Debbie Antonelli is more than just an analyst or studio host, she is a driving force for improving the quality, the exposure, and the awareness of women's college basketball.

A former point guard in her own right, Antonelli is still directing, leading, promoting. One of the more active social media participants, Antonelli also directs two holiday tournaments, is a voter in the AP polls, and visits schools and their teams to help breakdown the game and give media training.

Often a guest on Dishin & Swishin, it is a pleasure to welcome Antonelli back to talk about some of the players and happenings in this college basketball season.

Talk about living life to the fullest!

Kara Lawson is the trailblazing analyst on Washington Wizards NBA telecasts, women's basketball analyst as part of ESPN's lead team of coverage, and just for fun, a contributor to USA Basketball, including helping manage the 3 x 3 teams.

Whew, I get tired just thinking about that schedule, but Lawson was kind enough to squeeze in some time for a Dishin & Swishin podcast on her way to the airport for a Mystics road trip of five games in eight days.

One of the more knowledgeable people in the game, Lawson helps breakdown the NCAA women's basketball season, and the first games played, including the unreal game between Louisville and Ohio State she helped broadcast from Columbus.

Which teams should we be looking out for this year and can anyone beat UConn? Who are some of the top players to keep an eye on? What should we expect from her alma mater, Tennessee?

These are just a few of the topics covered on this week's Dishin & Swishin.

It's NCAA women's basketball season! Enjoy!

And Enjoy the podcast!

Nicki Collen is living the Dream; the Atlanta Dream that is.

The former Connecticut Sun assistant coach is the new head coach of the Atlanta Dream, becoming the second assistant coach to be elevated to a head coaching job in the WNBA this offseason (Katie Smith in New York is the other).

She takes over a team that is an enigma, to say the least. Their best player sat out last season. They still had three all-stars, and a very strong candidate for Rookie of the Year. Yet they finished the season 10th in a twelve team league, closing the year with a 2-8 record in their last ten games.

It will be Collen's job, her first head coaching job at the pro or college level, to stabilize the franchise, bring Angel McCoughtry back to the team, and get the returning players to buy into the spacing, fast paced and three-point shooting offense that she wants to run.

Not having a first round draft choice will hurt that progression, but without question Atlanta will pursue free agents and trades to improve their chances.

It is a pleasure to welcome coach Collen to Dishin & Swishin for the first time! We wish her well as she builds her staff and sets up her support system and team.

Enjoy the podcast!

No tricks, just treats from Dishin & Swishin on Halloween! There's no question about it; 2017 was one hell of a year for Dawn Staley.

Coach of NCAA women's basketball national champion South Carolina would be great on its own, but to also be elevated by USA Basketball to the head coach of the Senior National team makes it phenomenal.

It is a pleasure to kick off Dishin & Swishin's NCAA coverage by talking with one of our favorite guests, coach Staley, to discuss the upcoming NCAA season and her summer camp with USA Basketball.

After touring the country and Japan with her new bestie, the "netlace" in tow, Staley also had her first USA camp as head coach this summer. Now, though, it's back to business; winning the difficult SEC, returning to the NCAA tournament, and a trip to Columbus, Ohio, site of this year's Final Four.

Even though the Gamecocks lost three WNBA first round draft choices in Rookie of the Year Allisha Gray, Kayla Davis, and Alaina Coates, the cupboard is far from bare.

Returning is the odds on favorite for national player of the year honors, forward A'ja Wilson. Already a tremendous talent, on Dishin & Swishin Staley talks about what she asked Wilson to improve on for this season, and it is enough to make even the best of teams nervous at the thought!

A loaded backcourt featuring returnees Tyasha Harris and Bianca Cuevas-Moore will be counted on for more offense this year. Graduate transfer Lindsey Spann from Penn State is already being a leader, according to Staley, and transfer post Alexis Jennings from Kentucky will need to make an  impact on both ends of the court. 

Can South Carolina repeat? It won't be easy, but the possibility is real! One this is certain, their coach will be pushing them to reach their maximum potential. And really, what else can you ask for in a coach?

There are few people in the women's basketball world with a more complete resume than Katie Smith, and that was before she was named head coach of the New York Liberty.

A record breaking college career, ABL sucess and championships, WNBA records and championships, the player's representative for the USA Basketball senior national team selection committee, assistant coach in the WNBA, and broadcaster for NCAA games.

Now add head coach of one of the most important franchises in the WNBA, the New York Liberty. 

The Liberty is not just any franchise. It's New York City, right by the league offices, playing in Madison Square Garden, "the mecca." On the court they have had success, albeit not championship level success. Off the court they are community leaders, winners of the first WNBA season long Community Assist award.

It is Smith's job to take them to the next level on the court, a first championship for the Liberty.

Smith not only has her own pedigree, she has played and coached with some of the very best, including Brian Agler and Bill Laimbeer. It will be fun to see the evolution of head coach Katie Smith and where she can take the Liberty.

It is a pleasure to welcome Smith back to Dishin & Swishin.  Topics covered include:

What is next for the Liberty?

How do you make inconsistent players more consistent?

The importance of being a part of the community 

The changing of the guard in USA Basketball, when and how do you turn over roster spots

Good luck to Katie Smith as she begins the next chapter in her career!

Enjoy the podcast!

