Imani McGee-Stafford doesn’t want there to be any mixup about why she chose to play in Athletes Unlimited’s inaugural basketball season.

The new domestic women’s basketball league can serve as a proving ground for players looking to get a shot in the WNBA, as Taj Cole demonstrated Wednesday when the Connecticut Sun signed her to a training camp contract. While McGee-Stafford has goals of getting back to the WNBA herself, the former Dallas Wings center recognizes that what they’re trying to build with AU Basketball isn’t just a pipeline to the WNBA.

“That’s kind of been the narrative, but that’s not what we’re trying to do,” McGee-Stafford told Just Women’s Sports before the start of the season. “Like, don’t get me wrong, I think maybe a quarter of our roster are WNBA players, former W players, if not more. But this isn’t about the WNBA. This is about having an option to play offseason stateside and being able to be seen.

“When we’re playing here and with Athletes Unlimited, we’re trying to build this.”

A big part of that transition for the players is learning how to balance the individuality of AU with the team sport of basketball. Based on AU’s system, players earn points for different categories of individual statistics and for winning quarters and games. Each quarter is worth 50 points, while a game is worth 100.

“As much as it rewards individuals with the point system, it’s always about winning,” McGee-Stafford said. “I think that’s the fun part, honestly, because you’ve gotta gel quickly.”

McGee-Stafford can find even greater joy in the game after sitting out the past two years to go to law school. Becoming a lawyer has always been part of the 27-year-old’s career plan. A survivor of sexual assault, she wants to one day change the laws surrounding women’s rights and sexual violence.

Getting her law degree wasn’t supposed to happen until later on, but when COVID-19 threatened the 2020 WNBA season, McGee-Stafford knew she had one of two choices: get a job or apply to law school. Dallas’ ownership, she says, was supportive of her decision.

“I still have my contract with them,” she said. “They easily could have just cut me and it would have been a different conversation. But they were just like, ‘We get it. We think that’s dope. We love that for you. When you’re ready, come back. We’ll have a contract for you to earn.’”

She had always planned to return for the 2022 season, and began training again in August to prepare for WNBA training camps opening in April. At that point, heading overseas seemed like the only option she had to get back up to speed before attempting to make a WNBA team.

Enter Athletes Unlimited.

With AU, McGee-Stafford can still attend law school (she is taking just three classes this semester to avoid overloading her schedule) while getting live game experience.

“As much as I feel ready, you don’t really know if you are ready, ready until you get into playing,” she said. “So that was really exciting for me. I can’t hide it. I’m a little giddy baby here because I miss playing basketball and I didn’t know I would miss it as much as I do.”

Round 🏀🏀🏀🏀⬇️
💛: @TheManisLauren
🧡: @imanitrishawn_
💙: @Kirby_Skye
💜: @XxNik_NakxX pic.twitter.com/a56GZrHFGI

— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) January 30, 2022

While she admits there were nerves during her first days back in training, there were also moments where it felt like everything was lining up, like divine intervention.

One of AU’s basketball facilitators, Pokey Chatman, was the coach who drafted McGee-Stafford to the Chicago Sky with the 10th overall pick in 2016. Despite not having played in a WNBA game since 2019, she said Chatman gave her “the best compliment” after her first day of practice.

“I asked her how I looked after our first practice, and she said I look like me,” said McGee-Stafford.

She’s looked like herself through the first two game weeks of the AU season, too. On opening night last Wednesday, as a member of the team captained by Kelsey Mitchell, McGee-Stafford was all over the glass, bringing down 11 rebounds in a 92-85 loss. After entering COVID-19 protocols and missing the two games over the weekend, the center returned Wednesday night to contribute seven points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes played in Team Brown’s 83-76 win.

McGee-Stafford, despite the two games missed, is currently 13th on AU’s leaderboard with 1,079 points. Natasha Cloud leads the way with 2,047 points through four games.

Records and standings aside, after more than two years away from the game, McGee-Stafford is grateful to have found a basketball home with AU.

“The question about me has always been about my focus and dedication to basketball, so taking that time away for a while really gave me a chance to rejuvenate with my body and my mind,” she said. “And I’m 100 percent here now.”

Emma Hruby is an Associate Editor at Just Women’s Sports.

The first two rounds of the 2025 NCAA volleyball tournament saw a lot of chalk last week, as the four No. 1-seeds — Nebraska, Texas, Pitt, and Kentucky — all rolled to spots in this week's Sweet Sixteen.

The Longhorns ousted reigning national champion No. 8-seed Penn State with a second-round sweep last Saturday, while Kentucky became the only top seed to drop a single set through the first two matches when the Wildcats defeated No. UCLA 3-1 on Friday.

"I think what I liked is the concentration throughout the entire match. There were no letdowns," said Texas head coach Jerritt Elliott following his team's win over the Nittany Lions. "There's so many good teams right now. The sport continues to grow and continues to be dominant. I told them we don't need to play perfect, but we need to be good enough to win each night, and so that's what we did."

Along with the No. 1 squads, nearly every Top-4 seed advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, with the only Cinderella story coming from the unseeded Cal Poly Mustangs.

The 2025 Big West champions stunned their Power Four opponents last week, taking down No. 5-seed BYU and No. 4-seed USC in five-set thrillers to book a third-round matchup against No. 1 Kentucky — the Mustangs' first Sweet Sixteen berth since 2007 and second since the 1980s.

