PHOENIX — In four different decades, Geno Auriemma has led the UConn women’s basketball team to national championships. Through an evolving game and landscape, there has been one near consistent power at the top of the game — Auriemma’s Huskies.

He got there by being an expert problem-solver, and he has remained at the top because of his maniacal drive to fix the problems he sees — both ones that have happened on the floor and ones that could happen on the floor. It’s why UConn has 12 national titles and six of the 10 undefeated seasons in women’s basketball history.

It’s why this season’s team, one with significant flaws, was still good enough to be 80 minutes away from a national championship and an undefeated season. He knows what it feels like to get steps away from the mountaintop and the bitter cold of being up there alone, and in four decades of coaching, he has responded to both with the same dogged intensity — looking for everything that could go wrong, and then trying to fix it preemptively.

After one of the Huskies’ undefeated seasons, on the way home from winning yet another national title, his longtime assistant Chris Dailey found him on the bus watching film, pondering what the team could do to be better the following year. They had beaten opponents by 30 points a game that season.

This season, the Huskies had a similar win margin but it didn’t end the same. And the offseason will be different in some significant ways.

Because on Friday, Auriemma became one of the problems the Huskies couldn’t avoid. In his 25th appearance in the Final Four, he added to the lengthy catalog of his and Dawn Staley’s shared history that will help fans organize him into the hero/villain categories of the game’s history.

Auriemma doesn’t care where he falls on some random person’s ranking or that he has become the ultimate Rorschach test in women’s hoops. Whether you see him as a genius or an arrogant jerk probably depends on the color jersey you wear.

What he does care about is the fact that his frustrations became a problem for his team in the Final Four. It all bubbled up throughout the game and simmered under the surface. Auriemma hid it well enough that his longtime assistants didn’t seem to notice that he was ready to pop.

He was annoyed that Staley didn’t shake his hand during the pregame coaches’ introductions. He was then frustrated the Huskies had six fouls called on them in the third quarter and South Carolina had none. He felt Staley got leeway in her communication to the officials. He was continually frustrated to see all the issues with his team — ones that he has known about all season and successfully covered up for months — exposed on the biggest stage in women’s basketball. He knew their shortcomings could catch the Huskies, and he got a front row seat to that mess.

You can’t solve that in April.

The Huskies were what they were, and Auriemma is who he is. He is stubborn and demanding. You don’t get to the top of the basketball world without being both of those.

But he has also led a program that has maintained a level of professionalism rare in college sports. There’s a reason why WNBA GMs feel comfortable taking a flier on UConn players over almost any other schools — it’s because Auriemma operates his program, top to bottom, with a standard that makes the jump more doable.

So, he could’ve held himself to that same standard, and maintained his composure in the way he demands of his players. And his frustrations could’ve ended as just frustrations. But instead, it spilled out of him. He confronted Staley at half court. You’ve seen the rest.

He could’ve shut this all down if he had walked into the postgame news conference, mea culpa-ed the situation and addressed it all head on. But he didn’t back down. He doubled down.

Because of course. In Auriemma’s mind, he was right: Staley should’ve shaken his hand during the pregame introductions. In 25 Final Fours, according to Auriemma, no one has ever missed that handshake with him until now. It was, in his view, disrespectful — and if he was going to answer for his actions, she should answer for hers.

But that’s not how this works. There’s context and history here — Auriemma and Staley have 30 years of it — but by dragging this out, it only got worse. The savvy problem-solver who plays 3-D chess threw the board on the ground and left the pieces there.

If Staley forgot to shake his hand, so be it. If it were gamesmanship, then it worked. Auriemma was rattled. His players didn’t get the best version of him, and whether it was a chicken-or-egg situation in terms of his players not putting their best on the floor is impossible to know. But it was a surprising outburst from a coach who had seemingly left those flare-ups in the past.

On Saturday morning, Auriemma released a statement.

“There’s no excuse for how I handled the end of the game vs. South Carolina,” Auriemma said in a prepared statement. “It’s unlike what I do and what our standard is here at Connecticut. I want to apologize to the staff and the team at South Carolina. It was uncalled for in how I reacted. The story should be how well South Carolina played, and I don’t want my actions to detract from that. I’ve had a great relationship with their staff, and I sincerely want to apologize to them.”

Auriemma’s statement didn’t mention Staley by name. If you know anything about Staley, you know she considers this another slight. The two probably have tallies of every minor affront, side-eye and backhanded compliment.

That’s how it goes between competitors and rivals with a history like theirs. That’s not always necessarily a bad thing for the game.

On Friday, it was. On the basketball court, he acted like he couldn’t lose with grace. And in the court of public opinion, there’s not much winning to be done for Auriemma either. He went after a coach who has ascended to the throne as women’s basketball’s torchbearer. Staley became the first Black woman to lead a team to multiple national titles. In a sport with a large majority of Black players, that matters.

As he has done every offseason before, he’ll go back to Storrs and tinker with every aspect of the team, every minute detail that didn’t go to plan. Every problem that cropped up that didn’t have a fix. No doubt, he’ll figure out why South Carolina was able to break the Huskies in a way that felt so obvious and thorough, and what they could’ve done earlier to change that path.

No matter who cuts the nets down on Sunday — South Carolina or UCLA — a lasting image of this Final Four will be Auriemma at halfcourt losing his cool. He’s not going to care if that makes fans like him more or less, but he will care that on the most important stage in the most important time for his team, the practiced problem-solver became the thing he has spent his career trying to get rid of in his program.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Connecticut Huskies, Women's College Basketball

2026 The Athletic Media Company

PHOENIX — Within the drama of a spat between two of the sport’s greatest coaches and another game that was within one possession in the final minute was a dirty little secret: The Final Four on Friday night was not a great showcase for women’s college basketball.

UCLA came in as the nation’s leading offense, averaging 1.014 points per possession, and it scored only 51 points in its win against Texas. South Carolina and UConn each made fewer than 40 percent of their field goals despite each team making about half during previous games. (Count the Longhorns in that group as they came in last at 49.7 percent.)

The Huskies looked incapable of running a secondary offensive set in their 62-48 loss to South Carolina. The Bruins suffered from a season-high 23 turnovers in their 51-44 win over Texas. The Gamecocks missed 15 layups, and Texas’ best offensive player missed 20 field goals.

This is not how these national semifinals were supposed to go. These were definitively the best four teams in the country during the regular season, and they were supposed to bring out the best in each other during the Final Four.

“It definitely was not a pretty game,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “I wanted to apologize to all the fans for the rugby match and the 23 turnovers.”

Close is outspoken about wanting to grow the game, and part of that process is entertaining the fans. Sure, the Bruins are happy about getting to play in the national championship, but in the grander scope of the sport, it would be better if Friday’s score had been 70-58, like the Elite Eight game when UCLA played a similarly defensive-minded team in Duke.

It’s not a coincidence that women’s basketball experienced rocket-ship growth when Caitlin Clark was in college at Iowa — her style of play is exciting and magnetic. Offense drives interest; points are an easier sell. Professional leagues are constantly updating rules to make it easier to score, whether that’s football protecting the quarterback, basketball abolishing the hand check or baseball getting rid of the shift.

If women’s basketball is to maintain the momentum of the last few years, the product needs to be more watchable on the game’s biggest stage.

