By now, everyone has probably heard the name Caitlin Clark. In Clark’s four years playing Division 1 (D1) women’s college basketball at Iowa University, she has shattered several records. She became Iowa’s all-time leader in points and assists, the Big Ten all-time scoring leader, the leader in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) single-season record of 3-pointers, and D1 women’s basketball all-time scoring leader. Arguably most importantly, Clark became the NCAA D1 men’s and women’s scoring leader. Clark has grabbed the attention of millions of fans worldwide, creating an unprecedented buzz around women’s college basketball.
Caitlin Clark (left), Angel Reese (middle), and Cameron Brink (right).
photo credits: https://abc7chicago.com/wnba-draft-2024-who-has-the-first-pick-in-2024-to-caitlyn-clark-start-time-6-players-watch/14669602/
Earlier this year, I attended Iowa’s 20-point victory against Colorado in the Sweet 16 of March Madness in Albany. Historically, sports fans have overlooked women’s sports -- women’s teams receive less support and lower game attendance compared to men’s. But that day, the 15,300-seat stadium was jam-packed. Almost everyone had Clark’s name on their backs, wearing her ‘Iowa 22’ jersey or shirt. However, Clark’s games are not the only ones that gather a large audience. The previous showdown between LSU and UCLA garnered a similarly large turnout as people filled in the stadium to see the Angel Reese vs. Kiki Rice showdown. Women’s college basketball has quickly become a fan favorite with everyone wanting to see these incredible women battle it out on the court. Fans realized that women’s college basketball was a lot more interesting than it may have seemed, and in fact even more interesting than men’s.
I may have just thrown out a bold statement: women’s college basketball is more interesting than men’s, but it is true! Men’s basketball is often seen as more appealing because of the fast-paced gameplay and crazy dunks. Yet, that is all men’s basketball is: a bunch of tall players battling it out in the post and other players trying to show off their skills and dunk. On almost every NCAA D1 men’s team, there is at least one player who is close to or over seven feet tall, like Zach Edey on Purdue, Donovan Clingan on UConn, Kyle Filipowski on Duke, and Ryan Kalkbrenner on Creighton. The strategy for these teams is to engineer their offense around these tall players.
Teams create plays that rely on feeding the ball to their tallest player who then scores a basket, which they make look fairly easy with their height. The teams that do not have tall centers are typically the ones that do not make it very far in men’s NCAA tournaments and thus are the less watched teams. Overall, men’s basketball features far less strategy and decision-making because there is simply only one play: feed it to the big.
Of course there are many female basketball players who are tall, like Kamila Cardoso who is 6’ 7”. However, even with taller players, there is still more shotmaking as the strategy in women’s basketball is to spread the ball around the court, creating opportunities for all players rather than just feeding the tallest player.
Women’s basketball has more creative offensive-style plays. Talented players, such as Clark, have allowed women’s coaches to open up the game and create a variety of plays, generating more shot-making and creation, and overall a more free-flowing game because of the decreased number of free throws compared to men’s basketball.
Men’s basketball often gets flooded with free throws because of the players’ reliance on post-play, which slows down the pace of the game. Watching free throws happen every single minute of the game is simply boring and predictable. Men’s basketball is split into two halves while women’s basketball is split into four quarters. In both games, once a team reaches five fouls per half/quarter, all later fouls result in free throw shots. Since halves are longer than quarters, men’s basketball has more free throws, making the game slower-paced.
To put into perspective, 18.9 million people watched the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship between Iowa and the undefeated South Carolina compared to the 14.8 million who watched the Men’s Championship with UConn vs Purdue.
The reason Caitlin Clark has gained millions of new fans for herself and women’s basketball more broadly is because she is one of the most entertaining players to watch. Clark’s coach at Iowa, Lisa Bluder, gave her the freedom to shoot from anywhere on the court she wanted—whether that means shooting a three from the logo or pulling up for a mid-range jump shot, she let Clark be Clark. Clark’s abilities allow her to shoot consistently from a far distance and her unpredictability about where she will shoot from has made her a phenomenal player to watch. Although Clark now has elapsed her college career, she has helped make a lasting legacy on the game and alongside Paige Beuckers, Cameron Brink, Kamilia Cardoso, Angel Reese, and others, has molded the game of women’s college basketball into a game that is far more entertaining to watch than men’s.
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