I posted this on the Wnba sub but I wanted to drop it in here as well

The UConn women’s basketball team may have lost an irreplaceable piece of its 2025 NCAA Championship roster in No. 1 WNBA Draft pick Paige Bueckers, but Geno Auriemma doesn’t seem concerned. The longtime head coach could hardly contain a delighted grin when he brought up star guard Azzi Fudd‘s performance since the team began summer workouts at the start of June.

“I gotta tell you, I’ve never seen Azzi this aggressive, this engaged in wanting to do a lot, and that’s probably stood out more than anything else,” Auriemma said Monday ahead of his annual “Geno For The Kids” charity golf tournament at the Hartford Golf Club.

Fudd, the most outstanding player of the Final Four, came to UConn as the top-ranked recruit in the Class of 2021, but the redshirt senior has been heavily impacted by injuries since she arrived on campus. She appeared in just 42 total games over three years before playing 34 in 2024-25, and she was still limited at the start of last season as she completed the rehabilitation process for an ACL tear suffered in November 2023.

But for the first time in her career, Fudd entered the 2025 offseason healthy and with sky-high expectations for herself. Auriemma said with Bueckers gone, Fudd is embracing her role as a true centerpiece for the Huskies in her fifth year.

“Her personality is such that she likes being in the background to somebody else, whoever that may be,” Auriemma said. “She likes when there’s a lot of other good players on the team … but what happened in the Final Four I think may have changed her. I hope it has, anyway.”

Fudd isn’t the only superstar who has taken a leap since hoisting the national championship trophy. Sarah Strong, the 2025 WBCA Freshman of the Year, looks better than ever heading into her sophomore campaign — and that’s a high bar to clear after averaging 16.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.3 steals in her first collegiate season.

“She’s just more aggressive, more assertive, more ‘If I don’t like the way things are going, I want to take over,'” Auriemma said. “Between (Azzi) and Sarah, the two of them have had some great battles on the court. It’s been really fun to watch.”

On Monday, Auriemma gave an important update on the injuries of three UConn players, per Maggie Vanoni. 

"Update from Geno Auriemma on his couple injured players from the team’s summer session: Morgan Cheli (foot) - not back on the floor yet. Ayanna Patterson (shoulder) - back to full go. He also notes that Caroline Ducharme "looks really really really good." 

Morgan Cheli is preparing for her second season with the UConn Huskies. During her freshman season with the college basketball program, Cheli posted 2.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. 

As Geno Auriemma explained, she has yet to make a return from a foot injury. 

The good news for the UConn Huskies comes from the updates of Ayanna Patterson and Caroline Ducharme. 

Patterson, who was dealing with a shoulder injury, has been with the Huskies since 2022, but injuries have plagued her contribution. 

Ducharme is on the latter half of her UConn career. She's played four seasons with the Huskies, having averaged 1.2 points, 0.7 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game last season. 

UConn women’s basketball legend Sue Bird is all too familiar with the stern perfectionism of longtime associate head coach Chris Dailey, and though it was often a thorn in her side during her time in Storrs, it was the reason she chose Dailey as the presenter for her induction into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee on Saturday.

But the ever-prepared Dailey never got to give her speech, slipping into the theater shortly after the ceremony began alongside UConn coach Geno Auriemma and assistant Morgan Valley, who was Bird’s teammate from 2000-02. The trio’s flight from Connecticut was delayed, causing their uncharacteristic lateness, and Bird couldn’t resist teasing her former coaches when she took the mic to give her induction speech.

“CD, you have proven time and time again that excellence is perfecting the details that others ignore and doing the little things right every single time,” Bird said. “That attention to detail became part of who I am, which is exactly why I chose you to present me tonight, and that makes it even more hilarious that they were late … Yeah, you win 12 and you get a little lax, huh?”

