Latest / Spiders Sound Off / Saved the Best for 44: Maggie Doogan Joins Spiders Sound Off

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Saved the Best for 44: Maggie Doogan Joins Spiders Sound Off · Spiders Sound Off

0:06
Hey everybody. Welcome back to Spider.
0:08
Sound off. This is Tom.
0:09
And this is Porter. We are here for episode 44.
0:14
We've got a yeah, we got a special.
0:17
Guest or anything special day if.
0:20
Some of you follow our women's program.
0:22
You may know that we have a player who is number 44.
0:25
We may learn more about her today, why she's #44 and and why
0:30
she arguably is the best player we've ever had.
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That it's probably the most excited I've been about a spider
0:38
sound off episode yet. And you brought it up to me
0:42
earlier on that we've had, we've had Allie, Rachel, we've had
0:47
Addie and Katie. Yeah, we had the starting.
0:49
Four of the five starters from the epic run last year, but we
0:52
haven't had, you know, maybe player number one overall.
0:56
Save the best for last. So here we go.
0:58
It's going to be episode 44. But before we get into our
1:01
interview with Maggie Dugan, we just like to say thank you guys.
1:05
Thank you for listening to the Scott Unger episode, the last
1:08
one we released. Thank you for supporting the
1:12
charity that has been set up to honor his son, who unfortunately
1:17
passed away from brain cancer at the age of four.
1:21
We are so deeply appreciative that everybody who who has
1:24
listened has made a contribution.
1:26
You can still make a contribution if you haven't yet.
1:28
saintbaldricks.org, look up Luke's army. saintbaldricks.org,
1:34
look up Luke's army. Read the story that's out there.
1:37
There's some video that's it's really, really powerful stuff.
1:40
Make that contribution. I mean, I think we can all agree
1:43
helping a parent not have to ever deal with that again is a
1:48
'cause that far exceeds anything we could do from a from a
1:52
basketball perspective. So we definitely would
1:54
appreciate you guys keep it keeping them in your mind and,
1:56
and, and keep donating so we can get rid of this terrible
1:59
disease. Yeah, it's never too late
2:00
obviously to donate, even as there's a lot of it, lot of
2:03
advancements, there's still more to do.
2:06
So please, when you get a chance, if you haven't already.
2:09
I think we've put it out on our socials as well if you're
2:11
looking for the link to just give whatever you can to help it
2:17
all out. But again, coming up next, we
2:20
will be joined by Maggie Dugan. #44 good morning, everybody, and
2:29
welcome back to Spider Sound Off.
2:30
We have a very special guest. It's an honor to be interviewing
2:36
#44 for our 44th episode, Maggie Dugan.
2:39
Welcome, Maggie to the Spider Sound Off podcast.
2:42
Thanks for having me guys. Before we get started, are is
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there any special any any special reason why #44 was the
2:53
number you selected? Not really.
2:58
I was always 21 because my birthday's on the 22nd, but 22
3:03
was always taken. So I was 21 before.
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But then, like, once I got to, you know, grade school and high
3:10
school, grade school, I was 45 because that's what my mom was
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in college. She was #45 And then I got to
3:16
high school and they didn't have 45.
3:18
So I did 44, which ironically was also my grandfather's high
3:22
school number, which I didn't know at the time, But yeah.
3:26
So this is. Kind of.
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No one had that when you came to Richmond.
3:29
It was free. No, no, you didn't have.
3:31
You didn't have. To negotiate.
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With anybody, yeah, I might as well stick with it.
3:35
That's awesome, I told Tom after we record this episode, this
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will be our one and only episode 44.
3:39
No matter how many seasons spider sound off goes, we're
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only going to do 1 episode number 44 and then we're
3:44
retiring it after. I love it.
3:46
Oh, that's awesome. Congrats, by the way, on the big
3:50
win against George Mason. We were both there.
3:51
It was fantastic, tied 28 to 28 at halftime and then you really
3:56
went on a run in the third quarter.
3:58
What kind of flipped the switch for you guys in the locker room
4:00
during halftime? Yeah, I mean, we knew obviously
4:03
they were going to be a a tough game.
4:05
They're really talented basketball team.
4:08
But at halftime, we knew that like the mistakes that we were
4:11
making were kind of self-inflicted.
4:14
I feel like we turned the ball over a lot.
4:16
We weren't, you know, pursuing defensive rebounds.
4:19
I feel like #22 was getting a lot of offensive rebounds.
