Women’s NCAA Tournament

Just a few days ago, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, two NBA legends who remain online basketball watchers, had this conversation:

Kevin Garnett: “This is the first time since watching NCAA basketball that I’ve met more girls than guys. Tell me five names of men’s college players, Paul.

Paul Pierce: (Long silence)… “I don’t know. I don’t even know who the main (male) player is. Who is it?”

Garnett: “I don’t know either. But I know the girls. I know who Caitlin [Clark] is, I know who Angel (Reese) is, not to mention Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks… (women’s basketball) is electric. “It’s ruining the boys’ game.”

It is undeniable that women’s basketball has been gaining greater popularity and respect in the eyes of fans in recent years.

NCAA rules allow men to enter the NBA draft after the first year of college basketball, the controversial “one and done” rule. WNBA rules require a minimum age of 22, or having completed four years of college eligibility, with no age limit. This has unleashed the opportunity for a great transformation.

Since the beginning of this decade, the combination of the sense of belonging, the recognition of the players and the high quality of the game has put the focus on women’s basketball. Some call this the ‘Caitlin Clark effect,’ but it could easily be called the ‘Angel Reese effect,’ and even the ‘Sabrina Ionescu effect,’ the Oregon triple-double machine who wowed Kobe Bryant and Stephen Curry and Now Ago. her magic in the WNBA. Already last year, when Clark was still not behind the scoring records, tickets for the women’s NCAA tournament outnumbered those for men on the secondary market.

But this year in particular, the women’s game is what has led fans to turn on the televisions, search for jerseys and autographs, and fill the stadiums to see the true superstars of college basketball.

Since the last game of the last tournament between Reese and the LSU Tigers against Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes, it’s been a lot of stories to tell in women’s college basketball. Clark’s run to break the college basketball scoring record (men’s and women’s) overshadowed every moment, but this season also saw several others take center stage: the start of JuJu Watkins’ career, Paige Bueckers’ return after of a year with the red shirt due to a knee. injury, Tara VanDerveer’s achievement in surpassing ‘Coach K’ for the most wins in college basketball history, Kamilla Cardoso’s saving three-pointer in the SEC Tournament semifinal against Tennessee, and the heated game between the Tigers and the Gamecocks for the conference tournament title, to name a few.