The 2023 Final Four had entertaining semifinal games: LSU 79, Virginia Tech 72, and Iowa 77, South Carolina 73, and a national championship in which LSU scored 102 points to Iowa’s 85. In 2024, the scores were 78-59 and 71-69, before an 87-75 South Carolina finale win over Iowa in the most-watched game of all time.

A 2025 Final Four in which at least one team scored in the 50s in all three matchups felt like a nadir … until two teams failed to even clear 50 on Friday.

It’s not that defensive teams can’t be appreciated. The 2024 undefeated Gamecocks had the best defense in the country but also featured MiLaysia Fulwiley’s masterful handle, Tessa Johnson’s lights-out shooting and Kamilla Cardoso’s almost casual interior dominance.

The teams in Phoenix clearly have the skills that larger audiences would appreciate, like Joyce Edwards’ rim-running for South Carolina or Lauren Betts’ shot-blocking for UCLA or Madison Booker’s midrange prowess for Texas. Even UConn’s offense dazzles with all of its ball and player movement.

But many of those attributes weren’t on display in the Final Four. The other teams deserve some credit for taking away opponents’ strengths, but the point of greatness is that it has the ability to overcome. Too often, these games have become a battle of attrition instead of one team or player imposing its will.

In recent seasons, complaints were made about the schedule wearing down players at this point of the season. The teams that play Monday night in the Elite Eight always have a quick turnaround. With travel and extensive media obligations, they have less time to prepare for the most important game of their season compared with regular-season matchups.

“God bless whoever wins Monday night, and they have got to fly cross-country, which is all day Tuesday, then they have two days, Wednesday and Thursday, to play the biggest game of their life,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said last season before going on to win the title in Tampa, Fla. Dawn Staley had a similar complaint about being the No. 1 overall seed and having to play Monday instead of Sunday in 2023. That scheduling has since been updated so the top seeds get extra rest heading into the Final Four.

Even so, this season’s Gamecocks played in Sacramento, Calif., on Monday night and had more energy than the Huskies, who played Sunday morning.

Ultimately, the burden lands on the teams to be their best selves Sunday. They can’t blame the schedule for resulting in exhaustion or the officiating for allowing a certain style of play. They outlasted the other 300-plus teams in the country to get to this point, and they have a responsibility to show the viewing public why they deserve to be here.

If the women’s tournament isn’t going to deliver madness, it has to deliver excellence. The national semifinals fell short of that mark, even if the extracurricular activities of the evening distracted from that truth. South Carolina and UCLA can’t count on additional fireworks Sunday. It’s the final game of the season, and only they can dictate the conversation with a performance that reminds everyone why this game is on the rise and that the future is in good hands.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

UCLA Bruins, South Carolina Gamecocks, Women's College Basketball

2026 The Athletic Media Company

PHOENIX — Dawn Staley keeps talking about debt. She doesn’t often entertain her personal legacy. She refuses to escalate the feud with Geno Auriemma. The credit mongers and controversy fiends can line up next if they want to try her.

It won’t matter.

The former point guard isn’t going to commit a turnover.

“I love basketball,” the esteemed South Carolina women’s coach said. “Like, it’s my passion. It is the very thing I don’t cheat on.”

That’s more than a comment. That’s a code.

If you happened to pay attention Friday night — and if you didn’t, are you even alive? — you saw that code in action. After Auriemma verbally accosted her, you saw the lava bubbling within Staley. Then you saw her cool down without causing any more damage than spattering a series of reactionary curse words. She had every reason to prolong the dispute, either in the moment or during postgame interviews. Instead, she made a harder choice.

She showed restraint.

In one incident, she revealed all of her: the intensity, the tenacity, the grace and the responsibility. She didn’t let the nastiness sprawl. She recovered quickly and saw the bigger picture. With South Carolina and UCLA set to play in Sunday’s national championship game, the sport needed someone to lower the temperature. Of course, Staley would do it.

For the past decade, she has been the face, the voice and the conscience of women’s basketball. It’s a weight to carry, and she is far from perfect. She can be petty. She can be stubborn. Like all coaches, she must feel in control at all times. Yet when it really matters, Staley puts basketball ahead of herself.

If Auriemma had done the same, this dustup would have been nothing. Maybe he would have done an awkward drive-by handshake instead of instigating a screaming match. Or maybe he would have shown contrition immediately after the game instead of issuing an apology the next day to try to quell a full-blown disaster.

It’s hard to be a caretaker for an entire industry. Staley chose to protect her team’s sterling accomplishment. She tried to keep the focus on what happened rather than winning a war of words. No one wants to admit it, but she even gave Auriemma a clearer path forward by not articulating the shock of seeing an unglued man shouting at her.

It was commendable leadership in the heat of the moment. She managed to be forceful while also controlling herself and her team and grasping the enormity of the moment.

“I won’t let my bubble voice come out,” she said Saturday.

On the morning after the chaos, Staley could joke about not wanting to be a cartoon character whose thoughts were displayed for all to see.

She epitomized grace.

“I had a praying mother, right?” she said, explaining how she stays focused.

But she couldn’t resist throwing a jab.

“I grew up in the projects of North Philly, right?” she said, emphasizing the word “north” to continue a running tease about Auriemma embracing a Philadelphia rep despite growing up in Norristown, Pa., a northern suburb. “Philly – 215, 267 area codes. So nothing — nothing — can derail us, or me, from staying with the task at hand.

“There are a lot of distractions that are placed in your life. You are either going to address them and let it overcome (you), or you stick with the task at hand.”

She cracked open the door to clap back at a later date: “I’m choosing to stick to the task at hand. At some point, everything is going to be addressed. Today, this weekend, won’t be one of them.”

That’s a compelling cliffhanger, but we will see — perhaps on Nov. 24, when they meet in a showcase game. If Staley wins her fourth national title, she will be so busy counting her blessings that she might decline having the last word. She lives with a greater purpose.

“I feel like I owe basketball,” Staley said. “Like, basketball has been incredible to me, to my family. And I always feel like I have to repay it.”

Her restraint is neither passive nor diplomatic. It is competitive restraint. She will not take any bait because there’s so much more to do, for herself and others.

“Coach Staley is a great coach,” fifth-year senior guard Raven Johnson said. “Not even a great coach, a great human being. I think she lets people be comfortable with who they are. No matter who you are, I think she tries to instill confidence in each player.

“Players that want to dig in deep and play for something bigger than themselves. They want to play for each other, for her, for South Carolina. It’s bigger than just the game of basketball, honestly.”

After the spat, Johnson high-fived Staley when she came back to the South Carolina bench. It lightened the mood. Soon after, Staley centered herself.

“I honestly just saw her screaming,” Johnson said. “It’s something she doesn’t usually do. I ran over to her quick. Like, I don’t play about Coach Staley at all. We’ve been through a lot together. She fights for each one of us outside of basketball.”

That fight never ends. At South Carolina, Staley does more than stack Final Fours, collect national titles and boost the self-esteem of an entire state. Her program is more than a competitive inevitability. It is full of bounce-back spirit. It is a place where people develop. Staley will not retreat from that mission, not even when she’s hollering about showing Auriemma her right hook.

She’s not furthering a legacy. She’s repaying a debt. That’s why she flipped from boiling to calm so quickly.

