If you are one of the many already suffering from PMMD (Post-March Madness Depression), the basketball gods are here for you. Another Final Four is happening this weekend, and this time it’s at the pro level. Kahleah Copper, reigning WNBA Finals MVP and recently named 2022 EuroLeague MVP, has been putting on a clinic in Europe, averaging 22.5 points, 6.1 rebounds and two assists per game. Now she and the rest of her Spain-based Perfumerias Avenida team are headed to Istanbul for a win-or-go-home final four-style tournament to crown the 2022 EuroLeague champion.

Standing in Avenida’s path are several of Copper’s WNBA colleagues, including the WNBA’s reigning Most Improved Player, Brionna Jones, a dangerously healthy Alyssa Thomas, and fellow 2021 WNBA champion Stefanie Dolson.

For those new to the overseas game, you can think of EuroLeague playoffs sort of like the NCAA’s March Madness. Dispersed throughout the European continent, the 16 EuroLeague teams play a regular season in domestic leagues of their respective countries, similar to how NCAA teams play in their respective conferences. Then at the end of the season, the top teams from the continent compete for the EuroLeague championship, the most competitive title in women’s basketball outside the WNBA.

The intrigue for U.S. fans is that the league is chock-a-block full of WNBA players who pack their bags shortly after their W season ends and fly to locales all over Europe, from Spain to Turkey to Russia, to play professional basketball abroad on contracts typically more lucrative than what they earn in the WNBA.

(Not) speaking of Russia

Russia has long been home to powerhouse teams in European women’s basketball, most recently with UMMC Ekaterinburg. Ekat is a team with plenty of wealth that annually signs several of the biggest names from the WNBA, resulting in the club winning four of the past five EuroLeague Championships. This season, their loaded roster included Jonquel Jones, Emma Meeseman, Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley, Britney Griner and Breanna Stewart (though Stewart was not able to play the season due to a foot injury).

With an undefeated record, Ekaterinburg appeared well on their way to making it five out of six championships as the playoffs approached. But then war broke out when Russia invaded Ukraine, and EuroLeague officials announced Russian teams were prohibited from competition for the rest of the season. WNBA players inside the country scrambled to return home, while news broke that WNBA superstar Brittney Griner was in Russian police custody, where she remains today.

While canceling the rest of the EuroLeague playoffs would not have benefitted the women’s game or its athletes, the fact the championship is proceeding as business as usual given the absence of Ekaterinburg and the ongoing foreign imprisonment of one of the best players in the world is jarring to say the least.

The race for a new champion

Amid the tragic and unusual circumstances, the top podium is now open for the taking with four evenly matched contenders. Of the teams still standing, only one (USK Praha) has reached the top spot in the past ten years.

Semifinal 1: Perfumerias Avenida (Spain) vs. Sopron Basket (Hungary)

The semifinal Friday features Avenida against Hungarian-based Sopron Basket. Sopron only added Dolson to its roster in late February, and the 6-foot-5 center had limited minutes and low production in the team’s quarterfinal series against France’s BLMA. Of the team’s WNBA players, Gabby Williams, Briann January and Bernadett Hatar have been the driving forces.

Williams was last year’s EuroLeague Defensive Player of the Year and has been a pillar on both ends of the court once again for Sopron. Earning her way onto this season’s All-EuroLeague Second Team, the UConn alum who was traded from the Los Angeles Sparks to the Seattle Storm this offseason has averaged 13.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.3 steals per game in EuroLeague action for Sopron. Point guard Briann January, who will join Williams as a new face in Seattle this year, is leading the team in assists while also contributing 10.5 points per game. One recipient of January’s many dimes is the 6-10 Bernadett Hatar, who’s converting those feeds into 13.6 points per game while also grabbing 8.5 rebounds per contest. Hatar, a 27-year-old Hungarian native, made her WNBA debut last season with the Indiana Fever as the tallest active player in the league, but she played in only seven games before returning home with a season-ending injury. Hatar is once again on a Fever training camp contract and, according to Williams, has made big strides in her game this overseas season.

“Betty has really, really improved her game,” Williams said in a recent interview. “I always tell her she can be like a cheat code in a video game. She is so tall and it’s so easy to get her the ball. A pick and roll with her is automatic, but it is the other things like the IQ she has for the game, her mid-range jump shot. It’s so hard to stop her.”

