HILLBILLY HONOR CULTURE?

Basketball pundit Hallie Grossman profiles Sophie Cunningham.  "Love her or hate her, Sophie Cunningham won't be ignored."  Ms Cunningham professes not to be interested in the culture wars, although the culture wars have caught up with her.

These late-game theatrics -- the pro-wrestling bluster disguised as flagrant foul, her ejection, the scrum that breaks out after the takedown -- are not, it turns out, the end of anything. They're the beginning of everything.

In the year to come, Cunningham will have a billboard outside Madison Square Garden, star in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, moonlight as a ring girl at UFC 329, receive her own colorway on an Adidas shoe, be floated as a future vice presidential candidate and, of course, unleash the finger point that launches a thousand memes. You've seen it. The White House has seen it. We've all seen it.

Cunningham, like the WNBA, has become a cultural flashpoint. The league's footprint has never been bigger and the chorus of voices around it has never been louder. All-Star voting and sponsorship opportunities, whistles and non-whistles, who and who does not get to capture this attention economy -- all have become proxies for debates about race and gender, identity and politics. Squarely in this morass sits Cunningham, a white, conventionally attractive, attention-grabbing reserve player who is not one of the league's All-Stars but is one of its most magnetic stars.

We'll deal with the gender studies throat clearing that concludes that quote in due time.

LET THE KIDS PLAY.

Self-described women's basketball reporter Cassandra Negley asks, "Caitlin Clark has become a pawn in everyone's game, but what about her own?"

Sitting around a real-life bonfire in my backyard, a safe distance from the online firestorm still raging around Caitlin Clark, Alyssa Thomas and the WNBA, a friend waded into the conversation everyone wanted to have this past July 4th weekend.

"Ya know," he said, "it seems to me like Caitlin Clark just wants to hoop."

Talk about some cold water splashed onto a red-hot saga that won't end.

It became clear many controversies ago that Clark just wants to play basketball, talk basketball and live basketball. It's true she is quick to jump into (or jump-start) the fray on the court. Yet, off the court, she steps away from making anything messier than it already is simply because her name is attached.

She is as aware as most of us that the nonsense erupting around her is not about her. But, damn, it must be exhausting. Which is largely what Clark said, with much more eloquence, late last week in one of the more raw and vulnerable moments we've seen from her of late.

"It can be really frustrating to me at times," the 24-year-old said. "I think it's difficult. I think a lot of people sometimes think I'm a robot. I'm not a robot. I have emotions, I have feelings, and it can be really difficult to go through a lot of that."

In the three-time All-Star's first appearance back at team practices on Friday, she opened her media availability with nearly five minutes of unscripted remarks on the flagrant 2 foul called on Alyssa Thomas (of which she agreed without question), officiating (including specific ways the league can improve), the discourse around the incident ("none of that is OK"), how it took all the oxygen ("that's just a real disservice to our league") and the difficulties navigating all of that as Caitlin Clark.

Perhaps it is as simple as the league getting the quality of officiating it's paying for, which isn't very good, which players can approach only gingerly in peril of sanction from the main office.

NOBODY WANTED THIS.

According to Reason's Jason Russell, the collegiate sports cartel made an unpopular decision at the wrong time.

March Madness is growing from 68 teams to 76 teams for both men and women, even though no one asked for this—not fans, anyway. The vast majority of public sentiment has been against expansion, while conference leaders and coaches have pushed for expansion (it's a lot harder to get fired if your mediocre team somehow slides into the tournament).

It's not as if the cartel managers are doing everything they can to keep the four or five power conferences from bolting, which comes as no surprise.  "How long have I been carrying on about College Sports, Inc. realigning until there are four major conferences of sixteen teams each and the National Collegiate Athletic Association becomes irrelevant?"

ANTIPODEAN HUSKIE HEROICS.

In Australia, the women's professional basketball season is during their summer, with their professional league championship being awarded at the end of February.  "Courtney Woods has spearheaded the Townsville Fire to the WNBL championship, defeating the Perth Lynx 108-105 after overtime to confirm redemption for last year's heartbreaking grand final loss."  That's a familiar name.  Courtney Woods was recruited to Northern Illinois for one coach's system and made quite a splash in another's.

Sarah Reed photograph for Getty Images retrieved from ESPN.

