Stopped me if you’ve heard this one before, but UConn is once again poised to win multiple national championships. It may not start this next year — the landscape is far too precarious for any confident predictions — but championships are coming.

The squad is young and new, with just four returning players and no seniors. Evina Westbrook, who sat out last year after transferring from Tennessee, will lead six freshmen seeing the court for the first time.

The last time UConn had as many first-year players on its roster was 1988, when it won its first (of 18) Big East titles. This year will mark the return of UConn to the conference it made famous and is ready to dominate once again.

Then, as now, the young players are a source of optimism. Still, UConn will need its older players to step up. Juniors Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa will anchor any success UConn finds.

“We have been taking up that leadership role,” Williams said. “It’s a lot more responsibility, it’s been different. The younger players have a willingness to learn, and are competitive. They’ve made it easier for us.”

Williams is one of four top-ranked high school recruits to have signed with UConn in the past five classes. The others are Paige Bueckers, who is widely expected to have a standout freshman season, and Azzi Fudd, who will join UConn next year.

The #1 player in the country, Azzi Fudd, just committed to UCONN‼️ She’ll be teaming up with Paige Bueckers ????

Here they are working out together and they can’t miss ???????? @wslam @azzi_35 @paigebueckers1 pic.twitter.com/pSCJ5U1qaF

— SLAM HS Hoops (@SLAM_HS) November 11, 2020

“There is a direct correlation between if you sign those guys, at Connecticut anyway, there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to be an amazing team for a couple of years,” Auriemma said. “Yes, that is a great possibility. Our track record proves that.”

Before last season was cut short, UConn was a lock to enter the tournament as a No. 1 seed. Since then, Megan Walker left early for the WNBA and Crystal Dangerfield graduated before going on to win WNBA Rookie of the Year with the Minnesota Lynx. Seniors Molly Bent, Evelyn Adebayo, Kyla Irwin and Batouly Camara also graduated.

Along with Bueckers, the freshman class also features guard Autumn Chassion, forward Aaliyah Edwards, guard Nika Muhl, forward Mir McLean and forward Piath Gabriel. This group is widely expected to put the Huskies over the edge. Already, Geno Auriemma has been impressed with Edwards, the second highest rated player in the class, and Muhl, whose experience is bolstered by time in the Adriatic League in Croatia, where she led the league with 6.2 assists per game in 2019.

”There are times that Aaliyah and Nika look like they’ve been playing college basketball for awhile. They fit right in,” Auriemma said. ”They slide right in. So Paige, Nika, and Aaliyah mix really well with our returning players. Mir, once in a while, Piath less, Autumn less. But everyone has gotten better.”

Aaliyah Edwards plays a physical game and has been likened to Napheesa Collier by Christyn Williams. Piath Gabriel, at 6-foot-5 freshman, was not a top-end prospect, but UConn’s coaches clearly saw something. And Mir McLean is athletic and versatile, but will probably be a spark off of the bench this season.

It’s me and my friends pic.twitter.com/kZEgEDcBPg

— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) November 6, 2020

The notoriously difficult coach has a team voted the 3rd-best in the preseason. Williams will still be running the show after posting 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game in her sophomore season, but should have more to offer if given the opportunity. The next of the four returners is Nelson-Ododa, a 6-foot-5 center who played a lot of minutes last season, even if they were not always the most predictive. Still, she was able to record 100 blocks last year, the eight-most in school history.

Aubrey Griffin had 5.4 rebounds per game but struggled with consistency. Anna Makurat will be tasked with spacing the floor as a catch-and-shoot 3-point shooter, where she averaged 7.9 points and 3.3 assists per game last year.

Then there is Westbrook, who also has some stroke from distance — she shot 38% from deep in the 2018-19 season. Still, she is recovering from knee surgery and has never played for UConn, so expectations for the redshirt junior should be kept in flux.

