Sports
Women’s college basketball debate: Which teams have a shot at winning the NCAA Tournament?
The Athletic’s debate series features two writers breaking down a topic. In this edition, Sabreena Merchant and Ben Pickman debate which teams are capable of winning the national championship.
Ben Pickman: We’re less than two weeks away from Selection Sunday and the whole world caring about seed lines, bracket draws and Cinderellas. Before March Madness begins, let’s undergo an exercise to predict the teams we think have a shot at winning this year’s national title before seeing the matchups. We’ve been talking about the parity across the women’s basketball landscape throughout the season. Four teams have been No. 1 in the AP poll, tying the record most recently set in 2021.
Champions often have commonalities. Over the last 10 NCAA Tournaments, only one winner (Notre Dame in 2017-18) has been outside the top-10 NET rating. Only two champions, that Fighting Irish team and 2016-17 South Carolina, have been outside the top-10 in defensive rating.
So, Sabreena, how many teams do you think have a legitimate chance at cutting down the nets come the evening of April 7?
Sabreena Merchant: There are five teams I can envision holding that trophy — as in, I don’t have to stretch my imagination to see any of these teams winning six games in the NCAA Tournament.
UConn is the betting favorite, and it’s the team with the most additional upside in the tournament because the Huskies don’t play their stars a ton during the regular season. Texas is the AP No. 1 team and elite on both ends of the floor. USC has the best player in the country, plus an outstanding defense. Notre Dame has a dominant backcourt and beat each of the previous three teams during the regular season.
My shakiest inner-circle national title choice is probably South Carolina.
Pickman: Oooh! Why do you say that?
Merchant: The Gamecocks’ frontcourt still concerns me. Without Ashlyn Watkins, they’re a little thin in the post and a little small. Taller centers have given them difficulty, including the Taylor Jones/Kyla Oldacre duo from Texas, Kentucky’s Clara Strack, and even UConn’s Jana El Alfy in spurts. That’s a more significant weakness than the other four title contenders have. Plus, Raven Johnson and Bree Hall haven’t been as consistent as last season.
Pickman: That may be true, but South Carolina is still No. 1 in defensive rating, according to Her Hoop Stats. The Gamecocks feature an experienced backcourt and coach, and they’re efficient on offense. Though their frontcourt might not be as good as last year (or previous years), it’s also notable that South Carolina is in the nation’s top 15 in turnovers per game (averaging just 12), and is sixth, per HHS, in foul rate. Avoiding turnovers and fouls makes a recipe for success in March.
“No ma’am,” @supremenia (definitely) pic.twitter.com/e9sH7SVLyQ
— South Carolina Women’s Basketball (@GamecockWBB) March 2, 2025
Merchant: All those elements push South Carolina into Tier 1, but if I had to pick a Final Four without looking at the bracket, the Gamecocks would be on the outside looking in.
Do you think I’m being too restrictive? Does anyone else warrant title consideration for you?
Pickman: I have another school on my title shortlist. UCLA spent the most weeks (12) at No. 1 this season. They’re in the top five in offensive and defensive rating; they have arguably the most dominant post player in the country in Lauren Betts; and they boast experience in the backcourt. I picked the Bruins to win the title last year for similar reasons. On paper, yet again, they have the résumé of a national title contender.
Merchant: On paper, I agree with you about UCLA, but the Bruins don’t come through in big games. Beating South Carolina earlier in the year suggested they had turned a corner, but they finished the season in less than inspiring fashion and were essentially noncompetitive in their regular-season finale against USC — which doubled as the Big Ten title game.
GO DEEPER
Familiar demons haunt UCLA in another loss to USC
Pickman: All fair. Perhaps I’m holding on to their victory over South Carolina too much. Plus, after the loss to USC, coach Cori Close seemed to acknowledge the need for some kind of shakeup in critical games. Maybe I’m betting on them doing some soul-searching in the leadup to the NCAA Tournament. I could, yet again, look foolish in a month.