4:22
So those are all things that we could control and things that we
4:24
could change. And that's just kind of what we
4:27
talked about of like our shots aren't falling, but we saw a lot
4:30
of holes in their defense of, you know, we can hit the middle
4:33
more, we can get to the high post more, we can get more flare
4:36
screens. So it was just kind of talking
4:39
about, you know, what we could do to get better shots and just
4:44
really hone down on defense. I think besides them getting
4:46
offensive rebounds, I feel like our defense was really good.
4:48
So we just had to keep that up. And yeah, we were able to knock
4:52
down shots and and get each other open.
4:54
So that definitely helped. Yeah, it seemed, it seemed from
4:56
the outside, from the fans view, that the defense picked up just
4:59
a little bit in the 3rd as well. Like you're in their face kind
5:02
of constantly or preventing their good, their best players
5:05
from even getting the ball. You can tell that that really
5:08
slowed them down. But given that you play them
5:10
again in a week, we're not going to get you to talk too much
5:12
about George Mason because we don't want any sort of like
5:14
locker room material that can, that can inspire them.
5:17
So one question we have like, so we, we did a, we did a podcast
5:22
with Ali after a game and she talked about a speech that you
5:25
gave right after halftime in the Navy game where you kind of help
5:29
settle the team, help them to relax and reset.
5:33
Kind of talk about how your role as a leader on this team has
5:36
evolved from your freshman to your senior year.
5:39
And what does it mean to you to help build the culture of this
5:42
team? Yeah, my leadership definitely
5:46
has changed a lot. Freshman year, I was more so
5:48
just trying to absorb everything.
5:50
You know, we had Addie as a junior, we had Grace and Siobhan
5:53
as juniors. And so I was just kind of, you
5:58
know, as any freshman would just kind of observe and kind of get
6:01
accustomed to what's the norm around here.
6:04
But kind of as I continue to go about my career, I kind of
6:08
realized that like I was always more of like a like a hard nosed
6:14
kind of leader of like, look, guys, we got to do this, this,
6:17
this, this and this. Like I was more of like
6:20
addressing things head on. But now as I've gotten older, I
6:22
feel like because of, you know, who I am and, and what I've done
6:28
here, I feel like so many people like look up to me and I don't
6:30
want to scare them right away. So I feel like now is more like
6:33
I'm trying to be the calmer leader of more encouraging, more
6:40
just like we're OK, reassuring everybody that we're OK.
6:43
Like we can make mistakes, but we it's how we bounce back.
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So that was really nice of Ali to mention that.
6:48
I don't remember what I said during the Navy game because I
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was kind of a little rattled at halftime.
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But yeah, I mean, leadership is everything.
6:57
And I think we have really great leaders this year.
7:00
And not just myself, but Rachel and and Ali, even though she's a
7:04
junior, I feel like she's just taking on a tremendous role of
7:07
leadership this year. Are you able to with the current
7:10
freshman kind of tell stories of like what your freshman year was
7:15
like to like, and you know, they were All Stars on their high
7:17
school team and and now come and and while they're they certainly
7:21
contribute and put up important minutes, like they're, you know,
7:23
they're not playing as much as they did a year ago.
7:26
Is your experience kind of is that part of what you try to do
7:29
with the freshman is kind of let them know like, you know, you
7:31
weren't player of the year, you know, right out of right out of
7:34
high school? Yeah, no, I, I've definitely had
7:37
conversations with some of them of like, your time is going to
7:40
come, but you got to be patient. You know, I didn't play a lot of
7:44
freshman year. I was out all of December with a
7:47
broken hand. And even before that, like I, I
7:51
wasn't really playing a lot. So your time is going to come,
7:54
but you got to, you got to stay patient and trust that coach
7:57
knows what he's doing. And yeah, I mean, your time is
8:00
going to come. Yeah, One thing kind of noticed
8:03
in the George Mason game, but it's seen at the last few games,
8:05
it seems teams have decided like part of their way to try to slow
8:10
you down and maybe to slow the entire team down is play really
8:13
physical. I think we've seen that the last
8:16
few games over there. That's part of their strategy.
8:18
Like, does your approach change when you know you're 2 minutes
8:22
into the game and you're getting bumped around more than you're
8:25
more than, let's say, the last time you played A-Team?
8:27
Like the does your game change or you're just kind of used to
8:30
that physical nature by now? Yeah, I think the first couple
8:35
games after Davidson was when that started really picking up
8:41
and that I think it kind of took me a couple games to try and
8:44
figure out how I could succeed. Even though there's being super
8:48
physical now, I just kind of, I'm like, I'm used to it.
