Syracuse native Breanna Stewart’s on-court resume is so stacked, it’s hard even for basketball insiders to fully absorb it. The two-time WNBA champion and two-time Finals MVP has won arguably every prestigious championship and MVP honor available in her sport, from four national titles in a row at UConn to a EuroLeague Championship and MVP award in Russia to two Olympic gold medals, not to mention all of her WNBA accolades.

Given all she has accomplished, we can smile and nod when, in a recent interview for Just Women’s Sports, Stewart says, “I’m 27, so I’m getting a little old now.” It’s even more understandable given the fact she has a 4-month-old infant at home with wife and fellow pro baller Marta Xargay.

Despite feeling a bit beyond her years, Stewart has her sights set on more WNBA championships.

“To be able to say that I’ve won twice already in six years, and I didn’t play one season is kind of crazy,” she says. “I believe that I’m going to have more moments to win more rings, but I’m just making sure that I don’t lose sight of what I have done and then continue to want to do more.”

And she is well aware of the amount of work it will continue to take to win more rings.

“I think everybody has to have a little bit of crazy in them when they’re at this level, and a little bit of obsessiveness to want to work out, and want to be in the gym, and want to do things that nobody else would want to do,” Stewart says. “But that’s how you get to where you are.”

While she no doubt has “a little bit of crazy” when it comes to working on her personal game, Stewart has always had a sound, mature perspective of her place in the bigger picture. She cares deeply about the success of the women’s game as a whole and many other social causes.

Upon graduating from UConn, Stewart was awarded the ESPY for Best Female Athlete and used her 60-second acceptance speech, by far the biggest platform she’d ever been given, to call out the media for its lack of attention to the WNBA. There’s no doubt her popularity and unbelievable talent on the court have been significant factors in the growth the W has had in recent years. And she’s happy to acknowledge the improvements she’s seen since winning that ESPY in 2016.

“I think the women’s game is in a really great place right now. I think that we’re continuing to trend upward as far as what we’re doing, how we’re perceived by media, how we’re gaining attention,” she says. “Media outlet companies are getting behind women, it seems like, at a much faster rate than they were probably 5 to 10 years ago.”

She also likes what she sees in the next generation of players, specifically fellow UConn Husky Paige Bueckers, who was off to a strong encore to her historic National Player of the Year freshman season before injuring her knee and having surgery performed last week.

“Her future is super, super bright,” Stewart says of Bueckers. “She has so much potential. She’s already doing great things now, but she’s at the right place to want to continue to be the best because Coach Auriemma is not going to treat her any different than anybody else.”

While she sees much to be optimistic about, Stewart also knows there’s still a long way to go. A recent source of frustration for her has been the low-key fanfare for 2021 WNBA MVP Jonquel Jones, who’s clearly one of the best players on the planet but hasn’t been given the media attention that comes with it.

“She won MVP and I still don’t think she got the props or the flowers that she deserves. I think people need to realize that and appreciate her game for being 6-6, 6-7, able to shoot the 3, handle it, play in the post,” Stewart says of her versatile on-court adversary.

The fact that fans still can’t get a pre-printed Jonquel Jones jersey from the WNBA Store is just the latest example of long-standing frustration with the lack of quantity, variety and accessibility of WNBA merchandise, something the league is hoping to remedy with its new partnership with DICK’s Sporting Goods (on whose site Jones’ jersey was stocked and ready to ship at the time of writing).

“The fact that she won MVP, she deserves more than what she’s getting. That’s for sure,” says Stewart.

As a player who knows the value of fan engagement in helping to grow the game, Stewart is often at the forefront of enhancing that connection. She’s got her signature shoe with Puma coming out in 2022. Most recently, she’s teamed up with Brandon Steiner, CEO of CollectibleXchange, as a feature athlete for The Collective Marketplace, an online platform that sells memorabilia and merchandise for athletes exclusively in women’s sports.

In teaming up with The Collective Marketplace, Stewart has opened a whole new pathway for fans to connect with her. She has nearly 200 personally worn and autographed items available for sale on the site taken directly from her own closet.

“I think it’s a great way to engage with the fans,” Stewart says. “I had all of these sneakers and jerseys and practice things … You keep them all because they’re amazing. But now you’re able to have them be reachable and, I guess, accessible to fans. And fans are able to really have a different type of relationship than just a player-fan relationship.”

Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi have also joined The Collective Marketplace. Stewart says of Taurasi, her WNBA rival and USA Basketball teammate, “I’d much rather be on the court with D, playing with her than against her. She’s just a killer, super competitive, obviously can hit the 3 like no other. Her IQ is off the charts.”

Just like Taurasi did for many years, Stewart is contracted to play overseas in Russia this winter with a stacked UMMC Ekaterinburg team. But her participation in the 2021-22 EuroLeague season is up in the air as she’s currently recovering from a minor surgery that repaired and reinforced the left Achilles tendon she injured late in the WNBA season (not the same one she ruptured in 2019). The decision for her to miss the Storm’s final two regular season games and their playoff showdown against Taurasi and the Mercury all but guaranteed Seattle wouldn’t repeat as league champions after winning it all in 2020.

Heading into what’s expected to be a wild 2022 WNBA free agency period, Stewart is one of four former league MVPs who are unrestricted free agents this offseason: Jonquel Jones, Sylvia Fowles and Tina Charles are the other three. With Bird still undecided about returning and Jewell Loyd entering restricted free agency, there is a lot up in the air for Seattle this offseason. But it’s impossible to imagine a scenario where the Storm don’t fight tooth and nail to keep their franchise player, and without making an official announcement, Stewart revealed she’s not envisioning playing anywhere else next year.

“We’re just going to take it one step at a time, see where my leg is at. And if I can play [in Russia], then maybe I’ll play. If not, I’ll make sure I’m ready for the Storm season — or the WNBA season,” she says.

An unplanned WNBA offseason at home in the states could be a blessing for Stewart to fully rehab while venturing into parenthood with her wife and baby daughter. And while her offseason routine and off-court home life may be quite different this year, her laser focus to succeed on the court is as strong as ever.

“I think it’s just coming with the preparation, the understanding of what it takes to win and making sure that when I’m out on the court, I’m not wasting my time or anyone else’s,” Stewart says of sustaining her peak level of performance.

