What's next: How women's college basketball should capitalize on its momentum

Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese are both off to the WNBA, but that doesn’t mean the popularity of women’s college basketball will take a step back. 

The “Clark Effect” was on full display last season as she turned casual viewers into diehards, sold out nearly every arena she visited and helped the national title game become the most-watched women’s college basketball contest of all time. The game had an audience of nearly 19 million, outperforming the men’s title game by almost 4 million viewers. 

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Now that she and some of the biggest stars of the game are playing professionally, here are some of the ways women’s college basketball can sustain and even escalate its momentum after a historic season:  

TV time slots

Men’s basketball has often been given the best time slots on television – in-season and during the NCAA Tournament. But in order for women’s basketball to keep up with its growing interest, television partners should consider handing off big-time matchups to the primetime spots. 

Last season, Clark and Iowa were the beneficiaries of some of these national television time slots, along with nationally ranked Indiana on FOX on Thanksgiving Day against Tennessee as part of a triple-header with the NFL and men’s college basketball. 

This season, there should be additional slots on FOX, Big Ten Network and other networks open for schools like USC, UConn, South Carolina and Texas – also aiding in promoting more than one player with star power this season. 

“It’s continuing to put these young women on TV on major networks during major time slots,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb told On3. “Caitlin’s phenomenal, right? She has this unique, captivating nature – the way that Steph [Curry] does… But she’s not the first, nor the only exciting player. We’ve had them for years, and so now to say, OK, this is a newfound set of eyeballs, let’s continue to put the marketing dollars in and the good time slots. Keep giving women’s basketball a chance and it will excel.” 

Increased and more in-depth media coverage

There are a select few journalists who have been hired solely to cover national women’s basketball. While the landscape has been enhanced due to former and current basketball players like Andraya Carter and Aaliyah Boston stepping into roles in the media, there’s room for improvement. 

More hard-hitting analysis and feature stories on those beyond the most elite players in the country would benefit the game. 

“The game is worthy of coverage,” said Gottlieb, who coached freshman star JuJu Watkins last season. “More outlets should pay more women’s basketball-specific writers. They should invest in it. Certainly. But when you do that, I think people like star power, and JuJu’s got it. So, I hope it’s not only her, but I certainly think you know, she’s gonna stand out amongst a really talented group.”

The product itself is not lacking, but the media needs to continue to do its part to gain interest from casual fans and keep them coming back for more.

“I think you have to continue to have a great product out there that is successful and is winning,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “People want to see winners and you have to continue to be able to have the content, the amount of games that are out there, the exposure. I think it’s just educating people on these different faces now that are coming into the game. That’s the expansion that you have to continue to be able to have.” 

Accessibility and visibility

Throughout the regular season, streaming options can be expensive for even some of the top teams in the country. The Big East still employs FloHoops for much of its season, which makes teams like Villanova, Creighton and even UConn more difficult to watch for fans who aren’t local, as FloHoops costs $30 per month. 

The same is true for Thanksgiving hoops events, which are some of the most high-level matchups of the season. No. 8 UConn vs, No. 3 UCLA was streamed exclusively on FloHoops this past November. If fans can’t watch the games, the sport is hindered. 

“I’d like it if you can flip the stations and stop seeing cornhole and those types of games and see women’s basketball…,” Syracuse coach Felisha Legette-Jack said. “Free television is really what they need to continue to do, like ESPN and FOX did some fun things. That’s what’s going to generate interest. Then, once people get that drug in them about women’s basketball, I think that they’ll be willing to pay.” 

Pac-12 Network was previously another roadblock to accessibility, as the conference was among the best in the country. Stars like Watkins, Cameron Brink and Lauren Betts were often hidden behind a paywall. Now it will help that USC is moving into the Big Ten and most of the other Pac-12 schools will head into leagues with better television packages.

Cheaper and more accessible options would serve the sport well in the future. 

Star power

The game doesn’t lack star power, but it will need to continue promoting its stars to maintain momentum. Luckily, there’s a surplus of young talent in the national landscape who are poised for the attention that will surely follow. 

“We’ve got these great young stars, and I think now that people have been kind of awakened to our game and how great it is, I think you’ll see people kind of latch on to more than just one person,” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. 

With Watkins, Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo and Iowa State’s Audi Crooks assembling phenomenal freshmen seasons, they’ll see increased attention. Rather than much of the national media focusing solely on one player, as it did a season ago, hopefully, coverage will be centered around a larger group of elite athletes and personalities. 

“I think there’s going to be a lot of excitement with the new conference alignment,” Tara VanDerveer, former Stanford coach and the winningest college basketball coach in history, said. “There’s going to be a lot of freshness to the stories because of different teams getting to know different competition… I think it’s just getting more viewers, building and growing the game. It’s writing about great stories – people are interested in stories.”