8:56
But I'm also I want to like take my time getting like used to the
9:00
game and seeing how they're going to guard me, seeing how
9:03
they're guarding other people. Because if they're guarding me,
9:05
but they're not guarding Rachel like that, like she's going to
9:08
get whatever shot she wants. And that's like coach has talked
9:11
a lot of a lot to us about like getting other people open and
9:15
then that'll help you get yourself, get yourself open.
9:18
So, you know, we've been setting a lot of flare screens for each
9:22
other. We've been setting a lot of back
9:24
door screens and ball screens for Ali just to try and, you
9:27
know, get their defense to move. Even if they're not going to
9:30
help off of us, it's going to open up windows for everybody
9:33
else. Yeah.
9:35
One of things we love we've seen from your team, but I, I think
9:39
we've heard this is kind of coaches move originally of hey,
9:43
you're not when the game is over, whether you win or lose,
9:45
you're kind of on the court. He gives you the whatever, one
9:48
minute, 2 minute speech or a pep talk and then it's like, hey, go
9:52
talk to the fans. Like, like, how is that?
9:56
You know, when you're looking at your brand building now, you
9:59
know, probably as a freshman, it was like, OK, this is new, but
10:02
you've been doing it for four years now.
10:03
Interacting with fans, Like what is that experience?
10:05
Like, you know, talking to the, the, you know, potentially the
10:09
future stars of Richmond, Oregon, just basketball in
10:12
general. You know, it's so rewarding.
10:17
After the game yesterday, there was like a whole line waiting
10:21
to, you know, get my autograph or get pictures with me.
10:24
And that's just so rewarding to me because that like, I remember
10:28
being that young of a kid and I'm from Philly.
10:31
So I would go to LaSalle games and Villanova games and Saint
10:34
Joe's games. And I, I would be the one to
10:35
wait after games and ask, you know, Tasha Cloud for her
10:39
autograph and just things like that.
10:42
Like it's, it's just a full circle moment.
10:45
And it's so, so special to me because, you know, I, I want the
10:49
game to keep growing. I want the little girls to watch
10:52
me and be like, I want to be like Maggie Dugan when I'm
10:54
older. Like, so, yeah, like at, at
10:58
first in the beginning, my freshman year, I was like, oh,
11:00
this is new. But now it's like I it's
11:02
something that I look forward to after every.
11:04
Game Speaking of Philly, just, you know something we, we, we
11:07
talked to Coach Mooney a few episodes ago.
11:09
You know, he's a Catholic League.
11:11
I was a Catholic League kid at Archbishop Ryan and I saw that
11:14
kind of your high school, just your girls team beat them a few
11:17
weeks ago. Do you give Coach Mooney grief
11:19
on that rivalry? Do you ever talk to him about
11:21
the Catholic League? A little bit briefly, I I didn't
11:25
give him much crap about us beating Ryan, but we we will
11:29
talk Philly basketball a little bit if I run into him in the
11:32
gym. Yeah, that's awesome.
11:34
That's awesome. So we have a little segment
11:36
called Getting to Know Maggie better, trying to differentiate
11:40
from other podcasts that you've been on in the last year.
11:42
So what are you studying and why did you choose it?
11:47
So I have or I'm studying business Administration with a
11:52
concentration in Marketing and a minor in leadership studies.
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I chose. I knew I wanted to go business,
12:00
like kind of after my first semester, first year of college,
12:03
I didn't know what I wanted to go into college, but I knew
12:06
Richmond had a great Business School.
12:08
Robbins is unbelievable Business School.
12:10
And when I took my marketing class, like I just connected
12:13
with the professor really well. I love the material.
12:16
I just love the whole aspect of marketing.
12:17
So I went with that route. But with business
12:21
administration, like you kind of get a little bit of everything.
12:23
So I've taken my accounting classes, I've taken finance,
12:25
I've taken econ, just kind of all the basics of business.
12:31
And then leadership was more of like the liberal arts side of
12:35
things. It's not as much math, it's more
12:37
reading and, and comprehending and kind of just like learning
12:43
basically like what leadership is and how you can see it in
12:46
different aspects of today. So that's just kind of a, a
12:50
separate side of school that I really like.
12:53
I like the reading aspect. I like learning about, you know,
12:58
it's a little bit of politics, a little bit of leaders in the
13:01
past and how they succeeded, how they failed.
13:03
Like I just kind of find that interesting.
