Sunday’s women’s basketball national championship matchup between the Iowa Hawkeyes and South Carolina Gamecocks didn’t just deliver Dawn Staley’s third title as a head coach. Sure, the game was also the last time we’d get a chance to witness Caitlin Clark’s excellence for the Iowa basketball team, but you can’t deny the impact of this singular matchup.
All eyes were on the Iowa-South Carolina title game, literally.
According to Joe Pompliano, the Iowa-South Carolina national championship averaged a whopping 18.7 million viewers. Not only is that a significant number, but it makes South Carolina’s win the most watched basketball game in the past five years, including men’s, women’s, and even professional games such as the NBA and WNBA.
The most-watched basketball game in five years. LeBron James doesn’t even have those bragging rights, nor does Steph Curry or rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama. The list goes on and on, but none have brought the same level of interest to the sport as Caitlin Clark has.
