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Message: [QUOTE="sledog, post: 3466494, member: 195"] Attendance in Women's Hoops surging. [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.wsj.com/articles/attendance-at-womens-college-basketball-games-is-surging-11583421714[/URL] Story centers on Oregon, etc. They seem to adore Sabrina Ionescu as a once-in-a-genertaion type. Women's tix sale are UP big across NCAA. If u can't get past subscription, here are UConn parts: To be sure, these prices are a reflection of the relative competitiveness of the specific men’s and women’s programs in question. The Gamecocks women’s team are the favorites to win the 2020 national championship while the men’s team is ranked 63rd in the NET and will likely finish its season in the National Invitation Tournament. The same is true for the Huskies. The women’s team is historically dominant, albeit in the midst of a down year for the program with three losses this season; the men’s team has experienced a prolonged dry spell since winning the 2014 national championship. Second, the landscape of women’s college basketball has changed dramatically in recent years. For much of the 2000s, Connecticut women’s team dominated, winning 10 of the last 20 national championships. But as participation in women’s basketball has risen, so has the number of talented athletes playing college hoops. Quite simply there are too many great women’s basketball players for all of them to end up in Storrs, Conn. Consider how much things have changed in Ionescu’s college career. During her first campaign in 2016-17, the Huskies had just won the last four national championships and were in the midst of an unprecedented 126-game win streak. UConn finally lost to Mississippi State in the 2017 Final Four. Other programs started to break into the national consciousness at that time thanks to viral moments, like Notre Dame winning the 2018 NCAA Tournament on Arike Ogunbowale’s buzzer-beater shots in the semi-final and championship games. Today there are a handful of programs that could rightly be considered to be on equal footing with UConn, including Baylor, Notre Dame, Oregon, Mississippi State and South Carolina. Of the teams ranked in the top 10, not one is undefeated. Within the top 25 there are 12 teams with three losses or fewer, including No. 6 UConn who has lost to Baylor, Oregon and South Carolina. “The parity and what that suggests is the women’s sports product is way beyond what it’s ever been before with the quality of the athletes and what’s on the floor,” said Lough. “That’s what’s driving the ticket sales and the attendance.” [ATTACH type="full"]51664[/ATTACH] [B]Connecticut's Crystal Dangerfield shoots over Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu.[/B] PHOTO: JESSICA HILL/ASSOCIATED PRESS [/QUOTE]

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