In her age 26 season, ex-Kentucky star Rhyne Howard is joining the WNBA’s elite
Fast-break points from the lazy, hazy, crazy:
21. Rhyne Howard. It sounds funny to say about a three-time WNBA All-Star, but the former University of Kentucky star is having a breakout season at age 26 for the Atlanta Dream.
20. Career highs. Through 15 games, the 6-foot-2 Howard is averaging 19.1 points and leads the WNBA in steals at 2.7 a game. Howard is making 42.4% of her field-goal tries, 38.5% of her 3-pointers and 86.4% of her free throws. All of those are career bests.
19. Leading a championship contender? With existing Atlanta stars Howard and Allisha Gray boosted by the addition of ex-LSU star Angel Reese, the Dream have the best record in the Eastern Conference (12-4) and look like a team that can make a playoff run.
18. “A different Rhy.” Atlanta Dream coach Karl Smesko, the former Florida Gulf Coast University head man, told The IX Sports that Howard “is a different Rhy. Rhyne is locked in, she has a different level to her. She’s been an All-Star, but she is taking us to another level, and you can see it.”
17. An advanced metric tells the story. Howard’s win shares per 48 minutes — an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player per 48 minutes of play — has risen from .146 in 2024 to .281 this season.
16. Joining the WNBA’s elite. Howard’s .281 WS/48 this season is better than the 2026 figure for every player on the 2025 All-WNBA First Team except for reigning MVP A’ja Wilson (.318) (Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier has yet to play this year due to injury). Howard’s mark is also better than WNBA “It Girls” Paige Bueckers (.217) and Caitlin Clark (.158).
15. Jackie Alexander. The new Morehead State women’s hoops coach, a Rockcastle County product, plans to prioritize recruiting locally
14. Kensley Feltner. So it was a big “get” for Alexander when Morehead State landed ex-Lawrence County star Feltner out of the transfer portal from Belmont. The 5-11 Feltner, who will be a redshirt junior at MSU, is a Kentucky high school hoops legend, having scored 4,189 career points.
13. “A close race.” Says Alexander: “I told Kensley this: I don’t know if I was more happy about getting the Morehead job or getting Kensley Feltner to come and play here. It’s a close race.”
12. Lindsey Wilson’s new coach. With the retirement of John B. Wethington after 37 seasons as the Blue Raiders women’s basketball coach, the university has elevated long-time assistant Terran Duncan into the head coaching position.
11. Scott Padgett. A cornerstone of Kentucky’s 1998 men’s basketball NCAA championship team, Padgett has been named an assistant coach at Marshall.
10. A travelin’ man. Since Padgett was let go as Samford head coach in 2020 after compiling an 84-115 record in six seasons, he has worked as an assistant at New Mexico (2020-21), Manhattan (2021-22), Mississippi State (2022-26) and now Marshall.
9. Hank Plona. The Western Kentucky men’s basketball coach and the Hilltoppers will play an exciting exhibition game prior to the 2026-27 regular season tipping off.
8. Crossing the Ohio River. WKU will travel to Evansville to face the Indiana Hoosiers on Sunday, Oct. 25, at the Ford Center (basketball seating capacity of 8,930). The game will tip off at 4 p.m. EDT.
7. A clash between all-time-wins titans. Though the game won’t count on either team’s record, a meeting between Indiana and Western Kentucky is a matchup of the 11th all-time winningest program in men’s college hoops history (IU, 1,968 all-time victories) and the 18th all-time winningest program (WKU, 1,929).
6. SEC-ond to none. Oklahoma’s 13-2 crushing of North Carolina on Monday night in the decisive game of the Men’s College World Series gave the SEC its seventh straight NCAA baseball championship.
5. Incredible SEC depth. The Southeastern Conference’s seven consecutive NCAA baseball crowns have been won by six different teams — Vanderbilt (2019), Mississippi State (2021), Ole Miss (2022), LSU (2023 and 2025), Tennessee (2024) and Oklahoma (2026). There was no 2020 NCAA Tournament due to the coronavirus pandemic.
4. A Big Ten-SEC major-championship duopoly. The SEC and Big Ten split the six most-high profile NCAA team championships in the 2025-26 school year. The Big Ten won the three most visible titles, claiming football (Indiana), men’s basketball (Michigan) and women’s basketball (UCLA). The SEC won it all in women’s volleyball (Texas A&M), softball (Texas) and baseball (Oklahoma).
3. Walker Buehler. The San Diego Padres pitcher, a Lexington product, seems to be finding his footing in what has been a challenging trek back from his second Tommy John surgery.
2. On a roll. Over his previous five starts, Buehler has worked 261/3 innings and has a 2.05 ERA with 24 strikeouts versus only five walks.
1. A bounce-back year. For the season to date, Buehler stands 4-3 with a 3.96 ERA. In 10 starts for the Padres, the Henry Clay High School alumnus has allowed two runs or fewer seven times.