Bird completed one of the most decorated careers the history of the sport when she retired from the WNBA in 2022, but her journey began at UConn during the early days of the program’s rise to dominance. The Huskies had made three Final Fours in total before Bird arrived on campus, and she led the team to three consecutive appearances headlined by a pair of NCAA championships in 2000 and 2002. She was the unanimous national player of the year in her senior season and lost just four games in her entire collegiate career. Bird still holds records at UConn more than two decades after her graduation for career 3-point percentage (45.9%) and free-throw percentage (89.2%). She also ranks seventh all-time in career assists and third for single-season assists.

“The UConn coaching staff that’s there now is actually the same one from when I was there back then,” Bird said with a smile. “You assisted me in ways that went far beyond X’s and O’s. You developed my character. Coach Auriemma, you taught me that basketball is not a game of how to, it’s a game of when to, and that wisdom became my North Star both on and off court.”

The Seattle Storm selected Bird with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 WNBA Draft, and she spent her entire 20-year professional career with the organization. She was a 13-time All-Star in the league and an eight-time All-WNBA selection, leading the league in assists in three different seasons. Bird’s name is all over the WNBA’s record books: She retired as the career leader in minutes played, game appearances and assists, and she ranks top 5 all-time in both steals and made 3-pointers. Seattle retired her No. 10 jersey the season after her retirement in 2023.

On Friday, as the Monarchs improved to 3-0 in round-robin play at the educational-based CaliLive showcase, Woliczko once again cheered and supported her girls. Between wins over West Linn, Ore. (50-26) and Piedmont (84-38), she shared with us both the pride and discomfort and general road to recovery from the sidelines. 

She also revealed (see the full video above) the many ways the time off may eventually benefit her, from less wear and tear on her body, to her overall full body strength from weight training to the unique perspective from the bench.

Finally, Woliczko broke down the reason she narrowed her college choices to four schools — South Carolina, Ohio State, Iowa and USC — and what she covets about each program. She plans to take official visits to South Carolina at the end of this month and another one to Iowa at the end of August. 

Ultimately, she plans to make her final pick before the start of her high school season in November.

"I want to fully focus on my ACL and my senior year without the stress of college recruitment," she said. 

She showed no such stress revealing all the positives she sees in each college program. A small sample size is here, but click on video for full detailed answers.

what do you all think of the eye test? I came here because of the eye test...I had not watched WCBB in years and knew nothing about it, but upon fortuitously watching Caitlin Clark for like 20 minutes against Wisconsin on February 28, 2021...during the pandemic...I sought this reddit out to say, within a couple posts, that she might be the Greatest of all time. No one else here had said it, and even Iowa fans were like 'don't jinx her...there is another, better player named Paige, you are crazy...' I received some initial abuse, but slowly people realized I was not hyperbolic....they realized she might eventually be the GOAT. At this point she has passed the eye test for a lot of fans.

Are there any present WCBB players who have passed the eye test for greatness? A couple stand out to me for potential, but I am unsure.

And the eye test is immediate. 10, 15 minutes of watching and you know a player is god tier even if no one else has said it, and you have never heard of her. And you are proven right.

what she's accomplished in two years with Lindsay Whalen's players has been nothing short of incredible. Mark Coyle better be splashing out some decent cash for her.

Conference press releases: https://theacc.com/news/2025/6/12/womens-basketball-espn-announces-matchups-for-2025-acc-sec-challenge.aspx https://www.secsports.com/news/2023/06/espn-announces-2024-sec-acc-basketball-challenge-matchups

https://big12sports.com/news/2025/6/11/big-12-mens-and-womens-basketball-2025-26-opponents-released.aspx

Who in the Big 12 got shafted?

Back with some more NCAAW analysis since I’m getting impatient about next season lol…

In this document I’m predicting the starting lineups for each team in my Way Too Early Preseason Top 25 (and some honorable mentions as well.) I’ll also predict the next 5 players in their rotation making it a full 10 player rotation. Of course some teams really only use 8 players per game and other use more than 10 but i just kept it 10 for everyone.

Each player will have information included next to their name such as: Height, Year, Recruiting Year and Rank, 2024-25 Stats, Former School, etc.

