CLEVELAND — Something is different this time.
That doesn't take anything away from last year's Final Four in Dallas. History will always look back fondly on that entire women's NCAA Tournament from start to finish. First weekend upset, undefeated South Carolina eliminated in the national semifinals, and of course Part I of Caitlin Clark vs. Angel Reese. This was a very important match. Women's basketball moment, full stop.
But what happened this week in Albany, New York, led to a whole new leap forward for our sport, one that I'm not sure even I could have predicted at this point. It was… just… a regular big sporting event.
LSU vs. Iowa was treated like any other monster game. Prior to that, analysts analyzed each team's strengths (LSU in the post, Iowa in the logo) and weaknesses, as well as the Hawkeyes' motivation for a revenge game, which was featured in many media outlets. We weren't told to watch the games simply because we had to support women's sports. We were drawn to this game because it was incredibly compelling.
During and after the game, fans debated LSU coach Kim Mulkey's (unsuccessful) defensive game plan against Clark. The way Malki uses Haley Van Lith is that he doesn't remove her from Clark's duties, doesn't give her any help, and doesn't leave her alone on the island. running jokes on social media. The video of Van Lith shrugging his shoulders, saying he tried his best but wasn't good enough against Clark, is as versatile in my mind as the classic Alonzo memorial nod GIF and quickly became a meme. became.
Welcome to the Hoop Shrug Hall of Fame pic.twitter.com/LqlL0oIxiz
— Jason Gallagher (@jga41agher) April 2, 2024
GIF of HVL surviving Alonzo's memorial service pic.twitter.com/c1g7DFqqtN
— Glenn (@b0rn_villain) April 2, 2024
After the game, fans debated how much Reese's ankle rotation affected the game. They wondered if she would declare for the WNBA, but she was asked about it after the game, much like J.J. McCarthy did after the University of Michigan won the football national championship. Ta. (McCarthy ultimately announced his decision regarding discussed how they will adapt at the next level. The postgame interview circulated for days, and its content became a staple on sports talk shows throughout the week. As is often the case when sports fans and popular artists give their opinion on something, there were some bad interpretations, as expected.
It was all so…normal. Beautiful, spectacular, refreshingly ordinary.
That's the highest compliment I can give this game and its audience. We treated it like an NBA Finals game or a College Football Playoff game. I tried to dissect it from all angles, front and back. We criticized bad plays and tweeted “wow” when great athletes did incredible things.
Welcome to the next evolution of women's college basketball. Now, we discuss the results of this weekend's Final Four, whether Iowa and Clark can beat UW and Paige's Buccaneers, and whether South Carolina can remain undefeated against North Carolina State. Now, we can debate who should be National Player of the Year with as much frequency and vigor as we debate the NFL MVP race. By giving everyone a common understanding of the context, you can now create memes of funny moments from the games you're all watching together. Now we're discussing plays and players, rather than focusing on the sentiment that you should watch the game because you're a woman, the father of a girl, or just because you're advocating for gender equality.
More than 12 million people joined me in watching the big game because they wanted to see it. If you don't, you'll feel like you're missing out. That's the step the sport took this week. That was different. That's why I'm not worried about its future.
(Photo of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese: Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
