4-3-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

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45% off selected products at Blinds.com. Rules and restrictions may apply. Maybe I'm the only person that thinks about this type of thing, but it's my favorite month of the year. Maybe I'm the only one who has a favorite month.

That's probably a good show topic at some point. Favorite month of the year, whether sports or non-sports. It is definitely a sporty month, I'll give you that. My goodness, it is the second busiest month on the sports calendar.

Total insanity. And so it's a really good idea that I also decided that I would have a family weekend. It's Easter, plus I'm teaching a class this month, so you know, why don't we make it interesting and up the ante a little bit. Oh my goodness, it was a lot of prep work this weekend. A lot of preparations for what's to come in the month of April.

And yet it will be chaotic, it will be hectic, it will be glorious though. It is my favorite month of the year, our first show in April. I hope that you enjoyed your last weekend of March, and now we are headed full steam into the teeth, the teeth of the spring sports calendar. It's baring its teeth. Right now I'm baring my teeth.

It doesn't make for great audio. I don't think I have fangs. Penny, oh my goodness, she is the sweetest dog on the planet, but boy does she have some fangs. So we're going right into the fangs of the spring sports season. It is here and it is all happening.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Glad to have you with us, as I say. Hope you enjoyed your weekend, whether you were working, whether you were resting, whether you were playing, whether you were traveling. I always enjoy the fact that we are sure we can reconvene come Sunday nights. This is, this is, it's a routine that I've been doing for so long now that I almost can't think of Sundays in any other way.

And yet I wouldn't give it up. I tell you sometimes, and I've said it before, usually this is during football season, which I'm so thrilled that we work Sunday nights during football season as much as it is a taxing, challenging schedule. Sunday nights, though, are one of the primary reasons that I've chosen to remain on this time slot. I've had chances to change time slots. There are other personal considerations.

My dog, the commute into New York City, blah, blah, blah. The number one reason that I've chosen to remain on this time slot for nearly 10 years now is that we get to work Sunday nights. I wouldn't change it because we get to reconvene here after the weekends and go over everything that we can cram in. Sunday nights fly by. They're so fast because I can never get to everything on the show. Jay's been working furiously on the audio and it's just a lot. And this time of the year, not only is it impossible to get to everything, it's impossible to keep up with all of the audio, but we'll do our absolute best because there's great audio from all corners of the sports world as we get together on April Sundays and really May as well.

It stays busy in May. So we've got an agenda. We've got a plan.

We'll see how well it unfolds. The Women's Final Four, now in the books, taking over Dallas. For those of you who listen in Dallas or in the Fort Worth area, maybe you could tell there was a different buzz in your metro. I know I have friends who live and work in Dallas who scored tickets to go to the championship game on Sunday and they were all fired up.

And it certainly seemed like an electric atmosphere. Loud, the fans for both Iowa and LSU passionate fan bases. And yet this is the first Final Four, the first national championship game for either the Hawkeyes or the Tigers in women's basketball. I think you could look at both of these schools and say they're football schools or that's at least where the bread is buttered. Good thing I didn't say the buttered is bread.

I wouldn't put that past me. First national championship, first Final Four for each of these schools in women's basketball. And yet the fans made all the noise, traveled to be there in Dallas and brought the fury, if you will. It was a really cool atmosphere, at least on TV. There were celebrities on hand, I'll just give you one. Emmitt Smith was there, oh Dr. Jill Biden was there as well.

So there were celebrities and famous peeps from all over the country. Women's basketball is very similar to men's basketball when it comes to the impact of NIL and transfer portal. You now have the talent spread out. It's not just UConn. Now UConn forced the rest of women's college basketball to raise their level of play. But it's not just UConn or Tennessee or Stanford, Baylor. It's not a handful of schools anymore.

The talent is being spread out. The best women's basketball player in the country, she now plays for Iowa. She's from Des Moines. She believed in a dream that her coach presented to her, Lisa Bluder. That tandem still has at least one more year. So we haven't seen the last of Kaitlyn Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes.

