Posts

Liberty 106, Sun 75: Waiting for Lacan

Image
Needless to say, I hoped we were past the kind of beatings the Sun took Friday night in Brooklyn, made worse by the fact that Sabrina Ionescu and Satou Sabally (and a couple of others) weren’t even in uniform. Connecticut looked a step slow for most of the first half. Or two. Or four? I guess some of that is to be expected when you have as many new faces on the roster as the Sun did. Leila Lacan, who was the team’s MVP by a pretty wide margin as a rookie in 2025 is still in France, while Aaliyah Edwards is out with a thigh injury. That led Rachid Meziane to put out a starting lineup that never really stood a chance: Saniya Rivers, Aneesah Morrow (at the 2?), Kennedy Burke, Diamond Miller, and Brittany Griner. It was 36-13 and 46-19 before the Sun knew what hit them and it was all over early. There are a lot of things that can be fixed, but the Liberty shooting 16-for-20 on two-point shots in the first half (with Breanna Stewart just taking it to Morrow every chance she could with no ad...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sun season preview: Last ride in Uncasville

Image
One last time. And we’ll teach them how to say goodbye . It sadly looks like Hamilton on Broadway will outlive the Connecticut Sun, who will move to Houston (pending approval by the WNBA Board of Governors) for 2027 and beyond. We knew it was coming for quite some time now, but it still stings to talk about. The Sun are putting on a brave public face, but things like the YouTube channel have already gone silent, word is it's largely a bare bones operation behind the scenes. Head coach Rachid Meziane is among those that might never make it to Houston, as Galatasaray announced he will coach their team next winter. But we’ll have time to mourn when the summer is over, let’s live in the present and get ready for what could be an exciting swan song for the Sun. The chances of a Hollywood ending and going out with their first WNBA title are extremely slim.  Brittany Griner will be a big piece for the Sun in 2026 (courtesy Connecticut Sun) How slim? 500-1 at your neighborhood sportsbook, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sun 83, Tempo 78: Still smarting from Houston move, but we are back

Image
You’ve probably noticed the lack of posts on this blog in the preseason, and full disclosure, it’s going to be tough this summer, my life is different than it was at this time last year, and the whole moving to Houston thing has taken a bit of love away from our beloved Connecticut Sun. Hopefully as the season progresses and the regular season starts that will go away a little, but that remains to be seen, I guess. But - although I can’t promise you every game like last season - I’ll still be around and surely pop up at Mohegan Sun Arena at least a few times in the farewell season (don’t make me cry already). A new campaign began, though, Wednesday night in Canada of all places against the expansion Toronto Tempo, and the Sun looked a lot like a team that has never played together before, largely because they hadn’t. There is more room for optimism headed into 2026 than there was last season, despite the loss of Marina Mabrey (if you read this blog last year, you know I think losing he...
1 comment
Read more

Dream 85, Sun 70: That's all, folks

Image
And that’s all, folks. The 2025 Connecticut Sun season ended not with a bang, but with a whimper followed by a small bang followed by a whimper, as they fell to red-hot Atlanta 85-70 Wednesday night at Mohegan Sun Arena. I’m sad it’s over, but obviously not nearly as sad as I’ve been in past seasons, which have usually ended sometime in October deep in the playoffs. Make no mistake, although it looked worse a month ago, the Sun were a bad basketball team this season, finishing with a record of 11-33 that the analytics say could have been worse without a little fortune. It also stinks that the Sun had to finish the season without what should be their MVP, rookie Leila Lacan, and her loss was felt deeply, although it was a long, long season for Lacan in France through the WNBA games. It also should be remembered that Olivia Nelson-Ododa has had the most win shares (trust the analytics) for the Sun all season long, and maybe the analytics are onto something because the team looked muc...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dream @ Sun preview: We've come to the end of the road

Image
  End of the line. It comes with mixed emotions, this was an extremely trying season at times, especially when you’re used to long playoff runs every season. We were told what was coming, we saw the entire 2024 team depart for greener practice facilities and pastures, but until the team took the floor, it was hard to picture what losing so many games would look like. But it could have been worse, much worse, and looked like it was going to be one of the worst seasons in WNBA history when the Sun were 2-16 in mid-July and you could argue that both victories up to that point were a fluke. The Sun will get at least one more season at Mohegan Sun Arena, it appears However, then Leila Lacan’s arrival breathed some life into the operation, and fellow rookies Saniya Rivers and Aneesah Morrow also stepped up their games, first making the team watchable and then winning, like more than once. There was a moment there where the Sun was among the hottest teams in the WNBA, and that looked so u...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dream 87, Sun 64: About what we expected

Image
It took a while, but Monday’s game in Atlanta kind of ended how we thought it would, an 87-64 Dream blowout, although it was much closer at halftime and for most of the third quarter. But there was never a point in the game where I was supremely confident Connecticut was going to win this contest, even as Saniya Rivers looked as confident as she ever has on the offensive end in the first half. We’ve seen this movie too many times, at least on this occasion the Sun had some excuses, playing without Leila Lacan and Olivia Nelson-Ododa (as well as Bria Hartley), and it was encouraging to see some fight in the first half, even if the fact they were in the game seemed mostly due to Atlanta missing fairly easy shots more than anything the Sun did terribly well, although they get some credit for defensive intensity in the second quarter. The script, however, was eventually the same as we’ve seen in perhaps a dozen road games this season: Marina Mabrey missing shots and not helping the Sun on ...
Post a Comment
Read more