Nominees for the ESPY Awards dropped Wednesday, with Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark topping the list with three nods, followed closely by Aces' A'ja Wilson with two.
Both Wilson and Clark snagged Best Athlete in Women’s Sports nominations, alongside Coco Gauff and Nelly Korda. Clark was also nominated for the Best Record-breaking Performance for breaking Pete Maravich’s record to become the NCAA DI all-time scoring leader. Joining her in that category is newly retired Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, who became the winningest coach in NCAA basketball history this year.
LSU gymnast Haleigh Bryant and USC basketball player JuJu Watkins was nominated in the Best Breakthrough Athlete category, while superstars Simone Biles and UConn's Paige Bueckers are among the nominees for Best Comeback Athlete.
Boston College lacrosse player Kayla Martello and Gotham FC’s Midge Purce received nominations for the Best Championship Performance.
In addition to the nominations, ESPN announced that South Carolina coach Dawn Staley will receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance for her work in advocating for cancer research and bone marrow donors as well as her advocacy for women’s sports. Past recipients include Dick Vitale, Kay Yow, and Liam Hendriks.
"I’m grateful to ESPN for their coverage and the honor of this award," Staley said in a statement. "We’ve come a long way, and we will continue to move the women’s game forward and push for equity and visibility for our sport."
Decorated Iowa basketball coach Lisa Bluder announced her retirement on Monday, with assistant coach Jan Jensen next in line to take over the head coaching position.
Bluder retires as the winningest women’s basketball coach in Big Ten history, amassing 528 wins and five Big Ten tournament titles over her 24 years. During her time at the helm, Iowa made 18 NCAA tournament appearances, including back-to-back trips to the National Championship with star guard Caitlin Clark.
"It has been the honor of my career to be a part of the Iowa Hawkeye family," Bluder wrote in a statement. "And to lead a women's basketball program filled with so many talented and remarkable young women, who have gone on to do great things in their careers and, more importantly, in their lives."
She spent the last few years coaching the remarkable Caitlin Clark. The eventual No. 1 overall pick in April’s WNBA Draft, Clark became the all-time leading scorer in D-I basketball, men’s or women’s, this past season, winning back-to-back Naismith Player of the Year awards under Bluder's leadership.
In a tweet posted Monday, Clark reacted to Bluder’s retirement by thanking her.
"Simply no one better at building a team," Clark wrote. "Thank you for believing in me more than anyone. Enjoy retirement, coach. Very much deserved."
Bluder said Monday that her decision to retire came as she began preparing for the offseason. The longtime coach has previously said she was taking it year-by-year.
"After the season ended, I spent time with our student-athletes and coaches reviewing the season and preparing those moving on for what comes next," Bluder said. "With that also came personal contemplation about what this journey has meant to me, how to best champion this program and what the future looks like for my family and me. After then taking some time away with my husband, David, it became clear to me that I am ready to step aside.
"There is never an ideal time to retire, and I am sure this fall that I will miss the games, the practices, the road trips, the atmosphere, the tremendous fans and, most importantly, the players. But my belief in the foundation of this program, knowing that success is now an unrelenting component of women's basketball at the University of Iowa gives me comfort as I transition to become the program's biggest champion."
Bluder's coaching tenure dates back to 1985, when she coached at St. Ambrose University for six seasons before accepting a head coaching job at Drake in 1991. During her nine years in Des Moines, Bluder led the Bulldogs to four Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championships (1995, 1997, 1998, 2000) alongside three regular season titles (1997, 1998, 2000).
Assistant head coach Jan Jensen has been tapped to take over the role at Iowa, having worked shoulder to shoulder with the outgoing Bluder for a major part of her career. After playing under Bluder at Drake, Jensen moved on to join her former coach off the court as an assistant coach for the Bulldogs.
"I love Jan to death," 2019 Naismith Player of the Year Megan Gustafson told The Gazette. "She deserves this, and she’s ready for it."
