NCAA women’s tourney had it all

CLEVELAND — It wasn’t just Caitlin Clark. And no one knows that better than the Iowa superstar.

While the two-time Associated Press Player of the Year understands her effect on the NCAA Tournament during the Hawkeyes’ run to a second straight title game — with the sellouts she played in front of, the historic TV ratings and all those commercials, it was hard to miss — Clark never forgot that she was just part of the show.

It is why the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer is so confident what happened to the sport she loves over the last month is sustainable. Clark doesn’t view the culmination of her college career as the end of something. Hardly.

“When I think about women’s basketball going forward, obviously it’s just going to continue to grow, whether it’s at the WNBA level, whether it’s at the college level,” she said after the Hawkeyes fell to South Carolina in the championship game. “Everybody sees it. Everybody knows.”

If they didn’t before, they do now.

Attendance in the tournament was up across the board, not just in the games involving Clark. Ratings too. Social media hummed about everything from Clark to USC freshman star JuJu Watkins to the officiating.

It culminated in a Final Four whose buzz at least rivaled that of the men’s.

Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse buzzed all weekend. More than 10,000 fans showed up for Iowa’s shootaround on Saturday and stars from former Hootie and the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker to actor Jason Sudeikis to soccer star Megan Rapinoe were in the stands as the Gamecocks completed a perfect 38-0 season. The vibe was palpable. “I remember two years ago, there was no talking about the women’s game,” Gamecocks sophomore guard Raven Johnson said. “I went on social media and all you saw was boys basketball. Now you go on social media, you see all these top players. You see women’s basketball being the face of all these (magazine) covers … and in commercials when you’re watching the game. So that’s a big thing for women’s basketball. I’m loving it and it’s going to get better from here.”