It's a credit to women's college basketball, though obviously she could start at the next level now. I'd love to hear from you if you watch the game. Plenty of fallout and reactions still to the men's national semifinals from Saturday night. We got a buzzer beater. A buzzer beater. A game winning shot at the buzzer in a national semifinal.

What a treat. Happened to take place in Houston. Same arena, well not an arena, same stadium where I saw Chris Jenkins nail the three at the buzzer to give Villanova the title in 2017 over North Carolina.

It was a bit of that familiar feeling at NRG Stadium. And so the men's final four taking place Saturday. Championship on Monday. Also the NBA playoff picture is coming together. The NHL playoff picture is coming together though a little bit more slowly. But the Bruins continue their assault on history.

So we'll give you the latest there. And Major League Baseball first weekend. First full weekend of Major League Baseball. More pitchers getting injured. It's one of my big fears in, well I can't even say just April baseball right? Because they started on Thursday March 30th and March 31st. It definitely seems early. Not a bad thing until all of a sudden your pitchers are dropping like flies. Not quite stretched out.

The weather's a little colder. I get nervous watching them. And so of course it's up to the managers, athletic trainers, really the coaches to be careful and to know you cannot allow your guys to go out there and try to throw 100 pitches.

115 pitches in a perfect game in a no hitter. That's already become a question. If you remember this was the case last year. Probably it's a familiar theme early in baseball.

You got to be real careful. You got to think big picture as opposed to one game. So baseball in April. We've got guys jacking baseballs out of the park like nobody's business already. And the pitch clock.

Roundly received as a huge positive for Major League Baseball. So a lot to get to. As I say I'll do my absolute best.

I'm almost nervous to tease anything because I'm worried I won't get to it all. I do know this for sure. Coming up at the bottom of the hour. My friend Doug Feinberg, one time broadcast partner, AP women's national basketball writer. He's in Dallas. He's got an early flight. But he loves to talk women's college hoops. He loves to promote the women's game.

And after what we've seen. Boy do I have thoughts. From Kim Mulkey and LSU. From Angel Reese. From Jasmine Carson. From Alexis Morris.

Kaitlyn Clark. The Iowa Hawkeyes. I'm excited to hear his reaction. And yes I'll ask him about the officials. Just to put it out there though. There was not an unfair advantage for either one of these teams. Let's just put that to bed right away. You may not like how the game was officiated. And that's certainly your prerogative. I prefer that there are fewer whistles. Always. Championship gamer no.

I am of the no blood no foul mentality. But that is not the game anymore. That's not college. That's not pros. They've changed the rules.

You can't even hand check anymore. So it's up to the players to adjust. It's up to the athletes to adjust to how the officials are calling the game. You don't have to like it. But if you don't want to sit on the bench you do have to adjust. Again I'm not telling you that you have to agree with all of the calls. But it's not. It's not even remotely why LSU won.

Just to throw it out there. 18 fouls called on LSU. 19 called on Iowa. 21 free throws for LSU. 20 for Iowa. There is no unfair advantage there.

None. And what did Kim Ocke say in her, I think it was after the first quarter. Her interview with Holly Rowe on ESPN. Well I watched the game on ABC actually. I don't know if it was also on ESPN. But I was watching it on ABC which is a huge step for women's college basketball by the way.

To have this game on network TV. She said we're just going to have to adjust. But we're not going to stop being aggressive. We're going to have to be smart. But we're not going to stop being aggressive.

We're going to stay aggressive. It wasn't just Iowa that it was in foul trouble. Angel Reese, the star player for the Tigers, spent the entire second quarter on the bench. She picked up two fouls. And Kim Ocke did not want her out there the rest of the first half. Instead it's one player who came off the bench. A senior, Jasmine Carson, who nailed five threes.

And also, in case you're paying attention, you want to go a little deeper. The foul trouble actually hurts LSU more than it hurts Iowa. Because Kim Ocke only plays eight girls. Sorry, that's totally my fault.

