USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb noticed a stranger approaching. She thought possibly she had spilled something and he would point it out to her. Instead, he stopped near their table and paused.
“Hey, Coach,” he said. “I thought it was you. I have to ask…”
She waited.
“Is JuJu really 1.90 meters tall?” he asked.
Gottlieb laughed. She replied — yes, JuJu Watkins is listed at 6-foot-2 — after which joked that it relies on how much of Watkins' iconic bun counts. An enormous guard within the even greater Big Ten was an attractive prospect for this LA sports fan. Even over the summer, he eagerly looked forward to the season where USC – a team that appeared on national networks just 3 times last season before advancing to the Elite Eight after the season – appeared nine times on ESPN, FOX, FS1 and NBC might be watching the Big Ten Tournament.
He thanked Gottlieb, wished her luck and set off.
The exchange felt oddly familiar to Gottlieb, just not as the top coach of USC, a program she took over in 2021 when it was still a basement dweller within the Pac-12. Instead, it reminded her of experiences during two seasons as an assistant with the Cleveland Cavaliers, when voracious NBA fans wanted to interrupt down every possible match and each possible moment.
“For those of us who have really been following this game for a long time, we knew there were great players already, we knew the great stories before, but now we have to see the rest of the world understand it and take notice cool,” Gottlieb said. “Then you add this type of position that I was thrust into, where we're one of the programs where one of these star players gets a ton of attention. It's a big responsibility. It's a great opportunity.
“It’s not lost on me that we’re at the peak of this moment, so to speak.”
More than 2,500 miles across the country, UConn coach Geno Auriemma can relate. For nearly 4 a long time, a few of the biggest stars to play the sport have come through the Huskies' gym. But the fanfare didn't match what he saw on the lads's side.
Until now.
In early October, UConn announced that season ticket packages had sold out for the primary time for the reason that 2004-05 season after Diana Taurasi won a national championship as a senior.
This didn't occur through the Maya Moore or Breanna Stewart years, or after 111 straight wins or 4 straight national titles. Not until now – Paige Buecker’s last season in Storrs.
“There are people who have never had an opinion who now have an opinion or who want to know things they never wanted to know, but now they are familiar with names and events that they never thought twice about in the past. said Auriemma. “The die-hard fans can’t wait for the season to start. But the casual fan tuned in, took a sip and is now curious.”
The increasing attention on women's basketball is undeniable. Every number confirms it. Last season's NCAA Tournament set viewership records, including a title game that drew 18.9 million viewers (beating the lads's title game by nearly 4 million, something most fans assumed would never occur). Iowa star Caitlin Clark's uncanny knack for the massive moment and talent to hit logo three-pointers lured thousands and thousands, but those fans also found other players, teams and games they enjoyed. Even excluding Iowa's NCAA Tournament games, ESPN viewership increased 43 percent during March Madness last yr.
Clark's draw, in addition to that of Angel Reese at LSU, continued within the WNBA. Attendance and viewership for “Indiana Fever” skyrocketed; The same was true for Reese's Chicago Sky. Again, these recent WNBA fans stayed for the opposite great talents.
Paige Bueckers' Huskies defeated JuJu Watkins' Trojans within the Elite Eight, but each players recorded 20-point double-doubles. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Stars drive sports and leagues forward. They attract casual observers and switch them into die-hard observers. With Clark and Reese leaving for the WNBA, there's no disappointment for the school basketball stars who help carry the game's meaning, but the eye might be focused on two.
Two coasts, two conferences and two national title contenders feature Watkins of USC and Bueckers of UConn. They play in programs which are iconic in their very own way and recognized worldwide. They are each elite – potentially generational – and have the ball of their hands greater than almost anyone else.
Watkins is the reigning Freshman of the Year and is attempting to revitalize a Trojans that didn't matter during her lifetime. She's the hometown kid who produced stars like Kevin Hart, Saweetie, LeBron James and John Wall finally season's home games. The fluidity of her game and her effortless quality make it seem to be she's never rushed the ground before, whether she's pulling up from three or attacking the basket (or hitting a shot somewhere in between).
Kevin Hart was in attendance to look at JuJu Watkins and the USC Women's Basketball team ✌️#ncaaw #fighton pic.twitter.com/31PLjQDknN
– WNBA Got Game (@wnbagotgame) December 20, 2023
Bueckers, who was named national player of the yr as a freshman 4 years ago, is in her final season at UConn. Despite her lauded legacy, few highschool players were more celebrated than her upon entering Storrs. And yet, in her fifth yr, a national championship — of which UConn has won 11 — has eluded Bueckers. She's a slender guard with a lot skill inside that even when she played with the Four last season, she was still named an All-American. A player so confident that she trademarked her nickname “Paige Buckets” before her sophomore season.
The game, the storyline and the celebrity of Watkins and Bueckers, in addition to the meeting between USC and UConn in December (a rematch of last season's Elite Eight) are the explanation why people, including recent fans, are following women's basketball this season grow to be.
But unlike the players before them with the identical characteristics, they’re competing in a time of unprecedented change.
The NCAA was forced to speculate more in the ladies's NCAA Tournament attributable to an investigation that exposed serious disparities in men's and ladies's NCAA basketball. Because of the growing attention, ESPN – the media partner of the ladies's NCAA Tournament – paid big last yr for the media rights to broadcast the event. Because of NIL, players like Bueckers and Watkins are recognizable outside of ladies's basketball circles and work with major firms like Nike And Gatorade. Watkins was spotted on the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival, threw out the primary pitch at a Los Angeles Dodgers game in June and won the ESPY for best breakout athlete. Bueckers attended the US Open, where she was wowed by Frances Tiafoe and Coco Gauff, sat front row at New York Fashion Week and appeared on the JumboTron at a Los Angeles Rams game.
“We have no boundaries, and that's why you see talent, you see coaching, you see fan support, you see spectators – you see all those things,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “This is probably the biggest move in our game in its history, and it couldn't happen at a more perfect time. … There are so many people tuned in; We met at that moment.”
To proceed to meet this moment, women's basketball needs the following wave of stars. It takes teams with compelling storylines (Staley's Gamecocks are an ideal example of reigning champions coming back after an undefeated season to repeat), but it surely also takes individuals like Watkins and Bueckers, whose stories and journeys might be just as compelling this season like their game the ground.
“It's great that we have them because it would be a shame to build on last year's star strength and then not be able to build on it this season,” said Auriemma. “We have to present these guys and these teams and play well. We need to give all these new people who are going to be watching something to look forward to so they will want to come back.”
If Bueckers and Watkins do what their coaches imagine, recent fans will definitely have reasons to maneuver on and find their next favorite players once Bueckers and Watkins head to the professionals.
Auriemma and Gottlieb, who’ve been involved on this game for a long time, know that this moment is just not just different; it’s long overdue. What comes next (or actually who comes next) will move the game forward.
The Athletic One;
image credit : www.nytimes.com