The Dallas Wings made arguably the easiest decision of the 2025 WNBA Draft on Monday night, selecting UConn guard Paige Bueckers as the overall No. 1 pick.
"I can't wait to play with that system, to play with that team, to embrace that new city," Bueckers told reporters. "To be in a place that you're loved and wanted, that's very important."
"Very early on it was Paige, and Paige only. She's such a special player," said newly hired Dallas GM Curt Miller.
Bueckers bolsters revamped Dallas team
Bueckers has been the consensus No. 1 draftee since the start of the 2024/25 NCAA season. Top pick-holder Dallas subsequently spent the offseason assembling existing WNBA talent to complement their expected collegiate recruit.
Returning starters include Arike Ogunbowale and Teaira McCowan. Additionally, Miller brought on experienced players NaLyssa Smith, DiJonai Carrington, and Ty Harris.
"There's a new GM, new coach, new assistant coach, a whole new team," Bueckers said. "We're excited for that fresh start."
The 11th-place Wings ended last season on a nine-game losing streak. And with a 9-31 record, Dallas missed the 2024 WNBA Playoffs. The team now aims to right the ship in 2025 behind their new-look lineup and freshly minted franchise player Bueckers.
"She can take over a game when she wants to, but she has a great feel for getting others involved and that’s really special," said incoming Wings head coach Chris Koclanes.
"You put that next to Arike, and I feel together they'll be able to play off each other."
With a fully revamped roster and an upgraded arena and practice facility in the works, the Dallas Wings appear to be bypassing the traditionally slow rebuild and will instead hit the ground running in 2025.
Showing up in part to support fellow Husky and overall No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers, two additional UConn stars heard their names called during Monday night’s 2025 WNBA Draft.
On the heels of teammate Bueckers's draft night endorsement, both transfer guard Kaitlyn Chen and forward Aubrey Griffin emerged from the crowd to take the stage in the third round.
Incoming expansion team Golden State snapped up former Princeton standout Chen with the overall No. 30 selection, before the Minnesota Lynx grabbed Griffin with Monday's second-to-last pick.
"Honestly, [I'm] still in a little bit of shock…. I was really just here to watch Paige get drafted and I'm so happy for her," Chen told reporters afterwards. "I didn't really have any expectations coming into the night, but to be able to experience that with my team all around me and them all jumping and screaming was pretty amazing."
Griffin, whose pro dreams dimmed after suffering an ACL tear in January 2024, returned to Storrs for the 2024/25 NCAA season. This decision that earned her a national championship and a WNBA invitation.
"I honestly didn't think I would get picked," added Griffin. "I'm just super grateful that I can be able to continue playing the game that I love. I'm just lost for words right now."
NCAA stars snag surprise WNBA Draft picks
Other late-round addition included Maryland guard Shyanne Sellers and Iowa guard Lucy Olsen. Both players earned second-round invites from the Golden State Valkyries and the Washington Mystics, respectively.
Joining Chen and Griffin is Kansas State guard Serena Sundell. The third-round pick will vie for a spot on the Seattle Storm roster. Las Vegas Aces hopeful Harmoni Turner also went in the third round. Turner became Harvard's second-ever WNBA Draft night selectee.
Alabama star Sarah Ashlee Barker claims Monday's biggest Cinderella story.
A lower-profile colege recruit, Barker's breakout 45-point NCAA tournament performance boosted her stock. The LA Sparks subsequently selected her as the draft's overall No. 9 pick.
Two-time WNBA champion Kelsey Plum dropped her 12-player 2025 Dawg Class roster on Wednesday, inviting another generation of college talent to join her at an Under Armour training camp designed to help NCAA athletes transition to the pros.
The new LA Sparks guard experienced her own growing pains in making the professional leap. In response, Plum launched the camp in 2023, aiming to specifically address those struggles and aid future pros.
Each year, Plum invites both graduating and returning NCAA stars to the training camp, hoping to help them overcome or even bypass some of the hurdles she encountered when entering the WNBA.
"Dawg Class is all about changing the game for the next generation of women's basketball players," explained Plum before the 2024 edition.
"All of these athletes have extraordinary talent and skill, and it is my mission to help them with that transition to the next level by cultivating that 'dawg' mentality — the grit, self-confidence and work ethic — to continue to succeed and evolve in their careers."