She only plays eight women. And so the foul trouble would actually have been a far greater concern for LSU. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Again, if you watch the game, I'd love to hear from you.

ALaw Radio on Twitter or on our Facebook page. Our first show in April. My favorite month of the year begins with women's college basketball. And for LSU, for Iowa, getting out there, kind of feeling each other out initially. And then a decided advantage, even as Angel Reese sat on the bench for the Tigers.

Here come the Tigers. Johnson on the move. Right wing Carson shoots another three.

Got it again! Jasmine Carson with 16. And the LSU lead is 13.

49-36, 4-0-7. A go on the first half. Here's Johnson with it on the right wing. Be on the three-point line. Johnson gets it up top to Morris. Morris puts it on the floor. Gribbles right to the elbow.

Stops. Can't lose Marshall. Top to Carson. Takes a three over Clark.

It's good. Jasmine Carson with a three. Cole races up onto the left wing. Shovels it off Carson.

Turns. Puts up a three. Make it in!

Oh, she made it in! Jasmine Carson turns and fakes it a three from the left wing. It caps off an amazing half for Carson. A huge half for LSU. The Tigers have a 17-point halftime lead. Even with only three players who come off the bench for Kim Mulkey, their bench, the Tigers' bench, outscored Iowa's bench.

And in the first half, it was a decided advantage. As in 20-plus points better than the bench for the Hawkeyes. So Jasmine Carson is a senior. 22 points for her in this game. She goes five for five from three. All of her threes in the first half, including the bank at the buzzer. Stunning. I was actually watching in my living room and went, what?

Like out loud woke up the dog. So Jasmine Carson was the answer when Reese was on the bench. Ryan Radke with the call on the Westwood One NCAA radio network. But you know, the Hawkeyes can shoot from deep as well. 65-54 LSU, Clark left wing three is good. 22 for Kaitlin Clark.

65-57 Iowa with an eight. Clark the baseline rebound. Gets it off to Martin.

Hawkeyes look to push. Martin runs the dribble into the front court. Top of the key. Left open. Shoots the three.

And hits. Ten for Kait Martin. 77-69 Iowa back with an eight.

8.35 to go. Trailing by as many as 21, the Hawkeyes were game, they pulled this back into a single digit spread and it was because of their shooting from deep. But it wasn't just Kaitlin Clark. So man, that shot is sweet.

The release is so quick. But because they had multiple Hawkeyes who were hitting from deep, it really spread out the defense. And the number of times the Hawkeyes had wide open looks and there wasn't a purple jersey within ten feet was incredible. But that's what happens when you have multiple players who are spread out around the perimeter or who are moving without the ball who are getting to an open spot along the arc. The defense has to chase and LSU was tired.

You could see that. They were aggressive. They were tired. And so they're in that third quarter, early fourth quarter, maybe sucking wind a little bit again because there are only eight of them that play and really only seven that log significant minutes. You're talking about a team that was chasing and Iowa was able to swing the ball around and get some wide open shots. But what did Kim Wilkie say? We're going to stay aggressive.

And that they did. Morris racing through traffic. Morris down the lane. Dropped it up. Williams right block. Layed it up and in. Morris to La'Nasia Williams who's got 18.

83-69. The lead back to 14. Timeout Iowa. Morris dribbling left. Morris drops it off. Reese left the lane, four to shoot, Reese out to Poole, high on the right, steps into a wing three.

Got it! And Matt is going to put it in the books. LSU with 105 to go is up 98-82. It was a national championship game scoring record, 102 points for the LSU Tigers hitting 11 of 17 threes including Jasmine Carson who was five for six ultimately in this game. And the way that the Tigers were able to play inside out and then outside in, their defensive course on Kaitlyn Clark holding her to only 30, I'm using my air quotations, and the ability to not only defend but to get the rebounds. They out-rebounded the Hawkeyes 37 to 26. And that includes a huge advantage, doubling up the Hawkeyes on the offensive glass.