LSU was on my short title contender list as of two weeks ago, but losses to Alabama and Ole Miss (albeit the latter without Flau’jae Johnson) have dampened my expectations. Johnson is out through the SEC tournament, which gives me pause. And though LSU is No. 2 nationally in free throw attempts, its backcourt — apart from Johnson — is inexperienced and has been inconsistent throughout the year.
Merchant: I’d be surprised if the Tigers even made the Final Four because they rely so much on their top three players. Kim Mulkey’s track record in the NCAA Tournament is impressive, but I don’t think this is the year she adds another banner to her collection.
Pickman: Even without LSU, there might be more than 10 teams that could make the Final Four. History says that unlike national champions, Final Four participants can be elite at either offense or defense and struggle on the other end of the floor. (Think Iowa of the past two seasons and Oregon in 2018-19.) TCU falls into that bucket for me, as the Horned Frogs are No. 2 in offensive rating and No. 35 in defensive rating. They’re the oldest team in the country, top 10 in blocks and turnovers per game and No. 1 in 3-pointers made. It’s hard to imagine the Horned Frogs going from winning their first Big 12 title to winning a national title — TCU has never even made a Sweet 16, let alone Final Four — but this has been a historic year for the program.
Merchant: As long as we’re on the subject of long shots, another Big 12 team interests me by being elite on one end of the floor. That’s West Virginia. “Press” Virginia has the nation’s best defense thanks to the Mountaineers’ full-court pressure. With the short turnaround of the NCAA Tournament, this team could produce upsets. We saw West Virginia nearly take down Caitlin Clark’s Hawkeyes in Iowa City during the 2024 second round, and the defense has only gotten stouter in the interim. Depending on the draw — because big centers generally wreck them — the Mountaineers could make some noise.
🌟 𝐀𝐋𝐋-𝐁𝐈𝐆 𝟏𝟐 𝐃𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐌 🌟#HailWV pic.twitter.com/vFwIuhFAYc
— WVU Women’s Basketball (@WVUWBB) March 4, 2025
Pickman: We agree that Mountaineers could pull off some upsets early in the bracket. However, of the teams that have made the last five Final Fours and had a significant offense-defense disparity, only Arizona in 2020-21 has made it as a defense-first team.
Merchant: Maybe the teams we should keep an eye on are Florida State and Vanderbilt. We’ve already seen Ta’Niya Latson obliterate the defense of one of our top-tier teams (Notre Dame) within the last week, and Mikayla Blakes put up 50-plus points twice on SEC opponents. The Seminoles are more experienced in the NCAA Tournament, so this could be the year they break through and win a game or more.
Pickman: For FSU, and almost everyone else, the draw is critical. Nobody is as dominant as South Carolina was a season ago. That’s what will make this year’s tournament so exciting.
(Photo: Joe Buglewicz / Getty Images)
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Last August, when the NASCAR Cup Series went to the road course at Watkins Glen, Shane van Gisbergen captured the checkered flag.
Now SVG finds himself at the top of the oddsboard to win again when the series goes Bowling at The Glen on Sunday, May 10 (3 p.m. ET, FS1).
Let’s take a look at where the rest of the field sits as of May 10 at DraftKings Sportsbook.
This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.
NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at the Glen 2026
Shane van Gisbergen: -135 (bet $10 to win $17.41 total)
Connor Zilisch: +360 (bet $10 to win $46 total)
Christopher Bell: +900 (bet $10 to win $100 total)
Tyler Reddick: +1200 (bet $10 to win $130 total)
Ty Gibbs: +1400 (bet $10 to win $150 total)
Chris Buescher: +1800 (bet $10 to win $190 total)
Michael McDowell: +2000 (bet $10 to win $210 total)
Austin Cindric: +2200 (bet $10 to win $230 total)
Ross Chastain: +2500 (bet $10 to win $260 total)
Chase Elliott: +2500 (bet $10 to win $260 total)
Carson Hocevar: +3000 (bet $10 to win $310 total)
Ryan Blaney: +3000 (bet $10 to win $310 total)
Chase Briscoe: +3500 (bet $10 to win $360 total)
William Byron: +4000 (bet $10 to win $410 total)
Kyle Larson: +4500 (bet $10 to win $460 total)
AJ Allmendinger: +5000 (bet $10 to win $510 total)
Joey Logano: +5500 (bet $10 to win $560 total)
Kyle Busch: +7500 (bet $10 to win $760 total)
Denny Hamlin: +8000 (bet $10 to win $810 total)
Alex Bowman: +9000 (bet $10 to win $910 total)
Daniel Suarez: +9000 (bet $10 to win $910 total)
Brad Keselowski: +10000 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Bubba Wallace: +13000 (bet $10 to win $1,310 total)
Ryan Preece: +30000 (bet $10 to win $3,010 total)
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: +35000 (bet $10 to win $3,510 total)
Riley Herbst: +40000 (bet $10 to win $4,010 total)
Austin Dillon: +60000 (bet $10 to win $6,010 total)
Zane Smith: +60000 (bet $10 to win $6,010 total)
John Hunter Nemechek: +60000 (bet $10 to win $6,010 total)
Erik Jones: +60000 (bet $10 to win $6,010 total)
Todd Gilliland: +70000 (bet $10 to win $7,010 total)
Josh Berry: +70000 (bet $10 to win $7,010 total)
Noah Gragson: +80000 (bet $10 to win $8,010 total)
Cole Custer: +80000 (bet $10 to win $8,010 total)
Ty Dillon: +90000 (bet $10 to win $9,010 total)
Katherine Legge: +100000 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Josh Bilicki: +100000 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Cody Ware: +100000 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
The Favorite: Last year at Watkins Glen, Shane van Gisbergen finished eighth in Stage 1, 22nd in Stage 2 and led 38 laps on the day before getting into Victory Lane. And as it stands currently, SVG could use a win; the driver of the No. 97 car hasn’t won yet in 2026. He’s also 19th in the standings. However, he has two top 10s this year and one top-five finish. Bettors also might want to note that van Gisbergen won five of the six NASCAR road courses in 2025 and finished second at COTA earlier this year.
One to Watch: Another driver fans might want to keep their eyes on is Ryan Blaney. At The Glen in 2025, Blaney won the pole, finished seventh in Stage 1, won Stage 2 and finished the race sixth overall after leading 35 laps. On No. 12’s resume so far this year are seven top 10s, three top-five finishes and one win. He’s currently fourth in the standings.
For Sarah Gorden, Mother’s Day is special because it’s not just a celebration of motherhood. For her, it’s also a celebration of perseverance, grit and survival.
Especially survival.
Gorden became pregnant during her junior year of college and for most of the next 12 years, she tried to balance her life as a professional soccer player with her responsibilities as a single mother. It wasn’t easy.
“I honestly look back and I have no idea how we got through that,” said Gorden, who made $8,000 as an NWSL rookie with the Chicago Red Stars in 2016, less than the city’s minimum wage. “We’re making no money. We were definitely using government assistance and government aid. And then the help of family and friends.
“I’m impressed and proud of the part of me that got through that. But it was no way to live.”
As the memories come flooding back, so do the tears.
Angel City midfielder Ariadina Alves Borges walks off the pitch with her son, Luca, at BMO Stadium on May 2.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“It’s so difficult to explain,” said Gorden, now 33 and the captain at Angel City, as she dabbed at the tears with a tissue. “Not having enough money, not having enough time, wondering if I’m being selfish, wondering if I’m making the right decision. Ultimately it came down to: I didn’t feel like I had another [choice].”
A decade later, the NWSL minimum wage is $50,500 and the league’s collective bargaining agreement guarantees mothers job protection, full salary and benefits for the duration of a pregnancy-related absence, stipends for child care and subsidized arrangements for women traveling with children up to age 14.
