It鈥檚 no stretch to say the two biggest names in college basketball these days will be playing in the women鈥檚 tournament when March Madness goes into full swing later this week.
Whether the presence of of USC and of UConn will overcome the game鈥檚 loss of Caitlin Clark and drive a repeat of last year鈥檚 history-making surge in viewership is among the underlying questions over the next three weeks.
One of the surest signs of the growing popularity of the women's game came last year, when the final of the tournament, featuring than the men鈥檚 final between
It was a first, driven in part by the fact that the men鈥檚 game wasn鈥檛 on an over-the-air network and the women鈥檚 was, but also thanks to the legion of Clark fans, many of whom have followed her to the WNBA.
鈥淚鈥檓 hard-pressed to believe they鈥檙e going to reach because that was a comet that probably won鈥檛 be repeated this year,鈥 Kevin Hull, a sports media professor at South Carolina, said of the 18.87 million who tuned into the women's title game last year. 鈥淏ut they鈥檙e going to get a really good number again. It鈥檚 a great time to be in women鈥檚 sports.鈥
For the men, it's Cooper Flagg and who?
Besides Duke , there aren鈥檛 any men鈥檚 players who can rival the numbers Bueckers or put up in what might be the most important metric in today's world 鈥 their social media followings. Last week, in a notable transaction, Watkins became the first woman college athlete to
It鈥檚 not to say there aren鈥檛 compelling story lines in the men鈥檚 tournament. But as has often been the case, they have more to do with coaches 鈥 think, 鈥 or programs 鈥 think Duke or North Carolina 鈥 than with individual players.
Last year's biggest name on the men's side was Purdue's Zach Edey, a well-spoken but generally quiet 7-foot-4 center from Canada whose old-school post-up game sparked a for hardcore hoops junkies, but didn't bring the rest of the world in.
For decades, though, none of that ever prevented the men鈥檚 tournament from outdrawing the women. Among the advantages for the men: more backing from the NCAA, a longer history as a sport and a deeper, more competitive field from 1-68, which, in turn, spawns more upsets and Cinderella stories.
Women's hoops rides a wave and creates a new one
Without some of those built-in advantages, the women鈥檚 game has had to embark on a slow, steady climb.
Hull believes one landmark moment was the success of the U.S. which 鈥渒ind of changed the game when it came to all women鈥檚 sports.鈥
鈥淎nd we鈥檝e seen it in the years since, with the WNBA and all these other sports,鈥 he said. 鈥淎nd Caitlin Clark was the right person at the right time, who just sort of turned the spark into a flame.鈥
The women鈥檚 tournament was already surging in popularity in 2021 (the first year ESPN broadcast every game nationally) when with her viral video of the sparse weight room available to the players at their base in San Antonio.
It forced a reckoning with some of the longstanding inequalities between the men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 games. The most devastating was the huge disparity of the TV contracts but perhaps the best illustration of the imbalance came in the fact that the NCAA didn鈥檛 even use the 鈥淢arch Madness鈥 title for the women鈥檚 tournament.
The (some say for not enough), combined with Clark鈥檚 rise and a layering of some Magic-vs.-Bird-like racial tension between Clark and Angel Reese (who say they have no problem with each other) helped push popularity and viewership to the heights seen last year.
Len Elmore, the longtime player and TV analyst who now teaches sports management at Columbia, suggested the Clark vs. Reese vibe created a tension that many Americans can't turn away from. He also said 鈥渟ome people like the women鈥檚 game better than the men鈥檚 game for a number of fundamental basketball reasons.鈥
Earlier this year, the NCAA announced that women's teams, for the first time, 鈥 known as 鈥渦nits鈥 鈥 for playing in March Madness.
鈥淎 lot of it has to do with us being treated like a sport now,鈥 said Staley, whose Gamecocks are top seeded as they embark on their quest for back-to-back titles. 鈥淲hen you treat us like a sport, you will get a return on your investment.鈥
Ratings this year remain good even without Clark
Most signs point toward last year鈥檚 ratings
A matchup between Watkins and Bueckers in December averaged 2.2 million viewers, making it the second-most watched women鈥檚 game ever on Fox, behind one last season in which Clark set the NCAA scoring record. ESPN鈥檚 regular-season ratings were up 3% from last year and 41% from two seasons ago.
Next comes March Madness, where Watkins and Bueckers could face a rematch in the regional finals, while Staley and South Carolina are positioned on the other side of the bracket, setting up a possible meeting with one of them in the final on April 6.
鈥淚鈥檓 pretty confident in saying that the days of the men鈥檚 Final Four dwarfing the women鈥檚 -- double, three-times viewership 鈥 those days are long gone,鈥 Hull said. 鈥淚t wouldn鈥檛 surprise me if the women鈥檚 gets more. There鈥檚 buzz now, and the TV networks are treating it as a big deal.鈥
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