The Guru’s WNBA Draft Night Report: UConn’s Fudd Goes No. 1 Overall to Dallas Reuniting with Bueckers; NCAA Champion UCLA Sets Records With Five First-Rounders, Six Overall; Foreigners Flood the Picks

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

NEW YORK – In journalistic parlance, 30 used to appear at the end of copy to tell editors after reports had been handed over to be read that no more existed.

But here in a second annual return to The Shed opposite The Vessel in Hudson Yards Monday night, the site of the WNBA draft, 30 stood for a new beginning, the start of a special anniversary season for the women’s pro league.

Following the settling last month of the CBA bringing millions of dollars into players salaries, a busy catch-up offseason of free agency kicked in, an expansion draft was held for the two newest teams in Toronto and Portland following last season’s successful launch of Golden State in San Francisco featuring sellouts for every home game.

And finally, the time arrived to welcome a rookie class unlike any before in terms of initial contracts.

To sum it up before diving in, UConn racked up another star player becoming the overall No. 1 pick, with Azzi Fudd taken by the Dallas Wings in a back-to-back move that has her reunited with Paige Bueckers, last season’s rookie of the year.

The Big East presence is also marked on the roster by Villanova grad Maddy Siegrist, the third overall pick of the 2003 draft and the Wings new coach is Jose Fernandez, who was hired at the start of the recently concluded NCAA season out of South Florida, which was in the Big East with UConn and for a time the American before the Huskies returned to their former longtime home.

“Excited,” Siegrist texted back when asked for a reaction to the new Dallas news that in the past week included the re-signing of former Notre Dame star Arike Ogunbowale.

Former Penn star Jordan Obi, who played her graduate year at Kentucky, went to the WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces, one of four Wildcats taken.

“Jordan is a versatile guard/forward whose skillset can translate into the WNBA,” said Las Vegas president and general manager Nikki Fargas. “She is a high motor player who gives maximum effort every night and sets the tone with her energy and hustle.”

The Aces also picked Tennessee’s Janiah Barker at 47th overall while Lady Vol Zoe Spearman went to Dallas at the top of the first, the two being the first picks out of the Kim Caldwell coaching era.

The SEC had 15 players picked, the most in any year from a conference breaking the previous mark of 14 set in 1999.

 Just over a week after UCLA won its first NCAA national title in dominating style over South Carolina to add to the one in 1978 under the AIAW, the Bruins monopolized the night setting records with five first-round picks and six overall.

On two points, foreign affairs were among the order of the night with 11 international players taken who were not sent forth from American colleges while commissioner Cathy Engelbert in her pre-draft press session stated that next year the league plans to play either an exhibition or regular-season game overseas and grow from there.

Three foreigners went in the first round: Fam Thiam went to Seattle as No. 3 overall, the highest pick ever going to a Spaniard, Portland’s first-ever pick made Iyana Martin Carrion out of Spain the second from her country, and Connecticut’s 12th overall pick was the selection of French player Nell Agloma.

TCU’s Marta Suarez, orginally with Cal, went to Seattle in the second round and was then dealt to Golden State.

The rookies wore a variety of styles for their big night, Suarez the first player since former Australian star Liz Cambage, the second overall pick in 2011 by the Tulsa Shock, to wear a feathered boa.

Suarez, a Spaniard, spoke with pride of the number of ethnic peers taken, saying, “Incredibly excited for our country and the global game. The WNBA is growing, attracting talent from all over the world.”

Engelbert somewhat dodged a question about her own future, a query stemming from the contentious early phase of the bargaining until a marathon eight-day string of negotiations finally came to a successful conclusion bringing the league into a whole new stratosphere.

Engelbert said it would be nice to not undergo the same kind of stress when the time comes for the next CBA to be determined.

It was reported during the stretch drive of the CBA negotiations the players reclaimed their warmth for their commissioner.

At some point the seasonal structure will have to be tweaked off with the new deal allowing for as many as 50 games plus with the board of governors recently signing off on the return of Cleveland (2028), and Detroit (2029) under NBA owners, and the addition of Philadelphia in 2030 under the 76ers, something will have to be done with the growth along the way to 18 teams in terms of playoff format.

