Once again, Shaquille O’Neal has openly expressed how the women’s NCAA tournament this year is much more intriguing than the men’s tournament. In his customary manner, Shaq took to his IG and reiterated his stance. He shared a post from an X user, who framed the comparison in rather strong words. The host of the “Splash Sisters Podcast” highlighted a Bleacher Report post alluding to the upcoming Elite Eight battles in the NCAA Women’s tourney.
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While comparing the battles in the Women’s competition to the anticipation around the men’s tournament, on X, she wrote, “The Men’s tourney this year is so whack compared to this”. Her caption was regarding the Bleacher Report post she shared highlighting the box-office match-ups in the Women’s elite-eight tournament.
The Men’s tourney this year is so whack compared to this https://t.co/lDCZGRzwid
— mev (@mevvybear) March 31, 2024
The tweet highlights two big-time battles. One of them is the repeat of the 2023 Finals as Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes take on the reigning champions, Angel Reese’s LSU. The other match-up is equally mesmerizing. Paige Bueckers’ UConn are going to take on the freshman JuJu Watkins-led USC squad.
Considering that these four college superstars were all five-star recruits and are at the top of the women’s NCAA hoops scene, the Elite Eight bracket couldn’t be more intriguing. Compared to this, the match-ups in the men’s leg are relatively obscure with lesser hype. That’s why Shaq agreed with the thoughts presented by the host of the Splash Sisters Podcast. On his IG story, he shared her tweet without adding any text of his own.
Shaq agrees Women’s tournament is much better than Men’s pic.twitter.com/GHLzfkC8XE
— What are NBA Celebs Upto? (@NBACelebsUpdate) March 31, 2024
O’Neal showed love for women’s hoops in a recent interview with PEOPLE where he discussed his bracket for the tournament. Comparing it to the hype around men’s games, he had called women’s college hoops “a better game, just more competitive”. Well, it seems like he is not alone when it comes to cheering for the top-flight of women’s college stars.
Women’s college basketball is on the rise
Recently, the Sports Business Journal reported how the viewership of women’s college basketball games has surged rapidly. The Journal highlighted that the second round of Sunday and Monday’s match-ups on ESPN saw an average viewership of 1.4 million. This number is a remarkable 121% jump compared to the 2023 NCAA women’s tourney. Unsurprisingly, Caitlin Clark and Iowa’s game against WVU saw the biggest audience of 4.9 million. Astoundingly, this game eclipsed four NBA games’ viewership set on Christmas Day 2023. Meanwhile, Front Office Sports’ David Rumsey contemplated that we can see an even bigger surge in viewership.
The author cited TV ratings expert Jon Lewis who stated, “The bar has been raised a bit from the performance of the first two rounds.” Rumsey also pointed out that the 2023 Women’s NCAA Finals between LSU and Iowa saw a viewership of 9.9 million, which was a record. There is a high chance that this number can be surpassed in the 2024 tourney before the final itself. The current Elite Eight match-ups can also shatter record books.