“I feel as a basketball player, your goal should always be winning. When you step on the court, you should always be focused on winning.”

(Editor’s note: The Collective Marketplace on Athlete Direct is a sponsor of Just Women’s Sports)

Tessa Nichols is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports.

Shortly after Paige Bueckers went down with a non-contact injury in the final minute of UConn’s Dec. 5 home game against Notre Dame while leading by 18 points, Geno Auriemma told reporters Bueckers was still in the game partly because “she’s a pain in the ass to have on the bench because all she does is complain about why she’s not playing.” But he also admitted, “I don’t like our team without her on the court.”

One week and two Bueckers-less games later, an ugly loss followed by an uplifting win, we’ve gotten a glimpse of who UConn is without their star player. The Huskies’ 57-44 loss to Georgia Tech was the first time since 2006 that a UConn squad had scored fewer than 45 points in a game and the first time since 2012 that they’d lost to an unranked opponent. It also dropped UConn to No. 7 in the AP poll this week, their lowest ranking since 2007.

After the loss, Auriemma told the media, “We’re disorganized as a group right now, from the coaching on down, everybody. There’s just no sense of [having] a plan of how we’re going to execute, how we’re going to get a bucket, who’s going to get it for us.”

Auriemma and his staff are no doubt hoping this marks their low point of the season, especially now that they are down to eight active players after two entered the transfer portal and Azzi Fudd, Nika Mühl and Aubrey Griffin are out with their own respective injuries. All four injured players are expected to make full recoveries this season, with Bueckers’ return timeline being the longest. The sophomore is expected to miss eight weeks as she recovers from a successful surgery to repair an anterior tibial plateau fracture and a lateral meniscus tear.

The diminished squad followed up the Georgia Tech loss with a much-needed confidence boost when they beat UCLA 71-61 last Saturday. But their biggest challenges are on the horizon, the first of which comes Sunday against No. 6 Louisville’s strong defensive squad.

“I think the biggest thing that’s an issue is consistency. Just because we see them put it together at the end of the UCLA game, they’re going to have to try to do that coming off an exam week against a better team in Louisville,” says Alexa Philippou, who covers the program around the clock for Connecticut’s Hartford Courant.

With three other top-ten matchups on the calendar before Bueckers is expected back, the Huskies’ response to this identity crisis will be put to the test repeatedly. Here’s what we know so far about who UConn is without the reigning National Player of the Year.

Senior safety net

Evina Westbrook, Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa are the reason there hasn’t been a complete implosion upon losing Bueckers. They are all senior starters who have played top-tier college ball without Bueckers before. Yes, they all need to step up their on-court performance, but the fact this trio of senior leadership is in place is saving the Huskies from complete disaster.

img
Senior Evina Westbrook has been tasked with filling the point guard role in Bueckers' absence. (John Jones/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Westbrook, a redshirt senior who played her first two seasons at Tennessee, will take over as offensive facilitator while Bueckers and back-up point guard Mühl are both out. It was clear from the start of the Georgia Tech game that Westbrook is ready and able to fill this role; she notched five assists and committed just one turnover when they went to the locker room tied at the half. And against UCLA, the 6-foot Oregonian who played point guard until transferring to UConn, tallied another seven assists along with 17 points and one turnover for the game.

“She’s always been a good facilitator even if she wasn’t the primary point guard on this team,” says Philippou. “I thought she looked so much more aggressive in trying to look for her own shot and to get to the rim against UCLA. That’s why she was able to single-handedly keep UConn in the game early. She can’t just facilitate in that role. She’s going to have to put some of the offensive scoring load on her shoulders and she did that really well against UCLA.”

It was when Westbrook took a more passive approach in ball management in the second half against Georgia Tech that UConn’s offense was at its worst, scoring only four points in the paint and shooting 21.4 percent from the field.

Part of that responsibility lies with Williams. There’s no doubt the team’s second-leading scorer behind Bueckers feels enormous pressure to get the ball in the hoop for her team, but so far that pressure is causing her to force it instead of waiting for the cracks to reveal themselves. And with her elite ability to get to the rim, hit the mid-range jumper or pull-up outside the arc, the guard can exploit even the tiniest opening.

Since arriving in Storrs as the nation’s top recruit in 2018, Williams has played in every single game but one and started in all but two. After scoring 13 points on 31.6 percent shooting, and going only 1-for-8 from 3 with four turnovers against Georgia Tech, Williams had a similar stat line versus UCLA. The difference in the win was she hit two of her three 3-point attempts, a good sign that her decision-making might be recovering from the heightened pressure.

“Historically, Christyn has gone through these ruts, these highs and lows of confidence. We saw that her sophomore year, we saw that her junior year,” Philippou recalls. “I think what was most notable about the UCLA game was that she found a way to get herself back into it in the second half, which maybe a younger Christyn Williams wouldn’t have done. Maybe she would have shut down all game.”

It won’t be surprising if the player with the biggest production increase in Bueckers’ absence isn’t a guard at all, but instead Nelson-Ododa, UConn’s senior center. After a quiet start to the season, Nelson-Ododa has shifted into a higher gear in terms of initiative and confidence on the offensive end of the court. She averaged just 4.25 shot attempts in UConn’s first four games this season, but is now averaging nine over their last four matchups, resulting in double-digit scoring in all four contests. Against UCLA, she was just two rebounds shy of a third double-double in a row. Her near 60 percent shooting percentage is the highest on the team.

“I don’t think Olivia Nelson-Ododa is a player who is going to be putting up Aaliyah Boston-esque numbers on a daily basis, especially against the best teams,” says Philippou. “But I think starting in that South Carolina game, we did see a different player than we saw most of last season even. She just played with an intensity and a focus, really a tenacity, that hasn’t always been part of her game.”

Youngsters who could benefit

If UConn’s season had gone according to plan, freshmen like Caroline Ducharme and Amari DeBerry would have been fighting for scraps of minutes on the floor. Now, with a significantly reduced roster, these youngsters, especially 2021 fifth overall recruit Ducharme, will get much more playing time.