If you think you own your success, you protect it at all costs. If you think you owe the game, you serve it. Staley has a 180-10 record over the past five seasons, but winning isn’t just something she takes. It’s something she returns.

The kid from North Philly has a code. She will not cheat the game. In the aftermath of an ugly altercation, the sport still prospers because, in Staley’s mind, her basketball account will never be settled.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

South Carolina Gamecocks, Women's College Basketball, Opinion

2026 The Athletic Media Company

The once-unbeaten team has fallen. There will be a new champion of women’s college basketball. Just 40 regulation minutes separate heroism from heartbreak, inscription from blank space. No one wants to be on the sad side of a confetti drop.

UCLA arrives in pursuit of its first NCAA title, while South Carolina goes for a fourth banner in the last decade. Lauren Betts is ready to dance. Dawn Staley has more to say. These No. 1 seeds are evenly matched and amply motivated. Here’s what to know before tipoff.

All efficiency stats from BartTorvik.com.

How to watch UCLA vs. South Carolina in 2026 national championship game

Venue: Mortgage Matchup Center — Phoenix

Time: 3:30 p.m. ET, Sunday

TV: ABC, ESPN

Streaming: Fubo (Stream Free Now)

Watching in person? Get tickets on StubHub.

ABC is free over the air. ABC and ESPN are also available with an ESPN Unlimited subscription.

How UCLA got here

Cori Close’s crew is No. 1 in offensive rating and No. 4 on defense. The entire starting five could go in the first round of this month’s WNBA Draft. Clean looks develop in bursts.

First-team All-American Lauren Betts is a perpetual mismatch, towering in the paint and rolling off of screens. Kiki Rice and Charlisse Leger-Walker initiate with the ball; Gabriela Jaquez and Gianna Kneepkens zip the perimeter without it.

UCLA is 36-1, but its last two wins have been rocky. It trailed Duke at halftime of the Elite Eight, only to rally around Betts down the stretch. The senior center was brilliant — 23 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and five blocks. The teammates orbiting her struggled nonetheless and finished 2-for-14 beyond the arc.

The Bruins’ fleet, artful offense was unrecognizable in the Final Four tussle with Texas. UCLA scored just 20 in the first half, done in by an unsightly six-point second quarter. On the whole, four of its five starters had at least four turnovers. Once again, though, Betts was the steadying force — a team-high 16 points on 70 percent shooting, 11 boards and the game-saving stuff of Madison Booker.

Despite its pro-ready polish, UCLA is winning with lockdown defense as of late. Booker, a fellow first-team All-American, saw her game contorted into 3-of-23 nightmare fuel. Toby Fournier, Duke’s lead option, was held to a modest 10 points. One more disciplined effort would line the program up for its inaugural NCAA net-cutting.

How South Carolina got here

Staley is the face of a new frontier in women’s basketball. Her pull was tested by the dynastic old guard on Friday night — and garnet washed the bluest of blue bloods into the drain. The tough, pressurized Gamecock defense left then-perfect UConn at 31/29 percent shooting splits. All-Americans Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd went a combined 7-for-31.

South Carolina has won all five rounds by at least 14 points. Joyce Edwards is averaging 18.6 points and 9.4 boards per tournament game. She’s a strong finisher with a coast-to-coast motor.

Three seniors keep gears turning around the sophomore forward. Ta’Niya Latson scored 28 points in the Sweet 16 defeat of Oklahoma. Raven Johnson had six dimes and made two 3s in the Elite Eight matchup with TCU. Madina Okot bottled up UConn at the rim Friday.

The Gamecocks sit third in both offensive and defensive ratings. Like their best squads throughout the years, this group is well-balanced and audacious. South Carolina leads with its defense without junking the game.

Staley isn’t afraid of the moment — but the moment just might be afraid of Staley. With a fourth ring, she would tie Kim Mulkey for the third-most all-time.

What to know about the broadcast

Ryan Ruocco is on play-by-play for ABC. His “you bet!” call punctuates big shots. It’s also a lot of fun to shout at home. Ruocco is joined by NCAA champion Rebecca Lobo for color commentary, and Holly Rowe reports from the floor. This is the trio’s sixth Final Four weekend together.

In addition, Christine Williamson anchors the on-site championship game studio alongside Andraya Carter and Chiney Ogwumike.

ESPN has a courtside alt-cast. Commercials and studio coverage go unchanged, but there are new audio and camera angles. Jess Sims is the host. WNBA star Chelsea Gray and rugby player Ilona Maher break down the action, while influencer Katie Feeney contributes with interviews and fan reactions. It’s a more casual, conversational alternative to ABC’s main broadcast.

A postgame show will air on ESPN at 6 p.m. ET. The winner lifts hardware and enters the historical record. The loser hears “what if?” echoing as it takes the last exit.

Streaming and ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process, and do not review stories before publication.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

UCLA Bruins, South Carolina Gamecocks, Women's College Basketball, Fubo Partnership, How to Watch

2026 The Athletic Media Company

Dawn Staley was not happy with coach Geno Auriemma during the fourth quarter of Friday night’s Final Four showdown between the South Carolina Gamecocks and UConn Huskies. Auriemma confronted Staley in an inexplicable moment during the game, as the Huskies were falling apart on the court.

Auriemma claims he was upset that Staley didn’t shake his hand before the game, which she did, which led to a sideline blowout. It was an unfortunate moment between the legendary coaches, which became a talking point after the Gamecocks upset UConn to advance to the national championship.

While the incident was being discussed on social media, a viral video surfaced that showed courtside footage of Staley’s reaction to Auriemma crossing the line.

MORE: Geno Auriemma meltdown ripped by ESPN’s Andraya Carter, Chiney Ogwumike

Staley was understandably upset with Auriemma’s stunt and let out a hilarious reaction to the situation. “I’m gonna beat Geno’s ass,” Staley yelled as she was talking to her staff.

“I’m gonna beat Geno’s ass”

I believe her 😭😭😭 https://t.co/Krfygc3zz9pic.twitter.com/apW9OYfZse

— correlation (@nosyone4) April 4, 2026

No one can blame Staley for being irked by Auriemma, who stormed off the court immediately after the final whistle without shaking hands with the Gamecocks or consoling his players.

“You can ask Geno the question,” Staley, who was an assistant coach under Auriemma for the 2016 Rio Olympics, said when asked about the confrontation. “He’s the one that initiated the conversation. I don’t want what happened there to dampen what we were able to accomplish today.”

MORE: Heartbroken Azzi Fudd brought to tears in emotional Final Four exit interview

Auriemma will have plenty of time to reflect on the moment, with the Huskies now eliminated from the tournament.

Staley and the Gamecocks, meanwhile, will turn their attention to Sunday afternoon, where they will face off against the UCLA Bruins for the title. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

— Enjoy free coverage of the top news & trending stories on The Big Lead —

PHOENIX — No one knows more about perfection in women’s basketball than UConn. Six times the Huskies have gone through a season undefeated, capping their year with a national title. The closest scoring margin in any of those seasons’ victories? A whopping 31 points.

In those seasons, UConn hasn’t just been perfect. The Huskies have cleared the bar with ease.

