Diana Taurasi headlines Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2027
The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame named Diana Taurasi to the Class of 2027 on Thursday, Nov. 5. She is the ninth person from UConn on the school's list. Induction is Saturday, June 26, 2027, at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville.
The Class of 2027
The Hall page lists these six, in this order, and does not print a category word.
| Name | Category | Known for | Primary source |
|---|---|---|---|
 Diana Taurasi | Player | WNBA's all-time leading scorer, 10,646 points, Mercury 2004-2024. Three titles. 11 All-Star teams. | Hall page |
| Sandy Brondello | Coach | WNBA titles with the Mercury in 2014 and the Liberty in 2024. Coach of the Year in 2014. First Tempo head coach. | Hall page |
| Mike Thibault | Coach | Sun head coach 2003-2012. Mystics head coach 2013-2022. Mystics' first title in 2019. Retired at 379-289. | Hall page |
| Dee Kantner | Official | 26 NCAA Women's Final Fours, including 16 national championship games. | Hall page |
| Molly Bolin Kazmer | Player | First player signed in the WBL, 1978. Scoring champion at 32.8 points per game in 1980. Single-game record of 55. | Hall page |
| Judith Holland | Contributor | UCLA women's athletics director, 1975-1980. First full scholarship for a woman at UCLA, to Ann Meyers. | Hall page |
Source: names, order and the known-for lines are the induction page, checked Nov. 6, 2026. Category is the job those bullets describe. Contributor is USA TODAY's word for Holland. The Hall page does not print it. USA TODAY's story puts Bolin Kazmer second. This table follows the Hall page. The data dictionary defines each column. Data through Nov. 6, 2026. Methods: one row per name on the Hall page, in that order. Download CSV (CC0)
UConn in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
Taurasi is the ninth. The Nov. 5 UConn release names these eight ahead of her.
| Name | Year | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Geno Auriemma | 2006 | Head coach |
| Rebecca Lobo | 2010 | Player |
| Jennifer Rizzotti | 2013 | Player |
| Kara Wolters | 2017 | Player |
| Chris Dailey | 2018 | Associate head coach |
 Swin Cash | 2021 | Player |
 Maya Moore | 2024 | Player |
 Sue Bird | 2025 | Player |
| Diana Taurasi | 2027 | Player |
Source: the nine names and the years are the Nov. 5, 2026 UConn release. Auriemma is "head coach" and Dailey is "associate head coach" on the June 11, 2018 UConn release. Lobo is "the first player from the program" on the July 25, 2009 UConn release. Bird is "a member of the UConn women's basketball team from 1998-02" on the June 15, 2025 UConn release. Rizzotti, Wolters, Cash and Moore have no role word on a release opened for this page. They are marked Player. The reason is in the data dictionary. Full Court Buckets has player pages for Cash, Moore, Bird and Taurasi. Data through Nov. 6, 2026. Methods: one row per name in the Nov. 5 sentence, then Taurasi. The count of nine is the count of that list. Download CSV (CC0)
The Nov. 5 release gives her UConn career as 2,156 points, 10th in the program, 648 assists, third, and 318 made threes, third. She played from 2000 to 2004. The NCAA titles on that release, and on the Hall page, are 2002, 2003 and 2004.
The June 15, 2025 release gives Sue Bird 1,378 points and 585 assists at UConn. The other seven rows do not have a college line in this file. A blank in the CSV is not a zero.
Class of 2027 WNBA ties
Three of the six are tied to a WNBA team on the Hall page.
| Name | Job | Teams | What the pages say |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diana Taurasi | Player | Phoenix Mercury | 10,646 points, 2004-2024. Titles in 2007, 2009 and 2014. Finals MVP in 2009 and 2014. MVP in 2009. Rookie of the Year in 2004. |
| Sandy Brondello | Coach | Mercury, Liberty, Tempo | Titles in 2014 and 2024. Coach of the Year in 2014. First Tempo head coach, 2025. |
| Mike Thibault | Coach | Sun, Mystics | Sun 2003-2012. Mystics 2013-2022. Title in 2019. Retired at 379-289. Reeve's 380th regular-season win was July 8, 2026. She finished at 397. |
Source: the team lines are the Hall page. Brondello's 2014 Coach of the Year award, Thibault's awards in 2006, 2008 and 2013, and Cheryl Reeve's 380th regular-season win on July 8, 2026, and her 397 at the end of that regular season, are the WNBA.com release of Sept. 28, 2026. The 379 and the 397 are the two pages' figures. This table does not add playoff wins to either one. Kantner was WNBA Supervisor of Officials in 1997-1998 and 2005-2016, on the Hall page, and is not a row here because that page names no team for her. The 2026 Tempo season is in the Nov. 4 coaching count. Open jobs are in the coaching tracker. Data through Nov. 6, 2026. Methods: one row per Hall-page inductee whose bullets name a WNBA team. Download CSV (CC0)
The statement, and two spellings
Michelle Marciniak, the Hall's CEO, in a statement USA TODAY published Nov. 5, 2026: "For nearly thirty years, the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame has honored the greatest of the game, and we are thrilled to welcome these six inductees into the distinguished seats of the Hall of Fame. Selection for this esteemed recognition celebrates the hard work, success, and record-breaking journeys for those to join this global class. We cannot wait to welcome the Class of 2027."
