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Will Paige Bueckers Save UCONN?

Minneapolis, MN March 16: Hopkins guard Paige Bueckers (1) was defended by Stillwater guard Sara Scalia (14) in the second half. (Photo by Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune via Getty Images)

For the first time since the departure of the 2004 recruiting class, UConn basketball will graduate a senior class that has never won a national championship. Following three straight trips to the Final Four, UConn’s season, like everyone else’s, was cut short with the cancellation of the NCAA tournament.

When Crystal Dangerfield, the nation’s fourth-ranked recruit, teamed up with Molly Bent and Kyla Irwin to sign with Geno Auriemma and UConn back in 2016, the class ranked 14th in the country. (For reference, both UConn’s 2015 and 2017 classes ranked third.) UConn had won the last four national titles and 75 consecutive games when Dangerfield, Bent and Irwin showed up at Gampel Pavilion. (The similarity to the group that arrived in the fall of 2004 is poignant; at that time, UConn was coming off three consecutive national championships.)

Following the departure of that trophy-less 2004 class in 2008, UConn claimed six of the next eight national championships, as first Maya Moore and then Breanna Stewart carried the Huskies to multiple undefeated seasons. Now, UConn fans — and UConn fans alone — are hoping another top recruit can bring them back to dominance.

“You know how many religions there are in the world?” Auriemma recently joked. “The one religion in women’s college basketball is praying that UConn loses.”

The impending arrival of Paige Bueckers should trigger an upswing in prayers from those devoted to hating the Huskies. The top ranked recruit in her class and the Gatorade National Player of the Year is already being looked at as the future of the program, if not the sport altogether.

And it’s not just fans who are riding the hype. According to UConn coach Geno Auriemma, by the end of next year, “I am going to be saying, ‘You know what? We wouldn’t have won the national championship without her.’”

Yup, Bueckers is that good. Her profile on espnW’s Hoopgurlz makes it sound like she was created in a basketball lab: a “skilled combo-guard” who “delivers offensive production off the dribble,” Bueckers is “effortless and poised in the back court,” “finds the rim with regularity,” and brings a “dose of swagger” and “scorer’s mentality” to the backcourt.

She’s already an internet celebrity, with dozens of YouTube videos documenting her high school exploits. And with over 400,000 followers on Instagram, she’s a superstar built for the digital age.

Auriemma has said that the only player to ever show up to the first day of practice as a polished player was Maya Moore. Even Breanna Stewart struggled at times in her first season. Of course, the Breanna Stewart Era ended with four national championships and an unworldly 151-5 record — but four of those losses came in her freshman season.

Bueckers will have her struggles as well, but like Stewart, we shouldn’t expect them to last.

“By herself, she can’t win anything,” Auriemma has said. “But with the people I think we are going to surround her with, I think we can do great things.”

Bueckers will be joined by 21st- and 26th- ranked Aaliyah Edwards and Mir McLean, both wings, while Auriemma will also welcome Nika Muhl and Piath Gabriel, a pair of international recruits.

Stewart was not without help herself. Moriah Jefferson was the second-ranked player in the class, and the third member was five-star Morgan Tuck. As you might imagine, the class was ranked first overall, and they graduated as the winningest group in college basketball history, the only recruiting class to ever win four national titles.

In that 2016 title run, UConn throttled Mississippi State 98-38 in the NCAA Tournament, prompting a heated and pointless national discussion about whether UConn’s dominance was bad for the sport.

The answer was always no, but whatever the case, UConn has been significantly less dominant since that tournament run. A year after that 98-38 win, Mississippi State beat UConn in overtime to advance to the national championship game. UConn has subsequently stalled in the Final Four each of the last three seasons.

On one hand, UConn is leaving the American Athletic Conference with a perfect 139-0 record (they’ll rejoin the Big East next year). On the other, this is UConn: the only wins that matter are championships, and there haven’t been any of those since 2016. This year, all three of UConn’s losses came at the hands of would-be first seeds, putting into doubt their chances of breaking their dry spell, even if the tournament hadn’t been cancelled. None of the losses were especially close, with a 74-56 defeat to Oregon marking the program’s worst home defeat in 15 years.

Is UConn in a rut? Not by any objective standard (they’re 135-8 over the last four years, after all). But the Huskies have clearly been falling short of their own expectations. Enter Paige Bueckers.

Even with the expected freshman year growing pains, there are two specific aspects of Bueckers’ play that should translate to the collegiate game right away: her guard play and her swagger.

At the end of the 2016 season, when Stewart celebrated a 38-0 record, her team led all 344 Division I programs in 11 major statistical categories and were top-10 in nine more. Most importantly, UConn paced the country in assists, assists per game and assist to turnover ratio.

