To play or not to play?

That is the question currently facing every sports league, but especially college basketball, as the NCAA works feverishly to hold the 2020-2021 season together amidst spiralling game postponements and cancellations caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Not only are individual games at risk, but the pool of available teams continues to shrink as programs decide to cancel their seasons entirely. To date, three Power Five women’s teams (Duke, UVA and Vanderbilt) have withdrawn, joining SMU as well as the Ivy League schools who cancelled the current winter sports season in November, eliminating an entire conference from NCAA competition.

As the pieces of this jigsaw puzzle season rapidly re-arrange themselves and outright disappear, teams find themselves having played only half as many games compared to this time last year. Game preparation has also become a struggle as teams face last minute match-up and travel changes in order to comply with COVID-19 protocols.

The domino effects from COVID have impacted schools nationwide, forcing NC State, Villanova, Providence, UConn, and many others to go on pause until conditions have been cleared for safe play.

On January 14, #23 ranked Syracuse — who had been on pause for weeks — had to postpone its matchup against Georgia Tech, its fourth conference game in a row, due to exposure. The team returned to play on Sunday, January 17, defeating the University of Miami, before topping North Carolina on Tuesday, a game that was originally slated for December 31, 2020.

Baylor University, the 2019 and therefore still-defending NCAA champions, resumed play on Saturday, January 15 after being on pause since January 5, with coach Kim Mulkey returning to the court after contracting COVID over the holidays. The Lady Bear’ pause forced them to cancel their hotly anticipated game against then-No. 4 UConn on January 7 and postpone matchups against Kansas State and Kansas.

Stanford, meanwhile, the No. 1 team in the country until this past weekend, has essentially been on the road since late November due to Santa Clara county restrictions.

As teams across the country experience the reality of playing through a pandemic, in a season which started late, and which has continually been re-routed as it stumbles through the winter, many are beginning to wonder whether it’s worth it.

Mulkey didn’t hold back when asked how she felt about playing the season, stating, “The NCAA has to have the almighty dollar from the men’s tournament. The almighty dollar is more important than the health and welfare of me, the players or anybody else.”

When asked if she is concerned about this basketball season being completed, @BaylorWBB coach Kim Mulkey didn't mince words. “The season will continue on. ... The NCAA has to have the almighty dollar from the men's tournament.” https://t.co/yyr0wh4BWV

— ESPN Women's Hoops (@ESPN_WomenHoop) January 17, 2021

UConn coach Geno Auriemma responded to Mulkey’s comments, saying, “I don’t know that anything that she said was completely off the charts wrong. However, having said that… the almighty dollar has a lot to do with what we are doing. And without the men’s NCAA tournament, there’s a lot of things that happen in the NCAA that don’t happen.”

The two coaches are circling on an undeniable truth: the NCAA was financially unprepared to lose the revenue it would have amassed from the 2020 tournament, and as professional leagues have successfully built bubbles in order to host modified seasons and tournaments, it’s safe to assume that the NCAA feels it can (and must) accomplish a similar feat for the tournament this year.

Ethically speaking, asking un-paid athletes to play out a season as cases of COVID-19 spike is dubious, to say the least. Players are being asked to risk their own health while also eliminating all contact with anyone outside of their teams. Student athletes have never been paid for their work; now they can’t even see their families.

Aureimma, for his part, said he believes the vast majority of athletes would prefer to play. Whether that’s true or not, it’s clear that many players view this season, truncated as it may be, as an opportunity to join their WNBA counterparts in speaking out against racial injustice in the US. The calendar may be uncertain, but these players know they still have a platform they can use to advocate for change.

Before the first game of the 2020-21 season, the South Carolina Gamecocks issued a statement via Twitter addressing how they planned to protest the national anthem. In it, they shared their season’s theme of “what matters,” expressing their unconditional support for one another, the conversations they have had as a unit, and the decision for the majority of the team to sit for the anthem in order to “shine a light on the need for racial equality, social justice and ending systemic racism in our country.”

What Matters. pic.twitter.com/Vv9lBTRZxo

— GamecockWBB (@GamecockWBB) November 25, 2020

Tennessee joined South Carolina in protest with all but one of the Lady Vols kneeling during the anthem before their first conference game, which fell just after the deadly riot and attack on the Capitol in Washington D.C. on January 6. The team has also worn black shooting shirts during their warm ups this season.

