The Washington Huskies women’s basketball team is preparing for what could be the best season in program history.
The Huskies bolstered their roster and coaching staff this offseason, looking to exceed where they finished last year. Head coach Tina Langley’s squad was eliminated in the Round of 32 by the TCU Horned Frogs. Washington’s Opening Round win was the program’s first since 2017.
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Washington’s best player, and arguably the best player in the team’s history, guard Kelsey Plum, is also in the middle of a career-best season but it hasn’t come without hurdles.
Plum, who currently competes with the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, is in the middle of an MVP-caliber season.
Plum, who’s in her second year with the Sparks and ninth season in the WNBA, has a laundry list of accomplishments in her career. With Los Angeles and the San Antonio Starts/Las Vegas Aces, the former Husky has won the WNBA championship twice, has been named an All-Star five-straight seasons (including this year), is a one-time All-WNBA first team selection and was named the WNBA Sixth Person of the Year once.
MVP is the one award that has eluded Plum in her decade in the WNBA, but she’s ran into some injury troubles that’s moved her down the MVP ladder.
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Plum is currently dealing with a soft-tissue injury in her lower leg, which is why she was out for Saturday’s WNBA All-Star game.
Plum is averaging 23.9 points across 12 games (all starts) on 52.7% shooting from the field (38.3% from 3-point range). She’s also averaged 6.4 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 1.4 steals per contest. She’s missed 14 games due to injury.
Plum also has a lengthy list of international accolades. She’s won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympic games and won another gold in three vs. three women’s basketball at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games. She’s also taken two golds in World Cup competition.
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The 5-foot-8 guard’s tenure internationally and in the pros came after an equally-successful tenure with Washington.
Plum played with the Huskies from 2013-17. During that time, Plum helped lead UW to the Final Four in the NCAA tournament in 2016, which was the best March Madness finish in program history. Individually, Plum was named the Associated Press Player of the Year in 2017 and was a first-team All-American the same year. She was a third-team All-American in 2016 and was four-time All-Pac-12 from ’14-17. Her No. 10 was retired by UW.
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