The Women's March Madness, officially known as the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, recently took place in the United States over a three-week period.
It's a single-elimination basketball tournament typically held in March, featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from Division I of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) to determine the national championship.
This year's champions were the South Carolina Gamecocks. They beat the Iowa Hawkeyes 87-75 in the final at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio, making it their third championship title.
Here is a closer look at some of the biggest NCAA Women's Basketball March Madness tournament winners.
Who were the biggest winners at this year's March Madness?
Among two of the biggest winners were Caitlin Clark and Kamilla Cardoso.
Clark is the all-time leading scorer Caitlin Clark of the Iowa Hawkeyes – a national player of the year on two separate occasions and regarded by her peers and women's basketball fans as one of the greatest ever college basketball players.
Cardoso helped clinch the Gamecocks their latest championship title with 15 points and 17 rebounds. She was born in Brazil and previously played for the Syracuse Orange. Putting aside recent shoving controversies, Cardoso was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Hall of Fame player and head coach for the Gamecocks, Dawn Staley, also won her third NCAA Division One Women's Basketball Tournament title.
The final was one of the most watched events in women's sports in recent years, and it was also one of the most bet-on events on today's most trusted US sports betting apps.
According to Forbes.com, the latest finals saw three of the most watched March Madness games ever, with 18.7 million tuning in on ABC to the final between South Carolina and Iowa.
The five most-watched Women's March Madness games ever include the following:
- Year: 2024. Network: ABC. Final: S Car-Iowa. Viewers: 18.7 million
- Year: 2024. Network: ESPN. Finals: Iowa-UConn. Viewers: 14.2 million
- Year: 2024. Network: ESPN. Elite 8: Iowa-LSU. Viewers: 12.3 million
- Year: 1983. Network: CBS. Final: USC-La. Viewers: 11.8 million
- Year: 1986. Network: CBS. Final: Texas-USC. Viewers: 11.2 million
Thanks to increased coverage and a growing number of spectators, the event also generated more revenue through advertising and sponsorship deals than any other March Madness event.
The competition is now worth around $65 million yearly, ten times more than previous media and advertising agreements. Therefore, some of the other winners of this year's March Madness were the companies that decided to invest in women's NCAA basketball.
Who were the rising stars of March Madness?
Some of this year's biggest individual rising stars who will undoubtedly have even bigger followings next year were Paige Bueckers, Madison Booker, JuJu Watkins, MiLaysia Fulwiley, and Hannah Hidalgo, to name a few.
Hidalgo and Watkins were noted as only the fourth and fifth freshmen to be All-American first-team players. Tessa Johnson also impressed fans and coaches with her performances and will definitely be a player worth keeping a close eye on in the future.
Final thoughts
This year's March Madness was a huge success, and it has helped shine a spotlight on women's basketball in America and across the globe. The 2024/25 NCAA Division 1 women's basketball season is scheduled to get underway in November 2024 and will look slightly different.
Washington, Oregon, UCLA, and USC will be in the Big Ten, and there will be no more Angel Reese or Caitlin Clark. Over the coming months, the NCAA offseason will give everyone a glimpse as to what we can expect when the regular season gets underway.
Women's basketball is now more mainstream than ever, and many expect it to continue to grow over the coming years, especially with major events like March Madness.