On Friday night in Phoenix, two games away from perfect season No. 7, they took the floor against South Carolina. It was UConn coach Geno Auriemma’s 25th Final Four appearance. This time, he was coaching a team riding a 54-game winning streak and sitting at 38-0 on the year.

They ended nowhere close to that.

Don’t say it fell apart for the Huskies, because that wouldn’t be giving South Carolina its due in the 62-48 win.

The Gamecocks came into the Final Four with a surgical game plan, and the players executed, not to a T but with enough of a margin that it didn’t matter. They weren’t perfect, but they were the better team. It didn’t matter that UConn had the nation’s best player in Sarah Strong, a generational shooter in Azzi Fudd and college basketball’s winningest coach in Auriemma.

South Carolina had the answers.

“We stuck to the scouting report,” South Carolina guard Ta’Niya Latson said. “We knew their tendencies, what they liked. I think we executed it really, really well.”

Even before Auriemma initiated a confrontation with Dawn Staley near the end of the game, the cracks had begun to show.

Fudd couldn’t hit much of anything, and she couldn’t stop the spiral as the misses piled up. The player with a jump shot Steph Curry has said is prettier than his, stopped shooting and started aiming. And then finished the game with only 8 points.

En route to a double-double, the ever-stoic Strong got frustrated enough that she ripped her own uniform (whether it was torn before she finished the job is secondary to the fact that she got to that point at all).

With less than a minute in the game, Kayleigh Heckel missed a wide-open layup and had to be subbed out because she began to tear up. As teammates literally held her chin up, the writing was on the wall. South Carolina had gotten the better of UConn that night, and perfection was no longer in reach. The Huskies would need to settle for 38-1.

“Our whole objective was to get them to shoot as inefficiently as possible,” Staley said.

Check mate: UConn’s 31 percent shooting percentage was its worst single-game performance in four seasons.

A week ago in Fort Worth, Texas, during the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, Fudd and Strong — who shot 23 percent from the floor against South Carolina — both seemed tight. They had slow offensive starts in both games leading into the Final Four and weren’t their usual, smooth selves.

“We didn’t make any shots the whole weekend in Fort Worth, but our defense was really good and we hung in there,” Auriemma said. “We knew going in here today that if we shot the ball like we did in Fort Worth, you’re not gonna beat these teams generally.”

Auriemma’s previous perfect teams haven’t needed to “hang in there” en route to cutting nets after a national championship. Instead, they’d leave scorched earth in their wake and make other great teams their footnotes in the march to yet another national title.

That was not this team. UConn had flaws. Those flaws hadn’t yet been exposed but the right matchup, the right familiarity, the right something could take UConn down. After all, a team doesn’t have to be perfect to finish the season with a perfect record, but it has to be better than the Huskies.

Staley knows all too well how this goes. In 2023, with a senior-laden team riding a 42-game winning streak and sitting at 36-0 on the season, the Gamecocks lost to Iowa in the Final Four.

“I’m still haunted by it,” Staley said.

The Gamecocks came back and won it the next year, but that senior class was gone. The players who had helped sustain the South Carolina program after it had won its first national title in 2017, then won it again in 2022 didn’t get to repeat in 2023.

Fudd, who spent five seasons with UConn, won’t get a chance to repeat as a national champion. She has only one. A statement that sounds ludicrous to say … unless you played at UConn for five years. But after helping lead the Huskies to the national title last season and being named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player in the process, Fudd has played her final game in a UConn uniform.

It will sting, because it should. Not just because the Huskies lost, but because of how they lost. UConn wasn’t a perfect team, but it was 80 minutes away from perfection — closer than almost anyone ever gets. Unfortunately for the Huskies, that’s the closest they got.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

South Carolina Gamecocks, Connecticut Huskies, Women's College Basketball

2026 The Athletic Media Company

The women’s March Madness championship is set: The SEC versus the (new) Big Ten. After a chalky run through the bracket, the South Carolina Gamecocks and the UCLA Bruins will face off in Sunday’s championship game. It’s one team’s first visit to the NCAA final. The Bruins are aiming for their first March Madness championship in program history, and Dawn Staley and her squad are going for their fourth in 10 years.

Perhaps thanks to this history, Staley’s team is favored by 2.5 points on DraftKings versus Cori Close’s UCLA crew. South Carolina’s moneyline odds of -155 imply a 60 percent chance of winning. The total, at over/under 132.5, is well over the number hit by both semifinal matchups: South Carolina’s final score was 62-48 (110 total), and UCLA beat Texas 51-44, for a total that didn’t even top 100.

Both have been dominant programs for years, and both came into this tournament as No. 1 seeds. The women’s Final Four has been a treat for anyone who loves blockbuster matchups: For the fifth time in women’s NCAA Tournament history, all four No. 1 seeds reached the Final Four. As The Athletic’s Sabreena Merchant wrote, Goliaths in the finals is good for fans and for the sport. And yet, the two semifinal games were some of the lowest-scoring for all four teams.

Will the championship look the same? Or will either of these blazing offenses find its rhythm?

South Carolina opens as favorite against UCLA

We asked if the Gamecocks would enter their Final Four matchup with vengeance on their minds. And it appears they did.

As 7-point underdogs, South Carolina pulled off the upset of the tournament, beating UConn and ending the Huskies’ 54-game win streak with their worst loss since Feb 11, 2024. Want to guess which team beat them back then? Yes, it was South Carolina. The Gamecocks’ revenge was for a 23-point loss in last year’s NCAA title game, a loss the team was reminded of every morning during the offseason.

This is South Carolina’s third straight national championship game and fourth in five years.

The Gamecocks figured out how to shut down UConn’s explosive offense: The Huskies averaged 87 points this season and managed about half that in the semifinal. Neither team shot well, but South Carolina was everywhere on defense. The entire Huskies offense shot just 31 percent from the field. South Carolina showed a clinch factor that will be crucial in the championship, shooting 46 percent from the field in the third quarter (versus 37 percent overall) and taking a 10-point lead with three minutes left in the quarter.

Next up: UCLA. In another bafflingly low-scoring semifinal, the Bruins put away Texas, the 3.5-point underdog. Merchant jokingly called it a “1930s-era game” where a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter seemed insurmountable. (Texas pulled within 3 points late but couldn’t finish.)

UCLA capitalized on a night when its opponents’ stars were muted, powering through a 7-0 run in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, which was enough to stave off Texas’ own 7-0 run near the end. Bruins star Lauren Betts stepped up with 16 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks, including a decisive block late in the fourth quarter. Guards Gabriela Jaquez and Gianna Kneepkens finished with 10 points each.

The Bruins and Gamecocks haven’t yet played each other this season. Last year, UCLA beat South Carolina by 15 in the regular season.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

UCLA Bruins, South Carolina Gamecocks, Women's College Basketball, Sports Betting

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The 2026 WNBA offseason is finally underway, and the first step was completed Friday with the expansion draft for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo. Both teams selected 11 players as they begin to build out their rosters for the upcoming season.

The college draft remains and free agency after that, so much work remains to be done before the Fire and Tempo open training camp. The rosters could look very different in two weeks’ time, but it’s likely that Friday’s selections will form the bulk of the two rosters. Seven of the nine players who suited up for Golden State on its opening night came from the expansion draft.