The learning curve will be steep, as evidenced by Ducharme’s performance against Georgia Tech, where she missed a couple of easy buckets to go 1-for-5 from the field with three turnovers. But instead of working through those mistakes gradually over the course of the season, her development will be fast-tracked. Against UCLA she improved to 30.8 percent shooting with 14 points, two assists, two blocks, a steal and only one turnover. She also hit all four of her free throws on a night when the rest of her team was just 50 percent from the line.

“Caroline Ducharme, pretty much guaranteed, would not have been playing this much if all these injuries hadn’t happened,” Philippou says. “She’s looked better and better, and in this last game in particular, she finally looked like that player that Geno’s been saying he’s had in practice.”

The other freshman Philippou thinks could gain from these unfortunate circumstances is 2021 top overall recruit Azzi Fudd, who’s expected to return from a foot injury shortly after the holidays. After all the hype surrounding Bueckers and Fudd’s on-court chemistry, it seems counterintuitive to imagine Bueckers’ absence as somehow boosting Fudd’s game. But recalling the freshman’s four-game start to the season, Philippou notes, “She was just too hesitant. I think she was overthinking things. It seemed like she was a little bit of a perfectionist and she didn’t want to make a mistake. But she’s going to be asked to take on a bigger role with Paige out … They’re going to be asking her to be more aggressive on offense and if she can get that going, then maybe that puts her on a faster track than before.”

After Auriemma raised the alarm bells, he even sounded optimistic after the UCLA game that UConn could come through this better prepared for a deep tournament run than they were before.

“Now when Paige and the rest of our players do come back, there’s more people in the party instead of outside hoping to get in, and feel like they belong here and can contribute not just when they have to, but they’ll be able to contribute as part of the natural flow of our offense,” the coach said.

With only a two-game sample size since Bueckers went down and a forthcoming stream of other injured players to reintegrate with the team, UConn’s identity will be a new puzzle to solve each week. But if the Huskies can keep the rest of their roster healthy, they have the senior leadership necessary to keep them afloat on the scoreboard and in the locker room and the underclassmen who can exploit this opportunity for the betterment of the team in the long run.

The next step in UConn’s journey begins against Louisville on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Tessa Nichols is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports.

Total prize money in women’s golf has largely doubled every decade since the LPGA was first founded in 1950 (with the exception of a minuscule increase from 2000-2010) and hit an all-time high this year of $76.45 million. As we head into the final tournament of the year at this weekend’s CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, FL, the largest single purse in the history of women’s golf is on the line with $1.5M designated for the tournament winner. It’s an amount that would nearly double the year-to-date prize money of the year’s top two golfers, Nelly Korda and Jin Young Ko. 

The LPGA has been a tale of two flames in 2021 with Korda and Ko trading off dominant stints atop the rankings. For the first seven months of the season, it was all Korda. Between January and July, the 23-year-old from Bradenton, Florida won three LPGA tournaments, including her first major at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, and finished in the top ten in eight of the eleven tournaments she entered. 

To cap off her barnstorming summer, she won the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo by a thrilling one stroke margin earned on the final round’s 18th hole over Japan’s Mone Inami. Sharing that moment with her older sister and pro golfer, Jessica Korda, was extra special for the sisters who hail from Czech professional tennis player parents who are still highly involved in all their kids’ sporting careers (Korda’s younger brother competes on the ATP Tour).         

After cementing her name on the list of top women’s golfer to watch for years to come, things cooled off a bit for Korda. After winning the major, her best finish in the next four tournaments was a tie for 13th at the AIG Women’s Open. She also took some well-earned time off the course as well, opting to play in only two of the past six events.

In the meantime, the spark passed to Jin Young Ko, who caught fire at the end of summer, winning three of five tournaments in September and October. The 26-year-old from Seoul, South Korea has rarely been far from the spotlight since joining the tour in 2018. Out of the gate, she became only the second player in history to win her inaugural LPGA tournament and capped off the year with Rookie of Year honors. In just her second year on tour she won two majors, topped the list for official prize money earned, won the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average (69.06), and was named the Rolex Player of the Year. Not a bad sophomore season.

After an abbreviated 2020, Ko maintained her number one world ranking and now finds herself neck and neck with Korda for that coveted title to close out 2021.

Momentum was behind Ko heading into the Pelican Women’s Championship last weekend with a 15-point lead ahead of Korda in Player of the Year standings. (Points are awarded to the top 10 finishers of each tournament, with 30 pts for 1st place, 12 pts for 2nd, 9 pts for 3rd, and so on.) But Korda proved she’s not done with 2021 yet by winning a thrilling four-way play-off to clinch her fourth victory of the year and put her 10 points ahead of Ko, who finished T6.

Now Korda is once again sitting at number one in several categories: Player of the Year points, official money earned, percentage of rounds in the 60’s, and lowest scoring average (68.84). Ko is right on her tail in each of those and with four tournament victories apiece (the Olympic gold doesn’t count toward LPGA stats), the Player of the Year title is still very much in contention as the two prepare to tee off in Naples for the final four rounds of 2021. One possible advantage Ko might have heading into this weekend is the fact she won this tournament and the then $1.1M prize one year ago by a five-stroke margin.

While the LPGA’s MVP title is now a two-woman race, a historic $1.5M is up for grabs for this weekend’s entire field of 60 golfers, who have earned entry by the accumulation of “Race to CME Globe” points in LPGA events throughout the year.

Keep your eye on Rookie of the Year lock Patty Tavatanakit. The 22-year-old Thai golfer clinched her first tour victory in her very first major at the ANA Inspiration back in April and sits third in Player of the Year points due to an impressive nine top-ten finishes this season. New Zealander Lydia Ko is also playing great golf and with one victory and four second place finishes this season is another likely front runner for the cash prize this weekend. And for Lexi Thompson, a season ending victory would do much to salve the sting of her recent struggles to hang onto late tourney leads on the green. Whoever wins the record-breaking first place prize, it will be a momentous step forward for women’s golf.

Round one begins this Thursday on Golf Channel with Sunday’s final round coverage airing on NBC from 1-4pm ET.

The rivalry in women’s hockey between the U.S. and Canada, our maple-tapping neighbors to the north, is as intense as ever heading into the Beijing Olympics. The two nations have dominated the sport on the world stage since the International Ice Hockey Federation first started holding a women’s world championship in 1990 and the IOC followed suit in 1998 by adding the sport to the Olympic line up. 

