Hello, hoopheads! I hope you haven’t missed me too much over the past few days, as I gave myself a bit of a break after about five straight weeks worth of newsletters thanks to the WNBA schedule’s breakneck pace. You might be shocked to learn that I played a whole lot of Marvel Snap while I was gone, but now it’s time to get back to the business of loving women’s hoops as the FIBA World Cup gets underway today in Berlin. The games are tipping off bright and early if you’re in the U.S. (perhaps it’s more accurate to say very late at night if you’re on the West Coast, where the first tips will be at 2:30 AM), with eight of them on tap today to begin a very quick group stage (and a very quick tournament in general). Teams will face the other three members of their group between now and Monday, with group winners securing spots in the quarterfinals while second-place teams will square off with third-place finishers from different groups for the remaining quarterfinal berths on Tuesday and Wednesday. All four quarterfinals take place on Thursday, with the tournament’s only day off coming next Friday ahead of the semifinals next Saturday and final the following day. All games will be streaming on HBO Max in the U.S., with some games airing on TNT — only the U.S. game today — and others also airing on TruTV. Unrivaled fans will feel right at home with all of that, as the coverage, both during the games and in the studio, is on the same platforms and will feature pretty much all of the same on-air talent. Today’s games aren’t in any sort of order that I can identify, but one of the two tipping off first is in Group A, which also features today’s best game and the tournament’s host nation, so we might as well just go through the groups in alphabetical order. The game of the day, which is also the one featuring host nation Germany, isn’t the one in that opening window, but instead the second game in Group A, Spain vs Germany (11:45 AM ET).
Group A should be the most competitive group in general, with Spain (sixth in FIBA world rankings), Japan (10th), Germany (11th) and Mali (18th) comprising the most tightly packed group according to the FIBA rankings. Still being myself, you know I have to mention that there’s a New York Liberty flavor to several of the teams in this tournament, and the host Germans are no exception, with Liberty star Leonie Fiebich set to headline the squad while Liberty teammate Satou Sabally remains sidelined. The 26-year old Fiebich is playing in her first World Cup, but was one of four players to average 10+ points per game during Germany’s run at the 2024 Olympics. Sabally led that team with 18.8 points per game, while her sister Nyara Sabally, a 2024 WNBA champion with the Liberty, averaged 18 points and will be on the floor this week. Former Syracuse star and 2017 ACC Player of the Year Alexis Peterson, who has played overseas for a decade but hasn’t been in a WNBA regular-season game since 2017, averaged 13.8 points and 5.0 assists per game for that Olympic team and will also be a part of this squad. WNBA fans will also recognize the names of Portland Fire rookie Frieda Bühner and teammate Luisa Geiselsöder. They’re coached by another name familiar to Liberty fans, Olaf Lange, who has long been an assistant on his wife Sandy Brondello’s WNBA staffs, including those 2024 WNBA champs again. Spain’s got a Liberty tie of its own, as rookie center Raquel Carrera is on the team, but the most exciting name on this squad for WNBA fans is surely that of Seattle Storm rookie Awa Fam. Another Fire player, Megan Gustafson, led Spain with 18.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game in the 2024 Olympics, and will also be part of a crowded but incredibly talented frontcourt alongside Toronto Tempo forward and 37-year old overseas stalwart Alba Torrens. She’s a three-time medalist at the World Cup, with all three of those medals having been earned in the 2010s. The first one, a bronze in 2010, came when her 20-year old teammate Fam was just four years old. Group A’s first game sees Japan face Mali (5:30 AM ET), with recent Las Vegas Aces signing and national team superstar Mai Yamamoto leading the way after putting up 17.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game at the 2024 Olympics. Mali is in its third World Cup and second in a row, with Sika Koné of the Atlanta Dream the most recognizable name to WNBA fans.
