After a bit of a reset week before the NCAA Tournament, Five Out is back with plenty to discuss and even more to promote!

First and foremost…

Join our bracket challenge on ESPN!! It’s free entry and we’ve got two tiers of prizes for everyone!! But I will say this, if you’ve been interested in No Cap Space WBB merch then this is a good time to join the Ball-Knower’s. The top three finishers that are a part of our paid subscriber tier will get the first three pieces of currently-in-development No Cap Space merch. The first of what may be many, many more! You can click the widget below to sign up!

If you’re a free subscriber…

3rd Place: 1 year free subscription to our Ball-Knower’s tier on YouTube (& Discord access)

2nd Place: 1 year free subscription to our Ball-Knower’s tier on Beehiiv & YouTube (& Discord access)

1st Place: All that AND a $25 Homefield gift card…

If you’re a Ball-Knower…

3rd Place: Yet-to-be-released NCS merch

2nd Place: Yet-to-be-released NCS merch

1st Place: Yet-to-be-released NCS merch

I think just about everyone knows and understands that March Madness is where legends are made. There’s been singular runs, like Sheryl Swoopes taking Texas Tech to glory in 1993, or legacy making big shots — Arike Ogunbowale, on lines one and two — that define fandoms and eras. And it really dawned on me what our problem has been this women’s college basketball season: we didn’t get much of that last year from this year’s class of stars.

Think about last year’s NCAA Tournament, if you would. What do you remember?

Paige Bueckers and the UConn machine, right? JuJu Watkins before her injury, I’m sure. But did we see much from Jaloni Cambridge, Mikayla Blakes or even Hannah Hidalgo? Who were our breakout stars from 2025 March Madness? Did we see many outside of Sarah Strong?

Sometimes, it’s okay to have a bridge season and I’m realizing now that that is what happened this year. The coverage felt strange because of how much this tournament informs our coverage of the next year. If there was one thing Louisville head coach Jeff Walz hit right on the head in his ACC Tournament final postgame press conference, it was that media narratives take shape and have a tendency to remain static. I’d even take it a step further than him and say that we’re actually building them the prior March instead of the current November. I’m not quite sure how you change that without a massive cash infusion to women’s basketball media and, let’s face it, that train probably left the station and fell off a cliff already.

What this Tournament provides is an opportunity for us to learn something and absolutely nothing all at once. From a media standpoint, this should be a year for us to re-examine our priors and how we cover the sport and craft narratives throughout the year. At the same time, someone — be it Blakes, Strong, Edwards, or another — is going to put together a wonderful performance this tournament that will vault them into the cable TV conversation next year. So if you were worried about the potential plateau or fall off of women’s college basketball, watch how quickly the juice will return.

If you’ve read Five Out for the last few years, you know that we love a good mid-major women’s basketball program and extoll their virtue at every opportunity. Throughout the year, I’ve written passionately in defense of the Atlantic 10 specifically and the case that it is a two, or even three, bid league. Thankfully, the NCAA selection committee did the right thing and put A-10 champ Rhode Island and Richmond, the powerhouse of the league led by Maggie Doogan, into the mix. It may be a First Four matchup for the Spiders, but the world deserved to see Doogan in the tournament.

That sentiment seemed to be the guiding principle for some of the bubble teams. Individual players that had great stories were the selections that got the benefit of the doubt. We finally get to see Kymora Johnson and Virginia at long last. Britt Prince gets a proper swan song for Nebraska while the aforementioned Doogan and Richmond have a chance to make waves in the tournament yet again. It definitely helps that some of the high-major bubble teams, from BYU to Utah to Texas A&M, bowed out of their conference tournaments a little earlier than anticipated.

I would’ve liked to have seen North Dakota State in the field (something I address down in Three Ball at the bottom of the column) but I feel like there’s a nice mix of mid-major and high-majors here. We dove into all of it on YouTube yesterday if you want to click and watch below…

I’ve realized that I am, in essence, Mr. Krabs from that episode of Spongebob where they keep the Krusty Krab open all night.

Day six! Give it up for day six!

We’ve been told that’s there’s been progress.

Or not.

We’ve been told they’ve discussed revenue sharing.

Maybe.

And housing.

Possibly.

But we’re close!

Potentially?

Wake me up when it’s over.

By the time you read this, we may have finally gotten an agreement or, at the very least, a term sheet. I’m glad I wrote a pseudo-postmortem on this a week or two ago because now I’m too tired to even think about what this all means in the long term. The league and the players association have been going back and forth for nearly a week in marathon proceedings and don’t appear to be any closer to a deal than they were when they first convened in New York. At the end of the day, the argument of net revenue share vs. gross revenue share will remain and the players will be forced to make a choice they probably should’ve made months ago.

It’s likely that the players will sign a deal that will be, in some ways, transformational. The league and union will call it a win, the truce will be uneasy, and everyone goes back to their corners to do this fight again in a handful of years. The question will be if the players leave this negotiation wondering about the long term viability of the WNBA from a revenue sharing standpoint. This story by Annie Costabile in FOS a while back deserved much more fanfare because some of what is alleged in there is an absolute nuke.

