Two weeks after Curt Miller departed as head coach of the Connecticut Sun to take the same role with the Las Angeles Sparks, the Sun are still searching for his replacement.

Sun president and former UConn star Jennifer Rizzotti will lead the coaching search in her first major act as president. She joined the Sun in 2021.

Rizzotti is in no rush to secure a coach, she told CT Insider on Tuesday. While signing someone by Thanksgiving would “be ideal,” she wants to focus on finding the right candidate rather than speeding through the process.

Just Women’s Sports suggests three potential candidates that deserve a look.

Shelley Patterson

When it comes to experience and established success, no one is more qualified than Patterson. She’s been an assistant coach in the WNBA since 1999, with stints on eight different staffs. Patterson’s longest tenure was with the Minnesota Lynx from 2010-2019, during which the franchise won all four of its WNBA titles (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017).

Patterson currently is an assistant with the Washington Mystics. She took the position in 2022 and immediately made an impact.

Mystics coach Mike Thibault told Winsider in May that one of Patterson’s biggest strengths is her ability to scout opponents and put together game plans. Several players have commented on Patterson’s overall “wisdom” and basketball knowledge, and rookie Shakira Austin said Patterson is able to point out the “little things” that other people may not notice.

The longtime assistant has been brought up in coaching searches before, most recently in 2021 when both the Phoenix Mercury and New York Liberty were searching for their next head coaches. Her résumé speaks for itself, and Patterson seems like an obvious candidate in any coaching search.

Katie Smith

Rizzotti is interested in candidates who are former WNBA players, she told CT Insider, and Smith fits the bill. The Ohio State graduate played for the Lynx, Shock, Mystics, Storm and Liberty, as well as several overseas teams.

Smith is the lead assistant for the Lynx – who just signed head coach Cheryl Reeve to a multi-year extension – but she also has head coaching experience.

After serving as an assistant for the New York Liberty from 2014-2017, Smith was tabbed to take over the head coaching duties in 2018. She was in charge of the franchise for just two seasons before the Liberty chose not to renew her contract. The team went 17-51 during her short tenure, but Smith did not have the chance to establish any sort of culture or style in that limited time frame.

She deserves another shot at heading up a team, and Smith has been in the conversation. She was rumored to be a finalist for the Indiana Fever job before they hired Christie Sides.

Carla Berube

This is a name that you might not expect to see on this list, and while it’s a long shot, Berube fits the Rizzotti’s criteria. In her search for the next Sun head coach, Rizzotti says she has her eye on former UConn players, and Berube was her teammate with the Huskies for three seasons (1993-1996).

After a short-lived professional career with the New England Blizzard from 1997-1999, Berube took an assistant coaching position with Providence for two seasons before she embarked on a 17-year as the head coach at Division III Tufts. She made four Final Fours during her tenure and was the tournament runner up twice, holding a 384-96 record.

In 2019, Berube headed to Princeton, where she had immediate success. The Tigers went 26-1 in 2019-2020 and won the Ivy league with a 14-0 record. They would have been in the NCAA tournament if COVID-19 hadn’t led to the cancellation of the postseason.

Princeton didn’t play the 2020-21 season due to continued COVID-19 concerns, but the Tigers once again went undefeated in Ivy play last season. They went on to upset Kentucky and future No. 1 draft pick Rhyne Howard in the first round of the NCAA tournament before being narrowly defeated by Indiana.

Berube’s long-term success with Tufts coupled with her immediate success with Princeton — plus her familiarity with the Connecticut basketball scene — make her a good candidate. Plus, after staying with Tufts for so many years, loyalty appears to matter to Berube, which might benefit her former teammate Rizzotti.

Cameron Brink already has her rookie of the year pick for the upcoming WNBA season, and it’s Indiana-bound star Caitlin Clark. 

In the latest edition of Kelley on the Street, host Kelley O'Hara caught up with Brink in New York hours before the Stanford phenom went No. 2 overall to the Los Angeles Sparks at the 2024 WNBA Draft. When O’Hara asked who would win the WNBA's rookie of the year, she answered without pause.

"Caitlin Clark," she said, while a fan commented that she thought Brink would take home the award. Brink later added that the extra foul granted to WNBA players will be "good for me."

"I hope it’s me," Charisma Osborne, who was later drafted by the Phoenix Mercury, said when asked her ROY prediction. "But, I don’t know — we’ll see."

Watch more of Kelley on the Street:

Maria Sanchez issued a statement on Thursday, confirming recent reports that she has requested a trade from the Houston Dash. 

In it, she revealed that the club has been aware of the request "since late March."