Gustafson's former Iowa teammate, post player Monika Czinano, echoed the sentiment.
"It’s the perfect succession line, in my opinion," Czinano said. "She’s one of the main reasons for my development. She’s ready for it."
Deja Kelly has landed on her final destination, with the former North Carolina star announcing her commitment to Oregon on Monday.
A three-time All-ACC guard, Kelly averaged 15.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game in her four years in Chapel Hill. She led the team in scoring in each of the last three seasons, but opted to transfer elsewhere for her fifth and final year of NCAA eligibility.
The 5-foot-8 Texas native finishes her UNC career eighth on the team’s scoring list, having helped carry the Tar Heels to a Sweet 16 in 2022.
Kelly is the seventh new addition for Oregon Ducks coach Kelly Graves this offseason, as the program faced a number of big name departures at the close of the 2023 NCAA tournament. She will join Texas' Amina Muhammad, Arizona's Salimatou Kourouma, Washington's Ari Long, BYU's Nani Falatea, UC Santa Barbara's Alexis Whitfield, and Siena's Elisa Mevius in Eugene this fall.
Kelly wasn't the only noteworthy transfer shaking up women's college hoops this week, with Marquette's Liza Karlen and Pitt's Liatu King both announcing their commitments to Notre Dame within a span of roughly 18 hours.
Hailey Van Lith is reportedly on her way to TCU, says Talia Goodman of The Next Hoops.
The former Louisville star joined LSU for the 2023-24 season, but a disappointing run in Baton Rouge saw her enter the transfer portal once again at the season’s end. Van Lith opted to use her fifth year of eligibility versus declaring for the WNBA draft.
Van Lith was admittedly less effective as a Tiger. Her field goal percentage decreased from .411 in 2022-23 with Louisville to .388 at LSU. She also went from averaging 19.7 points per game to just 11.6, due in part to a change of position from shooting guard to more of a point guard role.
At an end-of-season banquet last week, LSU coach Kim Mulkey used her speech to wish Van Lith well, calling her "one of the hardest working players that I’ve ever coached."
"Her aspirations were to get drafted this year," Mulkey said, according to NOLA.com. "And she realized, 'I need another year, and I need to go back to a place where I can relax and get back to my normal position.'
"And what do you do? You hug her, and you wish her well."
The decision to commit to TCU may come as a surprise after Van Lith paid a visit to Mississippi State last weekend. The Horned Frogs finished out the 2023-24 season 21-12 overall, coming in 9th in the Big 12 and scoring an average of 69.5 points per game. The program also made headlines in January when they held mid-season open tryouts in response to an onslaught of sidelining injuries.
Stanford has found its replacement for legendary head women's basketball coach Tara VanDerveer in associate head coach Kate Paye.
The Cardinal confirmed the hiring on Tuesday via a press release. Paye was largely expected to replace the longtime head coach, as the college mentioned they were still negotiating Paye's contract when they announced VanDerveer's retirement.
In Tuesday's statement, Paye reported that she was "humbled" to have been tapped to lead the women’s program.
"Stanford University has been a central part of my life for as long as I can remember and I am humbled to have the opportunity to lead its women’s basketball program," Paye said. "I’d first like to thank Tara, who has played such a pivotal role in my career for her friendship and guidance. It’s not what she’s done, but how she’s done it, that has had such a profound impact upon me."
A Woodside, California native, Paye played under VanDerveer from 1992 to 1995, taking home a national title her freshman year. After graduation, Paye briefly joined San Diego State as an assistant coach before making her professional debut with the ABL's Seattle Reign in 1996. After finishing her playing career with the WNBA's Seattle Storm, she joined the team’s coaching staff in 2007 and has been with the organization ever since, picking up another national title win — this time as associate head coach — in 2021. Paye's brother John played quarterback for Stanford from 1983 to 1986, while also serving as a point guard on the basketball team.
