Muffet Got Her Master's, Stanford Lost Seven Players, and the WNBA Lost the Flow

This episode covers a little bit of everything from the women’s basketball world: Stanford’s huge transfer portal losses, the evolving realities of NIL and player movement, the WNBA’s new CBA roster rules, the soaring value of the Golden State Valkyries, and why early-season officiating has fans wondering if every game now comes with a complimentary whistle concerto.

I also share a personal moment from Nashville, where “Miss Muffet” officially walked for her Master’s Degree at Belmont University — proving once again that this podcast can pivot seamlessly from emotional graduation stories to full-scale basketball existential crises.

More about this episode:

• What I learned from Stanford Athletics’ post-portal Zoom call
• Why player retention matters more than PR damage control
• Listener question: What happened to the push for larger WNBA rosters in the 2026 CBA?
• Why the new developmental roster spots may not fully solve the league’s depth problem
• The Golden State Valkyries continue smashing valuation records
• Why WNBA games suddenly feel twice as long this season
• March Madness expansion officially arrives — whether fans wanted it or not

Awards this week include:
 🏀 Buzzer Beater Award
 🧱 Airball Award
 🚨 Flagrant Foul Award

Follow Her Game Her Voice on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts — and if you’re enjoying the show, please leave a rating, review, or share an episode with a fellow hoop head. 

“Big stories, little episodes—amplifying the voices shaping the game on and off the court." - Her Game Her Voice Podcast by Kaari Peterson

Transcript

Kaari 0:04

Howdy hoop heads and welcome to another episode of Her Game Her Voice, the podcast with big stories about women's basketball in little 15-minute or less episodes.

Kaari 0:15

I'm your host, Kaari Peterson. Today on the pod, I've got a report from the Stanford Women's Basketball Zoom call I mentioned last episode, a Golden State Valkyries update, a listener question about the 2026 CBA and Team rosters, and of course I'll wrap it up with the awards. So let's tip it off.

Miss Muffet Got Her Masters

Kaari 0:42

Ever wonder about where and when I work on these podcast episodes?

Kaari 0:46

Well, side note, I'm actually outlining this episode while flying home from Nashville. My daughter, aka Miss Muffet, graduated from Belmont University with her master's degree last weekend.

Kaari 1:00

Well, technically she still has a couple classes left, but they let the graduate cohort walk this month, so we're counting it. Somehow I made it through the big commencement ceremony on Saturday without a tear.

Kaari 1:12

But Friday's hooding ceremony?

Kaari 1:15

Different story.

Kaari 1:17

Shmoopie and I were so proud the tears just kind of showed up.

Kaari 1:22

So congrats to Miss Muffet.

Kaari 1:24

We love you, we're proud of you, and now, please get a real job.

Kaari 1:30

Kidding.

Stanford Women's Basketball Update

Kaari 1:32 Kaari 1:32

Sort of...

Kaari 1:35

Let's talk about one of my favorite topics, Stanford Women's Basketball.

Kaari 1:40

In the last episode, I talked about winners and losers in this year's transfer portal chaos. And unfortunately, Stanford landed firmly in the losers category.

Kaari 1:52

Seven players transferred out, including major contributors like Nunu Agara. And when seven players leave a program at the same time, people start asking questions, especially after some of those players posted farewell statements that were interesting.

Kaari 2:11

Sports Illustrated pointed out that the majority of the seven players thanked teammates, trainers, support staff, parents, fans, but never mentioned the coaching staff.

Kaari 2:25

Now, that doesn't automatically mean drama, but it does make you wonder.

Kaari 2:32

And apparently Stanford Athletics got the message that supporters were freaking out a little because shortly after the portal exodus, season ticket holders got invited to a Zoom call.

Kaari 2:43

Naturally, I signed up immediately.

Kaari 2:46

And when you registered for the call, there was an option to submit questions ahead of time.

Kaari 2:52

One of my friends said she was tempted to write, "What the fudge happened to our team?"

Kaari 2:58

Uh-huh.

Kaari 2:59

So on the call, we had John Donahoe, chair of Stanford Athletics, Coach Kate Paye from the women's basketball program, and Kyle Smith from the men's program.

Kaari 3:09

Donahoe opened by talking about the challenges of navigating NIL and the transfer portal, blah, blah, blah.

Kaari 3:16

Which is administrators speak for, "everything is really messed up now and it's not our fault."

Kaari 3:21

Now we did learn that three Stanford women's players who transferred out had completed their bachelor's degree in just three years.

Kaari 3:30

Which immediately made me think, wait, how?

Kaari 3:33

You're telling me Stanford student athletes are playing D1 basketball and earning Stanford degrees at an accelerated pace?

