Las Vegas aces women's basketball pyramid

What happens in Vegas stays there. But the Las Vegas Aces won the First Division in the women's pro basketball pyramid entirely in Bradenton, FL, where the WNBA was bubbled in 2020. 

The Las Vegas Aces won the First Division in women's pro basketball for 2020, becoming the fifth team in five years of this history to win the distinction.

The Aces, relocated from San Antonio two years ago, won eight of ten games on this abbreviated slate, winning the top tier by two games over the Sparks and the Phoenix Mercury. 

The relegates from the First Division are rather surprising, given their recent success. The Connecticut Sun won the First Division just a moment ago, in 2019, but here they finished 2-8, last place and they must go down. Joining the Sun in relegation to the Second Division are the Washington Mystics, who won the traveling championships in 2018 and 2019, and won the WNBA championship in 2019.

In the Second Division, the Seattle Storm turned in a strong year, winning nine of their 10 games and beating out the second-place Chicago Sky by three games. The Storm also won the lineal championship across women's pro basketball in 2020. 

The Storm won the First Division in 2018, when they also surged through the playoffs for the WNBA championship.

Balance marks first four years of women's basketball pyramid

Four years into tracking a pyramid in women's professional basketball, the First Division has named four different champions. And so has the Second Division.

In four years of the pyramid in women's professional basketball, no dominant team has emerged. The Connecticut Suns became the fourth team to win the First Division championship in 2019.

The Second Division also has had four different champions. Along with constant changes in the championships, the promotion and relegation patterns here are spread as widely as possible. Out of a 12-team league, eight different teams have been promoted and eight have been demoted. Each team has changed divisions at least once.

At the end of 2019, four teams are changing divisions for the second time. The most newsworthy of these is the Minnesota Lynx, who won the First Division in its opening manifestation (2016) and finished one game behind the Sparks for that same title in 2017.

In 2018, the Lynx took a winning record into August, then lost their last four games in the First Division and slipped into relegation territory. But the Lynx made a reversal of those fortunes in 2019, winning their final five Second Division games and rallying to second place, thus securing their return to the First Division.

The Lynx finished one game behind the Las Vegas Aces, who began their history in this pyramid as the utterly futile San Antonio Stars. After finishing at the lowest bottom of the Second Division in 2016 and 2017, the franchise packed for Vegas, hired former Notre Dame and Detroit Pistons tough guy Bill Laimbeer to coach 'em up, and they have been on the rise.

The Aces climbed out of the Second Division cellar in 2018, then went all the way to the top in 2019 with an 11-4 record. So, the Aces and Lynx are headed up to the top division in 2020.

The relegation zone in the First Division shows us, at the very bottom, an Atlanta Dream squad that clearly wasn't ready for this competition after being promoted for 2019. The Dream finished one-half game behind the Washington Mystics in the 2018 Second Division, but won only two of 16 games in the top tier and headed back down for 2020.

The other relegant is the defending First Division champion, the Seattle Storm, which won the 2018 First Division by a whopping three games, only to tumble in 2019 to 6-9, one game short of survival.

Mystics rally to second straight season traveler win

The Washington Mystics took their second consecutive Team of the Year designation in women's professional basketball in 2019 when they smashed the Sparks for the traveling prize and kept winning for the rest of the season.

Approaching the end of August, the Sparks appeared to be the hands-down pick for Team of the Year in the women's pro basketball traveling championship for 2019. The Sparks already had eight games of championship and they had been clearly better in this series than the runner-up at that point, Seattle.

But when the Sparks went to Washington on Aug. 27, all of that began to change. The Mystics annihilated the Sparks, 95-66, then went on to six consecutive defenses, including two rounds of playoffs through the WNBA Finals.

In the end, Washington counted seven games of championship (each playoff round counts as one game), one short of the Sparks.

However, in view of the fact that the Mystics won out, survived those playoff rounds and clobbered the Sparks to take the crown in the first place, we're giving Team of the Year to Washington, and this would be the second consecutive such designation for the Mystics.

Through four years of tracking the traveling championship through women's pro basketball, the Mystics are the second team to win season honors twice. The Minnesota Lynx won that designation in the first two years of tracking, 2016 and 2017.

Promotion/relegation flow freely in WNBA pyramid

The WNBA pyramid has spread the teams around about as much as a pyramid of this size could have in four years. At the end of 2019, the Connecticut Sun was the fourth team to win the First Division.

Jonquel Jones of the Connecticut Sun led the WNBA in rebounding (9.7 per game) and tied for the lead in blocked shots (2.0) in 2019 (BDZ Sports/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license).

In four years of the pyramid in women's professional basketball, no dominant team has emerged. The Connecticut Suns became the fourth team to win the First Division championship in 2019.

The Second Division also has had four different champions. Along with constant changes in the championships, the promotion and relegation patterns here are spread as widely as possible. Out of a 12-team league, eight different teams have been promoted and eight have been demoted. Each team has changed divisions at least once.

At the end of 2019, three teams are changing divisions for the second time. The most newsworthy of these is the Minnesota Lynx, who won the First Division in its opening manifestation (2016) and finished one game behind the Sparks for that same title in 2017.

