Taj Cole didn’t know she had made the 44-person roster for Athletes Unlimited’s inaugural basketball season this winter until the end of an introductory Zoom call with all of the players.

“I didn’t know who was gonna be on the call,” Cole told Just Women’s Sports. “After a 30-minute Zoom call, they finally told us that we made the league. I was in complete shock.”

Cole attended AU’s open tryouts in early December, thinking it would be a good opportunity to get her name back out there after a standout college career. From there, she not only made the roster as one of four selected through the tryouts, she also showed right away that she can compete with the best in the league.

Through 13 games, Cole is averaging 16.3 points, 5.7 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game. She currently ranks fifth in points and third in assists, putting her in 11th place on the leaderboard as the season heads into its final four games this weekend.

On Feb. 2, Cole also became the first AU player not already on a WNBA roster to sign with a team, when the Connecticut Sun picked her up on a training camp contract. She hasn’t been the last: Kalani Brown, a former No. 7 draft pick, signed with the Las Vegas Aces on Feb. 15, and Lauren Manis agreed to a training camp contract with the Seattle Storm on Thursday.

“I just hope that there’s other girls out there that don’t erase their goals, even though it don’t happen for them the first time,” Cole said. “Just keep working hard and always be prepared for the opportunity, and when you get it, go after it.”

Cole met Sun coach Curt Miller when he came to watch current Connecticut players Courtney Williams and DiJonai Carrington play with AU. From the moment they spoke, she sensed it was the right fit.

“I wanna go somewhere where I’m really, really wanted,” Cole said. “And I felt like not only do they want me, but they’re showing me that I can be a key piece of what they’re trying to build. So I’m excited.”

Prettttttyyyy finish from @TCOLE_0 🤩#AUHoops | 📺: @CBSSportsNet pic.twitter.com/UUMfTpRjKV

— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) February 24, 2022

That feeling is important to Cole because her path to the WNBA has been anything but ordinary. After spending the 2015-16 season with Louisville and becoming a top SEC point guard across two seasons with Georgia, Cole transferred to Virginia Tech for her graduate year. There, she set the program record for assists in an ACC season with 121. But after a COVID-19 shortened 2019-20 season, the NCAA Tournament was canceled and Cole went undrafted to the WNBA that April.

Rather than letting the situation deter her, Cole kept pushing.

“Once I didn’t get drafted, I just never let that not be my dream again,” she said. “I just knew that it was just gonna be a different path, a different route for me to get there.”

Cole spent five months playing overseas, from August to December of 2020, before she had to return to Virginia to take care of family. When she stepped on the court with AU in late January, it had been over a year since she’d last played in a professional basketball game.

“That’s why I value AU so much, because it also gave me that stage to play against pros again,” Cole said. “I’ve been learning a lot and listening to the vets a lot. It’s been fun. I love the competitiveness. The point guard battle, we all talk, we all compete. We go after it, we try to win and then off the court, we’re good, we’re close.”

Athletes Unlimited’s schedule, with three games a week during a five-week season, has helped prepare Cole for the pace of the WNBA, where consistency breeds success.

Soon, Cole will turn her attention to what will be a competitive training camp with the Sun, who return nearly the entire core from their No. 1-ranked team last season, including 2021 MVP Jonquel Jones. Until then, she intends to close out the AU season strong, grateful for the fresh start the new league has given her.

“I think a lot of people can say this is one of the best leagues for females, period,” she said. “Next year’s tryouts, the amount of people that are going to try to get in this league is gonna be crazy. I’m excited to see where it goes and how it evolves over the next couple of years.”

Emma Hruby is an associate editor at Just Women’s Sports.

Stakes are sky-high for Wednesday night's Cy-Hawk Series clash, as undefeated No. 10 Iowa State welcomes unbeaten No. 11 Iowa to Ames for the highest-ranked NCAA women's basketball matchup in the cross-state rivalry's history.

"[If] you grew up in the state, just there's nothing like it," Iowa head coach Jan Jensen said of the historic series. "You've dreamed, you've watched those big football matchups when you're little, you watched the basketball games when you were little, and to get to be in one — boy, it doesn't get much better."

"[It's] one of those things where it truly is a rivalry, because teams [go] back and forth and have their streaks and wins and losses," echoed Cyclones boss Bill Fennelly.

The red-hot Hawkeyes enter Wednesday's game with the head-to-head advantage having won three straight against the Cyclones — and eight of the last nine in the series.

That said, the Cyclones have the nation's leading scorer on their side, with junior center Audi Crooks's 27.6 points per game showcasing unmatched efficiency in the 2025/26 NCAA season.

