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***official 2024/25 women’s college bball thread*** paige gets her title and will soon be beat up and abused in the wnba (3 Viewers)

Encyclopedia Brown said:
pollardsvision said:
Holy **** what a game.
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Indiana got sunk by dreadful FT shooting in the last couple of minutes.

I don't know why Atlanta just didn't keep getting the ball down low to Griner. She was unstoppable within five feet. On the other hand, she looked a bit stiff at times, and is maybe dealing with an injury.
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Yeah, the free throw misses did them in.

It's really just impressive that Atlanta was in the game. Like most people, I assumed a blowout.

At least it gives some hope for them that Smesko might work out

I agree going away from Griner was odd. I don't think she's injured. I think the stiffness is just being 6'9" in year 13.

Even in a loss, you see what a monster team the Fever are becoming. Caitlin is amazing, and Boston keeps getting better. I really I have no idea how you stop them in a pick and roll. DB and Howard were such perfect additions.
 
I'm also a newer wnba fan. I'm a poser really. I dont watch games. I box score surf and watch clips. I also admit the only reason is due to Clark. I admit it. I will say that Clark interest has pushed me to follow other players and teams, so that's gotta be good for the lesgue. I just wanted to give a shout out to pollardsvision. Your basically my wnba info narrator. Thanks.
 
FarFromHome said:
I'm also a newer wnba fan. I'm a poser really. I dont watch games. I box score surf and watch clips. I also admit the only reason is due to Clark. I admit it. I will say that Clark interest has pushed me to follow other players and teams, so that's gotta be good for the lesgue. I just wanted to give a shout out to pollardsvision. Your basically my wnba info narrator. Thanks.
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Thank you.

Clark is the reason I started watching too. I didn't plan on falling in love with the league.
 
pollardsvision said:
FarFromHome said:
I'm also a newer wnba fan. I'm a poser really. I dont watch games. I box score surf and watch clips. I also admit the only reason is due to Clark. I admit it. I will say that Clark interest has pushed me to follow other players and teams, so that's gotta be good for the lesgue. I just wanted to give a shout out to pollardsvision. Your basically my wnba info narrator. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Thank you.

Clark is the reason I started watching too. I didn't plan on falling in love with the league.
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Interesting. Never would of guessed that. I've always been a huge NBA fan. Grew up on Jordan. Watched NBA games religiously. I've slowly watched less and less NBA. To the point I haven't actually watched a game in years. My morning ritual, while coffee is brewing, is standing in the kitchen box score surfing the previous days sporting events. Even during the NBA playoffs I'll check Clarks box score first. Always. I just got caught up in her ability on the court.
 
FarFromHome said:
pollardsvision said:
FarFromHome said:
I'm also a newer wnba fan. I'm a poser really. I dont watch games. I box score surf and watch clips. I also admit the only reason is due to Clark. I admit it. I will say that Clark interest has pushed me to follow other players and teams, so that's gotta be good for the lesgue. I just wanted to give a shout out to pollardsvision. Your basically my wnba info narrator. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Thank you.

Clark is the reason I started watching too. I didn't plan on falling in love with the league.
Click to expand...
Interesting. Never would of guessed that. I've always been a huge NBA fan. Grew up on Jordan. Watched NBA games religiously. I've slowly watched less and less NBA. To the point I haven't actually watched a game in years. My morning ritual, while coffee is brewing, is standing in the kitchen box score surfing the previous days sporting events. Even during the NBA playoffs I'll check Clarks box score first. Always. I just got caught up in her ability on the court.
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That definitely can happen as age and have less time.

I only have time to follow 2 leagues, the NFL and WNBA. Both leagues offer a lot of similar advantages.

Fewer games and regular season games that feel like they matter. With the new CBA, I really hope they don't drastically increase the number of games. 40 was great, 44 this year is fine, really hope they never go above 50.

