Paige Bueckers shared an emotional hug with her dad—who, needless to say, wasn’t losing sleep over a 99-84 defeat—and the town of Hopkins went all in as well, renaming itself for a day. It was a childhood dream for Bueckers that had come full circle. It was her historical debut against the very team she used to root for as a child. So, you can imagine the nerves. Yet, for all the confetti and family pictures, fans just couldn’t look away from the promise that seemed to have been broken. And at the center of it was no rookie player, but the rookie HC Chris Koclanes.

To Dallas’ credit, they played well for most of the game. The first half was a back-and-forth affair, with both teams having their moments. And while the Wings got themselves into trouble at the end of each of those quarters, they always battled back. But where did the game change exactly? Well, Napheesa Collier’s 13-1 run in the middle of the third quarter might have been that moment. She played like an MVP and ended up collecting 34 points while leading her team to victory.

Post the game, the HC did admit all of it. “We showed some resolve and had a couple good responses there in the first half,” Koclanes said. “Then in the third, I don’t know, maybe it was a little fatigue. We looked a little tired in a stretch. Once they got a little bit of distance, you saw a seed of doubt, and we couldn’t really recover from it.” However, fans weren’t really in agreement that it was just fatigue and a lack of confidence.

And it all probably got even worse for him as some probably felt targeted by the rival HC Cheryl Reeve. “UConn star upstages the one you came to see,” Reeve quipped in the conference, nodding to Napheesa Collier. So, now, as the Dallas Wings prepare to head into their next game, fans might have given Koclanes a lot to think about.

Dallas fans pull no punches against Paige Bueckers’ newest HC

Let’s be honest: the jump from college to the pros is tough. The speed, the physicality, and the style of play change entirely when players’ livelihoods are on the line. Similarly, being a head coach brings pressures unlike any other. Sadly, both Paige Bueckers and Chris Koclanes are navigating these growing pains at the same time. Koclanes, in particular, found himself in the crosshairs of unhappy fans. No coach nails everything on their first try, but his missteps were hard to miss—and social media was quick to pounce on every one of them.

Nothing about his decisions sat well with the Dallas Wings fandom. Fans questioned his rotations, his starting lineups, everything. “I’m not sure about the starting line up yet. The coach has to figure out how to bring it altogether. It’s going to be long season for Paige. It’s a lot going on there,” one fan said on X. And honestly, analyst Rachel DeMita had raised similar concerns just three days before the game. 

“From everything that I’ve seen, it looks messy. The team doesn’t look good. I don’t think they are going to have a winning record. I do not think that they will make the playoffs. It su-ks for Paige, but it’s kind of the name of the game–number one picks do not go to good teams,” DeMita said, and fans might get angry thinking that no one listened to her.

It was honestly evident in Wings’ preseason games as well. Against the Aces, Koclanes just could not make up his mind as he kept rotating players. The part that strikes is that earlier during the training camp, Koclanes had said how Wings’ roster construction is in such a manner that it allows one to be creative with lineup throughout the season. Yet, the question remains: When are people going to see the winning five?

Of course, there were a lot of similar complaints. “Teaira McCowan should be starting. Trying to force Nalyssa Smith or Paige Bueckers in the starting line up throws off the team. Dallas needs her inside presence.” A fan suggested, urging the Wings HC to put in the six-foot-seven center. McCowan did feature in headlines yesterday, but for all the wrong reasons, as she left the team huddle early after the loss.

Anyway, that doesn’ take away the fact that she is one of the best rebounder in WNBA. Dallas had a backcourt-heavy starting lineup of Paige Bueckers, Arike Ogunbowale, DiJonai Carrington, Myisha Hines-Allen and NaLyssa Smith and while it worked in spurts, it also left them undersized defensively. This is exactly where McCowan could have proved valuable. In fact, when Collier and Courtney Williams unleashed themselves in the third, the Wings looked ill-equipped to contest shots at the rim. So, it’s understandable why fans were clamoring for a more traditional lineup, believing McCowan’s size could have slowed Collier’s 18-point outburst in that quarter.

And we don’t need to remind you of when McCowan made her first start for the Fever and posted her first WNBA double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds in 23 minutes. It was the first game that McCowan played more than 20 minutes and she showed why she belongs. Even the then coach Pokey Chatman could not help but be in awe of her.

And as expected, emotions ran high after the loss. Some fans were quite distraught and upset after the poor showing. One fan on X just could not stop the expletives from flowing as they offered their insights into the game. “Bro wtf are Dallas wings on?! The coach is f–kin dumb!! RUN PLAYS FOR PAIGE AND ARIKE WHAT THE F–K ARE YOU DOING !?! How the f–k does the CENTER have more 3PA Than PAIGE F—IN BUECKERS!!!?!? LIKE BRO!!!” The fan said, pointing out how upsetting it was for Siegrist to have more of a green light from three than Bueckers.

One fan called out the franchise on X, with a hashtag that said a lot. “Your team’s offense and defense was so bad and disjointed in the 2nd half that the 2025 UConn Huskies with Paige Bueckers could beat the 2025 Dallas Wings with Paige Bueckers. Instead of #wingsup, how about #wakeup?” They said, and it made sense. 

There was no better summary of the situation than what one fan provided on social media. “thoughts on today’s game: dallas is so bad it hurts” Because at the end of the day, that’s where everyone’s complaints lie.

We all know how Chris Koclanes entered the preseason talking up a “core eight” rotation, planning to mix and match from that group and sprinkle in the rest of the roster as needed. And we also know how quickly that shifted as Teaira McCowan found herself on the bench, logging just two first-half minutes. It sounds even more mind-boggling when you think that she started 38 games last year. Then how quickly NaLyssa Smith’s minutes vanished, as Maddy Siegrist and Kaila Charles stepped up, also raised multiple concerns. 

So, yes, Koclanes must first immediately care of his frontcourt rotation.