Additionally, next season, the Connecticut Sun will be moving to new ownership in Houston, which won the first four WNBA titles after the league launched in the summer of 1997.

Unlike Bueckers, whose rookie salary was much smaller coming into the league, Fudd is walking into a $500,000 windfall.

She is also walking into a notable achievement paired with her mom, Katie Smrcka-Duffy Fudd, becoming the second mother-daughter draftee combo, the mom taken in the fourth round of the 2001 draft by the Sacramento Monarchs, though she never played in a formal game.

Pam McGee, part of the twin sister combo with Paula who were part of two Southern Cal NCAA champions featuring the legendary Cheryl Miller, went second overall in the first draft by Sacramento in 1997, though that was conducted differently, and her daughter Imani McGee-Stafford went 10th in 2016 to the Chicago Sky.

Fudd was somewhat at a loss for words over the excitement of being picked first. “I’m not really sure I have words to describe that feeling, what that meant,” she said. “I don’t think it’s fully sunk in. It’s nothing I could have imagined. The feeling of sitting with my family, with (UConn assistant coach) Morgan (Valley), hearing your name called, go up there. Such a surreal feeling.”

Bueckers and several Huskies were here to support Fudd, who is now a record seventh UConn player going No. 1 overall.

“Paige is an incredible player, everyone knows that,” Fudd said. “She’s someone that makes playing basketball with easy.”

TCU’s Oliva Miles, a native of Phillipsburg, New Jersey, went to Notre Dame originally, and then last season as a senior, chose to avoid the draft and transferred as a graduate to the Horned Frogs, leading them to a second straight Elite Eight appearance, and now set to earn $466,913 as the second overall pick, going to Minnesota, while Spain’s Thiam will make $436,016.

“I’m just a Jersey girl,” Miles gushed in opening remarks before taking questions. “Deep breath that’s why I got emotional. It’s finally here finally heard my name. This is what this was for.”

The Associated Press noted players in the second and third rounds will earn $270,000 – more than the max in the previous CBA.

Until Monday night, UConn in 2002 set a record with four first-round picks.

But that was shattered by UCLA, which had three in a row go next, Lauren Betts, who some mock drafts had going No. 1, went to the Washington Mystics, Gabriela Jaquez, a Mexican, went to the Chicago Sky, while Kiki Rice as sixth overall became Toronto’s first-ever pick.

Betts will be going to Washington with teammate Angela Dugalic, who was picked by ninth by the Mystics while Gianna Kneepkens, originally with Utah, went to Connecticut as the last pick of the opening round.

New Zealander Charlisse Leger-Walker, originally with Washington State, became the sixth UCLA player in the draft when Connecticut selected her the third pick of the second round.

Betts said the haul shouldn’t be a surprise.

“These are like my sisters and getting to watch your family do something like that is amazing. But I mean, this team is just so special. We knew the type of players we had on the team, and to really just have this night really showcase all of the things that we’ve worked on all season is just amazing.”

UCLA coach Cori Close was with the Bruins delegation.

The seniors scored all the points in UCLA’s rout of the Gamecocks as the Bruins finished 37-1, the loss in early November to Texas, which they avenged in the semifinals on April 3 at the Mortgage Matchup Center.

“Yeah, these girls mean the most to me,” Kneepkens said. “And good thing we live in this day and age and we have phones. So hopefully we’ll keep in touch, and obviously we’ll see each other around.”

Tennessee in 1997 and 2008, Notre Dame in 2019, and South Carolina in 2023 all had five players picked in the draft, but not all in the first round, while the 39-0 UConn team saw four taken among the first six – Sue Bird first, Swin Cash second, Asjha Jones fourth, and and Tamika Williams sixth.

“It’s really hard to sum up because there’s so much,” Jaquez said of the whirlwind experience since claiming the NCAA crown in Phoenix. “I think that we’re just on a high right now. We just won the national championship. A lot of us have also graduated college, which is a huge step and something to be super proud of, especially at UCLA.

“And then we got to go to Jimmy Kimmel, a Laker game, Clipper game, dance, have the celebration at Pauley Pavilion.