WNBA offers some further" advantages" with a small number of teams and roster spots. "Advantages" in quotes because it sucks for the players and we need more jobs. But for the fans, it makes for a very intense product. You cannot take a night off in a league with 156 roster spots. Roster cuts are brutal and we need more jobs, but they could get to 18 teams with a couple more roster spots (maybe some practice squad spots or a developmental league) and still keep the same nightly intensity.

At some point in every mature league, greed sets in. Too many games, too many teams.
Watching a league still trying to get there is just a completely different experience.

I also tend to root for underdogs, and this is just an underdog league.
A lot of factors working against the league and the players in it.
Just look at Unrivaled. The women don't make very much money. Most spend the off-season playing internationally in often poor conditions to make enough money to pay the bills. Not a perfect situation, but they do what they have to do. They even created their own solution for it themselves, in Unrivaled (only for 36 players, but it's something). Probably not a long-term solution, but you don't see players in more mainstream leagues go create their own league so players can pay the bills without spending the off-season playing internationally.

But it really comes down the players and the style of play.
It's an incredibly intense, physical game. There's still some mid-range and a place for traditional bigs, if your're into that sort of thing.

It's a league chocked full for really talented players that are also fantastic human beings that are fun to root for.
I won't go into details because that would go so long Joe would be fussing at me about server space.
 
Really random, but on the women as underdogs thing, the injuries are part of that.

Have I been living under a rock, or did everybody already know about the period-ACL tear thing?

It came up on the Sue and Megan podcast because somebody is going to study a possible connection.

Sue and Megan made it clear that it's been common knowledge among women athletes for years that you are more likely to tear an ACL when on your period. Megan tore her ACL 3 times and was her period every time. Sue said the first thing the doc asked when she tore hers was if she was on her period.

Anyway, just found it fascinating as someone that never heard about it. Of all the crap women have to deal with, this just seems like a bridge too far.
 
pollardsvision said:
Sue and Megan made it clear that it's been common knowledge among women athletes for years that you are more likely to tear an ACL when on your period.
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My goodness. No I was not aware of this. Did they run data on women who tear acl on period and not on period? This is actually quite hilarious.
 
pollardsvision said:
FarFromHome said:
pollardsvision said:
Sue and Megan made it clear that it's been common knowledge among women athletes for years that you are more likely to tear an ACL when on your period.
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My goodness. No I was not aware of this. Did they run data on women who tear acl on period and not on period? This is actually quite hilarious.
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Data found a connection. Research ongoing trying to understand it.
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Wonder if they included men that display period symptoms. I kid. I kid. Ha ha
 
Speaking of the great human beings playing this game.

Saniya Rivers made her debut last night. It took a while because her mom passed on April 30. Her mom was 47. 2 weeks prior, she was with Saniya at the draft watching her little girl's dreams come true.

I can't imagine what this kid is going through, and I so wish her mama was here to see it.

But last night she kicked ***. Sun got their *** kicked because it was Sun vs. Aces and the Sun aren't very good.

But Saniya is long, athletic, and extremely disruptive. She's going to be a thing in this league. This kid is going to be great. Her mama knew that. Her not being able to see it just sucks.
 
On another note, Mystics have a chance to go 3-0 tonight. It was damn near July before they got win #3 last year. Can't take anything for granted, especially on a west coast trip.

But I'm here for the Sonia-Kiki eff you tour.
 
Alanna rolling. She's such a badass. Her not making the AS game last year will always piss me off.

This is going to be curbstomping, but Paige is doing all the right things. Wings are so flawed. It happens.
 