Angel City, founded by three mothers, has gone beyond what the league has mandated by supporting mothers with perks that include a well-stocked nursery at the team’s training facility on the campus of Cal Lutheran University.
“From the beginning, we always strive to support the whole player. Physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically,” said Julie Uhrman, one of Angel City’s founders and now a principal adviser to the team. “And then to support them if they came in as parents or became parents. That’s not just players. Staff too.”
Uhrman, who raised two children while building a successful career as a media and entertainment executive, speaks from experience.
“They can do both and they can excel at both,” she said of her players. “And we’re going to provide the support and the environment for them to do that.”
On its active roster of 25 players, Angel City has four mothers — the most in the NWSL. The work that went into the infrastructure now in place for them originated with Sarah Smith, the team’s former director of medical and performance.
Smith, who left the club in January and now advises elite athletes — primarily skiers — in Utah, said the support she got from Uhrman and others during her own pregnancy two and a half years ago inspired and informed her work with Angel City.
“Having the leadership of the club and the female leaders in the club, and then wanting to be able to support all of the players through their different journeys, through motherhood, I was really glad to be part of that,” she said. “But it really started with the fact that I had just gone through it, and I was able to share those experiences.”
Angel City forward Sydney Leroux’s 9-year-old son, Cassius, waits for his mom to leave a team huddle at BMO Stadium on May 2.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The first player she guided through that journey was Scottish forward Claire Emslie, who gave birth to a son in December.
“I’ll be honest. Having seen how much she wanted to do for moms in the game made me excited to become a mom,” Emslie said. “We weren’t even thinking about having a kid. But knowing what she wanted to do if there was a pregnant player made me want to have a kid because I knew that this is the best place I could possibly be.”
Emslie, 32, was cleared to suit up for Angel City’s game with San Diego on Saturday — the day before Mother’s Day — after missing the past 12 months on maternity leave. But she continued to train until just before giving birth and that, combined with the year off from the weekly pounding of professional soccer and the physiological changes her body went through during pregnancy, have made her better, she says.
“I feel better. I’m different,” she said. “I got a lot stronger and that’s something you can’t build while you’re in competition. My speed is back. I think I’m actually faster. And there’s also sort of an effect where you’ve got more red blood cells in your system now. So they say your cardio is actually better.”
The prime years for a women’s soccer player — between the ages of 25 and 29 — overlap with their prime reproductive years. Until recently, however, women had to make a choice between a family and a career. Now many are choosing to do both.
Sophia Wilson, a former NWSL scoring champion and MVP, and Mallory Swanson, her teammate on the U.S. Women’s National Team, both missed play in 2025 to give birth. They are among the 28 mothers in the league, and more are coming with the most recent NWSL availability report showing six teams missing players going on maternity leave.
Angel City player Claire Emslie, who is pregnant, tours a nursery the team built for players.
(Courtesy of Angel City FC)
Emslie’s own experiences tell her those numbers will continue to grow.
“I got to a point where I need[ed] to start thinking about life after football. And if I want to have a family, because of the biological clock, I need to start trying soon,” Emslie said. “It’s now kind of a normal thing to have a baby and come back.”
“Now I wish I’d done it younger,” she added. “Having a baby and continuing to play, they’re on the journey with you. So to have, say, five, six years professional football with a family, that’s amazing.”
Smith believes the willingness of star players such as Wilson and Swanson — and before them, Alex Morgan and Manchester United’s Hannah Blundell — has brought important focus to the issue of motherhood in soccer.
“That is where the game is going. I think you probably can see it across the league, the number of mothers,” Smith said. “And that’s a variety of circumstances. It may be mothers whose partners have carried children. It may be also players that are thinking about having children later and want to freeze their eggs. What I wanted to make sure is that we, we supported all of those different circumstances.”
That included designing and stocking the nursery at the training facility Angel City inherited from the NFL’s Rams in the fall of 2024.