13:05
So I got a little bit of balance of everything else.
13:09
That's awesome. We were both business majors as
13:11
well, so fully endorsed that decision.
13:14
Yeah. When coach gives you a rare day
13:17
off, which we know is probably not very often, what is your
13:19
favorite non basketball thing to do?
13:24
I love listening to music. I like hanging out with my
13:26
friends. I like reading.
13:29
If I'm not, you know, busy with school, I like to pick up a
13:33
novel here and there. But yeah, that's your.
13:36
Music of choice. I'm big into country music.
13:40
I love country music. I like Taylor Swift.
13:44
It's like she's her own genre and herself.
13:48
But yeah, country music. I like like 80s music too.
13:51
I'll. I'll throw on some Billy Joel
13:52
here and there. Yeah.
13:55
Where on campus do you have a favorite place to study?
13:58
Oh, I don't like studying, but I, I usually study either in the
14:08
locker room. We have like these big
14:11
whiteboards. So I get to like I can write out
14:13
my notes and just kind of visualize things.
14:16
Or I'll go to. If it's the.
14:19
Library and the maudlin. Yeah, I like.
14:22
I like going to maudlin sometimes.
14:23
Especially in the very much in my 4 years.
14:25
Old. No, I don't either.
14:28
What's your go to meal at D Hall?
14:31
Oh, when there's chicken parm night at D Hall, that's my
14:34
favorite chicken parm and green beans so good.
14:37
But when they have the like, they have sizzling sizzling
14:40
salad station or they'll like cook like chicken or steak and
14:44
then you can put it over a salad.
14:45
I'll you should put some rice in there too.
14:47
And they have this honey lemon sauce.
14:48
That's my favorite. So I would say one of those too.
14:51
Nice. Hey, one more food question.
14:53
What's best Philly cheese steak? In Philly.
14:57
In Philly, Dallas, Andros. Dallas Andros.
15:02
Awesome. So your average home attendance
15:05
freshman year was about 700. This season it's over 2000.
15:10
How much have you noticed the crowd size difference and what
15:14
does that do to change the feel of the game for you as a player?
15:18
It's awesome. I was talking, I forget who I
15:20
was talking to about this the other day, I think it was
15:22
Rachel, but I was like, we just will run out now.
15:25
And we'll actually have some students in our student section
15:28
and we'll have fans filling up both sides of the stands.
15:31
Like it's just, it's awesome how we have seen the growth of this
15:35
program and we, we really fuel off of the fans and we fuel off
15:40
the energy that you guys give us.
15:41
So the more people that we get, the more excited that we are to
15:45
play. And it's just, it's awesome just
15:48
to see the support continue to grow year after year.
15:52
At the the red of the red out or the red code red game?
15:55
VCU Did you notice the wave when it was going around stadium?
15:59
Yeah, it was so cool. I was sitting in a time out and
16:02
coach was talking. I was like, Oh my gosh, there's
16:04
the wave. And then I was like, wait, what?
16:06
What, what play are we running? But no, it was, it was so cool.
16:10
That was awesome there. Was there was a young gentleman
16:12
sitting in Section 19, He was in about the second row and he was
16:15
the one who individually got it started and he was running up
16:18
and down the sideline until it got going.
16:19
So we give him, we give him props for that.
16:22
Yeah, and I can't. I mean, we've been spiders for a
16:25
lot, for a long time. We were 93 grads.
16:28
But I, I can't, I mean, I can't remember a lot, but I, I don't
16:32
remember a wave taking over the Robin Center like that.
16:35
So that that was pretty special. Absolutely.
16:37
That was good. Yeah.
16:40
So we're gonna, we're gonna get a little bit more serious now
16:42
because we know we could talk a lot about Maggie Dugan's
16:46
achievements and we do talk a lot about Maggie's achievements
16:48
on the pod. But we know you also like to
16:51
deflect and talk more about the team that helps make you, you
16:55
know who you are today. So we're going to give you a
16:56
chance to do that. So this segment, we're going to
16:59
ask you to describe one skill or one characteristic from each of
17:05
your fellow starters because you, we'd be here all day if you
17:08
went through the whole team. But we're going to do the
17:10
starters and we're going to do 6 starters because Sam and Tierra
17:14
kind of alternate start. So let's start with Alicia.
17:18
Give us one skill or characteristic that you
17:20
appreciate about her game. Well, I just think like, what
17:22
could you add to you if you could steal from from them and
17:25
just put it in your arsenal? Just gave her the answer with
17:28
the word steal. Come on man.
