With the conclusion of the Women’s NCAA Division 1 basketball tournament March Madness, the interest in women’s college basketball has reached an all-time high in viewers. The final between the undefeated University of South Carolina and the University of Iowa, a team looking to receive the championship after falling short the previous year, recorded 4 million more views than the men’s March Madness final of UConn vs Purdue. The South Carolina women’s win averaged 18.9 million viewers and peaked at 24.1 million during the last 15 minutes.
This was a 90% increase from last year’s championship game where Louisiana State University won 102-85 over Iowa. Millbrook sophomore Gabby Sadosky shared, “Last year’s game between LSU and Iowa was my favorite women’s basketball game to watch because there was a lot of tension between the players.”
The record for the most watched women’s college basketball game was first broken in this year’s Elite Eight game of LSU vs Iowa, the rematch between stars Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark. It was then broken again just four days later when an audience of 14.43 million watched Iowa’s narrow victory over UConn in the Final Four. The record was broken shortly after with 18.9 million viewers tuning in to the championship. Eyes have been quickly turning to the women’s games.
Millbrook World History and African American Studies teacher Mr. A shared, “I believe that more people should watch women’s basketball because it truly represents the purity of the game. They defend very well, the planning and schemes are top notch, and at the end of the day it represents how basketball should be played. ”
Much of the women’s college basketball hype began as Iowa Guard, Caitlin Clark, made history and gained recognition for her accomplishments with Iowa. She became the NCAA Division 1’s all-time leading scorer of both women and men in her 130th career game against Ohio State on March 3. Clark finished her time at Iowa with 3,951 points, 1,144 assists, and 990 rebounds. According to a study by Common Sense Institute Iowa, Clark generated an estimated $82.5 million for the University of Iowa solely based on increased game attendance. Mr A. said, “I think Caitlin Clark brought a ton of first-time viewers to the game. I know she will continue to have the same impact on the WNBA. She also forced other players to change their game and overall women’s style of play. Her deep shooting range can only be marveled by the men’s professional game with players like James Harden, Damon Lillard, and Steph Curry.”
There has also been much hype around LSU’s Angel Reese and South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso who were both drafted to the WNBA along with Caitlin Clark. Paige Bueckers, who plays as a guard for UConn and will be returning to the team next season, also has received a lot of buzz after returning in at the beginning of the 2023-2024 season in November after suffering an ACL tear that took her out of play for 584 days. The popularity of these players has done much to bring in viewers and get even those unfamiliar with college basketball interested.
Many people from North Carolina also tuned into March Madness, as the N.C. State women’s team made it to the Final Four for the second time in school history.
Since the South Carolina Gamecocks took home the championship to end the NCAA Division 1 tournament, the 2023-2024 season has ended. However, the WNBA draft occurred on April 15 and you can look forward to seeing your favorite college basketball players like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso, and Cameron Brink make their WBNA debuts on May 14.
