The WNBA playoffs served notice: Buckle up — Greg Bibb talks Dallas Wings — Must-click women’s basketball links

Let’s look at a few items out of a pair of Game 1s that promise so much more in the days ahead.

• That was as good as the Chicago Sky can play. This is no slight of them, but it’s worth noting that for everything that went right, from Triple-Double Courtney Vandersloot to a bench that shot 12-for-18 from the field and came up with key defensive plays all night, the collective sum of that meant… a double-OT thriller.

• It’s not been flashy, but Diamond DeShields has been exactly what the Sky have needed her to be off the bench the past two games, shooting a combined 8-for-12, using her wingspan and defensive IQ to disrupt the opposition, and serving as a luxury item, a sports car off the bench.

• Sylvia Fowles took two shots in the second half for Minnesota on Sunday. Jonquel Jones took just three shots in the fourth quarter for Connecticut on Tuesday. That’s not because Cheryl Reeve and Curt Miller don’t value or scheme for their stars. That’s just great interior defense from Chicago, a change one league insider described to me as a complete change in scheme in-season. It’s working.

• My question isn’t whether Chicago’s peak can measure up to Connecticut. It’s whether the Sky can do it twice more in the next four games. Moreover, can they do it back-to-back to win this series at home, or failing that, in a Game 5 on the road? That’s a big ask. But I certainly have cleared my schedule to be at Mohegan for Game 5 on October 8. I suspect it will, in fact, be necessary.

• Kelsey Plum scored 25 points on 17 shots, had one turnover all night, and simply kept on attacking. She was the best player on either team in a terrific nightcap between Phoenix and Las Vegas, and anything short of that probably means both road teams would have prevailed last night.

• The Mercury-Aces series feels like it could come down to who recovers more quickly, Liz Cambage from COVID-19 — she’s back, but is still working up to cardiovascular health, playing just under 10 minutes last night — and Diana Taurasi, who is clearly willing herself past a significant ankle injury.

Last thing, unrelated, but it came in just as I was finishing this up: the NCAA announced it will be using March Madness branding for the women’s tournament as well (good) and then added this line in the press release: “Details of how the March Madness brand will be incorporated into the Division I women’s basketball tournament are still being developed.”

Sorry, what? If the answer is anything other than “exactly how the men use it”, I’d like to know what possible reason there is for that divergence.

Can you imagine being so dedicated to inequality that after taking the months-long loss, publicly, from the overdue attention on the gaps in treatment between the men’s and women’s tournaments, finally taking this long-overdue BARE MINIMUM step not with a splashy event, but a grudging, three-paragraph press release that made it clear A) there is no plan yet and B) They’re still looking for a way to give the women something else (and, based on all past practices, something less than) when they do it?

Well, you don’t have to imagine it. The NCAA is living it.

I gave one of my children dinner, as usual. Told the other one I expect to incorporate feeding her into my 2022 child-raising plan, details to come. #NCAAW

— Howard Megdal (@howardmegdal) September 29, 2021

Give the women all the things that turned the men’s tournament into a cash cow and American institution. THIS ISN’T HARD. YOU’LL MAKE MORE MONEY, TOO. I’ll let you fill in all the obscenities implied here.

This week in women’s basketball

Great stuff from Alexa Phillipou from some early WNBA pioneers.

Loved this from Sean Hurd on Rebekkah Brunson.

Dunk more, Brittney Griner, we are here for it.

Mike Piellucci is here to talk about Marike.

I wrote about Ari Chambers at Forbes.

Huw Hopkins caught up with Ruthie Bolton.

Here’s Kent Youngblood on Sylvia Fowles.

I just love Jacob Mox’s explainers on the WNBA CBA.

Chantel Jennings explores what went wrong for Minnesota.

Don’t miss Alexa Philippou on Jonquel Jones.

Ben Osborne also traces Jonquel Jones’ path.

As does Robert O’Connell. Read all of them!

And this is fantastic Katie Barnes on A’ja Wilson.

Here’s A’ja in her own words.

This is an important but difficult read (trigger warning, abuse and suicide mentioned) on Cam Newbauer’s time at Florida.

Erica McCall’s latest podcast is on a hugely underreported topic: how women’s basketball players maintain relationships when more than half their year is spent overseas.

And Sylvia Fowles is deciding whether to have children right away or keep playing. She’s going to be an amazing mom, but I know what I’m rooting for.

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Five at The IX: Greg Bibb, Dallas Wings

After a consequential season in Dallas, Greg spoke to the media about what’s ahead for the Wings.

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Mondays: Soccer

By: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer

Tuesdays: Tennis

By: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer

Wednesdays: Basketball

By: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The Next

Thursdays: Golf

By: Addie Parker, @addie_parker, The IX

Fridays: Hockey

By: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden

Saturdays: Gymnastics

By: Lela Moore, @runlelarun, Freelance Writer