17:30
Yeah, dude, that's leading the witness I.
17:32
Object Alicia. I mean, it's pretty obvious.
17:37
Her speed and her quickness is something that I would love to
17:40
have in my game, but especially on defense.
17:43
Like, she's so good at reading the passing lanes and she has
17:46
such quick hands that she's able to get steals and deflections
17:49
when her girl's dribbling. We put her on, you know, the
17:53
other team's best players most of the time, and she always does
17:56
a great job. So yeah.
17:58
Yeah, you talk about the passing lanes.
17:59
It seems once a game the other team passes it to her.
18:03
Of course they didn't mean to, but she just steps right in
18:05
front and the balls right to her and she's got the breakaway.
18:08
Those easy baskets are great. How about Ali?
18:10
What would you want to steal from?
18:13
Ali, Ali is just, she's so tough.
18:16
Like I feel like nothing really fazes her.
18:19
Obviously she's a great ball handler, she's a great shooter,
18:22
she's got a great IQ, but I just feel like her toughness is
18:24
something that really separates her from any other point guard
18:27
that I've played with. She's just so, you know,
18:29
nothing's going to really faze her.
18:31
She's you're going to have to, you know, take her out like
18:36
physically to get her off the floor speaking.
18:39
Of her toughness, it looked like yesterday.
18:41
She cut her hand at one point in time and then at some.
18:44
Point She cut her hand and then she got hit in the nose.
18:46
I was just. Saying then they were like
18:47
working on her nose and like, you know, you could just tell
18:49
like like she was get let me get me back in there, get me back in
18:52
there. So.
18:52
Yeah, I like to see. Her behind the back dribble.
18:54
Like yes, that's automatic. That that is her go to move.
18:59
She's awesome at it. How about Sam Sam.
19:03
Sam is just like, I know it doesn't, I know she doesn't like
19:07
feel calm all the time, but like, I feel like she's got such
19:09
a sense of calmness on the floor, like even before games
19:13
too, like I'll get a little anxious, but like, she'll always
19:16
come and like hold my hand and give me an extra squeeze and
19:18
I'll just try and get a little bit of my nerves out when we
19:21
squeeze hands. And she's just, she's always
19:24
good at, you know, keeping me kind of calm.
19:26
And yeah, obviously, like, she's super smart too, and she's
19:31
really good at talking. I feel like her communication is
19:33
really good too. Has she taken over the team mom
19:35
role from Addie? You know, kind of, yeah, a
19:39
little bit. I would give her that.
19:41
She's really good at checking in on everybody.
19:43
Yeah, When we talked to Addie and Katie before the season,
19:46
sometime this summer, kind of, we asked him who the team mom
19:48
was and Katie quickly said, oh, it's Addie.
19:51
Yeah, no, it is Addie for sure. How about tiara?
19:56
Tara's gritty, her rebounding. I would, I would love to try and
20:02
learn a thing or two from her. She's she's really good at,
20:06
she's not the tallest, but she ends up with a lot of rebounds.
20:09
So yeah, I would say her rebounding.
20:11
Talking about height, was it Duquesne?
20:14
We just played where like it seemed like everyone on their
20:16
team was 6/4 or 652 games ago. Day in, day in was big too.
20:21
But yeah, Duquesne did have some big bodies.
20:24
OK then how about Rachel? I mean, this is an obvious one,
20:28
but I would love to be able to shoot automatically like Rachel
20:31
does. Yeah.
20:33
I mean, her shot is just automatic.
20:34
It's so quick, and she's shooting it as such a high clip
20:38
right now. So.
20:39
Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.
20:40
She's really taking her game to a whole new level the
20:42
second-half of the season. Like you just see it happening
20:44
in real time. It's amazing.
20:46
She probably loves it when you're getting when they're
20:49
guarding you underneath and they're all happening and
20:51
beating you up because she's like, I just get wide open out.
20:53
Here catches and shoots it's. More than just to catch and
20:56
shoot though, she's literally going to the rim so effectively
20:58
right now, yes. That's right, you said like her
21:00
two point field goal percentage is 1 of the.
21:02
Four of the five gals on this team, I'm sorry, 4 gals on this
21:08
team are in the top five for two point percentage in the Atlantic
21:11
10, including our 57 point guard alley.
21:13
So that tells you like the system that you guys are on, the
21:16
read and react system has you guys getting to the rim with
21:20
effective looks at the basket. So that's just impressive for us
21:23
to watch. So there's often kind of an
21:26
unsung hero somewhere in the system, right?