Ghost Rider said:
This is too funny not to post:


Imagine taking most of your shots within a few feet of the basket and still going 0 for 8 from the field. :lol:

Remember how she talked about how hard she worked in the offseason to get better? :lmao:
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www.yahoo.com

Chicago Sky Star 'Done' With Angel Reese After Thursday's Antics

The Chicago Sky may have to work through chemistry problems just two games into the 2025 season. During Thursday night's game against the New York Liberty, All-Star forward Angel Reese failed to make a single shot despite being on the floor for 28 minutes. There was a moment where she refused ...
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com
 
Cowboysfan8 said:
Ghost Rider said:
This is too funny not to post:


Imagine taking most of your shots within a few feet of the basket and still going 0 for 8 from the field. :lol:

Remember how she talked about how hard she worked in the offseason to get better? :lmao:
Click to expand...
www.yahoo.com

Chicago Sky Star 'Done' With Angel Reese After Thursday's Antics

The Chicago Sky may have to work through chemistry problems just two games into the 2025 season. During Thursday night's game against the New York Liberty, All-Star forward Angel Reese failed to make a single shot despite being on the floor for 28 minutes. There was a moment where she refused ...
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com
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That’s a lot of mebounds in one play.
 
Fever-Liberty tomorrow will be absolutely must-watch.

Could be a Finals preview for sure (all due respect to the Lynx, and the Aces, I guess, but I'm still not sure about them this year). I'd still give the edge to the LIberty because of their defense, but it could obviously go either way. Especially with a healthy Sophie.

I'll be damned if I don't think the Mystics may be able to go to Vegas tonight and make some noise. I'm sure this won't age well, but whatever.

Yeah, they just gave the Valkyries their first ever franchise win (Congrats to them, BTW). Valkyries have some nice talent and they aren't as bad as people think they are, but it took Veronica Burton having the night of her life.

But Brittney and the kids are kicking ***. Hanging with the Aces is unlikely, but I'm not doubting them at this point.
 
Holy **** the Sun.

Of the teams that could win it all, the Lynx are probably my favorite.

But the Sun are a lot of fun and better than people think. Rooting against Tina and Saniya is not something I can really do. I sure as hell ain't rooting against Jacy Sheldon's sister's rooting interest.
I don't even want to like the Frenchie-Belgium coach. He sounds pretentious to me. But this team is a lot of fun.

Lynx almost surely going to clean this up, but who knows. There's a reason we play the game.
 
This game is why you love the league.

This game should not be close. But when everybody gives a ****, this is what you get.

And as much as I'd love to see the Sun pull this out, if Alanna ain't OK, I'm going to punch my neighbor.
 
Mystics came so close, even without Sykes.

Sonia and Kiki are going to be so good.
Kiki did battle with A'ja like she's been here for years.
 
A little late, but what a damn game. No notes.

3rd or 4th game of the season for both teams. Like a Playoff game. If that ends up being the Finals, what a treat that would be.
 
pollardsvision said:
A little late, but what a damn game. No notes.

3rd or 4th game of the season for both teams. Like a Playoff game. If that ends up being the Finals, what a treat that would be.
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That was a fun game. Down to the wire.

Caitlin got cooked on D. She didn’t do a good job handling all the screens and switching decisions.
 
Alex P Keaton said:
pollardsvision said:
A little late, but what a damn game. No notes.

3rd or 4th game of the season for both teams. Like a Playoff game. If that ends up being the Finals, what a treat that would be.
Click to expand...
That was a fun game. Down to the wire.

Caitlin got cooked on D. She didn’t do a good job handling all the screens and switching decisions.
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Heavyweights throwing blows. Caitlin is amazing. Going up against teams like the LIberty makes it even more fun. They are badass, and they put her to the test. And she answered. Not quite enough this time, but damn it was an amazing battle.

Watching legends battle their way to the top is always fun.
 
Nice bounceback for the Storm on Friday. Skylar and Nneka were on fire.
If Gabby keeps playing like this, and they can get Ezi going on offense, they could do some damage. So much of the team's success will come down to outside shooting because they do everything else so well.

Skylar and Gabby won't stay this hot from 3, but even just solid would be huge. Mix in Nneka taking a few more, and getting some from Cooke and/or Lexie off the bench and they can weave together enough outside shooting to open things up.