Of course, the team’s ceiling may depend on Bueckers. She was tabbed as the preseason Big East Freshman of the Year, but as she will be the first to say, it’s far too early to celebrate.

“I haven’t even done anything yet, I haven’t even stepped foot on a college court,” Bueckers said. “I have a lot to prove. I have a lot to work on.”

The good news is, she has some time—but not as much as you’d think.

While the 2020-2021 season may be a bit too hectic for even the sport’s most talented freshman to conquer, starting next year, with Azzi Fudd joining a more experienced Huskies squad, the expectation will be championships, plural.

That’s welcome news for Husky fans. For everyone else, well, we can try to enjoy at least this season.

Expansion team WNBA Golden State has officially brought on New York Liberty assistant GM Ohemaa Nyanin as general manager, the team announced in a Monday afternoon statement.

The move marks one of the first major personnel hires for the highly anticipated franchise, set to begin league play in 2025. Nyanin will oversee all basketball operations for the Bay Area addition, including building out the roster, shaping the team, and developing talent. 

Nyanin joins team president Jess Smith and senior vice president of marketing and communications Kimberly Veale in the WNBA Golden State front office.

"Ohemaa is the perfect fit to lead our WNBA basketball operations as we prepare for our inaugural season in 2025," Warriors co-executive chairman and CEO Joe Lacob said in the release. "As we moved through the GM hiring process, it became more apparent each day how impressive and well-versed Ohemaa is in all facets of the business, and as a person."

Nyanin was with the Liberty for more than five years, most recently serving as the team’s assistant general manager. Prior to that, she spent five years as the assistant director of the women’s national team at USA Basketball, helping to oversee team operations through gold medal wins at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and the 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup.

"I am truly honored to be chosen as the first general manager of WNBA Golden State," Nyanin said. "Throughout the interview process, it was clear that bringing a WNBA team to the Bay Area was meticulously thought out and those involved are motivated changemakers who will be proactive in growing the league. I look forward to joining this franchise and building a competitive basketball team that the fans deserve."

In a July 2023 profile published by The Next, Liberty assistant coach Roneeka Hodges described Nyanin as the New York team's “Ms. Make-it-Happen."

"She’s a jack of all trades," added Hodges, while Liberty GM Jonathan Kolb paid Nyanin a particularly prophetic compliment.

"She needs to be a general manager in this league," Kolb said. "Full stop, it needs to happen, and that’s her goal."

Chelsea began Sunday with their WSL title hopes a distant dream... before closing out the weekend right back in the thick of the title chase.

The Blues made a last-ditch effort to claim their fifth consecutive Barclays WSL title on Sunday with an 8-0 win over relegation-bound Bristol City. The victory came after a visiting Arsenal upset current table-toppers Manchester City at Joie Stadium, besting the home side 2-1 on back-to-back goals from Stina Blackstenius. With the win, the third-place Gunners re-opened the door for Chelsea to finish level at the top of the table on points.

Chelsea remains second in the standing, with 49 points to Manchester City's 52. But the barrage of goalscoring over the weekend could be enough to overtake City's potential tiebreak advantage in goal differential, leaving even coach Emma Hayes in awe.

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Chelsea holds a game in hand, but the Blues will need to win their May 15th match against Tottenham to give them a shot at the title. Should they take all three points, the title race will come down to the final weekend, when Chelsea squares off with Manchester United while City faces Aston Villa on Saturday, May 18th. 

Set to take over the USWNT in June, Hayes acknowledged the likelihood of finishing out her time at Chelsea with zero trophies, after losing in both the Conti Cup final and UWCL semifinal last month. But for now, her initial pessimism has subsided.

"Let me be clear, it's not f*****g over," Hayes said after coaching her last home match with Chelsea on Sunday. "There's no time for sentimentality, all work drinks are canceled. There's a title to be won.

"This group of players taught me something so special this week — that you never ever give up."

A WNBA League Pass error left fans scrambling to watch Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso make their preseason debuts for the Chicago Sky in Minneapolis on Friday. 

