Ball Up Top: A Women’s Basketball Podcast
Aug 10, 2026 · 54 min · 10 segments
0:00 Intro 1:40 Mystics peaking too early or more to come? 11:48 Clutch Chelsea Gray 19:17 McBride and Franchise stars in the WNBA 29:48 Carla Leite and the Fire 36:30 WNBA as a political…
Andrew HobnerHost
Tyler DeLucaHost
Um, the Washington Mystics are where I would like to start five out because as you know, Tyler, we try our best in these trying of times to start with the basketball and end with the bigger stuff because the hoops comes first.
There is gonna be some bigger stuff that will be discussed toward the end, so if you wanna hear that, it is there.
The Mystics are here, question mark? I never thought Sydney Johnson would be the coach girl dad that was promised then.
... and he got hired by the Phoenix Mercury and said, "I'm girl dad." Chris DiMarco came out and said, "I'm book dad.
Sydney Johnson just kinda happened to mosey on into Washington and is now doing the scuba with a median locker room age of 23 years old, and they're 19 and 12, and they've just dusted the Dallas Wings yet again.
And I have seen it before, we've seen it before, sports fans have seen it before, that the team that peaks too early, the team that may be a year ahead, and they start to really gel about a month to three weeks before the regular season ends, and then they kinda slide as another team that really is actually peaking at the right time does and then goes and wins a championship.
But we asked the same question of the Las Vegas Aces last year, and I'm not saying the Mystics are gonna win a title this season.
But we did ask the same question of the Aces last year of are they peaking too early, and they categorically were not peaking too early.
And while it might be peaking too early now, Tyler, I do think this is a glimpse into what is gonna be the norm next year for them.
You know? Like, I feel like that's more the vision I'm taking away here than they're a real deal legit title threat now.
I think what I'm seeing is, like, oh no, this is just, like, the baseline is being reset in real time.
Um, I think it's 22, 10, and 3 in her last five since the All-Star break got done.
Um, the Washington Mystics are where I would like to start five out because as you know, Tyler, we try our best in these trying of times to start with the basketball and end with the bigger stuff because the hoops comes first.
There is gonna be some bigger stuff that will be discussed toward the end, so if you wanna hear that, it is there.
The Mystics are here, question mark? I never thought Sydney Johnson would be the coach girl dad that was promised then.
... and he got hired by the Phoenix Mercury and said, "I'm girl dad." Chris DiMarco came out and said, "I'm book dad.
Sydney Johnson just kinda happened to mosey on into Washington and is now doing the scuba with a median locker room age of 23 years old, and they're 19 and 12, and they've just dusted the Dallas Wings yet again.
And I have seen it before, we've seen it before, sports fans have seen it before, that the team that peaks too early, the team that may be a year ahead, and they start to really gel about a month to three weeks before the regular season ends, and then they kinda slide as another team that really is actually peaking at the right time does and then goes and wins a championship.
But we asked the same question of the Las Vegas Aces last year, and I'm not saying the Mystics are gonna win a title this season.
But we did ask the same question of the Aces last year of are they peaking too early, and they categorically were not peaking too early.
And while it might be peaking too early now, Tyler, I do think this is a glimpse into what is gonna be the norm next year for them.
You know? Like, I feel like that's more the vision I'm taking away here than they're a real deal legit title threat now.
I think what I'm seeing is, like, oh no, this is just, like, the baseline is being reset in real time.
Um, I think it's 22, 10, and 3 in her last five since the All-Star break got done.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
