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Men's College Basketball

The Rise of Women’s Basketball: A Growing Audience and a Head-Scratching NBA Play

 

Good morning! A jam-packed newsletter today. No time to waste:

The Final Word: The true significance of the viewing figures

First, let us clear the following: The national championship game between UConn and Purdee for men’s basketball averaged 14.8 million viewers, which was four million fewer than the women’s championship game on Sunday but a tiny improvement over last year’s contemporary low of 14.69 million viewers.

This is a huge talker this week. Let’s parse some reasons why these numbers are what they are:

  • In college, the women’s game is simply a better product than the men’s right now.And I am not talking about the on-court play; you guys can debate that. What I am talking about is how much we can become involved with the characters and their storylines.
  • Think of it like any TV show you love. We have worked with these elite players in the women’s game for years—sometimes even four or five. Parasocial interactions are formed with the top athletes in the sport, game after game, episode after episode. The stars are not even here for the most part for the men’s team, and when they are, we play maybe 10 or 15 meaningful games with them. That kind of building momentum is difficult.
  • Another huge factor: exposure and investment. According to writer Richard Deitsch, ratings have not altered recently, despite the fact that women’s players have historically stayed longer. Platform matters: the men’s championship match was shown on TNT/TBS/truTV, while the women’s was broadcast on ABC. NIL is another aspect because Caitlin Clark is constantly on our screens. That is beneficial.
  • This is not a bad thing for anyone. It’s the reality of the larger landscape in both men’s and women’s basketball. Everyone is making money, and the game is more equitable than ever.

When top prospects Cooper Flagg and Khaman Maluach enroll at Duke the next year, perhaps that will alter, but those guys are also virtually certainly one-and-done, right? Or perhaps Duke will, of course, be a potential opponent for UConn the next season. Even though the women still have Flau’jae Johnson, JuJu Watkins, and Paige Bueckers, perhaps everything will alter now that Clark is no longer around.

Anyway. Moving on:

Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself: Porziņģis’ reinvention tour

Kristaps Porziņģis is just 28, but has already embodied so many NBA archetypes.

He was once a 7-foot-2 wunderkind sensation who, as a rookie, enthralled Madison Square Garden spectators. After that, he developed into a bit of a gifted journeyman who worried about the trajectory of his career while playing for subpar clubs. Would he turn into a worthless statistical asset, an exceptional striker who is underappreciated by opponents?

The answer was no, As Jay King documents in a fantastic post today, Boston has emerged as the league’s greatest team thanks to the return of PorziŇģis, an offseason acquisition of the Celtics. How? Porziņģis turned into a data-sucker:

  • A trade from Dallas, where his pairing with Luka Dončić failed, to Washington brought clarity to Porziņģis, who looked for guidance on how to improve as a post player, particularly in terms of efficiency.
  • He found his answer in advanced analytics, which, ironically, was the reason he was no longer popular in Dallas. Just like former Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle had stated, the statistics demonstrated that the Mavericks were putting points at danger each time they let PorziŇģis post up offensively. They moved him mostly for that reason.
  • So he listened. He ceased attempting fadeaways in the post, particularly while against smaller opponents. He made a commitment to cut down on how many dribbles he made there because the statistics indicated that most of them ended badly for him. About half of PorziņĎis’s needless actions were removed from his game by him and his personal coach, who was a former colleague on the Latvian national squad.

The success has translated, for both Porziņģis and team. Because of how awful the squad was, few people in Washington noticed that PorziņĖis had become an unstoppable force. But Boston did, and the nine-year veteran is currently playing for the NBA’s title favorite and one of the most effective post-up players.

The full article is worth a read today, comprising an intriguing backstory of how Porziņģis arrived to the numbers and how uncompromising he was before that. So do not be shocked in a few weeks when you witness him tormenting defenders in the Eastern Conference.

News to Know

Holliday gets the call
Place this under things that most likely ought to have happened sooner: Jackson Holliday, who is ranked first on Keith Law’s prospect list, is being called up to the major leagues by the Baltimore Orioles. Despite being just 20 years old, the shortstop has destroyed Triple-A pitching this season following a scorching spring training. View the complete scouting report available here. I can not wait to see him perform.

Wait, 6 HR in 7 AB?
Nick Kurtz of Wake Forest had a rough start to the season. A combination of an injury and the yips made many who were closely following the top MLB prospect pause. Now that Kurtz has homered six times in his previous seven at-bats, including two home runs against Coastal Carolina last night, all of those worries are gone. It seems unachievable. Find out more about Kurtz’s smoldering hot streak here.

Calipari officially announces exit
In a video released yesterday, Kentucky coach John Calipari announced his resignation from the position and stated that the team “probably needs to hear another voice.” Though it is yet unofficial, everything seems to point to Calipari accepting the open position at Arkansas. A program icon leaving on such strangely friendly terms is uncommon, even though he still has a lot of coaching left in him. Pleasant?

More news

Fails You Need to See: A Tuesday two-fer

Yesterday was a day of failure in two sports. The clips below were so painful, yet so hilarious, that I simply could not choose only one.

Our first comes from Major League Baseball, where we are still discussing the awful new jerseys. As Tigers outfielder Riley Greene skidded into home, the new pants, which have already been criticized for being see-through, tore.

Next up are the Chicago Bulls, who somehow produced this out of a three-on-zero fast break:

Take a bow, everyone. Let’s hope the Bulls got that out of the way before the Play-In. That might be the dumbest basketball play I’ve ever seen.

Watch This Game

NHL: Golden Knights at Oilers
8:30 p.m. ET on TNT
While Vegas is on the verge of securing a postseason berth and Edmonton is well on their way, I would rather watch the reigning champions play. Though the season has not been what they had planned, the positive vibes have now resurfaced.

NBA: Timberwolves at Nuggets
10 p.m. ET on ESPN
This is just a massive, huge game that will determine the Western Conference’s seeding as well as the bravery of the Minnesota squad that is still without Karl-Anthony Towns.

Pulse Picks

Check out our beautifully created Masters 2024 Big Board, which includes scouting notes on every player, as we dive headfirst into our extensive Masters coverage tomorrow.

Check out our most recent MLB Power Rankings to catch up on some early-season baseball. The Red Sox are not quite ready to be crowned yet.

Ian Mendes went to Salt Lake City with the sole intention of learning why Ryan Smith, the owner of the Utah Jazz, is so determined to bring an NHL team to the city.

(Photo: Justin Tafoya/Getty Images)

 

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