Lady Vols senior Rennia Davis stated that kneeling was “a decision we made in the moment,” adding “with everything going on, especially recently in Washington, that’s what we saw fit to do. The people on the team who saw fit to support that, they did. And the ones who didn’t, they supported us in a different way.”

It’s not just players speaking out. Coaches, too, are using their platforms to condemn racial injustice and support their teams. Asked about her activity on social media, where she has routinely responded to both current events and various followers, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley told The Athletic, “It’s not just about X’ing and O’ing. It’s about teaching, growing, learning and being that example for our players, because we can’t have sports blinders on.”

She continued, “there’s a world going on outside of us that we play a part in — whether or not people want us to shut up and dribble. There’s a world out there that, between these dribbles, things are happening that impact us.”

Of course, wanting to use their visibility to advocate for change hasn’t spared teams from dealing with COVID. Ahead of their home opener against East Tennessee State University in December, Vanderbilt announced via social media that the team would stay in the locker room during the anthem this season “to mourn and commemorate the racial injustices that have been taking place in the United States.”

This week, Vanderbilt announced that they would stop playing their season, after both COVID and injuries depleted their roster, which was already thin due to pre-season opt-outs.

The Vanderbilt women’s basketball team has decided against continuing the 2020-21 season. The decision was driven by student-athletes and supported by university officials.https://t.co/N6i6wnXfm3

— Vanderbilt WBB (@VandyWBB) January 18, 2021

As of now, March Madness is still a go, with the NCAA confirming this week that it expects to stage the entire tournament in San Antonio. The NCAA has waived the .500 rule, which typically requires schools to have a winning record in order to qualify for an at-large selection. Schools will be required to have played 13 games against other DI schools to qualify for team selection, however, the NCAA has also announced that it will accept eligibility waiver requests from schools which cannot meet this threshold.

At this point, with most teams having played somewhere between seven (UConn) and twelve (Louisville) games, the NCAA’s strategy seems to be to just get to San Antonio and hope for the best.

There will be no shortage of lessons learned when the NCAA looks back on this time, and while the fate of March Madness and the remainder of the 2020-21 season is still prey to an uncontrolled pandemic, one thing is certain: athletes understand the power of their platform. They haven’t let the virus overshadow the racial and political reckoning facing the United States. And whether or not they should be playing, the fact is a new precedent has been set, one that is certain to outlast the pandemic.

U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday that the USWNT will play their last home game on July 16th in the lead-up to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

The 2024 Send-Off Match against Costa Rica will take place at Washington, DC’s Audi Field — home to both the Washington Spirit and DC United — at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 16th. The friendly rounds out a four-game Olympic run-up campaign under incoming head coach Emma Hayes’ side, with the last two set to feature the finalized 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team roster.

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Hayes will appear on the USWNT sideline for the first time this June, helming the team as they embark on a two-game series against Korea Republic hosted by Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado on June 1st followed by Allianz Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 4th. 

The team is then scheduled to meet a talented Mexico squad on July 13th at Gotham FC’s Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, where the Olympic-bound lineup will attempt to rewrite February’s shocking 2-0 loss to El Tri Femenil in the group stages of this year’s Concacaf W Gold Cup. And while clear roster favorites have emerged from both of this year’s Gold Cup and SheBelives Cup rosters, a spate of recent and recurring injuries means making it to the Olympics is still largely anyone’s game.

Broadcast and streaming channels for the USWNT's final July 16th friendly at Audi Field include TNT, truTV, Universo, Max, and Peacock.

The USA Basketball Women's National Team is still considering Caitlin Clark for a spot on the Paris Olympics squad, says selection committee chair Jennifer Rizzotti. 

On Monday, Rizzotti told the AP that the committee will be evaluating the college phenom’s Olympic prospects by keeping a close eye on her first few weeks of WNBA play with Indiana.

The move is somewhat unconventional. While Clark was invited to participate in the 14-player national team training camp held earlier this month — the last camp before Team USA’s roster drops — she was unable to attend due to it coinciding with Iowa’s trip to the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

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Judging by the immense talent spread throughout the league in what might be their most hyped season to date, competition for a piece of the Olympic pie could be fiercer than ever before.