If there’s a team that has a realistic chance of preventing a fifth straight U.S. World Cup triumph, it is undoubtedly world No. 2 and Group B favorite France, which opens its tournament against Hungary (3:00 PM ET), the lowest-ranked team in the field at No. 19 in the FIBA rankings. I don’t think Bestie and I will be alone among Americans pulling for the French squad, which memorably pushed the U.S. to the limit in the 2024 Olympic Gold Medal game and is absolutely loaded with WNBA talent. Gabby Williams — from the picturesque French city of Reno, Nevada, but I digress — is due first billing amidst a season in which she probably deserves to be named to the All-WNBA First Team, and led the 2024 Olympic squad with 15.5 points, 4.8 assists and 2.8 steals per game. She was followed by New York Liberty favorite and Williams’ romantic partner, although they don’t talk about it, Marine Johannès. MJ put up 11.7 points per game despite hitting just 28.6% from deep in the Tokyo games. That said, the French squad isn’t just loaded with talent, it’s loaded with young talent that has come a long way in two short years. I think it’s fair to expect the likes of Williams’ Golden State teammate Janelle Salaün and Leïla Lacan of the lowly and detestable Connecticut Sun (I’m committed to the bit) to be in line for bigger roles than they had in 2024. Other young players, like 24-year old Liberty rookie Pauline Astier and 22-year old Portland Fire star Carla Leite, weren’t even a part of that team. I have, of course, saved the most notable of the young French stars for last: 20-year old Dominique Malonga was on the 2024 Olympic team, but played just 7 minutes per game. She’s poised to be one of the breakout stars of this World Cup and hasn’t shied away from the possibility of throwing down a dunk on the global stage. Hungary features one name that’ll definitely be familiar to women’s hoops fans stateside, as it’s led by Minnesota Lynx forward, 2026 EuroLeague MVP and former UConn star Dorka Juhász, but it’s got a very large hill to climb.
Group B’s first game features Korea against Nigeria (8:30 AM ET). The latter, ranked No. 8 in the world, is hoping to repeat and ultimately expand on its success at the 2018 World Cup, when it became the first African team to reach a quarterfinal. Nigeria is led by a very talented roster featuring several names familiar to American hoops fans, but the player I’m most excited to watch is undoubtedly current Syracuse star Uche Izoje, who you might remember me gushing about in the spring if you followed me here from the Her Hoop Stats newsletter. The short version of the story is that I don’t think it’s unreasonable when people compare her to a young A’ja Wilson, although I still think it’s a hell of a burden to put on a then-freshman in college. Korea captain Leeseul Kang was named to the All-Star Five of the qualifying tournament in Lyon from which the team emerged, but it will be quite surprising if either of the lower-ranked teams in this group manages to pull an upset. The good news for Hungary and Korea is that one of them will definitely get a chance to play for a shock quarterfinal berth simply by virtue of beating the other.
Group C ‘s highest-ranked squad was the last one other than the U.S. to win a World Cup, and it will be among the first to get its 2026 tournament underway when Australia faces Puerto Rico (5:30 AM ET). The Aussies, coached by two-time WNBA champion Brondello — have I mentioned that the 2024 Liberty won the title yet? — are probably slight favorites to emerge as group winners, but if Group A looks like the most open, Group C looks like the top-heaviest, as fifth-ranked Belgium, which faces Türkiye (11:30 AM ET) is barely behind the Aussies in the FIBA rankings. They’re both heavy favorites today, but their upcoming clash is the best game of the group stage on paper. Australia won’t have longtime star Sami Whitcomb (formerly of the Liberty btw), who withdrew recently due to a knee injury, but will still have plenty of players familiar to WNBA fans, including the likes of reigning WNBA co-Defensive Player of the Year Alanna Smith, Seattle Storm star Ezi Magbegor and Las Vegas Aces starter Allstate. Rebecca Allen, who inherited Allstate status on the 2026 Libs, is a notable exclusion from the squad after recently announcing this will be her final WNBA season. Belgium also has names familiar to WNBA fans, most notably that of Emma Meesseman. As a Liberty fan traumatized by last season, my Pavlovian response to Meesseman’s name is still to growl and start muttering about Jaylyn Sherrod, but there is no question Meesseman is one of the world’s best players, and it actually shows when she’s with the national team (less so when she joins a WNBA team two-thirds of the way through the season).
And that leaves group D, which is headlined by the reigning World Cup winners four times running, the U.S., which faces China (8:15 AM ET) to open its likely march towards a fifth. I don’t say that with any national pride, because I have none, it’s just the reality of the situation. The American squad is favored by just over 30 points today despite facing the No. 4 team in the world rankings, which should be its stiffest competition in the group stage by a wide margin. The team which just lost A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum to injury will still present a roster featuring a genuine embarrassment of riches. WNBA fans will be familiar with some names on the Chinese squad, most notably Dallas Wings center Li Yueru and Liberty center Han Xu, both of whom should be in the 3-point contest next year (and every year), but I’m pretty sure fans are more familiar with Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart, Angel Reeese, Kiki Iriafen and Aliyah Boston…and we still haven’t gotten to the backcourt. I think you’ve probably heard of some of those players too. Today’s second Group D game sees Czechia face Italy (2:15 PM ET), with Golden State star Cecilia Zandalasini likely the most familiar name to folks on my side of the Atlantic. She also generates a growl and some muttering after torching the Liberty last week, but with any luck I won’t have to worry about Purple Kryptonite hurting me again until next year.