In 2018, the Lynx took a winning record into August, then lost their last four games in the First Division and slipped into relegation territory. But the Lynx made a reversal of those fortunes in 2019, winning their final five Second Division games and rallying to second place, thus securing their return to the First Division.

The Lynx finished one game behind the Las Vegas Aces, who began their history in this pyramid as the utterly futile San Antonio Stars. After finishing at the lowest bottom of the Second Division in 2016 and 2017, the franchise packed for Vegas, hired former Notre Dame and Detroit Pistons tough guy Bill Laimbeer to coach 'em up, and they have been on the rise.

The Aces climbed out of the Second Division cellar in 2018, then went all the way to the top in 2019 with an 11-4 record. So, the Aces and Lynx are headed up to the top division in 2020.

The relegation zone in the First Division shows us, at the very bottom, an Atlanta Dream squad that clearly wasn't ready for this competition after being promoted for 2019. The Dream finished one-half game behind the Washington Mystics in the 2018 Second Division, but won only two of 16 games in the top tier and headed back down for 2020.

The other relegant is the defending First Division champion, the Seattle Storm, which won the 2018 First Division by a whopping three games, only to tumble in 2019 to 6-9, one game short of survival.

The Mystics are playing against the Suns starting this week for the WNBA championship. In their first crack at the First Division, the Mystics finished 9-6.

The Sparks improved from third place in the First Division last year to second place in 2019, coming in a game behind the Suns at 10-5.

Lynx, Liberty lose out in 2018 women's basketball First Division

The last two charter members of the women's pro basketball First Division, the Minnesota Lynx and the New York Liberty, are on their way out after posting losing records at the top tier in 2018.

It only took three years to demote the last original members from the First Division in women's pro basketball. At two demotions per year from a six-team division, that's the minimum time.

The Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty, the last two charter members of the First Division in 2016, finished in the bottom two in 2018 for demotion to the Second Division in 2019.

The Lynx and Liberty both were strong teams in the first two years of the First Division. Minnesota won it in 2016 and New York finished second. In 2017, the Lynx and Liberty finished tied for second place in the First Division at 9-6, trailing the champion Sparks.

In 2018, New York fell off disastrously, finishing 1-14 in the top tier. Minnesota entered August 7-5 in the top division, but dropped its last four games to fall into the relegation zone.

Seattle won the top division for the first time, following the Lynx and Sparks as division champions. Finishing 12-3, the Storm ended a full three games ahead of second-place Connecticut.

The Washington Mystics, who won the traveling championship in 2018, also won the Second Division at 11-4, barely ahead of the 11-5 Atlanta Dream. The Mystics and the Dream will replace Minnesota and New York in the First Division for 2019.

Washington takes women's pro hoop traveler for 2018

The Washington Mystics came from nowhere in 2018 to capture 10 games of traveling championship, the most in women's pro basketball for the year. 

The Washington Mystics were a non-entity in the women's pro basketball traveling championship, until July 31, 2018.

Then, suddenly, the Mystics became all but unstoppable, starting with an 86-71 win at Atlanta to capture the title for the first time of the year and only the second time in the three years of the competition. The Mystics were only 1-9 all-time playing for the traveling title before that game in Atlanta. But they immediately ripped out seven defenses before losing it on the road on Aug. 19 against the Minnesota Lynx, the top traveling team in each of the first two years.

The Lynx immediately lost their title to the Sparks in the first round of the WNBA playoffs, but the Sparks lost it to the Mystics in the next round (each playoff round counts as one game in this reckoning). Washington lasted through the semifinals before losing in the league championship round against the Seattle Storm.

Washington finished on top of the standings for the year with 10 games of championship, ahead of the Sparks, who finished with seven. The Lynx still lead the all-time standings with 32 wins, followed by the Sparks with 19. Atlanta, Dallas, New York and Chicago all are tied for third with nine.

Sparks capture tight top tier women's hoop race

The Sparks outlasted the Minnesota Lynx and Phoenix Mercury to win the First Division for 2017 in women's pro basketball.

The women's basketball First Division came down to the final meeting between the Sparks and the Minnesota Lynx in 2017, but that meeting wasn't Game 5 of the WNBA Finals.

It was the final regular season between the two teams, an Aug. 27 game at Staples Center. The Sparks were 9-5 going to their final First Division game, while the Lynx were 7-5 with remaining games against Indiana and Chicago. The New York Liberty already was in for the year at 9-6.

Simply, the Sparks would clinch the First Division by winning the game, while the Lynx would clinch by winning this one and tacking up the next two gimmes against the two teams headed for relegation.

The Sparks won, 78-67, a dominating performance in this signature rivalry of recent seasons. A 22-7 run at the end of the first quarter and a 13-2 run at the end of the second gave the Sparks a 46-32 lead at halftime. The Lynx never cut it to single digits.

Of course, the Lynx and Sparks did later meet in the WNBA Finals, and the Lynx won that one for the league title.

Chicago and Indiana are bound for the Second Division in 2018. Connecticut and Phoenix were the winners in a tough four-team scrum for promotion to the First Division.