Avenida will strive to do just that, and they may not be at full force to do it. Katie Lou Samuelson, recently traded from Seattle to L.A. for Williams and a draft pick, hasn’t suited up for Avenida since the team’s Feb. 1 loss to Ekaterinburg. Samuelson said in a recent Instagram post that she was focused “on getting my body healthy and keeping my mind healthy.” Now back with the team and headed to Istanbul, the question remains whether Avenida’s second-leading scorer and best plus/minus performer will be 100 percent at tipoff.

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Luckily for Avenida, Karlie Samuelson, who has bounced around a few WNBA rosters without seeing much court time, has been a consistent starter and 3-point shooting weapon for the Spanish club this season. Besting her sharp-shooting sister from behind the arc this season, Karlie Samuelson’s 43.1 percent average from three is seventh-best in the league and came in big during their must-win quarterfinal game against Spar Girona, when she was 5-of-6 from downtown. But even if the elder Samuelson stays hot in Istanbul, Avenida will live or die by Kahleah Copper.

The EuroLeague MVP took some well-deserved time off after leading the Sky to the WNBA championship last fall, but once she arrived in Spain for her inaugural EuroLeague season, her foot never came off the gas. Leading her team in points, rebounds and overall efficiency, she’s been putting up big numbers even while dealing with hardship off the court. After suffering a personal loss in recent weeks, Copper considered going home, but the support of her teammates and her core value of perseverance have allowed her to play on.

"I just felt her full support." 🤗

The MVP @kahleahcopper explains the importance of having La Capitana @sdominguez6 in her corner 💯 #ProudlyWoman x #EuroLeagueWomen pic.twitter.com/glqOjyj6aw

— EuroLeague Women (@EuroLeagueWomen) April 3, 2022

Semifinal 2: USK Praha (Czech Republic) vs. Fenerbahce Safisport (Turkey)

The second semifinal this Friday pits Praha against Fenerbahce. Praha has two enormous WNBA talents this year in Brionna Jones and Alyssa Thomas. Both put up regular season performances that placed them in MVP consideration. Jones was the league’s second-leading scorer behind Copper at 19.8 points per game, but was first in average efficiency and ninth in rebounding at 8.5 per game. She may have handily won MVP honors if Thomas hadn’t been putting up her own impressive numbers of 14.4 points, 9.5 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.1 steals per game.

Jones and Thomas have been inseparable for years now. They played together at Maryland as a freshman (Jones) and senior (Thomas), taking the Terps to the 2013-14 Final Four. And they reunited in Connecticut after the Sun drafted each of them out of college. Now, they’re playing their third overseas season together for Praha.

The dynamic duo will look to uproot Istanbul’s home team of Fenerbahce, which will not be easy given the impassioned loyalty of Turkish fans and the team’s top W imports of Elizabeth Williams, Kayla McBride and Satou Sabally. With a 13-3 EuroLeague record and their last loss coming way back in November, Fenerbahce is full of well-founded confidence heading into the weekend. Williams, who will join the Washington Mystics this season, is a significant piece of that confidence, having just been named the Defensive Player of the Year after leading the league in blocks and placing fifth overall in rebounds.

Minnesota Lynx shooting guard Kayla McBride has also found her stroke this season, finishing third in points per game while posting a prestigious 50-40-90 in shooting percentage. Add in Sabally’s 16.1 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, and Fenerbahce has the weapons to make a run at the championship.

The EuroLeague Final Four semis will tip off Friday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET, with the championship game to follow on Sunday at 10 a.m. ET. All games can be streamed live free of charge on EuroLeague Women YouTube.

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

The 2027 Women's World Cup is taking shape, as FIFA introduced the tournament's official branding at a ceremony in host country Brazil on Sunday.

The first-ever iteration of the tournament in South America will adopt the slogan "GO EPIC," an imperative that "calls on fans everywhere to be part of an unforgettable adventure."

Additionally, the branding of the competition's 10th edition includes a sonic identity "inspired by Brazilian rhythms, samba-infused percussion, and Afro-Brazilian heritage."

"Brazil lives and breathes football, and you can feel the excitement here about welcoming the world and hosting a historic event," said FIFA president Gianni Infantino at the governing body's launch event in the famed Copacabana neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. "You can also feel something even more powerful, as this country is fully committed to making this a watershed moment for the women's game."

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The logo pays homage to the Brazilian flag as well as the shape of a soccer pitch, with the design featuring a letter W and its inversion, a letter M — uniting the English words "women" and "world" with their Portuguese counterparts "mulheres" and "mundo."

"Football is about love and Brazil loves football," said Brazil soccer legend Marta, the World Cup's all-time leading scorer, in a video message at Sunday's event. "Our country is ready to embrace the women's game with pride, emotion and belief."