Kaari 3:42

I can barely answer five emails before lunch. B

Kaari 3:45

ut the early graduation thing also raised questions.

Kaari 3:49

Could those players have stayed for grad school while remaining on scholarship?

Kaari 3:53

Well, that part never really got addressed.

Kaari 3:55

And actually, a lot of things didn't get addressed, including the questions that were submitted ahead of time.

Kaari 4:01

And at no point did anyone acknowledge the optics of losing seven women's basketball players at one time.

Kaari 4:10

And that stood out to me too.

Kaari 4:13

According to Coach Paye, some players decided to leave because they wanted to find larger roles elsewhere.

Kaari 4:19

And that is the state of college basketball now.

Kaari 4:23

Players want NIL money and more minutes. That's the reality.

Kaari 4:27

But the biggest thing missing from the call was this. What is Stanford going to do to make sure this kind of mass exodus doesn't happen a gain?

Kaari 4:37

Because yes, the portal affects everybody now, but losing seven players at once is alarming.

Kaari 4:44

The next day, Stanford sent out a survey about the Zoom call.

Kaari 4:48

And I basically told them this: one Zoom meeting doesn't restore confidence in a program. Player retention does.

Kaari 4:56

Right now I honestly don't know what Stanford Women's Basketball is going to look like next season.

Kaari 5:02

Am I confident they'll bounce back and return to March Madness after missing the tournament two years in a row?

Kaari 5:08

No.

Kaari 5:09

Am I confident they'll avoid another portal exodus next off season?

Kaari 5:14

Also, no.

Kaari 5:15

Am I renewing my season tickets anyway?

Kaari 5:19

Absolutely.

Kaari 5:21

Because this is what being a real fan is. You stay invested during the winning seasons and the rebuilding seasons.

Kaari 5:29

My relationship with Stanford Women's Basketball isn't transactional. It's downright emotional.

Kaari 5:36

It's history and tradition and routines and memories and hope.

Kaari 5:39

Yes, the program feels like it's at a major crossroads now.

Kaari 5:43

And who knows, maybe this roster reset eventually leads to something great.

Kaari 5:48

Time will tell.

Listener Question

Kaari 5:53

And now it's time for our listener question.

Kaari 5:56

Today's question is about the new 2026 WNBA collective bargaining agreement, specifically roster sizes. Mark from Alameda, California asked, "It sounds like players gained a lot with the new CBA, but what happened with the push for larger rosters?"

Kaari 6:16

Great question, Mark.

Kaari 6:18

Actually, this is one of the more interesting parts of the negotiations, because the players did fight hard for bigger rosters, but they didn't fully get what they wanted.

Kaari 6:29

The Players Association reportedly pushed for standard roster sizes to expand from 12 players to 13 or 14. And if you follow the WNBA closely, that makes total sense because roster spots in this league are extremely limited, and we've talked about this a few times.

Kaari 6:49

Every year, talented players get cut. Not necessarily because they aren't good enough, but because there just literally aren't enough spots. See you later, Kate Martin.

Kaari 7:00

But in the final CBA negotiations, the union had to make some trade-offs. The players ultimately prioritized massive salary increases, higher max contracts, revenue sharing, and long-term financial growth over roster sizes.

Kaari 7:18

And once you start adding more full roster spots, that becomes expensive because teams have to spread salary cap money across more players.

Kaari 7:29

So instead of expanding the standard active roster beyond 12, the compromise became this. First, and this was actually a pretty big win, teams are now required to carry 12 players. Before this agreement, some teams only carried 11 to save money under the salary cap.

Kaari 7:48

Second, the league added two optional developmental roster spots. These developmental players don't count against the salary cap unless they're converted to a full contract, and they can be activated for a limited number of games during the season.

Kaari 8:05

So basically, the league created a middle ground, more opportunities for young players without fully expanding the salary structure.

Kaari 8:15

But, and here's the important part: we're already seeing the limitations of this system.

Kaari 8:21

We're barely into the 2026 season, and teams like the New York Liberty and yes, our Golden State Valkyries, have already been hit hard by injuries and forced into emergency hardship situations.

Kaari 8:36

And this is where the debate comes back, because developmental spots help, but they're not the same thing as having a deeper full-time bench.

Kaari 8:46

In a league with injuries, overseas conflicts, national team obligations, and an increasingly physical style of play, 12-player rosters can get depleted quickly.

Kaari 8:58

So while the new CBA is absolutely historic financially, and players made huge gains, the roster size issue definitely feels like unfinished business.

Kaari 9:09

I would not be surprised if expanded standard rosters become one of the next major battles in future CBA discussions.

Kaari 9:18

Thanks for the question, Mark.

Kaari 9:20

Do you have a question for me?

Kaari 9:22

Send it to host at her gamehervoice.com.

