You should be paying more attention to the lead-up to March Madness for the women than the men. Here’s why.
Growing up, I didn’t watch a lot of college basketball. I would be completely tuned out for the entire regular season, then park myself religiously on the couch for March Madness. The stakes were higher, the Cinderella stories were popping and the crowds were raucous.
Granted, this was all men’s basketball. The women’s basketball landscape had long been defined by great coaches like Geno Auriemma at the helm of UConn, Pat Summit leading Tennessee, Dawn Staley leading South Carolina and Kim Mulkey at Baylor and now LSU. Of the 24 National Championship games conducted since 2000, these four coaches won 19 of them.
The women’s game was competitive but predictable. Then came Caitlin Clark.
Gone was the unquestioned dominance of Auriemma’s UConn program. The women’s basketball world was destabilized. A dark horse entered the chat — which is fitting because Auriemma chose not to recruit Clark — and blew up women’s college basketball.
I went from someone who didn’t watch any college basketball outside of March to watching it — women’s basketball — whenever I get the chance.
While Clark was impressive at Iowa, she put the spotlight on women’s college hoops as a whole. Stars like UConn guard Paige Bueckers, who was in the same recruiting class as Clark, got signature shoes. The ratings for the women’s final set viewership records and outstripped the men’s for the first time.
At this moment in time, women’s college basketball is simply more compelling than the men’s. But why?
It all has to do with draft requirements. In order to be eligible for the WNBA Draft, domestic women’s basketball players must complete at least four years in collegiate programs or be four years removed from their high school graduation.
Men are eligible after one year of collegiate competition if they declare as an “Early Entry” player. Many top high school prospects also forgo going to college together and instead play for the NBA’s G-League or Overtime Elite, which are development programs geared specifically toward creating NBA-worthy players.
However, for the players that do choose to go to the NCAA, standout freshmen — like Jared McCain, who played for Duke last year and is now on the Philadelphia 76ers — take all of their star power and potential with them when they leave for the NBA.
Once again, Duke has a top draft prospect in Cooper Flagg. He’ll finish the season at Duke, and then he’ll (probably) be in the wind. Just imagine if Duke had both McCain and Flagg on the same team together. They would be an unstoppable duo.
That’s exactly what we’re seeing with Notre Dame’s sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo and junior guard Olivia Miles, as well as with USC’s sophomore guard and favorite for National Player of the Year JuJu Watkins, who has teamed up with Stanford transfer Kiki Iriafen this season.
Clark, Bueckers, Hidalgo and Watkins are all stars in their own right, but their coaches have had the chance to build entire programs that complement their skill sets.
The men’s basketball landscape is also symptomatic of the larger problem of NIL in the NCAA. If players don’t want to go to the NBA right away, they’ll ride the booster clubs as far as they can and leave a bunch of patchwork teams in their wake.
That dynamic creates a disjointed, soulless NCAA Tournament.
On the other hand, there has never been more momentum and energy surrounding the women’s side. Clark chose to go to Iowa to build a championship-worthy team and led the Hawkeyes to the title game two years in a row.
If I were still a casual watcher of basketball, I would want to watch the more compelling, competitive and interesting tournament.
There is no question that that title sits with the women this year.