2025 Dawg Camp taps NCAA champions, star freshmen
Now entering its third iteration, newly crowned Final Four Most Outstanding Player Azzi Fudd and her UConn teammate and fellow 2025 NCAA champ KK Arnold are both making Dawg Class returns — Fudd took part in the 2023 edition while Arnold capped her freshman season at Plum's 2024 camp.
Also returning to the elite roster are 2024 alums Shyanne Sellers (Maryland) and Georgia Amoore (Kentucky), with Amoore having featured on all three Dawg Class rosters so far.
Both Amoore and Sellers, as well as first-time invitee and Harvard senior Harmoni Turner — the 2024/25 Beck Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year — are turning pro this year, with the trio hoping to hear their names called during Monday's 2025 WNBA Draft.
Like Turner, eight other top college athletes are also making their Dawg Class debuts this year, including a quartet of the NCAA's most impressive freshmen: Michigan's Syla Swords, Ohio State's Jaloni Cambridge, USC's Kayleigh Heckel, and Vanderbilt's Mikayla Blakes.
Kelsey Plum's 2025 Under Armour Dawg Class
- Georgia Amoore*, Kentucky
- KK Arnold, UConn
- Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt
- Zoe Brooks, NC State
- Jaloni Cambridge, Ohio State
- Azzi Fudd, UConn
- Kayleigh Heckel, USC
- Ashlon Jackson, Duke
- Tessa Johnson, South Carolina
- Shyanne Sellers*, Maryland
- Syla Swords, Michigan
- Harmoni Turner*, Harvard
*denotes players who have declared for the 2025 WNBA Draft
UConn’s big NCAA championship win over South Carolina on Sunday weighed in as ESPN’s third most-watched title match in women’s March Madness history, with an average viewership of 8.6 million fans and a peak of 9.9 million.
Also making a viewership mark last weekend were Friday's Final Four tilts. Both the 4.2 million fans who tuned into UConn's win over UCLA and the 3.7 million who saw South Carolina take down Texas helped those games claim spots in the sport's Top 10 most watched across ESPN platforms.
The 2025 grand finale fell short of the Caitlin Clark-fueled 2023 and 2024 championship games. However, Sunday’s matchup towered over the 2022 edition with an impressive 75% viewership increase.
The 2025 championship more than doubled the 2021's 4.1 million viewers. This demonstrates a sharp continued uptick in the sport's widespread popularity.
With the 2024/25 NCAA women's basketball tournament scoring massive viewership numbers from tip-off through trophy-lifting, it's not entirely surprising that this season's edition registered as the second most-watched women's March Madness on record, boasting an impressive 8.5 billion minutes of content consumed.
Auriemma, Staley push for new March Madness media deal
Both 2025 NCAA championship-contending head coaches subsequently voiced support for securing a new media rights deal. They seek one that separates women's basketball from its current package alongside 39 other collegiate championships.
"For years and years and years we’ve been packaged with all the other Olympic sports, so to speak, in one big chunk. Can we completely separate ourselves and say, 'What are we worth to you?,'" UConn manager Geno Auriemma said on Sunday.
Although a separate deal is a tough ask given that the current contract runs through 2032, South Carolina boss Dawn Staley echoed Auriemma's sentiment. She advocated for a standalone deal similar to the one that's brought lucrative success to the men's tournament.
"I don't know if [new WBCA president Jose Fernandez] can get that, [but opening] up negotiations for a new television deal would be nice," said Staley.
"We need our own television deal so we can understand what our worth is."
The No. 2-seed UConn Huskies are atop college basketball once again, winning a record-extending 12th NCAA championship in a 82-59 blowout victory over No. 1-seed South Carolina on Sunday.
The title ends a nine-year drought for the dynasty program — the longest stretch without hoisting the trophy since the Huskies' first-ever national championship in 1995.
Trio of Huskies fuel UConn's championship grab
After dominating overall No. 1-seed UCLA 85-51 on Final Four Friday, UConn earned a season finale face-off against the defending champion Gamecocks, who punched their spot in Sunday's championship showdown by taking down No. 1-seed Texas 74-57 — South Carolina's third win over their SEC rival this season.
The big day, however, belonged to the Huskies, as UConn’s "Big Three" of star senior Paige Bueckers, standout guard Azzi Fudd, and freshman phenom Sarah Strong posted a combined 65 points to outscore South Carolina.
Fudd and Strong led the game's stat sheet by scoring 24 points each, helping Fudd snag the tournament's Most Outstanding Player honor — and earning Strong a new NCAA record.
