With the 2021-22 college basketball regular season coming to a close, attention has turned to end-of-year awards, especially that of National Player of the Year.

South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley has been vocal with her take that forward Aliyah Boston is the front-runner for the honor. In recent weeks, much attention has been given to Iowa sophomore Caitlin Clark, who is leading the country in points per game, assists per game and triple-doubles, but whose team has lost six more games than the 25-1 Gamecocks have.

“I think it’s a combination of several things, and I am speaking from having been in the game for a while and having seen how the media portray certain No. 1 teams in the country, certain Player of the Year candidates,” Staley tells Sheryl Swoopes on the latest episode of NETLIFE. “And now that I find myself being the coach of the No. 1 team in the country, and who I know is the No. 1 player in the country in Aliyah Boston, it’s a lot different.”

The Gamecocks coach says she has seen firsthand the media campaigns for past Player of the Year winners Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, Paige Bueckers, Kelsey Plum and A’ja Wilson, and the marked difference between the coverage of them and Boston.

“I don’t think we’re being covered as much as other No. 1 teams in the country have been covered,” Staley says. “I am, however, looking at Aliyah Boston as the National Player of the Year because I know what she’s done, I know what she’s doing, and she’s done it at a consistent basis.”

The junior is averaging 16.8 points, 11.9 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game for South Carolina, which has held onto the No. 1 ranking all year long.

Staley, referencing an earlier NETLIFE conversation with former Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw, believes that national media is hardwired to cover UConn after the program’s 11-NCAA championship dynasty.

“ESPN, they are the decision-makers of women’s basketball … they choose who is going to be the person, the team,” the coach says. “UConn is their comfort zone, and their ratings are much better because that’s who they have pushed for decades, and rightfully so. I’m not taking anything away from UConn — they have been tremendous, they have been the team of the decade.”

Swoopes adds that she sees race playing a role in the media bias.

“Dawn Staley is the head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks, Dawn Staley is a Black woman, Dawn Staley’s team is a Black team … to me, that’s not what ESPN wants to promote, that’s not what they want to talk about,” Swoopes says. “I feel because of that, Aliyah Boston, in my opinion, she is Player of the Year, but I think that’s why Aliyah Boston is not getting talked about, promoted as much.”

While she feels compelled to campaign for Boston, Staley hopes that women’s basketball can evolve past singular storytelling.

“I don’t want to be a one-person narrative when our game is comprised of so many great players,” Staley says.

On Tuesday, ESPN’s women’s basketball writers picked Boston as their consensus pick for Player of the Year.

Listen to the full conversation between Swoopes and Staley, as well as a conversation with South Carolina attorney Butch Bowers, on NETLIFE.

Aryna Sabalenka won her first Grand Slam of the 2025 WTA season on Saturday, with the world No. 1 defeating then-No. 9 Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-6(3) to claim the US Open trophy — the final Slam of the year.

"To bring the fight and be able to handle my emotions the way I did in this final, it means a lot," Sabalenka said following the match. "I'm super proud right now of myself."

After successfully defending her 2024 US Open title — and claiming tennis's top 2025 paycheck in the process — Sabalenka is now the tournament's first repeat champion since 2014, when Serena Williams claimed a third straight trophy at the New York Slam.

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The 27-year-old narrowly avoided a Slam-less year, going without a trophy despite reaching both the Australian Open and French Open finals as well as the Wimbledon semifinals.

"I think because of the finals earlier this season, this one felt different," Sabalenka said. "All of those lessons are making me tougher, tougher, and tougher."

As for Anisimova, the US rising star added a new career-high WTA ranking alongside her second straight Grand Slam final appearance on her 2025 resume, rising to world No. 4 in Monday's update.

Also earning a noticeable bump on Monday was Japanese star Naomi Osaka, who clocked in at No. 14 after a stellar Grand Slam comeback run to the 2025 US Open semifinals.

