What is life like for the NCAA women’s basketball tournament one year after Caitlin Clark?
The 2024 women’s tournament was much more intriguing than ever before, in large part because of the rivalry of the Iowa superstar and her counterpart at LSU, Angel Reese. Television ratings proved it.
But now Clark and Reese are WNBA stars and not part of March Madness 2025 — except for TV commercials aired during the men’s and women’s tournaments.
And the most well known star of this year’s women’s tourney is out. USC forward JuJu Watkins tore an ACL in Monday’s second-round victory over Mississippi State.
This makes things more challenging for the regional No. 1 seed Trojans, who play Kansas State on Saturday in a Sweet 16 game and are on a collision course with perennial powerhouse and No. 2 seed UConn and its superstar, guard Paige Bueckers. The Huskies beat Arkansas State 103-34 and South Dakota State 91-57.
Lopsided scores are more common in the women’s early rounds than in the men’s, meaning that, as ironic as it sounds, the women’s tournament is much less likely to produce a Cinderella story than the men’s is.
More women’s teams can seriously contend for the national championship than in the days when UConn won year-after-year. But big upsets are rare, especially on the first weekend.
A record six teams scored at least 100 points in first-round games, and the four No. 1 seeds won by an average of 47 points in the women’s tournament.
The first two rounds of the men’s tournament produced less drama than usual, and no buzzer bombs advancing an unknown team past a powerhouse.
Florida dramatically beat two-time defending champion UConn 77-75, but the Gators are far from a have-not in the college sports world and UF is the West’s No. 1 seed, while UConn was No. 8.
The relatively few wins by teams with worse seeds in the first round were not earth-shaking. On the South and West side of the bracket, 10th-seeded New Mexico beat No. 7 Marquette 75-66; Colorado State (12) beat Memphis (5), and Drake (11) beat Missouri (5).
The most dramatic bracket buster of the weekend came in the second round, when No. 10 Arkansas took down No. 2 St. John’s 75-66 in a matchup of Hall of Fame-bound coaches John Calipari and Rick Pitino. Also, Ole Miss (6) knocked out three seed Iowa State 91-78.
On the other side of the bracket, other than 12 seed McNeese holding on to edge 5 seed Clemson 69-67, the higher-rated teams all prevailed. That trend continued in the second round, with BYU (6) halting a late Wisconsin (3) rally to win 91-89.
McNeese’s Sweet 16 dreams were dashed by No. 4 seed Purdue 76-62 in the second round.
Overall, seven of the eight 1s and 2s survived and advanced.
In the women’s tournament, all eight of them got to the Sweet 16, which is business as usual.
That means although Watkins is out, fans can still watch Bueckers and UCLA star Lauren Betts. Also, the fourth finalist for the women’s Naismith Award, Hannah Hidalgo, remains in action, as No. 3 seed Notre Dame eased its way into the Sweet 16 with 52- and 21-point victories.
As for TV ratings, the men’s for the first two rounds were at their highest in 32 years, and up 4% from last year, according to Yahoo.com.
Those for the women’s first two rounds were down from last year, but that was to be expected with the absence of Clark. The ratings are higher, though, than in 2023, and the second highest since 2009.
It is not easy to determine how big a boost 2024 was for women’s college basketball, and in particular, its championship tournament. But it is now up to other stars and the development of more competitive programs to continue to grow the product.
