Sharing spotlight
Bueckers, Clark propelling their sport’s popularity in new media age
CLEVELAND — On the eve of her program’s second Final Four appearance in two years, Iowa coach Lisa Bluder issued a warning that she had to know was futile.
Throughout this year’s NCAA Tournament, the top games have been billed like the title card of a heavyweight fight. In the Elite Eight, Caitlin Clark vs. Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers vs. JuJu Watkins. In Friday’s first national semifinal game between Iowa and Connecticut, Clark vs. Bueckers.
“Obviously, we have one of the best players in the country on our team, and we’re thrilled to have that. But I do not want this to be a game that’s promoted as Caitlin versus Paige,” Bluder said. “And I know it already has been. But I don’t want that. I want it to be Iowa versus UConn, and let these two women do what they do best.”
The sheer talent that individual players such as Clark and Bueckers display on the court, along with the constant swirl of media hype around them, lends itself to the perception that women’s college basketball is becoming more star-driven than ever before.
“I believe so,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “It’s a star-driven society that we live in. It’s a celebrity-driven, star-driven, influencer-driven world that’s been created.”
He went on to reference how, back in the 1970s, men’s college basketball benefited from Magic Johnson and Larry Bird raising the profile of the sport.
“All of a sudden those two particular players came on, and it just lit everything up, and it just took off from there. So (college basketball) needs some stars,” Auriemma said. “It needs people that have the right personality, the right game. And we have that now. It’s not that we didn’t have
it before. All those great — just using an example — all those great TennesseeConnecticut games, they were all Hall of Famers playing against each other on a national stage. But it was then. And now, those same types of players are really benefiting from all of this. They’ve been there before, but it just feels different now.”
Diana Taurasi, one of Auriemma’s most famous players, agreed. The UConn legend, who is in Cleveland this week for USA Basketball’s national team training camp, said there have been players with this star potential throughout the last 50 years of women’s college hoops and that it’s “about damn time” that people are paying attention.
“The women’s game has always been about stars, especially when it comes to college, because we stay four years,” Taurasi said. “So I think we’ve cultivated this culture of megastars in college. You know, it’s always been like that. When I was in high school, I would turn the TV on to see Chamique Holdsclaw and Jen Rizzotti. Those were my big idols growing up. So you know, they’ve always been there.”
What’s different now are the conditions that can further skyrocket players’ popularity to unprecedented levels. When the Phoenix Mercury selected Taurasi with the No. 1 pick in the 2004 WNBA draft, Instagram was six years from being launched. The term NIL was primarily known as a soccer scoreline, meaning zilch, nada, zero.
This generation of players grew up with social media and arrived in college at a time when women’s sports are an increasingly larger part of the national consciousness. Iowa’s win over LSU in this year’s Elite Eight averaged 12.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched college basketball game (men’s or women’s) ever to air on ESPN.
Of course, breaking that record wouldn’t have happened without ESPN reaching a deal to nationally televise every women’s NCAA Tournament game. Or without major networks regularly broadcasting regular-season games. Or without university athletic departments committing more resources to women’s basketball (though many can still do better).
Laws allowing collegiate athletes to capitalize on their name, image and likeness provide yet another platform to amplify star power. Television viewers tuning into this year’s NCAA Tournament have seen ads that include Clark representing State Farm and LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson touting tax software.
Bueckers, a redshirt junior, is by now used to the attention. On Thursday, she self-deprecatingly described herself as a “media darling” during her freshman season, and though the hype around her slightly subsided after she missed all of last season with an ACL injury, she doesn’t want to steal the spotlight.
“I think it’s more important for the game to share the spotlight to grow the game and show all the stars of college basketball and not just focus on one particular player, whether it be me, Caitlin, JuJu, Angel,” Bueckers said. “There’s so many names in college basketball now that are huge, that are stars that deserve credit. And I think it’s not my job, but the media can do a better job of just making sure everybody gets love, everybody gets not equal amount of attention but try to spread it out more.
“So I honestly hope next year I’m not the focal point and the only person that gets attention. And I hope, as media, as players we can spread the love a little bit more.”
To be eligible for the WNBA draft, athletes must be either graduating seniors or turning 22 that calendar year. As a result, women’s players on average stay in college longer than men’s players, which allows them to cultivate and maintain stardom throughout their careers.
Clark, a senior projected as the No. 1 WNBA draft pick in a few weeks, did not reach the height of her popularity until her junior season. She mentioned this season’s strong freshman class, highlighted by Watkins, South Carolina’s MiLaysia Fulwiley, Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo and Texas’ Madison Booker, as a key factor in growing the women’s game.
“I think this freshman class really put on a show this year. They had me watching. They had everybody around the country watching,” Clark said. “And I think the beauty is most of them are going to have to stay and play for four years, and they’re just going to get better and better. Their teams are going to get better and better. And that will also additionally help the parity in our game and attract more people to want to watch.”
While Clark’s faceoff against Bueckers is dominating headlines this weekend in Cleveland, not every compelling story is dictated by individual matchups.
Take the other national semifinal game between South Carolina and NC State. Undefeated South Carolina has a projected WNBA lottery pick in center Kamilla Cardoso and a stud freshman in Fulwiley. N.C. State has five players who average double figures in scoring, including NCAA regional Most Outstanding Player Aziaha James. Yet neither team has an individual player who is put in the national spotlight to the extent of Clark, Bueckers, Watkins or Reese.
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said it used to bother her when the Gamecocks didn’t receive as much coverage as other teams, but she doesn’t care as much anymore. Mostly, she’s grateful that there is more exposure for star players in prime-time slots, even if they aren’t her players.
“It is more intentional in getting them in those slots where the most viewership can be had, so I think it’s pretty cool,” Staley said. “And I do think we have a star in Caitlin Clark, as well as some younger stars in the freshman class that are really tearing things up. We’re fortunate enough to have one of them in MiLaysia Fulwiley, and you’ve got Juju, you’ve got Hannah. You’ve got household names that are here to continue to uplift our sport.”
Brittney Griner was a household name while playing for Baylor, where she won a national championship in 2012 and was a two-time Wade Trophy winner. She believes that when talking about stardom and what drives it, it is important to consider how players function within their team on the court.
“I was at LSU and Iowa’s game the other day. You have the star Caitlin Clark, but you also see her the whole game getting her teammates involved, making the long full-court passes, really talking to them,” Griner said. “She could have easily just went out and won a game on her own, you know, but she got everybody involved, and I think that goes along with every organization or every team. South Carolina — another team you see everyone is involved. They have their stars, but everyone is involved.”
In the past, Auriemma said, women’s basketball fans were only fans of their teams, a following contingent on regional and institutional loyalty. Now, there are far more people who watch regardless if they have a rooting interest.
“And where it goes from here, I think it’s gonna be really, really important,” Auriemma said. “I think it’s a moment, like people are saying, but it’s more than a moment. Sometimes moments become minutes and minutes become hours and hours become days, and it becomes part of the national pastime.”
Talent alone does not make a star. That also requires visibility, personality, and all of it colliding at the right time.
It appears that time is now.