It's a rough game, whether in the Mid-American or Down Under.

Townsville weathered the storm with captain Woods dazzling, despite having to undergo glue surgery during the third period after copping a Han Xu elbow to the head.

Her career-high 28 points, along with eight rebounds and seven assists, steered them to their second championship in four years and a fifth all-time for Queensland's sole club.

41 lead changes occurred, but when the Fire were down by three in the final quarter, sharp shooter Miela Sowah (18 points) scored an emphatic triple to tie the scores with 3.7 seconds left.

With a plethora of stars off the court after getting into foul trouble, it was Sowah who rose to the occasion again, sinking a crucial basket with 7.4 seconds remaining in overtime to secure the win.

"Glue surgery" is an improvisation military field medics came up with, using superglues to close up cuts.  No two minutes for elbowing in basketball.

I stumbled across Townsville on Chicago's Marquee sports channel a couple of Christmas Eves ago, simply channel surfing to find either a movie or a concert and what to my wondering eyes did appear.  Good on ya.

GOOD BYE, ROCKY TOP.

At the beginning of the week, a championship team built on free agency.  At the end, a perennial championship contender gutted by free agency.  "Tennessee's women's basketball team no longer has a single returning player on its roster after Jaida Civil enters the transfer portal."

Seriously?

After a tumultuous season, Tennessee is now heading into next year without a single returner. In a statement on Instagram, freshman guard Jaida Civil — who was the only returning player left on the Lady Vols’ roster — announced that she will enter the transfer portal, joining the rest of her Tennessee teammates.

“This has been the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. After deep thought and prayer, I have decided to enter the transfer portal,” Civil said. “This isn’t goodbye — it’s gratitude. Tennessee will always be a part of me.”

In the statement, Civil shouted out Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell, whose second year as head coach has resulted in a mass exodus of her players.

“To play for one of the best up and coming coaches in the country has been a true blessing. Coach Kim — I want you to know how much I genuinely love and appreciate you,” Civil said. “The belief you had in me, the opportunity you gave me as a young woman trying to find her way — it changed my life. I will always carry that with me.”

You don't want to burn your bridges leaving, and yet the story suggests that moving on from Pat Summitt has not been easy.

Civil becomes the eighth Lady Vol to enter the transfer portal, joining starting guard Talaysia Cooper, freshman twins Mia and Mya Pauldo, senior Alyssa Latham, redshirt sophomore Kaniya Boyd and freshman guards Deniya Prawl and Lauren Hurst.

The other four players on Tennessee’s roster this season — Zee Spearman, Janiah Barker, Nya Robertson and Jersey Wolfenbarger — are graduating seniors, meaning Caldwell is now left with zero returning players for next year.

Caldwell also lost two other seniors during the season: Ruby Whitehorn, who Caldwell dismissed from the team in November after she was arrested for marijuana possession, and Kaiya Wynn, who left the team after not starting on Senior Day, saying in a statement that she had reached her “breaking point.”

Tennessee has two high school recruits who have signed with the program. One, five-star recruit Oliviyah Edwards, requested a release from her contract with Tennessee last week. The other, Gabby Minus, has not said anything on whether she will be rethinking her commitment.

How quickly the transfer portal and "contracts" have changed college sport.  Indiana as national  champion?  Tennessee's women's basketball in civil disorder?  What next, the top seeds in the men's college hockey tournament both watching the title game from the stands?

A CHAMPION BUILT BY FREE AGENCY.

Sunday afternoon, the U.C.L.A. women's basketball team won their second national championship.  Their previous championship was in 1978 with Ann Meyers Drysdale (royal weddings aren't only for solidifying alliances) coaching and the tournament was organized by something called the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.  Their opponent in the title game?  Maryland.  These days, both teams have strong basketball traditions, but with conference realignment they might play a conference game midwinter or meet in the Big Ten tournament.

The Mama Bruins have figured in several recent tournament finals, and the Culture Wars unfortunately sometimes intrude.  "A Los Angeles sports pundit named Ben Bolch thought it would be funny to enthuse the UCLA fans with 'UCLA-LSU is America’s sweethearts vs. its basketball villains.'"  Whatever.  I'll note that you could pos a picture of the current team with a video of California Girls without anybody cringing.

