Basketball is basketball.
On Friday afternoon, the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo will, finally, have players. WNBA Expansion Draft 2026 is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET (ESPN). Ahead of the first significant event on the WNBA’s compressed offseason calendar, Josh Felton took a stab at predicting which five players each team would protect. Now, Cat Ariail and Zack […]
McDonald’s is the perfect sponsor for the nation’s primer high school all-star game. The game excites with plenty of tasty morsels, but there’s also a lot of empty calories. The 2026 McDonald’s All American game provided plenty of both. Players sometimes too-eagerly called their own number. At other moments, many tried to force ambitious passes. […]
Emma Giacchetti has been putting the basketball world on notice for a while now thanks to her play for Magnolia La Molisana Campobasso, currently the third-place team in Serie A1, the top women’s pro basketball league in Italy, and the Italian national team. The 5-foot-10 19-year-old is versatile, capable of playing point guard, shooting guard […]
Yes, with an all-No. 1 seed Final Four on deck for Friday, there’s plenty to be excited for the right now in women’s college basketball. And yet, it’s also not too soon to be dreaming about what’s next, as Tuesday night (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) 24 players who hope to be preparing for the 2027 […]
Great basketball was on display in both Elite Eights games on Monday night. The problem was that it resulted in two one-sided affairs. No. 1-seed Texas obliterated No. 2-seed Michigan 77-41, and No. 1-seed South Carolina cruised to a 78-52 victory over No. 3-seed TCU. With the other two No. 1 seeds, UCLA and UConn, […]
Two more spots in the Final Four are available for the taking. No. 1-seeds Texas and South Carolina believe they belong to them. And why shouldn’t they? The Longhorns are looking for a third-straight trip to the Final Four; for the Gamecocks, one more win would put them in the Final Four for the sixth-straight […]
For so long, the WNBA, and women’s basketball period, was underfunded, underappreciated and underestimated. Ebbs and flows of modest success came and went as those in the game continuously scrapped and clawed their way up the ladder. In the last few years, women’s basketball has seen an explosion in popularity that those who lived before […]
Historically, Notre Dame has given UConn more trouble than any other program. That also might prove true in this NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately for the Irish, giving the Huskies trouble meant remaining in striking distance for three and a half quarters. Then, the rims that head coach Geno Auriemma had criticized eventually relented, with a late […]
Welcome to the first day of the 2026 Elite Eight! We’ve got No. 6-seed Notre Dame facing No. 1-overall seed UConn in Fort Worth on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on ABC. Then, No. 3-seed Duke will meet No. 1-seed UCLA in Sacramento at 3 p.m. ET, also on ABC. The Huskies and Bruins are […]
Saturday’s NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 action didn’t exactly provide the thrills and chills that makes March magical. Dominance, more than drama, ruled the day. The day’s final game, at least, did not totally slam the door on any excitement, even as No. 3-seed TCU completed a double-digit win, 79-69, over No. 10-seed Virginia. Through the […]
Good news? Bad news? Or, a mix of both? The Houston Comets are coming back! The Connecticut Sun are going away. The long-rumored relocation of the Sun from Connecticut to Houston, with the concomitant revival of the Comets branding, is happening, as first reported by PaperCity Magazine. Per ESPN, an official announcement is expected to […]
The ACC continues to boggle our minds as we enter the second day of the Sweet 16. Two more ACC teams aim for upsets today, so let’s take a look at them, as well as the two from the SEC who are hoping for unexpected victories. Here’s what to watch for on Saturday. Join the […]
We have a new frontrunner for the performance of the NCAA Tournament. Hello, Hannah Hidalgo! Hidalgo had an unreal triple-double in No. 6-seed Notre Dame’s 67-64 upset win over No. 2-seed Vanderbilt. She had a stat line of 31 points, 10 steals and 11 rebounds. Registering that many steals is rare, and such defensive pressure […]
The WNBA offseason is officially in overdrive. The Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo are set to have an expansion draft in one week. Then, a historic wave of free agency action will sweep the league. The decisions facing WNBA have never been harder. As a first step, here’s a look at the five players every […]
The 2026 NCAA Basketball Tournament resumes this Friday, March 27 with the Sweet 16, and for many, this is when the competition really gets good. Aside from a couple of lower-seeded teams that may still be dancing, the Sweet 16 typically pits higher seeds against one another, meaning there will be no shortage of must-see […]
As we enter another weekend of the NCAA Tournament, brackets have been busted, upsets have occurred and 16 teams remain. So far, all the No. 1 seeds are still in the game, and none of them have been tested yet. Through eight contests, the top seeds have a margin of victory of 45.8 points. However, […]
From the summer to the fall of 2018, Lindsay Whalen went from point guard of the Minnesota Lynx to head coach of the University of Minnesota women’s basketball team. She retired having played the final nine seasons of her 15-year WNBA career as a Lynx, and it was no surprise that the Hutchinson, MN native […]
After the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, one single bracket remains standing. Given the drought of upsets in women’s basketball, especially with NIL and the portal filtering talent towards top teams at never-seen-before levels, the women’s bracket has become slightly more predictable than the men’s bracket. There were only two upsets in the […]
The first order of business in the forthcoming WNBA offseason frenzy is officially on the calendar. WNBA Expansion Draft 2026 will be held on Friday, April 3 at 3:30 p.m. ET. The draft will be broadcast on ESPN. A coin toss will be held between the two expansion teams, the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo, […]
The 2026 NCAA Tournament is off to an exciting start, and through the first two rounds we’ve seen several WNBA hopefuls build on their cases to be drafted. Last week, we identified five WNBA Draft prospects who could use strong NCAA Tournament performances to boost their draft stock; now, with a short break before the […]
Well, despite the challenges it took to get here, the WNBA offseason is now officially underway. With a two-team expansion draft, a traditional draft and free agency needing to be completed before the games can begin, teams will be moving at a blistering speed to fill up an offseason of activity in just a matter […]
On Tuesday, the WNBA board of governors unanimously ratified the new seven-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA), meaning the league is guaranteed to tip off its 30th season on May 8. As both the players and owners have ratified the agreement, more details about its contents have emerged, with ESPN’s Alexa Philippou and Kendra Andrews accessing […]
Swish Appeal’s contributing photographer Christina Merrion was in the building for the second-round NCAA Tournament game between No. 1-seed South Carolina and No. 9-seed USC. The game also served as the second SC-vs.-SC showdown, at the two teams met in Los Angeles in mid-November to determine “The Real SC.” South Carolina, even more authoritatively, asserted […]
The new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is almost official. On Monday, the WNBPA ratified the agreement with unanimous approval as over 90 percent of players participated in the vote. Next up is ratification from the WNBA board of governors. Nevertheless, official or not, the arrival of a new CBA is an opportunity for WNBA fans […]
The women’s college basketball coaching carousel already has started spinning, with Power Four programs wasting little time making moves. Which dismissals have disappointed you? Did someone not get a fair shake? Which ones were deserved? Who else do you think will be, or should be, shown the door? (Yes, all eyes are wandering towards the […]