"You always want to introduce new players into the pool whether it's for now or the future," said Rizzotti. "We stick to our principles of talent, obviously, positional fit, loyalty and experience. It's got to be a combination of an entire body of work. It's still not going to be fair to some people."

Of course, Clark isn’t the first rookie the committee has made exceptions for. Coming off an exceptional college season that saw her averaging 19.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 4 assists per game for UConn, Breanna Stewart was tapped to represent the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil less than two weeks after being drafted No. 1 overall by the Seattle Storm. Eight years prior, fellow No. 1 pick Candace Parker punched her ticket to the 2008 Games in Beijing just two weeks after making her first appearance for the L.A. Sparks.

In the lead-up to Paris’ Opening Ceremony on July 26th, USA Basketball Women’s National Team is scheduled to play a pair of exhibition games. They'll first go up against the WNBA's finest at the July 20th WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix before facing Germany in London on July 23rd.

While an official roster announcement date hasn’t yet been issued, players won’t find out if they’ve made this year’s Olympic cut until at least June 1st.

For the first time in history, three different WNBA teams have completely sold out of season ticket plans well before the league's May 14th kick-off.

Call it the Caitlin Clark effect, attribute it to this year’s tenacious rookie class, or look to the skyrocketing visibility of veteran players across the board. But no matter the cause, facts are facts: Tickets to the 2024 WNBA season are selling like never before. 

On Monday, the Dallas Wings became the third team to sell out of season ticket memberships in the league’s 27-year history. The announcement from Arlington came shortly after the Atlanta Dream issued their own season ticket sell-out statement, also on Monday, and almost seven weeks after the back-to-back WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces made headlines by becoming the first-ever WNBA team to sell out their season ticket allotment.   

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According to the Wings, season ticket memberships will fill nearly 40% of the 6,251 seats inside their home arena, College Park Center. The club also said that their overall ticket revenue has ballooned to the tune of 220% this year, spanning not just season tickets but also a 1,200% increase in single ticket sales. There’s currently a waitlist to become a Dallas season ticket holder, a status that comes with extra incentives like playoff presale access and discounts on additional single-game tickets. 

In Atlanta, season tickets aren't the only thing flying off the shelves. The Dream also announced that they broke their own record for single-game ticket sales during a recent limited presale campaign. Sunday was reportedly their most lucrative day, with five different games totally selling out Gateway Center Arena. Individual tickets for all upcoming matchups will hit the market this Thursday at 8 a.m., while a waitlist for season ticket memberships will open up next Tuesday at 10 a.m.

"Excitement around women's sports, particularly basketball, is at an all-time high and nowhere is that felt more than here in Atlanta," Dream president and COO Morgan Shaw Parker said in the team’s statement. "We’ve continued a record-setting growth trajectory over the past three years under new ownership — both on and off the court — and 2024 is shaping up to be our best season yet."

As of Tuesday, season ticket sales revenue for Caitlin Clark’s hotly anticipated Indiana Fever debut haven’t yet been announced by the club. But if these numbers are any indication — not to mention the explosive demand for Fever away games felt by teams around the country — it won’t be long before we see some scale-tipping figures coming out of Indianapolis.

25-year-old American pro golfer Nelly Korda secured her spot in LPGA history on Sunday, notching her fifth-straight title at this weekend's Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.

Ranked No. 1 in the world by Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sörenstam (2005) as just the third LPGA player to rack up five consecutive tour wins. She is also the third No. 1-ranked player to capture The Chevron Championship victory since the rankings debuted in 2006, accompanied by Lorena Ochoa and Lydia Ko.

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The Florida native shot three-under 69 in Sunday's final, besting Sweden's Maja Stark despite Stark's valiant come-from-behind attempt in the 18th. Korda finished with a four-day total of 13-under 275, celebrating her two-stroke win by cannonballing into Poppie's Pond, much to the crowd's delight. She left The Club at Carlton Woods with $1.2 million from an overall purse of $7.9 million.

It wasn't long ago that the two-time major champion's current winning streak seemed unimaginable. After maintaining her No. 1 position for 29 weeks, Korda underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from her left arm in 2022. She returned to the course not long after, but failed to win a single tournament in 2023 before seeing a surge in form during the first four months of 2024. As of today, she hasn't lost a tournament since January.

Korda will attempt a record sixth-straight win at next week's JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, where she'll vie for a cut of the $3.75 million purse.