"This has all taken a toll and isn’t an easy thing to talk about, but I want to confirm that I’ve requested an immediate trade," she wrote. "My expectations and reasons have been clear. I trust that my current club’s management will honor my decision in a timely manner and proceed with accepting a trade."

"I’m eager to refocus and dive back into what I love most: playing football," she concluded.

Thank you, everyone, for the outpouring of kindness and support. pic.twitter.com/gcnN7dhCJU

— Maria Sanchez (@Maria17_7) April 19, 2024

Reports of Sanchez's trade request first surfaced on ESPN last week, and were later confirmed by multiple sources. 

In December of last year, Sanchez signed a three-year contract with the Dash valued at $1.5 million including bonuses and an option year. It was the largest contract in NWSL history at the time — a figure that would be eclipsed by multiple contracts in the following months. 

Sanchez spent the offseason as a restricted free agent, meaning that Houston could match any other team's offer to retain her rights. Should the Dash trade Sanchez, her current contract terms would remain intact, limiting potential buyers to teams able to afford to take on an inking of that size.

The Dash has yet to address the trade, instead reiterating to ESPN that Sanchez is "under contract, a choice she made in free agency at the end of 2023." 

Both the NWSL trade window and transfer window close tonight, April 19th, at 12 a.m. ET. The window will stay closed through the next 11 regular season games, reopening on August 1st, 2024.

The four-time league champion Seattle Storm unveiled their new practice facility on Thursday, with Storm co-owner Lisa Brummel dubbing Interbay's Seattle Storm Center for Basketball Performance the team’s "new home."

"It's just such a special space," Brummel told Fox 13 Seattle. "I think when the players get here, it's gonna be overwhelming."

The sprawling 50,000-square-foot, $64 million property is just the second designated practice facility to be designed and built expressly for a WNBA team, with the Storm further noting that 85% of all design and engineering team members involved in the project's construction were women and people of color. The finished product holds two professional indoor courts, two 3x3 outdoor courts, a state-of-the-art locker room, and players' lounge, plus designated areas for strength and conditioning, kitchen, dining, and nutrition, and recovery. 

"This facility reflects our commitment to providing our athletes an exceptional environment that supports their growth, health, and performance," said Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder in an official team release. "It’s built for women, by women, embodying our dedication to leading the way in professional women’s sports."

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For their part, the team can't wait to make the faciilty their own.

"It's amazing," Storm guard Jewell Loyd told Fox 13. "Not having to drive everywhere around, knowing you have access anytime of the day to get into the gym, to workout." 

Head coach Noelle Quinn said she predicts the team is "never going to leave this building."

"Which is a good thing for me," she continued. "You talk about having an edge in performance. We want our athletes to not only perform on the court, but get whatever they need."

All of the Storm's staff and operations will now live under one roof, and the team also has plans to launch a youth basketball program operating out of the building.

The Caitlin Clark effect is quickly making its mark on the big leagues, as WNBA host teams around the country rush to upgrade their Fever games to larger arenas in order to accommodate surging ticket sales.

With Clark mere weeks away from her Indiana Fever debut, both the Las Vegas Aces and Washington Mystics have officially relocated their scheduled home games with head coach Christie Sides' squad. On Thursday, the Mystics became the latest to adjust their plans, moving their June 7th matchup from Entertainment & Sports Arena in Southwest DC to the more centrally located — and much larger — Capital One Arena "due to unprecedented demand."

The Mystics home court's capacity taps out at 4,200, while Capital One Arena — home to the Wizards, Capitals, and Georgetown Hoya's Men's Basketball — can fit nearly five times that crowd at some 20,000 spectators.

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"The move to Capital One Arena will allow for additional fans in the stands as well as premium hospitality options, including Suites and the all-new all-inclusive courtside Hennessy Lofts," the team announced via Thursday's press release.

The Aces were one of the first teams to switch venues, aiming to take on the Indiana Fever in front of as many as 20,000 fans inside T-Mobile Arena on July 2nd. That’s a sizable a boost from their home venue, which holds just 12,000.

For those still planning to face the Fever in their home arenas, ticket prices have skyrocketed. Previously scheduled construction has already forced the LA Sparks to relocate their first five games — including their May 24th clash with the Fever — to Long Beach State's Walter Pyramid. The temporary venue is quite the downsize, holding just 4,000 in comparison to Crypto.com Arena's near-19,000. As of Friday, the get-in price for that game started around $400.

Despite fans launching a Change.org petition urging relocation, the Chicago Sky say they're unable to move their June 23rd Fever meeting from Wintrust Arena's 10,000-seat facility to the 23,500-seat United Center due to a concert. Tickets for that game start around $325 as of Friday.