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.

UCLA-bound high school senior Sienna Betts led the West team to a decisive 104-82 victory over the East in the McDonald's All-American Girls Game held last night at New York's Barclays Center.

The 6'4" forward contributed 16 points, seven rebounds, and two assists, earning MVP honors for her performance. ​

Betts is currently the class of 2025's No. 2 overall recruit. Only Texas-based point guard Aaliyah Chavez, who recently committed to the Oklahoma Sooners, ranks above her.

Betts to join sister Lauren Betts at UCLA next year

Betts's performance is a good indicator of her potential impact at UCLA next year. There, she'll join forces with her sister Lauren Betts, the senior currently leading the Bruins to this season's NCAA Final Four after transferring in from Stanford.

The Betts sisters' arrival is highly anticipated, with Lauren opting to forgo the 2025 WNBA Draft in order to play out her final year of college eligibility alongside her little sister.

“For me, it [committing to UCLA] was a lot about how the coaches care about you off the court, and the coaches at UCLA, they really care about your mental health,” Betts told The Flagler College Gargoyle after committing last year. “Every team that I’ve ever been on, we’ve been a family… So, they really cared about that part of basketball for me, and they showed me that on my visits and when I called to talk to them.”

Betts in good company as McDonald's All-American Game MVP

In Brooklyn, Betts showcased her ability among the sport's best high school talent. Recent McDonald's All-American MVPs have all gone onto fuel prominent NCAA programs, including top-ranked recruits UConn's Sarah Strong, South Carolina's Joyce Edwards, USC's JuJu Watkins, Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo, and UCLA's own Kiki Rice and Gabriela Jaquez.

The McDonald's All-American Game has a storied history of highlighting promising players, with past MVPs subsequently laying the foundation for future superstars.

Less than a day after Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles shocked the women’s basketball world by opting to enter the transfer portal rather than declare for the 2025 WNBA Draft, the Irish’s transfer fall-out has continued.

Sophomore guard Emma Risch and freshman forward Kate Koval have also entered the portal, with Koval — who started in 10 games this season — leading the Irish in blocks.

Between transfer moves and graduating seniors, sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo remains Notre Dame’s only returning starter — a sharp turn for an Irish squad ranked No. 1 in the country just six weeks ago.

Other top NCAA programs see transfer portal movement

Notre Dame isn’t the only top-tier program experiencing a roster shakeup after exiting the 2025 NCAA tournament.

LSU sophomore forward Sa'myah Smith entered the transfer portal after the Tigers’ season ended in Sunday’s Elite Eight. USC sophomore guard Aaliyah Gayles subsequently followed suit after the Trojans fell to UConn on Monday.

Schools like TCU have become national contenders via the transfer portal, with the Horned Frogs recruiting both Hailey Van Lith and Sedona Prince ahead of their first-ever Elite Eight run. Former Kentucky center Clara Silva is the latest transfer to commit to TCU, as the team comes off their best tournament finish in school history.

The modern era of NCAA roster-building is upon us, with top players taking the reigns as ambitious teams scramble to fill offseason gaps.

The NWSL is looking to sign a new Sunday night TV deal, according to a Sports Business Journal report published this week.

The league is targeting a two-year deal starting in 2026, with both new and existing TV partners interested in picking up additional NWSL games.

NWSL looks to build on multimillion dollar TV deal

The NWSL is currently two years into a four-year, $240 million TV partnership with ESPN, Prime, ION, and CBS Sports. However, the current contract doesn’t cover the entire schedule. And with league expansion planned for 2026, even more inventory is on the way.

SBJ notes that the market for this season’s lineup has been strong. In fact, all four media partners have already sold out all their 2025 advertising slots.

“You cannot find a place to spend right now,” IMG’s Hillary Mandel said at a recent Business of Soccer event hosted by SBJ. “We know what’s motivating interest is the fact that there’s no place to invest. That’s a phenomenal story in such a short period of time."

ESPN spotlighted for TV network-owned Sunday lineup

ESPN could be a prime candidate for a Sunday package, with the network set to move on from Sunday Night Baseball after the 2025 MLB season.

The NWSL has traditionally leaned into network-owned nights, with Prime airing Friday night matchups and ION running Saturday double-headers.

The NWSL’s most recent contract subsequently added serious value to the league. And the returns have networks coming back for more, setting up a potential bidding war and easing growing pains as new teams join the fold.

UCLA will hit the court for their first-ever NCAA Final Four on Friday, but as they extend the most successful season in program history, the Bruins have looked anything but green.

“We said talent was going to be our floor,” UCLA head coach Cori Close said after Sunday’s Elite Eight win over LSU. “Our character, our chemistry, our habits were going to be our ceiling.”

With just two losses on the season, UCLA’s status as a first-rate NCAA title contender has actually been years in the making.

Roster-building paves the way to the Final Four

In 2022, the Bruins signed the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, stacking their roster with top high school standouts Gabriela Jaquez, Kiki Rice, and Londynn Jones.

UCLA then upped their game even further last year, when 2022 No. 1 overall recruit Lauren Betts transferred in from Stanford — a move that fueled the Bruins all the way to the Sweet 16 with the promise of even greater success.

“Everyone came to UCLA for this reason: to do something we haven't done in a really long time,” Jaquez said on Sunday. “[I’m] just really proud of my teammates, the staff, the coaches, just continuing to get better every day and grow from each season prior.

With Lauren Betts at center, UCLA leans on depth

As one of the most dominant post players in college basketball, Betts is at the literal center of every UCLA performance. But that doesn’t mean the Bruins lack the depth it takes to handle a team like Final Four opponent UConn.

“When we have a deep team, I don’t have to be in the game at all times,” Betts said. “I have a team full of players who are just amazing and talented in their own right, and they put in the work.”

All in all, UCLA is coming into their own after developing much of its squad from the ground-up. Now it's time to make the case that patient roster-building can pay off on NCAA basketball’s biggest stage.