Despite indicating streaming availability via YouTube before tip-off, the evening’s game was later removed from the league’s platform. With no streaming options — along with no live TV broadcast — WNBA fan Alli Schneider began livestreaming the game on X from her seat inside Target Center. As many as 400,000 people logged on to watch the game live, and by Saturday, the resulting two-hour video had amassed over 2 million total views. 

In the lead-up to the preseason showdown, fans on both sides voiced frustrations over the WNBA's error. The league apologized in response, saying their app was "incorrectly showing that every preseason game (including CHI vs MIN) is available on League Pass."

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"The growth is happening so fast, it’s so accelerated. Business as usual isn’t going to work anymore, you’re going to get left behind," Reeve said of the blunder. "This is an example... We have to capitalize on those things."

Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon echoed Reeve's sentiments, calling it "awesome" that so many fans followed along via Schneider's DIY livestream.

"We would love for us to be on and for everyone to take a look, especially for this team, you have a great group of young women who are exciting to watch play," said Weatherspoon. "Tonight we had an opportunity to kind of get a feel for where we are and what we need to do. It’s awesome to know that a lot of people really tuned in."

On the court, Reese had a near double-double in her first professional outing, notching 13 points and nine rebounds in 24 minutes. A viral pass inside to set up fellow rookie Cardoso's bucket served as the icing on the cake. The Sky ultimately lost to the Lynx 92-81, despite Minnesota newcomer Alissa Pili netting just two points and one rebound in 13 minutes of playing time.

Due to overwhelming fan demand, the WNBA confirmed today that it will indeed stream the Sky's next preseason game against the New York Liberty on League Pass. The two teams square off on Tuesday, May 7th at 8 PM ET.

The Caitlin Clark WNBA era has officially begun, with the star-studded rookie making her preseason debut with the Indiana Fever on Friday. 

Clark scored a team-leading 21 points — including five threes — and recorded a game-high 16 points at the half. But it was Arike Ogunbowale who got the last word for Dallas, knocking down a splashy buzzer-beating three-pointer in front of the sold-out crowd to deliver the Wings the 79-76 win.

"I think there's gonna be a lot to go back and look at and learn from, because a lot of it is kind of different from college," Clark said shortly after the Fever's loss. "Just from, you know, a technique standpoint or you know, scheme standpoint, and what we do is not always always going to be the same. So I think those are the biggest things, but I think overall, I just played really hard and that's always something to be proud of."

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For Clark, the biggest transition challenges lie in WNBA's physicality and talent levels. 

"No matter who steps into the game, you can never really relax, because that’s how competitive the league is," she added.

Fever coach Christie Sides also commented on's Clark on-court adjustment in her postgame remarks. Noting that the team will have to take steps to protect their star as she navigates the W's upgraded athleticism, Sides shared that at one point in the game, Clark was "completely gassed" and called for a sub. 

"We have to do better, we can't let her get to that point," Sides said. "She just won't be able to last and the way people are guarding her — I mean, she's seeing a double team, she's seeing hard hedges, they're being real physical with her. That's how it's going to be for her. And so we've got to make sure we're doing what we can to protect her so she's able to go into fourth at the same level she is in the first."

Clark wasn't the only rookie making their pro debut in Dallas that night. Ohio State ace Jacy Sheldon racked up six points and one rebound in her 13 minutes on the court (plus an unfortunate viral moment), but the breakout performance of the night went to Jaelyn Brown, a Cal grad who went undrafted in 2020 and spent the last few years playing overseas. On Friday, she carried the Wings to the finish line with 21 points in 29 minutes on 7-of-15 shooting.

After the game, Brown attested that she's "ready to compete" in an atmosphere that she "belongs in."

"I just try and treat it as any other game," she continued. "The crowd was amazing, it’s a little different from overseas, a little bit, but it’s the same game. I just [came] out there with a calm composure and did what I can do."