The WNBA is all shook up, as the league's February 1st free agency signing day radically reshaped rosters from coast to coast.

In the largest offseason trade so far, the Phoenix Mercury and Dallas Wings took the buyer's market by storm while the Connecticut Sun sent starters packing in preparation for a major rebuild. Along with the Indiana Fever, these four teams moved a total of 13 players and 18 assets, making it the most prolific single trade in WNBA history.

Alyssa Thomas (Connecticut) and Satou Sabally (Dallas) headlined the deal, joining Phoenix alongside Dallas's Kalani Brown and Sevgi Uzun.

Connecticut took Phoenix's Natasha Cloud and Rebecca Allen (who's reportedly moving on to Chicago), plus Dallas's Jacy Sheldon and a first-round draft pick.

Indiana picked up Sophie Cunningham (Phoenix), Jaelyn Brown (Dallas), and a second-round draft pick.

To close it out, Dallas's haul included DiJonai Carrington (Connecticut), Ty Harris (Connecticut), and NaLyssa Smith (Indiana) as well as additional player considerations and draft futures.

That blockbuster four-team transaction comes on the heels of last week's history-making trade between the LA Sparks, Las Vegas Aces, and Seattle Storm, which became official over the weekend. The league's first-ever trade involving multiple former No. 1 draft picks sent Las Vegas's Kelsey Plum to the Sparks and Seattle's Jewell Loyd to the Aces, with the Storm grabbing the 2025 WNBA Draft's No. 2 pick.

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More WNBA teams flex free agency muscles

Phoenix and Dallas weren't the only teams ​profiting off of Connecticut's reshuffling, as 2025 postseason hopefuls Indiana and Atlanta jumped into the market.

Sun standout DeWanna Bonner and three-time WNBA champion Natasha Howard (Dallas) both inked one-year deals with the Fever, joining recently re-signed All-Star Kelsey Mitchell in Indiana.

The Atlanta Dream complemented last week's game-changing Brittney Griner pick-up by netting Connecticut forward Brionna Jones.

Other teams have also kept their names in the mix, with Chicago officially bringing back two-time WNBA champion Courtney Vandersloot, who spent 12 seasons with the Sky before her title-winning stint with the Liberty.

The Sky are also reportedly courting Sparks free agent Kia Nurse after sending guard Lindsay Allen and the rights to forward Nikolina Milic to the Sun in exchange for Australia Opals star Rebecca Allen.

In another key free agency signing, Connecticut is bringing eight-time All-Star Tina Charles back after drafting the 36-year-old first overall in 2010.

With the free agency floodgates fully open and a highly anticipated new CBA prompting a wave of one-year deals, even more big-name signings are likely ahead of April's WNBA Draft.

US women’s rugby stole the spotlight this week, as incoming domestic league Women’s Elite Rugby (WER) prepares for its first-ever season while USA Rugby gears up for a newly announced series of home friendlies.

In the lead-up to the kickoff of the 2025 Rugby World Cup in England this August, the world No. 9-ranked Eagles will be playing a pair of tune-up friendlies, taking on No. 11 Japan in Los Angeles on April 26th before facing No. 2 Canada in Kansas City on May 2nd.

The national team will then play a final send-off match against No. 16 Fiji in Washington, DC, on July 19th before heading to London for the 10th edition of the international tournament.

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Momentum continues with new women's rugby league

The Eagles' pre-World Cup tour aims to continue the sport's momentum that the team initially sparked during last summer's Olympic bronze medal-winning run in Paris.

That standout performance prompted increased demand for more consistent women’s rugby programming in the States, with longtime proponents of the sport welcoming fresh fans into the fold with hopes of continuing to grow the game in the US.

Some of the increased demand will be met by WER, as the new league formalized its sanctioning agreement with USA Rugby earlier this week in anticipation of their March 22nd kick-off.

With six teams representing the Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New York, and the Twin Cities, WER will play a three-month regular season before contesting the league's first playoffs.

"We are confident that the start of WER will be a key moment in the growth of the sport," said WER president Jessica Hammond-Graf in a statement. "We can’t wait for fans to experience the excitement and intensity of high-level, professional women’s rugby in the US."