Malonga still only got 5 minutes. Game was tight the whole way, and Quinn will surely be conservative with her this early in the season.
But she looked pretty good. No blocks, but seemed to at least make it difficult at the rim. AT got her one on one, and was licking her chops to take the kid to the rim. She did, but Malonga recovered and made it a difficult finish that AT missed.

It was another rookie from Cameroon that had the big night. Monique Akoa Makani had a great game and hit a big shot late before Seattle went on the run to close it.

A transition dunk from Malonga is coming soon. She looks like Randy Moss running down the floor. Fast and longer than everybody else.

We'll see how they look against the Aces tonight when Jewel comes back to town. If they win this one, I'll probably make another bet that I'll regret.
 
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Oh boy. Storm look locked TF in.

Skylar and Nneka are the forgotten about stars in this league, and it feels like they are on a mission.

Nneka just dropped a beautiful fadeaway in A'ja's face. No shock. She was dominating this league back when A'ja was still ****ting green.
 
People may not care much about Seattle, and that's fine.

But if I'm going to battle, give me Skylar, Nneka, and Gabby and I'll take my chances.

Tonight, this one seems personal with Vegas. They seem intent on stomping a mudhole in their ***, and I'm here for it.

Could be that Vegas is like 15-1 against them since Stewie left. Could be whatever happened with Jewel. There's also Alysha Clark maybe with an axe to grind.

I'm sure Vegas will have some answers in the 2nd half, but it's fun for now.
 
Sorry, I'm just going to have to glow in this one.
I'm an old fart dealing with the old part working against you, as we all do.

Reason I love Seattle is that it's Skylar and Nneka that have been around this league a long time. There's a lot of good teams with a much younger core. Ain't nobody talking about Skylar and Nneka much these days.

But they are still getting it done.
How far can they go, I don't know. But in W terms, they are old farts with something to prove, and I'm here for it.

Them ushering in a 19 year old phenom is fun too. Dom had 2 near misses on transition dunks today. If this game were closer, they wouldn't have tried. But again, they were beating the absolute brakes off the 2-time Champs, so what the hell.
 
Caitlin out at least 2 weeks with a quad injury.

They called it a quad in the 1st pre-season game, but at the time, I just assumed it was because it was pre-season and they were about to fly out to Iowa for the homecoming the next day.

Hope she can come back quickly. Obviously, basketball is more fun when Cailtin is playing.

Fever have a lot of talent and can probably hold their own against the middle of the pack teams without CC. But to compete against the elite teams, obviously they need her.
 
Worst thing that could happen to wnba. Guess it's only 2 weeks. Imagine if it was for year? I bet 50% of the people that have interest in the league have that interest due to Clark. Maybe. It 50, but damn high. They need Paige to step up and hold the torch for a minute.
 
FarFromHome said:
Worst thing that could happen to wnba. Guess it's only 2 weeks. Imagine if it was for year? I bet 50% of the people that have interest in the league have that interest due to Clark. Maybe. It 50, but damn high. They need Paige to step up and hold the torch for a minute.
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It would be horrible, of course.

League and women's basketball is on a big uptrend in viewership. Caitlin is a phenom and an outlier for popularity, and nothing can touch that, but still on an uptrend otherwise.

As an example, 2025 NCAA title game got 10 million viewers.
A huge step down from 2024 at 19 million viewers (Caitlin vs South Carolina).

But the 10 million is roughly double all the numbers before 2024 (in recent history. up until the mid-2010's the women's tournament was essentially not available to watch for the general public).

2 things are true at the same time. Caitlin's popularity is unlike anything we've ever seen, but even outside of that, the trend is upwards pretty significantly.

If the W is going to hit mainstream, it can't be about one player. Women's basketball players have a much higher likelihood of severe injury. 2 ACL tears before age 22 is incredibly normal for women. Also, women have a habit of getting pregnant. Maya might be the GOAT, and she only played 8 years (and won 4 titles). Wasn't because of injury or pregnancy.

