It was a great weekend for women’s basketball in every way, big and small. Maybe even a watershed moment, but we’ll have to wait and see on that.
Regardless of the long-term ramifications, the Dallas Women’s Final Four captured the zeitgeist and captured the attention of more people than ever before. There was an epic semifinal match, gigantic upsets, an individual superstar, another superstar who outplayed her in the championship match, and good old controversy. Lots and lots of controversies.
Over the weekend, nothing was more “trendy” on social media than Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, the championship game officials, Kim Mulkey’s pantsuit, the taunts and the “hand gesture” You Can’t See Me” by John Cena.
Even with the concurrent men’s Final Four competing — complete with an epic semifinal matchup — as well as the first weekend of the baseball season, my Twitter feed was dominated by chatter, discussions and, yes, rants. on women’s basketball.
Considering that just two years ago the hot topic of the women’s tournament was substandard workout equipment given the difference between women and men, I would call this a big step forward. When an event can spark this type of passion, and not just among aficionados, it bodes well for the sport.
An anecdotal aside: At the women’s regional championship in Seattle last week (a big showcase for the game in itself), five sportswriters — four men and one woman — spent a half-hour earnestly discussing Clark’s WNBA prospects vis -towards Clark. — over Louisville’s Hailey Van Lith, another shining light in women’s soccer this year. It was a taste of the star power and emotional investment that would shine so brightly in Dallas.
Geno Auriemma, the 11-time title-winning Connecticut coach whose Husky team was unexpectedly left out of the party due to a loss to Ohio State in Seattle, compared the impact of that basketball tournament -NCAA women’s ball at the 1999 Women’s World Cup. final.
“Look what one tournament did to galvanize the entire country behind women’s soccer,” Auriemma told ESPN. “So it takes a while like that, a tournament like that.”
Given the audience numbers, Auriemma might be right. The semifinal between Louisiana State and Virginia Tech averaged 3.4 million viewers with a peak of 5 million, an increase of 57% from the start of last year’s game. The main event, Iowa beating previously undefeated South Carolina behind Clark’s 41 points, averaged 5.5 million with a peak of 6.6 million, up 72% from the late game last year and the record for a college basketball game, men’s or women’s. on ESPN+.
Sunday’s championship game, a 102-85 LSU victory, was a true blockbuster, becoming the most-watched women’s basketball game in history with 9.9 million viewers (peaking at 12, 6 million). In today’s media world, that’s a huge number, more than (as Stewart Mandel of The Athletic put it underlined in a tweet), the Sugar, Orange and Cotton Bowls, the Big 12, Pac-12 and ACC football title games, Notre Dame-USC, LSU-Alabama, Ohio State-Penn State and the Alabama-Texas A&M game during prime time on CBS.
Clark was obviously the galvanizing force that drew people to their televisions and computers. In Seattle, she became the first player to have a 40-point triple-double in a tournament game and then match that figure. 41-point effort in spectacular fashion against South Carolina. His skill set – three-point logos, penetrating drives to the basket and extrasensory passes – evoked a cross between Pete Maravich and Steph Curry.
Clark also plays with a flair and fire that has been received rather positively, even when taking aim at the opposition. This became a problem when Reese, in the final moments of a title victory she helped secure for LSU with 15 points and 10 rebounds, imitated Cena’s gesture Clark deployed during Iowa’s win over Louisville. Reese also went out of his way to repeatedly point his ring finger near Clark. It was an obvious reference to the championship jewelry that will soon be awarded to Reese and her teammates – not Clark and his team.
Reese’s actions fueled a storm of reactions on Twitter, divided between those who thought it was classless taunts, those who noted that few people objected when Clark did something similar and those who felt that no one would have said anything if they had been men. It also became a racial issue, with well-respected black columnists William Rhoden and Mike Freeman. each in writing about the double standard of black players being vilified for the same type of actions that white players are often celebrated for.
This is a provocative and important discussion. It would be naive to think that there are not both racist and sexist elements involved in the extreme reactions observed on social networks. It’s also not unreasonable to wonder if the impending crowning of a championship is the right time to rub it in the loser’s face – for both Reese and Clark.
But even this debate is good for women’s basketball, because it keeps the sport at the forefront of people’s minds well beyond the final whistle. When public figures as diverse as Geno Smith, Samuel L. Jackson, Keith Olbermann and LeBron James weigh in, not to mention the who’s who of WNBA players, a nerve has been touched.
Better yet, Clark and Reese will both be back next season, as will Paige Bueckers, the Connecticut superstar who missed this season with a knee injury.
At next year’s tournament, with the current momentum and good matchups, those TV numbers might look paltry in comparison.
