Edey of Purdue, Newton and Bueckers of Uconn, Iowa’s Clark among finalists for John R. Wooden Award
12.3 million: Iowa’s victory over LSU is the most-watched women’s college basketball game on record
Caitlin Clark can claim another highlight — the most-watched women’s college basketball game on record.
Iowa’s 94-87 victory over LSU in Monday night’s Albany 2 Region final averaged 12.3 million viewers on ESPN, according to Nielsen. Clark scored 41 points as the Hawkeyes avenged last year’s loss to the Tigers in the national championship game.
The viewership surpassed the 11.84 million who watched the 1983 NCAA championship game between Southern California and Louisiana Tech. LSU coach Kim Mulkey played for Louisiana Tech and was matched up against USC great Cheryl Miller in that game, which was won by the Trojans 64-58.
According to Sports Media Watch, it is the most-viewed basketball game on ESPN since Game 7 of the 2018 Eastern Conference finals, when the Cleveland Cavaliers’ victory over the Boston Celtics averaged 13.6 million.
Clark’s four games in the women’s NCAA Tournament on ESPN and ABC have averaged 6.83 million. Iowa will face Uconn in Friday’s second national semifinal at the Women’s Final Four on ESPN. The winner will face either South Carolina or North Carolina State on Sunday. The national championship game will air on ABC.
The Hawkeyes’ 89-68 win over Colorado in Saturday’s regional semifinal game averaged 6.9 million viewers on ABC, making it the third mostviewed women’s tournament game since ESPN started carrying the tournament in 1996.
Zach Edey of Purdue and Tristen Newton of Uconn are among the five finalists for the John R. Wooden Award as the nation’s outstanding men’s college basketball player of the season.
Joining them are RJ Davis of North Carolina, Dalton Knecht of Tennessee and Jamal Shead of Houston.
Edey, who won the award last year, and Newton, will lead their teams at this weekend’s Final Four in Arizona.
Hunter Dickinson of Kansas, Kyle Filipowski of Duke, Tyler Kolek of Marquette, Jaedon Ledee of San Diego State and Caleb Love of Arizona were also named Tuesday to the Wooden All American team.
Caitlin Clark of Iowa and Paige Bueckers of Uconn are among the five finalists for the women’s Wooden Award. The others are Cameron Brink of Stanford and freshmen Juju Watkins of Southern California and Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame.
Clark, who won last year, and Bueckers, who was the 2021 winner, are playing in the Final Four this weekend in Cleveland.
The women’s Wooden All American team also includes Georgia Amoore and Elizabeth Kitley of Virginia Tech, Kamilla Cardoso of South Carolina, Angel Reese of LSU an Aaliyah Edwards of Uconn.
Voting took place from March 1825.
NBA MVP Embiid returns for 76ers for stretch run following knee surgery
Joel Embiid returned to the Philadelphia 76ers’ lineup on Tuesday night, getting his first start in nearly two months after the reigning NBA MVP had knee surgery.
Embiid was cleared to return ahead of Philadelphia’s game against Oklahoma City and played for the first time since he was injured in the Sixers’ last game of January. The Sixers plummeted in the Eastern Conference standings without him. A team playing for a top-four spot in the East before Embiid’s injury, the Sixers are 14-27 overall without him this season and 11-18 since he was injured in a Jan. 30 loss at Golden State.
“I want to get him out there and evaluate where we’re at,” coach Nick Nurse said.
Judge allows former coach Fitzgerald’s lawsuit against Northwestern to continue
A judge denied Northwestern’s motion to dismiss former coach Pat Fitzgerald’s $130 million lawsuit against the school claiming he was wrongly fired in the wake of a hazing scandal.
Cook County Circuit Judge Daniel Kubasiak ruled Tuesday that Fitzgerald made a strong enough argument to keep the case going. A trial is set for April 2025.
“As we set forth in announcing our complaint in October 2023, defendants’ actions have exacted terrible, immeasurable costs to coach Fitzgerald, his family, and his career,” attorneys Dan Webb and Matthew Carter said in a statement. “As a result of that conduct, we had no choice but to file our complaint for breach of oral contract, breach of his employment contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, false light, and tortious interference with a business expectancy.”