season long and how strong they've been?

But of course, in all

but one of those years, they were still going to the Final Four.

Yeah.

So, like, which would be a crowning success for 99.9% of programs in the country.

And where Gino is so good, and I am close enough with enough of his former players to get them to talk about this with me at different times, or just to be, you know, somebody who they've, you know, talked about this at different times with... is psychologically.

He just knows how to push the right buttons for his players at the right moments.

And we saw it last year with Paige heading into the Sweet 16 and the rest of that tournament run where he pulled her aside in a way I hadn't seen before at shoot-around.

I think what's special with Sarah is that he's already having these conversations with her and she's only a sophomore.