How to watch the 2025 NCAA volleyball tournament this week

The 2025 NCAA volleyball tournament resumes when No. 2-seed Arizona State and No. 3-seed Creighton face off in the first of the two-day Sweet Sixteen slate at 1 PM ET on Thursday, with the Elite Eight then set to compete in the Regional finals on Saturday and Sunday.

All games in the Regional finales of the 2025 Division I tournament will air live on either ESPN2 or ESPN.

Canada women's hockey will have revenge on their minds this week, as the 2025 Rivalry Series between the reigning Olympic champions and Team USA resumes on Wednesday.

After dropping two consecutive results against the US by a combined score of 10-2 to open the sixth annual showdown in November, the series now heads to Canada — with both of this week's games taking the ice in Edmonton, Alberta.

"They had a great start, they have a great team, but so do we," said Canada legend and team captain Marie-Philip Poulin after the first two rivalry tilts. "It's going to be a battle."

With the 2026 Winter Olympics looming less than two months away, both PWHL and NCAA standouts will be using this week's final international window of the year to make their cases for roster spots in Milan, Italy.

With both teams stacked with talent, those who make the final cut are likely to come home with hardware this winter, as five-time champions Canada and the two-time title-winning USA remain the only nations to ever win Olympic gold in women's hockey.

How to watch the 2025 Canada vs. USA Rivalry Series

The puck drops on Game 3 of the annual hockey Rivalry Series on Wednesday before Team USA and Team Canada face-off for the final time in 2025 on Saturday.

Both games will begin at 9 PM ET, with live coverage airing on the NHL Network.

The Big Ten showed off its depth in women's basketball this week, as a record-tying nine teams from the conference made Monday's AP Top 25 poll.

With three teams — No. 4 UCLA, No. 6 Michigan, and No. 7 Maryland — still in the Top 10, the Big Ten has tied its own record for ranked squads set in December 2024, as No. 24 Nebraska joined this week's list following a 9-0 start to the 2025/26 NCAA basketball season.

"I've been honored to be a part of this league for the last 13 seasons, working on year 14, where I've watched the [Big Ten] just get better and better," said Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico after Monday's poll drop.

No Big Ten team had a more dramatic weekend than Maryland, who kept their season's unbeaten streak alive with a furious comeback to defeat unranked Minnesota 100-99 in double overtime on Sunday.

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Despite falling behind by nine points in the second overtime period, the Terrapins executed an 8-0 run in just nine seconds to put the game within reach, before guard Saylor Poffenbarger hit the game-winner with just 11 seconds remaining.

"Maryland has a standard," Poffenbarger said after her team-leading 30-point, 10-rebound double-double performance on Sunday. "When you come to Maryland, you know the things that come with it."

2025/26 AP Top 25 Women's College Basketball Poll: Week 6

1. UConn (9-0, Big East)
2. Texas (10-0, SEC)
3. South Carolina (9-1, SEC)
4. UCLA (9-1, Big Ten)
5. LSU (10-0, SEC)
6. Michigan (8-1, Big Ten)
7. Maryland (11-0, Big Ten)
8. TCU (10-0, Big 12)
9. Oklahoma (9-1, SEC)
10. Iowa State (10-0, Big 12)
11. Iowa (9-0, Big Ten)
12. UNC (9-2, ACC)
13. Baylor (9-1, Big 12)
14. Vanderbilt (9-0, SEC)
15. Kentucky (10-1, SEC)
16. USC (7-2, Big Ten)
17. Ole Miss (8-1, SEC)
18. Tennessee (6-2, SEC)
19. Notre Dame (6-2, ACC)
20. Washington (8-1, Big Ten)
21. Ohio State (7-1, Big Ten)
22. Louisville (8-3, ACC)
23. Oklahoma State (10-1, Big 12)
24. Nebraska (9-0, Big Ten)
25. Michigan State (8-1, Big Ten)

Florida State sits on top of the world of NCAA soccer once again, as the No. 3-seed Seminoles staged a 1-0 upset of overall No. 1-seed Stanford in Monday night's 2025 College Cup final to secure FSU's fifth national championship.

For the second time in two matches, sophomore forward Wrianna Hudson played hero by netting the Seminoles' lone goal, breaking Monday's deadlock in the 87th minute to snag the national title — and this year's Offensive Most Outstanding Player award.

"I'm honestly just so grateful. My team worked so hard and I'm so glad we got the [winning] outcome, because we really went through it this game," Hudson said after the match.

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Hudson's game-winner capped an impressive team-wide defensive performance that snapped the Cardinal's 17-game unbeaten streak, with goalkeeper and Defensive Most Outstanding Player Kate Ockene staging nine saves to keep Stanford — and their NCAA tournament record-breaking offense —— scoreless in Monday's rematch of the 2023 College Cup final.

The Seminoles now own five of the last 12 NCAA trophies, with their 2025 College Cup title marking FSU's third championship in the last five years, proving they haven't slowed down since legendary head coach Mark Krikorian left the program to join the Washington Spirit's front office in 2022.

As for the Cardinal, Stanford will rue missed chances after outshooting Florida State 18-8 in Monday's title game.

With a now 3-4 overall record in College Cup finals, Stanford's focus shifts to next season, when they will again aim to secure their first NCAA soccer championship since 2019.