How to buy tickets to US women's rugby games

Tickets to the Eagles’ World Cup send-off tour go on sale March 28th, while fans hoping to catch WER’s debut season can purchase seats online now.

With the March Madness No. 1 seeds evenly split between the Big Ten and SEC, April’s Final Four becoming a conference tournament championship rematch doubleheader is very much on the table.

The quadrants led by SEC tournament finalists South Carolina and Texas share one side of the bracket, meaning the Gamecocks and Longhorns could meet before the 2024/25 NCAA championship game in an all-conference semifinal.

Similarly, crosstown rivals UCLA and USC top the other two quadrants, putting the LA teams on course for all-Big Ten semifinal.

Both conference pairs have already faced off three times this season, with South Carolina holding a 2-1 2024/25 record over Texas and USC riding into the Big Dance with the same record over UCLA.

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Other top teams hunt rematches with NCAA No. 1 seeds

Before the No. 1 seeds lock in on any all-conference semis, however, they must advance past other elite contenders — some of whom have recent beef with the quadrant queens.

No. 3 seed Notre Dame — the only team to fail to snag a No. 1 March Madness spot after reaching the AP Poll's top ranking this season — awaits a possible 2024/25 rematch with Texas in the Elite Eight round, with the Irish eyeing a second season victory over the Longhorns after toppling Texas 80-70 in December.

As for No. 1-seed USC, the Trojans sit on a collision course with No. 2 UConn, setting up what could be a second-straight Elite Eight battle between the pair. The Huskies won last year's encounter 80-73 behind 28 points from superstar Paige Bueckers, before falling to eventual tournament runners-up Iowa in the 2023/24 Final Four.

That said, USC already defeated UConn once this season, with sophomore phenom JuJu Watkins putting up 25 points in the the Trojans' narrow 72-70 December win.

For these potential non-conference games, the rematches are somewhat by design, as top programs try to stack their schedules with the NCAA's best teams each season, both to challenge their rosters and to build their NCAA tournament resumes.

"If you play a good enough schedule, you're always going to run into somebody you've already seen," explained legendary UConn head coach Geno Auriemma earlier this week.

While bracket busters could impede an all No. 1-seed Final Four, no team seeded lower than No. 3 has ever won an NCAA championship, meaning at least a few of these top-tier rematches are likely in the coming weeks.

How to watch the Women's March Madness tournament first round

No. 6-seed Michigan and First Four winner No. 11-seed Iowa State open the tournament, tipping off March Madness at 11:30 AM ET on Friday, with live coverage on ESPN2.

The first top seed to take the court in Friday's 16-game slate is South Carolina, who will face No. 16-seed Tennessee Tech at 4 PM ET before UCLA closes out the night against First Four winner No. 16-seed Southern at 10 PM ET.

Both No. 1-seed games will air live on ESPN.

The AP dropped the 2024/25 All-America first, second, and third teams on Wednesday, offering few surprises as top names from star programs dominated the lineup.

Sophomores JuJu Watkins (USC) and Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame) both earned first-team honors for the second straight year, becoming just the third and fourth players to ever snag the honor in their first two seasons. They now join former college standouts and WNBA champions Courtney Paris (Oklahoma) and Maya Moore (UConn) in that elite club.

UConn’s Paige Bueckers, Texas’s Madison Booker, and UCLA’s Lauren Betts also earned first-team recognition, with the AP’s roster aligning with last week’s National Player of the Year shortlists.

Watkins, Bueckers, and Betts are the only unanimous first-team selectees, with Bueckers also making a splash by becoming just the 12th-ever player to earn an All-America nod for the third time.

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March Madness tournament features all 2024/25 All-Americans

Program success and individual achievement strode hand-in-hand across the All-America selections, with all first-team players representing squads seeded No. 3 or higher in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

The second and third teams were more varied, though all players still feature on the 2025 March Madness bracket.

The second team tapped LSU’s Aneesah Morrow, UConn’s Sarah Strong, Florida State’s Ta'niya Latson, Kentucky’s Georgia Amoore, and Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles.

