Culture
How Sabrina Ionescu went from ‘dark days’ of injury to the brink of a WNBA championship
Follow live coverage of Lynx vs. Liberty in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals today
NEW YORK — Sabrina Ionescu could barely walk during last season’s WNBA Finals. The New York Liberty star needed an injection into her aching hip to even take the floor in the early games of the series against the Las Vegas Aces. She struggled to score, and as the Aces were en route to clinching the championship in a one-point victory on the Liberty’s home court last October, Ionescu threw up into a sideline trash can.
The Liberty and Aces were billed as the WNBA’s super-teams last year because of their star power, including Ionescu. But Vegas made a statement and left a lasting scar for Ionescu.
“Losing,” she said, “motivates you.”
The Liberty had room for growth, and Ionescu recognized that included her. Before traveling home to California last fall, she met with New York’s coaching staff. They discussed in detail how she could improve. While she was good with the ball in her hand, they told her she was too easily defended off-ball. They stressed identifying and taking advantage of pick-and-roll situations. They wanted Ionescu to become a better cutter, play with different speeds and attack the basket more.
Once healthy, she got to work with no physical limitations or, apparently, without a ceiling on how hard she’d push herself.
“It’s just about wanting to be better all the time and not really being OK with being complacent,” Ionescu said.
She was in the gym constantly. She worked on her handle and quickness. She added various floaters to her game. She focused on pulling up out of different dribble variations and utilizing her strength. She played five-on-five against current and former Pac-12 players, WNBA players and overseas pros. “Nothing compares to defense and live reps,” she said.
That wasn’t even enough. Ionescu devised challenges to make difficult drills even tougher. Her trainer recalled a catch-and-shoot sequence in which Ionescu was tasked to make 20 deep 3-pointers, requiring the last five be consecutive. Ionescu added that each needed to be all net. After making 13 in a row, she called out that a few had barely grazed the rim. “No absolutely, not. These don’t count,” she said. She started the sequence again.
“Being able to go full blast was a whole different story,” said Breen Weeks, her basketball skills trainer the last two offseasons.
Another time, Ionescu made herself hit five one-dribble, same-handed, same-footed floaters, but she required the last three be banked in off the glass without using her right hand as a guide. “If she didn’t like the height on it, (it) doesn’t count,” Weeks said. “That’s how obsessive she is. That’s how locked in and detailed she is. I call her a cold-blooded competitor.”
Said Ionescu: “I know I can make a shot, but I want to continue to challenge myself to chase perfection. Sometimes that’s with a swish, sometimes that’s with a challenging move.”
Sabrina Ionescu turned up the heat in Game 4 🔥
With 22 points and 5-of-8 from beyond the arc, she lit up the court and energized the Liberty for the WIN #WelcometotheW pic.twitter.com/1zcSvivVlm
— WNBA (@WNBA) October 6, 2024
Taking difficult moments head on has been a theme through the early stages of Ionescu’s career, which has been marked with accomplishments but also injuries and shortcomings. But her competitive obsessiveness this offseason has elevated her game to new heights. She gets downhill more and is now New York’s primary ballhandler, averaging a career-high 18.2 points and 6.2 assists per game, and playing more minutes than ever.
It culminated in guiding the Liberty back to the WNBA Finals and to the doorstep of a franchise peak. Following its loss last season, New York — one of the WNBA’s original teams — is in position to win its first championship, taking on the Minnesota Lynx in Game 1 on Thursday.
“It’s been really rewarding to see my true self come out,” Ionescu said.
Those who know Ionescu best aren’t surprised that she lived in a gym all winter and spring. As a high school sophomore on the way to becoming one of the nation’s top recruits in Orinda, Calif., her coach gave her a key to the school’s gym. She practiced there late into the night so often that the school principal informed Miramonte High School’s janitorial staff to “just leave her alone and let her shoot,” her coach Kelly Sopak said.