We’re limited in our ability to fully understand the decisions of the Fire and Tempo (and the other 13 teams) because we don’t have access to the lists of protected players. There were also several international players selected who haven’t yet debuted in the WNBA or who choose not play in the WNBA every season, and we don’t yet know which of them will come over in 2026. However, based on the information that is available, here is an early look at the winners and losers of Friday’s draft.

Winners

Portland’s depth

The Fire didn’t take a lot of big swings, not unlike the Golden State Valkyries a year ago when Vanja Černivec was part of that front office. But they did end up with several players who have proven that they belong in the WNBA. Bridget Carleton and Sug Sutton were solid starters in 2025, and Maya Caldwell has been a capable role player for multiple seasons. Carla Leite, Luisa Geiselsöder and Chloe Bibby have less tape, but they all had decent rookie seasons. Emily Engstler and Haley Jones have also shown flashes even if their careers have been inconsistent. That is the outline of a quality rotation if the Fire can bring in some top-end talent in free agency, like the Valkyries did with Tiffany Hayes.

Any scorer who signs in Toronto

Julie Allemand is an elite passer and playmaker who hardly ever hunts her own shot. A point guard with her experience in the WNBA and internationally (she is a two-time EuroBasket champion for Belgium) will make the game easier for everyone around her. Allemand’s table-setting will also allow the Tempo to better evaluate the players around her. Competent point guard play is critical to any success in the WNBA, and Toronto has that with Allemand and Lexi Held off the bench. Tempo assistant general manager Eli Horowitz was in the same role in Los Angeles when the Sparks acquired Allemand and understands the 29-year-old’s value to a team.

Nyara Sabally

Sabally was riding high after the 2024 WNBA Finals, when her inclusion in a three-big lineup alongside Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones helped turn the tide of Game 5 and win the Liberty their first title in franchise history. That game forced New York to protect her in the Golden State expansion draft. But 2025 was a new story, as injuries limited her to 17 games out of 44. The Liberty, who expect to continue to contend for titles, couldn’t afford to keep her around with her inconsistent availability.

Now, Sabally gets to go to a situation with much less pressure and a chance to develop and get healthy on a longer timeline. She also stays with the coach, Sandy Brondello, who believed in her enough to contribute in the finals. Sabally was the fifth pick in the 2022 draft ahead of players like Veronica Burton, Lexie Hull and Naz Hillmon. She had a lot of potential, and she and the Tempo now have another chance of realizing it.

Phoenix’s 2025 European shopping spree

The Mercury had to scour international leagues to fill out their roster in 2025, ending up with four rookies who served as rotation players throughout the season. It worked so well that Toronto plucked two of them away in the expansion draft: Held and Kitija Laksa. Neither saw the floor much during the WNBA playoffs (a total of 21 minutes), but the Tempo won’t have veterans blocking Held and Laksa’s path to minutes. Meanwhile, Phoenix still has Monique Akoa Makani and Kathryn Westbeld, and gets to prove its scouting mettle in the 2026 offseason to once again build out the back end of its roster.

Losers

Minnesota Lynx

The Lynx were in a difficult situation with all five starters from last year’s dominant regular-season squad entering unrestricted free agency. If Minnesota protected the full starting lineup, there was no certainty that all would re-sign with Lynx. Furthermore, losing their cost-controlled younger players would make managing the cap more difficult.

Minnesota appears to have protected some of its starters but not all of them, and it lost two rotation players in the draft. No other team lost as much 2025 production as the Lynx between Bridget Carleton and Maria Kliundikova. It’s understandable to have wanted to keep Dorka Juhász at a lower salary than risk losing Carleton in unrestricted free agency regardless, but it still leaves Minnesota at a talent deficit relative to this time last week. The Lynx struggled to replace Cecilia Zandalasini’s contributions in 2025 after losing her to the Valkyries (both Karlie Samuelson and DiJonai Carrington ended the season injured), and filling in for Carleton will be another big challenge.

Las Vegas Aces

At some point, I will stop giving the Aces grief for not caring about young players. They valued unrestricted free agents in 2024 and lost Kate Martin to Golden State in the expansion draft, and then some of those free agents left anyway. They traded away an unprotected 2027 first-rounder — in what could be a generational draft — to acquire an inconsistent NaLyssa Smith midseason. Their most recent top-15 pick (the current length of the first round) who is still on the team is Kierstan Bell from 2022, who is no longer on a rookie contract. They don’t have a first-rounder this season or next season, and they just lost Aaliyah Nye, presumably because Las Vegas once again prioritized unrestricted free agents who could still find new homes.

At some point, the Aces will get old, and they will get expensive, and it will matter. It hasn’t mattered yet. But just because A’ja Wilson papers over any other lapses on the roster, it doesn’t mean the process couldn’t be better.

Marina Mabrey

Mabrey has had quite the odyssey through her seven WNBA seasons. She was traded after her rookie year. The first chance she had to pick a destination, she signed in Chicago but lost the head coach who vouched for her midway through that season. The Sky traded her to a winning situation in Connecticut, but that fell apart within a couple of months, and she was left with a developing Sun team even after asking for a trade.

Now, as an unrestricted free agent for the first time, Mabrey’s rights belong to an entirely new team — this after she eventually started to enjoy playing in Connecticut. The likelihood is that the Tempo core her and she once again cannot pick where to play. The new CBA and the one before it has given players much more agency in where they want to sign, but much power still lies with teams. As a good player who isn’t quite an All-Star, let alone a superstar, Mabrey keeps finding herself beholden to the whims of others.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Portland Fire, Toronto Tempo, WNBA

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Five years ago, when Dawn Staley returned to Columbia, S.C., from the 2021 NCAA Tournament in the bubble, she was left with a sinking feeling about how to talk with her players about the inequities the women’s teams had experienced during the tournament. That year, the NCAA made headlines as disparities between the men’s and women’s accommodations, facilities and resources were exposed.

Staley was the first coach to publicly call out then-NCAA president Mark Emmert by name in a tweet, and though the uproar ultimately caused the NCAA to commission an external investigation, Staley still felt there was more she needed to do.

That April it became obvious.

As she witnessed South Carolina’s men’s coach, Frank Martin, receive a contract extension that would continue to pay him significantly more than her (despite her team out-performing his teams), Staley knew what she needed to do.

Staley asked her longtime agent to stand down when she decided to negotiate with the university. Instead, she asked an attorney with long-standing knowledge of university politics and practices if he’d represent her in the negotiations.

“Sometimes you have to do things that are unconventional,” Staley told The Athletic in 2022 when discussing her decision.

Staley ended up inking a contract worth $22.4 million over seven years, averaging out to $3.2 million a year, just slightly less than what Martin got. (In January 2025, she signed an extension that would pay her more than $4 million a year through the 2029-30 season, making her the highest-paid coach in women’s college basketball. Martin was fired in 2022.)

For Staley, the pay raise was about more than her salary. The raise could push programs across the nation to pay their women’s coaches more equitable salaries.

And in the five years since she inked that deal, the Dawn Staley pay bump seems to have taken effect.

“Contract negotiations are challenging, but this one was especially important as I knew it could be a benchmark, an example for other universities to invest in their women’s basketball programs, too,” Staley said in the press release announcing her 2021 contract. “Our game continues to grow and the time is ripe to make a big step forward, but only if universities foster that growth by committing resources that are equitable to those given to their men’s programs.”

