August 5, 2021 

WATCH: Missy Heidrick on the NCAA Gender Equity Report

Remembering how inequality affected her as a student-athlete, and detailing necessary solutions

Welcome to The Next: A basketball newsroom brought to you by The IX. 24/7/365 women’s basketball coverage, written, edited and photographed by our young, diverse staff, dedicated to breaking news, analysis, historical deep dives and projections about the game we love.

Continue reading with a subscription to The Next

Get unlimited access to women’s basketball coverage and help support our hardworking staff of writers, editors, and photographers by subscribing today.

Join today

Subscribe to make sure this vital work, creating a pipeline of young, diverse media professionals to write, edit and photograph the great game, continues and grows. Subscriptions include some exclusive content, but the reason for subscriptions is a simple one: making sure our writers and editors creating 24/7/365 women’s basketball coverage get paid to do it.


“These tournaments have existed in their own silos.” Missy Heidrick, our national college basketball reporter, remembers her own experience in the NCAA Women’s Tournament and what the difference in treatment and promotion compared to the men meant to her, while detailing what needs to change — and how it cannot end with basketball, but must be applied to all sports.

Written by Missy Heidrick

I am a retired Kansas State shooting guard and spent almost 20 years working in Higher Education and Division 1 athletics. I am currently a basketball analyst for television and radio, contributing correspondent at The Next, Locked on Women's Basketball podcast host, WBB Naismith Award board of selectors member and run my own consulting business. I am a proud mother of two and wife to a patient husband who is almost as big of a sports junkie as I am!

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.