Double Standard in NCAA Basketball? Where’s the Love for the Ladies?
This March I watched some of the best basketball games that I have ever watched in my life. The games were exciting to say the least. Nearly all were nail biters and they came down to the wire in classic March madness fashion. No I am not talking about The NBA or the NCAA men’s tournament. I am talking about Women’s College Basketball. The Final Four was action packed, I mean both games went into overtime and I got a chance to see Just how much of a clutch gene Notre Dame Star Arike Ogunbowale actually has as she not only dethroned the mighty Uconn Huskies, she also clinched her teams 2nd national championship by hitting the game winner against Mississippi State. Despite all of these wonderful things that I witnessed these heroics have fallen on deaf ears. No one seems to even talk about it now and it is unfortunate because those ladies played their hearts out and no one seems to care to keep talking about it in mainstream media.
COLUMBUS, OH – APRIL 01: Arike Ogunbowale #24 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish hits the game winning shot with 0.1 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter under pressure from Victoria Vivians #35 to defeat the Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs 61-58 in the championship game of the 2018 NCAA Women’s Final Four at Nationwide Arena on April 1, 2018 in Columbus, Ohio. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated the Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs 61-58. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
One must wonder, why are the women kind of put on the back burner? When March Madness begins what is it that you usually see promoted? It is the men that are being pushed to the forefront and built up. The Women arguably had the better Final Four but still they only had 3.54 million people watch that thrilling National Championship game whereas the men’s national championship game had 16.5 million viewers watch a game that paled in comparison. There seems to be a problem, what is it? Is it the marketing that goes behind it? The women are designated to one network (ESPN) whereas the men are all over TNT, TBS, CBS, and Tru TV during the duration of the tournament and everywhere you look. Its like you cannot avoid seeing or hearing about the men’s tournament but when it comes to the women, outside of ESPN you do not know much about the Women’s games. It is a disservice to me that these young ladies who give their all and get out there and play some damn good ball.
South Carolina’s A’ja Wilson is a defending player of the year. She will definitely be in the WBNA in the near future. Photo SBnation.com
Skylar Diggins who is a former All American at Notre Dame and a current WNBA player tweeted out something the other day and it made me think. She tweeted this out “Mainstream media needs to talk more about our game!!!! 3 buzzer beaters in a Final Four???? We need more! Show our girls more of this excellence! Give us the same platform and see what happens.” I could not agree with her any more, if they had the same publicity just imagine what that could do for the game. Just think about the exposure these young ladies would receive. Especially the young ladies at smaller schools that are normally not on ESPN during the year. Just think about what it could do for the game overall. Don’t they deserve more exposure? I think that powers that be need to create a plan to push the Women’s game out to the masses a little bit more because there is so much greatness that many have yet to witness.
UConn has been a juggernaut in women’s basketball for a long time. This year they were dethroned by a tough Notre Dame squad. Photo deadapin.com
I am no expert on marketing and advertising but I do know one thing and that is that the women’s game needs to be exposed little bit more. They have overcome the Title IX situation and many other things but I still feel silly talking about them not having enough exposure, but the numbers do not lie. I would love to see their games pushed to the front a little bit more next season and beyond because as I mentioned before there is a lot of untapped talent out there that we do not know about. We will always know about the UConn, Tennessee, Notre Dame and South Carolina players because they are elite teams but what about exposing the smaller schools that have players that are great in their own right. The Women’s tournament needs to be pushed out to the masses the way the men are being pushed and I believe that we will see a huge difference in viewership and overall interest. It is almost shameful how these young ladies play their hearts out and it all just kind of falls under the radar. If I had my way I would find a way to get ESPN to market the tournament more than they already do or take it to another network that is ready to put them all over the air to get them the exposure they really deserve!