Molly Bolin Kazmer and the promise of memory — Hear from Aaliyah Moore, Tennessee

Welcome to Basketball Insider, powered by The BIG EAST Conference. I’m Howard Megdal, and I couldn’t be happier that Molly Bolin Kazmer has been elected to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. That she is my friend is part of why, but only a part. Her induction matters for women’s basketball writ-large.

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To understand what Molly means to all those privileged enough to have seen her play — sadly, something I cannot claim, though I’ve devoured hours of game footage everywhere from YouTube to the Iowa Women’s Center as part of my research for Becoming Caitlin Clark — look no further than the reaction of then-Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder when I brought Molly up at a press conference at the 2023 Final Four.

“Machine Gun Molly was here? Didn’t even know that. I watched her with the Iowa Cornets. Are you kidding?” Bluder’s glee transformed her into the fan she was before her distinguished coaching career began. Her reaction alone speaks to Molly’s legacy. Molly wasn’t simply an otherworldly player who set records at every level, from high school to college to the WBL, but a presence. Fame, in the best possible sense.

But fame is fickle, right? It took Molly until 2026 to enter the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame because too many of her biggest accomplishments came too soon, or occurred before crowds that weren’t sufficient to appreciate her ability to dominate on the court. Her efforts to build out the game ran up against the barriers that would hold back women’s basketball for decades.

And so, for those of us who either lived Molly’s journey alongside her, like Bluder or Molly’s longtime advocates Liz Galloway-McQuitter and Ann Meyers Drysdale, or those of us who discovered her and have worked to preserve and amplify her legacy, seeing Molly receive this honor is more than just cause for celebration; it is a long-overdue honor for a great within the game and an even better person. It is a sigh of relief.

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This week, the Instagram algorithm thought I’d like to see a video from Sports Jeopardy as I scrolled in bed instead of reading or otherwise maximizing my day, complete with five answers in need of questions. The panelists got four of them right. The fifth, about Tamika Catchings, went unanswered.

In what cannot be a healthy fashion, I essentially lost my mind. Tamika Catchings? Three sports experts didn’t know about Tamika Catchings?!

Not long ago, I covered Tamika Catchings elevate her Indiana Fever to a win at Madison Square Garden over the New York Liberty, in the example I go to whenever the concept of “making your teammates better” comes up.

But it was 11 years ago now. Those who remember it will continue disappearing. The player I’d argue has the best case for best in WNBA history, fading from memory already. Thankfully, she is in every Hall of Fame you can imagine!

If the history matters — and I find it hard to believe you’d be reading this if you didn’t think so — then the Hall of Fame matters as a monument to those who built, foundationally and up to the heights of today, women’s basketball.

On a phone call this week with Meyers Drysdale, we celebrated Molly’s induction, but Annie kept on insisting that we all take the time to celebrate Dr. Judith Holland, too. Without Dr. Holland, a vital leader in women’s sports following Title IX, we probably don’t get to see Annie play at UCLA on the first full athletic scholarship ever awarded to a woman.

The urgency to honor this history requires us, both the media and those of you who are building out the space of women’s sports, to look back, not just forward. Honoring Dee Kantner for her work pioneering the officiating space for women in basketball matters. Honoring Diana Taurasi, who is Caitlin Clark plus 20 years as surely as Molly is Caitlin plus 50 years, matters for those of us who got to experience DT taking over road arenas in the playoffs and making them her own, and for the generations to come who never saw it happen.

Honoring the brilliance of coaches like Mike Thibault, whose strategic vision helped pioneer the positionless revolution, or Sandy Brondello, who has a habit of winning championships everywhere she goes, preserves those who shaped this era of WNBA excellence.

But if you’ll forgive the editorializing from someone honored to be Molly’s friend and who has spent years researching her legacy: Molly’s induction into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame is the righting of a historic wrong. I’m thrilled, I’m delighted that we finally get to write this story at The IX Sports (the amazing Natalie Heavren is hard at work on it as we speak), and I’m so excited to talk about this on this week’s podcast.

But most of all: I’m relieved. The world feels like it’s more in alignment these days for many reasons. And one of the big ones, for me? Molly Bolin Kazmer is in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Irreversible. No one, now and moving forward, can visit the Hall without hearing, seeing and appreciating how Molly brought us to this moment.

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This week in women’s basketball

Check out PJ Brown’s latest on SMU.

Michigan may have beaten UConn, but Sarah Strong looks better than ever.

Kim Caldwell is fascinating as ever.

Oh, you want more Iowa legacy-builders? Angie Holmes is here for you.

You better believe I rushed up to Princeton to go see Fadima Tall play after reading this one from Jenn Hatfield.

Marisa Ingemi, scenes from the parade. Click.

And Jackie Powell on the end of Chris DeMarco is a must-read, of course.

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Five at The IX: Aaliyah Moore, Tennessee

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Soccer: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer
Tennis: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer
Basketball: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The IX Sports
Softball: Maren Angus-Coombs, @Maren-Angus, The IX Sports
Golf: Marin Dremock, @MDremock, The IX Sports
Hockey: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden
Gymnastics: Jessica Taylor Price, @jesstaylorprice, Freelance Writer