“We went on ‘Good Morning America’ this morning. Obviously, a lot of us are here at the draft tonight being drafted. It’s just been a special moment.”

Rice noted, “We knew we all wanted to go to the WNBA. We all wanted to be pros, but that wasn’t the only focus during the season.

“It was winning, it was giving to each other, it was how can we be the best team possible. In the process of doing that, we still got the results that we wanted to at the end of the day, and that’s something that is really special.”

LSU’s Flau,jae Johnson, picked by Golden State eighth and then dealt to Seattle, said of arriving as the league becomes its wealthiest in terms of TV deals, viewership and attendance, “I’m just blessed and grateful to come at this time. The 30th season. My goal is to leave it better than I found it. It’s a gratitude thing, but also a responsibility thing. I’m taking that with full of force.”

South Carolina’s Raven Johnson went 10th to Indiana, re-uniting her with center Aliyah Boston, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 draft.

Indiana will play a preseason game against New York in Brooklyn on April 25th, one of several WNBA games that day, but this one marking the return of Caitlin Clark, who missed most of her second season with injuries.

Washington took Ole Miss’ Cotie McMahon, originally with Ohio State, 11th, South Carolina’s Madina Okot went 13th to Atlanta and Duke’s Taina Mair went 14th to Seattle.

A subtle warning in all this euphoria, however, emerged when it became apparent only one player, Davidson’s Charlisse Dunn, was taken from a mid-major school and she previously was at Power 4 Virginia Tech of the Atlantic Coast Conference and is a foreigner.

Baring changes in all the NIL/portal regulations, one can envision agents getting in the ears of talented mid-major players urging them to transfer to have a better shot at getting drafted.

Players who can blank out the noise might stay but it will be more of the exception.

If former Saint Joseph’s star Laura Ziegler, who transferred to Louisville, saw the move as a better chance to make the league, she was not taken, though if other things bearing fruit was motivating then she succeeded.

Richmond’s Maggie Doogan, the Atlantic 10 player of the year who spent her whole career with the Spiders, also was not taken.

But mid-major collegiate coaches with ties or friendships with those at WNBA team level might enable their top talent to sign training camp contracts to open a door.

Hall of Famer Becky Hammon, now coach of the three-time champion Las Vegas, made it as an undrafted signee with the New York Liberty.

The large influx of foreigners brings a pro experience already in place and the next closest are the Power 4 squads, though there are exceptions.

Perhaps the total backgrounds of this group was an aberration.

Time will tell, likely sooner than later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

Nashville Becomes UPSHOT League 6th City

 

Guru note - Passing this announcement

NASHVILLE, TN — On April 9, 2026, Nashville marked a defining moment in its evolution as a national sports city Thursday. 

From the stage of the historic Ryman Auditorium, the UPSHOT League officially announced their sixth team, introducing a new wave of energy coming to Nashville and bringing the future of women’s basketball with it.

The UPSHOT League, a groundbreaking professional women’s developmental basketball league, with notable leadership from legends in the game, Cheryl Miller, Ann Meyers Drysdale and Tamika Catchings, has officially selected Nashville as its sixth team and the second expansion city, positioning the city at the center of a movement redefining opportunity, access, and visibility for athletes across the country.

Renowned sports executive Donna Orender, a past WNBA President who starred at Queens College in New York and succeeded inaugural WNBA president Val Ackerman, delivered the official league announcement, cementing the historic moment that positions Nashville on a broader stage in women’s athletics.

“Today is a celebration of Nashville as an already thriving world-known sports city. It is about more than women’s professional basketball arriving in a new market, it’s about women’s professional basketball being woven into the fabric of this city. The UPSHOT League and this great ownership are not simply launching a team here, together we are creating opportunity, and building a new home, as grateful and contributing members of this community.” - Donna Orender, Founder & Commissioner of The UPSHOT League.

UPSHOT Nashville will reveal the name of the team in July 2026 and take over the court at Vanderbilt’s Memorial Auditorium in May 2027, providing 11 players a chance to play professional, competitive traditional 5 on 5 basketball. 