Calling her country's hosting duties "a dream come true," fellow Brazil icon Formiga — the only athlete, man or woman, to compete in seven World Cups — said Sunday that "2027 will be about opening doors. This World Cup will show girls everywhere they belong on the biggest stage."

The US is flooding the quarterfinals of the 2026 Australian Open, with half of eight women still standing in the Grand Slam representing the United States.

World No. 3 Coco Gauff, No. 4 Amanda Anisimova, No. 6 Jessica Pegula, and No. 27 Iva Jović all advanced from the weekend's fourth round, joining No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 2 Iga Świątek, No. 5 Elena Rybakina, and No. 12 Elina Svitolina in Monday and Tuesday's quarterfinals.

"I'm just trusting the level that I have been able to put out and hopefully that will be enough," 18-year-old Jović said as she gears up for her Monday night clash with Sabalenka — a two-time winner (2023, 2024) of the Melbourne Slam.

Pegula's success, meanwhile, came at the expense of her US teammate and the reigning Australian Open champion, No. 9 Madison Keys, whom she ousted in straight sets in the Round of 16 on Sunday.

Even more, Pegula's quarterfinal matchup will again feature friendly fire as she takes on Anisimova on Tuesday night.

"Sucks that one American has to go out in the quarterfinals," Anisimova said. "Jess is such a great player, so I'm sure it's going to be a great battle."

How to watch the 2026 Australian Open quarterfinals

The Australian Open quarterfinals start at 7:30 PM ET on Monday, when No. 27 Jović takes on No. 1 Sabalenka before No. 3 Gauff's 3 AM ET Tuesday matchup with No. 12 Svitolina.

No. 6 Pegula's clash with No. 4 Anisimova, as well as No. 5 Rybakina vs. No. 2 Świątek will close out the quarterfinals early Wednesday morning.

All matches from the Melbourne Slam air live across ESPN platforms.

No. 2 South Carolina shut down No. 5 Vanderbilt in Sunday's top-tier NCAA basketball clash, ending the Commodores' undefeated 2025/26 season by handing the Nashville visitors a 103-74 defeat.

Senior guard Ta'Niya Latson led South Carolina with 21 points, as five Gamecocks finished in the double-digits to offset Vanderbilt star sophomore Mikayla Blakes's 23-point night.

"I'm really impressed that we played connected basketball on both ends," South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said following the bounce-back win. "I'm happy we responded to our [Thursday] loss."

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The results could significantly impact the SEC standings, where No. 17 Tennessee currently sits in the lead — though six ranked conference opponents, including South Carolina, stand between the Vols and their regular-season finale vs. Vanderbilt.

"We didn't operate the way I know my team can operate," said Vanderbilt head coach Shea Ralph. "It doesn't get any easier.... This is the SEC."

"There just wasn't an answer today," Ralph continued. "There's a lot we can take from it, but it also doesn't negate the fact that we've been really good up to this point."

How to watch Vanderbilt, South Carolina in action this week

Both teams return to the NCAA court on Thursday, when the No. 5 Commodores will seek redemption against No. 18 Ole Miss at 7:30 PM ET before the No. 2 Gamecocks battle unranked Auburn at 9 PM ET.

Both matchups will air live on the SEC Network.

The No. 2 USWNT is stacking their 2026 dance card, as US Soccer announced three spring friendlies against No. 8 Japan on Saturday.

The series will kick off in San Jose, California, on Saturday, April 11th, before moving to Seattle on Tuesday, April 14th, with the teams closing out the trio of friendlies in Commerce City, Colorado, on Friday, April 17th.

"Playing the same opponent three times is unusual but it presents a great challenge and a chance to test ourselves against a top-quality opponent," said USWNT manager Emma Hayes in the federation's Saturday statement.

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The friendlies will follow the 2026 SheBelieves Cup, with the US set to face No. 30 Argentina, No. 10 Canada, and No. 20 Colombia starting on Sunday, March 1st.

The USWNT last met Japan at the 2025 SheBelieves Cup Final in San Diego, with the Nadeshiko beating the tournament hosts 2-1 — the second Japan victory over the US in their 42 all-time meetings.

"Japan is one of the best teams in the world," Hayes continued. "I'm a big admirer of how they play and I have tremendous respect for their team."

Notably, April's second friendly will see the USWNT return to Seattle for the first time since 2017, with Lumen Field swapping artificial turf for natural grass ahead of this summer's 2026 Men's World Cup.

How to buy tickets to USWNT vs. Japan friendlies

While ticket presales began on Monday morning, general sales for all three April friendlies will begin at 10 AM local venue time on Thursday.