Since then, the U.S. and Canada have faced each other in the gold medal game of every single World Championship and Olympic games but two (Sweden knocked the U.S. out in semis at the 2006 Olympics and Finland did the same to Canada at Worlds in 2019). Of all the great rivalries in recent sports history, perhaps none have been as consistent and relentless as this one. For these two teams, after every huge victory and every heart-breaking defeat, they awake the next day knowing their nemesis is still out there, coming for them again with everything they have.

At the PyeongChang 2018 Winter games, the U.S. finally won their second Olympic gold, ending Canada’s run of four consecutive Olympic golds. It came one year after the U.S. women threatened to boycott the IIFH World Championship in their fight for better pay and better treatment from USA Hockey. Proving their worth, the U.S. followed that victory up with a fifth consecutive World Championship in 2019.

But since resuming play after the cancellations of 2020, it appears momentum has shifted in favor of the north. At the World Championship this past August, Canada beat the U.S. both in the preliminary rounds and again in an overtime thriller, 3-2 for the title, winning their first Worlds title since 2012.

And in the latest installment of the saga, tensions boiled over as the final buzzer blew on a 3-2 Canadian victory in Game 2 of a nine-game pre-Olympic rivalry series between the two squads.

With Canada also winning Game 1 of the series a few days prior, and just a few months to prepare for what many are hoping will be a sixth Olympic gold showdown, it appears the U.S. has some work to do. The rivals face off again Nov. 21 and 23 in Ontario.

When not playing for their countries, most American and Canadian national team members, like USA stars Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield, and Amanda Kessel, play for the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA). The group was formed in 2019 (after the Canadian Women’s Hockey League went under) partly in protest to existing leagues, including the NWHL, which elite players said had failed to provide a truly professional option for the best women’s hockey players in the world. 

Since its formation, the on-ice action of the PHWPA has been a series of annual showcase games between evenly divided teams, each with its own outside sponsor. Last season they moved to a “regional hub” structure, where each hub carries a 25-player pool from which they form each showcase roster, a baby step toward designating geographically-located teams. This season, the puck drops in Truro, Nova Scotia on November 12th for the first showcase with teams from Boston, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto playing a two-day, best of four tourney.

This year, the PWHPA will also play in several All-Star games where hand-selected rosters (of mainly non-national teams players) will play against national teams prepping for the Olympics. In October, they played a series of closed-door scrimmages against Team USA and will take on Team Canada in Calgary on Dec. 9 and 11 before heading over to play Japan in a series of games Jan. 9-16.

Meanwhile, the Premier Hockey Federation (previously the National Women’s Hockey League) has recently kicked off its seventh season with a five-game opening weekend. The Boston Pride will be looking to defend their Isobel Cup title against the Minnesota Whitecaps, Buffalo Beauts, Metropolitan Riveters, Toronto Six, and Connecticut Whale. The PHF as a whole will be looking to move past a somewhat disastrous last season, in which a Covid outbreak burst the league’s rather porous hockey bubble and forced the league to suspend play.  

It was an eventful offseason for the PHF since teams were last on the ice. Shortly after last season ended, the league announced that the salary cap would be doubled, bringing it to $300K per team. Earlier this fall, following tough discussions prompted by one team owner’s previous involvement with an anti-trans organization, the league announced the name change and re-branding from the National Women’s Hockey League to the Premier Hockey Federation.

According to the league press release announcing the change, “The PHF name was inspired by empowerment, gender equity, and inclusivity with respect to differences in the gender identity of current athletes, prospective players, and league stakeholders.”

And just last week, the league announced it signed a new deal giving ESPN+ exclusive broadcast rights for the 2021-2022 season. The streaming service will offer all 60 regular season games plus playoffs.

Even though most U.S. and Canadian national team members don’t play in the PHF, the abundance of hockey talent being produced in north America is clear. And the end goal of a high caliber, financially sustainable, pro league where players can be full-time professional athletes and make a decent living is the common goal.

No doubt the PWHPA is hoping for a strong U.S. and Canadian showing in Beijing to get the Olympic boost that can move their dream forward, as has been the pattern for other successful women’s pro sports leagues. What remains to be seen is if the PHF will benefit from the same boost, and what that will mean for the two organizations down the line. The PHF has said it wants to mend the gap. For the PWHPA, it remains an unbridgeable gulf. 

Tessa Nichols is a contributing writer for Just Women’s Sports. 

We are now just days away from seeing Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers don their UConn Huskies uniforms and step out on the court together. Geno Aureimma and his squad will begin to work out the kinks in early season action against Arkansas on Sunday, November 14 at 1pm ET. Nationwide, women’s hoops fans will have to wait for UConn’s first nationally televised game against Notre Dame on December 5 (Noon ET on FS1).

Bueckers, the number one recruit of the 2020 class, lived up to the hype and then some with an explosive freshman year at UConn. Her 20 points per game set a new freshman record for the dynastic program. She added 5.8 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.3 steals per game, all while maintaining an overall shooting percentage of 52.4. She swept all the national player of year awards for which she was eligible, including the Naismith Trophy, AP Player of the Year, and the Wooden Award, and was the first freshman to ever win each of those honors on the women’s side.

Even then, amidst the showers of praise heaped on Bueckers, you’d hear someone mutter, “But just wait ‘til to you see Azzi Fudd.” 

Just like Bueckers, Fudd was the top recruit in the country for her own class of 2021. She started out as a point guard like Bueckers but has developed into a shooting guard with lights out ability from both inside and outside the arc. In 2019, she became the first sophomore to ever be named the Gatorade National Player of the Year, which she earned by averaging 26 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game that season. After recovering from a nasty knee injury the following summer, her junior season was cut short and her senior season was cancelled completely due to Covid-19. But Fudd never pulled her foot off the gas and stayed focused by training at home, playing for her club team, and with Bueckers on USA Basketball. Before starting her freshman year in Storrs this fall, Fudd helped lead Team USA’s U19 squad to the gold medal at the FIBA World Cup over summer in Latvia.

 

Now, Fudd and Buecker’s basketball journeys have finally converged at UConn, stoking premature chatter about how this duo could outshine that of Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi.