In her own response, VanDerveer said that she was "grateful" that Stanford picked Paye to follow in her stead. Last week, the decorated coach stated that this year would be her last after 38 seasons at the helm and three national titles under her belt.
"She has long been ready for this opportunity and is the perfect leader for Stanford at this time of immense change in college athletics," VanDerveer noted. "Kate was the choice for this job and I am confident she will achieve great success as head coach."
The Chicago Sky made a splash in Monday night’s WNBA draft, taking Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese in the first round.
South Carolina’s Cardoso, who was the 2024 Final Four Most Outstanding Player, went third to the Sky. The day before, the team had swapped picks with the Minnesota Lynx to land the No. 7 pick as well, which they used on Reese, the 2023 Final Four MOP.
Now, the two will team up in Chicago after battling each other in both college and high school
"She’s a great player, and I’m a great player. Nobody's going to get no rebounds on us," Cardoso joked afterwards, while Reese expressed excitement about playing under new Sky head coach Teresa Weatherspoon.
"Being able to be a Black woman and as a head coach, and everything she's done at the NBA level, I just knew everything they were bringing to the table," Reese said of the Sky. "Player development is something that I was looking for and they looked for in me. I'm super excited for this move."
Former NBA star and Chicago Sky co-owner Dwayne Wade welcomed the pair to Chicago.
“The foundation is set,” he wrote.
The foundation is set. Welcome Kamilla Cardoso x Angel Reese @chicagosky @WNBA
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) April 16, 2024
The Sky have entered re-building mode after winning a WNBA title in 2021. This offseason, they traded franchise cornerstone Kahleah Copper to the Phoenix Mercury for a package that included the No. 3 picked used on Cardoso.
Now, Cardoso and Reese will be looking to jump-start the team's return to contention.
Caitlin Clark is officially a member of the Indiana Fever, with the Iowa superstar going No. 1 overall in the WNBA draft on Monday night.
Clark has been the consensus top pick since declaring for the draft on February 29, a few weeks before the onset of Women's March Madness. But for her, the call up was still full of emotions.
"When you're just sitting at a table waiting for your name to be called, that really allows the emotions to feed you," Clark said. "You're with your family — obviously, playing a basketball game, I'm not out there with my family — so sharing that moment with them and enjoying it, and people that have really had my back and believed in me more than anyone, is super special."
Clark wasn't the only one pausing to take in the moment. As fans and commentators noted during the broadcast, it took a little more time than usual for Indiana to announce their pick — Fever GM Lin Dunn later told the media that she spent 15 to 20 seconds ensuring Clark's card adhered perfectly to league regulations before handing it over. She didn't want anything to get in between her team and a player she calls a "perfect fit."
"She's from the Big Ten, the Midwest — is there any place better for her than Indianapolis, Indiana?" Dunn said. "I think this is the beginning of us getting back on track to win another championship."
Clark echoed the sentiment.
"That's definitely our goal, is to get back to championship habits," Clark said. "For myself, I can't imagine a more perfect fit, a better place for me to start my professional career, an organization that really just believes in women's basketball and wants to do everything the right way. So I couldn't be more excited to get there."
She’s also particularly excited about linking up with former collegiate rival Aliyah Boston.
"Going to an organization that has, in my eyes, one of the best post players in the entire world, my point guard eyes just light up at that," Clark said of the former South Carolina star. "She's going to make my life easy."
Clark's four-year contract with the Indiana Fever has been reported at $338,000. Kicking off at the league's guaranteed first-year base salary of $76,535, it jumps to $97,582 by 2027.
In the hour following Indiana's official pick, sporting goods brand Fanatics sold out of the superstar player's No. 22 Fever jersey in nearly every available size. Each jersey retails for $99.99.
Caitlin Clark made a surprise appearance on “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend, which quickly went viral.