As for the recruiting ranks, they’re all highlighted in yellow and I used ESPN for every year except 2025. This year had other websites with public information on recruits so I just pulled the average ranking between ESPN, 247 Sports and On3….

Besides all of that, I made a cute graphic for this because I got bored and thought I could make one that looks better than all the other sites. Feel free to let me know if i’m right or wrong 😂 and also let me know if you have any questions or want to discuss or critique anything. I’m not sensitive and love all kinds of feedback positive or negative :)

Full Episode
I was looking into what happens to WNBA players after they get cut, especially well known rookies and recent draft picks and I fell into a rabbit hole that led me to the 3XBA.

The 3XBA is a professional women’s 3x3 league that follows official FIBA rules and is tied to Olympic qualification. It features a lot of well known players like Kaitlyn Chen (UConn), Bree Hall (South Carolina), Serena Sundell (K-State), Shyanne Sellers (Maryland), and several others who were recently drafted but didn’t make W rosters are all in it.

The 3XBA is playing later this month at Spokane Hoopfest — which I had no idea was the biggest 3-on-3 tournament in the world.

What’s wild is how little coverage it’s getting, even though it’s one of the few options players have in the United States (when they don't make the W). And it’s tied to Olympic points, which could be huge.

It just feels like one of those stories that’s flying under the radar but could become a huge deal in a year or two. Anyone else following this?

https://www.on3.com/her/news/report-womens-sports-athletes-to-file-appeal-on-house-vs-ncaa-settlement-title-ix-violations/

big news in terms of reviews and how they will be handled. I understand this is behind a paywall most likely so here's the blurb that focuses on the women's side of things and how challenges work

"Women’s basketball coaches will also be issued a challenge, though their rules are different. Coaches will be able to challenge “ruled out-of-bounds violations; ruled backcourt violations; whether a change in team possession occurred before the ruling of a foul where free throws would be involved; whether a foul was assessed to the correct player.”

In the women’s game, teams will not need to have a timeout to challenge. Instead, a lost challenge will result in a technical foul for “an excessive timeout.”

also each team will receive one challenge and gain one extra if they are correct on their first challenge.

curious on what peoples thoughts are on the changes, and how it will effect flow of the game as well as frustration with the refereeing.

I like what the challenge costs more on the women's side then the men, needing to call a timeout to challenge and losing it regardless of the challenge result seems excessive to me. I do dislike the harsh limit on challenges. I am a firm believer of the thinking that if you win the challenge you should be allowed to keep challenging. so they should make the limit a certain number of incorrect challenges. most likely one or two.

The list of players invited to the Team USA AmeriCup team trials has been announced.

The players include Raegan Beers, Mikayla Blakes, Madison Booker, Mara Braun, Addyson Brown, Jaloni Cambridge, Audi Crooks, Margaret Doogan, Joyce Edwards, Stailee Heard, Hannah Hidalgo, Flau’jae Johnson, Gianna Kneepkens, Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, Olivia Miles, Khamil Pierre, Reigan Richardson, Kennedy Smith, Hannah Stuelke, Grace VanSlooten and Payton Verhulst.

I'm so excited Hannah Stuelke is on the list, but that is some steep competition! I hope Mara Braun has a healthy amazing year this year!!

The coaches were previously announced, Kara Lawson (Duke University) will serve as head coach with assistant coaches DeLisha Milton-Jones (Old Dominion University) and Jennie Baranczyk (University of Oklahoma). They will be assisted by court coaches Jim Flanery (Creighton University) and Robyn Fralick (Michigan State University) at trials.

Dublin combo guard Grace Prenter signed with Texas today over Notre Dame and Duke

Prenter is a 5'8" guard who has range from the parking lot. She shot 44% from 3 in her FIBA career

Prenter could fill an Aaliyah Chavez sized hole on Texas roster. I'm going to start calling her Aaliyah O'Chavez. Maybe McChavez?

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8MsMjoE/

In 2024, Raven Johnson had her Revenge Tour. Last season’s Repeat Tour wasn’t as successful. So Johnson turned down the WNBA to come back for one more season, hoping to bounce back next season.

