 Yeah, she's a basketball Hall of Famer. She's a national champion. She's an Olympic gold mellis. She's a five time WNBA All-Star and she is now the head coach of the Chicago sky. Teresa Witherspoon, ladies and gentlemen, she is here. And look, this is a new gig last month, right? So talk to us about what excites you the most about taking on this role. Well, I think when you take a look at it, I think about full circle starting in the W and now getting another another opportunity to coach in the W. This has been a dream of mine is to be a head coach. So it's exciting, exciting to be a part of such a great group of young women that I have an opportunity to lead. Teresa, you spent the last four seasons as an assistant with the Pelicans. What did you take away from your time in the NBA? I know you work very closely in development as an assistant. So what was your time like in the NBA for the last four years? I had an incredible time of learning and and trying to find my fit, find where my experience could be of help to each and every one of the young men and have an opportunity to be a part of and then finding and understanding the game on that side. It's a tremendous production. It's a tremendous production. And you learn a lot and you kind of take those things. And then once you get an opportunity, you see where it can fit with what you're trying to do as well. Willie Green said they could be the best deal in the NBA as far as Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram. I know you work closely with Zion, you two had an unbreakable bond. What do you see from Zion? What do you see from those two? And also just Zion specifically, he's gotten a lot of shade at different points, but just working with him closely. What can you say about his his work habits? Yeah, he's a great young man. I think a lot of times people just come up with their own ideas and thoughts because of what they read and what they don't see. But I know him very well. I know him from a deep place. And he's an incredible young man. He wants to play this game. He wants to be great at this game. He wants to put in the work for this game. And he understands now how to hold yourself accountable for what you want. And when they talk about the best duo in the game, they are by far the best duo in the game. I can actually say that those young men are incredible basketball, but incredible. They can do some things that is not so often seen or done. And they can be known as the best duo in this game. In my mind, they are some matter of putting in the work to be known as such. Yeah, coach, having that such just great relationship with Zion. How frustrating was it when you would hear media talk about how is he doesn't have the right worth work ethic and doesn't work hard? I didn't allow it to frustrate me. You know, I wanted him to see me as the example. Frustration. We don't allow that to happen. You just allow it to motivate you. And you don't you cannot live to the expectations of others. You have to have the expectations of your own. And that was my message to him is the expectations must come from you. If you want to live between the hand claps of other people, I don't think you're gonna live too long. Can't live between that. So always have the expectations of yourself and know that someone's gonna say something that doesn't fit what you think should fit. I like that between the hand claps. All right. So when Stan Van Gunny lost the gig in New Orleans, a lot of people thought this was yours. And I'm over here sitting here waiting like, let's go, let's make this happen. Did you have the same expectations? Did you did something fall through at the end? What did you know and think? Well, some things I wish I could answer for you. But I can't. But what I do know is I was ready. I was ready if my name was called. It's about putting in the work. I don't mind having to put in the work. I don't I don't really care about people googling up what I've done. Because a lot of times I really don't matter. It really doesn't matter what you've done in the game. It's a matter of you waiting your time knowing that you're ready trusting in your value and your words. And I was ready if my name was called. I was ready to go. Coach, as you know, the W keeps growing. So many different exciting players. Who would you call the face of the WNBA at this moment? The face of the W is Asia. Asia Wilson. She's she's she's amazing. She's absolutely amazing. Everything she does. And I think a lot of times she gets a bad rap. She gets a bad rap because she has fun. And she's authentically herself. She reminds me a lot of myself with the energy that she plays with the joy that she plays with. And sometimes people take that the wrong way. But that's her approach. And that's why she's so good at what she does. And she is the face. Teresa, the MVP race this year was so close. I mean, you had Alyssa Thomas, you had Breonna Stewart, you had Asia Wilson. Who would you have gone with for your MVP this season? For me, Asia was the MVP. The things that she's done. But the one thing I will not do is discredit anything that any one of those players have done in this league this past season, because they were all great. But when you look at what Alyssa Thomas had done, AT was amazing. She was absolutely amazing. It's hard as heck to average a triple W. She was almost there every night and the position that she played, what she had to do for her team. You can in any way overlook what she's done in this league and and the excitement that she brought for her team and for people to see what she can do. And I think people also feel to realize that she was playing and has been playing with her labors being torn in both arms. That's