Meanwhile, USC’s Kiki Iriafen, TCU’s Hailey Van Lith, LSU's Flau'Jae Johnson, Iowa State's Audi Crooks, and Vanderbilt's Mikayla Blakes earned third-team recognition.

Notably, defending champion and No. 1 seed South Carolina failed to see any player named an All-American, though four Gamecocks did receive honorable mentions.

While awards are a small part of a season's story, the 2024/25 AP All-America teams do reflect a year filled with big stars and even bigger parity.

The 2024/25 AP All-America teams

First Team:

• JuJu Watkins, USC sophomore
• Paige Bueckers, UConn senior
• Lauren Betts, UCLA junior
• Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame sophomore
• Madison Booker, Texas sophomore

Second Team:

• Aneesah Morrow, LSU senior
• Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State junior
• Olivia Miles, Notre Dame senior
• Sarah Strong, UConn freshman
• Georgia Amoore, Kentucky senior

Third Team:

• Hailey Van Lith, TCU senior
• Kiki Iriafen, USC senior
• Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt freshman
• Flau’Jae Johnson, LSU junior
• Audi Crooks, Iowa State sophomore

Honorable Mention:

• Raegan Beers, Oklahoma junior
• Sonia Citron, Notre Dame junior
• Katie Dinnebier, Drake senior
• Joyce Edwards, South Carolina freshman
• Yvonne Ejim, Gonzaga senior
• MiLaysia Fulwiley, South Carolina sophomore
• Rori Harmon, Texas senior
• Izzy Higginbottom, Arkansas senior
• Aziaha James, NC State senior
• Lauren Jensen, Creighton senior
• Taylor Jones, Texas senior
• Chloe Kitts, South Carolina junior
• Ayoka Lee, Kansas State senior
• Cotie McMahon, Ohio State junior
• Te-Hina Paopao, South Carolina senior
• Sedona Prince, TCU senior
• JJ Quinerly, West Virginia senior
• Kiki Rice, UCLA junior
• Shyanne Sellers, Maryland senior
• Serena Sundell, Kansas State senior
• Makayla Timpson, Florida State senior
• Harmoni Turner, Harvard senior
• Mikayla Williams, LSU sophomore

Former Tennessee basketball coach Kellie Harper is on the move to Missouri, with the school naming Harper as the program's fifth-ever head coach on Tuesday.

"I am incredibly honored to be the next head coach at Mizzou," Harper said in the school's announcement. "Missouri is a special place, and I know firsthand the passion and pride that surrounds this program... The foundation is in place for success — and I can't wait to get started."

Harper replaces previous Tigers boss Robin Pingeton, who resigned last month after 15 seasons. She subsequently stepped away after the team finished last in the SEC for two consecutive seasons.

In her five seasons leading the Vols, Harper earned a 108-52 overall record. She parted ways with Tennessee after last year’s second-round NCAA tournament flameout.

Even so, Harper's 53-24 overall conference record at Tennessee trailed only four-time NCAA title-winning coach Kim Mulkey (LSU) and three-time national champion leader Dawn Staley (South Carolina) in SEC winning percentage.

"Kellie is a proven winner and dynamic leader who understands the 'Will to Win' necessary to succeed at the sport's highest level," said Missouri athletic director Laird Veatch.

Harper brings exceptional resume to Missouri

Harper earned three straight NCAA championships as a player under legendary Tennessee coach Pat Summitt. Then, she began building a playoff-heavy resume as a coach.

In her 20 years leading DI teams, Harper led them to 16 postseason berths, including nine trips to March Madness. She remains one of just two NCAA coaches to ever take four different programs to the tournament.

Before taking the Vols to back-to-back Sweet Sixteens in 2022 and 2023, Harper's first trip to thaat NCAA tournament round came with Missouri State in 2019. That's when she took a Cinderella team on a run to cap her six-year tenure with the Bears.

It's that title-hunting experience that Missouri is hoping to harness, as the Tigers haven't made the March Madness cut since 2019 — the year that the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury drafted Mizzou's all-time leading scorer Sophie Cunningham.

"I am thrilled," said the Missouri alum and new Indiana Fever guard. "I have so much respect for coach Harper, and I can't wait to support her and our Tigers however I can."