Candice Storey Lee of Vanderbilt University underscored the significance of this milestone:

“Initiatives like the UPSHOT League represent an important step toward building a broader sports ecosystem. Which brings us to Nashville, this city has become one of the most dynamic sports cities in the country. In just the last decade, we've seen tremendous growth in professional sports, incredible fan engagement, and a community that consistently shows up. And when a city shows up the way this one does, it becomes the kind of place where bold ideas can take root and thrive. Bringing a new professional women's basketball venture into this environment is not just exciting, it feels like the natural next step.”

Founded by Andy Kaufmann, Donna Orender and Mark Walsh,The UPSHOT League is a new professional developmental women’s basketball league, launching in May 2026, designed to offer paid opportunities for players. 

Led by former WNBA president Donna Orender, and Taj McWilliams-Franklin, who played for the Philadelphia Rage in the ABL,  as head of Basketball Operations, the league features four inaugural teams—Jacksonville Waves, Savannah Steel, Greensboro Groove, and Charlotte Crown—serving as a domestic alternative to overseas play. 

The fifth team will be Baltimore, MD and more franchises are anticipated.

Nashville now joins the lineup solidifying its place as a rising hub for women’s sports and cultural momentum.

The Nashville launch will ignite a summer of impact for women’s basketball, powered by a strategic “Dribble Campaign” designed to both partner with and impact communities across the city. This campaign will activate local organizations, youth programs, cultural institutions, and fans, ensuring the league shows up not just on the court, but in the fabric of Nashville itself.

“This is bigger than basketball,” said Mark Walsh, co-founder of the league and Managing Partner of the Nashville franchise. “This is about building a system where talent meets opportunity, and where cities like Nashville become part of a national movement to invest in women’s sports in a meaningful way.”

58% of the investors in this franchise are women including 21 of the 38 Nashvillians who have stepped up to be part of this historic moment.

“It’s great to welcome a women’s professional basketball team to Nashville as an exciting addition to our sports scene and another way to bring people together,” said Deana Ivey, president and CEO, Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. “This new league will offer fun, affordable and family-friendly experiences for both residents and visitors and continues to build on Nashville’s momentum as a sports destination.”

“The growth of women’s sports is a critical part of Nashville’s next chapter. This announcement reflects the kind of intentional, inclusive growth we are advancing through Partnership 2030, our regional economic development strategy—expanding opportunity, investing in talent, and continuing to build a community where everyone has the chance to succeed.” - Stephanie Coleman, President and CEO of Nashville Chamber of Commerce

This invite only announcement is more than a franchise debut. It is a signal of where the future of sports is headed in Nashville, where women’s athletics, its cultural energy, and community investment align to create a new model of growth.

Nancy VanReece, former councilmember and part of the Metro Sports Authority’s committee to bring professional women’s sports to Nashville, has been named as President/CEO. VanReece is a respected Nashville leader whose career has been rooted in advocacy, civic leadership, and advancing equity across industries. Her appointment reflects a deliberate commitment to building a league grounded not only in competition, but in community.

Over the past decade, Nashville has emerged as one of the most dynamic sports markets in the country, driven by rapid expansion, passionate fan engagement, and bold civic investment. The arrival of Nashville’s New Home Team represents the next phase of that growth, one that fully embraces women’s professional sports as a central part of the city’s identity and economic future.

“This is not an add on to Nashville’s sports story, it is a continuation of its momentum,” said VanReece. “We are building something that reflects the energy of this city while creating new pathways for athletes, fans, and future generations. In Nashville, we don’t just sit on the sidelines and cheer, we don’t wait for things to happen, we make things happen.

Leadership Voices Take the Stage

Thursday’s announcement featured  remarks from Mayor Freddie O'Connell, reinforcing the city’s commitment to forward thinking sports development and inclusive economic growth.

Additional leadership, including Mark Walsh, joined  in outlining the league’s long term vision and impact.

More Than a League, A Movement in Motion

Announced in January 2025, the UPSHOT League is a new professional women’s developmental basketball league, created to expand opportunities for players across the United States. This new league will feature a 34 game regular season, with 17 home and 17 away matchups.

At its core, the UPSHOT League is designed to serve as a professional development league, creating 11 new roster positions with each team,and expanding the pipeline for women athletes to compete, grow, and remain in the game at the highest levels.

