There isn’t a sober human being on the planet who watched the first round of the women’s NCAA tournament and thought, “This event needs more teams.” » The gap between the best and the best teams is large enough to raise antitrust concerns, even if college sports doesn’t need more lawsuits.
Some highlights from the first round: South Carolina won by 60. UConn won by 69. Duke won by 61. Notre Dame won by 52. LSU won by 55. USC held UNC-Greensboro to single digits in all four quarters and won 71-25. Come on: 71-25 is not a basketball score. This is a third grade math problem.
Oh sure, Vermont gave North Carolina State a bit of a scare, but the Catamounts still lost by 20. It’ll be a great story the Catamounts can tell their grandkids one day, as long as they hide the box score. No. 13 seed Liberty almost beat No. 4 seed Kentucky, but that was only because of a late burst, and also: So what? Freedom always lost.
Whether this is a problem for women’s football is an interesting question. but it’s one thing not is new. Last year, 31 of the top 32 seeds won their first-round matches. Since 2012, teams ranked 13th or lower have a record of 1-192. (We don’t count the first four games when a No. 16 beats a No. 16.)
The only reason to expand the women’s tournament is that the NCAA could expand men’s tournamentwhich is also a bad idea, but not entirely as bad. The NCAA probably doesn’t want to be accused of favoring men over women. something he was caught doingoh, quite consistently throughout its existence. So how about leaving both tournaments at 68 and abandoning the subject for another decade?
For various reasons, the women’s tournament should experience more twists and turns than ever. There is more talent than there has ever been. Today’s players grew up knowing it was possible to make a living playing professional basketball, which should attract more elite athletes to the sport. As a commercial product, gaming is booming.
News, features and analysis from the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments. dark. More. IF March Madness
So why is there such an extreme difference between the haves and the have-nots? All theories are welcome, but here’s one: monetization of name, image and likeness has the opposite effect in women’s basketball than in football.
Whether they are in high school or entering the transfer portal, many football players auction off their services to the highest bidding NIL collectives. This makes it more difficult for teams to stockpile talent like Alabama did for so many years under Nick Saban. A decade ago, there weren’t many (legal) football reasons for a player to choose Mississippi State or Indiana over LSU and Ohio State. But with an open market, schools with passionate, wealthy promoters can overcome their own spotty football history.
In women’s basketball, the scene at UConn or South Carolina is always much brighter than almost anywhere else. Four of the top six players at HoopGurlz 2022 rankings play for UCLA and the other two play for UConn. Lisa Bluder did a fabulous job at Iowa, but Iowa broke through because Caitlin Clark is from the state and I wanted to stay there.
If the NCAA held this tournament 100 times, the top five teams (South Carolina, UCLA, USC, Texas and UConn) would probably win at least 95 of them.
The good news is that this is probably not a long-term trend. More programs will attempt to recruit elite talent for the same reason WNBA And NWSL are growing: the product is excellent and there is a market for it. Already, you can see top recruits choosing schools they wouldn’t have previously considered. The gap between the #3 seeds and the #7 seeds in this tournament probably isn’t that big.
It will just be a while before the game actually has 68 teams. The schedule shows the 2025 women’s tournament started on Friday. It really starts now.
