The WNBA has a 2026 schedule, but will it happen as planned? And the Chicago Bulls will face the Miami Heat three times this weekend.
Every Tuesday, Tribune writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead — for the Bulls, Sky and local college basketball teams. Want more? Sign up for our Tribune sports newsletter.
Will the Sky season actually start on May 9?
The Chicago Sky and the Indiana Fever battle for the opening tip at the United Center in Chicago on June 7, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The Chicago Sky are set to tip off the 2026 WNBA season on May 9 after announcing a 44-game schedule earlier this week.
This season will feature two new opponents as the WNBA welcomes expansion teams in Portland and Toronto. The Sky will open their season on the road against the Portland Fire and host the Toronto Tempo for the first time on May 27.
The Sky will play the Indiana Fever three times this season, normalizing from last year’s packed schedule that featured five games between the two Midwestern teams. The Aug. 8 game against the Fever will be held at the United Center, as will the June 28 game against the Las Vegas Aces.
The entire league is set to pause from Aug. 30 to Sept. 16 to allow players to participate in the FIBA World Cup, hosted by Germany. Sky forward Angel Reese will be vying for a spot on the Team USA roster for this tournament, while Sky center Kamilla Cardoso is expected to anchor the Brazilian roster.
One question looms oppressively over this schedule: will any of this actually happen as planned?
The WNBA is currently out of contract with the players’ association, which has authorized a strike but not yet moved to trigger a work stoppage. As a result, the league is currently operating under a limited status quo, which means some mechanisms of the offseason — such as the schedule construction and release — can still proceed as normal. However, free agency has been suspended due to the number of player compensation rules under debate in collective bargaining.
The league expects to undergo a work stoppage at some point in this bargaining process, but it’s unclear when that will start — and even less certain when it will end. Several league sources expect a delay that will at least reduce the length of preseason training camp; however, extensive negotiating could affect the start date of the regular season.
WNBA players have never undergone a work stoppage before, but the concept is familiar in American sports labor history. The longest work stoppage occurred in the NHL from September 2004 to July 2005, when CBA negotiations dragged on for a 310-day lockout. Most strikes or lockouts end on a significantly briefer timeline; the shortest was the NHL strike in 1992, which lasted only 10 days. Other notable work stoppages include the 1994 MLB strike (232 days) and the 1998-99 NBA lockout (204 days).
Brad Underwood hits 100
Illinois head coach Brad Underwood gestures during a game against Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind., Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Illinois coach Brad Underwood had a milestone win to remember Saturday at Purdue.
The Illini’s 88-82 upset of then-No. 4 Purdue gave Underwood his 100th Big Ten win in his ninth season. Illinois went 4-14 and 7-13 in Big Ten play in Underwood’s first two seasons in Champaign, but the Illini have won at least 11 games in conference play every season since, including 16 in the 2020-21 season.
Illinois improved to 17-3 and 8-1 in the Big Ten on Saturday with its ninth-straight win, the longest winning streak of the Underwood era.
“Good players, great coaches all help that,” Underwood said. “I’m sorry it took nine years to do that. We had a couple of hiccups the first couple of years. It will be something I’m obviously proud of. I guess as we move down the road a little bit, I reflect on where it started, and to me it’s a tribute to having a lot of really good people around me. And then to do it in the best league in the country, with the best coaches and the best players.
“Now I’ve only got 300 more to go to catch Izzo.”
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has a record 368 Big Ten wins in his 31st season.
Underwood was especially appreciative after the game of the moment for his team, which celebrated freshman Keaton Wagler’s Mackey Arena opponent record 46 points in a raucous locker room.
“It’s so awesome,” he said. “It’s why you do this. … When they’re 45 years old, they’re all going to remember that locker room. There are special moments that happen over the course of a career, and that will be one. Our secret sauce is our connective mentality, how close this group is, how dialed in they are, how much love they have for each other.”
