Hot takes, deep dives, and bold predictions — everything you need as the postseason heats up.

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This week I dive into the WNBA’s end-of-season awards — Rookie of the Year, Most Improved, Coach of the Year, Sixth Player of the Year, and the historic Co-Defensive Player of the Year. I break down the biggest debates, including the narrative around splitting DPOY and what it says about the league.

Then, I shift into playoff mode with a deep analysis of each first-round series: Lynx vs. Valkyries, Dream vs. Fever, Mercury vs. Liberty, and Aces vs. Storm. I share why the Atlanta Dream continue to struggle, what Breanna Stewart’s injury means for the Liberty, and why bigs not showing up consistently is becoming a bigger conversation in the league.

Finally, I give my semifinal predictions for Lynx vs. Mercury and Aces vs. Fever — and what fans should be watching for as the postseason intensity rises.

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Follow me on social media:

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Links:

Season Ticket Holder Price Increase: https://www.sportskeeda.com/us/wnba/news-that-s-leonie-s-salary-season-wnba-fans-react-new-york-liberty-season-tickets-price-hike-reaching-astronomical-levels

Alanna Smith solo DPOY video: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8SVV9je/

Alanna Smith DPOY montage: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8SVuy86/

My TikTok Discussing A’ja MVP chances after being voted Co-DPOY : https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8SVHacR/

In this week’s episode, Tori shares her playoff predictions and analysis of the matchups. She also talks about who she’d pick for coach of the year, the MVP race, Defensive player of the year, 6POTY, and who she thinks will make it to the WNBA finals. She also shares her thoughts on media members and their transparency for post-season award votes. And she gives a big shoutout to the Minnesota Lynx and more on this week’s episode.

-Follow me on social media:

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Links:

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/courtney-williams-wnba-minnesota-lynx-basketball

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Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:17 Episode topics 

01:29 Thank you for the support 

01:58 Minnesota Lynx MERCH HAUL

04:40 Thank you for the community 

06:57 Playoff Predictions 

08:17 Lynx vs Valkyries 

08:57 Coach of the Year 

11:10 Muddied Waters of WNBA Media

13:55 A’ja Wilson’s MVP Case

15:49 Alyssa Thomas 

17:09 Napheesa Collier

19:06 I hate the discrediting going on in W commentary 

23:25 Lynx vs Valkyries | What the Lynx need to win 

29:43 Aces vs Storm | Noel Quinn’s future with Storm 

36:07 Mercury vs Liberty 

37:43 Dream vs Fever 

39:27 Semi-Finals Predictions and Matchup Thoughts 

42:48 Finals matchup | Lynx vs Aces 

45:00 Defensive Player of the Year 

48:00 6POTY

49:51 COTY Again & 1st Team 

58:07 Teams that didn’t make the playoffs 

1:00:00 Kelsey Plum and the Sparks 

1:06:23 Wings, Sky, Mystics

In this week’s episode, Tori briefly touches upon her WNBA end-of-season award predictions and her thoughts on the media votes. She also delves into the recent trades, waivers, and injuries, providing a team-by-team analysis and their chances of making it to the championship. 

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Follow me on social media:

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Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:17 Housekeeping | Like, Subscribe, Follow 

00:41 Housekeeping | Responsible Degenerates & Unbiased and Unbothered 

02:12 Player of the Week : Kayla McBride 

02:52 WNBA Season Award Predictions | All-WNBA, MVP, ROTY

06:05 Why it’s hard to have a serious conversation about MVP

12:50 ROTY 

15:49 DPOTY Conversation 

17:33 Back to my All-WNBA team 

20:02 Trades & Waives | Mystics & Sun— Jacy & Aaliyah

23:17 Mystics & Storm | Alysha Clark, Zia, Pick & Slim

30:28 Wings & Lynx | Carrington - Miller, 2027 pick, Samuelson

33:10 Sika Kone, Teaira McCowan, Alissa Pili

35:02 Injuries | Napheesa Collier, Sydney Colson, Aari McDonald 

40:06 The Lynx 

42:14 There are only 2 real contenders right now 

46:57 The Storm 

50:38 The Mercury

53:35 The Dream

55:39 The Liberty 

59:30 The Fever

1:01:05 The Valkyries 

1:03:26 The Aces 

1:07:06 The Mystics

1:08:25 The Sparks 

1:11:39 The Sky, Wings and Sun 

In this week’s episode, Tori delves into the significance of StudBudz on All-Star Weekend, The All-Star Game, and various events. Additionally, we explore the ongoing negotiations between team owners and W players and discuss the crucial steps every team must take to secure a spot in the playoffs after the All-Star break.

