Tag: Wubble

Notre Dame Hero Earns Scoring Title

Arike Ogunbowale is a Notre Dame hero and now she’s the leading scorer for the year in the WNBA.

Official release from the University of Notre Dame as Arike Ogunbowale Earns First WNBA Scoring Title

Sets record for second-year players

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame women’s basketball alumna and current Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale won the 2020 WNBA Peak Performer Award in scoring after leading the league with her 22.8 points per game. Ogunbowale will receive a trophy crafted by Tiffany & Co. in honor of her accomplishment.

Ogunbowale averaged her 22.8 ppg over 22 games and set a new WNBA record for second-year players. In addition, her 22.8 ppg ranks as the eighth best single-season scoring average in league history and second best in Wings’ history (Liz Cambage averaged 23.0 ppg in 2018).

For comparison, Ogunbowale averaged 19.1 ppg during her rookie season, and in 2020, the former Irish sensation became more efficient. The Milwaukee native improved both her true shooting percentage (52.1) and effective field goal percentage (46.6).

Ogunbowale registered four games with at least 30 points, including a career high 39 points against the Washington Mystics on Sept. 6 and 38 points against the Chicago Sky on Sept. 11. Ogunbowale shot at least 50 percent from the field in all four of her 30-point games.

In addition, Ogunbowale and Las Vegas’ Aja Wilson led the league with 15 games of 20 or more points.

Ice Twice was back at it again as well, recording two buzzer-beaters over the final week of play. In fact, Ogunbowale drilled the game-winner against the New York Liberty to end the regular season, which nearly sent the Wings into the WNBA playoffs, falling one game shy.

Lastly, Ogunbowale became the third fastest player in WNBA history to reach 1,000 career points, doing so in just 51 games.

— ND —

The WNBA’s bubble at IMG Academy is already a disaster

Already.

The differences in how WNBA players and NBA players are treated have always been stark.

NBA players generally get to live, play and travel in luxury. WNBA players get the short end of that stick. That generally manifests itself in things like salary, travel accommodations, per diems and all the little things on the margins.

On Tuesday, the differences were made evident through the WNBA’s “bubble” at the IMG Academy in Florida. And it’s clear things are as imbalanced as they’ve ever been.

Players finally touched down on campus this week to begin preparing for the restart of the WNBA’s season at the end of July.

Already, they have a ton of complaints about their arrangements. ESPN’s Kayla Johnson shared videos sent to her from players on Twitter.

Let’s just say their arrangements don’t look like they’re the greatest. This laundry room looks like it came out of a horror movie.

Later in her thread, there was also a video where someone found a worm on a bedroom floor.

And someone shared a picture of a meal that, uh, didn’t look like it was the greatest.

Seattle Storm guard Jewell Loyd complained about the plumbing on the campus in her Instagram story.

On top of that, Kiah Stokes, a center for the New York Liberty, implied that the bubble isn’t as isolated as it should be.

Even Stephen A. Smith says he’s hearing terrible things about the WNBA’s bubble.

So, yeah, the WNBA has a bubble problem on their hands. And the league’s return plan is barely just a day along. What a great start.

There is a silver lining here, though. The league sees and hears the problems and concerns the players are having already. And, apparently, they’re already on the job with IMG Academy to get some fixes, Bleacher Report’s Ari Chambers reports.

It’s just a shame that there are so many fixes that are needed already in the first place.