Buzzer Beater Award

Kaari 9:28

And now it's time for the awards. We'll start with the Buzzerbeater Award.

Kaari 9:37

This week's Buzzer Beater goes to the Golden State Valkyries for their huge 2026 valuation.

Kaari 9:44

For the second straight year, the Valkyries topped Sportico's annual WNBA franchise valuations.

Kaari 9:51

Sportico has the Valkyries at a whopping $850 million valuation. This is thanks to lucrative sponsorships and a season ticket holder base that topped 10,000 fans last year.

Kaari 10:05

The Valkyries also posted a WNBA record $78 million in revenue last year.

Kaari 10:12

For context, in 2023, the Valkyries were purchased for $50 million. And at the time, that was a record purchase price for a WNBA team.

Kaari 10:24

In 2025, the Valkyries were valued at $500 million.

Kaari 10:29

That's 10 times their $50 million purchase price.

Kaari 10:33

Yes, I am not a math person, but sometimes I can do fast math.

Kaari 10:37

So congrats to the Valkyries for continuing to set the bar for WNBA team valuations.

Airball Award

Kaari 10:48

And now the Airball Award. This one goes to WNBA leadership and officiating crews for somehow managing to make professional women's basketball feel like waiting in a very long TSA security line.

Kaari 11:04

After years of players and coaches begging the league to clean up the overly physical play, the league responded with what appears to be a full-blown whistle addiction.

Kaari 11:17

And hey, I get why this happened.

Kaari 11:20

Last season, players, coaches, and fans were frustrated. Everyone was talking about how games had gotten too physical.

Kaari 11:29

There were concerns about player safety, freedom of movement, and injury prevention.

Kaari 11:35

So the league created an off-season officiating task force and promised tighter enforcement. And anytime you attach the words task force with something, I get a little concerned.

Kaari 11:50

What could possibly go wrong?

Kaari 11:52

Well, according to multiple reports, WNBA teams are averaging around 22 fouls per game early this season, compared to roughly 17 and a half last year.

Kaari 12:05

Free throw attempts are way up, too.

Kaari 12:09

One opening weekend game had 58 fouls.

Kaari 12:13

Another had 59 fouls and 72 free throws.

Kaari 12:17

72.

Kaari 12:20

Even Brianna Stewart publicly stated it was, quote, "insane" for a WNBA game to stretch past two hours and 40 minutes because of all the whistles.

Kaari 12:32

The irony is that some of the very coaches who pushed for tighter officiating are now saying, uh, well, we wanted tighter called games, but not like this.

Kaari 12:43

And here's the issue for me as a fan: basketball is rhythm and pace and flow.

Kaari 12:49

Constant whistles destroy momentum.

Kaari 12:53

There's clearly a balance the league is trying to find between protecting players and preserving the flow of the game.

Kaari 13:00

And I think most fans support the goal here. I mean, nobody wants wrestling disguised as basketball.

Kaari 13:07

But right now, the pendulum may have swung a little too far.

Kaari 13:11

So for turning fast-paced professional women's basketball into a symphony of whistles, this week's Airball Award goes to WNBA leadership and officiating crews.

Kaari 13:22

May the game someday return to the magical two-hour window our attention spans yearn for.

Flagrant Foul Award

Kaari 13:29

This week's flagrant foul award goes to the NCAA's March Madness Tournament Leadership Group.

Kaari 13:36

In season one of Her Game Her Voice, I told you that tournament expansion was a possibility. Well, now it's official.

Kaari 13:44

March Madness is expanding from four play-in games to 12.

Kaari 13:49

The NCAA is blowing up the first four and replacing it with something they're calling the "opening round." This round will feature 24 teams fighting for spots in the traditional 64 team bracket.

Kaari 14:03

The NCAA will tell you this is about increased access.

Kaari 14:07

They'll say it gives more schools opportunities and more exposure in March.

Kaari 14:12

And to be fair, some schools for mid-major programs will get extra visibility.

Kaari 14:18

But come on, this is really about money, period.

Kaari 14:22

It was reported that the NCAA's TV partners are adding roughly $50 million per year to the value of the tournament deal because of this expansion.

Kaari 14:32

And nobody asked for this. In fact, Yahoo Sports literally called it a move almost no one outside of those who made it actually wanted.

Kaari 14:42

And that's why this week's Flagrant Foul goes to the NCAA Leadership Group.

Sign-off

Kaari 14:48

I'm Kaari Peterson, and you've been listening to Her Game Her Voice.

Kaari 14:52

Want more? Hit follow or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts

Kaari 14:59

And while you're on the show page, please drop a rating or review, or share an episode with a friend.

Kaari 15:04

Thanks for listening and happy hooping!

Kaari 15:07