The Iowa star showed up on the show’s Weekend Update segment to playfully call out Michael Che’s history of making jabs at women’s sports.
It started when Che joked that Iowa should replace Clark’s retired No. 22 “with an apron.”
When Clark entered, Che said that he was a fan. But Clark wasn’t convinced – especially not when co-host Colin Jost brought the receipts of Che’s jabs.
“Really, Michael? Because I heard that little apron joke you did,” she said, before making him read some jokes of her own in retaliation. Clark finished her segment by shouting out the WNBA greats that came before her. She then got in one final dig – bringing Che a signed apron as a souvenir.
She’s got jokes 😎@CaitlinClark22 on @nbcsnl #Hawkeyes
— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) April 14, 2024
pic.twitter.com/54khqQw2MR
When Che promised to give it to his girlfriend, Clark delivered her last playful dig of the night.
“You don’t have a girlfriend, Michael,” she said.
Afterward, SNL castmember Bowen Yang told People that the 22-year-old and teammates Gabbie Marshall, Kate Martin and Jada Gyamfi – who joined her at Studio 8H – “were so cool.”
“She's so charming and witty,” Yang said. “They were just the most stunning, noble people.
“Athletes just have this air about them. They know they're amazing. I mean, these are people who have numeric attachments and values to their performance. That's something that comedians never have.”
Oregon State leading scorer and rebounder Raegan Beers announced on Thursday that she is entering the transfer portal.
"Thank you for all of your endless love and support these past two years," she posted on social media. "I will never forget my time at OSU and I am thankful for the opportunity I had to meet and play with incredible people. My journey as a Beav was a special one and I am grateful for my teammates, coaches, fans, and friends who have changed my life throughout my time here."
A sophomore forward, Beers is a two-time All-Pac-12 selection who averaged 17.5 points per game last season while shooting 66.4 percent from the field. She also added 10.3 rebounds en route to earning third-team All-American honors from the AP.
She’s the fourth Oregon State starter – and seventh player overall – to hit the portal this offseason. She joins Talia von Oelhoggen and Timea Gardiner in the transfer portal, as well as starting freshman Donovyn Hunter.
Beers and Gardiner were both top-10 recruits in ESPN rankings coming out of high school.
With the dissolution of the Pac-12, the program will join the WCC next season and no longer be a part of the Power 5.
Conference realignment is hitting the team hard, with coach Scott Rueck saying during the tournament that he knew it could seriously affect his team moving forward.
"That's reality," Rueck said. "I can't control that, other than just keep doing what I'm doing. I think the opportunity within that for a leader provides a discipline that you'd better be on your A-game all the time. You'd better take care of people, and you'd better provide a great experience. That's the approach going forward and what happens, happens. We'll find a way."
Caitlin Clark will have her No. 22 retired by Iowa, the school announced on Wednesday.
Clark became the all-time leading scorer in college basketball this season, and was also named the consensus national player of the year for the second year in a row. She also helped lead Iowa to back-to-back runner-up finishes in the NCAA tournament.
"I would say you've all inspired me as much as I inspired you," Clark said during a team celebration at Iowa's Carver-Hawkeye Arena. "And you allowed me to live out my dream every single day, and for that, I'm very thankful. It's been very special, and this place will always be home to me."
The star is largely expected to be the No. 1 overall pick by the Indiana Fever on Monday at the WNBA draft. She finished her college career with 3,951 points and 1,144 assists.
There will never be another @CaitlinClark22 & there will never be another 2️⃣2️⃣.
— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) April 10, 2024
The #Hawkeyes will retire Clark's No. 22. pic.twitter.com/bTyWRXwJir
Her jersey will be just the third number retired in program history, which Clark called “super incredible.”
"There's been a lot of good 22s who have come before me and played for this program, whether it was Kathleen Doyle or Sam Logic,” she said. “That number holds a lot of weight, far beyond me. I'm really grateful, and it will be a special day when it happens."