Sun rise

HARTFORD, Conn. - The best musical of the modern era is Hadestown and not Hamilton (although Hamilton is awesome), and if you know it, you know Orpheus "can make you see how the world could be in spite of the way that it is." If you closed your eyes and imagined an alternate universe Thursday night, you saw how the future of the WNBA could have been in Connecticut: 14,000 people packing Peoples Bank Arena and most decidedly involved as the game went down to the wire. Excited plays, superstars grabbing the game by the throat down the stretch, a very good entertainment product minus perhaps the myriad and lengthy reviews. Yes, the WNBA took some chances to keep the Sun in state, but this is the Basketball Capital of the World after all and are always going to support their team just as much (if not more) as any other team in the league, even as its growth continues unabated. It was, of course, Paige Bueckers (and a little Azzi Fudd) that brought a decent amount of the 14,000 to...

  I am back. Kind of. For now, at least. Sincere apologies to people who checked in here to see what was going on with the Connecticut Sun, and have seen nothing for the last couple of weeks. Like pretty much everything in life, there are several reasons for my absence: I’ve had to deal with some personal stuff, some medical stuff, and some family stuff. But I can’t deny that it’s also been pretty darn depressing to follow the Sun this season. Obviously the record is frustrating and some of the games have been tough to watch, but if I look inside myself, it’s not really about that. When it was announced the Sun was going to Houston, it hurt, but it wasn’t immediate. However, as every day goes by now, we’re one day closer to the end and, in a way, watching them makes me sad. I think there was part of me that was holding out hope for a miracle and everyone to magically reverse course and find a way for the Sun to stay. The Hartford Civic Center (where tonight's game will be played) c...

Losing sucks, even more so when you’re a professional athlete, so although the effort was better and the Sun scored more than 100 points, for crying out loud, having nothing to show for it at the end of the day is rough. We know the Sun are headed nowhere this season, but would it kill everyone just to have one moment to shine in this brutal last couple of weeks? You’d like to say that Connecticut collapsed in this one, and there was plenty to work on, especially at the defensive end, where again, opposing guards are having their way with the Sun. But - although this is not a space where we like to bash referees much - there were a few calls down the stretch that certainly didn’t help matters, including a baffling foul on Olivia Nelson-Ododa that fouled her out, and one on Leila Lacan that ended her night. In the end, there were many positives, including the play of Lacan, although, it’s another tough loss as the season continues to slip away by the game.   What else did we le...

In a vacuum, a single-digit loss to a title contender like New York is probably something to be really proud of. The Sun did battle for 40 minutes and made the Liberty work for almost everything they got, having a sniff of hope in the final minutes before losing. But a deeper look shows a Liberty team without Jonquel Jones (who it was awesome to see honored before the game, well deserved) or Sabrina Ionescu, and with Satou Sabally clearly limited (19 minutes). New York didn’t play or shoot particularly well and still got a road victory against a Sun team that (although without perhaps their two most effective players in 2026 in Aneesah Morrow and Brittany Griner) played fairly well, all things considered? That’s a little discouraging going forward. Leila Lacan does not appear to be near what she was last season, and maybe that’s to be expected. Teams were going to figure out a 20-year old international player her second time around, and her lack of confidence in shooting has made her ...

When you’re at the bottom of the standings, you’re looking for anything that will give you hope and/or confidence, and the Connecticut Sun found it in the first quarter Friday night in Chicago, racing to a double-digit lead and seemingly with a chance to bury the equally hapless Sky before halftime. That, of course, didn’t happen, as offensively challenged Chicago scored 32 points in the second quarter to get back into the game by halftime. After that, the Sun’s equally challenged offense was the more challenged of the two and veterans Skylar Diggins and Natasha Cloud made enough plays down the stretch to break Chicago’s five-game losing streak. Stop me if you’ve heard this before (please don’t stop reading, actually), but it’s another game the Sun could have won, and another one they didn’t. In the big picture, it’s not going to matter, as we’ve said a few times, the more ping pong balls they can get to draft JuJu Watkins, the better. But, especially knowing the team will be gone soon...

There was a moment in the third quarter Tuesday night where you could believe the Connecticut Sun could challenge for a playoff berth, leading by five at Atlanta - a team that may not be the WNBA title favorites, but certainly one of them - late in the third quarter, and making it extremely difficult for the Dream to do anything on the offensive end. There was a good rotation, a set lineup that appeared to be their best that Rachid Meziane went to in big spots. The Sun still weren’t hitting three-pointers, but they didn’t need to, able to get to the rim, even against the largely bigger Dream. But then the offense went away. The Sun scored just 26 points in the second half, including a painful stretch to start the fourth quarter in which they failed to score in 10 straight possessions. Eventually, the resistance was broken and Atlanta won fairly easily in the end (sorry, Sun bettors), leaving another lopsided road loss. In a way, it was a very positive performance. Connecticut showed th...