When coach Kelly Graves recruited Ionescu to Oregon, he told her the university’s practice facility was open 24/7 for players, but she quickly learned that wasn’t necessarily true. Ionescu was booted out of the facility on her first night on campus by a security guard, the first of many times throughout her college career. “She was the only player that I’ve ever had that’s been kicked out of the practice facility,” Graves said.
That work ethic was vital as Ionescu’s celebrated entry to the WNBA was quickly marred by injuries. Ionescu was the No. 1 pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft, but she suffered a severe ankle sprain in her third WNBA game and she missed the remainder of her rookie season. Ankle pain lingered throughout the 2021 season, and it wasn’t until the 2022 campaign she said she was fully healed. Still, thoughts of injuries remained with her, later recalling those plagued stretches her “dark days.” Finishing an entire season healthy was a goal, in the same way as winning a championship.
“She just competes against herself,” Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb said.
When the Liberty reconvened in the spring, assistant coach Olaf Lange said he quickly noticed “the flashes were there in training camp.” Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello took note of Ionescu’s improved explosiveness.
By her 14th game, Ionescu had made more floaters than she did in all of 2023. Heading into the finals, 37.2 percent of her shot attempts had been runners or at the rim, up from 26.3 percent last year, according to Synergy Sports. “When she’s aggressive like that it kind of opens things up for everyone else,” Liberty teammate Breanna Stewart said.
Stewart and Jonquel Jones are New York’s lone players with MVP awards on their resumés, but Ionescu is arguably the franchise’s motor. Aces coach Becky Hammon said the 5-foot-11 guard is “what makes (New York) go with her pace, her ability to read, her ability to put defenses in different dilemmas.” Hammon called her the Liberty’s “head of the snake.”
“I love her shooting, everything that she brings to the game. Even just her finishing around the rim, I think has been a bit better,” Hammon said. “It’s tough when you take really, really good players, and they get better.”
It’s why Las Vegas sought to specifically shut her down in Game 3 (Ionescu’s four points were her second-lowest of the season). Stop Ionescu, the Aces believed, and they could get back into the semifinals. Then Game 4 happened. Ionescu scored 12 first-quarter points en route to an eventual team-high 22 to close the door on the Aces’ comeback attempt.
Stopping Ionescu consistently this season has proved challenging, not just statistically, but because of the new confidence she is playing with. “Sometimes early in her career, I thought when she feels the crowd, she just wants to make a play and force the issue,” Lange said. “As of late, she lets it come to her.”
As Sopak watches Ionescu throughout New York’s postseason run, he has had constant flashbacks. He recalled a middle school contest when she hit a late runner off the glass that reminded him very much of a late-game shot over A’ja Wilson in New York’s Game 2 win over the Aces. With the Liberty leading by only one point with 11.6 seconds left, Ionescu approached the free-throw line looking to close out the win. She missed the first free throw, however, and from his home in California, Sopak said, “St. Mary’s–Stockton.”
The meaning dates back to Ionescu’s freshman year of high school, when Ionescu was fouled and went to the line for a one-and-one against what Sopak said was a top-10 program. She missed the front-end, and Miramonte lost by a point. The loss motivated Ionescu to avoid being in that position again.
“You can’t sugar coat it with Sabrina,” Sopak said. He said he told her after that game: “If you’re to be a great player, you’re going to have to be prepared for failure. If you’re not willing to lose that game and take the consequences of it, then you’re never going to win it.”
Ionescu doesn’t shy away from key moments. It’s why Sopak had no doubt she would make the second free throw. She embraces trying to win games, not just avoiding losing them. “She’s not proving anything anymore,” Sopak said.
Over the last three weeks, Ionescu has dapped up Spike Lee, fallen into Carmelo Anthony’s lap and sung with Alicia Keys. She fist-pumped after making 3-pointers, waved her hands to amp up Barclays Center crowds and iced playoff wins at the free-throw line.
Amid all the fanfare and the victories, Ionescu’s drive has been evident. After she tied New York’s franchise playoff-record with 36 points to close out its first-round series with the Atlanta Dream, she sat in a corner of the Liberty locker room and took a rare breath.