a lot. That says a lot about that young lady. It kind of sounds scary if both of those arms are well. Hmm. I don't know what else you'll be able to do because she's amazing. And it sounds awful to go through in the first place. Look, they used to beat the Liberty in the finals. And then afterwards, a lot of the players for the Liberty didn't want to speak to the media. They got fined by the league for that. I know some media people were upset about it. What have you? Do you think they should have spoken with the media? How do you look at that sort of, I guess, obligation by players? Well, I'm sure that if they had to do this all over again, that they would, that they would at that moment. It's a moment of heartbreak. And you just you actually just act on that moment and do exactly what you feel at the moment. But I believe once they take a look back at it, they'll be like, you know, I should have done what was necessary and that's to speak to the media and really just let you know how you feel at that moment. Just allow your feelings to flow. We've all been in that position. It's very painful. But the same way when you win, you go to the media. You have to have that same approach when you lose and go to the media. It's not the best feeling. But I think if those young ladies would have thought about it, I think they would do it all over again and it changed that process. I can't wait to hear your opinion on this one. A few weeks ago, a moron and then his minions started the whole narrative. It's been played out. But that the the champs, the aces would be beaten by the best high school boys basketball team. I don't need to answer that. What do you say to that? You know, there's no need to even give that energy. No need to give that energy because whoever this person is, I don't want to call them by their name. Well, this person is, they know that we're doing good at what we do and what they do. That's the only reason you're at you're saying anything because there are the measuring sticks. So you want to be a part of the measuring stick. So we don't give it any energy. We know people going to have things about what we do and how we do it. But we know we do it well. This year, there were five number one picks on the floor in the finals. Obviously huge. That's a huge thing to get the number one pick. Caitlin Clark, if she decides to come out this year, obviously number one pick, how impactful will she be right away? He's immediate impact, immediate impact. I don't have a shadow without my mind. It's her mentality. It's her approach. I don't think anyone pays attention to that. I think a lot of times everybody just pay attention to the talent. But it's her approach without the approach to talent sometimes doesn't really come to the forefront. But her approach is unreal. She believes the moment she steps on the floor. This is my house. I don't care where I am. I'm coming to destroy it and she's going to be an immediate impact in sleep. If she called you and said, coach, should I leave this year? What's your advice? Come on out. It's going to be great for our league. As you can see, our league is growing. It's a tremendous amount of talent in this league. And she brings a lot. She brings a lot. She brings a lot of excitement. It's going to bring an incredible fan base as well. Tuesday, Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, they had a pretty good back and forth rivalry in the championship game. I mean, that has the makings of a great college rivalry, but also at the next level. So how good are those matchups? I mean, when you talk about about two stars going at it against each other on the college level, WMA level, how great is that for the game? It's awesome. It's a great excitement. You want to fans are going to come just to see what's going to happen. They want to see what's going to happen between those two. That excitement alone brings them to sit in the stands to see what's going to happen. You know what they're going to bring scoring the ball, playing D, leading their teams. You know what's going to happen there. The fans want to see what's going to happen next is I want to go throw the ring me. Is someone going to cut your throat? Is someone going to send you out the gym? They want to know what it's going to look like. So it's going to bring a lot of excitement and that brings the butts in the seats as well. Who was one of your biggest rivals as a player coach? Dang comments. Dang comments. I had Cynthia Cooper. She was. She she made you. She made you think all the time. She made you stay on your toes. She made you dream about her. Wanted to put the locks on her because she was so good at what she does. She was so good at, you know, stretching again, getting to the rear, putting the ball on the floor. Now she'll tell you she never played any defense, so we were going to attack her, but she was one that was amazing offensively and she made you really have to think the game. Theresa, before I let you go, what kind of practices are we looking at? You look so nice and sweet right now, and I just feel like these women are in the off season. They're chilling. Should they be scared? No, don't be scared. I try to keep in touch with each one of them as I can to let them know what the expectations will be. We're just going to work hard. We want to be the hardest working team. We want to be the most exciting team. We want to be a team that gets up and down the floor, so we will be a well conditioned basketball team and we will be known for hanging our hats on the defense side of the ball. I love it. Theresa Witherspoon. You guys, thank you so much for the time we appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Appreciate you guys so much.