We preview the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, the Minnesota Lynx WNBA Draft, and discuss the comedy stylings of Cheryl Reeve, the Premier Hockey Federation playoffs, and news of the PWHPA forming a union.
Mujeres’ March Madness is About to Begin!
- NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Championship Game to air on network television with its own pregame show for the first time
- Watch on ABC
- Aflac teams with South Carolina coach Dawn Staley to tackle inequities in the sport, per The Gist
- Made an ad with former Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski
- Most of ad spend is going toward the women’s tourney
- South Carolina is the favorite, but it’s otherwise wide open thanks to UConn being good instead of great
- Who will make the Final Four?
- #1 South Carolina (almost a certainty), #6 Stanford or #7 Iowa or #5 Maryland (pick one), and #9 UConn (not at all a certainty)?
- UConn likely a three-seed prior to conference tournament play
- Cinderellas?
- Look out for #23 Iowa State
- Ashley Joens is one of the best scorers ever and hits 36 percent of her threes
- Also, #19 UCLA
- Charisma Osborne is one of the best perimeter defenders in the game
- Look out for #23 Iowa State
- #1 South Carolina (almost a certainty), #6 Stanford or #7 Iowa or #5 Maryland (pick one), and #9 UConn (not at all a certainty)?
Cheryl Reeve Makes us All Laugh at Lynx Winter Mixer for Season Ticket Holders
- Damn happy Cheryl Reeve is our coach
- She lives just down the street from Anthony and is apparently hilarious
- She also demands her players to play defense, which is why I love this team
- Napheesa Collier is 100 percent after giving birth to a baby girl and should help fill the shoes of recent retiree, Sylvia Fowles, who was a goddamn All-Star in her 15th season (14.4 PPG, 9.8 RPG)
- She was ranked the fourth-best player in the league this time last year
- And she dunked in the damn All-Star Game last season
2023 Minnesota Lynx WNBA Draft Preview
- Who will the Lynx target in the upcoming WNBA Draft?
- Round 1, Pick 2: M.A. Voepel of ESPN has the Lynx taking Maryland guard Diamond Miller
- Fills an immediate need; great transition player, which is another thing the Lynx lack
- Better shooter than Stanford’s Haley Jones
- Round 2, Pick 12: UConn’s Dorka Juhász
- 6’5” forward averaging a double-double (14.4 PPG, 10.3 RPG)
- Should help fill some of the rebounding void left by Fowles
- Also help Collier defend bigs in the post, as the Lynx don’t have a true center to deal with the likes of A’ja Wilson and Jonquel Jones
- Collier is only 6’1”, but plays bigger than her height; certainly as strong as anyone in the league
- Round 1, Pick 2: M.A. Voepel of ESPN has the Lynx taking Maryland guard Diamond Miller
Whitecaps Clinch a Playoff Spot
- They haven’t won since I saw them play Buffalo on Feb. 18, but they got some help from the Montreal Force, who beat the Beauts 6-2 on Sunday
- Whitecaps are tied for third with the Connecticut Whale, who come to town next weekend
- Get tickets for Saturday at 6 p.m. CST or watch on ESPN+
- Get tickets for Sunday at 1 p.m. CST or watch on ESPN+
- Whitecaps are at the Boston Pride this weekend; they’re currently the two seed but trail Toronto by just two points with two games in hand
- Watch Friday on ESPN+ at 6 p.m. CST
- Watch Saturday on ESPN+ at 1 p.m. CST
- Whitecaps are tied for third with the Connecticut Whale, who come to town next weekend
- In more women’s hockey news, the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association has formed a union and are negotiating a collective bargaining agreement for a new league, per Hailey Salvian on Twitter (as shared by The Gist newsletter)
- This is huge because many of the top women’s hockey players have refused to play for the PHF due to low salaries, poor travel arrangements, and lack of health insurance
- It was just announced in December that the PHF salary cap would double for the 2023-24 season
- From $750,000 to $1.5 million
- 900 percent growth since 2021
- It was just announced in December that the PHF salary cap would double for the 2023-24 season
- This is huge because many of the top women’s hockey players have refused to play for the PHF due to low salaries, poor travel arrangements, and lack of health insurance