“Good f— job,” Ionescu said to her teammates as she fixed her headband. “This game wasn’t perfect, but we played hard. We played hard for 40 minutes and we just chipped away.”
Sabrina Ionescu: “Spike Lee gave me a high five … and I felt like New York was just injected into my veins at that moment. I was like, ‘We’re winning this.’” 😂pic.twitter.com/bnevwhIz0Z
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) September 25, 2024
Healthy, focused and confident, Ionescu said she’s felt more comfortable with being vocal and showing who she is. “People have been able to see a little bit more of my personality this year, who I am as a person,” she said. “Because I’ve just felt more confident in myself.”
She is in the ear of coaches about what she can do to score and how she wants to help her teammates succeed. At a recent practice, she urged the staff to continue repping out-of-bounds plays instead of taking a water break. Every minute, and every drill, matters.
Winning a ring is paramount, she said. She said she’s thought about what it would feel like to be victorious, and what it would mean for her teammates, for a Liberty franchise that has lost its five prior trips to the finals, and for New York City, which hasn’t won a basketball title since the 1970s.
“I’ve been thinking about a championship since we lost last year,” Ionescu said.
(Illustration: Daniel Goldfarb / The Athletic; Top photo of Sabrina Ionescu: Evan Yu / NBAE, Mitchell Leff / Getty)
Culture
Court Vision: 11 things to know about 2024-25 NCAA men’s college basketball season before tipoff
It’s a long wait from the first weekend in April until the first week of November, but at last, the men’s college basketball season is upon us.
We’ve already shared The Athletic’s preseason conference rankings, full of stats and analysis. We’ve rolled out our preseason All-America teams and Top 25. And there’s plenty more to come. Consider this my first national column, which will regularly cover the week that was and preview the weekend that will be.
So, before the games actually tip off, let’s get you caught up on everything you need to know.
1. UConn’s quest for a three-peat is historic — but not impossible
Last season, Connecticut became just the third program in the modern era to win back-to-back national titles, joining Florida (2006 and 2007) and Duke (1991 and 1992).
But neither the Gators nor the Blue Devils were able to run things back a third time. Which means the only team that’s ever won three straight is still John Wooden’s UCLA dynasty, which won seven consecutive championships from 1967 to ’73 (and 10 over a 12-year span). But Dan Hurley wouldn’t have turned down the Los Angeles Lakers’ head-coaching job this summer if his team didn’t have a realistic shot at cutting down the nets (again) in 2025.
Beyond the difficulty of winning a single-elimination tournament three years running is that Hurley, 51, keeps losing his best players. After his first title, three starters left for the NBA. After UConn won it all again, Hurley lost four more starters. At least Hurley convinced redshirt junior Alex Karaban to come back … but now he needs the 6-foot-9 forward to go from highly efficient role player to a true All-American.
Karaban will get help from guard Aidan Mahaney (Saint Mary’s) and center Tarris Reed Jr. (Michigan), both top-50 transfers according to The Athletic’s list of best available players, and five-star wing Liam McNeeley was the No. 17 recruit in the nation. Hurley also needs his role players from the past two seasons to take the leap. There’s enough talent here to make another run. And if UConn does? It would cement Hurley not just as the best coach of the modern era, but one of the best the sport has ever seen.
2. The coaching carousel
Who knew that SMU firing Rob Lanier would be so consequential?
But that became the first domino in a wild offseason. SMU, ahead of its move to the ACC, quickly hired Andy Enfield away from USC, which paved the way for Eric Musselman to leave Arkansas for Los Angeles. The Razorbacks responded with a home run swing: luring Hall of Famer John Calipari away from his lifetime contract at Kentucky as his act appeared to be wearing thin in Lexington. (A blue-blood coaching change, for the fourth straight offseason.)
