Does anyone actually watch womens basketball?

As a father of 2 girls who do sports, it’s great to see Women’s college basketball and even the WNBA pull more interest and fans. With that said, the games are either extremely competitive or boring blowouts. The times that I have watched them, haven’t been that captivating.

I will add, take my view with a grain of salt. I’m not a huge basketball fan in general.

With all the pissing and moaning about the men having virtually no upsets into the Sweet Sixteen, the first two rounds had the highest ratings since 1993.

Fever 41, Lakers 39.

If the WNBA and NCAAW are doing so great, why does the NBA have to continue subsidizing them? Why can't the WNBA be viable on its own? Oh, it can't?

WNBA is paid by the TV network at the rate they agreed several years ago when the viewership was much lower. Increased viewership gives more money from advertisers to networks, but that money does not reach the league or individual teams.

They have signed an 11-yr contract that starts next year. The yearly value will more than triple from the current contract. So they can become viable on its own if they want to. But NBA wants to keep control over WNBA. So why turn down the money they are willing to offer?

Cooper who?

I think I watched all but one game from the Elite 8 on last year, and was pretty into it. Probably will do the same this year. Not as familiar with Texas and UCLA and looking forward to seeing them. I read a good story about the Bruin center Lauren Betts the other day and will probably watch them tonight.

The USC-UCLA rivalry might be better in women's hoops than any other sport right now. So sorry Juju Watkins got that horrible injury.

my first reaction is wow! my second reaction is why?? why not just enter the draft?

The wnba salary is pretty low and longevity in the league isn't guaranteed. She might get more NIL and finish her degree which in the ling run is better.

What happened to ND this year? Is Hidalgo out of control?

The rookie salary goes up significantly next year under the new CBA. We don't know what will happen to the salary of this year's rookies, or the classes of 2023 and 2024 who are still under the rookie contract. They may not be adjusted under the new CBA. So it makes sense to wait for another year.

ND will lose Citron, Westbeld and King. So they won't be as good next year unless they get some big time transfers. I think Miles is looking for a team with a better shot at the Final Four. Latson, Kneepkens and McMahon are in the market. But there is no post player who could replace Westbeld or King so far.

Im an easy mark for women's sports. I love women's track, women's tennis in its heyday....

But of all womens sports, i find basketball to be the biggest drop off from the men's game. Airballs all over the place, low talent pool, 50 pt blowouts in march madness. It looks like a pick up game at the Y.

ND's biggest weakness was the lack of size inside. (Westbeld is 6-3 and King is 6-0.) They could go bigger with Koval and Karlen, but they had to sacrifice the speed. TCU exploited that in both games with Prince going 20 and 21. The lack of rim protector (Koval was the best shot blocker) also meant guards had to do more on defense.

Miles got hurt in the first round, and was not the same after that. HVL made some defensive stops I never thought she was capable of making. Miles said they just didn't make the shots they would normally make, but I think TCU defense had something to do with it.

Why does the NBA want to keep control over the WNBA? Probably tired of subsidizing it. The WNBA can be viable on its own if they want? After how many years? 30 years?

So that WNBA would not interfere with NBA's business plan. They could dictate WNBA's schedule, location of teams, media contract, marketing and so forth to make sure they are not in conflict with NBA's business. It's a small investment for them.

To show you the difference in talent level between men's basketball and women's basketball, I offer up this:

Breanna Stewart is one of the top players over the last 10 years. She has a 3 pt. average of 29.5%. And that is one with a 3 pt. line significantly shorter than the men's and using a ball with a much smaller circumference than the men's ball.

Meanwhile, Seth Curry is shooting 45.8% from a longer line and with a larger ball.

Another ND in the portal, this time a center. Somethings up with this team and it's not good.

Actually, there are two more in the portal in addition to Mile and Koval. (Risch and Watson.)

They are now down to three returning players (Hidalgo, Prosper and Bransford) plus one incoming player in the top 100.

There was also a mass exodus in 2019. After Arike, Mabrey, Turner and Shepard graduated, Lloyd decided to enter the draft early. Patterson transferred to Indiana and Nixon transferred to Texas A&M. They got Walker from UNC and Sniezek from Stanford, and had two freshmen. But they had to add four walk-ons to fill the roster.

They had the worst season in decades (13-18), and Muffet retired after that. Ivey became the new HC and immediately signed Miles and Citron. It should be easier to get new transfers now than it was six years ago. But if you are one of the top players in the portal, you probably would not want to join what is likely to be a rebuilding season.

BTW, the ratings are up from 2023, although down from last year.

Elite Eight: +34%.

Sweet Sixteen: +39%.

2nd R: +60%.

1st R; +43%.

sports.yahoo.com

Paige Bueckers leads big women’s March Madness TV ratings in post-Caitlin Clark era

@YahooSports

If you are reading this, you likely know who Paige Bueckers is. Maybe you are also familiar with Lauren Betts, Maddie Booker and MiLaysia Fulwiley. But Meg Aronowitz, a senior vice president of production for ESPN and the com...

Link:sports.yahoo.com/article/paige-buecker...

They also had four of the top ten Elite Eight and four of the top ten Sweet 16 games.