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
Cheryl Reeve Makes Us All Laugh at the Lynx Winter Mixer for Season Ticket Holders
Damn happy Cheryl Reeve is our coach
She lives just down the street from me and is apparently hilarious
She also demands her players to play defense, which is why I love this team
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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
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
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
For the Ladies: Women's Final Four, Comedian Cheryl Reeve, WNBA Draft, and PHF Playoffs