“We put stuff in there for Caiden, for Sarah’s son, because it wasn’t just for Claire,” Smith said. “We wanted to make sure that all of the players and their partners felt good and comfortable. You just want to take a little bit of stress off of the players.”
Angel City captain Sarah Gorden with her oldest son, Caiden, during a photo shoot.
(Courtesy of Angel City FC)
When the club inherited the nine-acre practice facility in 2024 from the Rams, Angel City designated the largest of the offices for the nursery. The office belonged to head coach Sean McVay, and now it features walls painted pink and light blue and a crib, a changing table and a menagerie of stuffed animals.
“We want players to come to Angel City because we are the absolute best place for you to grow as an athlete, as a human,” Uhrman said. “And, you know, thinking about the fact that they might want to become mothers at some time or they’re coming in as mothers is really important.”
Gorden remembers a time not so long ago when that wasn’t the case. Early in her career in Chicago, she said she had to bring her son to a team meeting and was punished by being benched. Another time she couldn’t find child care on the day of a game — a Mother’s Day game.
“I just remember bawling all morning and just feeling so stressed,” she said.
Gorden has a fiance who is helping with parenting and her son Caiden, now in middle school, has grown into a sweet, empathetic boy.
“So yeah,” Gorden said, smiling through the tears, “a lot of progress. The league gets it now.”
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The highly anticipated 30th WNBA season tipped off Friday with three games, including the expansion Toronto Tempo’s first-ever contest.
The action continued Saturday with a full slate, including Caitlin Clark’s return after an injury-riddled sophomore season.
Clark and the Indiana Fever hosted the Dallas Wings on Saturday afternoon in a matchup featuring the four most recent No. 1 overall picks. The Wings outlasted the Fever 107-104, but the game was defined by Azzi Fudd’s — the most recent top pick — underwhelming debut.
Dallas Wings guards Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers react during the first half of the Fever’s season opener at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on May 9, 2026. (Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Fudd played 18 minutes off the bench, scoring three points — the lowest ever by a No. 1 overall pick in a WNBA debut.
Wings coach Jose Fernandez addressed Fudd’s performance after the game, encouraging the rookie to, “Keep doing what she’s doing, it’s her first year in the league. We got five really talented backcourt players.”
EX-WNBA STAR CRITICAL OF SKY ROOKIE HAILEY VAN LITH, BELIEVES POPULARITY PLAYED ROLE IN DRAFT SELECTION
In addition to Fudd, Dallas’ backcourt features last year’s top draft pick Paige Bueckers, last season’s No. 12 overall pick Aziaha James, four-time All-Star Arike Ogunbowale and starting guard Odyssey Sims.
Until Saturday, Kelsey Plum held the record for the lowest-scoring debut by a No. 1 pick. Selected first overall by the then-San Antonio Stars in 2017, she scored just four points in her debut. The Stars relocated to Las Vegas in 2018 and was subsequently rebranded as the Aces.
Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd warms up before the game against the Indiana Fever at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on May 9, 2026. (Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
Despite the slow start to her first season in the league, Plum ended the year with All-Rookie team honors. In the years since, she’s been named to four All-Star teams and won two championships with the Aces.
The Wings’ decision to take Fudd with the No. 1 overall pick drew controversy, raising questions about whether Bueckers’ personal relationship with her influenced the selection. Late last month, Bueckers said last month it did not.
Azzi Fudd poses with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected first overall by the Dallas Wings during the 2026 WNBA Draft at The Shed in New York City on April 13, 2026. (Angelina Katsanis/Getty Images)
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“Azzi Fudd was the No. 1 draft pick because she earned it, and it had nothing to do with me and everything to do with who she is as a human being, who she is as a basketball player,” Bueckers said, according to ESPN.
Neither Bueckers nor Fudd has publicly updated their relationship status since the April draft.
“Quite frankly, I believe me and Azzi’s personal relationship is nobody’s business but our own,” Bueckers also said in April. “And what we choose to share is completely up to us.”
Next up, the Wings play their home opener on Tuesday when they host the Atlanta Dream.
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