The two athletes have been close friends since first meeting at USA Basketball youth team trainings, and Bueckers had no shame in recruiting Fudd to follow her to UConn. 

Fudd recalled to the Associated Press a time when Bueckers came to her house and played an assist-reel of herself showing all the amazing passes Fudd could reap the benefits of on the court with her. Granted, after the ink had dried on Fudd’s Letter of Intent, Beuckers quipped, “That deal’s over. The recruiting tactic worked. But if she’s open and I’m open, I’ll probably take the shot.”

This is where the real magic of this pairing can be found, not on the stat sheets or highlight reels, but in the genuine connection and endearing banter they have off the court.

Whereas Bueckers is outgoing, witty, and showy, Fudd is more reserved and pensive with less outward bravado. 

“I was just nervous about how I would fit in,” Fudd confessed at a recent media event about arriving to UConn. “I don’t think she [Paige] gets nervous. She helps calm my nerves, but at the same time, I still don’t understand her. We’re very similar, but at the same time very different.” 

The deep friendship they’ve formed is cemented at its core by their shared work ethic and commitment to the pursuit of perfection. They put in the work together in the gym and then let loose off the court, charming viewers with TikToks and friendly ribbing.

@whitechocolate535

Never been dusty 😮‍💨💧 #mediaday #uconn

♬ Help me hit 10k - Shane

When Bueckers capped off last year’s award season by winning the ESPY for Best College Athlete in Women’s Sports, she used the spotlight to call out racial bias in media coverage that continues to give white players, like her, more attention than black players.

“I want to shed a light on Black women. They don’t get the media coverage that they deserve,” Bueckers said. “I think it’s time for change. Sports media holds the key to storylines. Sports media and sponsors tell us who is valuable, and you have told the world that I mattered today, and everyone who voted, thank you. But I think we should use this power together to also celebrate Black women.”

Interestingly, Buecker’s challenge to the sports industry to do better now has a perfect test case. Fudd, who is Black, checks all the same boxes as Bueckers: number one recruit, same program, same market, and just one year younger. (The two even have a joint TikTok account facetiously named @WhiteChocolate535.) 

And if Fudd proves to be a comparable, or even more talented, player on the court — as many expect her to be — then we’ll be able to hold our own feet to the flame on differential media treatment.

While the spark between Fudd and Bueckers is the chief attraction, the UConn squad as a whole is focused on winning another national championship. Sitting at No. 2 on the AP preseason rankings (and No. 3 in the JWS rankings) heading into play, the Huskies are returning all five starters from last year’s Final Four roster, including seniors Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Evina Westbrook, and Christyn Williams. These returners will be joined by the number two recruiting class in the country, headlined by Fudd and the No. 5 overall recruit, Caroline Ducharme. Adding 6’5” Ohio State grad transfer Dorka Juáhsz to the front court was icing on the cake for Auriemma. 

“She could be the difference that puts us into that other level,” he said of Juhász after seeing her in practices.

Given the deep pool of talent and the no-BS program they’ve chosen to play for, if Bueckers and Fudd put on the show we’ve all been anticipating, fans could be in for a historic display of basketball skill, individual drive, and collective brilliance. UConn is always must-watch TV, and with two generational talents sharing the floor, this year has the chance to raise the bar again. 

The 2021 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player has been busy since leading the Stanford Cardinal to the national title last April. A few weeks after hoisting the championship trophy, Haley Jones was waiving to onlookers from an open-air jeep through the downtown streets of her hometown Santa Cruz, CA in a parade held in her honor. The city had just declared April 3rd Haley Jones Day and given her the Key to the City.

A month later, while finishing finals for her online Spring courses, the Communications major flew to Puerto Rico with USA Basketball for the 2021 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup. With a stacked roster that included the likes of Aliyah Boston (South Carolina), Elissa Cunane (NC State), Naz Hillmon (Michigan), and Rhyne Howard (Kentucky), Jones told NCAA Digital that she enjoyed being a role player off the bench for a change. 

“We’re all coming from kind of being that player on your team, and now you’re here and you’re picking up a different role,” Jones said. “I was coming off the bench and I knew what I needed to do to help my team, if that was being a facilitator, if that was picking up my defense, if that was rebounding, whatever Coach Staley, Coach Barnes, and Coach Rizzotti needed from me, I was going to do that.”

The 6’1” self-described “point-forward” has become the go-to player for Stanford, leading her team to a 31-2 record last year in her sophomore season while averaging 13.2 points, 2.9 assists, and 7.4 rebounds per game. 

After an injury cut short her freshman season and the pandemic had Stanford playing only six games on their home court last year, it wouldn’t be unfair for Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer to expect even more from a healthy, rested Jones this year. 

The No. 1 recruit in her class, Jones is already one of the most dynamic and versatile players in the women’s college game. She’s at home in the paint but won’t hesitate to bring the ball up the court and facilitate the offense. She’s a shooting threat from almost anywhere on the court, can score off the drive, and was second in assists last season behind point guard Kiana Williams. ESPN analyst Debbie Antonelli compares her “positionless” abilities to Cheryl Miller, one of the greatest to ever play the game.

Perhaps the most convincing reason to bet on a Stanford title repeat is the fact they are returning 12 of 13 from their national championship roster. And most of those 12 players saw significant minutes throughout the regular and postseason as VanDeveer stuck to her deep rotation even when the stakes got high. With shooting guard Lexie Hull and defensive specialist Anna Wilson on the perimeter and Fran Bilibi and blocking machine Cameron Brink in the front court, Jones has a supporting cast with bona-fide championship experience. And winning Stanford’s first championship in 30 years didn’t satisfy anyone’s hunger, least of all Jones’. 

“We aren’t settling. We want to win another. I have two more years. I want to win two more,” she said.

In the Pac-12, Stanford will have Oregon and UCLA as their main competitors. After losing their historic big three to the 2020 WNBA draft, the Ducks are a full season into a quick rebuild, led by the dangerous duo of Sedona Prince and Nyara Sabally.