Kentucky settled on BYU coach Mark Pope — a captain on UK’s 1996 championship team — as Calipari’s successor, after its pursuit of Baylor coach Scott Drew came up short. BYU hired former Phoenix Suns assistant Kevin Young, who has seemingly unlocked the Cougars’ name, image and likeness vault.
POV: You are in section 224 during @CoachMarkPope‘s introduction during #BBM24. pic.twitter.com/Vchb6UQ1a5
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) October 14, 2024
Those interconnected dominoes don’t even factor in Michigan winning the sweepstakes for Dusty May, who took Florida Atlantic to its lone Final Four. Louisville, which ended its disastrous two-year Kenny Payne experiment, pivoted to Charleston’s Pat Kelsey.
Tony Bennett’s recent abrupt retirement from Virginia, where he hung the program’s only national championship banner in 2019, left the ACC without a championship-winning coach for the first time since 1981-82. Ron Sanchez (former head coach at Charlotte) was named interim coach and will have every opportunity to win the full-time job. And lastly, tragically, South Florida coach Amir Abdur-Rahim — who led Kennesaw State to its first NCAA Tournament appearance and was a rising star — died last week at age 43 due to complications from a medical procedure. Assistant Ben Fletcher will be the interim.
3. Zach Edey is gone, but there’s still returning star power
Edey — the first two-time Wooden Award winner since Ralph Sampson in the 1980s — is gone to the NBA, but The Athletic’s preseason All-America teams include several accomplished players.
North Carolina guard RJ Davis is the only first-team All-American back from last season, but two second-team honorees also return: Alabama guard Mark Sears and Kansas center Hunter Dickinson. (Thank the extra COVID-19 year of eligibility for guys sticking in school long enough to become household names.) Karaban is the face of UConn’s bid for a three-peat, Arizona guard Caleb Love is two seasons removed from ending Mike Krzyzewski’s Hall of Fame career, and Purdue guard Braden Smith is set to step out of Edey’s enormous shadow.
That’s just a snippet of the talent back. But there’s also …
4. Cooper Flagg, the most hyped high school prospect since …?
Welcome to the year of Flagg. The 6-foot-9 Maine native was the top-ranked recruit in this year’s freshman class, and he’s long been the front-runner to go No. 1 in the 2025 NBA Draft. It’s not hyperbolic to call him the most-anticipated high school recruit since Anthony Davis at Kentucky in 2011-12. And the nine months “The Brow” was on campus turned out pretty well for the Wildcats, no? Duke and third-year coach Jon Scheyer are hoping Flagg leads the Blue Devils to similar national championship heights — and talent-starved NBA fans in Washington, Brooklyn and Detroit are watching just as eagerly.
Flagg’s hype train hit a new gear after his performance this summer at Team USA camp. Despite being the lone college representative on the Select Team — which featured rising NBAers like Brandon Miller and Jalen Suggs — Flagg was, at times, the best player on the court.
Flagg is a better defensive player than offensive one at this point, but he can still pour it in as a scorer. Regardless, Duke’s do-everything centerpiece will have a spotlight trained on him for good reason: He’s the rare talent, even at 17, who can lead a team to a national championship.
COOP &1 @Cooper_Flagg pic.twitter.com/P9pCUnbjuf
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) October 28, 2024
5. Experience rules
When the 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled due to COVID-19, the NCAA granted every player that season an additional year of eligibility. In the final season with those players still active, what is the legacy of that decision? The most experienced era in the recent history of the sport.
According to NCAA data, in 2018-19 — the final full season before the pandemic — the average experience level for DI men’s players was 2.41 years; for this season, it’s up to 2.62. But that data isn’t totally representative because it counts fifth-year players like normal seniors. If it accounted for the additional year, the average is pushed even higher. Take Xavier, the most experienced high-major team in the country this season. The Musketeers’ average experience is 3.35 years, per NCAA data. But if you account for the team’s eight fifth-year players, that figure rises to 3.53.
As for how experience correlates to winning? There have been only two freshman starters in the past two Final Fours combined, both for UConn: Karaban (2023) and Stephon Castle (2024). Duke, or another freshman-heavy team, may reverse that narrative this season. But recent history suggests experience is more valuable than ever.
