The Athletic has live coverage of Iowa vs. South Carolina in the women’s national championship game.
CLEVELAND — There’s just something different this time around.
That’s not to take anything away from last year’s Final Four in Dallas. History will always look back fondly on that entire women’s NCAA Tournament from start to finish — the first-weekend upsets, undefeated South Carolina falling in the national semifinals, and, of course, Caitlin Clark vs. Angel Reese Part I. It was a pivotal moment for women’s basketball, full stop.
But what happened this week in Albany, N.Y., led to the sport’s taking an entirely new leap, a jump that I’m not sure even I could have predicted at this point. It was … just … a normal major sporting event.
LSU vs. Iowa was treated just like any other monster game. In the lead-up, there was a lot of media coverage, as analysts broke down where teams had strengths (LSU in the post, Iowa at the logo) and weaknesses as well as motivation heading into a revenge game for the Hawkeyes. We weren’t told to watch the game simply because we should support women’s sports. We were drawn to the game because it was incredibly compelling.
During and after the game, fans argued about LSU coach Kim Mulkey’s (failed) defensive game plan for…