If they make it as far as the Final Four, chances are good that Stanford will see both UConn and South Carolina in the wings of the Target Center in Minneapolis. Both teams are returning all five of their 2020-2021 starters, with Dawn Staley’s squad adding 6’7” Syracuse transfer Kamilla Cardoso and Geno Auriemma’s Huskies adding No. 1 overall recruit Azzi Fudd.

If (or when) the east coast powerhouses come up against Stanford next April, they are liable to meet a Haley Jones who is more confident in her game than ever before. After playing against veteran professionals throughout the AmeriCup, Jones says she has learned the value of efficiency — of doing more in less time with quicker pull ups and goofy-footed finishes. As for becoming a legit threat beyond the arc, Jones says, “I’m getting that three-point shot going. I’m working on stuff.” 

If the defending champs make another deep run next spring, it will be in large part due to Haley Jones continuing to come into her own as the most complete player in the college game.

Stanford’s first regular season game is Thursday, Nov. 11 against Morgan State. They play No. 25 Texas on Nov 14.

In women’s college basketball, west coast players often have an extra chip on their shoulder from the perception that left coast teams just aren’t given as much respect as east coast programs. Stanford star Haley Jones felt it during their 2021 National Championship run. 

“I think at Stanford, we’re always kind of seen as an underdog. Even though we were the number one overall [seed] it’s still like, ‘Oh, but are they gonna win?’” she voiced to NCAA Digital. “You know ‘west coast basketball’ or whatever. I think we proved ourselves last year and we still have more to do this year.”

Historically speaking, eastern and southern schools have qualified for the NCAA tourney and Final Four at much higher rates than their Pacific facing counterparts. Of the 44 programs that have been to a Final Four, only 8 are located west of the continental divide, and only two of those teams (Stanford and USC) have ever won the title.

But in the last five years, the west coast’s tide has been steadily rising (no climate change pun intended). Since 2016, the Pac-12 boasts the most Final Four appearances, the most NCAA tournament wins, and the highest tournament winning percentage of any conference. At least half of all Pac-12 teams have qualified for the tournament for four consecutive years compared with the two or three that typically did a decade ago. And three additional non-Stanford schools have now qualified for the Final Four. Oregon State and Washington made it in 2016, and Arizona joined Stanford last spring for the first ever all Pac-12 Championship game.

In their bid to defend their title, the Stanford Cardinal are returning 12 of 13 from their championship roster, including 2021 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player Haley Jones and “Super Senior” Anna Wilson, who’s taking advantage of the NCAA’s Covid-19 policies and returning to play for Coach Tara VanDerveer for an extra season.

Arizona, on the other hand, has an enormous hole to fill after Aari McDonald went third overall in the WNBA draft, having risen to college basketball stardom during the Wildcats’ run to the NCAA title game last year. McDonald had 109 assists on the season, 69 more than the next highest player on the team, and averaged 20.6 points per game. Only one of her teammates, returning forward Cate Reese, averaged double-figure scoring alongside her at 10.9 points per game. 

Adia Barnes will have depth at the 2, 3, and 4, but a much shallower roster at the point and center. Without obvious answers to where their scoring and playmaking production will come from, the floor is open for untapped potential to rise to the surface, but the process will likely be felt in the win-loss column.

Up in Eugene, the Oregon Ducks are looking to sustain momentum from a productive year of rebuilding after the 2020 WNBA draft took their Big Three (Sabrina Ionescue, Satou Sabally, and Ruthy Hebard) and Covid-19 robbed them of their best chance in school history for a national title. Now Coach Kelly Graves has a front court centered on 6’7” junior Sedona Prince and Satou’s younger sister, Nyara Sabally, who led the Ducks in points and rebounds last season. Graves’ sophomore court general, Te-Hina Paopao, did an impressive job filling the gap left by Ionescue until a right foot injury caused her to miss the last month of the season. A year of chemistry building and experience for their underclasswomen have many expecting a solid upswing from Oregon.

UCLA has been another Pac-12 program to put themselves on the national map in recent years. They have qualified for five straight NCAA tournaments and had made it to four straight Sweet 16’s before getting knocked out by Texas this past year in the second round. Heading into 2021-22, they have five new faces to replace three significant contributors who graduated, most notably Michele Onyenwere, who went on to earn WNBA Rookie of the Year after a fantastic season with the New York liberty. Their prospective depth, along with the continued stellar output of junior guard Charisma Osborne, should help Cori Close’s squad battle Oregon for that second-place spot in the Pac-12, assuming Stanford wins the conference.

Oregon State and Washington State will also look to repeat as NCAA tourney selections as the rest of the conference will continue paddling onto the wave of the Pac-12’s rising stock.

Whether west coast teams are actually undervalued is mostly irrelevant (apart from NCAA tourney seeding bias). But there’s no denying that the college game benefits when the Haley Joneses, Charisma Osbornes, and Sedona Princes play like they have something extra to prove while representing their west coast campuses. And chances are good we’ll get to see more than one of them take their team on a deep run come March Madness 2022.

When South Carolina sophomore Aliyah Boston’s last second put-back took an unfriendly bounce off the back rim, giving Stanford the Final Four win and a ticket to the championship game last April, the immediate outpouring of devastation on Boston’s face was both endearing and heartbreaking.

Even though her first two seasons at South Carolina, as the centerpiece of 2019’s top recruiting class, were significantly thwarted by Covid-19, Boston’s production on the court has been a steadying force. Now entering her junior year, the 6’5” forward is averaging 13.1 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks per game through her college career, having led the nation in rebounds last season, when she was named the best center in the country for the second year in a row. 

Head Coach Dawn Staley, coming off a gold medal summer with USA Basketball, is no doubt looking forward to seeing what Boston can do as a junior. But she also has ten other reasons to feel optimistic about the 2021-22 season. All of Boston’s ten teammates from last season’s Final Four, including starters Destanni Henderson, Zia Cooke, Brea Beal, and Victaria Saxton, are back on campus, now with invaluable Final Four experience under their belts.

As if a sequel with the entire starring cast isn’t enough, Staley has once again demonstrated her keen ability to connect with the elite youngsters of the game and will be adding the top 2021 recruiting class to her squad this season. 

