The second season of Full Court Press, ESPN’s NCAA women’s basketball docuseries produced with Omaha Productions and Words + Pictures, will premiere on May 3.
Last year’s debut season followed Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso, and UCLA’s Kiki Rice. The sequel was quickly greenlit, but until now, the player lineup remained a mystery.
This time, the series will spotlight Notre Dame sophomore Hannah Hidalgo, LSU junior Flau’jae Johnson and USC graduate student Kiki Iriafen, covering their journeys on and off the court throughout the 2024-25 season.
“The growing momentum behind women’s basketball is driven by its stars, and Full Court Press features three unforgettable, larger-than-life personalities,” said Lindsay Rovegno, Vice President of Production for ESPN Originals. “Hannah, Flau’jae, and Kiki are more than great players – they’re great characters. Season two captures the drive and resilience that make them special. We’re excited to continue telling these compelling stories and showcasing the evolution of the sport.”
“There is no better time to be a fan of women’s college basketball than right now,” said Peyton Manning, founder of Omaha Productions. “We’re thrilled to share the stories of these three talented women as they continue to push the game to new heights.”
This season of Full Court Press will be directed by Nikki Spetseris and produced by Omaha Productions and Words + Pictures in partnership with ESPN. It follows on the heels of a well-received first season and one that won plaudits for showing off the intensity of NCAA women’s basketball competition.
Kristen Lappas, who directed the first season, told Awful Announcing last year that a key for Full Court Press was illuminating players’ passion for this sport.
“I think women’s sports is kind of painted always as female empowerment, like we’re all friends, and we’re all content, and nothing goes wrong, and there’s zero conflict. …It’s just pushing to make sure that people understand that it’s as intense. They are cursing in the locker room, their coaches are reaming them out when they do something wrong, there’s conflicting personalities, teammates are not always best friends. I think it’s really important to paint the picture in that authentic way, which I feel like it hasn’t always been that way necessarily.”
It’ll be interesting to see how Season 2 handles this new group of players.
The series is sticking with big-name programs — USC enters the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed, while LSU and Notre Dame are both No. 3 seeds. Each player brings a unique storyline: Johnson is balancing her rising rap and media career with her on-court stardom, Hidalgo looks to build on a stellar freshman season that earned her the Dawn Staley Award as the nation’s top guard (she’s nominated again), and Iriafen’s brilliant season of scoring and rebounding that has her discussed as a high WNBA Draft pick. Yet, despite USC’s massive following, the team has somehow flown under the radar despite huge popular interest in Juju Watkins. On that note, Watkins was the focus of a separate NBC docuseries last fall, produced by Klutch Sports, Uninterrupted, and 4.4.Forty.
Full Court Press’s first hour-long episode will premiere on ESPN on May 3 at 1 p.m. ET, with a second episode immediately following. Episode three will premiere on ESPN2 on May 9 at 9 p.m. ET, immediately followed by the fourth and final episode.
All episodes will be available to stream on ESPN+, Hulu and Disney+ immediately following their linear premieres.