21:29
And so, you know, we talked a lot about the stars on the team,
21:33
but tell us about somebody involved with the team.
21:36
It doesn't have to be a player, but it can be.
21:38
It could be just somebody who helps you in the in the gym.
21:41
It could be somebody who, you know, treats the athletes after
21:44
you guys get off the floor. Give us somebody involved with
21:46
the team who gets very little recognition but makes a huge
21:49
impact on your overall success. That I would give that to our
21:55
trainer, Sarah Spencer. She's been here longer than
22:00
Roselle. And has she seen it all?
22:04
She's helped me through my injuries.
22:06
I feel like I roll an ankle, you know, every year.
22:08
And she's always, always pushing to get us back out there when
22:14
we're ready. And she just takes so much time
22:16
out of her life and to make sure that we're OK and, and we're
22:19
able to do what we love to do. And yeah, she's, she's somebody
22:24
I can laugh with, too. She's somebody I can go cry too
22:26
if I need. She's always there for if I need
22:29
advice, you know, just outside of the medical realm of sports.
22:34
Like she's just, she's awesome. I I would give her props
22:39
everyday. That's awesome.
22:40
Sarah Spencer. OK, that's great.
22:43
We just recently interviewed Scott Unger, who's, you know,
22:47
does the analyst for the men's team and told us one of his best
22:52
memories was when his dad would come to watch games when he was
22:57
playing and and know, like, you know, your family's been super
23:01
important to you. Your your mom's kind of was
23:02
coach. Tell us about kind of your
23:05
family and how that's kind of helped you in your journey to
23:08
kind of where you are now. Yeah, I mean, my family is the
23:14
reason that I'm where I am today.
23:18
I feel like this year there's only been like one or two home
23:21
games that I didn't have a family member at.
23:24
You know, they're my biggest supporters.
23:27
They're always there for me whenever I need it.
23:31
They're the ones that I call when, you know, I'm happy or I'm
23:34
upset or, you know, I just need somebody to talk to.
23:37
I feel like I talked to my mom and my dad almost everyday.
23:40
I text my siblings and yeah, I honestly like, I just feel so
23:47
lucky that I have people that are able to, you know, come to
23:49
my games but also be there for me when I don't.
23:54
But I don't like, play basketball like they're there
23:57
for me when I'm, you know, just Maggie, too.
24:00
Now you have a sister who's starting to get recruited, kind
24:05
of is she in your ear a lot since you've been through that
24:08
process to kind of know how to navigate that crazy world?
24:13
You know, no, my sister is very independent in that kind of
24:20
sense. She loves watching my game.
24:23
She loves supporting me, but I feel like she kind of wants to
24:26
do her own thing in that kind of sense.
24:27
So I'm always there if she wants to talk about it.
24:29
But she's got my mom for that. So my mom's been through it with
24:34
me and also as a player. You have three home games left
24:39
in the Robin Center. How reflective are you about the
24:46
journey, the legacy, the, the feeling of taking that court
24:51
with the people that you go into battle?
24:53
We'll use for, I'll use the word proverbial battle.
24:55
It's not real battle, but you know, the, the, the game itself.
24:58
How, how sentimental do you get knowing that the the runway is
25:01
shorter on this end, but the the legacy you've built is getting
25:06
longer? Yeah, it's definitely a
25:11
bittersweet. I try not to think about this
25:15
being my last year, and I definitely haven't fully
25:19
reflected on what kind of legacy I'll be leaving.
25:22
My class will be leaving when we graduate.
25:25
But you know, I just try and take it game by game.
25:28
And when that final buzzer sounds off in the Robins, you
25:32
know, it'll be really sad. But I also know that that's when
25:35
that's the the biggest time to lock in and try and make more
25:38
history for the school. And it's nice you've got the
25:41
tournament in town, yes? So, so yeah, so if you're
25:44
listening to this and you're not coming out to the last three
25:46
games, you got another chance of the Henrico Center to.
25:48
See come to Henrico. Yeah, but, and they'll need us.
25:51
We'll need, we'll, we'll all need to be to be there in
25:53
Henrico because that's going to be, you know, a heck of a heck
25:56
of a tournament. 19157 career points as a spider, barring
26:01
injury, you're going to hit 2000.
26:03
I know it's just a, it's a personal achievement, but it's,
26:06
it's an achievement that you've earned.