6. Rutgers has 2 of the nation’s top 3 recruits
The only school in the past decade to land two of the nation’s top three recruits was Duke, until this summer. But by signing forward Ace Bailey (No. 2 nationally, per the 247Sports Composite) and point guard Dylan Harper (No. 3), Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell has accomplished the seemingly impossible in New Jersey. (The wonders that a family legacy — Harper’s older brother, Ron Harper Jr., also played at Rutgers — and a robust NIL pitch can do.)
Both Bailey and Harper are projected top-five picks in next summer’s NBA Draft — and they could even challenge Flagg to go first if they lead the Scarlet Knights to the NCAA Tournament.
At 6 feet 6 and 215 pounds, Harper has ideal size for a lead guard, and he offers polished three-level scoring ability. Bailey is more raw, but there aren’t many prospects with his athleticism at 6 feet 10. They’ll be asked to carry a heavy load in a Big Ten predicated on physicality and post play.
7. Another transfer portal cycle sees top names find new homes
Where did some of the top names wind up? Former Final Four participants — point guard Jeremy Roach (Duke) and forward Norchad Omier (Miami) — will team up at Baylor this season. The remaining cornerstones from Florida Atlantic’s 2023 Final Four team scattered, as well; center Vlad Goldin followed May to Michigan, guard Johnell Davis went to Arkansas, while guard Alijah Martin stayed in Florida and joined the Gators.
Tucker DeVries — the two-time Missouri Valley Player of the Year and the No. 1 transfer in The Athletic’s rankings — went with his father, Darian, to West Virginia. New Saint Louis coach Josh Schertz brought his best player, the goggle-wearing Robbie Avila, with him from Indiana State. Forward Great Osobor moved from Utah State to Washington to stay with coach Danny Sprinkle.
Coleman Hawkins (Illinois) picked Kansas State. Rylan Griffen left one Final Four team (Alabama) for another potential one (Kansas). Louisville brought in an entire new roster, headlined by Chucky Hepburn (Louisville), Terrence Edwards Jr. (James Madison) and Kasean Pryor (USF). We could go on.
8. Can the Big Ten end its 25-year national title drought? It looks unlikely
No Big Ten team has won it all since Tom Izzo captured his first (and only) title with Michigan State in 2000.
Since then, eight Big Ten teams — Indiana (2002), Illinois (2005), Ohio State (2007), Michigan State (2009), Michigan (2013), Wisconsin (2015), Michigan (2018) and Purdue (2024) — have made it to the championship game, but none have finished the job. Eleven coaches surveyed by The Athletic largely agreed that probably speaks more to the randomness of March Madness than any overarching condemnation of one conference but also spoke to style of play.
It seems unlikely the Big Ten snaps its dry spell this season. Purdue is the top-ranked preseason team in the league at No. 14, followed by Indiana (No. 17), UCLA (No. 22) and Rutgers (No. 25). There just doesn’t appear to be one or two clear front-runners. However …
9. Could we see a record for NCAA Tournament teams from one league?
The Big East holds the single-season record for NCAA Tournament bids by one league, when 11 of its 16 teams qualified in 2011. But with conference realignment leading to larger high-major leagues, will the record be broken this season?
Possible, but still improbable. Three leagues seem best-positioned: the SEC, Big Ten or Big 12. The SEC has nine teams ranked in the preseason Top 25 and a 10th (Mississippi State) that received votes in the poll. The Big Ten has seven others who received preseason votes in addition to the four ranked. The Big 12 is top-heavy; six of its teams are ranked, with the potential for more to emerge from its meaty middle class.
Even if it doesn’t happen this season, we expect that 11-bid mark to eventually be topped. It could also fall soon if there is moderate NCAA Tournament expansion, which could be implemented as soon as the 2026 bracket. Over the summer, The Athletic reported that the NCAA had presented proposals for both a 72- and 76-team field to DI conference commissioners. Under both proposals, the First Four would be expanded to include at least four more at-large teams.