Incoming freshmen Raven Johnson, Saniya Rivers, and Sania Feagin are ranked two, three, and four in the nation for their class, and will be joined by the fourteenth overall prospect Bree Hall. Whether senior point guard Henderson will have a season to take newbie Johnson under her wing, or the freshman works her way past Henderson into the starting role, the Gamecocks are in strong hands with those two options at the helm. Don’t be surprised if Rivers, 2021’s Gatorade National Player of the Year, also earns a starting spot by year’s end.

The four freshmen aren’t the only newcomers coming to campus in Columbia this fall. While some see the transfer portal as a fickle two-headed monster, the portal gods shined on Staley this off-season when things fell apart at Syracuse and she signed Kamilla Cardoso, a 6’7” transfer who earned ACC Freshman of the year and ACC co-Defensive Player of the Year last season while playing for the Orange.

Clearly, things look exceptionally good on paper for Staley and her team. But a loaded roster in October is miles and mountains away from a National Championship in April. Being ranked No. 1 in the AP’s preseason poll is nice, but it won’t mean anything if the season ends in heartbreak once again. 

Luckily for South Carolina, Staley isn’t the type of coach to put her cart before the horse, as she endeavors to bring a second national title home for the Gamecocks.

South Carolina begins their season with an exhibition game against Benedict, Monday, Nov. 1st. The Gamecocks’ first regular season game is against No. 5 NC State on Tuesday, Nov. 9th.

Last fall, just before official practices began for college basketball, the NCAA announced that all winter sport student-athletes who competed during 2020-2021 would get an extra season of eligibility due to COVID-19. 

The same benefit that had already been extended to fall and spring sport student-athletes was now being offered to winter sports as they endeavored to conduct a season of competition amidst the ongoing pandemic, where positive Covid tests, quarantine periods, and game cancelations would have otherwise wreaked havoc on a school’s ability to maximize and protect their student-athletes’ eligibility. In essence, no one was a senior last season, unless they wanted to be. While many women’s college hoops players chose not to take advantage of the NCAA’s offering and moved on to their careers or playing in the WNBA or overseas, a number of athletes decided to stay. 

Now a number of Top 25 programs are set to benefit from an extra year of super senior talent, including last year’s national champion. 

Anna Wilson – Stanford

Anna Wilson is one of the top perimeter defenders in the country. In 2020-2021, she started all 33 games and earned Pac-12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year and Pac-12 All-Defensive Team honors for the eventual national champions, who enter 2021 ranked No. 3 in the country.

Known as a gritty and selfless teammate, the 24-year-old graduate student turned her focus to defense after a concussion and stress fractures in her freshman year left her feeling out of rhythm on the offensive end. Now head coach Tara VanDerveer can’t fathom doing a scout without her. 

“Anna has basically forced my hand,” VanDerveer told USA TODAY. “I don’t have any choice: If there’s someone that we need to lock down, she has to be out there.” 

A few of Wilson’s biggest potential defensive assignments are already on the calendar, including Maryland’s Ashley Owusu on November 27th and a Final Four re-match vs. South Carolina’s Zia Cooke on December 21st.  Luckily for the winningest women’s basketball coach of all-time, she’ll have Wilson in her line-up for another year, not to mention a third senior day, as the Cardinal look to defend their national title. 

Raina Perez, Kayla Jones, and Kai Crutchfield – NC State

NC State has three starters returning to the court via the NCAA bonus year. Raina Perez came to the Pack last year as a grad transfer from Cal State Fullerton, where she earned Big West Player of the Year honors in 2020. She started at point guard for NC State in all but two games last season and averaged 9.5 points and 4.7 assists per game for a program that ranked in the top five throughout much of the season. 

Forward Kayla Jones is also back for what will be her fifth straight season on the court for NC State. As a starter for the past two full seasons, Jones has averaged 10.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game for the Pack.

The third returning super senior, Kai Crutchfield, led the team in steals, 3-point shooting percentage, and free throw percentage last season. 

These three starters will be joined on the court by ESPN All-American Elissa Cunane and junior Jakia Brown-Turner, who averaged 13.5 points last year. Together, they have NC State ranked No. 5 in the AP’s preseason poll. 

Que Morrison and Jenna Staiti – Georgia

A valuable weapon on both ends of the court, Que Morrison received 2021 SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year and SEC All-Defensive Team honors while being the Bulldogs’ second leading scorer with 11.6 points per game. Morrison also led the team in assists, with 3.5 per game. 

Now, she’s back for more alongside fellow super senior Jenna Staiti, who led the team in scoring (14.8) and rebounding (8.1) last season.

Georgia went 21-7 last year, rounding out the top ten in the AP end-of-year rankings. They enter this season ranked No. 26. Expect Morrision and Staiti to lead them back into the Top 25. 

Elsewhere:

At Texas A&M, guard Kayla Wells, who owns the school’s all-time career 3-point field goal percentage record (36.9%) is returning for her extra year. 

Ohio State’s Braxtin Miller will continue to bring veteran leadership to the court coming off a year where she averaged 11.5 points per game and was second on the team in steals and assists. 

Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year Brice Chalip is returning to Missouri State after averaging 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.2 steals per game last season. 

Kim Mulkey’s inaugural year at LSU will be boosted by the return of Khayla Pointer, who led the team last year in scoring, steals, and assists. 

And Bethy Mununga, who hails from Belgium and came up through the junior college ranks, will use her bonus year by returning to South Florida, where she earned ACC All-Conference honors and averaged 9.6 points and 12.9 (!) rebounds last season.

Looking ahead: 

Though Covid-19 has been a “gift that keeps on giving” in the sardonic sense of the phrase, one positive for college sports fans is the extended collegiate careers its provided to many deserving athletes. The effect will continue to ripple into seasons ahead as all student-athletes, not just seniors, who played during the designated season were granted the extra year. 

While their track record of supporting and promoting the women’s basketball tournament continues to receive scrutiny, it’s nice to see an example of the NCAA doing the right thing for its players. 

Well before the champagne flowed in Chicago following the Sky’s historic WNBA Championship, players from playoff-eliminated teams boarded planes, trains, and automobiles and ventured off to begin their “offseason” on teams in Europe, Asia, and Australia. Once their team’s WNBA season ended, many only had a week or two of rest and family time before they were due to check-in at international locales per the terms of their overseas contracts.

