The Chicago Bulls went winless in February after a tumultuous trade deadline. Meanwhile, the Sky could finally receive a timetable for WNBA free agency as the players’ union and the league near a March 10 deadline for a new collective bargaining agreement.
Every Tuesday, Tribune writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead — for the Bulls, Sky and local college basketball teams.
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Irish gaining steam
Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates in the second half against the Louisville Cardinals at KFC YUM! Center on March 1, 2026, in Louisville, Ky. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
After some rough spots this season, the Notre Dame women rose up down the stretch to win their final five games of the regular season to secure a No. 5 seed and a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament.
The Irish topped Syracuse and No. 10 Louisville last week. Guard Hannah Hidalgo averaged 28.5 points, six steals, nine rebounds and seven assists in the two games on the way to being named the ACC player of the week for a league-record seventh time this season.
She broke her own single-season steals record against Louisville, moving to 162 this season.
“One word I would say is phenomenal and consistent,” Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said of Hidalgo. “She’s been like this since she stepped on the campus at Notre Dame. She plays with her heart and soul every time she steps on the floor and in practice. … She’s our engine, and we go as she goes. I feel like this year she has really done a fantastic job of being a leader as well. She has a lot of pressure on her, a lot of weight, and the way she plays is contagious with our team.”
The Irish play Thursday in Duluth, Ga., against the winner of the Stanford-Miami game.
WNBA players voice strike reticence as deadline looms
Los Angeles Sparks guard Kelsey Plum dribbles during the first half of a WNBA game against the Indiana Fever on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
The players of the WNBA appear to be cooling on the concept of a strike as the March 10 deadline for a final collective bargaining agreement draws near.
The league and the WNBA players’ association have exchanged a series of counteroffers in recent weeks. Urgency clearly picked up for both sides with the season set to start in May — and a final deadline set that would require a work stoppage to be triggered by either party without an agreement.
Players voiced encouragement about the latest concessions made by the league, which include compromises on requirements for player housing provisions, heightened salaries across all player experience levels and a fast track for All-Rookie players to advance to maximum deals. But the league has not budged on one key issue: revenue sharing.
The WNBA has only made offers that pull revenue sharing from the net revenue, which is the total sum of revenue after expenses are deducted. The players have pushed hard to set a standard of receiving their cut from gross revenue, which is calculated before expenses. According to an ESPN report, the league’s latest offer included 70% of net revenue; the players, meanwhile, are pushing for 26% of gross revenue. The issue comes down to a basic calculation — is it better to take home a larger slice of a smaller pie? Or to set a standard of taking a smaller share out of the much larger pot?
While revenue sharing has been a sticking point for the players in recent months, union leadership began to signal this week that acquiescence might be necessary to avoid a truncation of the WNBA season.
“I want to play and players want to play,” WNBPA vice president Kelsey Plum told reporters Monday. “We’re going to continue to negotiate and do everything we possibly can to get this done in a timely fashion, but obviously a strike would be the worst thing for both sides.”
If the two sides come to an agreement before March 10, there will still be plenty of steps left to complete to successfully start the season on the intended opening date of May 8. The Associated Press reported that a possible outline for the remaining preseason would include an expansion draft that could take place between April 1-6, followed by a two-day period for free-agent qualifying offer negotiations and a three-day free-agency window before deals were signed by April 18. Even with this sprint to finalize contracts — which would be particularly hectic with more than 80% of the league in free agency in anticipation of the CBA — this timetable would give teams about three weeks with their rosters before opening day.
This would be a challenge for teams like the Sky, who have only four players (Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso, Hailey Van Lith and Maddy Westbeld) under contract for the 2026 season. Veteran Courtney Vandersloot is expected to re-sign with the team and at least two more roster spots will be filled by the addition of Ajša Sivka (from Europe) and a lottery draft pick. Still, general manager Jeff Pagliocca would have to fill more than half the roster in an 18-day window as the Sky attempt to improve their position as a free-agent destination.
Mid-major tournament watch
Valparaiso head coach Roger Powell Jr. directs his team during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Kentucky in Lexington, Ky., Friday, Nov. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/James Crisp)
While major conference men’s teams are finishing out the regular season, the Missouri Valley Conference opens its tournament Thursday.
Belmont received the top seed after finishing the regular season 26-5 and 16-4 in the MVC. But three Illinois teams are seeded in the top five and will receive first-round byes. Bradley, led by Milwaukee native Jaquan Johnson’s 17.4 points per game, is seeded second. Illinois State and UIC are seeded third and fifth.
Valparaiso, coached by former Joliet West and Illinois player Roger Powell Jr., is the No. 7 seed and is hoping to make a run in St. Louis.
Valpo won six of its last eight games, including beating Drake on a winning 3-pointer from Bolingbrook grad JT Pettigrew in the final seconds, to improve to 17-14, 11-9. That’s a significant climb from Powell’s first two seasons at the school, when the Beacons totaled nine conference wins, and Valpo’s best conference record since joining the MVC in 2017-18.
Number of the week: 11
Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey reacts in the second half of a game against the Portland Trail Blazers at the United Center in Chicago on Feb. 26, 2026. (Josh Boland/Chicago Tribune)
The Bulls lost all 11 of their games in the month of February, marking the worst month in the history of the franchise. This was not the longest losing streak the Bulls have ever suffered — that still belongs to the 2000-01 team, which went 16 games without a win — but it will stand as an important piece of history for this iteration of the organization.
Other teams have fared worse in terms of winless months, but no team has ever recorded back-to-back months without a win. The Detroit Pistons almost went two full calendar months without a win during their record-breaking 2023-24 season, but logged a win on Dec. 30 to escape a two-month drought.
The Bulls started March on a better note with a blowout 120-97 win over the Milwaukee Bucks
Week ahead: Bulls
Tuesday: vs. Thunder, 7 p.m., CHSN
Thursday: @ Suns, 8 p.m., CHSN
Sunday: @ Kings, 8 p.m., CHSN+
Week ahead: Best college basketball games
Illinois guard Kylan Boswell dribbles as Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg defends in the second half at State Farm Center on Feb. 27, 2026, in Champaign. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Tuesday: Oregon men at No. 11 Illinois, 8 p.m., NBCSN and Peacock
Wednesday: Illinois women vs. Wisconsin at Big Ten Tournament, 5 p.m., Big Ten Network
Wednesday: Villanova men at DePaul, 7 p.m., Peacock
Wednesday: No. 15 Purdue men at Northwestern, 7:30 p.m., Big Ten Network
Thursday: Notre Dame women vs. Stanford/Miami at ACC Tournament, 12:30 p.m., ACC Network
Sunday: No. 11 Illinois men at Maryland, 2 p.m., FOX
Illinois and Northwestern will have two memorable players to honor on senior night.
Against Oregon, the Illini will honor Champaign native Kylan Boswell, who has spent the last two seasons as their leader and defensive stalwart. When Northwestern hosts Purdue, the Wildcats will honor Big Ten scoring leader Nick Martinelli.
The Illinois and Notre Dame women open conference tournament play with an eye on supplementing their NCAA Tournament resumes.
What we’re reading today
Quote of the week
“That physicality, that nastiness, that grit, that fight, that’s on me. That’s not on them. That’s on me. I’ve got to do a much better job getting us much nastier in those situations. We scrimmaged Florida, and we had way more fight against them than we did tonight. … That’s because we’ve gotten a little bit, maybe, content. That’s on me.” — Illinois coach Brad Underwood on what his team needs ahead of the NCAA Tournament after a loss to No. 3 Michigan