The 2024 NCAA D1 Women’s Basketball Tournament has brought immense growth to many aspects of women’s sports: attendance records, viewership, and social media engagement. Since last year’s historical tournament, women’s basketball has been on the rise. With big names like Caitlin Clark and Juju Watkins and super teams like South Carolina and UCONN, generational engagement has emphasized the importance of supporting women in sports. 

First Round: 

The March Madness Tournament started with much excitement as top ranked teams dominated their opponents. Surprisingly there was only one upset match between Louisville and Middle Tennessee. The #11 ranked Blue Raiders, led by Savannah Walker, beat the Cardinals 71-69. Many expected and wanted Louisville to win because of their potential matchup in the Second Round: LSU. Hailey Van Lith, a star transfer from Louisville, would have had the opportunity to play against her old team with her new squad. This brought a lot of excitement to many viewers. 

Second Round: 

The Second Round featured some intense matchups and resulted in some pretty interesting upsets. Gonzaga, going into the tournament ranked #5, beat #4 Utah by 11 points. The Bulldogs were led by the dynamic Truong twins, who helped their team beat Alissa Pili, a WNBA draftee, and the rest of the team. Stanford was almost upset by Iowa St., who put up a great fight and forced double OT. The team was motivated by Audi Crook’s amazing efforts against Cameron Brink, who fouled out in the fourth quarter. Though this was not an upset match, the game was a very intense one to watch. Another standout upset happened between Baylor and Virginia Tech. VT, led by Georgia Amoore, was the anticipated winner of this matchup but fell short in the end. Baylor came out with the win 75-72. #5 Colorado beat #4 Kansas State by 13 points. This win by the Buffs surprised many as they have not appeared in the tournament for almost 11 years. The biggest upset in this round was between Duke and Ohio State. Considering that Duke was ranked #7, many expected that the #2 Ohio State team would be the victors, especially after they beat a team like Iowa in their regular season. Despite being down for the first half of the game, the Blue Devils persevered and came out on top in the end: 75-63. 

Sweet Sixteen: 

The Sweet Sixteen is where things always get exciting! Three big upsets occurred that really set the tone for the rest of the tournament. The first one was between Notre Dame and Oregon State. Throughout their season, Notre Dame was led by their superstar freshman Hannah Hidalgo. Oregon State, on the other hand, experienced a phenomenal Pac-12 season led by none other than Reagan Beers. Prior to the start of the 2024 tournament, Oregon State had last appeared in March Madness in 2021. Notre Dame definitely put up a battle but ended up losing by 5 points: 65-70. The second big upset was between Stanford and NC State. Being a #2 ranked team, many people had high expectations for Stanford and their top players Cameron Brink and Kiki Iriafen. NC State gave their all and beat the Cardinal by 10 points. The last big upset was between LSU, the reigning champs, and UCLA. UCLA had an amazing season this year, being one of the last teams that were undefeated going into the new year. LSU had an impressive season this year as well, putting on a show every game they played. The game was very close at the beginning, but LSU started to take the lead and ended up beating the Bruins 78-69. 

Elite Eight: 

This round was the MOST intense! The matchups brought so much emotion and the results made people go crazy. Firstly, NC State continued to bring their A-game as they beat the #1 ranked team in their region, Texas. Texas, led by Rickea Jackson, experienced one of their best seasons yet, but NC State continued to show their hunger for a championship win. USC was the only Pac-12 team left in the tournament after their amazing performance in the tournament so far. They were after their second championship win of the season because of their prior victory over Stanford to become Pac-12 Champs. The Trojans had such an impressive season as they were led by the BEST freshman, Juju Watkins. Watkins was also supported by star transfers Mckenzie Forbes and Kayla Padilla, two graduate students from Ivy League teams. In the elite eight, they were put up against UCONN, a dominant team led by Paige Bueckers, Nika Muhl, and Aaliyah Edwards. Their game was a very close one, but UCONN came out with a huge win 80-73. The biggest matchup of this round was a repeat of last year’s championship: LSU vs Iowa. LSU was hungry for a repeat win, but Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and Kate Martin were determined to end their inspiring seasons with a championship. LSU led the game for the first half, but as Caitlin continued to shoot her threes, the Hawkeyes gained a big lead. Iowa beat LSU 94-87, depriving them of a repeat. 

Final Four: 

Iowa vs UCONN and South Carolina vs NC State were the matchups for the final four. The Iowa vs UCONN game gained an insane amount of views nationally. People were very excited to see the competition between the stars Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers. Nika Muhl played PHENOMENAL defense on Clark, limiting her to only 21 points, which is half of what she scored in the game against LSU. Bueckers played amazing offense, as did KK Arnold and Aliyah Edwards. UCONN had an impressive lead over the Hawkeyes during the majority of the game, Iowa did not stop batting. Muhl hit a clutch three that gave the Huskies a great chance at tying the game. Unfortunately, Aaliyah Edwards was called for an offensive foul after that play, which allowed Iowa to win: 71-69. South Carolina continued to show the world who was the best as they beat NC State by 19 points.

Championship: 

The stage was set: Iowa vs South Carolina. 24.1 million viewers tuned in to see the results of this jaw-dropping tournament. Iowa and Caitlin Clark were in pursuit of a championship win after losing to LSU last year, and South Carolina was trying to complete their undefeated season. Iowa came out on fire in the first half of the game, but South Carolina put up a fight and began to take their lead. Led by Kamilla Cardoso, Raven Johnson, Te-hina Paopao, and freshman Tessa Johnson, the Gamecocks displayed their amazing teamwork and composure. After a great battle, South Carolina came out on top beating Iowa: 87-75

It is without a doubt that all teams that participated in the tournament this year, as well as the ones who did not, had such a huge impact on the nation’s perception of not just women’s basketball, but women’s sports in general. The fact that so many records were broken this year, especially ones that compared to the men’s tournament, shows that women’s sports are dominant and impacting the lives of many. During this offseason, people are definitely looking forward to the results of the WNBA draft, and are also prepared for the NCAA D1 Women’s Basketball Season next year.