Last year, when the Fever returned to full practice for the first time since preseason training camp under head coach Christie Sides, she revealed what ticks the boxes. “You get to fix all the things that you can’t get right just watching video,” she said. “Being able to do things live changes the game.” 2024’s gone, Sides replaced with Stephanie White, and the approach? Little traces remained—though the Fever’s squad didn’t exactly love it.

It all began with the arrival of Stephanie White and her “championship” winning mindset that saw her build a defensively strong roster. While she added DeWanna Bonner, Natasha Howard, and Sophie Cunningham to the team, it is still a work in progress.

“The most important thing for myself and the team is communication. We all have the same goals here, and that’s to put ourselves in a position to compete for a championship,” she said back then. Well, that focus carried into training camp and the season. On the latest episode of Show Me Something with Sophie Cunningham and West Wilson, the Fever guard revealed that, early in the season, their practice sessions went on for two and a half to three hours, plus a lot of film study. Yeah, players weren’t big fans of it.

If you ask Sophie, she describes it as, “And all of us are like, we didn’t sign up for this.” Nonetheless, days have passed since then, and the practice sessions are clearly yielding results.

“But I think it did help us,” she added. “There were times where we’d watch hour of film… There’s been times that we’ve been in there for 45 minutes to an hour, just like watching our defense, watching our offense execution.” That has continued to prove essential for the team.

While the primary aim was to build a defensive core around Caitlin Clark entering the 2025 regular season, that plan quickly derailed as CC dealt with injuries. First, it was quad soreness and then came a left quad strain that required her to miss games. So, with their offensive core sidelined, White relied on Syd and Sophie as backup.

But that plan collapsed when, in a single game against the Connecticut Sun as both point guards ended up injured, leaving the Fever with a limited roster. So, with no other choice, the Fever called up Aari McDonald, who jumped at the opportunity. Of course, fitting into a championship-contending team isn’t easy, so she followed the Fever’s tradition.

“That part made me anxious, just coming in, not knowing the system, not really playing with the players. But it was a lot of film, a lot of film sessions by myself, just rewatching stuff, and a lot of film with [assistant coach Austin Kelly] just asking questions.” she shared. It paid off. In her first game, playing 27 minutes off the bench, Aari put up 7 points, dished 5 assists, and swiped 3 steals to help the Fever snap their losing skid. And she never slowed down—culminating in a Commissioner’s Cup win and a permanent contract.

Now, with a .545 mark and sixth place in the W’s latest standings with only a couple of games left before the postseason, the approach remains the same. “We’ll watch like, depending on when our next game is, we’ll watch like 45 minutes of that film,” Sophie explained. So yes, that’s how the Fever have navigated the 2025 season—sailing through adversity to keep the win mentality alive.

But securing a playoff berth is still a challenge!

Sure, the Fever have maintained an 18-15 record, but that doesn’t guarantee a postseason spot—especially when they don’t have a point guard ready. Caitlin Clark has been limited to just 13 games so far, and there’s still no update on her return timeline.

The last Stephanie White shared was that Clark is “not into the practice shape” yet from her re-aggravated right groin injury that has kept her out since July 15. “No return to practice — she’s been able to get a little bit more of her full-court running with all of her body weight… It’s really building up from doing minimal to building some endurance to do longer periods of time. She’s been able to do a little more on the court in terms of how she moves, but not into practice shape,” White said.

Making matters worse, both Aari and Sydney are out with season-ending injuries just when the Fever needed them the most. Heading into the post season, the Fever are scheduled to face the likes of Minnesota Lynx, Phoenix Mercury, and the two team which have dominated against them this regular season– Sparks and Golden State. So it’s a tough read ahead for the Fever, but this is also a team that has been known to stay resilient. Can they stay put?