After finishing March Madness with 114 total points across UConn's six-game run, the newly crowned 2024/25 Freshman of the Year broke the NCAA tournament's freshman scoring record, as Strong surpassed 2011 WNBA MVP Tamika Catchings, who posted 111 points in Tennessee's 1998 championship run.
As for graduating superstar Bueckers, her 17 points made her the Huskies' all-time NCAA tournament scoring leader, while Sunday's title cements her legacy, capping her college career by adding her name to the litany of UConn greats in the Storrs rafters.
"It's been a story of resilience, of gratitude, of overcoming adversity and just responding to life's challenges," said Bueckers after her last game as a Husky.
"This is one of the most emotional Final Fours and emotional national championships I've been a part of since that very first one," echoed head coach Geno Auriemma.
All in all, UConn overcame years of close calls, injury woes, and buzzer-beating heartbreak to restore their March Madness dynasty. With Fudd returning next season alongside Strong, the Huskies' future looks brighter than ever.
Final Four teams eye 2026 return
On the other side of the championship coin, the Gamecocks never quite hit their stride on Sunday, falling one game short of a back-to-back title after snagging a spot in their third championship game in four years.
"We lost to a very, very good basketball team," South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said after the defeat. "They beat our ass, but they didn't make us like it. There's a difference."
Though Sunday’s loss stings, South Carolina's youthful core means the Gamecocks — like the young squads from Final Four teams UCLA and Texas — will be back, packing both March Madness experience and a hefty dose of vengeance next year.
"I hope they're crying," Staley said of her returning players. "I hope they're boo-hoo-ing because from crying they have emotion about losing, makes you work hard in the offseason."
It's a sentiment echoed by the 2024/25 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, UCLA star Lauren Betts.
"We have the same team coming next year," Betts said of the Bruins' underclass core after Friday's Final Four loss. "I hope this fuels us, and I hope that we come out angry after this."
After faltering in their own Final Four matchup on Friday, Texas head coach Vic Schaefer offered a similar silver lining.
"It won't be easier tonight or tomorrow, but it will be easier knowing them three are around," Schaefer said of Longhorn underclassmen Madison Booker, Bree Hall, and Jordan Lee. "They are competitors. And again, they’re kids that invest in their craft."
The Final Four squads unable to seal the deal this season will rue an opportunity lost, but with another year of development, expect the same names to dominate the news cycle next March.
UConn might be the lowest seed left standing, but their championship pedigree looms largest of all, as the Huskies gear up to face No. 1 seed UCLA tonight in their quest to end a nine-year NCAA title drought.
“Before you even get here, you kind of know the pressures that exist by committing to UConn,” star guard Paige Bueckers said ahead of the Huskies’ 24th Final Four appearance. “It’s a decision you have to make even before you step on campus.”
Facing the Final Four with a healthy UConn roster
Reaching four of the last five tournament semifinals despite battling years of injury and availability concerns, UConn’s senior class is hell-bent on proving themselves once and for all on college basketball’s biggest stage.
This year’s run has benefitted greatly from backcourt duo Bueckers and Azzi Fudd, reunited in the postseason for the first time in over two years.
Freshman All-American Sarah Strong and key transfer Kaitlyn Chen round out the team's backbone.
"Sarah impacts the game in so many ways, that you just have so much confidence in her, so much belief in her," UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said of Strong. "I don't know. Can't explain it."
Paige Bueckers powers the Huskies offense
Already UConn’s third all-time leading scorer, Bueckers has been on a scoring tear en route to the Final Four, dropping 30 points in her last three outings as she gears up to enter the 2025 WNBA Draft.
“When I say unique, I think she’s closer to one or two or three of most unique players I’ve ever coached,” Auriemma said. “And I’m really going to miss her.”
This Huskies squad has navigated both long-term adversity and recent hurdles with skill and confidence. But will they be the team that gets UConn back on the trophy-winning track?
No. 1 seed Texas and No. 2 seed UConn punched their tickets to Tampa last night, joining No. 1 seeds UCLA and South Carolina in the Final Four after two tight matchups closed out the NCAA tournament’s fourth round.
Texas got the best of in-state foe TCU 58-47, behind a game-high 18-point performance from SEC Player of the Year Madison Booker.
UConn then handled USC 78-64, holding off the JuJu Watkins-less Trojans as superstar guard Paige Bueckers followed up her career-high 40-point Sweet 16 performance by dropping 31 points on the night.
"We're just so grateful, but we know like the journey isn't done," Bueckers said after the game. "We want our story to continue as long as possible, and we have business to finish."
