CLEVELAND – There’s just something different this time.
That shouldn't take away from last year's Final Four in Dallas. History will always look back fondly on the entire women's NCAA Tournament, from start to finish – the first weekend upsets, South Carolina's undefeated exit in the national semifinals and, of course, Caitlin Clark vs. Angel Reese Part I. It was a defining moment moment for women's basketball, period.
But what happened this week in Albany, New York, caused the sport to take a whole new leap, one that even I couldn't have predicted at the time. It was… just… a normal major sporting event.
LSU vs. Iowa was treated like any other monster game. There was a lot of media coverage leading up to it as analysts broke down where the teams had strengths (LSU in the post, Iowa in the logo) and weaknesses, as well as the motivation for a revenge game for the Hawkeyes. We weren't told to watch the game just because we should support women's sports. We were fascinated by the game because it was incredibly addictive.
During and after the game, fans argued over LSU coach Kim Mulkey's (failed) defensive plan for Clark. The way Mulkey used Hailey Van Lith – not taking her away from the Clark assignment, not helping her, leaving her all alone on an island – became a running joke on social media. The video of Van Lith shrugging her shoulders because she did her best and it wasn't enough against Clark instantly became a meme as versatile as the classic Alonzo Mourning nod GIF in my head.
Welcome to the Hoops Shrug Hall-of-Fame pic.twitter.com/LqlL0oIxiz
— Jason Gallagher (@jga41agher) April 2, 2024
HVL lives out the Alonzo mourning GIF pic.twitter.com/c1g7DFqqtN
— Glenn (@b0rn_villain) April 2, 2024
After the game, fans discussed what impact Reese's ankle roll had on the game. They wondered if she would sign up for the WNBA, and she was asked about it after the game, just like JJ McCarthy did after Michigan won its national football championship. (In the end, McCarthy made his decision for postgame interviews that circulated for days, and their content led to sports talk shows all week long. There were, predictably, some bad takes, as is often the case when sports fans or hot-button artists do anything interfere.
It was all very…normal. Beautiful, spectacular, refreshingly normal.
And that is the highest compliment I can give to this game and its spectators. We treated it the same way we would an NBA Finals game or a College Football Playoff match. We analyzed it before and after from every angle. We criticized poor play and tweeted “WOW” when an incredible athlete did something incredible.
Welcome to the next evolution of women's college basketball. Now we'll discuss this weekend's Final Four results, whether Iowa and Clark can beat UConn and Paige Bueckers, and whether South Carolina can remain undefeated against NC State. Now we can argue about who should be National Player of the Year with the frequency and intensity with which we discuss the NFL MVP race. Now we can capture funny moments from games we all watch together in memes because everyone understands the shared context. Now we discuss the game and the players instead of focusing on the feeling that we should watch the game because we are women or girls or simply support gender equality.
More than 12 million people watched this game because we wanted to see the big game. We would feel like we were missing out if we didn't. That's the step this sport took this week. That made it different. And that's why I'm not worried about his future.
(Photo of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)
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