Including Staley, 23 power conference coaches have remained in the same job from the 2021-22 season until now. In order to better assess how Staley’s own push for equal pay might have affected how other universities dealt with their own long-term coaches, The Athletic obtained contracts for nearly every power conference coach at a public school in the country (as well as UConn’s Geno Auriemma) and analyzed salary trends. During the last five years, coaches who’ve remained in their same jobs have seen their salaries rise by 45 percent. Some of this is, of course, due to the increased investment in and attention in women’s basketball. But Staley undoubtedly raised the bar, which coaches across the country say impacted their own contract negotiations.

“Ripple effect is exactly what it is — she starts that wave when she gets an opportunity, when she fights and when she uses her voice. Her payout, her salary — it increases everybody else’s. … It’s not just for herself,” said Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey, whose contract information is not public because she’s at a private school. “She understands that when she’s fighting to get more for herself, it’s allowing other women to get more. Because that’s what the (athletic directors) are looking at. She’s the example, so we are all extremely grateful for what she’s done.”

Staley’s own salary has been near the front of the pack during that time, increasing 58 percent, while other coaches who also won national titles in that span saw significant bumps. Auriemma had a 22 percent raise and will make just more than $3.5 million in 2026, and LSU’s Kim Mulkey’s 27 percent raise got her to just more than $3.3 million in 2026.

Among power conferences (including those absorbed from the Pac-12), the ACC saw the smallest increase for its resident coaches with an average bump of 28 percent while Big Ten coaches’ salaries increased 33 percent. The SEC saw a jump of 48 percent while the Big 12 made the largest gains by increasing 80 percent, though that’s largely influenced by the fact that Big 12 coaches’ salaries in many instances have been trend-corrected in the last few years after years of having among the lowest paid power conference coaches. Also, Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie, who was reportedly pursued by Kentucky last year, got a massive raise last offseason which was an increase of more than 130 percent from his 2021-22 salary and certainly bumped the Big 12’s increase.

Including retention bonuses awarded during 2025-26, but not including results-based bonus structures, which differ greatly by contract, 16 of these two dozen coaches made at least $1 million dollars compared to just seven of them during the 2021-22 year (and 11 coaches overall across women’s college basketball, according to USA Today’s coaches salary database).

Salary raises since 2021-22

NAME	Team	Percentage increase
Jeff Mittie	Kansas State	132.26%
Brandon Schneider	Kansas	95.71%
Bill Fennelly	Iowa State	87.50%
Jennie Baranczyk	Oklahoma	80%
JR Payne	Colorado	73.40%
Teri Moren	Indiana	68.75%
Dawn Staley	South Carolina	57.65%
Amy Williams	Nebraska	55.56%
Charmin Smith	Cal	47.76%
Cori Close	UCLA	46.20%
Brenda Frese	Maryland	37.37%
Katie Gearlds	Purdue	34.58%
Vic Schaefer	Texas	27.78%
Kim Mulkey	LSU	26.91%
Wes Moore	NC State	24.02%
Geno Auriemma	UConn	22.07%
Jeff Walz	Louisville	21.31%
Kim Barnes Arico	Michigan	21.11%
Courtney Banghart	North Carolina	19.05%
Kevin McGuff	Ohio State	13.31%
Kelly Graves	Oregon	12.20%
Tina Langley	Washington	10.31%
Krista Gerlich	Texas Tech	10.10%

*This analysis doesn’t include Ole Miss salary or contract data due to Mississippi’s FOIA laws.

Coaches who moved from one power conference job to another because they were pursued (rather than being fired) during the past five years saw percentage increases on average more than coaches who remained in their jobs. Texas A&M pursued Joni Taylor hard and her salary has gone up 88 percent since 2022 to $1.6 million while Kenny Brooks’ move to Kentucky has proved financially lucrative. His salary more than doubled when he relocated from Virginia Tech, earning him $1.4 million this year. Minnesota’s Dawn Plitzuweit’s 2021-22 salary at West Virginia was worth roughly $550,000 and after making the move to the Gophers in 2023 (and signing an extension in 2025), Plitzuweit’s salary increased by 64 percent to $900,000 this year.

Staley said she has heard from many people inside of and outside of women’s basketball about how she has impacted their own negotiations and conversations around salary. She said those conversations are very meaningful to her, adding, “If that’s my role, to allow women’s (basketball) coaches to make more money, then that’s probably my calling.”

“I’ve heard from other coaches. I’ve heard from people in different professions. Because it’s really hard to know your worth. It’s hard to take whatever someone’s offering you when your counterpart is making 10 times more than you. It’s really, really unfair when it comes to that,” Staley told The Athletic. “And if you can express what your worth is and be able to do so in a way that it can impact it for elevation, you do it.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

South Carolina Gamecocks, Sports Business, Women's College Basketball

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The franchises are installed. Uniforms and mascots have been designed. And the league itself is back open for business. Now, it’s time for two new WNBA teams to put players on the floor.

Friday’s expansion draft brings the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire into focus as both newcomers get a chance to add talent from around the W. Fans in the expanded markets tune in to witness history. Fans elsewhere bid farewell to important contributors. It all goes down five weeks out from the season opener.

How to watch the 2026 WNBA Expansion Draft

Time: 3:30 p.m. ET, Friday

TV: ESPN

Streaming: Fubo (Stream Free Now)

ESPN programs are also available with an ESPN Unlimited subscription.

How the format works

Toronto and Portland are picking within a private player pool that’s been sourced from the 13 current teams. Each active franchise protects up to five players — including potential unrestricted free agents with at least five years of league service.

Both expansion squads are limited to just one potential unrestricted free agent. Under the new collective bargaining agreement, they can offer their selection a core designation for supermax contract rights. No more than two players can be plucked off each current roster.

A coin toss was held last Friday to determine the order. Toronto won it, then chose a higher pick in the league-wide rookie draft that’s scheduled for April 13. The Tempo now hold the No. 6 selection in that draft, while the Fire follow at No. 7. And in return, Portland gets first crack at Friday’s proceedings.

From there, the teams alternate back and forth through the 12-pick first round. They swap positions to start the second round, with Toronto going first. All 24 picks don’t need to be used, should either side want to save space for rookies or free agents.

Who might be available

The protected player lists are not made public. We can safely assume they include superstars like A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier and Caitlin Clark.

Cornerstones get covered, but there are certainly more than five valuable players on a competitive WNBA roster. Teams must be judicious about the protection process, balancing between controlled contracts and potential free agency rights.

Because a new CBA was on the horizon, most players took deals that expired after 2025, creating a class of more than 100 free agents this offseason.

Sabreena Merchant projected who might be in the unprotected player pool and thus eligible for the expansion draft. Possible highlights include Arike Ogunbowale, a three-time All-WNBA free agent from the Dallas Wings, and Azurá Stevens, the rangy 6-foot-6 center approaching free agency with the Los Angeles Sparks.

We know who won’t be available — anyone from the Chicago Sky. On Wednesday, the Sky announced a pair of interesting pre-draft trades. In exchange for avoiding Chicago’s unprotected players, Portland gets to move up four spots (21st to 17th) in the upcoming rookie draft. The same agreement goes for Toronto, which gets the No. 26 draft pick now.

