In two thrilling finales concluding months of anticipation and hype, the men’s and women’s collegiate basketball season came to a head earlier this week when the Connecticut Huskies (UConn) triumphed over the Purdue Boilermakers (men’s) and the South Carolina Gamecocks over the Iowa Hawkeyes (women’s). The women’s championship, especially, saw numerous records broken and marked the first time the event had more viewers than Monday’s men’s final – an average of almost 19 million. Caitlin Clark, Iowa’s star player, was a contributing factor for the massive viewership as she ended her storied and wildly successful career in collegiate basketball in which she surpassed the all-time NCAA scoring record with a whopping 3,951 points to her name.

The men’s game saw a margin of fifteen points, with the score at the end of the second half (in collegiate basketball, the 12-minute quarters in the NBA are replaced with two 20-minute halves) being 75-60 in favor of UConn, securing them a second consecutive year as title holders. Their dominant performance throughout the season, in which they consistently steamrolled their competition, saw a stunning record of 37 wins to three losses and earned them the position of being heavy favorites going into the final match. While many at LJHS were enthused, physics teacher and MVP of the Student-Faculty basketball game, Mr. Fearnow, said, “I heard UConn won, but I stopped watching when the Aztecs lost.” 

South Carolina’s clinching victory was also the expected outcome, following an undefeated season in which they swept the competition with 39 consecutive wins, netting them their third win in the program’s history. Kamilla Cardoso, a senior at the Gamecocks, won MVP, scoring 38 points in the Final Four. Fan-favorite Clark with her Iowa team, had a similarly impressive run, winning 34 of their games while regularly shattering viewership records.