u/Forsaken-Solution-81

Following the Wings' victory in Hartford against the Sun, Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd have now "taken the court in Connecticut a combined 131 times — and have recorded 125 wins", according to The Day (the New London, Connecticut paper)

But Paige doesn't think it's her last game in the Constitution State:

>Bueckers is trying to be optimistic about the whole ordeal. She'll be hitting up her old coach, Geno Auriemma, to see if he can pull any strings and get the Wings back in the Nutmeg State.

>"It could not be my last," Bueckers said with a toothy grin. "I try to think about it that way. I don't know, maybe we can have an exhibition-type game at Gampel on-campus. Just throwing that in the air, maybe for next year."

>But if Auriemma has any say in the matter, Bueckers, or "Dennis the Menace," as he's affectionately dubbed her, won't be back on campus anytime soon to give him another headache, so she isn't putting all her stock into that just yet.

Paige also shared what she thinks of Connecticut going without a WNBA team:

>Bueckers, in perhaps an attempt to woo the league into giving Connecticut another franchise down the road, spoke highly of the culture the Sun faithful have cultivated in the state at the end of her pre-game media availability.

>"Connecticut is a women's basketball state," Bueckers said. "It's amazing to see the support and it's amazing to see, being back here, what it means to so many people to have women's basketball in this state. It's awesome to be here."

Full article at https://theday.com/news/905733/bueckers-and-fudd-reflect-on-playing-in-connecticut-im-so-grateful-for-it/

Wings fans, would we want an exhibition game in Connecticut? Or do we not want to form that sort of connection with UConn? I think it's a real question, and I can see both sides. (Also unclear if UConn would want it.)

My thought was more that the Wings should do an exhibition in conjunction with the Basketball Hall of Fame and hold it in Hartford, which is 25 minutes down the road from the HOF. So it's still in Connecticut and would draw a bunch of UConn fans to support the Wings, but it wouldn't officially be tied to the university.

Well, now we know why KP's votes were so low:

>Some Los Angeles Sparks players did not receive ballots before the results were tallied and released Thursday, a team spokesperson said in a statement shared with The Athletic. “Players were sent ballots via email,” the statement said. “Some players indicated that they didn’t receive the email or weren’t aware of it until after the voting period had closed. That’s something we take responsibility for as an organization, and we’ll have a more robust process going forward.”

>Teams are responsible for distributing ballots and can choose how to deliver them to players, who can vote for teammates as starters. A majority of Sparks players did not receive ballots, according to a source familiar with the ballot procedure who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships.

We already knew that voting was really low; ESPN said yesterday that only 85 players voted league-wide. But a FO causing an entire team to be undercounted is really bad.

Full article from The Athletic here: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7418403/2026/07/03/los-angeles-sparks-voting-incomplete-wnba-all-star/