Liberty challenges Lynx for women's hoop traveler lead

The New York Liberty made the 2017 season a bit interesting for the traveling championship in women's professional basketball. But it remains that the Minnesota Lynx has the lead with the WNBA title series against the Sparks deadlocked.

Averaging 19.7 points and 9.4 rebounds this year, Tina Charles helped the New York Liberty move into contention for season honors in the women's professional basketball traveling championship (Danny Karwoski [cropped]/Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license).

The traveling championship in the WNBA has quite made the rounds this season, changing hands 14 times in 2017 after changing hands only nine times during the inaugural season of 2016.

But the ear of corn is ending its journey about the same way as last year. 

That would be in the WNBA Finals, and involving the same two teams as last season – the Sparks and the Minnesota Lynx.

The best-of-five series is tied, 1-1, with Game 3 slated for Friday night in Los Angeles. For purposes of deciding the traveling title, an entire playoff series counts as one encounter because the team that wins the series will hold the title at that point no matter how long it takes.

The Sparks and Lynx have become pretty reliably the two best teams in the WNBA. During the regular season, the Lynx finished 27-7, a game ahead of the second-place Sparks at 26-8 in the Western Conference.

The best team in the Eastern Conference, the New York Liberty, finished 22-12, thanks to a 10-game winning streak with the traveling championship entering the playoffs. Once in the playoffs, though, the Liberty lost in the first round to the Washington Mystics.

But the Liberty at least added some spice to the proceedings after the Sparks and the Lynx dominated last year. The Liberty and the Lynx are tied on top of the traveling standings with 11 wins each. However, Minnesota holds the tiebreaker with three titles, compared with two for New York.

Which doesn't mean the Lynx will end this season with the traveling title. In fact, the Sparks took the traveler in the WNBA Finals last season and carried it with them to the start of this season. 

The Sparks defended the prize with wins in their first two games this season before losing to the Indiana Fever, 93-90, at Indiana on May 24. The Sparks took another crack at it on Aug. 13, in New York, but the Liberty notched an 83-69 victory for its third win in the 10-game winning streak.

Lynx, Sparks go back-and-forth with traveling title

The Sparks ended the 2016 season with the traveling championship across women's professional basketball. But the Minnesota Lynx started the season that way and held it for more games to win Team of the Year.

The state of play in women's professional basketball is the Sparks and the Minnesota Lynx. Here, Candace Parker (3) for the Sparks is surrounded by Sylvia Fowles (34) and Maya Moore (23) of the Lynx (SusanLesch/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence).

There is absolutely no question that the two best teams in the WNBA are the Sparks and the Minnesota Lynx. Which was Team of the Year for the traveling championship across women's pro basketball in 2016?

We're giving it to the Lynx, though the Sparks were better head-to-head, and the Sparks held the title at the end of the season. The Lynx, Sparks and the Atlanta Dream were the only teams to win the championship twice.

Viewing overall records in games for the traveling championship, the Lynx come out well ahead with their 16-3 performance, compared with 10-3 for the Sparks. The Dream was 4-4, failing in both of its efforts to defend the championship.

The Lynx began the season with the title, a gift for winning the league championship in 2015, and proceeded to hold it for 13 games. The last of those was a 72-69 win against the Sparks in Los Angeles on June 21. 

But the Sparks won when the same two teams met in Minnesota on June 24, claiming a 94-76 victory. The Sparks went on to make eight straight defenses.

As it happened, the Lynx regained the championship twice. The second time was during the playoffs, when they snagged it from the Phoenix Mercury in a three-game series. 

It came down, then, to the WNBA Finals, Lynx vs. Sparks. And the Sparks won in five games, claiming not just the WNBA championship, but the women's pro basketball traveling championship.

The Sparks will hold the 2016 WNBA championship forever. But the traveling championship goes on the line with the start of the 2017 season.

Lynx easily win women's pro hoop First Division

The Minnesota Lynx faced no challenge in the First Division across women's pro basketball in 2016. The action was in the Second Division, where the Sparks and the Seattle Storm won promotion.

Seimone Augustus, a stalwart from the start for the Minnesota Lynx, helped them win the First Division across women's professional basketball in 2016 (Joe Bielawa (cropped)/Creative Commons 2.0 Generic license).

It happened that the Sparks were down in 2015, finishing 14-20, not even in the top half of the WNBA Western Conference.

So, as we initiated the ordinal divisions for the WNBA, the Sparks landed in the Second Division. Which really just meant we had a little bit of drama for the first season.

But not much. The Sparks easily won promotion to the First Division for  2017 by winning the Second Division with a 12-4 record. Joining the Sparks in promotion is the Seattle Storm, which finished second in the Second Division with a 10-5 record.

The Minnesota Lynx, which won the WNBA championship in 2015, cruised through the First Division in 2016 with a 13-2 record. The New York Liberty and Chicago Sky tied for second, barely better than even (8-7) and percentage points ahead of the Indiana Fever (9-8).

Those four teams are the First Division survivors entering 2017, to be joined by the Sparks and the Storm.

The Dallas Wings and the Phoenix Mercury both are being relegated to the Second Division in 2017 after finishing at the bottom of the First Division in 2016.