How much of an appetite is there to expand the 68-team field? Enough, although not to a major extent. But multiple high-major conference commissioners — including the SEC’s Greg Sankey and the ACC’s Jim Phillips — have previously expressed an interest in exploring tournament expansion. Talks remain ongoing.
10. Final Four predictions
In our staff survey, 11 teams earned Final Four votes: Gonzaga (8), Alabama (6), UConn (5), Houston (5), Kansas (5), Iowa State (4), Duke (2), Baylor (2), Arizona, Arkansas and Texas A&M.
Of those schools, five were picked as the preseason national champion at least once — but none more than Gonzaga, whom three of our experts picked to deliver Mark Few’s long-awaited first title. (The others? Alabama, Kansas, UConn and Houston.) That group makes up the clear top cluster of teams expected to compete to win it all.
11. Cheers to the schedule-makers for great opening-week games
Here are 10 of the opening-week matchups circled on our calendar, featuring 10 different ranked teams (times ET):
Monday
No. 13 Texas A&M at UCF, 7 p.m.
Missouri at Memphis, 8 p.m.
No. 19 Texas vs. Ohio State, 10 p.m.
No. 8 Baylor at No. 6 Gonzaga, 11:30 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 8
No. 9 North Carolina at No. 1 Kansas, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 9
No. 12 Tennessee at Louisville, noon
No. 8 Baylor vs. No. 16 Arkansas, 7:30 p.m.
Northwestern at Dayton, 7:30 p.m.
No. 11 Auburn vs. No. 4 Houston, 9:30 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 10
Michigan vs. Wake Forest, 1 p.m.
(Photo of UConn’s Alex Karaban: Brett Wilhelm / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
Culture
A Poem About Waiting, and Wishing You Had a Drink
If you ever see me at a party, I’ll most likely be standing off to the side, looking slightly lost, staring down into my glass. Perhaps you’re that way too — introverted, awkward, thirsty. Nice to meet you. And since we’re here, may I introduce you to my friend Philip? Or perhaps you’ve already met.
The posthumous publication of Larkin’s letters revealed him to be something uglier than a garden-variety curmudgeon. The private expressions of misogyny, antisemitism and xenophobia he shared with friends have dented his reputation in the years since his death.
If he hasn’t been fully canceled, it may be because his gift for self-cancellation makes such censure redundant. Larkin writes from the standpoint of someone who is out of touch, out of step and out of sorts, with himself and everyone around him. He’ll never be the life of the party, and you may wonder why anyone invited him in the first place.
Nonetheless, it’s good to see him there. For one thing, it’s nice to know that someone might be having a worse time than you are. He even has a theory about why some people have a better time than others; in fact, he’s an expert on the subject.
Misery loves company, and this miserable chap turns out to be just the companion you’re looking for, at least until you can find another drink.
Culture
Emma Hayes struck balance between USWNT celebration and evaluation, winning the October window
Center back Naomi Girma stole the show in Louisville as the U.S. women’s national team wrapped up the international window with its third win. But the real story of that October camp is the sheer amount of evaluation head coach Emma Hayes managed in addition to the celebratory nature of the team’s Olympics gold medal victory tour.
“I got out of it what I wanted to get out of it,” Hayes said Wednesday. “A ton of debutants, managed minutes for everyone that’s still in NWSL play, (and) a chance to develop some things that, for us, we set as targets for ourselves on the training pitch.”
Hayes has backed up everything she has said since taking over the job in May, going back to her first media appearances in New York City this spring — specifically: club form matters. While her hands were tied slightly in this window as Olympics celebrations meant she had to call up every healthy member of the squad that went to the Games in France in the summer, she used her remaining roster spots to the fullest. She also maximized rotation, not just in the starting line-ups and her substitute choices, but the 23-player game-day rosters.
All seven uncapped players on the roster, including a mid-camp addition, earned their first USWNT minutes.