Okay, so those second chance opportunities, those extra points, the hustle stats, those are all huge. Ryan Radke with the call on the Westwood One NCAA Radio Network, Kim Mulkey is unlike any other coach that I've ever encountered in women's basketball, really in basketball overall. Very few coaches on the planet could build a championship program in two years. I think if I remember correctly, the Tigers had six wins the year before she took over.

It was something along those lines, abysmal. Not a women's basketball power, though of course they've had some incredible players that have come through there, Simone Augustus being the most recent. But Kim's passion, which is fully on display on the sidelines, her tenacity, her dedication, and what I talked about last week, her sky-high standards, she has what feel like impossible standards to meet.

But all the great coaches do, Pat Summitt at Tennessee, Geno Auriemma, Tara Vanderveer at Stanford, these coaches believe in their players, they believe in the power of working together, they believe in a system, and if you don't put in the work, well then you don't fit there. Impossibly high standards, and yet Kim has managed to raise the level of basketball and of character everywhere she's gone. So the second she steps on campus, everything changes, and it did two years later. So congratulations to the LSU women's basketball team for soaring to its first ever title, but also really an incredible tournament for the sport as a whole. In women's, well it was women's history month for most of the tournament.

Now it's April. All right, so on Twitter, ALawRadio, on our Facebook page coming up, we'll hear from Kim as well as Angel Reese. She explains the taunting of Kaitlyn Clark, I've got my thoughts on that as well, and then we will hear from Kaitlyn, who gave us more bang than we could ever imagine for our buck in this tournament.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Odysseys I'm Listening is our commitment to more mental health conversations. Dr. Christine Moutier of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention talks about the daily change of emotions and mental wellness. Yeah, mental health and emotions are extremely dynamic, meaning they change. That's the most remarkable thing, to start to see crisis moments become less and less intense or less frequent. Talk saves lives.

For more mental health conversations, visit I'm Listening.org. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Morris dribbling through traffic, and now LSU can celebrate. The clock ticks down, it is history for LSU, for the first time in school history. The Tigers are women's basketball national champions.

LSU 102, Iowa 85, the Tiger roar can be heard from coast to coast, LSU, best in the land in 2023. With about a minute and 30 to go, I couldn't hold it, got very emotional. That's really not like me until that final buzzer goes off, but I knew we were going to hold on and win this game, and I don't know if it's the mere fact that we are doing this in my second year back home. I don't know if it was the fact that I am home. I don't know if it was looking across there at my daughter and my grandchildren. I don't know if it was looking across at Ellis. I don't know what it was, but I lost it.

So that should tell you what I think about it. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. As fiery as Kim Mulkey can be on the sideline, the stomping, the gesturing, the yelling, the melodramatic hands to the head, her hair flying in all directions, the sequined outfits, and boy does she own them, she can be so calm. One on one, I've sat with her in various situations where it's been either me and an analyst or a handful of reporters or just a really small group, maybe a couple of other coaches included. She is so mild-mannered then, and she's told me, I kind of lose my mind on the sidelines.

I don't really know what's happening actually, but it's that flare. It's that flare and it's that passion that is part of who she is and why she is now the winner of four national championships. First coach ever on the women's side to lead teams to national titles from two different schools.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. What about Kim planning against Kaitlyn Clark, who was held to 30 in this game? We knew Kaitlyn was going to shoot the ball. We knew she was going to make her threes, but we couldn't give her the 10 to 12 points she always gets off of layups. I don't know if I'm right, but I think she may have only gotten one inside the arc tonight. She got free throws and she had those threes, but I'd have to break this stat sheet down. She didn't get many layups in the arc and Alexis, she guarded two of the best our game has to offer. Referring to Alexis Moore, who had 21 points and nine assists, but drew the assignment of having to slow down Kaitlyn as much as possible.

