How dominant have the Connecticut Sun been?

If they don’t win the WNBA title, this season may be viewed by some experts as falling short of expectations because the Sun put together one of the best regular seasons in the 25-year history of the league.

Let’s recap:
– The Sun went 26-6, setting a franchise record for wins while playing two fewer games than a standard WNBA season, and finishing as the No. 1 seed and earning a double-round bye. Connecticut will face the sixth-seeded Chicago Sky in a best-of-five semifinals matchup beginning on Tuesday.

“The double bye is so coveted and so important in this league so it was always in the back of the mind,” Sun head coach Curt Miller said. “We talked about one game at a time and staying focused, but as we got in the season and started to have success and started to win, it became more of a reality and it became a focal point of how important it would be to get that double-bye.”

– The Sun enter the playoffs riding a 14-game winning streak (a WNBA record to heading into the Playoffs).
– Connecticut has the league’s second-best rated offense.
– The Sun have the WNBA’s top defensive efficiency rating.
– They haven’t lost a game in 2.5 months.

“I really appreciate the professionalism of our players,” Miller said. “Our No. 1 pillar in our program is preparation and they prepare each and every game. They really get into the stats report and that’s translated onto the court in their preparation and their tenacity.”

Although the Sun have come close the past couple of years – including losing in the 2019 WNBA Finals to the Washington Mystics in five games – winning the first WNBA championship in franchise history has eluded them.

With a roster stacked full of players expected to win individual accolades, is this the year that changes?

Jonquel Jones has been phenomenal, and she was rewarded with being named the league MVP, an honor that looked inevitable late in the season. For starters, she’s the best player on the league’s best team. The Sun went 2-3 in games she didn’t play in. She averaged 19.4 points (fourth in the league), 11.2 rebounds (first) and 2.8 assists per game.

“What’s special is being on that journey with J.J. She adds to her game each and every year,” Miller said. “In 2019, she really took it up a step defensively and was honored with the all-defensive team. Once again, she is leading the league in rebounds. Each and every year she adds something. This year she has moved more to the four position and it’s more of a challenge for her to guard four players and not just five players. She is away from the rim more defensively.

“Offensively, she is being asked to be more of a facilitator with Alyssa Thomas out most of the year and she has really stepped into that role. Again, she is such a humble superstar and I believe she deserves to be the MVP of the league this year. She doesn’t care who gets the credit. She is team first and is all about trying to win.”

While Jones is the headliner, several of her teammates and members of the coaching staff also played starring roles. On a day that saw the Sun gather a lot of extra hardware, Miller was named Coach of the Year and Brionna Jones (career-best 14.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game) was named Most Improved Player. And if that’s not enough, Thomas recently returned from her Achilles injury, giving the team a huge boost on both ends of the floor entering the postseason.

Locking up on the defensive side of the floor and owning the glass have been the calling cards for Connecticut. The Sun recently got rewarded for their defensive efforts as Jonquel Jones and Briann January were named to the first-team WNBA All-defensive teams, and Brionna Jones and Jasmine Thomas earned second-team selections.

“We prepare hard for each opponent,” Miller said. “We have our important pillars. Pace is important and dominating the glass and being really committed to being a defensive team is important. We’ve hung our hat on defense and rebounding all season. Even when we have an off game offensively, we put ourselves in position to win each night because of our commitment to the defensive end and our commitment to getting on the boards.”

On the court, the one supposed weakness the Sun have is their lack of depth. The return of Thomas, who tore her Achilles just nine months ago, eliminates that issue.

“She is one of the toughest people I’ve ever met mentally and physically,” Miller said. “Obviously, she has been our engine on the court in years past. When she got hurt, most people thought it would be a season-ending injury, but you never put anything past Alyssa Thomas. She attacked her rehab. You could see the momentum building towards her being back by playoff time and it’s such a pleasure to watch her work, watch her determination, watch her toughness. It’s an amazing story about to be written, to watch how fast she has come back from this injury.”

Off the court, the Sun have the luxury of strong leaders to help navigate them through the postseason and the challenging road that lies ahead. On top of getting a veteran like Thomas back, the Sun have a coach in Miller whose leadership extends beyond Xs and Os.

Six years ago when he was hired as the Sun’s coach, Miller publicly came out as gay. His success on the sidelines this season continues to strengthen him as a role model for other gay males who want careers in sports.

In observance of WNBA Pride, the league celebrated the LGBTQ+ community throughout the month of June, and the Sun celebrated their Pride Night on Sept. 15.

“Pride night is very special obviously to me,” Miller said. “I really appreciate and I’m humbled to be in a league that not only represents great diversity throughout our league, but really celebrates a pride month throughout the season. You see pride events throughout our league and every franchise. In my early career, I didn’t want to be the gay coach, I wanted to be the successful coach. Now I realize I missed some opportunities to be a role model because I didn’t have one. I didn’t have one on the sidelines, someone that was in a position as a head coach doing well and now, I want to give back as much as possible. Visibility and representation matter.”