ABOUT THE UPSHOT LEAGUE

The UPSHOT League is a professional women’s basketball league built to expand opportunity, elevate talent, and redefine how communities connect with the game. With Nashville as its sixth and most anticipated market, the league is committed to creating a model where sport, culture, and impact move together.

ABOUT UPSHOT NASHVILLE

UPSHOT Nashville is the sixth team in the UPSHOT League. It will take office on Music Row in Nashville April of 2026 and will be led by team President/CEO Nancy VanReece.

Staffing will be added throughout the year. Playmakers Nashville has been selected as the non profit partner. The team name will be announced in July 2026 and a team coach and assistant coach will be selected by January 2027. Seasonal staffing will work April - September during the season, which will run concurrently with the WNBA.

The Guru’s March Madness Daily Report: UCLA Hits South Carolina With a Dominate Rout To Win First NCAA D-1 Crown

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Back in 1978 when the AIAW, then the governing body of women’s sports, went to a Final Four format from a 16-team site, UCLA, led by Ann Meyers Drysdale, claimed the national title and showing the effect of Title IX investment became the first of the big name football and men’s basketball schools to claim a women’s championship.

Five years later the NCAA came along but while the Bruins at times over the years were Top 10 and Top 5 programs, Sunday afternoon here before a sellout crowd of 15,856 in the Mortgage Matchup Center, UCLA ended a long drought between titles at  the expense of Dawn Staley’s South Carolina squad in dealing the third-ever worst defeat in the championship 79-51.

The record differential is 33 in 2013 issued by UConn over Louisville, which would have been topped had not coach Cori Close, now in her 15th season after being an assistant at Florida State, began clearing the bench leading by 35 with 4 minutes, 35 seconds in regulation.

The Gamecocks also avoided the record title game low of 44 points, defensed by Louisiana Tech against Tennessee in 1987, the Techsters that weekend coming off an upset of then No. 1 Texas played in the Longhorns’ town of Austin in the Lonestar State.

Meyers Drysdale was introduced during the game with members of the 1976 USA Olympic squad, the first when the sport became part of the games, and several times lifted her USA attire to flash a blue UCLA top worn underneath while the Bruin faithful roared.

“Cori Close and her staff have done such a terrific job,” Meyers Drysdale told the Associated Press. “You love the joy that they play with, and they sacrifice for each other. They don’t care who scores. They don’t care who gets what recognition. They’re just all about winning.”

Senior center Lauren Betts, a native of Centennial, Colo., whose freshman year was at Stanford and is likely to go high next Monday in the WNBA draft in New York City, was a force in a balanced attack with 14 points and 11 boards to earn Most Outstanding Player accolades.

The high Bruins scorer, though, was Gabriela Jaquez, in an experienced lineup of seniors and graduates, scoring 21 points with 10 rebounds and five assists, while Utah transfer Gianna Kneepkens scored 15, and Kiki Rice and Washington State transfer Charlisse Leger-Walker each scored 10 points.

“I knew we were going to do it,” Jaquez said. “Coming to UCLA we all set out for a goal and I imagined this moment, I imagined it so many times, and I am just so proud … I am so happy.”

The win also ended a drought dating to 1999 from Purdue for a member of the Big Ten, which already has claimed the football crown and has the Michigan men playing UConn Monday night.

Current member Maryland won a women’s title in 2006, but the Terrapins were still a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

UCLA reached the NCAA  Final Four last year for the first time after coming into the Big Ten off the breakup of the Pac-12, which next season will return with a collection primarily of West Coast mid-major schools from the West Coast and Mountain West conferences and Washington State and Oregon State, which were not taken by the Big Ten, Big 12 or Atlantic Coast during the breakup.

But the Bruins were routed by UConn in the semifinals as the Huskies broke their own title drought to pick up No. 12 two days later with what is now two back-to-back wide losses in the championship by Staley’s Gamecocks (36-4).

South Carolina, in the championship for the third straight year and four of the last five, was seeking its fourth title after ending UConn’s unbeaten season Friday night at 38-1.

