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Phoenix Mercury reportedly interested in Elena Delle Donne

Elena Delle Donne entered the WNBA offseason as a free agent. (Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)

Elena Delle Donne could be on the move.

While the Washington Mystics extended a core qualifying offer to Delle Donne on Jan. 13, a number of teams have inquired about the availability of the guard, according to Khristina Williams. Among those teams are the Phoenix Mercury.

Any type of deal would have to be completed via a sign-and-trade, and according to Williams, the Mystics are seeking draft pick compensation for the star.

Currently, the Mercury hold the No. 3 overall pick in the draft, as well as the No. 13 pick and the No. 25 pick.

Delle Donne is one of the top free agents this offseason and has played for the Mystics since 2017. In that time, she won a WNBA championship with the team, but appeared in just 53 total games of her contract due to injuries.

Under the core tag, Delle Donne cannot talk to teams unless given the okay by the Mystics. A trade by the team would have to happen with her agreement.

All Four No. 1 seeds to Battle in 2024 NCAA Volleyball Semifinals

Louisville's Anna DeBeer serves the ball against Pitt during a 2024 NCAA volleyball match.
No. 1 seeds Pitt, Louisville, Nebraska, and Penn State will play for the 2024 NCAA championship. (Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal/USA Today Network/Imagn Images)

After another jam-packed weekend of 2024 NCAA Division I volleyball tournament action, all four No. 1 seeds are still standing, sending Pitt, Louisville, Penn State, and Nebraska to Thursday's national semifinals.

Overall No. 1 seed Pitt booked their fourth straight Final Four appearance by first squeaking by No. 4 seed Oregon in a back-and-forth five-set thriller in Thursday's Regional semifinal, before making quick work of No. 3 Kentucky in three straight sets on Saturday.

Also on Saturday, Louisville followed up their Thursday sweep of No. 4 Purdue with a redemptive 3-1 win over No. 2 Stanford, avenging their 3-1 loss to the Cardinal to close out regular season play.

On the other side of the NCAA bracket, reigning back-to-back national champions No. 3 Texas fell 3-1 to No. 2 Creighton on Friday. The Bluejays' hopes for a first-ever Final Four appearance didn't last long, however, as Penn State, who ousted No. 5 Marquette 3-1 on Friday, took down Creighton in five tough sets in Sunday's Regional final.

Finally, after downing underdogs No. 5 Dayton 3-1 in their Regional semifinal, Nebraska completed their 2024 hat trick of sweeps against No. 2 Wisconsin on Sunday, tacking on an NCAA tournament ousting to their two regular-season straight-set defeats of their Big Ten rivals.

Nebraska volleyball celebrate booking their ticket to the 2024 NCAA Final Four.
Nebraska will face Big Ten rivals Penn State in the NCAA semifinals on Thursday. (Nathanial George/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

An ACC vs. Big Ten championship on deck

This Sunday's national championship match is guaranteed to be an ACC vs. Big Ten affair, as both of Thursday's NCAA semifinals pit conference foes against each other. The fact that 2024's last-standing quartet hail from these Power Four leagues is unsurprising, as each has been the sport's two strongest conferences in recent history.

That said, the ACC is still seeking its first-ever NCAA volleyball championship, though both Pitt and Louisville have come wildly close in recent seasons. The Panthers fell in the national semifinals in each of the last three tournaments, while Louisville made the trip in both 2021, losing in the semis, and 2022, when they stumbled in the championship match to title-winners Texas.

The Big Ten's two semifinalists, on the other hand, boast a slew of national trophies. Penn State's seven titles and Nebraska's five trail only Stanford's nine for most by a program in NCAA volleyball history. That said, the Nittany Lions are entering on a nine-year title drought, and Nebraska hasn't hoisted national hardware since 2017, so both will be hungry to ascend this weekend's podium.

How to watch the 2024 NCAA volleyball tournament Final Four

The semifinal round will take place on Thursday, beginning at 6:30 PM ET with ACC champion Pitt taking on Louisville. Big Ten champion Nebraska will play Penn State shortly after the ACC tilt, with both matches airing live on ESPN.

The national championship match will go down at 3 PM ET on Sunday, with live coverage on ABC.

The 2025 Euro group stage is set

England's Chloe Kelly holds her 2022 Euro gold medal.
Sixteen national teams will compete for 2025 Euro gold in July. (Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images,)

Less than two weeks after qualifying play wrapped, the 15 nations joining hosts Switzerland in the 2025 Euro were drawn into four groups on Monday, setting up intriguing matchups throughout the July tournament's group stage.

National teams were placed into four different selection pots based on UEFA rankings in an attempt to ensure each group contained as equal a level of competition as possible. The top two teams in each quartet at the end of group play will advance to the Euro quarterfinals.

The lone outlier from this process was Switzerland, with the host nation assigned to Group A prior to Monday's main draw.

Notably, Poland and Wales are not only making their Euro debuts next year, but their first appearances in a major tournament after upsetting Austria and Ireland, respectively, in the qualifying play-offs earlier this month.