The WNBA season came to a close this week in a blaze of glory, with the two best teams for the second year in a row battling for five entertaining and exciting games. Congratulations to the Minnesota Lynx on their fourth WNBA championship.

In addition to game five being played, the off-season maneuvers of WNBA franchises began in earnest with the Seattle Storm hiring veteran coach Dan Hughes as their new head coach, replacing Gary Kloppenburg, who was Seattle's interim coach after the team fired Jenny Boucek on August 10th.

Hughes "retired" after the 2016 season as coach and general manager of the San Antonio Stars, but a year away from the WNBA convinced him and his family he needed to go back into coaching.

Hughes returns to Dishin & Swishin where he has been a guest previously both as coach of the San Antonio Stars and college basketball analyst. Topics covered include:

- Impressions of the WNBA finals, and how to compete in the same conference as Minnesota and Los Angeles

- How to stabilize the inconsistencies and improve the Storm's playoff seeding

- What to say to those that see him as "just another coach" instead of someone new and younger

- Building a roster for 2018 and what to expect.

- Can he catch a fish?

This weekend at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, the USA Basketball Senior Women's National team will have their official changing of the guard. It is there that the first training camp A.G. (After Geno), will be held. Dawn Staley takes over as head coach, and between players in the WNBA finals and a few missing for other reasons, the 18 participants will generally speaking be a group of young players vying for the few spots that may be available.

Carol Callan returns to Dishin & Swishin for this week's podcast, and if anyone knows about transitioning to new coaches and new ways of conducting business, it is Callan. Callan is responsible for all USA Basketball women's team programs, including competitions, trials, training camps, and serves as a liaison to women's competition committees.

Topics covered include:

 - How do players not in the USA pipeline get camp invites

 - Eligibility before and after international representation of other countries 

 - Adjusting to a new head coach and the importance of this and other camps this year

 - Building a cohesive team when you only meet for a few days, a couple of times per year, including the importance of veteran players like Bird and Taurasi

 - USA Basketball's first "Women in the Game" conference being held this weekend for high school and college students

Enjoy the podcast!

No team has won back-to-back WNBA championships since the 2001-2002 Los Angeles Sparks. That means incredible championship teams like the Detroit Shock, Phoenix Mercury, and Minnesota Lynx have not been able to pull it off.

Our guest on this week's Dishin & Swishin was part of that Sparks team that defeated the Charlotte Sting and then the New York Liberty to win back-to-back titles, DeLisha Milton-Jones.

It is a pleasure to welcome Milton-Jones back to Dishin & Swishin. 

Why is it so dfficult to repeat?  What is different in the second year than the first year? Do the 2017 Sparks have what it takes to repeat?  Do the 2002 Sparks celebrate when a defending champion gets knocked off like the 1972 Miami Dolphins celebrate being the last team to go undefeated?

Insightful conversation with a person who has played with and against many of the important players and the coaches in this year's WNBA finals. Milton-Jones gives you some key things to look for early in the series.

Will this be the year?

Enjoy the podcast!

As the WNBA playoffs continue, it is a pleasure to welcome the Coach and Executive of the Year, the Connecticut Sun's Curt Miller, back to Dishin & Swishin to help break down the semi-final round.

Minnesota and Los Angeles, the top two seeds, both hold 2-0 advantages over Washington and Phoenix, respectively, with game three on the trailing teams home court on Sunday afternoon.

Miller takes the time to talk about what happened in the first two games, the impact of the short turn around between series, whether the second should be single elimination or a series, and what both teams need to do to survive and advance.

Then, it's a fun "fill in the blanks" conversation, as Coach and GM Miller discusses the answers to questions like "I won coach of the year when my team did _______" and "the thing I was most pleased with this season was ____________."  

Of particular interest, "If I could have a do-over, on one thing this year, it would be _______."

A fun conversation with the man that has turned the Connecticut franchise around, and made them a contender in only his second year with the team. 

Enjoy the podcast!

The elite coaches, the very best in their field, become synonymous with their programs.

Pat Summitt and Tennessee, for example, or Geno Auriemma and UConn. The newest member of the Naismith Hall of Fame, Muffet McGraw and Notre Dame fit the bill.

If you look at McGraw's bio on Notre Dame's website, the very top line is a quote from former Notre Dame athletic director Gene Corrigan when McGraw was hired in 1987:

""If we searched for an entire year. I don't think we would find anyone better suited for our program."

He could have said 30 years and he would have been right! Over 750+ wins and 30 years later McGraw is still a dynamo; the type of coach that demands excellence on and off the court, and pushes her student-athletes to be strong, diversified and dynamic women.

It is a pleasure to salute McGraw on her induction into the Hall of Fame with two of her very best players. Both have had tremendous success on and off the court, and personify the coaching career and achievements with student athletes achieved by McGraw..

First, we chat with San Antonio Stars General Manager Ruth Riley, the Most Outstanding Player when Notre Dame won McGraw's 2001 national championship.

Then, after a recent game in Connecticut, we talked with Dallas Wings guard Skylar Diggins, who helped trigger the resurgence of Notre Dame to the Final Four caliber team every season that it is now.

Congratulations on induction into Springfield Coach McGraw.  It seems like another perfect fit.

Enjoy the podcast!