Anyway the careers are much shorter. If it's only ever about one player, chances are, it'll be short-lived anyway.

Losing Caitlin for a significant time would be a disaster, but I don't think anybody that's betting real money on the future success of the league is baking her gains in fully anyway.

Liberty just got some investor funds at a $450 million valuation. Not long ago that teams sold for $2-10 million.

It's growing. Nothing like Caitlin's popularity will ever touch the league again. Really, we've not seen much like this even in men's leagues. But it's on the uptrend.
 
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Anyway, that's a long way of saying I don't think the league will ever reach mainstream popularity. I say that as someone that thinks the W is the most fun league in the world.

But there are a lot of really fun leagues out there that most Americans don't really care about.

I'd say that applies to every league outside of the NFL and the NBA during the Playoffs. GB MLB, but if you want to talk Brewers' rotation to the average dude, you're coming up empty on that.
 
pollardsvision said:
Caitlin out at least 2 weeks with a quad injury.

They called it a quad in the 1st pre-season game, but at the time, I just assumed it was because it was pre-season and they were about to fly out to Iowa for the homecoming the next day.

Hope she can come back quickly. Obviously, basketball is more fun when Cailtin is playing.

Fever have a lot of talent and can probably hold their own against the middle of the pack teams without CC. But to compete against the elite teams, obviously they need her.
Click to expand...

Saw an article that said she hasn't missed a meaningful game in like 8 years ... back to her sophmore year in high school. wow.
 
Paige gets her first win and looks good doing it. Sure, it was the Sun, but they are friskier than people think.
I still worry about her with Arike. Arike is unstoppable when she's on, but I still can't fathom any inefficient volume shooter working out alongside Paige long-term.
If I'm Dallas, I'm shopping Arike for young assets.

Storm with what I'd call a good loss in Minnesota. Lynx are so good, and the Liberty are the only team that could win in Minny and it wouldn't surprise me.
Lynx are just so stinking good.
Seattle plays great D and made life hard on Phee. Not a lot of teams will hold Phee to 16. And BC had an off night. But then they still Kayla and Alanna making it rain, then Courtney going bonkers down the stretch. They move the ball so well and are so deep, it's playing whack-a-mole trying to stop them.

But Seattle showed everything you'd want to see, imo. Offense can be where they struggled, but they got it done enough to go blow for blow with Minny.

Gabby is taking the leap. Always one of the best defenders in the league when she's here, but she seems to be figuring it out offensively. Shooting well and you can't keep her out of the paint. Clear leader for Most Improved Player so far, I think.

It was great to see Quinn give Malonga meaningful minutes in a big game in the 4th. She made a great cut and finish in traffic. Surrounded by a pair of good 6'4" defenders but it didn't matter (when she's on the move with a good passer, it really is like watching Randy Moss). Then got torched by Phee on the other end (she's 19, to be expected). If they get Malonga the reps to develop a little faster than expected, that's the piece they need to compete with the really elite teams.

Only game tonight is Mystics-Fever. Would have been amazing if CC wasn't hurt. Still a solid game. Mystics kids are always fun to watch. Interesting to see how the Fever navigate a couple weeks without Caitlin. I think they run it through Boston. She keeps getting better and adding more to her game. Her surrounded by shooters and solid defenders can still be pretty good, even if not championship caliber like they are with Caitlin.
 
Fun game between the Fever and Mystics. Probably would be a blowout with CC, but the Mystics have a fun young squad.

The wild thing is that there was a Fuddruckers commercial on the Washington broadcast. Am I alone in thinking that franchise went out of business 20 years ago?

Is Fuddruckers still alive in the DMV?
 
Damn Kiki looks so good.

She's a legit ROY candidate, along with Paige and Sonia, but she was only supposed to be the 4th or 5th big on this team. Got minutes early because Shakira and Aaliyah were hurt. Shakira and Aaliyah are awesome, but Kiki has been too good to take off the floor.
 