26:08
Tell us about what it means to kind of just be the person that,
26:12
I mean, you really helped lift a program and the program was
26:15
doing great, but you've lifted it to a whole new level.
26:17
What does that mean? Just to be part of that, you
26:20
know, in, in the history of spiderdom?
26:23
Yeah, it means everything. I talked about this when I get
26:27
this question, but you know, out of high school, I love my high
26:31
school. I grew up, you know, my mom went
26:33
to my high school. So I, I grew up in O'Hara fan my
26:36
whole life and I just, I loved putting on the O'Hara uniform.
26:40
I love going to school every day.
26:42
And one of the things my mom told me when I was looking at
26:45
schools was I want you to find a place that you love as much as
26:48
you love O'Hara. And I feel like I've definitely
26:50
found that place in Richmond. I just, I love the school, I
26:53
love the campus, I love all my professors, I love my coaches,
26:58
my classmates, like everybody has just been great.
27:00
It's been my second home. And just to be able to, you
27:03
know, write my mark, write my name and a little mark of
27:07
Richmond history is means everything to me.
27:11
Coaches, you know, made it so much easier for me to be
27:15
successful. And I wouldn't be here if, you
27:18
know, he didn't see something in me.
27:20
And yeah, everything is just, it's so special to me.
27:23
I I love the school and I'm just super proud to represent it.
27:26
Can I go ahead I? Was good.
27:27
I thought it was a really neat moment.
27:28
Where's the game after? It might have been the Duquesne
27:31
game where they had Karen Elsner there and you got to kind of get
27:35
that opportunity with the ball. And I was when I was looking
27:37
kind of researching for this, like she has almost 2400 points,
27:42
Karen Elsner. So it was like, it's, it's like
27:44
as amazing as you've been and you'll you'll break 2000.
27:47
It's just like to think like we should basically had four years
27:49
of, you know, 500 or 600 because you, you, you just didn't have
27:52
that your freshman year. But it's kind of impressive to,
27:56
you know, not only, you know, did you top her scoring that
27:59
Davidson game, of course, was a magical moment for the fans and
28:03
and obviously for you, but it also gets you remembering some
28:06
of the old stars that Richmond has had as well.
28:09
Yeah. And then we weren't as and, and
28:12
shame on me for not being more aware of how good the women's
28:16
basketball game is when we were in school.
28:18
But so we weren't as familiar with the teams back then, but
28:21
we're familiar now. And we're familiar because of
28:23
the of your generation and what you guys have done for the for
28:27
the team in the university of the program.
28:28
Everything you brought up, Coach Roussell, we didn't really
28:31
actually have a question because we got, I think more time to to
28:33
ask questions. But tell us like what's it
28:36
meant? What, what does it meant to you
28:38
to, to have Coach Roussel as a mentor, as a coach, somebody
28:41
teaching you the game. Just give us a, give us a couple
28:45
minutes on, you know, why, Coach Roussel, such a, you know,
28:47
impactful force in your life. Yeah, it's a pretty funny story
28:54
actually. When I was getting recruited by
28:56
Richmond, my mom or sorry, Coach Rudis was talking to my mom
29:02
about my high school point guard.
29:04
And my mom was like, yeah, like, if you have the time, can you
29:08
look at Maggie's highlights, too?
29:10
So then I'm assuming that got back to Russell.
29:12
And he saw a lot of potential in me.
29:15
And he just, he took so much time my freshman year to just
29:21
really make sure I understood the offense, make sure that I,
29:24
you know, felt comfortable in this system.
29:26
And yeah, once I came back from my injury, I feel like I was
29:32
just, you know, a bull in a China shop.
29:35
I just wanted to get going and just kind of full steam ahead.
29:38
And he let me do that. He's giving me so much advice,
29:42
so many, you know, coaching moments.
29:45
But, you know, he's been there for my highs of 48 points in
29:50
Davidson. But he's also been, he's seen me
29:51
at my lowest when I'm second guessing myself.
29:54
And I don't really want to be at practice and I'm, you know,
29:56
having a hard time. Like he's just kind of been
29:59
there for it all. And we get along really well.
30:03
He we butt head sometimes, but I feel like we're kind of wired
30:06
very similarly and think the game kind of the same way.
30:10
So that's easy to bounce ideas off each other, things like
30:13
that. But you know, he's been great to
30:16
me and I have nothing but good things to say about Coach or
30:19
sell. About highs and lows.
30:21
And it's like what a lesson for fans, but obviously for players
30:24
like how devastating it was to lose in the A10 tournament last
30:28
year. And then you Fast forward two
30:31
weeks and Richmond's won its first women's NCA game ever.
