The most important season in WNBA history, plus the NCAA tourney expansion

The most important season in WNBA history, plus the NCAA tourney expansion

Good morning! Last call for Pulse questions before we get some answers later this month. Thank you to everyone who’s submitted questions already. Coming up today: 

👋 The WNBA’s big moment

↔️ More NCAA tourney teams

🌀 Canes cruise, again

Arrivals: The new W is finally here

Millions of words and minutes have already been spent discussing this WNBA season, which is likely the most important in the history of the league. (We actually wrote that last year, too, but for different reasons.) A monumental new collective bargaining agreement is in place. Players are getting paid roughly quadruple what they made last year. TV rights deals are exploding. I could keep going. 

The short of it: This is when the W can truly take hold on a national level. The infrastructure and rewards are here. It’s a big deal. And the season officially starts tonight. 

We’ll write millions more words on every aspect over the next few months, but I want to bring in two of our experts, Sabreena Merchant and Annie Costabile, who happen to co-author a women’s basketball newsletter we just launched. 

They were nice enough to entertain my questions: 

Everything about this WNBA season off the court feels new. What are you most excited to watch on the court in the early going?

💬 Sabreena: So many things! Can the Liberty play a lineup all 6-foot-4 and taller with Breanna Stewart, Satou Sabally, Leonie Fiebich, Jonquel Jones and Han Xu? How do the Dallas Wings organize their backcourt? And finally, just happy to see Caitlin Clark back on the court after a season lost to injury. I’ve missed her audacious outlet passing.

Conversely, what’s one new reality/change of the WNBA we aren’t talking about enough, in light of offseason changes?

💬 Annie: The professionalism of the league across the board. The WNBA has fully gone mainstream, and with that comes heightened scrutiny and praise. Are the league and its players ready for that?

Give me your title pick and one sentence why:

💬 Sabreena: Aces over Liberty in six. Las Vegas has the best player and the best coach in the world, and that’ll edge the Aces over a roster that might be top-to-bottom more talented.

Give me a dark horse title pick and one sentence why:

💬 Annie: The Dallas Wings. The why is simple: General manager Curt Miller surrounded Paige Bueckers with playmakers who instantly make this team a playoff-caliber squad. Can they maximize that talent en route to a title? The answer is not no.

Thank you to Sabreena and Annie. Sign up for their newsletter here. Can you imagine if the Wings win it all?

News to Know

Tourney officially expands

The NCAA Tournament will feature 76 teams in both the men’s and women’s brackets next year, up from 68, which marks the biggest expansion to the field since 1985. It is a decision that reeks of a naked money grab, featuring a new “opening round” pitting the 12 lowest-seeded at-large teams against the 12 lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers. More games, more TV money. You can see our official breakdown here. 

Sweeps?

It wasn’t a great night in either the NHL or NBA postseasons for competitive series, which is why we didn’t mention them until now. Briefly: 

In the NBA, the Thunder went up 2-0 on the Lakers with another dominant home win. It’s easy to wonder what this series would look like with Luka Dončić playing for L.A. Doesn’t matter now. The Pistons also squeaked by the Cavaliers to take their own 2-0 series lead.

In the NHL, things don’t look great for the Flyers after a 4-1 loss to the Hurricanes at home. Carolina is now up 3-0.

More news:

Ohio state gambling regulators are investigating Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, they confirmed. Gulp.

World Cup ticket prices keep falling, even for USMNT games. More here.

Johnny Manziel will fight social media personality Bob Menery in an exhibition boxing match later this month. Sure.

Fox Sports will pay someone $50,000 to watch all the World Cup games in Times Square. No, seriously.

LAFC coach Marc Dos Santos called the actions of his Toluca counterpart Antonio Mohamed “clownish” following Toluca’s big win Wednesday. Catch up here.

📰 Find more news here 24/7.

Monitoring 👀: Our ears are on the ground

We had a great response to last week’s situation-monitoring, so we’ll make this a recurring Friday thing. Things I’ve got eyes on heading into the weekend: 

A Grand Slam boycott. We briefly mentioned it this week, but this could be a massive headache if it comes to fruition. While the world’s top female players haven’t planned an official movement, their words — led by world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka — were strong. “At some point, we’ll boycott,” she said. It’s all about money. Read about its possible impact here. 

LIV’s long tail. The fracas of LIV’s funding rug-pull has subsided, with the rogue league existing in a liminal state of discomfort for now. The next thing to monitor is which, if any, players jump ship from LIV back to the PGA Tour. Brody Miller ranked the full roster by worth to the PGA Tour, ranging from “The stars” to “Players who exist.” Keep an eye on this. 

The shift? Bueller? MLB banned the shift, to much angst, three years ago in an effort to bring the base hit back into baseball. A noble thought, considering how much the game had, ahem, shifted toward the polarity of home runs and strikeouts at the plate. Funny thing: It didn’t work. 

An NBA transfer window. As the league pines for a European spinoff, those new owners across the ocean proposed a soccer transfer-style system in which the NBA’s European clubs could pay top dollar to bring stateside superstars to the new league. It’s been shot down — for now. 

Million-dollar volleyball. Nebraska, Penn State, Florida and SMU — four of the top volleyball programs in the country — will play a round-robin tournament for a combined $1 million prize purse. It’s another sign of volleyball’s spike (sorry) in popularity. 

And, I guess, Aaron Rodgers. The quarterback will visit Pittsburgh “in the coming days” for a resolution on whether he’ll play next season. I wonder how many times we’ll do this.

Thank you for your vigilance. Almost done:

Watch Guide

📺 NBA: Conference semifinals****7 p.m. ET on Prime VideoIt’s go time for Philadelphia in our first game of the night, Knicks-76ers, which tips at 7 p.m. in Philly. Going down 3-0 is a near-certain death knell for the season. The nightcap features Spurs-Wolves in Minnesota, where anything can happen in that 1-1 series. 

📺 NHL: Second round****7 p.m. ET on TNT and HBO MaxA perfect night of hockey ahead with Canadiens-Sabres Game 2 at 7 p.m. and Ducks-Golden Knights Game 3 following at 9:30 p.m. Could be our two best series remaining. 

📺 WNBA: Mystics at Tempo****7:30 p.m. ET on IONThere’s no better spot to be for the W’s opening night than with one of its two new teams, the Toronto Tempo, whose mad dash to form an entire franchise is a great story alone. We also have a full watch guide for all the weekend’s games.

Get tickets to games like these here.

Pulse Picks

Remember when two men broke the two-hour marathon mark in London? It was a stunning, incredible feat. They both wore the same shoe, which might be magical. 

Pirates star Oneil Cruz hit a home run off the top of the foul pole. In a way only he can, Jayson Stark explained how absurd that is. 

The biggest Karl Anthony-Towns fan is the mother of a fallen Marine. Make time for this story today.

A question I had, answered: Why do Kentucky Derby winners keep skipping the Preakness?

I loved this story from earlier in the week on Robbin Stowers, the greatest grandmother in sports card history. 

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The IndyCar racist T-shirt controversy. 

Most-read on the website yesterday: 2026 NHL mock draft.

📫 That’s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic.com, check out our other newsletters and connect with me on Instagram for more.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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