WHO'S THE HEEL?

Pro wrestling used to (it still might, I haven't been paying attention) add entertainment value by scheduling matches between heroes and heels.  Years ago, the heel often had some sort of implied Cold War connection (if you're familiar with Rocky Balboa fighting Russians, that might be where the scriptwriters got the idea) which latterly turned into some sort of Middle Eastern connection.  Or sometimes it could be middle-aged white dudes talkin' trash, and sometimes they switched roles, such as when Black Jack Lanza had a grudge match with Doctor X, who was revealed as a wrestler called Bruce Marshall.  And politics borrows a lot from pro wrestling, something that Donald Trump grasps, and for all I know, Margaret Brennan might lean into her role as a heel.

FAREWELL TO THE MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE.

Northern Illinois University's return to the Mid-American Conference in the mid-1990s after about a decade competing first as an independent and then participating in several conferences didn't work out well at all in basketball.  The athletic department accepted the resignation of the men's head coach Rashon Burno's resignation at the end of his five year contract, subsequently hiring Matt Majkrzak away from Northern Michigan.  Nobody can write derivative securities like the agent for somebody in big time sports.

Majkrzak will receive a contract extension of up to one year if either of two events occurs: The Huskies win a Horizon League regular-season or conference tournament championship, or NIU athletic director Sean Frazier leaves the school’s employment before March 15, 2030. Such terms were not included in Burno’s contract.

NIU will also pay for several performance incentives, including $5,000 for a 20-win regular season (only one non-D1 win will count toward the total) and $10,000 each for Horizon League Coach of the Year honors, a regular-season title, a conference tournament championship, an NCAA tournament appearance or a Final Four berth. Majkrzak can also earn $2,500 if NIU reaches the National Invitational Tournament or the College Basketball Invitational and $5,000 for winning either tournament.

The contract includes no mention of a buyout for Majkrzak’s remaining contract at Northern Michigan, which was set to expire June 30, 2027. NIU will provide Majkrzak a one-time relocation stipend, as well as a courtesy vehicle and $25,000 for donor engagement efforts.

If Majkrzak resigns or is fired for good cause, NIU will only be liable for employment payments or benefits past the date of the contract’s termination. If Majkrzak is fired without good cause — which would include performance-related reasons — the school will owe him 100% of his base salary for that contract year and the year following and 50% of the base salary for each subsequent year.

Should Majkrzak leave to accept another position, he will be required to pay a lump sum within 90 days of his resignation.

The women's team hired a new coach a year ago and they completed their season on a positive note, coming from behind to beat Buffalo on Senior Night.

The Huskies took a slim two-point lead after an 8-0 run, leaving Buffalo with 10 seconds to steal the game back. The Bulls’ opted for a potential game winning three but the Huskies’ defensive shape forced a miss to close out the comeback win.

“Super proud of our resiliency and being able to come together in tough moments.” head coach Jacey Brooks said. “The game was a little bit of a roller coaster but we were able to make some adjustments at halftime. The defensive plays in the fourth quarter was the difference in the game.”

Multiple seniors graduated, and with the transfer portal, who knows what sort of five will take the court in November.

“This game was almost like the epitome of our season, of staying the course and never giving up. They’ve only gotten better and will continue to get better,” Brooks said. “When we think about next year, I’m overly excited about next season and can’t wait for it. But we’re gonna continue to build this thing.”

That remained her attitude despite a road loss at Bowling Green.

“I believe we’re building something special here,” Brooks said. “ We’ve got some good recruits and returners, but this year was about laying the foundation and culture for years to come.”

The Huskies will now enter the offseason as they prepare to join the Horizon League.

At the same time Northern Illinois bade farewell to the Mid-American, the Mid-American bade farewell to its presence in the various tournaments.  A year ago, the Buffalo women won their National Invitation Tournament on their home court.  For years, multiple Mid-American also-rans have participated in that tournament, and several have won it.  The 2025-2026 season?  Buffalo went 1-17 in conference, their sole win over Toledo, one of those perennial Invitational participants.  This year?  Only Ohio was invited, and excused in the first round.  Much of the field rates a bye, but not Ohio.  The Women's Basketball Invitational?  Nobody.  Make of it what you will that Columbia won it.  In the men's National Invitation Tournament (if you remember Al McGuire turning the NCAA down to play in it and win it, you're old) only Kent State participated, and they were one and done.  Miami of Ohio won all their conference games but couldn't get through the conference tournament: both tournament winner Akron and at-large Miami were one and done.