Bueckers has incredible vision and the talent to put the ball where she wants it. In high school, she has averaged 9.4 assists per game, good for fifth in the country, and has led Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, Minnesota to a 30-0 record. She’ll make an already talented UConn squad surrounding her even better.

The impact of Bueckers’ confidence is more difficult to quantify. It can be seen in a video posted to her own Instagram, in which Bueckers confidently says that her defender “can’t guard me.” It can be seen in her full-court passes and her pull-up jumpers. It can be seen in her decision to sign with UConn, the most storied program in the sport.

No one player can guarantee a national championship. But with Auriemma, who turned 66 in March, saying he could see himself coaching another five years, UConn is on a path to regain their throne. The success of South Carolina in year one with their top-ranked freshman class speaks to the impact of a strong, cohesive group, no matter their age.

UConn is used to winning. For most of this decade, that is all they have done. Next year, Bueckers will see if she can inaugurate a new decade as successful as the last.

Chelsea Completes Domestic Treble with 2025 FA Cup Win Over Man United

Catarina Macario celebrates her goal during Chelsea's 2025 FA Cup win.
USWNT star Catarina Macario scored Chelsea FC’s second goal to secure the 2025 FA Cup and the treble. (JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Adding to their already historic season, 2024/25 WSL champions and 2025 League Cup winners Chelsea FC handed Manchester United a 3-0 defeat in Sunday's 2025 FA Cup final, completing the club's second-ever domestic treble.

Though the Blues first claimed an elusive treble in the 2020/21 season, this year's roster did so without dropping a single match in any of the three domestic competitions.

"I could not have expected this," said first-year Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor about her debut success leading the Blues. "It is almost ideal in terms of domestic dominance."

To clinch that dominance, Chelsea upended the defending FA Cup champs Manchester United at London's iconic Wembley Stadium behind a brace from French fullback Sandy Baltimore and a header from USWNT attacker Catarina Macario.

Baltimore gave Chelsea the lead by slipping a late first-half penalty past 2024/25 WSL Golden Glove winner and USWNT goalkeeper prospect Phallon Tullis-Joyce, and the Blues never relented, with second-half sub Macario doubling their scoreline in the 84th minute before Baltimore tacked on a final goal in stoppage time.

"It's a very emotional day," an emotional Macario told the broadcast after finishing her first season following a long ACL recovery. "It's a trophy we always wanted to win."

"All the credit to my players," said Bompastor. "We showed our mentality and our values in this game so we ended the season in an almost perfect scenario – we won, we were playing at Wembley, the stadium was nearly sold out, and we had a strong performance and result against a strong opponent."

"It is an almost ideal way to finish the season."

A screen shows the 74,412 attendance at Wembley Stadium during the 2025 FA Cup final.
Sunday's FA Cup final was the third straight with a crowd over 74,000 fans. (Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)

FA Cup crowds prove sustained demand for women's soccer

Chelsea FC's undefeated treble-winning season wasn't the only notable victory on Sunday, as the FA Cup final drew a crowd of over 74,000 fans for the third straight year.

Sunday's 74,412 attendance mark was just shy of both last year's crowd of 76,082 and the 77,390 fans who watched Chelsea defeat the Red Devils in 2023 — all well beyond the tournament final's previous record of 49,094 attendees achieved in 2022.

Fueled by the football fervor following England's 2022 Euro victory — the country's first international trophy, men's or women's, since the 1966 men's World Cup — the 2023 FA Cup final still stands as the largest crowd at a domestic women's soccer match across all nations.

With Sunday's match joining the over-74,000 attendance club, it's clear the post-Euros enthusiasm wasn't a blip, but a boost to the continued growth and sustained success of the women's game.

WNBA Injury Report Mounts After Opening-Weekend Slate

LA's Rae Burrell shoots a free throw during a 2025 WNBA preseason game.
LA Sparks guard Rae Burrell is expected to miss six to eight weeks of WNBA play due to a knee injury. (Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

While most WNBA stars hit the court running this weekend, a few saw their 2025 campaigns already shortened as teams released season-opening injury reports.

Phoenix forward Kahleah Copper will miss four to six weeks of play, the Mercury reported on Saturday, after the 2024 Olympic gold medalist underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on her left knee last week.

Another knee injury has LA's Rae Burrell sidelined for the next six to eight weeks, after the fourth-year guard took a knock to the right leg just 41 seconds into the Sparks' 2025 debut win over Golden State.

On Friday, the Mystics released updates on both second-year forward Aaliyah Edwards and rookie guard Georgia Amoore. While another assessment of the Unrivaled 1v1 runner-up's back injury will occur in two more weeks, Washington confirmed that the Australian standout will miss the entire 2025 WNBA season after undergoing a successful surgery to repair her right ACL.

