UConn retires Sue Bird's jersey
And Trinity Rodman may have to "look elsewhere" after NWSL vetoes contract.
No. 1 UConn rolls on Sue Bird jersey retirement night
Bird won two national championships in her four years with the Huskies. (Ryan Hunt/Getty Images)
The No. 1 UConn Huskies honored one of the program’s legends on Sunday, retiring the No. 10 jersey of Hall of Fame guard Sue Bird before the Huskies dominated DePaul 102-35 to earn their ninth win of the season.
A two-time national champion, Bird is one of only three UConn women’s basketball players to see their number up in the rafters, joining Rebecca Lobo and Swin Cash — and soon-to-be Maya Moore.
“This is home," said Bird. "This is where it started. So to see what we are about to see, my number up in the rafters next to these other legends, it's an incredible, incredible honor. Hard to put into words."
Big picture: "The amazing thing about [Cash, Lobo, Bird, and Moore] was the incredible amount of success they had after they left here,” said Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma. “That as great as their accomplishments were here, what they've done since they left has been nothing short of incredible."
Bird became UConn’s first No. 1 WNBA draft pick in 2002, winning four titles with the Seattle Storm and five Olympic gold medals as part of Team USA, before retiring in 2022.
What’s next: After honoring the past, the reigning national champions are looking to the future, with an upcoming ranked matchup against No. 16 USC on Saturday.
Iowa State’s Audi Crooks can’t be stopped
Crooks (C) is averaging a career-high 27.3 points per game this season. (Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Two years after her breakout NCAA tournament performance as a freshman, No. 10 Iowa State center Audi Crooks has become an unstoppable force for the Cyclones as they look to better their first round exit in last year’s postseason.
The junior leads the nation in scoring with a career-high 27.3 points per game, while smashing her own Iowa State single-game scoring record with a 47-point performance against Indiana on November 30th.
“These scoring records are really team records, especially for me as a post,” Crooks told the Des Moines Register. “I don’t bring the ball up. Somebody else does that and I don’t pass the ball in the paint. Somebody else does that.”
Big picture: Crooks continued her scoring pace with a 30-point game against Northern Illinois on Sunday, registered in only 19 minutes of playing time during the 105-52 blowout win.
The 20-year-old’s efficiency has been on full display, sitting first in Division I women’s basketball in field goal percentage at 73.8%, while averaging only 25.3 minutes of playing time per game.
“It’s always fun to watch her cook, when you get the ball to her hands, and it’s going in, it’s Audi-matic,” teammate Reagan Wilson said.
What’s next: Crooks and the Cyclones take on their biggest test yet of the young season on Wednesday, as they face in-state rival No. 12 Iowa in a clash of unbeaten programs.
San Diego takes home World Sevens Football title
The Wave took home $2 million in prize money with their title on Sunday. (Leonardo Fernandez/Getty Images for World Sevens Football)
The San Diego Wave took home the World Sevens Football (W7F) championship on Sunday, defeating Liga MX Femenil side Tigres 3-0 to secure the $2 million winner’s share of the $5 million prize pool.
Mackenzy Robbe opened the scoring, followed by a second half brace by Adriana Leon to put the match out of reach for the NWSL side.
Big picture: In a showcase of club talent across the Americas, San Diego finished the tournament undefeated, scoring 14 goals while only conceding two on their way to becoming the inaugural champion of the North American iteration of the competition.
Club América of Liga MX Femenil earned a third place finish, winning $700,000 in prize money as the bronze medal winners.
Major players While Tigres fell just short of the trophy, forward Maria Sanchez earned the tournament’s Golden Ball and Golden Boot with six goals and two assists.
Wave midfielder Gia Corley took home the Breakout Player award, while the Golden Glove went to San Diego goalkeeper DiDi Haričić.
Stanford takes on Florida State in College Cup final
Stanford downed conference foe Duke in their semifinal on Friday. (Sophia Scheller/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
The 2025 College Cup final is set, as No. 1 overall seed Stanford and No. 3 seed Florida State advanced past their semifinal competition on Friday to clinch an all-ACC tournament final for the third straight year.
Stanford kept to their winning ways in their semifinal against No. 2 seed Duke, taking the Blue Devils down 1-0 behind a free kick strike from midfielder Jasmine Aikey.
Florida State similarly landed a single strike against No. 2 seed TCU, benefitting from a second-half breakthrough from forward Wrianna Hudson.
Big picture: The Seminoles and the Cardinal have met in the NCAA championship game as recently as 2023, when Florida State rolled to the program’s fourth title in a 5-1 takedown.
Stanford has not won a women’s soccer national title since their epic penalty shootout victory in 2019, when the Cardinal narrowly defeated North Carolina 5-4 from the spot after a 0-0 draw.
Tune in: Stanford takes on Florida state tonight at 7 PM ET, live on ESPNU.
Trinity Rodman may “look elsewhere” after NWSL contract veto, agent says
Rodman is currently out of contract with the Washington Spirit. (Scott Taetsch/NWSL via Getty Images)
Washington Spirit superstar Trinity Rodman may be forced to “look elsewhere” for her next contract after the NWSL vetoed a multi-million dollar offer from her current squad, Rodman’s agent told CBS Mornings on Friday.
“We worked really hard to put together an agreement that we felt complied with the CBA and would keep Trinity in the league for the foreseeable future," Rodman’s rep Mike Senkowski said.
“With no certain way to get her fair market value within the NWSL, naturally, that forces you and encourages you to look elsewhere," he continued.
Big picture: The NWSLPA has filed a grievance arguing the league office’s mandate to reject the Spirit’s back-loaded offer — worth more than $1 million a year — but an NWSL source clarified commissioner Jessica Berman’s position to The Athletic this weekend.
The league contests that the Spirit’s offer to raise Rodman’s compensation in the contract’s later years would pull them out of salary cap compliance in 2028, while disagreeing on the league’s potential cap growth under a new broadcast deal.
The league source also noted that the offer has a built-in buyout clause, which the NWSL believes signals an admission of possible salary cap circumvention.
Quote of the day
“She said, ‘Do you really want me to answer that?’”
UConn legend Sue Bird
on asking her niece whether she was more excited for Bird’s jersey retirement, or to see Huskies star senior Azzi Fudd.