The league can claim the numbers being so close to their proposal is a coincidence, but we all see the jig here. There is no profit margin that will be enough to properly overcome that. And there is no way to untangle the webs either.

Some WNBA owners, if they want to stay in the league, are stuck. Under no circumstances am I saying ‘Won’t someone think of the billionaires!?' but I do think this is some dirty business by the W/NBA against nearly a third of its franchise partners. Mark Davis, for example, is fine. He’s an NFL owner. But he is a legitimately foundational figure in the WNBA for his decision to prioritize the Aces and make them feel like a truly major league franchise. Force Ten Hoops in Seattle have guided the Storm since their inception. Larry Gottesdiener and his team at Northland stepped in after Atlanta jettisoned Kelly Loeffler as an owner. A total franchise turnaround is now starting to bear fruit.

Are there a couple of franchises that appear to have treated this league like a charity than a legitimate sports league? You bet there are. But I don’t think the vast majority of WNBA-only owners (meaning, those that don’t also majority own an NBA franchise) deserve to get the shaft like this while simultaneously being thrown under the bus as the impediment to progress. It’s underdiscussed and probably always will be because you will never hear about disarray from a management coalition during a labor fight. Pros are gonna be pros, you know?

Effectively, it seems that we’re stuck. All I can tell you is this: enjoy the ball between the time they sign this CBA and the next one. Because whatever this negotiation was, it’ll be almost bar for bar the same when we sit back down at the table in a few years.

Is Team USA in a golden generation for women’s basketball? It’s hard to imagine given that every cycle of players feels like another one but this group feels unique. From Caitlin Clark filling up the stat sheet in her first career senior national team start to Paige Bueckers slowing the pace of a game to her liking and Angel Reese cleaning up on the boards, it just feels like this class of 2020 is a truly unique batch of athletes.

I’ve really enjoyed Kara Lawson’s run in Puerto Rico even if it hasn’t looked the prettiest at times. Strictly speaking, the Americans are better than just about everyone in this qualifying tournament and in the first few games you can get away with tinkering. But that’s what I want from my national team head coach. Use the games that you know you have some latitude in to do some self-scouting. Figure out who plays well with who and when.

There’s some more games for us to see just how good Team USA can be with this new group of young and turnt. But when it comes together, it’s going to be amazing. And with the French across the Atlantic, lurking with a golden generation of their own? We’ve got the makings of some truly incredible global basketball.

Rooting for bid stealing is always a bit complicated for me. On the one hand, I like to see teams that won their conference regular seasons rewarded and not have to hinge their NCAA Tournament hopes on being, essentially, perfect. At the same time, bid stealing is one of the charms of the season and an idiosyncrasy that makes college basketball genuinely unique in the American sports landscape. Win and you’re in. Simple as that.

So while it would’ve been cool to see McNeese State and Rice in the field of 68, I think it’s just as fun that Stephen F. Austin and UTSA are present instead. The Ladyjacks are a historical powerhouse dating back to the late 1970’s and something of a coaching incubator (Sue Gunter, Gary Blair, Royce Chadwick, Brandon Schneider and Mark Kellogg all had a stop here). UTSA is led by former Texas head coach Karen Aston, who has brought the Roadrunners to the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons. There’s great stories everywhere. My recommendation? Start with team game notes or media guides. They’re a broadcaster and reporters best friend and school sports information directors (or SID’s) deserve some shine for the work they put into them. I can’t tell you how many cool things you’ll find out by reading a few each week.

Justice for NDSU

If there was one snub I felt was truly egregious, it was North Dakota State being left out of the NCAA field of 68. They did everything required of them, save for winning the Summit League tournament title game. This is the downside of bid stealing, because NDSU, head coach Jory Collins and forward Avery Koenen checked all the boxes.

The WBIT is dope

With that said, don’t let the Bison being out of the NCAA Tournament take them out of your mind this March. The WBIT field this season is awesome, once again. It’s a true Ball-Knower’s tournament. If No Cap Space LLC ever had the money to sponsor the WBIT, we would. George Mason, Quinnipiac, McNeese, Louisiana Tech, Rice, Alabama A&M, North Dakota State, Columbia and Navy. That’s a damn good group of mid-majors. If the NCAA Tournament isn’t enough and you need a hit of the pure stuff, the WBIT is there for you. All are welcome. All are welcome.

Evansville nearly pulled off the impossible

While they didn’t pull off the impossible in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship, I think there is a measure of credit due for Evansville women’s basketball. The 10-24 Purple Aces went 5-15 in MVC play this year and yet, seemingly out of nowhere, run the table to the conference title game.

It was the first time since 2009 that UE reached the MVC final and now they hold the distinction of being the lowest seed in tournament history to reach the game. They did this, mind you, by breaking the MVC tourney records for points scored and field goals made. Even in defeat, that’s worth a standing O.