women's basketball

The NCAA has gotten mostly positive reviews for its new women's Sweet 16 format during March Madness. Hosting games it two cities instead of the traditional four set attendance records higher TV ratings. The two regionals combined to set an all-time attendance mark for the Sweet 16, following up the record mark set the first weekend. The switch in format was done for a few reasons including helping get a separate TV deal for the women's tournament. The current NCAA TV deal ends next summer. The current NCAA TV deal ends next summer. The NCAA also hopes the success leads to more cities bidding to host the regional games and eventually the Final Four.

Aliyah Boston of South Carolina and Caitlin Clark of Iowa are unanimous choices for The Associated Press preseason women's basketball All-America team. Both were selected on every ballot by the 30-member national media panel that chooses the Top 25 each week. Seniors Haley Jones of Stanford, Ashley Joens of Iowa State and Elizabeth Kitley of Virginia Tech were also selected as well as sophomore Aneesah Morrow of DePaul.

The U.S. women's basketball team will have a lot of new faces when the Americans play in the FIBA World Cup next month in Australia. South Carolina's Aliyah Boston is the lone college player among the 29 invited to the USA Basketball training camp that will begin in Las Vegas next month. Joining Boston are nine players from the Tokyo Olympics, including A'ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart. Players will report to training camp at the conclusion of their WNBA seasons. The playoffs are set to begin Wednesday and if the WNBA Finals goes five games it would end on Sept. 20 — right before the World Cup begins.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley has gone through a consequential year of success, both on and off the basketball court. Along the way, Staley has become the voice of leadership and direction in the women's game. She jokes often that she never planned to get into coaching before accepting the job at Temple even though she has always had in her. Staley's role as an elite point guard was to serve as the coach on the floor. She won her second NCAA Tournament crown — the first Black coach to accomplish the feat — with a 64-49 victory over UConn. Her success has given Staley the platform to champion issues off the court. She continues to speak out about gender equity, diversity and opportunities for women.