Hannah Hidalgo steals mark
UConn forward Serah Williams, left, is pressured by Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo, right, on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, in Storrs, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Notre Dame junior guard Hannah Hidalgo became the Irish all-time steals leader in a 74-66 win over Miami on Thursday. Hidalgo had 10 steals to bring her career total to 388 — surpassing Skylar Diggins’ 381. She added eight steals in a loss to Clemson on Sunday.
Hidalgo, who had an NCAA record 16 steals in a game earlier this season, also scored 57 points in the two games last week as she became the seventh Irish player to top 2,000 career points.
She’s averaging 24.9 points per game, but her big numbers haven’t stopped the Irish from hitting some bumps. Notre Dame has lost three of its last four games.
“I think it really starts from our care factor,” Hidalgo said at a news conference after the loss to Clemson. “I think we have to have a different level of toughness that I don’t think we’re having consistently.”
Number of the week: 17
Michigan State guard Jeremy Fears Jr. goes up for a shot against Maryland forward Elijah Saunders on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
Assists by Michigan State redshirt sophomore guard Jeremy Fears Jr. in a win over Maryland on Saturday. Fears, who played in high school at Joliet West, tied Gary Ganakas for the second-most assists in a game in Spartans program history behind Mateen Cleaves’ 20 in 2000.
Fears is second in the Big Ten with an average of 8.9 assists per game, behind only Purdue’s Braden Smith, who has 9.3 per game.
“Credit to the guys. They were scoring,” Fears said after the game in which he also scored 17 points. “They made my life easy. I just made the passes, and they had to do the hard work, whether it was executing the lob or making the shot.”
Week ahead: Bulls
Chicago Bulls guard Coby White and forward/guard Isaac Okoro stand on the floor as a United Center worker uses a towel to dry the floor due to condensation before a scheduled start between the Bulls and the Miami Heat on Jan. 8, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Wednesday: @ Pacers, 6 p.m., CHSN
Thursday: Heat, 7 p.m., CHSN
Saturday: @ Heat, 7 p.m., CHSN
Sunday: @ Heat, 5 p.m., CHSN
No, that’s not a typo — the Bulls really do play the Heat three times in four days this weekend. Thursday’s home matchup is the rescheduled date for the Jan. 8 game that was postponed due to excessive condensation on the court. The league opted to move one of the games slated in Miami to create a road back-to-back, resulting in a rare three-game series between the Bulls and the Heat.
Week ahead: Best college basketball games
Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg shouts to his team against Illinois on Dec. 13, 2025, in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/Craig Pessman)
Wednesday: No. 2 UCLA women at Illinois, 6 p.m., BTN Plus
Thursday: Washington men at No. 9 Illinois, 8 p.m., FS1
Saturday: DePaul men at Xavier, noon, FS1
Saturday: Washington men at Northwestern, 7 p.m., BTN
Sunday: No. 9 Illinois men at No. 5 Nebraska, 3 p.m., FS1
Sunday: Notre Dame women at Stanford, 4 p.m., CW
Sunday: Illinois women at No. 25 Washington, 5 p.m., FS1
After beating Purdue in West Lafayette, Illinois has another big road test ahead this weekend — at No. 5 Nebraska, which, entering the week, hadn’t lost a game. Meanwhile, the Illini women have two ranked opponents on tap, most notably No. 2 UCLA coming to Champaign on Wednesday.
After getting their first Big Ten win last week, the Northwestern men have a shot at adding to their conference win total when they host Penn State and Washington this week.
What we’re reading
Quote of the week
Tom Thibodeau and Derrick Rose hug after Thibodeau gave a speech honoring Rose as the Bulls held a ceremony to retire Rose’s #1 jersey at the United Center in Chicago on Jan. 24, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
“Thibs, you may have gone to Harvard, you may have done physics, but I showed you physics.” — Derrick Rose, teasing former Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau during his jersey retirement speech on Saturday