March Madness is the most awaited event of the college basketball season. March Madness is the nickname for the NCAA tournament leading up to the D1 college basketball national championship. Most March Madness games average 10.3 million watchers per game, and this year Duke vs UConn even had a high viewership of 18.9 million.
The women’s tournament has earned many more viewers in the last few years, gaining the most views of 9.9 million in the 2023 championship game of Louisiana State University vs. Iowa State University. The two star players, Angle Reese from LSU and Caitlin Clark from Iowa, sparked their rivalry there. It has followed them into the WNBA.
They are not the only rivalry in Women’s March Madness though. In 2024, South Carolina, led by head coach Dawn Staley, won the national championship with an undefeated season. In 2025, the Uconn Huskies won the national championship with number one draft pick Paige Bueckers.
This year in the Final Four, the two teams faced off, hoping to gain a spot in the championship game and to win a national championship title. UConn had been an undefeated team all year on a 54-0 run. However, South Carolina ended up outplaying them on April 3 in the Final Four.
There was one second left on the clock when Staley and Head Coach of UConn, Geno Auriemma, exchanged a heated discussion at half court. Auriemma claimed Staley had not shaken his hand at the beginning of the game, which was proven false by video evidence played back later. Auriema ended the night by walking out of the gym, straight to the locker room, without shaking hands with the players of South Carolina.
While Auriemma has since apologized for his childish behavior, many fans are disappointed in the legendary coach, who was once an idol for many in the basketball world. This little bump also took away a lot of attention from the fact that South Carolina won and made it to the National Championship game. Unfortunately, they lost to UCLA 79-51.