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.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by EuroLeague Women (@euroleaguewomen)

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.

Thursday night's NCAA basketball action spotlights a tense SEC rematch, as No. 2 South Carolina hosts No. 4 Texas in conference play following the pair's nonconference Players Era Championship matchup in November.

The Longhorns just edged the Gamecocks 66-64 in the Las Vegas competition's title game, but the tide has since shifted, with South Carolina now riding a 10-game winning streak into Thursday's matchup while No. 6 LSU served Texas a season-first loss last Sunday.

"I'm really disappointed in the league for putting us in that position, but we play whoever is in front of us," Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer said of his team's grueling road trip. "It's one monster after another."

The pair's sole 2025/26 conference matchup could end up determining the SEC basketball regular-season title — South Carolina and Texas split their two 2024/25 SEC clashes to tie for last season's honor before the Gamecocks ousted the Longhorns from both the conference tournament and the Final Four.

While injuries have impacted both sides, South Carolina anticipates a roster boost from 6-foot-7 French international Alicia Tournebize, who recently joined the Gamecocks after playing pro ball in Europe.

"She looked good," South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said of her team's midseason addition. "She'll play, she'll definitely play."

How to watch Texas vs. South Carolina on Thursday

The No. 4 Longhorns will tip off against the No. 2 Gamecocks in Columbia at 7 PM ET on Thursday, with live coverage airing on ESPN2.

The NWSL Players Association is speaking out, filing a grievance against the league's new "High Impact Player" rule on Monday after claiming that the mechanism violates both the CBA and US labor laws.

"Player compensation is a mandatory subject of bargaining," the union said in its Wednesday statement. "The League has no authority to unilaterally create a new pay structure that bypasses negotiated rules."

The union requested "immediate rescission of the HIP Rule, an order requiring the League to bargain in good faith over any proposed Player compensation rules prior to implementation, and to make-whole relief for any Players impacted by the League's unilateral actions."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

With the future of stars like Trinity Rodman hanging in the balance, the "High Impact Player" rule allows clubs to exceed the salary cap by up to $1 million so long as players qualify under specific criteria — measures that a mere 27 current NWSL athletes currently meet.

The NWSLPA instead suggested simply raising the overall salary cap by $1 million, with the NWSL going on to institute the rule despite union objections.

"We want to make sure everybody has a level playing field," NWSLPA executive director Meghann Burke told The Athletic in December. "If the league can come in here and put their thumb on the scale…they can put their thumb on the scale of any player's contract negotiation."

With free agency heating up, players making moves, and the 2026 NWSL preseason kicking off, the pressure is mounting for both sides to figure out a lasting fix.

USWNT star Sam Coffey has sealed the deal, with WSL side Manchester City announcing on Wednesday that they've signed the 27-year-old through 2029.

Manchester City reportedly paid $875,000 in transfer fees for the midfielder, after Coffey led the Portland Thorns to one NWSL title in her four years with the NWSL club.

"Sam's reputation as one of the world's best speaks for itself," said Man City director of football Therese Sjögran in the WSL club's announcement. "We're delighted she's chosen to come here ahead of other potential suitors."

"Sam is playing at the top of her game, and I think her decision to come here shows the incredible progress we've made as a Club and the ambitions we have moving forward," added Sjögran.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

City's ambitions are rising alongside their place on the WSL table, where the Citizens currently sit six points clear atop the standings thanks to global stars like Bunny Shaw and Vivianne Miedema.

Coffey's move, however, continues to tip the USWNT's scales away from the NWSL, with over half of the starting XI from the 2024 Olympic gold-medal match now playing club football in Europe — at least for now.

"For as long as I've kicked a ball, I've always dreamed of playing professional soccer in Europe," Coffey said in an emotional letter to Portland on social media. "I would never forgive myself if I didn't go try."

How to watch Manchester City this weekend

Though the date of Coffey's European debut is still unknown, Manchester City will next take the pitch against third-flight club Bournemouth in the fourth round of the 2025/26 FA Women's Cup at 8 AM ET on Sunday before facing a top-tier battle against WSL champion Chelsea in the League Cup semifinals next Wednesday.

WSL action for the Citizens will then resume on Sunday, January 25th, when Man City takes on the London City Lionesses at 6:55 AM ET on ESPN+.

The upcoming Netflix feature film about the 1999 USWNT World Cup team has landed a lead, with Deadline confirming on Wednesday that the streaming giant is tapping actor Emily Bader to play star forward Mia Hamm in The 99'ers.

The 29-year-old most recently starred in People We Meet on Vacation, which made its debut at No. 1 on Netflix last week.

Bader previously enjoyed a breakout turn in the Prime historical drama My Lady Jane, which dropped in June 2024.

Calling her role in The 99'ers "a dream come true," Bader celebrated her Netflix casting in her Instagram Stories on Wednesday.

"Growing up playing soccer and being so inspired by @miahamm," she wrote.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

Netflix first acquired the rights to The Girls of Summer: The US Women's Soccer Team and How It Changed the World — a 2000 book by Jeré Longman — back in 2020, with the project officially going into development in May 2025.

Known for her directorial prowess on Sirens on Netflix as well as her Emmy and Director's Guild Award-winning work on HBO's Watchmen, Nicole Kassell will direct The 99'ers.

Kassell will work off a script penned by Katie Lovejoy (Love at First Sight, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before 3), Dana Stevens (The Woman King, Fatherhood), and Peter Hedges (Ben Is Back).

Helmed by Liza Chasin from 3Dot Productions, The 99'ers boasts a production team that includes Hayley Stool, Ross Greenburg, Marla Messing, Jill Mazursky, and Krista Smith.

While no timeline for production or distribution are available, Netflix will likely aim to use the film to bolster its coverage of the the upcoming World Cups in light of the streamer recently snagging the exclusive US broadcast rights to both the 2027 and 2031 tournaments.