The Bruins were a defensive force, winning the rebound battle 49-37, and 21-17 on the offensive glass to dominate second chance points 19-10 while holding South Carolina to 29% from the field.

UCLA also won in transition, 19-10, mining those points off 14 turnovers.

“I think it starts with perimeter pressure,” Betts said. “Our guards did a really good job of just making it difficult for them. I think once we get stops, they’re just not able to do what they want to do.”

Tessa Johnson scored 14 for South Carolina, which will be a strong favorite to return to the Final Four next year, while freshman Agot Makeer scored 11, but Ta’Niya Latson was held to four points, and Joyce Edwards scored eight.

Staley was magnanimous in defeat, saying, “UCLA is a quality team with very experienced players who got a taste of being in the Final Four last year, and you make adjustments.

“From last year to this year — they played determined last year, but they played more determined this year because they were so close.

“Obviously, we got smacked today,” she continued. “We got to figure out how we can smack back and put ourselves in the position where we’re hoisting the trophy at the end of the day.

“Shots were short. I thought we didn’t really do a good job at making extra passes, like the things we were doing probably worked for other teams, but other teams didn’t have a Betts. You have to navigate differently,” Staley said.

“To get here is hard. To win here is harder, right? We just have to keep getting here and make adjustments when we don’t win.”

UCLA’s only loss was to Texas in early November and were right behind UConn most of the year, many believing the Bruins deserved the overall No. 1 seed off a stronger schedule.

They finish the season with a 31-game winning streak.

“It’s immeasurably more than I could ask or imagine,” Close said. “It’s beyond my wildest dreams.”

Losing the key part of the experienced lineup to expired eligibility, Close quipped, “the (transfer) portal just got easier.”

Jaquez’ brother Jaime, a former Bruin, is a member of the NBA Miami Heat and flew to watch the game.

Former President Obama, who picked UConn over UCLA in his pre-tournament bracket and California governor Gavin Newsom sent the team congratulations, The Hill reported.

Close had confidence before the game of winning and related in the pre-game speech in the locker room saying, “…all year we’ve been saying the talent is our floor, but our character is our ceiling.”

UCLA got revenge Friday night on Texas, winning 51-44, in an ugly defensive performance by both teams of which Close apologized for the performance style.

The Bruins Sunday led every quarter except in a one-point deficit in the fourth, blowing the game open 25-9 in the third after leading 36-23 at the half.

“We just didn’t have it today,” Staley said. “We tried but we just didn’t have it today. They were the better team.”

Asked to provide any further update off the dustup with UConn coach Geno Auriemma Friday night, he sent an apology Saturday but did not name her specifically, Staley said she would address it later.

“This is UCLA’s weekend.”

Last season the Bruins reached No. 1 for the first time in the Associated Press women’s poll, celebrating its 50th anniversary season this time around, and with a post NCAA vote taken for the third time from the national media panel, UCLA will likely be No. 1 in the final vote for a first time.

Betts was joined on the all-tournament team by Jaquez, Rice, Johnson, and Latson.

 

 

 

 

The Guru’s Daily March Madness Report: South Carolina and UCLA Meet for NCAA Glory

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHOENIX, Ariz. — Late Sunday afternoon, in what has become the latter-day replacement in the former UConn-Tennessee rivalry by the rise of Hall of Fame Dawn Staley’s South Carolina squad, the Gamecocks will come back one year later to take back the NCAA women’s championship — their fourth — from the one the Huskies claimed last April in Tampa, Fla., in a lopsided victory, their 12th in the title game — or UCLA will ascend to the top of the mountain in women’s collegiate basketball for the first time since becoming AIAW winners in 1978 before the 1982 arrival of the current national governing body of women’s sports.

The title game tips off at 3:30 p.m. in the East on ABC.

South Carolina got its direct revenge Friday night here in the Mortgage Matchup Center with a suffocating defense to win 62-48 with a controversial ending by Hall of Fame UConn coach Geno Auriemma going off in a tirade during the postgame handshakes and later in his postgame press conference.

Saturday, Auriemma issued an apology in a statement over his behavior.

