Five Out: WNBA Draft Lottery complicates, Battle of the Bluegrass is back, and what is going on in Seattle?

A week of big implications across the entire women's hoops scene, Tyler takes you through his thoughts on the women's basketball world for November 18th, 2024

Courtesy: Ethan Rand, UK Athletics

Well hello everyone! Tyler here subbing in for Andrew on his birthday weekend (everyone say happy birthday to him and Chauny!). Got some big Five Out shoes to fill, but after a really interesting week all over women’s basketball, we got plenty to talk about. As Andrew says, to the column!

Cheers to Beers

What you thought you were getting a column from me with free reign and I WASN’T going to talk about Oklahoma?? But how about we get serious as something is brewing in Norman and lot of it has to do with Raegan Beers.

I have seen every single Oklahoma women’s basketball game since Jennie Baranczyk took over in 2021 and while trying to also be understanding of the opponents the Sooners have faced so far not being the best, this team feels different. Raegan Beers has brought a completely new element to this Sooners program that they have not had at any point in Baranczyk at the helm, a true dominant big.

I will tell you the moment that I had been waiting for to know that Beers had arrived, the first broadcast graphic comparing her to Courtney Paris (Oklahoma AND Courtney Paris? This is how I win!), and that graphic came in game three. Right after she was named the AP Player of the Week.

When I sat down with Raegan over the summer, she discussed playing in a freer offense. Truly, Oregon State’s and Oklahoma’s offenses couldn’t be more different. Early this season you have seen Beers taking threes and scoring off the dribble. She looks like she has been unleashed. The high-low with her and last year’s Big 12 Co-Player of the Year Skylar Vann is deadly. And that’s not even getting into how she has anchored the defense. There’s even more to be said and I could talk about Oklahoma all day but to end, don’t sleep on the Sooners. It feels different this year.

Harmoni Turner Woke Up Feeling Dangerous

Harvard seems like they are going to be as good as Harmoni Turner is. The good thing for Harvard? Harmoni Turner has had one of the best starts across the nation.

We saw a little over a week ago Harvard upset then #25 Indiana on the road behind 24 points from Turner, but then turn around and lose big to Quinnipiac where Turner only put up 9 points. Thus is life in college basketball sometimes.

Since then? A switch has been flipped. Turner told us herself in my favorite moment from this season so far after the Boston College game on the ESPN+ broadcast.

The look? Absolutely hilarious.

Turner put up 41 points and 10 rebounds in the win against Boston College, and then followed that up with 38 points against Maine. She has been electric to watch and if this is the way that she continues to feel when she wakes up, you can expect to see individual accolades stack up and Harvard build towards being the recipient of the Ivy League NCAA Tournament bid.

Battle of the Bluegrass is Back

Kentucky vs Louisville has been a dormant rivalry in women’s basketball. But with Kenny Brooks now at Kentucky as the head coach, if the first matchup was any indication, this can be one of the best rivalries in the nation.

On Saturday, Kentucky pulled away for a 71-61 overtime win at home and it *felt* like rivalry basketball. It wasn’t a pretty game, both teams made mistakes, it felt like a drag out brawl at times. Every whistle felt like both teams returning to their corners in between rounds. And frankly that is exactly how I like my rivalry hoops.

Kentucky has more “now” players that Louisville does. Georgia Amoore is one of the better guards in the country, certainly need to get the turnovers down and I am sure she would say the same, but it was more than just the star guard. I came away most impressed by Teonni Key who was making an impact all over the court even when in foul trouble. Key and Clara Strack project to be really great pieces to transition out of the Amoore era for Kenny Brooks, which is important to this rivalry to maintain the vigor shown in the first edition with Kenny Brooks’ involvement.

Now Louisville is absolutely stacked with “later” players, I don’t recall ever feeling better about the direction of a team that started a season 2-2. The freshman class that Jeff Walz has deployed early on this season have been making a genuine impact. 34 of the 61 points scored for Louisville came from the freshmen. I am not sure sure if it is all going to come together this season, if it does be wary of them in March, but Walz has something with this class that also projects the ante being upped by the year in the Battle of the Bluegrass.

WNBA Draft Lottery Chaos

In the words of Lauryn Hill, “it could all be so simple, but you’d rather make it hard”. That’s what the Dallas Wings winning the WNBA Draft Lottery has done for the rest of the WNBA.

Let’s look at the calm hypothetical. The Sparks get #1 and draft Paige Bueckers, the Wings get Kiki Iriafen to replace a seemingly on the way out Satou Sabally, and the Sky get Olivia Miles (who seems to be leaning towards declaring). See! Simple!

Now with the Wings in the one slot it throws everything off. Assuming they take the consensus #1 player in Bueckers, you have three teams that are forward/big heavy and don’t exactly *need* Kiki Iriafen.

Iriafen has the potential to genuinely be one of, if not the best, power forwards/centers in the WNBA, in a league that is currently ran by that position. Even with that, I wouldn’t be absolutely surprised to see Iriafen slip based on the teams that come next.

Do the Sparks like what they saw out of Cameron Brink and Iriafen as teammates at Stanford enough to pass over taking a point guard of their own? The Sky are set down low with Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso. The Mystics have a log jam of bigs in their own right, even though I could see them picking Iriafen and figuring it out later.

Admittedly, I think I might just be overthinking in the immediacy of the Draft Lottery results, but Kiki Iriafen as the face of the Golden State Valkyries? Throw some eye emojis on that possibility because I could get behind it. No matter the outcome, chaos seems to be on the table for the 2025 WNBA Draft.

No Calm in Sight for the Storm

To preface this, I have no take on anything close to “who is right or wrong” in the Seattle Storm player mistreatment investigation first reported by Annie Costabile of the Chicago Sun Times, and then expanded upon by Christan Braswell of Circling Seattle Sports and Roberta Rodrigues of Beta Basket.

I just don’t feel like we know enough yet until the investigation furthers.

But let’s talk about what we do know, this isn’t going to end smoothly.

When reading these reports for the first time, admittedly I wasn’t super surprised to learn there were locker room issues. Throughout the season on our Postgame Shows and other mediums, we compared the Storm to the 2023 New York Liberty a lot. Stars entering from free agency, chemistry seems off, might just need a year. What I am surprised by is just how split the locker room seems to be. And this roster just doesn’t seem tenable at this point.

It leaves the Storm in an incredibly difficult spot. Jewell Loyd and Skylar Diggins-Smith both remain on the roster with one year left on each respective contract. Nneka Ogwumike is a free agent, and was left out of the player meetings entirely which doesn’t seem like a situation I would want to return to from her individual perspective. Head Coach Noelle Quinn received a multiyear contract extension in 2023.

My takeaway right now from everything we have learned is that nobody got what they felt they signed up for. Whether be other people’s behavior or the role being played, nobody seems happy. So where do we go from here?

I certainly don’t think this Storm team will look anywhere near the same this year. Whether the investigation forces a coaching change, a rare superstar trade goes down in the WNBA, or even the potential of leaving a player unprotected in the Expansion Draft, this team will look different. Diggins-Smith posting “don’t tell a lie on me…and I won’t tell the truth ‘bout you” on her Instagram story certain makes me feel like more is on the way. It’s likely going to get messier before finding out exactly how the Storm attempt to find their calm.