Caitlin Clark and Iowa are back in the Final Four again. So are Dawn Staley and undefeated South Carolina.
The women’s basketball world will descend on Cleveland for the national semifinals on April 5, and the championship game two days later.
Next up for Iowa is UConn, the team that knocked them out of the tournament in Ms. Clark’s freshman season. The Huskies beat Southern California 80-73 in the other regional final on April 1.
Ms. Staley’s team will face North Carolina State, which is making its first appearance in the Final Four since 1998.
A lot of attention will be on Ms. Clark, which Ms. Staley doesn’t mind, because it means her unbeaten team is flying a bit under the radar. It’s the second consecutive year that South Carolina has reached the Final Four undefeated and the fourth in a row the team has advanced at least this far.
Most of the talk this season has focused on star players across the country like Ms. Clark, USC’s JuJu Watkins, UConn’s Paige Bueckers, LSU’s Angel Reese, and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo. It’s also lingered on disparities between the men’s and women’s games that have been under scrutiny since attention was drawn in 2021 to the vastly different weight rooms set up for the NCAA Tournament. This season brought the mismatched 3-point lines in Portland, Oregon. The incorrectly drawn lines were among a series of miscues that have been a backdrop to what’s otherwise been a big moment for women’s basketball. But those issues have had little to do with the players on the court or the fans in the stands. There have been record-setting crowds and historic TV ratings, headline-grabbing moments from Ms. Clark and Ms. Watkins, and the epic Elite Eight duels between Iowa and LSU, and UConn and USC.
It was only two seasons ago that the tournament’s field grew to 68 teams just like the men’s side, and the women were finally able to use the March Madness and Final Four branding that had previously been exclusive to the men.
The exponential growth means that mistakes are possible along the way, UConn coach Geno Auriemma said.
“The attention generated now on the sport is such that things like this are blown up. Maybe this was happening 10 years ago and nobody paid any attention to it. Maybe nobody was even smart enough to notice or pay attention,” Mr. Auriemma said about the court issue. “It certainly doesn’t take away from the performance of these kids and what they did. Sometimes things grow so fast and they explode so quickly that we hurry up and we miss a step.”
The missteps began with Utah’s experience in Idaho, where the team was housed in a hotel some 35 miles from the Utes’ opening-round games in Spokane, Washington. While in Coeur d’Alene, the team said it was the target of racist slurs that were shouted at players as they walked to and from a team dinner.
The players were ultimately moved closer to Spokane, but there were questions about logistics, like why both men’s and women’s games were scheduled in a smaller city like Spokane with fewer hotels that meet the NCAA’s standards for accommodations – while there was also a girls’ volleyball tournament for 800 teams in the city.
Part of the answer lies in how the women’s tournament is set up. The first two rounds are hosted by high-seeded schools, and the sites are announced in the week before the games begin. The cities hosting opening rounds for the men are determined years in advance.
Lynn Holzman, NCAA vice president for women’s basketball, told the AP that the selection committee was set to review the format in 2025, but possibly sooner. That was no consolation for Utah.
“For our players and staff to not feel safe in an NCAA Tournament environment, it’s messed up,” Utah coach Lynne Roberts said.
The biggest lapse was the two different 3-point lines on the floor in Portland. One side’s arc was about 9 inches short of regulation at its apex, a mistake by the contractor that makes the courts used throughout March Madness.
“For an error of that magnitude to overshadow what has been an incredible two weekends of basketball featuring sensational teams and incredible individual performances is unacceptable and extremely upsetting,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said.
Back in 2021, Oregon’s Sedona Price caused a stir when she posted a video that went viral on social media showing the inequity between the men’s and women’s weight rooms for the NCAA Tournament. The men’s gym was fully equipped. The women’s had a small set of barbells.
The weight rooms were equalized by the NCAA. The 3-point line was also quickly addressed once it was discovered – but not until after five tournament games had been played on the court.
NCAA spokeswoman Meghan Durham Wright said in a statement that the organization “acted immediately to address isolated incidents that in no way affected the amazing accomplishments of the women competing in this tournament.”
It’s likely the NCAA will continue to face such issues as the women’s game continues to grow. Ms. Clark and Iowa played the most-watched women’s college basketball game on record. Iowa’s 94-87 victory over LSU on April 1 averaged 12.3 million viewers on ESPN, according to Nielsen. More viewing records will likely fall with the Final Four this weekend including a matchup between Ms. Clark and Ms. Bueckers.
And indeed there are concerns about the super regional format. While the men’s tournament is divided into four regional locations, the women’s teams are lumped into two on opposite sides of the country.
But that hasn’t stopped fans from selling out stadiums for the women’s tournament. The average price paid for a ticket on the resale market this week was twice as high for the NCAA women’s Final Four compared with that for the men’s semifinals, according to technology company Logitix, which analyzes prices across multiple platforms. The average price of a ticket sold to the women’s semifinals was $2,323. The average sale price for the men’s games was $1,001.21.
Demand for women’s tickets has been driven by fanfare for Iowa star Ms. Clark. The Hawkeyes have played before sellouts for all but two games this season. Ms. Clark has led her team to its second consecutive trip to the Final Four, scoring 41 points to beat defending champion LSU Tigers 94-87 on April 1. The Tigers knocked out the Hawkeyes last year in the title game. Now the Hawkeyes are two wins away from their first national championship.
“That’s obviously our goal. That’s where we want to be,” Ms. Clark said. “But you’ve got to win one at a time. There’s still two more there to get. That’s what makes the Final Four so fun. Anybody can take it. Anybody can win it.”
The women’s Final Four tips off tonight when NC State takes on South Carolina at 7:00 p.m. ET and UConn faces Iowa at 9:30 p.m. ET.
This story was reported by The Associated Press.
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