On Apr. 7, the NCAA women’s March Madness championship game became the most viewed college basketball game (women’s or men’s) ever recorded on ESPN with an average viewership of 18.9 million viewers. The game had 24 million viewers in its final 15 minutes, shortly before the South Carolina Gamecocks completed their undefeated season with an 87-75 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes.
“Women are finally getting the credit that they should have been getting for all these years,” Varsity basketball player Leila ’26 said.
Now, the question many women’s basketball stars and announcers share is how to maintain the success of women’s basketball and women’s sports beyond this tournament.
Two-time WNBA MVP and back-to-back champion A’ja Wilson hopes to see the success of women’s basketball continue throughout the WNBA season this summer.
“I think that sometimes we see a drop off because it’s just a trend. It’s like, ‘Oh, it’s March, we love basketball. Go women,’” Wilson told CBS. “It’s kind of one of those moments where it’s like, yeah, it’s trendy. But let’s keep this train going for a long, long time.”
In 2021, former Oregon women’s basketball player Sedona Prince posted a TikTok video highlighting the stark difference between the gear and resources provided to the women’s and men’s March Madness participants. The video went viral and women’s basketball viewership has been increasing ever since.
Star players such as Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers have also taken center stage in the media. Through social media apps such as Tik Tok, many users have been making “edits” of some of the players and posting them onto their accounts.
Athletic Director Brandon Lincoln has been a fan of women’s basketball for years. He credits the increase of attention to women’s basketball towards the new storylines of women’s basketball teams in addition to star athletes like Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers and Angel Reese.
“My goal for all this attention and the energy that’s coming from the emergence of women’s basketball and other sports is that more of our students feel encouraged to try out for teams,” Lincoln said. “They make the team, they stay on the team and they learn how to deal with all the things that sports are going to give you.”