The Golden State Valkyries have made WNBA history yet again, setting a new league attendance record by selling out all 22 of the 2025 expansion team's home games this year — and doing so in their debut season.

Even more, the WNBA surpassed the 3 million-fan mark over the weekend, an historic first for the 29-year-old league.

A hit from the very first tip-off, the Valkyries have seen unprecedented support while becoming the first-ever expansion team to make the WNBA playoffs in their inaugural year.

Making the announcement in their final 2025 regular-season home stand against the Minnesota Lynx on Saturday, the Valkyries have officially seen fans fill every one of the Chase Center's maximum 18,064 seats all season — claiming a WNBA all-time record for any team's per-game average along the way.

With those season-long record crowds, Golden State also now owns the WNBA total attendance mark at 397,408 fans on the year.

Just behind Golden State are the Indiana Fever and New York Liberty — the only other WNBA teams that will close out the 2025 regular-season with average crowds over 16,000 and totals breaking the 300,000-fan mark.

With one home game still left to play for each team, Indiana has welcomed 349,313 total fans so far, while New York currently sits at a 341,575 total attendance for the 2025 WNBA season.

Attendance has skyrocketed across the WNBA year, thanks in part to the league adding both a 13th franchise as well as two more home games to each team's 2025 schedule.

As a result, the league demolished the previous season-high attendance of 2.36 million set in 2002 and, with 11 games still on the 2025 regular-season schedule, the WNBA is currently on track to push past the 3.1 million mark before the postseason tips off.

Three retired WNBA icons received their flowers over the weekend, as Minnesota Lynx legends Sylvia Fowles and Maya Moore and Seattle Storm great Sue Bird took their places in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday — making the 2025 WNBA class arguably the most dominant in HOF history.

"Now that I'm in the Hall, I believe I have become Auntie Maya," Moore said in her enshrinement speech. "I want to challenge you up-and-comers to learn to love and seek out joy and connection as your biggest motivator."

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With 11 Olympic gold medals — more than any other HOF group — and 10 league championships between them, plus countless individual honors, Fowles, Bird, and Moore comprise the strongest women's basketball Hall of Fame class in history.

Even more, this is the first year that the Naismith has added a full trio of WNBA players to its hallowed halls — a testament to the unmatched careers of Bird, Moore, and Fowles.

"Put us on a 3×3 team, you'd have some problems — we'd be pretty good," Bird joked. "It is pretty special to go in with people who aren't just amazing players, having impact on and off the court, but these are players that I got to experience life with."

"I think that would be fair to say that they would have the title of best class ever," Minnesota head coach Cheryl Reeve said.

The 2025 NWSL season for the No. 5 Orlando Pride has taken a sharp downturn, as the reigning league champions are now winless in their last seven games following Sunday's 5-2 loss to the No. 13 Chicago Stars at Northwestern University's Martin Stadium.

While left back Carson Pickett and defensive midfielder Haley McCutcheon each managed to take a goal back for the Pride, a leaky Orlando back line saw five different Stars players hit the back of the net — including a 10th goal on the season for Chicago star striker Ludmila.

"I apologize to the fans that were watching at home, and I apologize to the fans that were here with their support. That was not us today and we have to get it right," Pride head coach Seb Hines said following the match.

Orlando have continued to slide down the NWSL standings since their last win on June 13th, most recently logging three straight losses as the team struggles to find their form following MVP candidate Barbra Banda's season-ending injury on August 16th.

One of the Pride's rare bright spots on Sunday was record-breaking signee Lizbeth Ovalle, with the Mexican international subbing in at the half to make her NWSL debut.

Chicago, on the other hand, hasn't dropped a match since returning from the midseason summer break, with the surging Stars putting on a Sunday show in their impending lakefront home.

"I feel like it's just a really cool atmosphere, a lot more people can come now, and it's really good vibes," midfielder Julia Grosso said after the match.