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Follow me on social media:

https://linktr.ee/toriphillips5

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Links:

OffBall News : https://www.offball.news/

CBA Negotiation: https://www.si.com/wnba/breaking-down-wnba-players-cba-demand-all-star-game-shirts-go-viral#:~:text=Instead%2C%20they%20are%20lobbying%20for,same%20percentage%20of%20revenue%20shared.%22

Unrivaled : https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wnba/2025/07/19/unrivaled-juju-watkins-flaujae-johnson/c7b742fe-64cf-11f0-bf70-56d8888ebb94_story.html

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Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:17 Housekeeping | Like, Subscribe, Follow 

01:28 Tori’s Player of the Week to Watch | Naz Hillmon

02:47 Portland Fire 

04:51 CBA Negotiations

07:45 StudBudz 72 Hour Stream 

11:38 All-Star Events and Game

14:28 Favorite StudBudz moment | Diplo

16:13 Lynx 

25:26 Mercury 

29:27 Liberty 

30:58 Storm 

34:25 Dream 

37:11 Fever

39:43 Valkyries 

41:28 Aces 

43:30 Sky 

45:52 Mystics 

47:42 Wings 

50:24 The Sun ARE THE NEXT BIG THING

In this week’s episode, Tori discusses the Commissioner’s Cup game, All-Star roster and snubs. She also finally discusses her final playoff seeding for the season, addresses concerns she has about the Lynx championship contention and discusses why the Aces should disband after this season. She also takes some time to discuss waives and trades, and much more on this weeks episode!

Crash Out Video:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8hjCNBd/

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Follow me on social media:

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Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:17 Housekeeping 

02:22 Tori’s Player of the Week to Watch | Alanna Smith 

03:04 My Preseason Playoff Seeding :(

05:43 NEW Final Playoff Seeding List 

09:08 All-Star Roster 

11:46 All-Star Snubs

16:50 Expansion Teams | Expanding too quickly?

18:33 The Portland Issue 

19:32 I will not be watching all that 

20:07 Commissioner’s Cup Game Analysis 

22:40 How the Fever beat the Lynx 

24:07 Are the Lynx really championship contenders?

31:22 Waives and Trades | Aces 

33:06 Sparks Wavies and Signs | Odyssey Sims 

34:55 Julie Vanloo, The Valkyries & Sparks 

38:17 Fever vs Aces 

40:13 The Aces have to rebuild 

50:06 Liberty vs Sparks 

52:21 Storm vs Dream 

56:16 BRI JONES WAS SNUBBED

56:43 Wings vs Mercury 

59:52 Mystics vs Lynx 

1:00:44 Aaliyah Edwards … Allegedly taking calls 

1:03:07 Fever vs Sparks 

1:05:28 Lynx vs Valkyries 

1:08:06 Liberty vs Storm 

1:10:53 Aces vs Sun 

1:12:44 Sky vs Lynx 

In this week’s episode, Tori discusses the Commissioner’s Cup tournament results and her excitement for the final matchup, All-Star voting ballot, and gives a team by team analysis for Week 3 and 4. She also discusses why some rookie head coaches are given longer leashes than others while breaking down everything wrong for larger market teams and much more!

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Follow me on social media:

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Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:17 Like & Subscribe | Week 3 & 4 Analysis

01:37 Poll Question: Who’s winning the Commissioner’s Cup 

01:51 Where I’ve been 

04:03 Commissioner’s Cup 

04:30 Liberty vs Dream (Commissioner’s Cup)

06:38 All-Star Voting Ballot 

10:34 Lynx vs Aces (Commissioner’s Cup)

11:55 My thoughts on Fever vs Sun | Holding Players & Officials Accountable 

19:75 Excited for Fever vs Lynx 

20:58 Cathy Complaints 

24:25 StudBudz Twitch Stream 

25:04 Li Yueru trade request 

26:16 Player of the week to watch 

27:53 Dream Analysis 

31:30 Chicago Sky 

33:43 Connecticut Sun | Potential, Strength, and Weaknesses

38:59 Indiana Fever | Figuring out how to win without Caitlin 

42:00 Teams have to be able to win without their star 

46:17 New York Liberty 

48:49 Washington Mystics | Brittney Sykes, Aaliyah Edwards, Kiki, Sonia, and coaching 