Texas books first Final Four appearance since 2003
After four Elite Eight appearances in five years, the Longhorns finally punched their ticket to the Final Four — their first time back since 2003 — behind a tenacious defense that forced 21 TCU turnovers.
“Anybody that watched that game today, when they turned the TV off, they had to go, ‘Wow, that freaking team plays their ass off,’” Texas head coach Vic Schaefer said after the game.
"I'm having fun with it now," Booker told reporters. "March Madness — you’re supposed to have fun."
"I’m so proud of myself and proud of my team to get to this moment," Harmon said after registering 13 points against TCU.
"Rori Harmon is still that girl," echoed Booker.
Bueckers leads UConn to the NCAA Final Four
The Huskies are headed to their fourth Final Four in the last five years. They advanced on a balanced scoring strategy that saw three different players put double-digit points on the board.
In addition to Bueckers’s 30-piece, freshman phenom Sarah Strong ran the frontcourt. Strong paired 22 points with 17 rebounds and four assists for her fifth postseason double-double. Additionally, Princeton transfer Kaitlyn Chen bolstered the backcourt with 15 points of her own.
"There's Disneyland, there's Disney World and then there's UConn World," Auriemma said. "These are fantasy numbers that make no sense. You couldn't predict this and you couldn't script this at all."
All four remaining teams have the potential to win a national championship. Now it’s a matter of who can deliver when the going gets tough.
No. 2 seed TCU rode their Cinderella story to their very first Elite Eight berth on Saturday, ousting one-time Women's March Madness favorite No. 3 seed Notre Dame 71-62 behind a 26-point performance from transfer guard Hailey Van Lith.
While chalky on paper, the victory was indeed a bracket-buster, setting the Horned Frogs up for tonight’s showdown against No. 1 seed Texas after the Longhorns’ 67-59 Sweet 16 win over No. 5 seed Tennessee.
“Hailey’s a dog,” said TCU senior Madison Conner of Van Lith, who set the school’s single-season scoring record en route to her fifth Elite Eight appearance. “Regardless of if it’s on the offensive end or on the defensive end, she’s going to do anything it takes to win.”
“Going into this game, I was really just going to go and have no regrets,” said Van Lith. “I wasn't going to put any pressure on myself to necessarily win. I was going to go out there and have fun and play with the joy that God gave me.”
USC faces UConn in highly anticipated Elite Eight rematch
Tonight’s blockbuster Elite Eight rematch between No. 1 seed USC and No. 2 seed UConn will look different without injured superstar JuJu Watkins. But the Trojans aren’t done fighting.
USC lost Watkins to a season-ending ACL tear in the tournament’s second round. Nevertheless, a determined USC took down No. 5 seed Kansas State 67-61 in Saturday’s Sweet 16 clash. Freshmen Avery Howell and Kennedy Smith combined for 37 points on the night.
“With Ju going down, obviously it was a bit of adversity that we had to face,” Smith said after the game. “But just having her in our presence — we talked to her before the game and she was still rooting us on, things of that nature — [we're] just keeping her in our hearts and minds and playing for her as well as for each other.”
USC will subsequently have their hands full. Leading the Huskies to the Elite Eight, UConn star Paige Bueckers is fresh off a career-high 40-point Sweet 16 performance against Oklahoma.
“You try not to think about the stakes or the pressure or getting to the Final Four,” Bueckers said ahead of tonight's rematch. “Obviously that's there, so you try not to think about it and just go out and play every single game the same way like it's your last, like it's the most important 40 minutes of your life... We just want the season to keep going as long as possible. So leaving nothing up to chance, giving it our all for that 40 minutes to play for another 40 is our team mindset.”
Where to watch Women's March Madness games tonight
TCU tips off against Texas tonight at 7 PM ET before UConn takes on USC at 9 PM ET. Both games will air live across ESPN platforms.
The Madness returns today, as the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 putsthe season’s most prolific performers to the test in a series of top-seeded showdowns.
This year’s third round is all Top 5 seeds, with blockbuster matchups expected to bring the heat well before the Final Four.
NCAA tournament history sets teams up for success
With the Cinderellas now silenced, many teams still in contention enter the Sweet 16 armed with a history of NCAA tournament success.
No. 1 seed South Carolina tips off against No. 4 seed Maryland today, as the Gamecocks vie for their fifth straight Elite Eight after winning two national titles in the last four years.
