Hello! Hopefully, this looks a whole lot like what you’re used to, but in case it’s a change there’s a good reason for it.

As said last week, I have moved Hoopla from Substack over to Beehiiv because I don’t feel any reason to keep a free newsletter on a website that hosts Nazis and praises the efforts of Elon Musk. The subscriber list has been exported over (or, at least it should be), so hopefully the transition should be mostly seamless.

That said, IF you were a reader of Hoopla directly through Substack, or are finding me through Bluesky, Google or wherever else this may be discovered, feel free to subscribe to get these emails once a week. It is free to do and it would be greatly appreciated on my end.

For those who receive this email, please let me know if you run into any errors of any kind. This is a new website for me as well and there could easily be something that I’m missing, so I’d love to know any and all feedback as we get used to Beehiiv.

Two more housekeeping items:

1. Posting Day: This may have become more obvious as I have naturally moved to it, but I am planning for Hoopla to come out Every Tuesday instead of the original Monday schedule. Tuesday works better for my work-life balance, and should keep me more consistent than Monday has.

2. Summer Previews: I am still planning on doing them, and the goal is to have the first one release on July 1. That would, in an ideal world, give me 18 weeks to do 18 teams by the end of October. I can’t guarantee a perfect 18/18 on weeks, but I will have a preview every team before the regular season starts.

OK, now let’s get to the hoops.

Hoopla’s WNBA Alums

It’s a huge WNBA night tonight, along with Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, so get as many screens available as you can for the evening.

I lightly discussed a few of the standouts last week, but felt that the Hoopla alums deserved a full post as a nice way to bringing some key names from the first four-ish years of this newsletter over to Beehiiv.

The “Hoopla Alums” being considered here are the players that played on Big Ten teams since I started the newsletter in 2021. That means stars that left college prior to the 2021-22 season, or that were not yet in the expanded Big Ten before 2024-25 do not count despite their conference ties.

With those stipulations, I counted nine alums that ranked among the Top 100 players in Her Hoop Stats win shares that I felt should be discussed. Here they are, ranked by current win shares:

Veronica Burton, Golden State

Win Shares: 13th (1.3)
11.9 PPG | 4.1 RPG | 5.4 APG | 1.8 SPG

Burton ranked as high as ninth last week in win shares, so it’s safe to say she has been one of the most valuable point guards in the league through the early portions of the season. She is one of the key reasons for Golden State’s surprisingly strong start to their inaugural season, something just about nobody expected for the new franchise.

Burton is ranking this highly despite legitimately subpar shooting: 35.7% overall, 26.3% from three. She is hitting 90.9% of her free throws though, and has otherwise been the extremely valuable two-way force that we saw so much of at Northwestern. With many members of the Valkyries missing time to compete in EuroBasket, Burton should get significant opportunities over the next few weeks.

Kiki Iriafen, Washington

Win Shares: 16th (1.2)
13.8 PPG | 9.3 RPG | 50.4 FG%

The Mystics also look well ahead of schedule thanks to the efforts from both Iriafen and Sonia Citron early in this season. Iriafen, who was excellent in her co-star role at USC, has blown away all of my early projections for what she would be able to do in her rookie year, and continues to look extremely capable of becoming a star.

There’s a certain confidence and drive that Iriafen has played with thus far that has really impressed me, something I had some concerns about after her lackluster performances in her final two games for the Trojans. Washington has a great foundation for the future, and Iriafen is right at the center of it with her play so far.

Naz Hillmon, Atlanta

Win Shares: 28th (1.0)
5.8 PPG | 4.5 RPG | 2.0 APG | 57.1/40.0/88.9 splits

When the Atlanta Dream signed Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones this offseason, part of me was concerned on what that meant for the future of Naz Hillmon. She'd been a productive forward for Atlanta for her first three seasons, but those are some massive front court names to compete with.

Hillmon’s minutes have taken a slight dip, but her efficiency and impact have been massive in the early parts of the season. She has given the Dream tremendous minutes off the bench, has found a reliable three-point shot and continues to be a positive influence any time she’s on the court. Did I mention she is hitting threes? Like, 8 for 20 from three so far after a college and WNBA career with one (1!) total three made prior?