England lifts the 2022 Euro trophy.
2022 Euro champs England will face top teams like France and the Netherlands in 2025 group play. (Lynne Cameron/The FA/Getty Images)

2025 Euro groups littered with top-tier matchups

Monday's draw laid out the path to next year's European Championship, complete with match dates and venues.

Switzerland's Group A will kick off the tournament on July 2nd, with the Swiss taking on two-time champions Norway while Iceland contends with Finland.

Headlining Group B is 2023 World Cup champions Spain, who will face their neighbors and rivals Portugal to open their 2025 Euro account on July 3rd. Later that same day, the remaining Group B competitors, Belgium and Italy, will take the pitch.

July 4th begins with tournament behemoth Germany, who've won an astounding eight of the 13 Euro titles, taking on debutant Poland in Group C action. The biggest group-stage threat to Germany's first title since 2013, though, likely rests in the day's second match between a tough Denmark team and inaugural Euro champions Sweden.

Group D is arguably this edition's "Group of Death," as reigning champions England must face perennial contenders France and the Netherlands, plus UK rival Wales, throughout group play.

Interestingly, England boss Sarina Weigman, who won the last two Euros by first leading first the Dutch to the top of the 2017 podium before doing the same with the Lionesses, will face off against her previous team and home country the Netherlands in England's second group-stage match on July 9th. The Lionesses will begin defending their title by taking on France on July 5th.

The 2025 Euro groups

  • Group A: Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Finland
  • Group B: Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy
  • Group C: Germany, Poland, Denmark, Sweden
  • Group D: France, England, Wales, The Netherlands

UConn, Notre Dame Set NCAA Basketball Viewership Record

UConn's Paige Bueckers drives past Notre Dame's Sonia Citron during a game.
UConn vs. Notre Dame had the NCAA basketball season's highest viewership so far. (Michael Miller/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

Last week's blockbuster Top-10 matchup between No. 2 UConn and No. 8 Notre Dame scored ESPN their highest ratings of the young NCAA women's basketball season, averaging 847,000 viewers while peaking at 915,000 during the Thursday evening broadcast.

Ultimately, Notre Dame's big 79-68 win marked the largest viewing audience for a pre-January NCAA women's basketball game on ESPN since 2011.

Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo celebrates a shot during a game.
The UConn vs Notre Dame game had 78% more viewers than last season's average ratings. (Michael Miller/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

College basketball's record-breaking growth continues

Breaking viewership records is nothing new on the college basketball court. Later rounds of the NCAA tournament draw millions, with last year's national championship game scoring 18.9 million viewers to become ESPN's most-watched college basketball game ever, men's or women's.

That said, recent years have seen significant growth in regular-season play, too. The 2022-23 campaign averaged audiences of almost 200,000 across ESPN's platforms, an increase of 11% year-over-year. Last season upped the ante, averaging 272,000 viewers in regular-season play for a 37% increase over 2022-23. That bump made the 2023-24 season ESPN's most-watched in 15 years.

Even more, 2023-24 regular-season play on ESPN and ABC garnered 476,000 viewers per game, with 13 games drawing over 500,000 — the most to ever surpass that mark in a single season.

With Thursday's tilt between the Irish and the Huskies drawing 78% more viewers than last season's ESPN and ABC average, college basketball isn't slowing down — it's ramping up.

USC's JuJu Watkins is introduced before an NCAA basketball game.
Stars like USC"s JuJu Watkins are helping grow NCAA basketball. (Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

Top stars fuel NCAA basketball viewership records

The NCAA's Caitlin Clark era is over, but stars like Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo and UConn's Paige Bueckers are fueling the demand for college basketball. These individual players' talent and skills, combined with massive recognition birthed by the NIL era across college sports, have allowed top athletes to build brands and fan followings that rival the pros.

Considering Bueckers and other college stars like USC's JuJu Watkins feature in national ad campaigns for huge companies like Nike and State Farm nearly as often as they top the NCAA's stat sheet, it's no wonder they've become household names that hundreds of thousands want to watch in action.

Valkyries Coach Natalie Nakase Tells ‘The Late Sub’ How to Build a WNBA Team

Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase chats to Golden State's expansion draft party crowd.
Golden State head coach Natalie Nakase is helping build the Valkyries roster from scratch. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

On today's episode of The Late Sub, host Claire Watkins wades through a few big women’s sports headlines before sitting down with Golden State Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase.

Watkins chats with Nakase about leading a brand-new WNBA franchise, including building a roster from scratch and the front office team's goals and tactics in navigating Golden State's expansion draft.

Finally, Nakase discusses how she’d like her team to play, plus the fundamentals that she thinks will create a lasting locker room culture of winning as the Valkyries embark on their inaugural 2025 season.

The Late Sub with Claire Watkins brings you the latest news and freshest takes in women’s sports. This is the weekly rundown you’ve been missing, covering the USWNT, NWSL, WNBA, college hoops, and whatever else is popping off in women’s sports each week. Special guest appearances with the biggest names in women’s sports make The Late Sub a must-listen for every fan. Follow Claire on X/Twitter @ScoutRipley and subscribe to the Just Women’s Sports newsletter for more.

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