I was just super excited for Jazz. As the PG, I always temperature check my teammates just to see where they're headed. So in practice, I was like, you want to get some extra shots? We usually get extra shots in, just me and her.

And yeah, I feel like I can be a trainer someday, so I love working with Jazz. But in practice today, I asked her, I said, you want to get some extra shots up? She was like, no, I'm good. I said, so you ready for tonight?

So she hit her first few shots, Ahya would call the timeout. I said, stay right there. Stay locked in.

Whatever head space you're in right now, do not check out and just stay ready. She gave us a huge spark off the bench today. She was a game changer tonight and thank you Jazz for being a senior and being who you are too.

Appreciate you bro. So Alexis Moore draws the defensive assignment and there she is after her big game and what is she talking about? Her teammate, Jasmine Carson, who comes off the bench and hits the five threes and we'll hear from Jasmine a little bit later on.

Angel Reese, yet another double double, 15 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, and she is unapologetically Angel Reese. I'm happy. I mean, all year I was critiqued about who I was. I don't fit the narrative. I don't fit in the box that y'all want me to be in. I'm too hood. I'm too ghetto. Y'all told me that all year, but when other people do it, y'all don't say nothing.

So this was for the girls that look like me that's going to speak up on what they believe in. It's unapologetically you. And that's what I did it for tonight. This was for the more, it was bigger than me tonight.

It was bigger than me. Twitter is going to go in a rage every time. I mean, I'm happy. I feel like I've helped grow women's basketball this year. I'm super happy and excited.

So I'm looking forward to celebrating in the next season. For those of you who responded to me and the people, the Twitter warriors that she was referring to, who were criticizing her taunting with the pointing to the ring finger and doing the, I guess it's a John Cena motion with the, with her hand waving in front of her face. Let's just clarify right now. She was imitating Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn was doing that during the tournament.

Okay. So all of those people who wrote to me and said, she's classless, she's got poor sportsmanship. I hope you say the same thing about Kaitlyn Clark. It was obvious she was doing it back to Kaitlyn because she had seen Kaitlyn do it early in the tournament.

Why? Because Kaitlyn has gotten every bit of coverage that you can possibly imagine. And she should. She's an incredible individual player. Iowa made this awesome run.

But if you're going to criticize Angel for taunting with the hand, the five fingers in front of the face, waving it in front of your nose, well then you better make sure you say the same thing about Kaitlyn because she was doing the same exact thing earlier in the tournament. As for Kaitlyn Clark, her first national title game, 30 points, eight assists and what a show the entire tournament. I want my legacy to be the impact that I can have on young kids and the people in the state of Iowa. And I hope I brought them a lot of joy this season. I hope this team brought them a lot of joy. I understand we came up one win short, but I think we have a lot to be proud of and a lot to celebrate. And I was just that young girl.

So all you have to do is dream and you can be in moments like this. She said that when Lisa Bluder recruited her, she planted the seeds. Lisa said to her, we can do this.

And so the Des Moines product stayed at Iowa and look what they've accomplished. And maybe potentially the best is yet to come, but certainly an emotional Kaitlyn Clark. Man, I'm thankful for her. She definitely brought me joy in watching women's college basketball this year.

On Twitter, ALawRadio, on our Facebook page too, coming up, Doug Feinberg from Dallas in the wake of an incredible women's championship and women's tournament overall. It's After Hours on CBS Sports Radio. I think I just said that. Sometimes I say it more than once because I forget that I just said it. There's just a lot in my brain.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Alexis Mars guarded two of the finest women's basketball players that our game has. She did it against Amor with Virginia Tech and she did it tonight. She didn't keep them from scoring. They're that good. But what she did is she made every shot they took a little bit maybe more difficult instead of easy.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Alexis Morris, Jasmine Carson, Angel Reese, Kim Mulkey, LSU with a total team effort. And man, they had to dig down deep to survive the Iowa Hawkeyes and the women's basketball national championship. Kim Mulkey now with her fourth national title, three of those coming at Baylor. Her first in just her second season with the LSU Tigers and she is back home in Louisiana. That was her desire was to go home and to establish a dominant program back in Louisiana. She played actually at Louisiana Tech.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio, on Twitter, ALawRadio, on our Facebook page too. Want to talk more about what we saw at this women's final four in Dallas. So for that we bring in AP National Women's College basketball writer, Doug Feinberg. And Doug, I know you have a lot in your brain still processing. Of course, you got to catch an early flight too.