Finally, though all brackets might be imperfect, to submit a winning entry it still helps to err on the side of the highly regarded teams.  In the women's tournament, the winner will be one of the top seeds, as no chalk was erased as Connecticut, South Carolina, U.C.L.A. and Texas qualified.  The winning entries in your local pool will be those that most accurately identified who got eliminated when, perhaps with a tiebreaker based on the score.  In the men's tournament, one finalist will be a top seed.  Duke haters are happy it's not Duke: you get Arizona playing Michigan, which is not much better, for the right to face either Illinois or Connecticut.  Yes, the table is again set for both Connecticut teams to be cutting down the nets.

ALL BRACKETS ARE BUSTED. SOME BRACKETS ARE MORE BUSTED THAN OTHERS.

By the time the field of sixteen had been determined, all of the brackets submitted in the men's tournament had at least one game incorrectly picked, and all but one of those submitted in the women's tournament, where there's still enough by way of inequity that picking the higher seed puts you in a pretty good place to win the office pool.  Thus, the over-under on all the brackets being imperfect by the end of the round of 32 is "Under 48."  (Not to be confused with Proto:48).

That got me thinking, though.  How many of the submitted brackets got the round of sixteen right?  On the men's side, it's Them That Has Gets.  The Sweet 16 invite is for power-conference programs only.  But when I ask the Google search engine "How many bracket contestants correctly identified the round of sixteen?" or variations thereon, I mostly got information about the rarity of "perfect" brackets.  Recall one guy got the first 48 men's games right in 2019, and somebody has done so in the ongoing women's tournament.  The fellow who got the first two rounds bang on did not do so well getting to the round of eight and the title.  So it goes, as America's Newspaper of Record notes.  "Woman Unable To Distinguish Between Basketball And Hockey About To Smoke Your March Madness Bracket Again."

GREYLOCK NEXT TO TUMBLE.

As I wrap up the week's posting, ESPN note that of the over twenty-six million men's tournament brackets submitted in their challenge, some 3,714 entries are still in contention.  In Thursday's games, a lot of chalk had to be erased with six lower seeds winning, and the "upsets" continue today.

That title?  In the depths of the Depression, the Boston and Maine Railroad offered a contest in which lineside school children could name locomotives, including the 3700 series of medium-heavy Pacifics, and the judges selected Greylock for 3714.  One of those steamers is still in preservation, fittingly 3713, named Constitution.  Whether she will ever steam again remains to be seen.

So what's the over-under on all the brackets broken by the end of today's games?  Note: less-than-perfect brackets are still in contention for identifying the eventual champion.

A REBUILD IN PROGRESS?

Northern Star sports reporter Joseph Segreti notes, "Women’s basketball has work to do."  Well, yes, last spring we noted the basketball purgatory that had emerged in DeKalb.  Between graduations and the transfer portal the new coach didn't have much to work with.

Year 1 of Jacey Brooks’ tenure as the NIU women’s basketball coach has been nothing short of underwhelming when compared to the Huskies’ recent seasons.

Currently sitting at four wins on the season, the Huskies (4-17, 2-8 MAC) have had their fair share of struggles in their final season in the Mid-American Conference.

Previous teams were inconsistent.  Mr Segreti counts a number of ways in which the current team is not putting up good numbers.  He then notes that the team is currently rebuilding.

Brooks is in just her first season as head coach, so growing pains are expected before success begins.

Brooks followed up longtime Huskies women’s basketball head coach Lisa Carlsen who was a model of consistency during her time in DeKalb.

Brooks also inherited a roster missing several key pieces from last season due to graduation, such as former forward Brooke Stonebraker, former guard Sidney McCrea, former guard Laura Nickel and longtime superstar Huskie guard Chelby Koker.

The incoming class of transfers and freshmen have shown signs of success.

That "model of consistency" was "consistently mediocre."  Let's check the history.