The continued year-round nature of women’s professional basketball applies, with few exceptions, to all categories of players in the W. Many of the league’s biggest stars, such as Breanna Stewart and Brittany Griner, have been on the 12-month hamster wheel for years on end. And rookies, like 2021 top overall draft pick Charlie Collier and WNBA Rookie of the Year Michaela Onyenwere, are heading abroad for their very first international seasons. Collier will play in Italy and Onyenwere will head to Spain once she’s recovered from surgery to repair ruptured ligaments in her finger.

Jonquel Jones, this season’s uncontested MVP, and her top seeded Connecticut Sun were knocked out in the semi-finals on October 6th by the late-peaking Sky. Jones had exactly 13 days to come down from the loss, pack, fly across the world, psych herself back up, and be on the court in Russia for tip-off on October 20th. In her season debut for UMMC Ekaterinburg, she had 19 points and 9 rebounds in just 21 minutes.

img
Jonquel Jones of the Connecticut Sun (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

UMMC’s track record of being able to afford the most star power from the WNBA continues this year, with a roster that includes Jones, Griner, Stewart, Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley, and Emma Meesseman. It’s virtually a WNBA All-Star team competing in Russia every winter. With Stewart still recovering from an Achilles clean-up surgery (and adjusting to life with a newborn) and Griner opting for a longer rest period before heading over, UMMC may be slightly more on par with their competition for the first half of the season.

Griner, for one, has indicated her tenure of running the year-round race is coming to an end. 

“It is getting harder and harder,” Griner said the day after the Mercury lost the title to Chicago. “I’m not really looking forward to it, honestly — having to leave my family and go overseas again. Definitely going over this offseason, and then just taking it year-by-year.” 

Arike Ogunbowale has already returned to Dynamo Kursk in Russia and will be joined this year by Seattle guard Epiphanny Prince and New York forward Natasha Howard. One of the most impactful forwards in the league, as evidenced by her three WNBA Championships (2017 with the Lynx, 2018 and 2020 with the Storm), Howard concluded her WNBA season on September 23rd and was already across the globe and on the court for Kursk on October 6th, scoring 22 points and snagging 11 rebounds.

img
Arike Ogunbowale won All-Star Game MVP award after leading all scorers with 26 points. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Bella Alarie, Amanda Zahui B., Elizabeth Williams, and Kayla McBride were also all across the pond and logging minutes less than three weeks after their final WNBA contest. In McBride’s case, it was nine days between her last Lynx game and her first for Fenerbahce Safiport in Turkey. Zahui B. and Williams are also on the Fenerbahce roster this season and will be joined by Kiah Stokes, Bria Hartley, and Satou Sabally. Fenerbahce will be on the hunt to dethrone UMMC, who knocked them out in the semi-finals last year, 88-84, on their way to their third EuroLeague Championship in a row.

Kahleah Copper will be taking her Finals MVP skills over to Spain, where she’ll join Alarie and the Samuelson sisters on Perfumerias Avenida. The Aces’ Jackie Young and Wings’ Marina Mabrey are headed down under to play for Perth in Australia’s Women’s National Basketball League. A handful of other WNBAers will also be sprinkled throughout the WNBL. With nine players already signed to overseas contracts, the Dallas Wings likely have the highest percentage of personnel abroad this offseason. Eight Mystics and six Liberty have also already committed to playing internationally.

img
WNBA Finals MVP Kahleah Copper (Chris Marion/NBAE via Getty Images)

Clearly, the financial gain to be made from playing overseas during the offseason is still alive and well for the vast majority of players. With a relatively short WNBA season (6 months), it’s not unreasonable for athletes to compete elsewhere during the winter months. The problem is that with WNBA salaries still a far cry from other mainstream pro sports, playing a 12-month schedule is one of the only ways to make a decent living in a career with an (at best) early-40s cutoff. The endless cycle means injuries, burnout, mental health issues, family separation, and other hardships weighing heavily on the shoulders of these players.

The conversation on how to change this reality is ongoing. Continuing to grow the WNBA to be a stand-alone, viable one-season option is the top priority but is not going to happen in the short term. The announcement of an Athlete’s Unlimited basketball season this winter is a great option for players who only need a small amount of extra income to subsidize their WNBA salary (AU players will reportedly earn $20K-$25K), or whose bodies just can’t withstand the year-round grind. The WNBA’s highly touted 2020 CBA, which significantly raised salaries, was also praised for allowing top players “to earn up to $300,000 more in ‘league marketing agreements,’ which are designed to keep stars from having to play overseas during the WNBA offseason.” But if anyone’s salary increase and marketing opportunities led them to opt out of overseas ball, they have yet to raise their hand and say so.  

The other component of the new CBA that will come into play in 2024 is the “WNBA Prioritization” clause, which will require 3+ year veterans to report back to their WNBA teams on time instead of missing training camp and preseason games when the EuroLeague playoffs extend into the start of the WNBA season. While the intent is commendable, it’s nerve-wracking for those who grew up without the WNBA and want to know there will be other options if the league ever takes a step back. If the EuroLeague doesn’t shift its schedule and the WNBA holds strong, many players will be caught in the middle and may be forced to choose between an often higher salary abroad and their lower WNBA salary back home.

It’s a concern top players in the W are taking seriously. On the Tea With A & Phee podcast this year, Lynx star Napheesa Collier discussed the issue with co-host and 2020 WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson. 

“Do you think players are going to opt out of playing in the WBNA to go overseas? Because you know most people make more money overseas and then you’d have the summer off,” Collier posited. “I feel like that was a bad move. You’re forcing players to choose. And if I’m not making that much in the league, it’s not enough for me to survive on during the year, then I’m going overseas and having the summer off.”

We still have a few years before players will be faced with these hard choices. In the meantime, the 2021-2022 international season is well underway and stocked full of WNBA talent as usual. Even the VanderQuigs have (hopefully) slept off their Championship celebration hangovers and are gearing up for the foreign stint of their double life. For the foreseeable future, this remains the reality for professional women’s basketball players.

Resources on WNBAers Overseas: See this from The Next, this from Swish Appeal, and this (when updated) from WInsidr. About half of WNBA team pages have a link or news story listing overseas status of their players, but half isn’t enough, and they are not always kept up to date.