So I appreciate that you're spending a few minutes with us. How unlikely and improbable is this two year rise of LSU women's basketball from a losing program with not a lot of prospects to hiring Kim Mulkey away from a national power in Baylor and then winning this title two seasons later? Well, Amy, I'll tell you, I think if you ask me this question five years ago, I'd say there's no chance this could happen for a team. But the way the transfer portal works now and the way that Kim was so able to use it getting Angel Reese and Katari Poole, you can build a team very, very quickly now in women's college basketball and men's college basketball. So it's unlikely in the sense of you need to everyone gel and play together well and all that sort of thing. But to get the players now, you don't have to wait and recruit the right ones.

You can just sort of through free agency pick up the ones that you think are going to work for you. And sure enough, it's worked out great for LSU and Kim this year. What is it about Kim that just makes her a winner? Because everywhere she's gone, everything she's done, she wins. She's a great coach. I mean, she's 4-0 now in championship games. I think she's third all-time behind Geno and Pat for overall championships of four. She just, she's a great accidental coach. She gets the most out of her players because I think she's loyal to them.

People either love Kim or hate Kim, it seems. But seeing her players on the podium tonight, they would run through a brick wall for her. Alexis Morse was with her at Baylor five years ago, got dismissed from the team.

And you would think, okay, I'm never gonna play for that coach ever again. But when she was looking for a spot to land, Kim said, come back to me, I want you to play for me. And they seem to be very well together. And obviously she had an unbelievable tournament, had a great game tonight. That's the thing. You think of a player that she threw off the team for some issues, would never want to play for her again, yet comes back, plays for LSU and has an unbelievable tournament run. Definitely does inspire loyalty. You can see that with those players who have played for her. And I would say most of the great coaches do that. From her antics on the sidelines, and I've heard her, I mean, she's actually said to me before that she kind of loses her mind there on the sidelines, to the way that she has such high standards for her players because she has such incredible belief in them.

You can see the spirit just completely changes. What does it mean to have her as a Louisiana native do this for LSU? I asked her today actually in the postgame press conference, what does it mean to do this?

What does it mean to win a state and win a championship, the first one ever for LSU men's or women's basketball? And she's like, you know, I teared up about 90 seconds left on the clock and never do this. I started getting emotional.

I don't know if I was thinking about coming home and doing this or just that it's the title. And I know the game wasn't over at that point. Something about it made me get emotional. She started weeping on the sideline if people were watching the game on TV. It meant that much to her to be able to win a championship in her home state and to get the first one for LSU with all the great players that have gone through there.

Mona Gussis, Sylvia Fowles. It meant so much to her and it's a great story. I mean, coach goes home wins title. That's a really, really good thing. If I would won, you'd have hometown player and Kaitlin Clark wins title for coach who was an Iowan. So like you have either way a great storyline for someone coming home or staying home and winning a championship. We're excited to spend a few minutes with Doug Feinberg, who covers women's basketball on the national stage for the Associated Press with us from Dallas where the women's final four just wrapped up at LSU winning its first title.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Let's talk about the game itself. There were a lot of fouls called. What did you see, Doug, yourself and what did you hear about the number of fouls that were called in this game? I mean, Amy, I think when I go to sleep soon, I'm going to sort of have whistles in my head from the amount that were called tonight.

Here's my issue. It seems as social media has pluses and minuses and I'm sure people can weigh their thoughts on it, but there are more people talking about the efficiency in this game than they were talking about the game and that's never good for any game, let alone a championship game. Were things called fouls probably that they weren't used to? It seems that way. It was both sides.