The last of the Kathi Bennett recruits graduated at the end of the 2019-2020 season, during which several promising young recruits got a good deal of playing time.  Between the corona shutdowns and injuries, those players got a participation trophy to shine up in 2023.  "Northern Illinois University's women's basketball team got off to a good start last November, and despite reverting to their usual form during conference play received an invitation to a tournament held at Transylvania University in Kentucky, where they lost three games."  The athletics department have a little pride left: there was never a banner raised in the arena calling attention to that tournament.

That is, Lisa Carlsen got within five minutes of an N.C.A.A. tournament bid with players Kathi Bennett recruited for one system who excelled in another system.  The way in which they got there foreshadowed future developments: they overcame a big deficit to oust Ohio, then gave away a ten point lead to Toledo in the tournament finals.  In following years, there were a few more big runs to overcome halftime deficits, but those were fewer than the ten-point leads given up to lesser teams.  Despite the promise subsequent recruits showed, something went wrong after the season of corona shutdowns, and account injuries, those promising young recruits didn't have as many chances to play together as might have been.

Last Saturday was the second game of the Mid American - Sun Belt conference crossover series.  Northern Illinois hosted Texas State, and they were among the Mid-American teams that won a majority of those games.

"I'm really proud, excited and happy with our effort for 40 minutes today," said head coach Jacey Brooks as NIU snapped a four-game losing streak. "The last two seconds made me the most proud. Basketball is a game of runs and when we got on a heels we were still battling. When Texas State made a big shot, we made a big shot. I saw so much growth from our team today."

Sometimes, it takes longer to put the pieces together.  Next up, the University of Massachusetts, again playing in the Mid-American as Northern Illinois prepare to move to the Horizon League.

HOW BASKETBALL FORTUNES CHANGE.

Seven years ago, the feel-good story of the men's basketball tournament was Loyola of Chicago, returning to basketball relevance after many years in the wilderness.

This season?  Neither the inspiration of playing for the memory of their long-time chaplain, Sister Jean, who crossed the final summit either this year, nor the home-court advantage assisted by Chicago traffic, could keep the Northern Illinois team from sending the Ramblers to their fifth loss.

NIU (3-3) made 14 three-pointers, one off the school record, while shooting 41.2 percent (14-of-34) from beyond the arc.

"It was awesome," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "We had a little be of adversity with the traffic on the way here, we got here with 60 minutes to spare, but it started in the preparation. We had quality practices. Obviously, Dylan (Ducommun) 24 (points), six (assists) and zero (turnovers) … We have to fight, we have to play with pride, and we have to execute and I thought we did that for 40 minutes tonight."

Loyola (1-5) led 13-8 before Hassan 'Tre' Washington (Providence, R.I./Prise Academy) knocked in a triple and Ducommun added two from beyond the long line to put the Huskies in front, 17-13.

Mr Burno is on the final year of his contract, with a team restocked through the transfer portal, and playing in the Mid-American for the final year before moving to the Horizon League.

WELCOME BACK TO THE HORIZON LEAGUE.

Northern Illinois University have swapped out head coaches and almost all the players of their perennially inconsistent women's basketball team.  This year they will attempt to sail fully loaded for Cleveland in the Mid-American Conference.  Horizon League member Wisconsin-Milwaukee played a nonconference game.  "Huskies' Late Charge Falls Short In 76-65 Loss To Milwaukee."

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE.

The country's Newspaper of Record has fun with a recent sports-betting scandal.  "WNBA Players Assure FBI They Weren't Missing Layups To Throw Games, They Just Suck At Basketball."  It takes skill to make a deliberate miss look like an accident, which is one way point-shaving might manifest itself.

A group of players met with FBI agents Thursday afternoon to vehemently deny such rumors, clarifying that they were just all really awful basketball players.

"I know it seems like a scam, but we're all just really, really bad at this game," said Chicago Sky star Angel Reese. "The truth is, we're just not that good at making the ball go into the little circle. We really are trying. It's just a lot harder than it looks."

According to insiders with knowledge of the federal investigation, the FBI was grateful for the WNBA's cooperation even though the organization was not on their radar. "I've never even heard of women's basketball," FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said. "In fact, the whole league sounds like some sort of scam."

Although the sports-betting investigation continues, it might be that the large winnings Illinois governor J. B. Pritzker reported are on the up and up.  ‘He’s a whale in Vegas.’  That might not be the best choice of words.

