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What to watch, read or listen to if you miss women’s basketball

By Bria Felicien

LOUISVILLE, KY - FEBRUARY 02: Jazmine Jones #23 of the Louisville Cardinals handles the basketball during an exhibition game against the USA Women's National team at KFC YUM! Center on February 2, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KY - FEBRUARY 02: Jazmine Jones #23 of the Louisville Cardinals handles the basketball during an exhibition game against the USA Women's National team at KFC YUM! Center on February 2, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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How I’ve been filling my time

While we don’t know when basketball is going to be played again, I’ve been taking comfort in what already exists – archived games, podcasts, films and documentaries.

There’s also been increased accessibility of coaching seminars, and oddly enough, they have been super motivating to me as a journalist.

But here, I wanted to share content you can consume to fill your time if you miss women’s basketball.

So, there’s actual basketball

FIBA often streams and uploads its basketball games to YouTube, and recently they’ve added classic games to the mix.

The most recent “classic” women’s basketball uploads are the FIBA Women’s AfroBasket 2019 final between Senegal and Nigeria, a 2017 game between Australia vs. Japan in the FIBA Asia Cup and Spain vs. USA in the 2014 World Cup. But there are a ton of games to choose from on FIBA’s channel, plenty from the regional Tokyo Olympic qualifiers as well as games from youth national team tournaments, EuroLeague and EuroCup.

Head over to FIBA’s YouTube channel.

You can also watch WNBA games from last season on league pass and there’s still a chance to watch for 30 days for free.

You could re-watch documentaries

I’ve been using this extended time at home to learn more about women’s basketball history, so I’ve been re-watching documentaries from a couple years ago (when I was in college) with the new context I have as a reporter covering college basketball and the WNBA.

There are a few women’s sports 30 for 30s, and most of them are from ESPN’s IX for IX series. If you have ESPN+, you can still watch them. There’s “Swoopes,” that highlights Sheryl Swoopes, “Pat XO” focuses on Pat Summitt. Plus, a short called “Coach” about C. Vivian Stringer and “Brittney Griner: Lifesize,” which is self-explanatory. The series is also on YouTube for $7.99 (compared to a monthly ESPN+ payment) and includes other women’s sports stories.

Separately, Mighty Ruthie, which follows the life and career of Ruthie Bolton, isn’t playable on the ESPN app but is $1.99 on YouTube. I remember crying the first time I watched it. But I also cried watching the closing moments of this Lusia Harris feature, so take that information as you wish.

Books on books on books

I mentioned that I was focusing on women’s basketball history with all my free time. It’s both fun and necessary for me during this time.

So I’m currently reading A Spectacular Leap: Black Women Athletes in Twentieth-Century America, and the first story is about Ora Washington, basketball and tennis star – and I’ve learned so much about basketball history already! After watching the 1996 gold medal game for the first time this week (so cool, by the way), I want to go back to Venus to the Hoop: A Gold Medal Year in Women’s Basketball and watch the game again. That team was so good. Plus, I think Katrina McClain has become my favorite basketball player, ever. I need more of her games out of the vault.

The Women’s Hoops Blog has a list of books – some are available on ebook, some may be only available for purchase and some may be available at your local library. But, it’s a great resource now and beyond and covers women’s basketball history, college, the pros, Olympics and the high school level.

So. Many. Podcasts.

The best part of the podcast boom (thanks Serial) is the plethora of voices who love women’s basketball hitting the internet air waves.

My favorite is LaChina Robinson’s Around the Rim (her basketball knowledge is actual goals).

But on my radar now is BallNGems Got the Hoop Scope, which has uploaded a lot of episodes lately, and interviews includes current players, head and assistant coaches and recruits.

Also, I like WNBA with Shay because I love the stats breakdown/analysis of the rosters and players and Locked on Women’s Basketball is a High Post Hoops special. There’s podcasts featuring current coaches and even former players, and Across the Timeline has a great resource for women’s basketball podcasts that places them all in one place.

That’s all the resources from me, but tweet me anything you’re consuming or think I should look into!

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