Welcome: Former Mercury exec Parry joins WNBA as COO
.com: Face of the Franchise: How Number One Picks Have Defined WNBA History
Fox: Storm analyst Elise Woodward breaks down WNBA Draft on “Q It Up Sports”
.com: Déjà Vu In Seattle: 14 Years Later, Storm Poised for Another Rapid Rebuild
Countdown to WNBA Draft 2016: Rachel Banham
St. John’s: Grant and Handford Gear Up for WNBA Draft
BulletsForever: 2016 WNBA Draft Preview Part 1: The Mystics’ current needs heading to Draft Day
Sue at SlamOnline: WNBA Draft Index, Vol. 3
UConn’s Big Three Seniors Looking Ahead To WNBA Draft
Howard Megdal: WNBA Mock Draft 10.0: Pencils down
The posturing is over. The scouting, the evaluating, the pre-draft meetings and workouts—all the information is in front of the 12 teams who will gather Thursday night at Mohegan Sun Arena and pick the next 36 potential players in the WNBA.
Notice potential—there’s no guarantee that draft picks can make their teams, with a source at one WNBA team expressing skepticism that even a first-round pick could make that team’s roster.
However, this deep draft offers an array of players with virtually every skill imaginable. So much comes down to fit, to small gradations of difference. And the moment it’s all over, the fun starts—figuring out how and the way 36 new players integrate with their new teams.
College
Syracuse.com: Being Breanna’s parents: Skittles, Santa, shoes and the basketball journey of a lifetime
The two-day respite between the NCAA Regional and Final Four offers a fleeting moment to breathe. There is, however, no rest. Heather and Brian Stewart squeeze in a couple of days of work at Upstate University Hospital jobs, then returned to their home in North Syracuse for a blur of errands. That is, until basketball breaks out.
On a spectacular early evening when temperatures climb into the 70s, Conor Stewart is working on a two-handed reverse jam on the basketball goal in his family driveway. The goal is lowered several feet to allow Conor access above the rim. The opportunity is too alluring for Brian, who finishes a job sweeping the garage and is soon dunking way with his 14-year-old son. Heather asks if anyone needs her alley-oop feeds from the front porch. The family moment is filled with joy and routine, all worked into the window of March Madness.
The next day, the Stewarts are off to Indianapolis for the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship.
Siroky’s Musings: A Return to the Women’s Final Four After a Long Absence
For the first time in a long while I took a trip by myself.
When the women’s NCAA basketball tournament started 35 seasons ago, I was one of 37 accredited media.
Two of my best friends were also there as broadcasters, I had a photographer and knew three other national writers. That’s seven of the 37. It was a small group then.
I thought of many of them, the departed and the living, coaches, players and media I had shared a time with.
There are not a lot of us left. In fact, there are but two media.
You may remember that the Seawolves had some “issues” a while back. Now? A shift in culture: Coach McCarthy transforms women’s basketball program
At 38-3, the UAA women’s basketball team just completed their best season in school history, and were arguably the greatest team Seawolf Athletics has ever assembled. From placing as the runner-up in the national championship game, to shattering 32 school records, to breaking five NCAA Division II records (including the 38 wins), the Seawolves had what one might call a dream season.
However, the team was living more of a nightmare just four years ago, when the program was slammed with several sanctions by the NCAA.
Hartford Courant: With Big 3 Gone, What Are The UConn Women Left With Next Season?
“With these three leaving, the rest of the players coming back are in for a rude awakening. But you can’t disregard what the impact [this season] has on the players coming back. And it will last for a while. But then obviously it will [fade] and they’ll have to earn it like these other guys.
“But we don’t have anybody in the program right now that’s a Stewie or a Tuck or Moriah coming back. So it’s going to be really, really one of the more difficult adjustments that we’ve had in the time that I’ve been here. But it’s OK. I’m kind of looking forward to it. I really am. There’s a lot of new stories to be written by our group.”
Here’s a look at what the Huskies might look like next season:
Courant: Program Foundation Geno And CD Laid At UConn In 1985 Is Holding Up Just Fine
Kerith Burke, SNY: A behind the scenes look at UConn’s fourth straight NCAA championship
Forbes: 3 Ways to Convert Losses Into Wins From A ‘Defeated’ Basketball Coach
Buff Zone: CU women’s basketball: Buffs buy in to Payne’s positive message
Whenever Kennedy Leonard encounters one of her new basketball coaches — and that’s been happening a lot lately — she’s asked how her family is doing, or how she’s doing in school.
“You can tell she really cares about us — all of them do,” said Leonard, who recently completed her freshman season with the Colorado women’s basketball team. “It’s a different kind of feel, a positive feel.”
NC State: Moore looks to take team to next level
Chris Crowder: Wolverines’ WNIT streak ends next year
After four seasons at the helm, Michigan women’s basketball coach Kim Barnes Arico has made the NCAA Tournament only once — her first season when she took over the head coaching job in the 2012-13 season. However, over the past three seasons, the Wolverines have failed to make the Big Dance, instead settling for the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.
Now in Barnes Arico’s fifth season, she’ll finally have a team consisting solely of players she has recruited. And in the 2016-17 season, Barnes Arico will have the right pieces to lead Michigan back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013.
Hello: Justice named head women’s coach at Prairie View A&M
Bye: UWGB junior Latesha Buck granted release
Well, carp: Players’ Departures Bring Swoopes’ Demeanor Into Question
Betting Runner’s SportsChat asked me a few questions and I typed the answers.