Chicago Sky aim to capitalize on excitement around women's basketball as season begins
CHICAGO (CBS) – The Chicago Sky start the WNBA regular season next week, but fans clamoring to see them in Chicago will have to wait until May 25.
The team's first three games will be on the road. But the team's many new faces were on display at Media Day.
It's a new era of Sky basketball, headlined by their high-profile rookies Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso, along with a new general manager and new head coach, Teresa Weatherspoon.
Fresh off a 48-point thumping of the New York Liberty in its last preseason game, the team is hoping to build a winner and capitalize on the attention on the sport of women's basketball at the moment.
"So many people love women's basketball," Reese said. "I think it was only season ticket holders in the place last night and there were so many people there. So the games are gonna be packed, I feel like standing room only sometimes."
Sky General Manager Jeff Pagliocca added, "It's an exciting time in the WNBA. It's not just here. It's everywhere, but with players that we drafted, they have a lot of attention and we got a lot more in terms of eyes on us and excitement."
For her part, Weatherspoon was complimentary of her new team.
"I am one lucky coach to be able to coach a group of young women like them," she said. "Very articulate. They handle themselves very well and when they step between those four lines, they're gonna compete and that's all I can ask for."
It was an exciting couple of days recenlty for Reese who, after practice on Monday, flew to New York for the Met Gala before returning for the Sky's preseason game on Tuesday. She did so all with the blessing of her coach, but perhaps not everyone.
"A lot of people told me I shouldn't have went to the Met Gala. I wasn't gonna be focused playing against the runner ups and I went to the Met Gala, slayed the Met Gala in New York. Came back, slayed against New York. It's what I do. Obviously I give a lot of confidence to so many different people and knowing like, I'm not one dimensional. Women don't have to be one dimensional."
Reese also said the excitement around the WNBA was even evident at the Met Gala as she heard that celebrities like Usher and Cardi B would try making it to games this season.
"I know some people that y'all might not think I know, but I know," she said with a laugh.
Cardoso also spoke for the first time since she was ruled out for four to six weeks with a shoulder injury.
"I'd say it's frustrating," she said. "I never got hurt before. I never had to sit out a game before in my life so it's really frustrating, but I know I got some really good people here that got my back and I just gotta trust God. I believe that everything happens for a reason, even if I don't understand what is the reason right now."
Reese and basically all of her teammates said the WNBA's decision to move to charter flights for teams instead of flying commercially is a great step forward for the league.
As Cardoso put it, charter flights are great because going through airports isn't.