Back to school: WNBA teams open preseason in college arenas as star alums return to campus

Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Sabrina Ionescu are among the players who will get a chance to play one more game in their college arenas as WNBA teams return to campuses for preseason contests.

It’s a trend, started by the Las Vegas Aces last season when they played at South Carolina in a return for A’ja Wilson to her alma mater. It gives WNBA teams a chance to capitalize on the popularity of players and they hope it also brings new fans to the league.

Reese will headline the Chicago Sky's trip to LSU on Friday to face the Brazilian national team and then on Sunday Clark will lead the Indiana Fever to Iowa for an exhibition game against the same Brazilian squad.

"I'm really excited," Clark said. "It should be fun. I can't believe it's already here. I honestly haven't been back to Iowa City a ton since I left a year ago now — only been back once for a football game and once for the jersey retirement. But it will be fun to get back there, see some of my former teammates, my friends that are there.”

Both the Fever and Sky games will be on national television. The WNBA will be showing all 15 of its preseason games either on national television or league pass.

Clark did have one concern about the trip to Iowa; the basketball arena doesn’t have air conditioning.

"A lot of my family will be coming, so I know they're excited. I warned everybody, I'm like there's not air conditioning in Carver-Hawkeye (Arena), usually don't play basketball games there in May, so hopefully it stays a little cool in there," she said, laughing.

A trio of former Notre Dame standouts will take the court in South Bend, Indiana, on Friday when the Dallas Wings open the preseason against Wilson and the Aces. WNBA All-Stars Jewell Loyd and Jackie Young both starred for the Irish while Wings standout Arike Ogunbowale also excelled there.

Ogunbowale, who was the second-leading scorer in the WNBA last year, hit two of the most historic shots in NCAA Tournament history to lift Notre Dame to the national championship in 2018.

The opener will also mark the debut of No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers for the Wings.

Ionescu and the New York Liberty will close out the preseason schedule on May 12 when the team goes to Oregon to play at her alma mater against the Japanese team - the Toyota Antelopes.

The NCAA's career triple-double leader never got a chance to say goodbye to the school or the fans because the coronavirus pandemic wiped out the NCAA Tournament her senior season in 2020.

"I don't really know how I'm going to feel, especially suiting up and stepping on that court again. I might get emotional, just knowing that I finally get to say goodbye to that chapter of my life and get a little bit of the closure that I never got."

Some storylines to watch as the preseason tips off:

Washington rookie Georgia Amoore suffered an injury to her right ACL in practice on Tuesday and is sidelined indefinitely. The No. 6 pick in the draft averaged 19.6 points for Kentucky last season and was expected to help the franchise rebuild this year along with fellow rookies Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen, who were selected third and fourth last month. The Mystics also announced that second-year forward Aaliyah Edwards is out with a lower back contusion and will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

Eight of the 13 WNBA teams will have new head coaches this season.

Atlanta and Los Angeles turned to college coaches Karl Smesko and Lynne Roberts, respectively. Indiana brought back former coach and player Stephanie White to lead the Fever. White had been in charge of the Connecticut Sun, who replaced her with former Belgium national team coach Rachid Meziane.

Chicago, Dallas and Washington turned to former WNBA assistant coaches Tyler Marsh, Chris Koclanes and Sydney Johnson, respectively. Golden State also brought in a former assistant coach, Natalie Nakase, to be the first head coach in the expansion franchise's history.