A look back at recent expansion drafts

The Golden State Valkyries necessitated an expansion draft last season. It was a remarkable success — the first-year franchise stunned the W and made the playoffs. No prior expansion team had crashed the postseason so quickly.

Veronica Burton, once a reserve guard for the Connecticut Sun, won the 2025 Most Improved Player award and drew MVP votes as Golden State’s centerpiece. Kayla Thornton was added from the New York Liberty; the 10-year pro earned her first All-Star nod in Valkyrie violet.

A previous expansion draft was held for the Atlanta Dream in 2008. Atlanta turned seldom-used Connecticut center Erika de Souza into a three-time All-Star.

Another expansion draft took place in 2006 to welcome the Sky. Chicago’s best selection was Jia Perkins, who broke out as an All-Star after she was poached from the now-defunct Charlotte Sting. There were also multi-team expansion drafts in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

More drafts await in the years to come. The WNBA is expanding to Cleveland in 2028, Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia in 2030.

More WNBA coverage

Mike Vorkunov on the return of the Houston Comets for 2027.

Shakeia Taylor on Caitlin Clark’s side quest as a sideline photographer.

Chantel Jennings on the league’s historic labor agreement.

Sabreena Merchant on rookie salary growth in the new collective bargaining agreement.

Streaming or ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process, and do not review stories before publication.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Minnesota Lynx, New York Liberty, Seattle Storm, Los Angeles Sparks, Washington Mystics, Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun, Indiana Fever, Dallas Wings, Las Vegas Aces, Phoenix Mercury, Golden State Valkyries, Portland Fire, Toronto Tempo, WNBA, Fubo Partnership, How to Watch

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Wisconsin is the first Big Ten school to sign a jersey patch sponsorship. The Badgers inked a partnership with UW Health across four women’s sports.

The UW Health ad will appear on both home and away jerseys for Wisconsin women’s basketball, volleyball, hockey and softball, the school announced Thursday. Learfield and Badger Sports Properties facilitates the agreement, which will take effect with the 2026-27 school year.

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Additionally, Wisconsin female athletes will take part in different campaigns to promote health messages. UW Health is also the title sponsor for Badgers women’s sports.

“We are incredibly proud to have UW Health, a trusted and longtime partner, as the Badgers’ first jersey patch sponsor,” said Wisconsin athletics director Chris McIntosh in a statement. “Women’s sports have a powerful and storied legacy at Wisconsin, and UW Health’s landmark commitment sends a clear message about their support for our student athletes and the future we are building together for Wisconsin Athletics.”

Under the new NCAA legislation, which takes effect Aug. 1, schools will be able to place up to two additional commercial logos on uniforms and one additional logo on equipment during both the preseason and postseason. They can also add another logo on uniforms and apparel during conference championships.

Patches are limited to a maximum of 4 square inches per logo, according to the NCAA. The legislation is in effect for non-NCAA championship competition.

Wisconsin latest school to land jersey patch deal

Wisconsin is the third Power Five program to announce a jersey patch sponsorship since the NCAA approved new legislation in January. The other two are in the SEC. LSU signed an agreement with Woodside Energy across all sports while Arkansas landed a landmark partnership with Tyson Foods, which also spans across all Razorbacks sports programs.

Additionally, three Group of 6 schools are also cashing in through jersey patch ads. UNLV was one of the first to announce such an agreement, landing a partnership with Acceso Biologics in December ahead of the anticipated rule change. Acceso’s logo will appear on football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball jerseys.

In February, Louisiana-Monroe announced a partnership with Samaritan’s Purse for its football jerseys. Most recently, in late March, New Mexico State announced a deal with Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort and Casino late last month for six sports – football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, volleyball, baseball and softball.

Arguably no female college athletes have better maximized their NIL (name, image and likeness) opportunities while in college like the Cavinder Twins.

As college basketball players at Fresno State and Miami, Haley and Hanna Cavinder revolutionized how female athletes can utilize NIL by monetizing their personal social platforms. Those efforts helped the 25-year-old twins set the stage for their post-college careers as social media influencers and budding entrepreneurs, and maybe future WWE superstars.

Haley and Hanna Cavinder opened up about their own experience with NIL and how it helped shape their future outside of athletics during a recent sit-down with former WWE executive Stephanie McMahon, daughter of WWE co-founder Vince McMahon.

“I think nowadays, name, image and likeness for female athletes in college has been so huge,” Haley Cavinder told McMahon on her What’s Your Story? with Steph McMahon podcast. “Because even in women’s basketball, there’s such a limited percentage of you going pro. … So being able to learn about the networking and the name of the game in college for females has been good to see. The younger generation can (learn how) you can maximize your name, image and likeness in college and kind of profit off that, and then learn your entrepreneurial skills and business skills for the future when you graduate.

“So I think it’s been so beneficial for females, and it’s so good to see. Because you never would have thought (about) name, image and likeness for female athletes. It’s always about the quarterback at the big Power Five schools.”

McMahon harkened back to a previous conversation with Livvy Dunne about how the former LSU gymnast-turned-content creator started an educational program for female collegiate athletes to learn the ins and outs of making the most of their NIL opportunities while in school. It was then that Hanna Cavinder highlighted the importance of building a strong foundation while in school, including signing with a reputable agency, to better be able to hit the ground running upon graduation.

“And you can set yourself up right afterwards too. … How you continue it, because everybody’s always like, ‘What’s next?’ And I think it’s really important to have a team (around you),” Hanna Cavinder added. “We have a great agency that we’ve been with for five years and they’re very big on getting us equity within deals, having us start our own brands, and being very creative within those brands. So I think that’s really important too, and it’s amazing that Livvy is doing that too.”

The Cavinder twins first signed with WWE in 2021, as part of their Next In Line (NIL) program to develop college athletes into professional wrestlers. One of the signings from that class, Isaac Odugbesan (Oba Femi), is making his WrestleMania debut against Brock Lesnar in the coming weeks.

The Cavinders, meanwhile, have continued to bolster their public image by signing endorsement deals with Champs Sports, SoFi, Eastbay, and GoPuff. They were even tabbed as brand ambassadors for Under Armour in July 2024 and are part of MGM’s Final Four advertising this weekend in Las Vegas.

— On3’s Daniel Hager contributed to this report.

Geno Auriemma is leading 38-0 UConn into Phoenix for the Final Four on the hunt for his second straight national title and 13th overall for the Huskies. He’s been the torchbearer of success in the women’s game for over four decades, with more rings than fit on his fingers.

And though an undefeated champion in any sport is typically a legendary and rare feat, this season would be the seventh time his teams have done so. So how impressive is this season in the context of Auriemma’s indelible legacy? That’s for you to decide, and the task in front of them still looms large. Dawn Staley and South Carolina will try to end UConn’s perfect season in a rematch of last year’s championship in the Final Four this season.

So for now, let’s take a look back and rank the 12 championships.

12. 2003-2004

Record: 31-4

The last Taurasi championship and the culmination of UConn’s first three-peat. Yet, the season lacked the utter dominance of other Huskies’ campaigns on this list. It was the second straight season in which UConn didn’t win the Big East tournament following Sue Bird’s departure in 2002. The Huskies didn’t even make the final, losing to Boston College in the semifinals for their fourth loss on the year, a stain by UConn’s standards. It righted the ship in the NCAA Tournament, beating two No. 1 seeds and winning their last three games by an average of 12.3 points.

