Goooood Monday NCS fans and welcome to this week’s edition of Five Out. Andrew is cashing out all his company issued PTO so I’m out the bullpen for the next few weeks and I’ve been working on my changeup. Let’s get after it. 

If you want to see our videos on the recent Team USA camp selections or the WNBA Draft Lottery, you can watch them below!

Sunday, Rhode Island took down NC State 68-63 and became the latest midmajor to make some national noise in November. Now this could be further proof the ACC is in the gutter, and I will accept that, but I do think it’s an indicator of how spooky it can get this March for teams outside the top five. Keep an eye on South Dakota State, who is currently #1 in the College Insider Mid Major Top 25. The Jackrabbits are 4-0 with a nice win over Creighton and at the end of November will take on UNC and Kansas State. In the month of December they have a winnable game against Duke and a tough matchup against Texas. The Dakota teams have traditionally already a scrappy first round tournament team and now you’ll have one that’s quite battle tested so good luck to that first-round opponent and protect ya neck. 

In the Sunbelt you have Troy getting a huge 100-82 win over Missouri insert Kellie Harper.gif. In their handful of NCAA Tournament appearances, Troy has represented well, giving Texas A&M all they could handle in 2021. 

In the MEAC, Howard is trying to snatch the crown back from Norfolk State after the departure of head coach Larry Vickers and forward Meme Wheeler. So far they are 6-1 with good wins over George Washington and William and Mary. The Bison have an absolute gauntlet coming up that includes Purdue, Syracuse, HAMPTON(!!!), Fairfield, Virginia, Cincinnati and Army. They hold their own in non-con, run through the MEAC and get fair seeding, it could be a quick tournament for whoever they face in the first round. 

Other notable upsets include USF over Duke and DIII Scranton over Pitt. 

The last few years women’s basketball has seen the meteoric rises of some names so big I don’t even have to type them because you already know who I’m talking about. With many of those names now in the WNBA and Juju Watkins rehabbing from injury, the game needs new juice to supplement this year’s future lottery picks and new heroines are emerging at the right time. 

We start with the SEC because it simply means more! The Florida Gators have a fun new duo in Liv McGill and Me’arah O’Neal. McGill opened up the season dropping 38 points on Chattanooga and most recently 27 on Florida State. O’Neal recorded a double-double in that same win over FSU with 18 points and 11 rebounds, which puts her averages at 16.9 and 9 so far in the season. McGill is averaging 26 points, 6 rebounds and 6.8 assists. Non-con isn’t that tough with Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech as their most formidable opponents left, but I’m still expecting them to make conference play fun. 

Across the gulf coast, LSU has another star in the making in Zakiyah Johnson. Again, non-con not strong, but the clips are compelling. Over in the Bluegrass State, Clara Strack is doin work for the Kentucky Wildcats. KU is 6-0 with a recent 72-62 win over Louisville in which Strack had 17 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. And a partridge in a pear tree! 

Over at Michigan State Grace VanSlooten is holdin it down and the Spartans are a strong part of the absolute bloodbath that is the Big10. Syla Swords just reminded everyone who she was and almost put the Canadian bacon belt to UConn. Maryland is still a force to be reckoned with in the conference thanks to recent transfer Oluchi Okananwa, who got off the flaming Duke ship in the nick of time. The Terps are 7-0 and take on an undefeated Kentucky team Wednesday  in what should be a really good game.

And finally, we gotta show the west coast some love, R.I.P Pac-12 after dark. Washington’s Sayvia Sellers has been HOOPIN, putting 30 on Utah’s noggin the other night in a 72-61 win. My sources (app) has just informed me that Washington is also in the Big-10 so it could get so insanely wicked during conference play. 

These are just a few emerging stars, stay tuned as we highlight more! 

I’m not gonna lie, I’m tired grandpa. This league/owners fought back in the court of public opinion releasing a new proposal. On its head it sounds good with a maximum salary of $1.1 million, a minimum of $220,000 and an average of over $460,000, but when you factor in how they’re STILL not tying salary growth to league growth, it sounds more like a set up to be underpaid down the road. I feel like they dropped this proposal to say “see? We want to make them millionaires, but they’re just being greedy,” when they could simply stop lowballing them now and in the future. 

Last week USC head coach Dawn Staley said they’re going to “fight like heck” to get Kenyan born center Madina Okot an extra year of eligibility. This is after Staley spent some time in France trying to entice one of the top young talents coming out of the factory they’ve apparently got over there. Geno Auriemma literally just signed a prospect out of Ireland of all places and this year Louisville has Turkish-born forward Elif Istanbulluoglu, whose name I just wanted to type because it is insanely fun to say. My overarching point here is; the game is officially global. We did it, Joe. Got some content from All-Star weekend on the matter, so expect a story here in the near future on the matter. 

I’m sorry, the Dallas Wings deserve at least a five year ban because they simply cannot keep getting away with this!! You’re telling me they could possibly get Awa Fam when they didn’t do anything with the perfectly good Awak Kuier they had at home?! Greg Bibb continues to avoid going to jail for his crimes against roster construction because the Wings keep getting rewarded for bad behavior! As we said on our YouTube live episode Sunday night, Dallas is still at a crossroad and must decide does the dynasty start with or after Arike Ogunbowale? My slander will be put on pause until further clarity is provided so I can hate ethically. 

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