In Chicago’s business community, Pritzker has long been known for his affinity for cards. A poker book has been seen on the shelf of his Chicago office, and he’s been spotted sidling up to a table while traveling.

That interest in poker goes beyond the personal. Pritzker teamed up with Jim Gray, who founded OptionsXpress, to start the Chicago Poker Challenge, a high-profile charity tournament that raised millions for the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, which Pritzker also helped establish.

Though Pritzker no longer plays in the event, its reputation is legendary. It was once held at the exclusive Casino Club that sits in the shadow of the John Hancock Building, not far from Pritzker’s residence.

The guest list has included an impressive roster of Chicago’s elite, including Citadel’s Ken Griffin, billionaire entrepreneur and ComPsych founder Rich Chaifetz, and OptionsXpress Holdings founder Gray. Even poker pro Phil Hellmuth Jr. has been a regular attendee.

“He is a very thoughtful player,” Ariel Capital Management founder and Democratic donor John Rogers Jr. said of Pritzker. “He has a very good understanding of the game’s nuances. He is really comfortable around a poker table. He’s always one of the better players at these tournaments.”

All the same, if evidence surfaces of Democrat donors laundering campaign contributions at the poker table, there isn't enough popcorn in the house!

HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY.

Oklahoma girls’ basketball team returns championship after realizing they lost.  Like so many sports stories, it begins with "after review."

The story stems from the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association, where a crucial scoreboard error early in the game gave the girls basketball team at Academy of Classical Christian Studies the edge over its Apache high school counterpart, as CBS News recently reported.

Academy coach Brendan King told the network: “As soon as I walked out of the locker room, my stomach kind of turned into knots. And I said: ‘I’m going to need to know if we really won this game or not.’”

King went home that night and watched a recording of the game. He meticulously watched each play and recounted every basket – eventually discovering his team had actually lost.

The game ended with Academy, of Oklahoma City, winning 44-43 on a last-second shot. But King discovered the score was actually 43-42, with the opposing team from Apache High having actually outscored his team – and Academy being erroneously given more points than they had actually earned amid confusion about the scoreboard at one juncture of the game.

Strictly speaking, once the final horn sounds, the result is official.  Sometimes, though, how you play the game does matter more than the result.

King’s team would have legally retained its championship had it stood pat on the result. The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association rules say that once a game is finished, the score becomes permanent, and there is no way to change the outcome of a completed game.

But King approached his team to tell the players of his video review’s findings. And the players all unanimously decided to appeal their own victory with the association, asking for the other team to be recognized for their rightful win – and for them to be assigned a defeat in the game.

The appeal – described by CBS as having no precedent – succeeded. And King hand-delivered the championship plaque to Apache.

Apache’s head coach said she was glad to have won the title. But the coach, Amy Merriweather, also said Academy’s act of honesty and integrity meant more than the actual victory.

“It showed us, you know, there are still good people in this world,” Merriweather said. “It’s something we’ll always remember.”

Students from Academy also spoke with CBS. One student told the outlet that “it would have felt wrong, I think, to have taken the trophy, regardless”.

Another student from Academy said it was a “really good teaching moment” to establish that winning “is not the whole point”.

That was the Academy of Classical Christian Studies, and, truly, truly I say unto you, those players will have parables of their own to refer to as they mature and age.

WELL, YES.

The Sporting News's Jeremy Beren notes, "The WNBA's refereeing crisis might have one simple solution."

Not this.  "Raising the standard of WNBA officiating ranks toward the top of the list."

Not this.  "[A]ccording to Sue Blauch, the WNBA's associate VP of referee performance and development, the league has to be ready to hire more people, and cannot be satisfied simply with the new task force or an NBA-style last two minutes report."

This?  "WNBA referees are unsalaried contractors who are paid between $1,500 and $2,500 per game; their NBA counterparts take in up to $550,000 per season."

You get what you pay for.

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

Oktoberfest season is winding down, the baseball playoffs are headed to the divisional round, and Phoenix's Mercury will play Las Vegas's Aces for the women's professional basketball title, in case anybody cares.  Confirmation of a suspicion of mine, "[I]f the WNBA officials come from the same talent pool that calls Mid-American games, the quality of officiating will be low," has arrived from highly placed sources in the league.

Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve had something to say after her team's Game 3 loss to the Phoenix Mercury, and it's probably going to cost her.

An 84-76 defeat saw Reeve ejected in the final minute after running onto the court to berate the officials, on a play that left Lynx star Napheesa Collier needing to be helped off the court. Mercury star Alyssa Thomas made contact with Collier's knee on a steal and caused her ankle to roll as well, adding injury to a game-sealing breakaway layup.

Reeve was so livid she had to be restrained by multiple coaches and players as she attempted to charge back toward the refs.

The public face of the league these days is a coach with a sour expression, but in this case she might have reason to be sour.

Reeve entered the room for her post-game news conference, unloaded on the officials and the WNBA for two minutes, then left without taking questions. In the process, she revealed that Collier had potentially sustained a fracture from her run-in with Thomas, with a shoulder issue earlier in the game too.

Without Ms Collier, the Lynx went home after four games, taking their purple hair with them.

WIN SOME, WINSOME, LOSE SOME.

Indiana Fever forward Sophie Cunningham quietly joined the return of the hot girl to marketing with a product endorsement.

You can put on a tee-shirt calling attention to your pay packets, or you can come up with a value proposition that supplements your income.

To repeat: It's not as if she has to call attention to her tush, don't those legs do a pretty good job of their own accord?

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE.

As baseball season began, the women of the fevered brow had basketball seasons to fret about.  "College basketball season is winding down, with Buffalo of the Mid-American winning the ladies' version of the NIT, in their own gym.  In a few months the griping season of the WNBA will be upon us."  A Buffalo assistant coach will now be coaching at Northern Illinois, which drew more fans to a regular season game in 1990 than Buffalo did winning that tournament in their own building.

Since then, that team has trashed its value proposition, which might be what the ladies professional basketball leagues continually do, and for the same toxic incantations of identity politics and social protest.  Which continued, predictably, at the recent all-star game (and why in the name of all that is holy is there a basketball all-star game in July) with the players calling attention to ongoing salary negotiations.

The culture war stuff predictably followed.

The WNBA loses $50 million every year and has NEVER generated a profit. You deserve $0.00. pic.twitter.com/fWWxU0pSt1

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 20, 2025

Twitchy's Warren Squire continued the pile-on.  "Yep, the WNBA is pretty much a charity case kept afloat by the NBA. Posters couldn’t help but notice the correlation between the WNBA players and the recently canceled ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.’"  With all the troubles Amtrak have been having even running trains over the past few weeks, we never lack for money-suck material, do we?

GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN.

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham has earned a following of late acting as Dave Schultz to Caitlin Clark's Bobby Clarke.  The Fever recently won the WNBA's (meaningless) in-season tournament and Ms Cunningham had a few more minutes of fame.

Sophie Cunningham twerking after winning the Cup 😭 pic.twitter.com/Z7VTXIG4jV

— BricksCenter (@BricksCenter) July 2, 2025

It's not as if she has to call attention to her tush, don't those legs do a pretty good job of their own accord?

Make of Caitlin Clark's reluctance to shake what you will.

The Fever’s win proved they’re more than just the Caitlin Clark show. They’re deep, resilient, and capable of rising under pressure. And Sophie Cunningham? She’s now the unofficial hype queen of a team brimming with confidence.

While Commissioner’s Cup wins don’t count toward regular season standings, they carry real weight in pride and prize money. The Fever’s $500,000 win shows a rising powerhouse, and Cunningham’s postgame twerk, for better or worse, ensured the moment wasn’t forgotten.

As for Caitlin Clark, her focus remains on getting healthy. But between her playful jabs on Instagram and the Fever’s statement win without her, Indiana fans suddenly find themselves with something rare: swagger, depth, and momentum.

In 2025, the Fever aren’t just competing. They’re vibing and dancing, all the way to relevance.

We'll see.  Didn't the Milwaukee Bucks win the men's equivalent of that in-season tournament and then make an early exit from the playoffs?

The vibing, incidentally, is now annoying the women of the fevered brow.  Apparently basketball players of both sexes have turned the walk into the locker room into a sort of fashion show (thus my referene to the lady's legs) and the purists are of the view that giving the leggy ladies attention before they're even on the court detracts from the experience.

Make of their reluctance to play along what you will.