Iowa-LSU draws more viewers than NBA finals

Men's college basketball has really dropped the ball. The women's game is currently such a better product. The best players stay in school throughout their eligibility and less transfers/player movements means there is time to develop compelling narratives and rivalries. Not to mention the talent level - can you imagine if players that are currently the same age as Clark, Reese, etc. that are playing in the NBA were still in college? It also helps that the women's game the talent is a bit more compressed so the flow of the game is a bit better (does cause for lots of blowouts during regular season).

This game was the talk of the office and I have never heard most of my coworkers discuss women's basketball before.

I never once in my life heard anything about womens NCAA basketball until Reese and Clark did the trash talk sign language to each other. Now I am bombarded by constant media and social media posts about it. Not complaining, just interesting that is how a sport goes from totally irrelevant to very popular, in the USA at least. A shame the same thing did not happen to track and field when Lyles did the finger point at Knighton.

That might have been when you first heard about it, but the reason you continue to hear about it is Caitlyn’s record breaking season.

So she is dominating the scene, like some sort of a Jakob Ingebrigsten or more of a Sifan Hassan? And then is it expected she will be the Kobe Bryant of WNBA? Or is she more of a Ryan Crouser, the undisputed GOAT that we may never see the likes of again?

The issue for womens college basketball, quite honestly is going to be maintaining this level of viewership and attention. Clark is gone after this year. Reese is gone after this year. The only "big name" coming back is Bueckers from UCONN.

This game had the hype due to the hand waving and ring finger pointing that happened at the end of the last years NCAA Final (I think it was the final?). It also featured two stars of the womens game.

I do think there was racial undertones to people tuning in.

Reese was portrayed (infairly) in the media as a diva and taunter and trash-talker after that incident. She happens to be black. She also happens to be coached by a lady who the general sports audience can't stand with her antics and outfits.

On the other side, you have the "goody-two-shoes, do no wrong" Caitlin Clark, who has absolutely dominated college basketball the last 3 years (and kudos to a LetsRun message board person who said 3 years ago she'd be better than Bueckers from UCONN). She happens to be white.

All that being said, the quality of the womens game at the top level is absolutely great to watch. Fundamentally it's so much better than the mens game. I'm still not a fan of the men and women jacking up 3s 40% of the time, but eh, that's the game now.

What's nice is the number of top level womens teams is so many more than it used to be. 10 years ago, there was *MAYBE* the same 8 teams you'd say were going to win it all *(Uconn, Notre Dame, Stanford, Tennessee, LSU, Baylor, Duke and another). Now you could probably say it's 20 and the list is growing.

At the lower levels of even D-1 womens basketball the game is unwatchable. There are some really bad teams and bad basketball being played out there. There are 32 conferences in D-1 womens basketball. Literally 21 of the 32 draw less than an average of 1,000 people on a per game basis.

Other than Kobe, why are you comparing her to much less popular athletes?

White superstar heavily hyped

Never underestimate the power of marketing. The networks hyped the women’s game like crazy, and with NIL the players got more exposure, and social media is full of posts on these players (and others), and suddenly the women’s game is pulling viewers like crazy, or at least it is when Clark and the LSU stars are playing. And as you say, players actually playing more than one season helps a ton. The real key will be to maintain this momentum once the stars of the moment have moved on to the pros. And the WNBA has an opportunity to grow itself once today’s college stars are in that league too. Big opportunity coming for college and pro.

Sure, but marketing is a whole lot easier when you have a player rewriting the record books.

The NCAA Tournament format generates excitement that the NBA does not. Lose and you are out! Every game matters and a bad day is catastrophic. None of this "Best of Seven" crap that virtually assures that the team with the biggest payroll/assemblage of healthy talent will win.

It is all about Caitlin Clark and her record chasing/breaking. Next year, women's b-ball will be back to where it was.

I agree with just about everything you said however Hidalgo and JuJu will carry the torch and they're already big names.

Buckets is the truly big name coming back, but JuJu, Hanah and Flau'jae are definitely right on the cusp of her name recognition.

People tried to rush in and save Reese's rep, but it all turned out to be true. She's constantly taunting teams. I've seen her do the "too little" thing on her first made bucket of a game. Play ball, c'mon. Then the whole hair pulling, elbow throwing when SC was whooping LSU, again, only to bail on her team after the incident she helped to escalate happened. She's a trash talking hypocrite and worse an instigator who runs when everything goes south.

As a fan of someone you can still recognize their flaws. Clark definitely gets a bit yappy about fouls not being called, fans can see that, but she owns that and works on it. After a season full of teams gunning for her and trying to take her out of her game by being physical, she should be peeved when refs let a trash tactic like that fly in the tourney. If a team feels that's the only way they can win, just step aside and let real teams play, looking at WVU.

You're right, the game is so much better these days. When the women can finish at the hoop with better moves, they'll be right there, even without the dunking. Flau'jae has some sweet, crazy athletic moves that look amazing.

Allow me to introduce you to Ms. JuJu Watkins...

newsweek.com

USC's JuJu Watkins Breaks NCAA Freshman Scoring Record

USC women's basketball star JuJu Watkins has broken the NCAA freshman scoring record while facing UConn during heated NCAA March Madness Elite Eight game.

Link:www.newsweek.com/usc-womens-basketball...

And scoring 51 didnt hurt either.

Yes… that’s why I say that the test will be whether they can keep the ball rolling when she isn’t part of the product (college hoops) anymore, and also whether the product she’s a part of next season (WNBA) can take the excitement around her and run with it.

Not true, JuJu Watkins from So. Cal whom Bueckers and UConn beat is only a freshman and already is setting records once held by Clark and others.

SMH....the women's game doesn't have a fraction of the depth of talent spread out throught the teams. Extremely rare that any team not ranked in the top 10 makes a final four. Like you said the talent is compressed at a handful of schools.

Also LSU's team last year had 12 transfers on the roster (including Angel Reese).

I will start watching more than 2 games a year when the majority of women players are able to shoot a jump shot and not shooting from their chest, inch off the ground.

Exactly. This game was nothing but hype over the crap from last year, when Iowa was blown out. Americans fall for BS hype all the time.

JuJu had an awesome year, and she has a lot of potential, but she needs to improve her shooting and work on her passing to get to Clark’s level. JuJu shot only 40.1% overall this season and just 31.9% from 3, and she only averaged 3.3 assists per game. In the game against UConn, she shot a ghastly 9 for 25. In Clark’s first year at Iowa, her field goal percentage was 47.2%, including 40.6% from 3, and she averaged 7.1 assists a game to go with her high scoring output.