Golden State won't be making the Playoffs this year, but they play hard and seem to have a plan with Nakase.
As good as they look, it's still highly unlikely they will pull this out as 15-point underdogs (even with NY missing Jonquel).

But the team is in good hands.

And Salaun might end up being a stud.
 
GB the Liberty broadcast.

Instead of bothering Brondello or a player for an interview coming into the 2nd half, they interview an assistant scouting coordinator. Much better interview because he can say whatever, and of course, he's not completely irritated to be doing the stupid interview.
 
What a game.
Not a Liberty or Valkyries fan, but would love to see the Valkyries get a big win in the house of the Champs.
And Janelle Salaun really could end up being a star.

And I'm seriously loving this NY broadcast. Makes my old southern redneck *** want to make a trip NYC.
 
Not gonna get the ratings, but this is probably the most fun night of the W so far.

Liberty-Mystics at 7:30. Probably going to be a blowout, as happens with most teams against the Liberty. But the Mystics kids are frisky and the Liberty on a back to back.

But the 10:00 slate is insane. Seattle-Atlanta, Mercury-Lynx, and the Sparks-Aces with Plum and Hamby coming back to Vegas.

Liberty and Lynx seem like a cut above the rest, along with the Fever when CC is healthy. It's absolutely wild after that. Seattle, Atlanta, and Phoenix all making a push to be right after that top tier. Sparks might be too, when they get healthy.

But of course, all these great games will be on at the same time. Not a good set up for fans that would like to watch them all.

Overloaded Friday night. And Saturday? Only one game. A rematch from 2 days ago of really bad teams at 8:00.

I love this league, but we gotta get this sort of stuff worked out.
 
Sucks that Seattle blew that lead, but so impressed with Atlanta and Smesko.

Smesko is known for tons of 3's at Florida Gulf Coast, so the Griner and Bri Jones signings seemed like an odd fit. Double traditional bigs in this day and age is odd for anybody.

He makes it work so well so far. Staggers the bigs a lot when both are healthy. They've always got a big on the court that can dominate the paint. They are getting a lot of points in the paint and rebounds.The rest of the team has more space to shoot because they've always got a big that demands a lot of attention. Naz Hillman has also been dominant. She's a great stretch 4 for this group that is also good inside.

Shots weren't falling last night and Seattle dominated for most of 3 quarters. So, they just started attacking the hell out of the rim. I don't agree with a lot of the calls, but I like the adjustment.

It helps that they have Allisha Gray. She has taken to Smesko's system like a glove. No chance she could win MVP, but she's had an MVP level start to the season.

Seattle looked great for 3 quarters, not bad in the 4th but ATL was a little better and got a lot of calls.

Seattle isn't much on shooting 3's, and most of the night, they were showcasing why they're successful anyway. Great defense, get stops, and dominate in transition. When ATL decided to put the game in the ref's hands, it messed up Seattle's ability to do that.

Malonga got some solid minutes again. Her minutes are always so much fun. She's not a female Wemby. IMO, she's a female, 19 YO basketball version of Randy Moss. Opened her minutes with a beautiful catch and finish over the shoulder of 6'9" Griner. Dom is 19, so Griner immediately went down and scored on Dom.

Later, a funny moment. Dom gets the ball at the top of the key. A solid driving lane and Griner by the basket. Dom says eff it, I'm taking it right at her. She drives to the rim like a gazelle. Griner blocks it, of course. I dig it. 19 years old. Sometimes you just gotta find out.
 
Aces-Storm Round 2 on the way. This one will be telling.

If the Storm do it again, it's time to panic in Vegas. If Vegas gets it done, they are 4-2 with the only losses being to the dynamo Liberty and a Storm loss that they would have just avenged.

It wouldn't put them out of the woods just yet, but it would be a step in the right direction.

Go Storm.

If they win this, it's officially an all out battle between 5 teams for the #3 seed.
 
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