Joined @zachkoons.bsky.social to talk Northwestern spring sports and a bit of basketball portal thoughts! Zach also had some takes on that…interesting Fitz article from last week. Give it a listen:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...
Incredibly strange lmao
Ok well I'm very not high on that Valks trade but I also really like Ashlon Jackson lol
Even better!!
Fun first round! Not quite sure how I feel about either the sky pick or the valks pick (higher on the latter though)
I think what they need is one more big who can’t really shoot
Signing Salaun, GWilliams, Zandalasini, Jocyte and Kaila Charles on the same day is kind of mean to all the other teams who would actually like to sign a wing player, please. #WNBA
Congratulations! We are going to beat you to death
Gabby Williams and Veronica Burton welcoming visiting teams to the Bay Area:
Gabby Williams to the Valkyries might be my favorite free agency move all time in any sport. Best defensive backcourt in the league by a wide margin
A graph alternating between “we’re so back” and “it’s so over”
Chicago Sky 2026 free agency period
So cool for VB. What a culmination of her incredible journey
Glad the sky aren’t tanking and this year should be a lot better than last year but did they really have to make the terrible trades in addition to the great free agent moves?
Allergic to keeping his picks for some reason!! Why does he do this
This trade simply does not make a lick of sense
Somebody stop Jeff Pagliocca from being able to talk to other teams. Cut his phone lines!! How are you getting fleeced by a team without a GM
My understanding is the Valkyries are in talks with Gabby Williams and I don’t expect Mo Billings to return to the team
if this was their plan for tv programming they should’ve just tweeted out the lists lol
As usual, Kate Drohan has her team rounding into form just in time for the home slate. The 'Cats get their first ranked win of the season in run-rule fashion in the series opener against #18 Oregon, and the Rosemont debut goes down as a smashing success
A potentially program-altering hire for Northwestern. All Carla Berube does is win
NFCA - Oregon’s Lindsey Grein
D1Softball - Washington’s Morgan Reimer
Softball America - Northwestern’s Marina Mason
Big Ten - Nebraska’s Jordy Frahm somehow????
There are three major weekly national softball pitching awards. All three of them were given out to different Big Ten pitchers. Not one of those pitchers won the Big Ten pitcher of the week award! Never seen anything like this
Marina Mason carried a no hitter into the 7th on Friday for Northwestern softball against Illinois, and now closes one out on Sunday! The first year just keeps getting better. And with a rivalry series sweep, the ‘Cats may finally be starting to hit their stride
Numbers that may well not be a coincidence:
Highest WNBA cap hit anyone had last season, so largest base salary plus time-off bonus, was Kelsey Mitchell at $269,244.
Reported new minimum salary is 'above $300k'.
So *everyone* should be making more in 2026 than *anyone* was in 2025. #WNBA
Olson not being unanimous was the craziest to me, she was on my three player POTY ballot (only one option from each team available). Also thought Jensen definitely deserved coach of the year, none of the other discrepancies between my ballot and the final media results felt completely nuts though
To clear up some things: we (the media voters) ranked 25 players for the all big 10 honors, and 8 players each for the all defensive teams and all freshman teams. I actually kinda liked those changes given how big the conference is now lol
Alysa Liu: "THAT'S WHAT I'M FUCKING TALKING ABOUT" 🗣️
Northwestern field hockey dies it again!!! Ilse Tromp is the hero, and with 3 championships in 5 years, including back to back titles, the dynasty is officially on
Northwestern field hockey STORMS back from a 3-1 deficit to beat #1 UNC in overtime and advance to their fifth consecutive national championship. An unbelievable game, and an unbelievable team is one win away from back-to-back natties
ILSE TROMP (and Maddie Zimmer)
Remarkable rivalry win for Northwestern WBB over DePaul. After a very slow start to the season, the Wildcats might be starting to figure themselves out! Perhaps the best game of Caroline Lau's career, and Grace Sullivan and Tayla Thomas continue to be an exceptional duo down low
