Ava’s Angle: Women’s Final Four breakdown: Matchups, players to watch and TV viewership

After traveling from either Spokane, Wash. or Birmingham, Ala. after the Elite Eight games, the women’s Final Four starts tomorrow in Tampa, Fla. and the teams remaining (UConn, UCLA, Texas, South Carolina) will finish their fight for the national title this weekend. The Huskies are the only No. 2 seed left remaining in the tournament while the rest are all No. 1 seeds; even on the men’s side, all the one seeds are still standing. 

This March Madness tournament has been another marker of how much the game of women’s basketball has grown. Last tournament, Iowa’s win over UConn in the Final Four set a then-new record for the most watched women’s college basketball game in history as it averaged 14.2 million viewers. A couple days later, it was then topped by the championship game between Iowa and South Carolina where it topped 18.9 million viewers. Caitlin Clark changed women’s basketball viewership with her unlimited shooting range and the dominance that she brought to Iowa and now the WNBA with the Indiana Fever. Although Clark is not in this year’s tournament, the viewership numbers are still up, which proves the growth of women’s college basketball. The Elite Eight games from last weekend averaged 2.9 million viewers, which is the second most-watched Elite Eight round in history, following Clark’s run with the TV numbers last season. LSU vs UCLA had 3.4 million viewers (No. 3 Elite Eight game all time), Duke vs South Carolina with 3.1 million viewers (No. 4 all-time), UConn vs USC with 3.0 million (No. 6 all-time) and TCU vs Texas had 2.3 million viewers (No. 9 all-time). This year’s Final Four games are highly anticipated, and all the teams are filled with players that viewers cannot wait to see go head-to-head on the biggest stage in college basketball.  

The first game of the night will be between Texas and South Carolina. This is the fourth time that these teams will go head-to-head this season, but now in the Final Four. South Carolina is seeking their third national title game appearance in the last four seasons but for Texas, they are looking for their first championship game appearance since 1986 when the program clinched its first and only national title. Some players keep an eye out for the Longhorns forward Madison Booker (16 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 2.7 apg) who has scored double-digit points in 31 of 38 games this season and guard Rori Harmon (9.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 6.1 apg) who is playing in her first NCAA Tournament since having a season-ending ACL surgery back in December of 2023. For the Gamecocks, forward Chloe Kitts (10.4 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 2 apg) has been on fire, having 14 of South Carolina’s 54 points in their Elite Eight win and guard MiLaysia Fulwiley (12.1 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.6 spg) who did not have the best performance against Duke but is known to be an effective shooter.

For the night cap game, it’ll be UConn and UCLA. This will be the first time that these two teams will meet this season and both rosters are stacked with players who have been at the top of their game. This is UConn’s 24th Final Four appearance and their 16th in the last 17 March Madness tournaments, but for UCLA this is new territory that the program has never seen before. Lauren Betts (19.7 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 2.9 bpg) is the star to watch out for on UCLA’s roster, she is shooting 64.9% from the field and has led UCLA all season long. The Bruins also have guard Kiki Rice (12.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 5.1 apg) who went 1-of-7 from the field on Sunday but looks to rebound in the Final Four game. As for the Huskies, they have been led all season long by guard Paige Buckers (19.2 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 4.8 apg) who has scored a total of 105 points in her last three games and is playing some of the best basketball in her career. Bueckers is no stranger to March Madness and the pressure that comes along with it. Especially since this is her last collegiate season, the star has her eyes on the prize. UConn also has a presence in their post with freshman forward Sarah Strong (16.1 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 3.5 apg) who recorded 22 points and a career-high 17-rebound double-double against USC in the Elite Eight, marking her sixth double-double of the postseason alone. 

“Everybody’s talking about Paige,” said Meg Aronowitz, a senior vice president of production for ESPN and the company’s top person for its women’s basketball coverage. “It’s not ‘Paige Bueckers.’ It’s just ‘Paige.’ When you get to that point where you are first name only, that’s when you know, wow, people are starting to pay attention. The story that comes along with her, all of the injuries, the playing through COVID and the resilience of this young woman, that’s a story that will get people to want to watch. So we are thrilled to have Paige in Tampa.” 

The more success ESPN sees with the women’s Final Four, the more investment the games get as a whole, especially within technology. This year’s Final Four is in high dynamic range (HDR) for the first time ever for the women’s game. The production for the games has 45 cameras in total which includes more advanced slo-mo and high-frame-rate cameras than it’s ever had before. This shows how much the game is growing and how high the demand is getting for coverage on women’s basketball. The game has seen high numbers before with past championships in 2022 (UConn vs South Carolina) and 2023 (LSU vs Iowa) but the statistics now are much more consistent. This year’s Final Four games and the national championship are expected to surpass the two, three million viewers mark comfortably, and it will all start now for the last weekend of Madness.