Seattle's Katie Lou Samuelson is also out for the full 2025 campaign, with the 27-year-old Storm forward recovering from last week's successful surgery after tearing her right ACL in practice on May 1st.

Las Vegas's Elizabeth Kitley shoots a basket during a 2025 WNBA preseason game.
2024 Las Vegas draftee Elizabeth Kitley returned from injury to make her WNBA debut on Saturday. (Louis Grasse/Getty Images)

Kitley makes long-awaited WNBA debut as Brink eyes return

In more uplifting news, LA's Cameron Brink is on track to return to the Sparks sometime next month, one year after her standout rookie season came to a halt in a left ACL tear.

Already celebrating, however, is 2024 second-round draftee Elizabeth Kitley, who battled back from injury to make her WNBA debut and score her first league points in Las Vegas's Saturday loss to New York.

The Aces took a draft chance on Kitley, despite the center suffering an ACL tear in her final NCAA postseason. In response, the former Virginia Tech star successfully translated her year-long delayed shot at a pro career by surviving Las Vegas's brutal 2025 roster cuts.

Notably, Kitley's close friend and collegiate on-court counterpart with the Hokies is the aforementioned Amoore, who will aim for a rookie-season redo of her own next year.

Kansas City Eyes the NWSL Shield as Gotham Skid Continues

Temwa Chawinga celebrates her game-winning goal against Orlando with Kansas City teammates Bia Zaneratto and Debinha.
First-place Kansas City has a four-point lead in the 2025 NWSL Shield race after this weekend's win. (Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images)

The No. 1 Kansas City Current strengthened their grip on the 2025 NWSL Shield race on Friday, taking down now-No. 3 Orlando 1-0 on the road to earn a four-point lead atop of the NWSL table.

Reigning league MVP Temwa Chawinga scored the top-table game's lone goal. With five goals in nine matches, Chawinga now sits in a four-way tie for second place in the 2025 Golden Boot race.

"If you don't come with heart, you have no chance," Current head coach Vlatko Andonovski said after the match. "And today I think we showed heart."

Kansas City now stands 7-2-0 on the season, putting the NWSL Shield firmly within their grasp.

Kansas City's rise aside, the weekend's biggest drama hovered near the playoff line.

Gotham FC fell to No. 2 San Diego 1-0 on Friday, sending the Bats skidding to No. 8 on a three-game winless streak while boxing No. 9 North Carolina out of playoff contention — despite the rising Courage securing their third win in four games with Saturday's 2-0 victory over last-place Chicago.

"Obviously, we were hot for a little bit, and teams have slumps all the time, so now it's just finding a way," Gotham midfielder Jaelin Howell said of the team's recent struggles.

While some rebuilds soar, last year's postseason contenders are still finding their way as the league moves into the second third of the 2025 season.

WNBA Launches Investigation into Fan Misconduct After Clark-Reese Spat

Indiana's Caitlin Clark commits a hard foul on Chicago's Angel Reese during their 2025 WNBA season opener.
The WNBA is investigating Indiana fan conduct after Caitlin Clark’s Flagrant 1 foul on Angel Reese. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Indiana's 35-point blowout win over Chicago wasn't Saturday's only newsmaker, as a controversial foul on Sky forward Angel Reese by Fever guard Caitlin Clark sparked intense off-court conversations and a WNBA investigation into subsequent fan misconduct.

Clark's third-quarter foul against Reese incited a brief dust-up between the second-year stars, with Clark's offense upgraded to a Flagrant 1 while Reese and Fever center Aliyah Boston picked up a pair of offsetting technicals for their reactions.

"Basketball play. Refs got it right. Move on," Reese said after the game, while Clark told reporters, "It was just a good play on the basketball. I'm not sure what the ref saw to upgrade it, and that's up to their discretion."

Immediately following the flagrant ruling, however, Indiana fans allegedly directed racially charged remarks toward Reese, prompting the league to open an investigation on Sunday.

Officials acknowledged allegations of racist abuse inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse, saying the WNBA "strongly condemns racism, hate, and discrimination in all forms," and that they're "looking into the matter."

"We stand firm in our commitment to providing a safe environment for all WNBA players," said Pacers Sports & Entertainment CEO Mel Raines, who oversees the Fever, in a statement.

"We will do everything in our power to protect Chicago Sky players, and we encourage the league to continue taking meaningful steps to create a safe environment for all WNBA players," echoed Sky CEO and president Adam Fox.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time Fever-related fan misconduct has taken center stage, as last season's storylines start to spill over into the 2025 WNBA campaign.

In anticipation of the issue, the league launched "No Space for Hate" on Thursday, describing the campaign as "a multi-dimensional platform designed to combat hate and promote respect across all WNBA spaces — from online discourse to in-arena behavior."

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