52:07 Dallas Wings 

54:42 GS Valkyries

58:10 Las Vegas Aces | Everything is going Wrong 

01:03:42 LA Sparks | Why the Sparks are struggling 

01:11:13 Minnesota Lynx 

01:14:18 Phoenix Mercury | Dark Horse 

01:17:14 Seattle Storm

In this week’s episode, Tori gives us a detailed breakdown of each game, reveals her player to watch of the week and breaks down week 2 of WNBA team offenses, defenses, and more!-Follow me on social media:https://linktr.ee/toriphillips5-Chapters:00:00 Intro00:17 The BEST excuse you’ve ever heard 02:30 Double Feature this week03:11 Tori’s Player to Watch of the Week 03:18 Monique Akoa Makani04:25 Lynx vs Sun 12:20 Mercury vs Storm 17:56 Mystics vs Aces 25:00 Valkyries vs Sparks 25:22 Breaking down the Sparks 31:16 Liberty vs Fever 38:21 Wings vs Dream 44:27 Sun vs Dream49:12 Aces vs Storm54:20 Mystics vs Mercury 56:01 Sky vs Sparks 01:00:06 Liberty vs Valkyries 01:01:18 Wings vs Sun 01:03:21 Storm vs Lynx 01:06:04 Dream vs Sparks 01:08:14 Fever vs Mystics 01:09:44 Liberty vs Valkyries01:12:37 Sky vs Wings

In this week’s episode, Tori gives us a detailed breakdown of each game and shares her thoughts on what she expects from this season compared to last year. She also talks about the new rosters and offers some support to the new coaches. But she also has some tough conversations with others. 

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Follow me on social media:

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Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:17 Housekeeping | Like & Subscribe | Poll Question

03:27 Poll Question

04:00 Episode reminders 

06:53 Dream vs Mystics 

13:43 Lynx vs Wings

16:31 The Wings deserve room for grace

18:22 Sparks vs Valkyries 

25:40 Aces vs Liberty 

26:10 Why I don’t enjoy watching the Liberty

27:17 Aces Analysis 

28:15 Liberty Analysis 

30:37 Sky vs Fever — sigh 

31:15 Let’s have a real conversation 

35:50 Things the Sky need to work on 

37:30 The Fever 

38:07 Storm vs Mercury 

38:35 My open apology to the Mercury 

41:35 The Storm … 

42:32 Mystics vs Sun 

44:55 What I like about the Sun 

47:43 Lynx vs Sparks 

51:58 Storm vs Wings 

53:51 Why the Wings lost this game 

57:30 The Storm redemption arch 

58:57 Aces vs Sun 

01:02:06 Dream vs Fever 

01:09:02 Wings vs Lynx 

01:12:42 Mystics vs Valkyries 

01:16:51 Mercury vs Sparks 

01:19:24 Fever vs Dream 

1:27:29 Liberty vs Sky 

This week on Girls Who Like Hoops, I’m breaking down the WNBA preseason from top to bottom. I go team by team to talk about roster surprises, big injuries, who got waived (and why fans are mad about it), and what these early moves say about what teams are planning. I’m also giving my post-preseason seeding list, sharing what I expect from each squad going into opening week, and getting into the tanking conversation—because yes, it’s already time to talk about that. Whether you watched every game or none at all, I’ve got you covered.

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Follow me on social media:

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Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:17 Housekeeping | Like & Subscribe 

03:10 How I’m analyzing these Preseason games

03:50 The Connecticut Sun are for sale 

05:26 Dallas Wings & The Size issue 

12:36 Aces 

16:08 Mystics 

23:36 Fever

29:55 Connecticut Sun 

33:19 Storm 

37:36 Lynx 

42:10 Chicago Sky 

46:34 LA Sparks 

49:06 Golden State Valkyries have made an enemy 

54:09 Phoenix Mercury 

58:30 Atlanta Dream 

0101:58 Hard Truths of these waives 

01:04:31 Back to Atlanta 

01:05:40 Liberty 

01:07:42 Post-Preseason Seeding !!!!

Title courtesy of Ryan Ruocco (top 5 announcer in sports)--

In this week’s episode, Tori shares her insights on the Final Four and National Championship games. She delves into the factors that distinguish great teams from others, highlighting pivotal moments that have shaped the course of these games. Additionally, Tori takes the time to recognize and celebrate the achievements of UCONN & SC players, giving them the recognition they deserve. Furthermore, she discusses the potential of the Golden State Warriors securing a championship and the decision of Olivia Miles & Azzi Fudd to extend their college careers for one more year.

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Follow me on social media:

https://linktr.ee/toriphillips5

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Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:30 Where I’ve been 

01:10 Topics for the week 

01:50 In Distress 

02:59 Housekeeping 

03:35 UCONN HAS BEEN MY PICK

05:45 Texas vs South Carolina 

06:42 What set UCONN and SC apart from other teams 

09:36 My thoughts on Texas 

13:25 UCONN vs UCLA

21:08 UCONN vs SC

26:06 Geno’s Game Changing Timeout 

27:00 Dawn Staley & Outside Opinions of The Gamecocks

28:34 Giving SC players their flowers 

31:08 UCONN flowers 

32:11 Azzi Fudd & Olivia Miles staying 1 more year

36:51 The Golden State Warriors 

42:41 I need any team to beat the Liberty at this point