That's a very important thing to say. It wasn't like they were favoring one team or the other. I mean, Andrew Reeves getting two fouls in the first quarter was not good. You want a few on the court.

He's one of the most electrifying players in women's college basketball right now. You don't want a few on the bench. And then obviously on the other side, Kaitlin Clark picking up fouls and the technical foul she got from my co-workers, the pool reporter, asked the official why she got a technical foul in that game and the rule, and again, I don't know the exact rule, but basically the team got a delay of game warning earlier in the game, earlier in that quarter, and then Clark threw the ball or swabbed the ball away, which is another delay of game, but she got the technical foul for that. If that's the rule, that's the rule. I don't know if that's a smart rule to have, but that's what the rule is. You would think they would be like, hey, you know, don't do that again, or something to sort of like know the situation that it's your fourth foul because you get a personal foul on you if you get a technical foul.

It didn't sit well with a lot of people, and I just think there needs to be a little better accountability for things when officials are done. Listen, the first time ever they had 11 female officials officiating in the Final Four, which is a great thing. They said for Title IX, the 50th anniversary, so I understand that, but you've got to wonder about a lot of things when you can't really question officials on calls. You can request coaches on calls, why'd you make that call?

What was going on there? You can't question officiating, and I think that's a little bit of an issue that the NCAA needs to look at going forward. Doug, how would you describe the tournament that Kaitlin Clark had?

It's the best one I've ever seen. I mean, I've been covering this sport now for 16 years, and the only one I can think is comparable is before I started covering it, I was in college, packed in, with Cheryl Swoop's run when she helped Texas Tech win the championship in 1993. She had 47 points in the title game, and she had an unbelievable run, and actually Kaitlin broke her record for points in the tournament. I think Swoop had 177, and Clark had 191 when you add them all up, but a triple-double, the first ever 40-point triple-double to get them to their first final four in 30 years, and then throw in, oh, the next game I'll have 41 points again to beat the unbeaten team in South Carolina that was trying to chase its own history of a tenth team to go undefeated through the tournament and back-to-back title.

So the bigger the stage got, the better Kaitlin played, and that to me is unbelievable. For people who don't know the recent history of South Carolina, of course, the defending champions, they had a 42-game win streak into that national semifinal, and Clark had the 41 points. This is Don Staley's championship roster, right, and there was so much promise for them to go back-to-back. How would you rate the shock value, Doug, on a scale of one to ten?

I think it was shocking. I'd put it probably like a five or six, because as you mentioned, they'd won 42 straight, they're the best team in the country, they'd run through everyone as far as going undefeated, but to me, they also had, I think, a bunch of games where they were trailing and had to come back and win it. I remember some of the great teams in the past would run through everybody, the UConn Dynasty, the 2013-16, their games, they never trailed.

I think they had double-digit victories in every one. South Carolina beat Mississippi in overtime earlier this year, they beat Stanford in overtime, so they were undefeated, but they weren't maybe as dominant as those teams, but to go undefeated is to go undefeated, and that's what Don Staley's done, and she's a phenomenal coach and they were a great team that just ran into a really hot player and playing on the court, and Kaitlyn Clark, and a team that played great and played a strategy, they dared them to beat them from the outside, and South Carolina just couldn't do it the other night. Doug Feinberg is with us from Dallas, having covered the women's final four, the women's tournament for the Associated Press, it's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. To clarify, Kaitlyn Clark is returning to Iowa, correct? She is. She's a junior that she has to come back for because the WNBA, you have to have certain rules, you have to be 22 the year you'll be drafted.

She's only a junior with all the COVID rules and stuff. She could actually come back for two more years if she wanted to. I think she has one more year in her definitely, and we'll see what happens, how their season plays out next year.