UCLA, which behind UConn’s unbeaten run that lasted until Friday had been No. 2 late in the season with just one loss, avenging the early season setback to Texas in a defensive battle resulting in a 51-44 win over Texas, which otherwise would have been an all-SEC final.

A Bruins win could set a path with their first NCAA title, last year was their first Final Four since following up in 1979 with a second AIAW national semifinals, that was similar when the Gamecocks reached the promised land in 2017 and have since been the equivalent of the Huskies in the last decade.

A year ago, UCLA was routed by UConn in the semifinals and have been on a mission ever since under Cori Close to finish the job this season.

Staley is focused on making sure that doesn’t happen on the Gamecocks’ expense, while a UCLA victory would also give the Big Ten their first women’s champion since Purdue won over Duke in 1999.

“It’s special, I mean, it’s special,”  Staley said of winning the first title. “You’re  playing on the last day of college women’s basketball. It’s a great honor and a great feat whether  you won or lose.

“You also are measuring where your program can continue to go. For us, 2017, we won it. I’m hoping that’s not the same for UCLA on Sunday.”

Current member Maryland was still in the ACC when the Terrapins beat Duke in overtime in Boston in 2006 to claim their only title.

Close, a former Florida State assistant, tipped her hat to the North Philadelphia-born Staley at Saturday’s preview pressers, saying, “Dawn does such a great job and is a standard-bearer in our sport.

“Thankful for what they’ve done, not just for South Carolina, but for the game,” she added.

“We also are an incredibly competitive, confident group. I’m sure they are as well. All you can ask for is to play your best basketball for a national championship.”

On Friday, two newcomers to the Gamecocks were keys to their triumph, freshman Agot Makeer, who has reached  double digits in all five games on the way to the championship, and Florida State transfer Ta’Niya Latson, the nation’s leading scorer in 2025 and the national freshman of the year previously, winning the Tamika Catchings Award from the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) in 2023.

“This is why I came to South Carolina,” Latson said, knowing her scoring might be reduced for the team good this season. “It was a personal sacrifice I had to make. A lot of people don’t understand my why. This is my why. This is why I came to South Carolina.”

Joyce Edwards has been another force for Staley’s group, which suffered a narrow loss in non-conference play to Texas early in the season, and a wider loss to the Longhorns in the SEC championship, and also a loss at Oklahoma on the regular season SEC slate.

UCLA, whose starting lineup is all seniors or graduates, is led by center Lauren Betts, likely to go high in the WNBA collegiate draft next Monday in New York.

That experience drop off next season has caused people to speculate whether Close might take what became the vacant Virginia job Saturday when the university announced the firing of Agugua-Hamilton after the Cavaliers had made the Sweet 16 starting from a narrow First Four win over Arizona State.

The school is Staley’s alma mater, and she said Saturday she had talked to the athletic director but did not learn of a cause.

Later in the day, however, reports surfaced of an internal investigation causing a toxic environment. It is not known if Virginia would pursue Aaron Roussell at nearby Richmond, who built the Spiders into a mid-major force, winning one title three years ago in the Atlantic 10.

Close was a candidate two turns ago when Hall of Famer and WNBA great Tina Thompson took the job in Charlottesville.

Georgia, by mutual agreement, also became open with the departure of Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, while UCF announced the hire of former Tennessee assistant Gabe Lazo for the past two seasons under Kim Caldwell when she succeeded Kellie Harper, being hired from Marshall, which Saturday defeated Illinois State to win the WNIT.

His hire, however, came from LSU, where five days ago he signed on to Kim Mulkey’s staff at LSU.

After a run to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA her first season, Caldwell headed a Tennessee group that had its worst season in decades, finishing with an eight-game losing streak and first round exit from the national tournament, where the legendary Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt won eight titles.

Staley’s name has now been propelled as a coach on a par with Summitt and Auriemma but she blew away being part of any comparisons.

“I don’t really compare myself to anybody when it comes to it,” she said Saturday. “I mean, I do what I do for the coaches that I work with every single day. Those are the people that are in the trenches. Other people outside of us, I’ve never really compared myself to.”

In many ways as a minority Staley has become the new C. Vivian Stringer following the retirement several years ago of the Hall of Fame Rutgers coach.