Up-and-down No. 3 seed LSU makes a play for their third straight Elite Eight berth tonight — not to mention an attempted repeat of their 2023 championship win.
No. 1 seed Texas looks to advance to their fourth Elite Eight in the five years tomorrow, hunting a return to the Final Four for the first time since 2003.
Later, No. 2 seed UConn aims for their fourth Final Four bid in the last five seasons, coming as close as 2022’s title game before reaching the semis last year.
Both rookies and vets feel the Sweet 16 heat
Experience can go a long way when the spotlight gets a little brighter, but pressure also mounts as blue-chip programs face the chopping board.
One notable first-time Sweet 16 matchup is this afternoon’s clash between in-state rivals No. 2 seed Duke and No. 3 seed North Carolina, with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line.
Tomorrow, No. 3 seed Notre Dame meets No. 2 seed TCU, as the Irish fight to regain their regular-season dominance while the Horned Frogs try to extend their underdog campaign with their first-ever Sweet 16 appearance.
And with razor-thin margins across the board, confidence will play a key role in making it to the competition’s coveted fourth round. “We're a bunch of fighters, and we respond when we’re challenged,” Notre Dame senior Sonia Citron said after last Sunday’s 76-55 win over Michigan.
Sizing up Elite Eight contenders
While not exactly upset territory, Sunday’s Elite Eight will likely feature tense battles between teams looking to hang onto late-season consistency and those running on turnaround momentum.
After losing to eventual conference champion Duke in the ACC semifinal, a refreshed No. 3 seed Notre Dame heads into tomorrow’s Sweet 16 hot off of winning their first two NCAA tournament games by an average of 36.5 points.
After injuries derailed their SEC tournament dreams, No. 3 seed LSU has similarly picked up the pace, putting together two consecutive 100+ point games in the NCAA tournament’s first two rounds.
No. 5 seed Kansas State wouldn’t normally be an issue for No. 1 seed USC, but after losing superstar JuJu Watkins to an ACL tear on Monday, the Trojans might have to rally to get the job done.
And while “underdog” is a stretch, the greatest momentum shift might belong to No. 2 seed UConn, with Bueckers and co. firing on all cylinders despite dropping several ranked matchups this season.
Where to watch NCAA Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games this weekend
The Sweet 16 tips off today at 2:30 PM ET, with all games airing across ESPN platforms.
After Saturday’s Sweet 16 finale determines the field, the Elite Eight tips off on Sunday at 1 PM ET, with live coverage across ESPN platforms.
Viewership stats from March Madness are in, with the first two rounds of the 2024/25 NCAA women’s basketball tournament ranking as ESPN’s second most-watched on record across all platforms.
Trailing only 2024’s Caitlin Clark-fueled historic postseason, 2025’s slate of 32 first-round games averaged a 43% increase over 2023's edition, with ABC enjoying its second-highest first-round viewership ever.
ABC's first-round average of 1 million fans came in part because 1.1 million tuned into No. 2-seed UConn's 103-34 thrashing of No. 15-seed Arkansas State last Saturday, securing the network it's third-highest single-game first-round viewership on record.
In a non-championship round that saw the highest average margin of victory in March Madness history — a differential well over 26 points — last weekend's first round also gave ESPN its second-best viewership stats since 2008.
March Madness second round scores even higher
As the competition's temperature rose in last weekend's second round, so too did viewership, with ESPN's platforms snagging a 60% overall boost over the same round in 2023, earning an average of nearly 1 million viewers across the 16 games.
Yet again, the Huskies led the charge, with UConn's 91-57 blowout win over No. 10-seed South Dakota State drawing an average of 1.7 million fans to ESPN on Monday night — an audience large enough to rank as the fifth most-viewed second-round game in history.
Joining UConn's victory in the NCAA tournament's Top 10 most-watched second-round games are No. 1-seed South Carolina's 64-53 Sunday win over No. 9-seed Indiana and No. 1-seed USC's 96-59 defeat of No. 9-seed Mississippi State on Monday.
The defending national champion Gamecocks' second March Madness matchup jumped into that elite echelon by averaging 1.4 million viewers on ABC, with the Trojans's heartbreaking yet heroic win garnering 1.3 million average fans on ESPN.
All in all, while last year’s historic peaks won’t be easy to replicate, this year’s numbers indicate consistent year-after-year growth across a wider variety of teams — signaling that this season’s strength lies in its breadth of star power, as both superstars and unique storylines compete in every bracket quadrant.