11. 2012-2013

Another four-loss UConn team ranks comparatively low here. The Huskies surrendered the Big East tournament title game to Notre Dame, which was the third time they’d lost to their rivals that season. Though with their fourth and final chance, in the Final Four, UConn rolled. Breanna Stewart, just a freshman, scored 29 points and blocked four shots to lead UConn past the Irish, 83-65, and into the championship against Louisville, which they beat 93-60. It was the first of four straight championships for Stewart.

10. 2024-2025

Record: 37-3

Like 2004 for Taurasi, the 2025 team was the culmination and coronation for the superstar future WNBA Draft No. 1 pick, guard Paige Bueckers. It had been nine seasons since Auriemma had won a national title — a lifetime in Storrs, Conn. — after the Huskies went cold after Stewart left for the WNBA in 2016. They saw the rise of Beuckers, who spent five seasons in Storrs, battled injury and became UConn’s all-time leader in career points per game (19.9). Even though the Huskies lost three games this season, Bueckers was Big East player of the year for the second time and was joined by Big East freshman of the year Sarah Strong to beat teams by an average of 32.8 points a game on their way back to the pinnacle of the sport.

9. 2014-2015

Record: 38-1

The third consecutive Stewart championship season was also the year that marked the start of an unfathomable winning streak. After a two-point overtime loss to Stanford in the second game of the season, the Huskies didn’t lose again until the Final Four in 2017, after Stewart left. In this season, even unknown to them at the time, the Huskies began an 111-game winning streak. UConn was offensively and defensively impermeable with a plus-40.6 average scoring differential throughout the season. Three All-Americans — Stewart (first team), Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Moriah Jefferson — led the Huskies. In a defensive 63-53 national championship win over Notre Dame, the latter two scored 15 points to aid the struggling Stewart, who only had 8 points that game.

8. 2002-2003

Record: 37-1

Unlike Taurasi’s senior year, in which the Huskies lost four games and went tumbling into the tournament, the 2003 UConn team displayed relatively normal dominance. In the first year without Bird, junior Taurasi took the reins, leading UConn in points (17.9), rebounds (6.1) and assists (4.4). The Huskies had lost four of five starters from the year prior, three of whom were All-Americans.

The Huskies won their six tournament games by an average of 16.5 points and battled with No. 2 Texas in the Final Four (71-69) and No. 1 Tennessee, coached by Pat Summitt and led by All-American guard Kara Lawson, in the championship (73-68). Though not as undeniably dominant as other UConn teams, it ranks admirably on this list for weathering challenges with a comparatively less talented roster and still producing a one-loss, championship season.

7. 1999-2000

Record: 36-1

These Huskies featured a sophomore quartet of future top-six WNBA Draft picks: Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Asjha Jones and Tamika Williams. That star power accented a team led by two first-team All-Americans in Shea Ralph and Svetlana Abrosimova. The Huskies ran roughshod over their schedule that year; however, it featured four heated battles with Tennessee and Auriemma’s rival, Summitt. A one-point loss to Tennessee was UConn’s only stumble, but it reestablished control over the Lady Vols with an authoritative 71-52 tournament championship win near Auriemma’s hometown of Philadelphia. Ralph led the way with 15 points, seven rebounds and six steals, while Jones added 12 off the bench to secure the first UConn championship of the new millennium.

6. 2013-2014

Record: 40-0

Little competition got in the way of Stewart’s second championship as the Huskies tied the record for the most wins in a championship-winning season. The Huskies allowed just 47.8 points per game while scoring 82.1 per game. Stewart, Bria Hartley and Stefanie Dolson were All-Americans. Stewart, a sophomore, averaged 19.4 points and 8.1 rebounds per game to win her first of three AP Player of the Year awards. She scored 21 points in UConn’s 79-58 national championship win over Notre Dame that year and was one of four players to score in double figures in that game.

5. 1994-1995

Record: 35-0

The one that started it all. Auriemma, at age 41 and in his 10th season at UConn, led a team headlined by All-Americans Rebecca Lobo, Jennifer Rizzotti and Kara Wolters on a 35-0 rampage to secure the first undefeated season and national championship in UConn history. Lobo was a transcendent force in the pre-WNBA era and won AP Player of the Year as a senior, averaging 17.1 points, 9.8 rebounds and 3.5 blocks for the Huskies. UConn averaged 89.5 points per game as a team and allowed just 56.3 per game.

4. 2009-2010

Record: 39-0

The Huskies are synonymous with rosters packed with future WNBA MVPs and Hall of Famers. The 2010 team featured the legendary duo of Maya Moore and Tina Charles, combining for two future WNBA MVPs. Charles was the national player of the year, and UConn steamrolled its way through March, winning every game before the title by an average of 41.6 points. This team trails the other Moore-Charles squad only because of its comparatively narrow 53-47 win over Stanford in the championship.

3. 2015-2016

Record: 38-0

Stewart’s fourth and final championship was her most dominant. Stewart averaged 19.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.4 blocks. UConn had a 39.7 scoring differential on its way to an undefeated season. It set the record for the highest combined margin of victory at the Final Four by winning its last two games of the season by a combined 60 points over Oregon State and Syracuse. The Huskies won their six tournament games by an average of 39.8 points. This team featured six current WNBA players, including Napheesa Collier, coming off the bench. Four players (Stewart, Morgan Tuck, Jefferson and Katie Lou Samuelson) averaged double figures.

2. 2008-2009

The first season of the Moore and Charles pairing was slightly more dominant, largely because of how advanced the pair was from everyone in the tournament and the added star power of Renee Montgomery. The Huskies averaged 85 points per game in March and outscored opponents by an average of 26 points per game. There were no close calls like the following year’s narrow win over Stanford. Charles took her turn as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, and Moore won National Player of the Year. The two would alternate the awards over the next few years. This was also Montgomery’s senior season before she was selected fourth in the 2009 WNBA Draft by the Minnesota Lynx. Montgomery, Moore and Charles combined to supply 52.3 points per game.

1. 2001-2002

Any team with Bird and Taurasi is destined for greatness. They collected hardware, whether with USA Basketball, where they combined for five gold medals, or overseas, where they won five EuroLeague titles. In 2002, the duo’s collaboration at UConn showed signs of the greatness to come. Bird, a senior, and Taurasi, a sophomore, alongside fellow future Hall of Famer Swin Cash, led the Huskies to an undefeated season, capped by a dominant 82-70 win over Oklahoma for the national championship. It marked the first of three straight titles, but the only one with Bird and Taurasi together.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Connecticut Huskies, Women's College Basketball

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Tennessee transfer Alyssa Latham has committed to Virginia Tech, sources told On3.

Latham, a 6-2 forward from Glenwood (IL) averaged 4.7 points and 3.4 rebounds per game this season for the Lady Vols. Latham entered the transfer portal as a grad transfer on March 25 and also visited Ole Miss before making her decision.

Latham was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team in 2023-24 following her rookie campaign at Syracuse. She averaged 8.6 points per game and seven rebounds to rank fourth and first on the team, respectively.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal tracker. The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter (X) account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.