1. A lot was made a year ago at this time about the viewership numbers that Caitlin Clark was pulling in for Iowa basketball games. We had not seen a singular athlete cause such a massive ratings spike for a sport since Tiger Woods.
Thanks to Clark, last year’s women’s NCAA tournament outdrew the men, with the Iowa-South Carolina final pulling in 18.9 million viewers on the women’s side and Purdue-UConn landing 14.8 million viewers for the men’s championship.
Naturally, with Clark now in the WNBA, the ratings for this year’s women’s NCAA tournament were going to take a hit. And they did.
This year’s two Final Four games drew 4.1 million viewers (UConn-UCLA) and 3.6 million viewers (South Carolina-Texas). Last year’s Final Four games drew 14.4 million for Clark and Iowa facing UConn and 7.2 million for NC State-South Carolina.
If you’re someone who wants to see the women’s tournament thrive and grow, that big of a dip has to be disappointing. The fact that more than 10 million people who watched Clark in the Final Four last season bailed on the Final Four this season is stunning, and it shows you what a surreal draw Clark was as a TV entity.
What’s even more disappointing for the women’s tournament is that ratings for this year’s Final Four, thanks in part to blowouts, were down significantly from 2023, when Iowa-South Carolina drew 5.6 million viewers and LSU-Virginia Tech pulled in 3.4 million viewers.
The sport suffered another blow on Sunday when UConn’s title win over South Carolina was a noncompetitive blowout.
The ratings drop for that game from the record setter last season will be massive. Again, that’s to be expected, but it also shows you how incredible it was that Clark was able to outdraw the men’s tournament last year by more than four million viewers.
2. CBS aired a tribute to former NCAA tournament host Greg Gumbel featuring many colleagues before the Final Four games on Saturday and it’s a must-watch.
There will simply never be another Greg Gumbel. pic.twitter.com/hvYe2k2SNI
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) April 5, 2025
3. Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery and Grant Hill were incredible during the two Final Four games on Saturday.
But it was a HUGE fail that CBS never showed Mike Krzyzewski during Duke’s historic meltdown in the final minute against Houston
I said this a million times during the Taylor Swift craze when networks lost their minds every time she would attend a Chiefs game: If you’re going to cut to her and show her in the suite when she goes crazy after Travis Kelce catches a five-yard pass, you have to show her when he has a drop or fumble. But the networks don’t do that.
If you’re going to shove Krzyzewski down our throats for two hours during the Houston-Duke game, you need to show Krzyzewski during the biggest part of the entire game.
4. Tom Brady shared quite an anecdote about his competitiveness in his latest newsletter:
“For most of my childhood, I probably heard those five words from my sisters as often as any others. The earliest instance I can remember was when I was nine-years-old. I was playing Nintendo and I lost right at the point in a game where I was sure I was going to win. I smashed the controller against the living room coffee table until it cracked in half and then I threw it at the TV. I probably broke 5 controllers in this same fashion.”
Brady was referring to hearing the line, What is wrong with you? from his three sisters.
5. This NHL tribute video to Alex Ovechkin for breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record features some of the great athletes of all time, some A-listers, some B-listers, Scott Van Pelt and a host of others to make for quite a crew.
Some greats recognizing #Gr8ness 🫡 pic.twitter.com/uaKFeBujnt
— NHL (@NHL) April 6, 2025
6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features an interview with CBS’s Ian Eagle and Bill Raftery.
The duo discuss their longtime partnership, going back to working New Jersey Nets game together in the early 1990s, Eagle shares his impression of Raftery and the pair reminisce about funny stories over the years.
Raftery also shares a shocking admission about his famous catchphrases, talks about a viral line from this year’s NCAA tournament and discusses whether he has ever thought about retirement.
Eagle talks about the prep work for doing the tournament, what it’s like to do four games in a day during the first round and the amount of broadcast partners he has had over the years.
In addition, Eagle shares his thoughts on getting a new NFL partner this season in J.J. Watt.
Following Eagle and Raftery, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week’s topics include streaming issues for MLB.TV and Major League Baseball’s horrible response to its own streaming issues and the torpedo bats story.
You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.
You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: It was one year ago today that Cody Rhodes finished his story and we got what might be the greatest ending in WrestleMania history.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as One Year Later, Ratings for Caitlin Clark’s NCAA Tournament Run Seem Even More Impressive.