30:37
So you like, you think about the low.
30:39
I mean, we felt that we were there and wondering.
30:40
We saw you, we saw you get run over on that last play.
30:44
And they make that, that shot at the end to for the upset.
30:49
But it's, it's great to know that you can have a low like
30:52
that and then all of a sudden have the biggest high, you know,
30:55
just just two weeks later. Program history, yeah.
30:58
Yeah, You know, you had a great team last year.
31:00
We've got to meet Katie and Addie.
31:02
We've talked a lot about the current team, Like what was it
31:05
like playing with Katie and Addie, not just last year, but
31:09
obviously your first three years, kind of what sort of role
31:12
models were they for you? Yeah, Katie was a great role
31:17
model because she just came in and worked so hard every day in
31:20
practice. She treated every practice like
31:22
it was a game and really pushed everybody, especially our
31:25
guards. You know, she guarded Rachel,
31:26
she guarded Siobhan, she guarded, she guarded Ally and
31:29
Grace. Like she was just always the one
31:31
who was the hard nosed and and worked super hard, especially
31:34
defensively. Addie, though, is a little not
31:38
that Katie wasn't amazing, but Addie was just more so kind of
31:41
more special to me because of you know what we were.
31:44
We were the same position and I came in being told that me and
31:49
Addie were going to play with each other and we were going to
31:51
play well together. And I was kind of a little
31:53
intimidating for me because, you know, I watched Richmond in high
31:56
school and Addie was doing so well and I was like, I don't
31:58
know if I can not that I didn't have self doubt, but like I was
32:02
more like, like, you better get it together if you want to play
32:05
with Addie Buttnick. But she was just amazing coming
32:09
in and welcoming me, just being like a a good friend and a good
32:13
person off the court too, when I was new.
32:17
But on the court, she taught me the offense.
32:20
She kind of took me under her wing and made sure that I
32:23
understood what was going on and and encouraged me when I needed
32:27
it. She held me accountable, too,
32:30
you know, when I needed an extra push in practice.
32:33
But yeah, I mean, she is definitely one of the biggest
32:38
reasons that I've succeeded in this program.
32:41
So yeah, I have a lot of, lot of credit to her.
32:44
Well #44 we know you got a busy week ahead.
32:47
You've got a bunch of games coming up in a row, including
32:49
Saint Bonaventure this Wednesday.
32:52
We really appreciate you coming on, Spider.
32:54
Sound off Maggie Dugan, the what I've said is the best player in
32:59
women's program history and we get to watch her three more
33:01
times in the Robin Center and a few more up in Henrico,
33:04
hopefully. Thank you so much for coming on
33:06
and thank you for being a Spider and and seeing your full career
33:09
through as a Richmond Spider. We we're proud to be alumni and
33:13
we're going to be proud to be alumni with you.
33:15
So thank you so much. Thank you.
33:17
I appreciate it guys. Thanks Maggie, Welcome back.
33:22
That was an awesome interview. We just finished up with Maggie
33:25
Dugan #44. Super impressive individual,
33:28
super impressive. Spider finally got her on the
33:31
pod. Really grateful she came on and
33:33
I just can't wait to see her finish up her career and do so
33:37
in style. Yeah, and we've got a couple
33:38
games this week, so hope to see you at the Robin Center Tuesday.
33:42
The men are home against George Mason.
33:44
So got a back-to-back George Mason.
33:46
The the women were successful. Let's hope the men get home and
33:50
break that losing streak. Tuesday at 7:00.
33:52
If you're out of town, that's a ESPN Plus game.
33:55
And then Wednesday, the women are home.
33:57
It's one of three final home games.
34:01
They're home Wednesday at 6:00 PM against Saint Bonaventure.
34:05
Bonnies have won two in a row, and they also including a win
34:08
against Davidson, so that's no cakewalks.
34:10
One of the last chances we have to see the greatest player in
34:14
Richmond women's basketball history play a game.
34:17
And and let's not forget Rachel too.
34:19
I mean Rachel's, Rachel's certainly up there in terms of
34:21
the great players that played at Richmond to future Hall of
34:24
farmers. Come on out and support them.
34:25
Let's let's get that crowd up to 25103 thousand somewhere in that
34:29
range just to send them off in style.
34:31
Yeah, so I hope to see you this week, but until next time, this
34:34
is Tom. And this is Porter.
34:36
And this is spider sounding up.