Orlando Pride defender Emily Sams and Washington Spirit midfielder Hal Hershfelt were in France as alternates but did not see the field. Racing Louisville forward Emma Sears immediately impressed in her debut as only the fourth player in program history to record a goal and assist in her first cap. Bay FC defender Alyssa Malonson nabbed her first assist in her debut Wednesday against Argentina, playing provider to Girma. Paris Saint-Germain’s Eva Gaetino, Utah Royals’ Mandy Haught and Gotham FC’s Yazmeen Ryan rounded out the new kids.
3 – Three different #USWNT players (Eva Gaetino, Mandy Haught & Alyssa Malonson) will be starting in their national team debut in the same game for the first time since four did so on March 7, 2001 against Italy. Newcomers. pic.twitter.com/mzv4oVFFUL
— OptaJack⚽️ (@OptaJack) October 30, 2024
There were important returns too. Alyssa Thompson finally scored her first international goal in her return to the national team after missing out on the Olympic roster, and Ashley Sanchez and Hailie Mace picked up minutes against Argentina.
It’s hard to disagree with Hayes’ approach to club form after a successful window because she achieved all of her objectives and captured three multi-goal wins. As a bonus, she also finally saw the team down a goal, forced into mounting a comeback against Iceland in Nashville on Sunday. It was the first time the USWNT had fallen behind in a game managed by Hayes.
The challenge now is figuring out how much these matches actually matter in the long run. While the friendlies were fun to watch — no one will complain about a Girma brace either — with so much focus on rotation and evaluation, it feels more like one of the first pieces to the larger puzzle. One that won’t be completed for a few more years.
The back half of 2024 has generally felt like a period for recovery and big-picture thinking at the senior team level.
While the next and final window of the year in late November and early December involves two high-profile European opponents on the road, the friendlies against England and the Netherlands will likely be an outlier from this period. Higher-profile opponents mean higher stakes, but it’s fair to expect Hayes to again use the full depth of her roster with an eye on evaluation and development.
Our last home game of the year did not disappoint! ⚡
A sold-out stadium, three international debuts and two goals by center back extraordinaire Naomi Girma! #USWNT x @JimBeam pic.twitter.com/ab7bcLUX8u
— U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (@USWNT) October 31, 2024
Hayes has already shown she’s not afraid of big moments and prioritized using the depth of her roster to bring Jaedyn Shaw, Croix Bethune and others to their first major tournament this summer. While the starting XI against England on November 30 is sure to be the strongest possible, Hayes has another chance to ensure that players who will be crucial to the team’s success two or three years down the line experience an environment like Wembley Stadium as well.
The true sign of things to come will be January’s Futures Camp, which Hayes promised to run concurrently with the full senior team camp in Los Angeles. The USWNT hasn’t run a talent and identification camp since 2019, shortly after Vlatko Andonovski took over the team, but it was the only one to occur during his four-year tenure.
Hayes has promised to cast a wide net, especially following semifinal appearances from the under-20 and under-17 teams in their respective World Cups this year. But for all the angst over the past few years about generational change, the runway has finally been fully cleared.
The Olympics were the most obvious symbolic gesture of the end of one USWNT era, with Alex Morgan not named to the roster. It was a surprise sunsetting of a generational player but was also a testament to the team she helped build.
GO DEEPER
Alex Morgan has designed her own USWNT exit by setting the next generation up for success
There are more options than ever before in every position. Making the U.S. roster seems harder than it’s been in the past, but doing so is also more clearly tied to form and thus more transparent than ever. Hayes has finally truly buried that “emergency surgery” line she came in with and led the team to Olympic gold, and as promised, the larger work is now underway.
These three games provided a good start, but were just a start nonetheless.
The first 270 minutes of the cycle leading to the 2027 World Cup in Brazil and home-turf Los Angeles-hosted Olympics a year later are in the bag. There’s still so much more to come.
(Top photo: Scott Wachter / Imagn Images)
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