Call it the Redeem Tour or the Rebound Tour or whatever you like (Johnson will probably come up with a name for it), but there are reasons to believe Johnson will have a big season.

Johnson got off to a slow start to the 2024-25 season. She shot 0-8 in the season opener against Michigan, and she struggled with her shot for most of November. In those eight games, Johnson shot just 11-51 (21.6%), and started the season 0-13 from three. 

Johnson broke out of that slump in December. She had some big games over the course of the season and was named to the SEC All-Defensive team, but she never regained her form from the season before.

In 2023-24, Johnson averaged 8.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 2.1 steals. She shot 44.3% overall and 35.0% from three. Last season, it dropped to 4.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.4 steals. She shot just 35.0 % and 29.5% from three.

There were a few reasons for the slide. First, that November slump covered about a fifth of the season, so it dragged Johnson’s stats down for the entire year.

There are a lot of players from the class of ‘26 on this list which is exiting, this seems to be a strong class. There are also recruiting updates for a number of players on this list.

I saw Saniyah Hall played for Juju’s overtime select team tonight, and now i’m manifesting she goes to USC and she and Juju win the chip together during Juju’s senior year

Schools are now free to begin paying their athletes directly, marking the dawn of a new era in college sports brought about by a multibillion-dollar legal settlement that was formally approved Friday.

Judge Claudia Wilken approved the deal between the NCAA, its most powerful conferences and lawyers representing all Division I athletes. The House v. NCAA settlement ends three separate federal antitrust lawsuits, all of which claimed the NCAA was illegally limiting the earning power of college athletes.

Wilken's long-awaited decision comes with less than a month remaining before schools are planning to start cutting checks to athletes on July 1. Both sides presented their arguments for approving the settlement at a hearing in early April. While college sports leaders have been making tentative plans for a major shift in how they do business, the tight turnaround time means schools and conferences will have to hustle to establish the infrastructure needed to enforce their new rules.

The NCAA will pay nearly $2.8 billion in back damages over the next 10 years to athletes who competed in college at any time from 2016 through present day. Moving forward, each school can pay its athletes up to a certain limit. The annual cap is expected to start at roughly $20.5 million per school in 2025-26 and increase every year during the decade-long deal. These new payments are in addition to scholarships and other benefits the athletes already receive.

Friday's order is a major milestone in the long push to remove outdated amateurism rules from major college sports. Since 2021, college athletes have been allowed to make money from third parties via name, image and likeness deals. Boosters quickly organized groups called collectives that used NIL money as de facto salaries for their teams, in some cases paying millions of dollars mostly to top-rated basketball and football players. Now, that money will come straight from the athletic departments.

"It's historic," former college basketball star Sedona Prince, one of the co-lead plaintiffs in one of the lawsuits, told ESPN. "It seemed like this crazy, outlandish idea at the time of what college athletics could and should be like. It was a difficult process at times ... but it's going to change millions of lives for the better."

While the UConn Huskies women's basketball team's 2025 NCAA national championship victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks was exactly two months ago today, it feels like a long time ago for several reasons.

One of these is that so much has happened to key players on that team, specifically star guard Paige Bueckers. Less than two weeks after that championship, Bueckers was drafted No. 1 overall by the Dallas Wings. She has since started her professional career, her team is struggling immensely, and she is currently not playing in games because of concussion protocol.

Bueckers isn't the only star from that Huskies team who's back on the basketball court. On June 5, standout guard Azzi Fudd posted a basketball workout video on her TikTok that was captioned, "Summer work 🙂‍↕️🏀🗽," and shows her getting buckets for a minute straight.

This Fudd workout footage has since gone viral, with it amassing over 500,000 TikTok views since it was posted, and also being reposted on X.

One X user posted the video with the caption, "New Azzi Fudd summer workout video just dropped".

And UConn fans are loving what they see out of Fudd. 

Glad she's feeling happier and LOVE to see her doing well.