WNBA Draft for UConn star Edwards
UConn center Aaliyah Edwards announced Thursday she will enter the WNBA Draft, in which she is expected to be a first-round pick.
The 6-foot-3-inch senior from Kingston, Ontario, revealed her plans in a video posted on social media, two days before the Huskies open NCAA Tournament play.
“Let’s have one last dance,” she said in her post. “In addition to one last dance, I will be officially declaring for the 2024 WNBA draft. I’m prepared, but more importantly I’m ready for the next chapter.”
Edwards, named this week as an honorable mention to the AP All-America team, is averaging 17.8 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.
She had one year of eligibility remaining because of the COVID-19 pandemic and could have joined teammates Paige Bueckers and Aubrey Griffin, who announced during UConn’s senior night last month that they would suit up for the Huskies next season.
UConn (29-5), a No. 3 seed, hosts No. 14 seed Jackson State (26-6) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
Staley: One banned?
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley understands why suspended forward and leading scorer Kamilla Cardoso will miss the NCAA Tournament opener. She’s not sure, however, why others involved in the conference tournament scuffle weren’t penalized as well.
The Gamecocks (32-0), the No. 1 overall seed, start tournament play on Friday against No. 16 seed Presbyterian (21-14) minus 6-foot-7-inch Cardoso, their centerpiece player down low this season.
No. 8 seed North Carolina (19-12) takes on No. 9 Michigan State (22-8) to open play.
Cardoso, named a secondteam AP All-American, is out after her ejection for shoving
LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson to the ground after Johnson pushed Ashlyn Watkins late in the Gamecocks’ 79-72 victory to win the SEC Tournament title on March 10. Five others from the two teams were sent to the locker room, including three of Cardoso’s teammates, for leaving the bench to join the skirmish, yet only Cardoso is sidelined.
“It does have the appearance of just Kamilla taking the fall for it,” Staley said Thursday. “Did she deserve it? Yes. She deserved to be disqualified. No doubt about it. But there were some other parties that should have been penalized.”
Staley spoke with several leaders about the situation including Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey, who sat courtside at the game and stood on the postgame riser for a bittersweet championship trophy ceremony where Cardoso and teammates Chloe Kitts, Tessa Johnson and Sakima Walker were all in the locker room after their ejections.
In Staley’s view, she thinks if administrators assessed the situation again, “they would come up with something different,” she said. “But it leaves Kamilla hanging.”
Immediately, Staley apologized for her team’s actions and Cardoso issued a statement on social media, apologizing and pledging not to let things escalate going forward. Staley even said LSU’s Johnson came up to the coach and apologized, saying she’s not that kind of player.
Staley was just as quick to let her players know that such a dustup can’t happen again.
“I don’t let things linger,” she said. “You hit it, and then you move on.”
Cardoso, too, has moved past her actions.
“I’m upset I won’t be out there with my team,” Cardoso said Thursday. “But I feel what’s happened has happened, there’s nothing I can do to change it so now it’s time to move on and just look forward to being out there with my team.”
The bad new for Presbyterian? South Carolina is 4-0 without Cardoso this season. She missed four games in February, the first two while she was competing for her national team Brazil in Olympic qualifying, then two more down the stretch after she returned and dealt with soreness from her overseas trip.
Watkins, a 6-3 sophomore, has taken a spot in the lineup in Cardoso’s absence. Watkins said she’ll do her best against the Blue Hose before Cardoso comes back for the second round.
“I don’t really think it’s going to make a difference,” Watkins said. “Yes, she’s going to miss the game, but I’m going to just have to play.”
Blue Hose coach Alaura Sharp knows the enormous odds her team will face against South Carolina, which is 11-0 under Staley in the NCAA opening round. It didn’t help when Staley talked with the team this week after their arrival.
“Our team was fan-girling, honestly,” Sharp said. “They’ve got to turn that gear off tomorrow when we go out on the court.”
Virginia Tech star out
Three-time Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year Elizabeth Kitley of Virginia Tech will miss the Women's NCAA Tournament, she announced on social media.
Kitley, a second-team All American and the Hokies' top scorer and rebounder, sustained a torn ACL in Virginia Tech’s final regular-season game at Virginia.
The 6-6 center averaged 22.8 points on 55.6 percent shooting, 11.4 rebounds and just over two blocks this season.
Miami’s Meier retiring
Katie Meier, who led Miami to 10 NCAA tournaments and guided the Hurricanes to the Elite Eight last season, announced her retirement from coaching.
Meier, the 2011 Associated Press national coach of the year who had four years remaining on her contract with the Hurricanes, will remain with the university as a special adviser and ambassador for the athletic department.