Sportsnet carried the same statement that day and spells it honoured. The induction page, checked Nov. 6, lists the six and the June 26 date. It does not include the sentence.
The Hall page spells the building Tennessee Theatre. The UConn release spells it Tennessee Theater. USA TODAY calls June 26, 2027, a Saturday. The Hall page gives the date and does not give the weekday.
Where the write-ups disagree
The UConn release says Taurasi was a 10-time All-WNBA first-team selection and a four-time second-team pick, and an 11-time All-Star. The Hall page says 11 All-Star teams and does not list All-WNBA. USA TODAY says 14 All-WNBA selections and does not split first and second team. Ten plus four is 14. This page uses the UConn split. A 2021 WNBA.com feature lists the same 10 first-team years and says the 2021 team was not out yet. It also gives her 9,174 points, so it is a 2021 snapshot.
USA TODAY says she led the league in scoring five times, and that she is the league's all-time leader in 3-pointers made and in free throws made. The Hall page and the UConn release do not say that. The 2021 feature lists five scoring titles, in 2006 and from 2008 through 2011, and lists her first in threes and free throws at that feature's totals. This page does not use five, and it does not use those leader lines.
The UConn release says she is the only player with more than 10,000 points, the only six-time Olympic gold medalist in basketball, a seven-time Russian National League champion, and a four-time USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year. It also says she has three World Championship gold medals and one bronze. The Hall page names the gold years, 2010, 2014 and 2018, and the Olympic years, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024. It does not mention a bronze or the Russian league. The EuroLeague years on the Hall page are 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2016.
Sportsnet says Brondello's Opals won World Cup silver in 2018 and in 2022. The Hall page says silver in 2018 and bronze in 2022, plus Olympic bronze in 2024 and Asia Cup gold in 2025. Basketball Australia's Oct. 21, 2026 story also says bronze in 2022. This page uses the Hall page.
That Basketball Australia story says Brondello was named to the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Class of 2026, with the gala on Nov. 24, 2026, at Centrepiece, Melbourne Park. The Sport Australia member page says she was inducted in 2026. Sportsnet's Oct. 20 story says the Tempo announced the selection that day. This page does not pick one announcement date.
USA TODAY says Holland was UCLA's director of women's athletics from 1975 to 1981. The Hall page says first full-time director from 1975 to 1980, then senior associate athletic director from 1980 to 1996. This page uses the Hall page. USA TODAY also says Ann Meyers led UCLA to a pair of national titles. The Hall page says Holland oversaw UCLA's AIAW national title in 1978, the first won by a major university. It does not say a pair.
USA TODAY calls Bolin Kazmer "Machine Gun Molly." The Hall page uses Molly Bolin Kazmer and does not use the nickname. The same Hall page says she averaged 54.8 points a game in a season at Moravia High School in Iowa, scored 83 in a game there, and was WBL co-MVP with Ann Meyers in 1980.
The Hall page says Kantner and Violet Palmer were the first two women hired as NBA referees, for 1997-2002, and that ESPN hired Kantner as a women's college basketball rules analyst in 2025. USA TODAY adds 247 NBA games, 11 years as WNBA supervisor, and world championships in 1994 and 1998. Those three are not on the Hall page. The supervisor years on the Hall page are 1997-1998 and 2005-2016.
USA TODAY says Thibault was a U.S. women's assistant in 2008 and again in 2024, and that Belgium reached the 2026 FIBA World Cup quarterfinals. The Hall page says he was a U.S. assistant for the 2008 Olympic gold, and that he led Belgium to the 2025 EuroBasket title. It does not mention 2024 or a 2026 quarterfinal.
NBC Connecticut, Jennifer Lambert, Nov. 5, repeats the UConn figures for 2,156 points, 648 assists and 318 threes, the three NCAA titles, the three WNBA titles, the two Finals MVPs, the six Olympic golds, and the eight earlier UConn names.
How the rows were counted
One row per name on the Hall page. Nine UConn rows: the eight in the Nov. 5 sentence, then Taurasi. Three WNBA rows: the inductees whose Hall-page bullets name a team. Column definitions are in the data dictionary. The files are free to use and republish (CC0).
How this story was made: Full Court Buckets articles are written by Ryan Moalemi, sometimes with AI assistance, and every stat is checked against official WNBA box scores and the sources cited in the story. How we make Full Court Buckets
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