What about Angel Reese? Unique player, you mentioned that, obviously has a flair and has a streak when it comes to double-doubles, so she stepped on the court and the work that she does gets you double-digit points and rebounds. What about her prospects moving forward? She is fun to watch, Amy.

She set the NCAA record tonight with her 34th consecutive double-double to break Courtney Parrish's mark first single season. She is fun. I mean, she's exciting. She brings a flair to the game, as you said, and she's actually funny.

She's not apologetic for it. She is who she is, and it should be celebrated. She shows her emotion on the court.

She's got the lashes. She just loves to show off who she is on the court. And she should be able to do that, that she shouldn't be chastised for it. She shouldn't be given crap for it, so to speak, and it's great. She is one of the most exciting players and one of the best players in college basketball right now. It's just, again, remindful of that relationship that Kim has with her players. And I heard her say on the court after the game on Sunday, she gets that some people may look at her players and say, you know, they've got big personalities, you know, they're this, they're that, and yet she just lets them be who they are.

And that's always been a hallmark of her teams. What's funny about Angel is that I asked her yesterday about transferring to LSU and LSU wasn't even one of the schools she was going to transfer to. She was going to go originally to Tennessee and South Carolina, the two that you really wanted to go to. And then I forget what she said, but someone said, hey, at least you should look at LSU. She went there, had a visit and canceled the other ones because I love playing here. I want to play here.

I'm coming here. How was the atmosphere in Dallas for the women's final four as it continues to grow? It was fantastic. I mean, listen, they set a tennis record for the entire tournament that ratings records I believe for the semifinals and the early rounds were through the roof.

I can only imagine what the ratings can be for this game when it comes out tomorrow or the next day. I mean, it was electric. I mean, there was 19,000 fans both nights was great. There was people cheering for everybody. I mean, it wasn't like one sided cheering, although there was probably more pro Iowa crowds than an anti Iowa crowd or pro LSU crowd, I should say. It was fun. I mean, they've done a really good job last couple of years selling out the women's final four, selling up championship games, and it feels like a great atmosphere. It feels like what you want for a game of this magnitude. So now deep breath and just to get back to the transfer portal before I let you go, how much pressure does this put on coaches, coaches that would like to try to build a program and yet it almost feels like players can get picked off so easily. Yeah.

I mean, it's funny. I think Jeff Wall said it's selection Sunday and transfer portal Monday and performance starts and that's kind of what it feels like. I mean, there's so many players in the portal, so many people are changing teams, really a free agency market, basically without having salary caps in a sense, players can go wherever they want their players entering the portal and there's only so many jobs. So the question is if a thousand players enter the portal, not a thousand players are going to get offers and what happens to the ones that don't. So that's a fear to me going forward. I've heard coaches say to me that they've heard other coaches sort of tampering, so to speak.

They'll tell a player, Hey, enter the portal because I'll take you. And that should not be how it works, but it's been out there. There have been coaches that have been using it very well. I mean, I said, Kim Mokey did a great job getting the ones that fit her team this year and last year. Coach Yo at Mississippi has done a phenomenal job this year. It sort of made a name for herself in the tournament.

She said she's big into the portal. She already took a kid from North Carolina who's really good to transfer to her. So it's here to stay. And to be honest, I think that's going to be going for a while of having kids transfer because they get the free year now where if you transfer during a certain window, which I think is around now for the next couple of days, the next 30 days, wherever it is, you can get a free year and not to sit out, which you used to have to do when you transfer. So I think that's going to be a big way for people, especially after the same success that teams had to build teams quickly if you're a new coach or an established coach. Doug Feinberg at Doug F-E-I-N-B-E-R-G, the AP National Women's Basketball Writer, one-time partner with me on Columbia Women's Basketball. It's great to catch up with you. Thank you for the insight, the intel from Dallas. Thanks, Amy. Always a pleasure. That was a quick hour, an entire hour spent on women's basketball. One game. I love it. It was worth all the attention. It was a shift, though, as we get into hour number two here after our CBS Sports Radio.