Men are finally starting to understand what it's like to be a woman all these years.
March Madness begins next week, and the conversation is squarely focused on the women's NCAA Tournament. Stars, stories, spotlights, they're all in the women's game. Caitlin Clark is must-see TV, JuJu Watkins and Hannah Hidalgo are her obvious successors, and the big question ahead of Sunday's selection is whether top-seeded South Carolina and LSU will be in the Final Four again The question is whether or not to fight.
What about the men's tournament? Well, they have it. There's not much more to say than that. Or see.
We watched Connecticut State struggle for a national title last year. No need to look again. Zach Eady may be a great guy, but he's no Bill Walton. Or even Chet Holmgren. For casual fans, outside of your alma mater, he asks you to name five teams you'd love to sit down and watch.
“The women's game is growing incredibly,” Jay Wright, who won two national titles at Villanova, said in a recent interview with USA TODAY's Sports Serious.
That's bracket madness: Enter USA TODAY's NCAA Tournament Bracket Contest for a chance to win $1 million.
“This is one of those years where women's basketball is really on the rise,” Wright added.
And this is a guy whose job is to analyze men's games for CBS Sports.
However, Wright's idea is not wrong. Interest in women's sports has increased rapidly over the past few years, and this year's college basketball season has seen a significant increase in interest.
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While much of the attention has focused on Clark, who earlier this month passed Pete Maravich as college basketball's all-time leading scorer, the ripple effect has been a blockbuster ratings hit, increased attendance, and traditional reservations. It has led to the kinds of debates and conversations that have been held. For men's sports.
This is the point where insecure men shout, “No one cares about women's sports!” Or quibble about “dozens of viewers.” But data shows how wrong these knuckledragger are.
On average, more than 3 million people tuned into CBS to watch Clark and Iowa defeat Nebraska and win their third straight Big Ten Tournament title. By the time the game went into overtime on Sunday, the attendance had reached 4.45 million. It set a record for a women's conference tournament game on any network and was the most-watched game for both men and women on CBS this season.
On this day as well, they won most of the boys' games.
wait a minute! We have others, too. The SEC Tournament title game between LSU and South Carolina, broadcast Sunday afternoon, drew nearly 2 million viewers. Watkins' Pac-12 finals game between USC and Stanford also topped 1 million viewers, an increase of 461% from last year. No, that's not a typo.
According to Sports Media Watch, three of the top six professional and college basketball games broadcast on Sunday were women's games.
Programs across the country are setting records for participation, with South Carolina leading the way. The Siamcocks are averaging 16,489 fans per game this season, and at least mathematically have a chance of surpassing Tennessee's single-season average attendance record set in 1999 when they tied for 16,565 per game. There is.
opinion:Caitlin Clark outperforms men in women's NCAA tournament in March
And when Pardon the Interruption aired its “Most Important Matches of the Weekend” segment on Monday, every match was a women's match. Also on Sunday against Duke and North Carolina!
This wasn't a patronizing discussion of, “Well, there's a women's tournament on our network, so maybe we should talk about women.”
They spent nearly four minutes rehashing the Big Ten, SEC and Pac-12 title games. Tony Kornheiser drops Clark's stats after monster second half, says USC will be No. 1 seed as Trojans upset Stanford despite Watkins having 'no game' was making a point. I think she had two baskets and six turnovers. Michael Wilbon called South Carolina vs. LSU “the most entertaining game, the best theater” and said he would support a rematch in the Final Four or the national title game.
“I want to see them again,” Wilbon said. “I'd like to see the University of South Carolina and LSU try again. That was the show.”
Then came the dagger.
“Men's college basketball can't touch it right now,” Wilbon said. “You can't touch it.”
Who would argue with him about that? If so, please show us your work.
Casual fans will still focus on the men's tournament. In large quantities, that is. There's nothing better than an underdog defeating a top seed, or a small school no one has ever heard of defeating a powerhouse. Or you could make an excuse to take off work on Thursday and Friday next week.
However, this year's attention and conversation will be on women.
After years of being ignored and undervalued, it's about time.
Follow USA TODAY sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
