South Carolina women's basketball: Gamecocks vs Hawkeyes is the biggest game in women's basketball history

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Forget the Game of the Century, which comes around every decade or so. This is the Game of All Time.

Sunday’s game between South Carolina is, without hyperbole, probably the biggest in the history of women’s college basketball. The buildup has been growing for over a year, ever since the Hawkeyes stunned the previously undefeated Gamecocks in last season’s national semifinals in Dallas.

It has everything you could ask for in a matchup: a transcendent player, one of the most recognizable coaches in the sport, a historic undefeated season on the line, revenge, big and recognizable personalities … The list goes on.

For the last five years, South Carolina was the biggest draw in the sport. As viewership has exploded in the last year, Iowa has taken over that mantle. 

Last season’s championship game drew 9.9 million viewers. The Iowa-LSU Elite Eight game topped that with 12.3 million. Friday’s national semifinal shattered that with 14.2 million viewers, peaking at 17 million as the game was decided in the final seconds. Even South Carolina’s blowout of NC State – second-half blowouts are usually a death knell for ratings – drew 7.1 million viewers.

Players from the teams seem only vaguely aware of the magnitude of the game and the potential viewership.

“No, actually just you telling me, now I know,” Sania Feagin said. “I’m glad it’s out there in the world that everybody can see us play (women’s basketball) on TV. I’m glad that it’s visible for younger girls to see and all the people to see.”

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“The women’s game has developed. I remember two years ago there was no one really talking about the women’s game,” Raven Johnson said. “I went on social media and all you could see was boys basketball. You could name a lot of men’s basketball players, but now when you go on social media you see all these top players. You see women’s basketball being the face of all these covers and commercials. That is a big thing for women’s basketball and I’m loving it. It’s going to get better from here.”

For all the side stuff that helps drive up ratings, this game saves its juiciest storylines for the diehard basketball fans. Everything can be boiled down to two storylines, only one of which can come true.

South Carolina is trying to cement its status as one of the greatest teams of all time, just one year after the same opponent denied that status.

“This may be the best women’s basketball team we’ve seen. I think you could say that. They have all the parts. (Dawn Staley’s) a tremendous recruiter, tremendous motivator, a tremendous example,” Lisa Bluder said. “She’s setting the bar. For a while it was Pat, then it was Geno. And now it’s Dawn setting the bar for everyone else. You have to have someone set the bar, and she’s doing it.”

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Iowa’s Caitlin Clark has set all the individual records, but she doesn’t have a national championship. Staley had a similar career, full of individual accolades but also coming up short in three Final Four trips. It’s clear that even today, that missing title gnaws at Staley and she feels it diminishes her legacy.

“I was really good in college, never won a championship. You got to win a championship. You’ve got to win a championship. That’s me personally. Like I had a great career. But it’s always, did you win a championship? Went to the Final Four three times. We never won,” Staley said. “I agree with (Breanna Stewart) when it comes to winning the championship. We’re going to talk about GOATs, I think she’s the GOAT, to be able to win four National Championships and to be MVP. I think she was MVP all four times. If Caitlin wins the championship, she’s pretty damn good, yeah, she’s a GOAT. I mean, she’s really damn good regardless. But winning the championship would seal the deal. I hope to the dear Lord she doesn’t.”

Experts who track television ratings expect Sunday’s championship game, which is on ABC, to even dwarf that. Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal predicted 18 million viewers. Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch predicted 17 million, but wouldn’t rule out 20 million.

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