The Dream are 8-3 so far and have a chance to go to the Commissioner Cup finals with a win over New York tonight. The acquisitions, new head coach and MVP play from Allisha Gray are key factors for this, but so is Hillmon, who continues to prove herself as one of the best-value second-round picks in recent memory.

Caitlin Clark, Indiana

Win Shares: 40th (0.8)
21.6 PPG | 6.4 RPG | 9.2 APG | 1.2 SPG | 1.2 BPG

Before you yell at the win share ranking, Caitlin Clark has played five games. Most importantly, Clark has looked damn good in those five games, improving her efficiency and increasing her output across the board.

We saw what Clark is capable of doing to literally any team as she dismantled the New York Liberty with a near-triple-double and a barrage of deep threes. Her turnovers are still north of five per game, and she has had some early free throw woes that I can only assume is an anomaly. Outside of that, Clark has made strides and shown she can lead the Fever to huge things with this new revamped roster.

Angel Reese, Chicago

Win Shares: 75th (0.3)
10.4 PPG | 11.9 RPG | 3.5 APG | 1.7 SPG

The Sky have had a mostly terrible start to this season, but their last game offered a glimmer of hope, and a lot of that is thanks to Reese. Also, yes, I am including Reese here because she did play for Maryland while I was writing Hoopla.

Chicago beat Connecticut on the back of a Reese triple-double, her first in the WNBA. She played the point forward role excellently, and I think that could be a significant development for her growth on the whole. Reese continues to struggle with scoring efficiency, but is quite possibly the most talented rebounder I have ever watched. If she can pair that, plus her strong defense, with continued improvements as a facilitator, she is going to be on an Alyssa Thomas-style arc I would really love to see.

Kate Martin, Golden State
Jacy Sheldon, Connecticut

Martin - 0.2 Win Shares (80th) | 6.2 PPG | 2.8 RPG | 32.3 3PT%
Sheldon - 0.1 Win Shares (89th) | 7.0 PPG | 2.2 APG | 1.1 SPG | 50.0/36.4/85.7 splits

Both Martin and Sheldon were moved following their rookie seasons, and both went to locations that seemingly offered space for them to grow in.

Thus far, both have mad solid impacts, with Martin primarily working as a three-point specialist in spurts for Golden State, and Sheldon earning a handful of starts and shooting efficiently for a Sun team that’s really looking for any sort of momentum.

Sheldon continues to be active defensively, as she was known to be at Ohio State, but her defensive rating has been lackluster to this point. Again, that could be mostly due to the general stink surrounding the Connecticut roster right now, because the numbers are mostly very solid for her so far.

I said it above with Burton, but Martin really has an opportunity to prove herself with the EuroBasket exits. I hope we get some extended runs to see what she can bring to the Golden State rotation.

Lucy Olsen, Washington
Diamond Miller, Minnesota

Olsen - 0.1 Win Shares (93rd) | 2.8 PPG | 41.7 3PT%
Miller - 0.1 Win Shares (98th) | 2.4 PPG | 41.2 FG%

Finally, we end with two players who are looking to climb up some depth charts. Both are averaging less than 10 minutes per game, but their situations differ from there.

Lucy Olsen should have continued chances to make something happen. She’s not playing as the high-volume scorer that she was at Villanova at Iowa, but she’s hitting more than 40 percent of her threes and has kept the turnovers down. Washington has had a strong start, but is looking, overall, toward future seasons, so playing Olsen more would make a lot of sense.

Diamond Miller’s situation is a little more tricky. She had a strong rookie season, then injuries derailed year two while the Minnesota Lynx turned into a true championship contender. Now, she is getting sporadic play time while she tries to fight her way back into the core rotation. The former No. 2 overall pick clearly has so much potential worth discovering still, but I’m starting to wonder if that potential will be realized on a different team where it can truly flourish.

Again, please let me know if you run into any issues as I transition the site over. Excited to start a somewhat new era, and excited that we are nearing the time for team previews.