Dawn Staley knows the impact that South Carolina’s win in Sunday’s national championship game can have on the game of basketball.

When she won her first title in 2017, Staley sent pieces of the championship net to all of the Black women head coaches in the country.

It was a continuation of a tradition that Carolyn Peck had started when she gave Staley a piece of the net from Purdue’s 1999 championship season. When it came time for Staley to keep the tradition alive, she couldn’t decide on just one recipient. So instead she sent a piece to all the Black women coaches, calling them a “crucial piece of equipment” to the game.

Now, she has to decide what to do with another net.

“The net is going to represent something, something in our game, something that will advance our game,” Staley said Sunday.

The plan is to send pieces of the net to Black male coaches of women’s basketball teams and to Black college basketball journalists. In 2020-21, Black men held 4.65 percent of women’s basketball coaching roles.

Staley recognizes the work that still needs to be done and feels the pressure of winning national championships as a Black coach. She’s the first Black coach — male or female — to win more than one NCAA Division I basketball title.

“I felt a great deal of pressure to win because I’m a Black coach,” Staley said. “Because if we don’t win, then you bring in … just scrutiny. Like, ‘You can’t coach, you had enough to get it done but yet you failed.’ You feel all of that, and you feel it probably 10 times more than anyone else because we’re at this platform. It really makes me emotional. It does. Because I am their hope. I am the person that they strive (to be because of) where I sit winning national championships. That’s what they want to do.”

But as much as Staley feels the pressure, she also recognizes the importance of her position.

She’s had an incredible run at South Carolina since being hired on in 2008. She’s the first Black woman to lead a No. 1 team all season long and go on to win a title. She has led the Gamecocks to four Final Fours in the last seven NCAA tournaments – besting Vivian Stringer, who did it three times at three separate schools. She’s also one of just two Black female coaches alongside Peck to win a national title.

“If I can be that ray of hope, if I can be a vessel to them being successful, I am a willing giver of this game, because the game has given me so much,” she said. “I mean, so much. My cup runneth over when it comes to what the game has given to me, so I am forever in debt in trying to repay the game.”

As for the 2017 net, Staley held on to a piece of it for the entirety of the tournament. She brought it out prior to the championship game as a reminder.

Really incredible moment between Dawn Staley and Carolyn Peck.

With her new championship net draped over her neck, Staley pulls out a piece of her 2017 net. She carried it with her all tournament and took it out for the first time today before the championship game. pic.twitter.com/T2h6ISupCf

— Sean Hurd (@seanahurd) April 4, 2022

“It’s a constant reminder of how hard it is,” she told Peck postgame. “We rode the wave when it was hot and we’re going to continue to do that. But in the meantime, people’s national championship may not be hoisting the national championship trophy.

“That’s what this signifies,” she continued, gesturing to the piece of net she carried. “We won before we won. We won because of who we have to care for every single day.”

Could Serena Williams co-own a WNBA team in the near future? 

Speaking with CNN on Monday, Williams expressed her interest in that potential — as well as the mounting enthusiasm for women’s sports around the world. 

"I think women’s sport is having a moment that it should have always had," Williams said. "I feel like tennis has had its moment. It’s international, and it’s huge, and it’s always gonna be there.

"Now it’s time to lift up other sports — women’s soccer, women’s basketball — there’s so many other sports that women do so great, let’s put it on that platform. Women’s basketball is getting there, and it’s arrived."

When asked if she had any interest in adding a WNBA team to her roster of ownership stakes, the tennis great welcomed the idea. "I absolutely would be," Williams said. "With the right market, I would definitely be super interested in that."

"There is no risk — women’s sport is exciting," Williams added, citing the 2024 NCAA women's tournament's record-breaking viewership as evidence. "People are realizing that it is exciting to watch, so it's an overly safe bet."

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Williams may not need to wait long to act on that bet. On Monday, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said that she is "pretty confident" the league will expand to 16 teams — up from its current 12 — by 2028. 

The goal, she said, is to reach 14 by 2026. Oakland's Golden State is already on track to launch the league's 13th team in 2025. The move will mark the WNBA's first new franchise since the Atlanta Dream debuted in 2008.

"It's complex because you need the arena and practice facility and player housing and all the things," Engelbert said at a press conference before Monday's WNBA draft. "You need committed long-term ownership groups, and so the nice thing is we're getting a lot of calls."

Engelbert went on to name a few of the cities behind those calls, saying that the league continues to engage in discussions with Philadelphia, Toronto, Portland, Denver, and Nashville, as well as South Florida.

"These can either take a very long time to negotiate or it can happen pretty quickly if you find the right ownership group with the right arena situation," Engelbert added.

The Commissioner's 16 team goal is not only good news for WNBA fans, it's great news for current and future WNBA players. At 12 teams with just 12 roster spots each, the league is held to a total of 144 players for any given season. An abundance of fresh talent coming up through the NCAA ranks has put pressure on the organization to make room for more worthy competitors, and four additional teams might be just the ticket.

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.

Former Iowa captain Kate Martin was in the audience during Monday night’s draft when she was selected 18th overall by the Las Vegas Aces. 

The moment quickly went viral, as Martin was in the crowd to support superstar teammate Caitlin Clark going No. 1 overall, and was not one of the 14 players invited to the draft.

This moment 🥹@kate_martin22 x @LVAces #WNBADraft

pic.twitter.com/dVqwR0HRdw

— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) April 16, 2024

"To be honest, I don't think I'd have the type of career if I don't have a teammate like Kate," Clark said about Martin leading up to the 2024 national championship game. "She's been one that has had my back. She holds me accountable. I hold her accountable. But I think at the same time, me and Kate are wired so similarly that we get each other on a different level."

Martin being drafted marks the first time that Iowa has had two players selected in the same WNBA draft since 1998.

“She's one of the best leaders I've been around," Clark said. "She wants the best for her teammates. She's one of the most selfless people."

Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said Monday that she is “so proud” of her player, “because her dreams came true.”

"She has been such a big part of our program over the last six years,” she said. “Her efforts did not go unnoticed by her peers. I wish Kate all the success with this next step.”

Martin said afterward that she’s “excited for the opportunity” and to showcase her “really good” work ethic. Helping Iowa to back-to-back NCAA title games, Martin finished her college career with 1,299 points, 756 rebounds and 473 assists.

“There are a lot of emotions right now,” Martin said in an interview on ESPN. “I’m really happy to be here. I was here to support Caitlin, but I was hoping to hear my name called. All I wanted was an opportunity and I got it. I’m really excited.”

While Martin was watching from the crowd, her family was watching from back home.

Awesome video from the @kate_martin22 family watch party! Hear from the happy parents tonight on @wqad! pic.twitter.com/gsit17nHW9

— Matt Randazzo (@MattRandazzo) April 16, 2024

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."

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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.