Locked On Women’s Basketball: Los Angeles Sparks hire Lynne Roberts and more WBB news

Roberts had been the head coach at Utah since 2015 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in each of the past three seasons. She was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year in 2022-23. Adler talks about what the Sparks are getting in Roberts:

“By all intents and purposes, she appears to be a good head coach. … They were the two most famous missed free throws since the, I think, 2007 national championship away from probably, possibly winning a [national title in 2023]. … They would have beaten the eventual champs [LSU] and would have needed just [three] more wins. … She seems to be quite good with getting buy-in. She seems to be good with player development.”

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Other topics that Cruse, Adler and Shafer cover in this episode include:

• The challenges of playing road games in college basketball
• The play of first-year guards Liv McGill at Florida and Kiyomi McMiller at Rutgers
• What happened in Utah-Northwestern
• How much Roberts and new Atlanta Dream head coach Karl Smesko will have to change the offensive systems that worked for their college programs at the WNBA level
• The efficiency of Kansas State star Ayoka Lee
• Games to watch this weekend
• Why the radio calls for college basketball games are underrated

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Here at The Next, in addition to the 24/7/365 written content our staff provides, we also host the daily Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast. Join us Monday through Saturday each week as we discuss all things WNBA, collegiate basketball, basketball history and much more. Listen wherever you find podcasts or watch on YouTube.