"Audi's tough," Jensen said about the Iowa State star. "She's just really, really incredible…. When you let her get it, she's pretty accurate."

How to watch Iowa vs. Iowa State in the 2025 Cy-Hawk Series

The No. 11 Hawkeyes will visit the No. 10 Cyclones in the 2025 edition of the Cy-Hawk Series at 7 PM ET on Wednesday, with live coverage airing on ESPN.

The Washington Spirit are all in on forward Trinity Rodman, with club GM Nathan Minion telling reporters that the 2025 NWSL runners-up are working "pretty much daily" to re-sign the free agent despite salary cap concerns.

"I think everyone's trying to work together to get a deal in place," said Minion, acknowledging that the NWSL and the Spirit are actively working with each other to retain the 23-year-old star. "[We're] trying to figure this out and trying to get a resolution that can hopefully keep Trinity here with us for a long time."

"The reality is our current salary cap structure — it was built for a different era of women's soccer," said the DC club's recently hired president of soccer operations Haley Carter. "We're going to need mechanisms that allow NWSL clubs to compete for not only players from overseas, but our own players."

The NWSL vetoed the multi-million dollar offer from the Washington Spirit to keep Rodman last week, with the NWSLPA subsequently filing a grievance claiming the league violated the USWNT attacker's free agency rights by blocking the deal.

"These are nuanced conversations, and I would love to just toss the salary cap out the window and pay the players," said Carter. "But we also have to appreciate that, pragmatically, it isn't always payroll that's going to keep our athletes here. It's investment in other things as well."

"We are going to have to start getting creative, I believe, because it's bigger than just one team," continued Carter. "It's bigger than just one player. It's about the league's ability to keep its best players in this league as we continue to grow."

The NWSL transfer and hiring market is ramping up, with both the 14 existing clubs and two incoming expansion teams busy bolstering their 2026 ranks just weeks into the offseason.

Last week, Bay FC announced that England U-23 head coach Emma Coates will become the 2024 expansion club's second-ever manager, with fellow England youth national team and WSL staffer Gemma Davies joining Coates's NWSL crew as an assistant coach.

"I'm truly honored and super excited to build on the strong foundations that have already been established and to implement a clear identity both on and off the pitch," Coates said in Thursday's statement. "[Bay FC] shares my passion for people, performance, and culture, which I believe are fundamental to sustained success."

"Emma is not only an excellent coach, but she also has a proven track record of developing players to compete at the highest levels of both the domestic and international game," remarked Bay Collective CEO Kay Cossington. "Emma has consistently demonstrated an ability to bring players and teams to the next level with clarity, care and purpose. She understands what it takes to build environments where people thrive and perform at their best."

"Bay FC is gaining not only a great coach, but also someone that understands women's football and our athletes inside and out."

While Coates will wrap up her nearly three years at England's U-23 helm to join Bay FC in the coming days, three other NWSL teams are still searching for permanent sideline leaders this offseason, as the Kansas City Current, North Carolina Courage, and Portland Thorns continue to conduct coaching searches.

The Thorns joined the leaderless ranks in late November, parting ways with manager Rob Gale following the team's NWSL semifinals exit.

Reigning WNBA champion A'ja Wilson picked up yet another honor this week, as TIME crowned the four-time league MVP its 2025 Athlete of the Year on Tuesday.

The Las Vegas Aces center became the first player in WNBA history to win a championship, Finals MVP, league MVP, and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season, with the 29-year-old sweeping the league's awards this year.

"This year, I collected everything," Wilson said in her TIME interview. "I don't really talk much sh-t — I mean crap. I kind of let my game do it."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

Wilson described the Aces' midseason slump as a focusing agent in her 2025 TIME Athlete of the Year feature, with the skid launching the team on course to their third championship win in four years.

"I think 2025 was a wake-up call that I needed, to let me know that I can't be satisfied with anything," said Wilson. "There's somebody out there that's going to try to take your job. You need to make sure you're great at it, every single day."

Wilson also spoke to the strained relationship between players and WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, whose leadership came under fire in October as CBA negotiations kicked into high gear.

"I only know Cathy by when she hands me trophies," Wilson said. "If that's her true self, thank you for showing that. Thank you for saying those things. Because now we see you for who you are, and now we're about to work even harder at this negotiation."

With the latest CBA extension expiring on January 9th, Wilson promised that the players are all-in on negotiations through the holiday season.

“All of us are going to be at the table, and we're not moving until we get exactly what we want."