Caitlin Clark vs. South Carolina could （一定の）期間 women's ratings 記録，記録的な／記録する
It seems that every time we look up, Caitlin Clark is making history again.
No man or woman had ever 地位，任命するd a 40-point ３倍になる-二塁打 in an NCAA Tournament game before the Iowa guard dropped 41 points, 12 補助装置s and 10 回復するs on Sunday. Clark's 対抗者 wasn't some overmatched 中央の-major in the first 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, but fifth-seeded Louisville in the エリート Eight.
Clark also became the first player in 分割 I women's basketball history with a 900-point, 300-補助装置 season. She's 普通の／平均（する）d 30.0 points and 11.0 補助装置s over the first four 一連の会議、交渉／完成するs of the tournament, 魔法 Johnson and LeBron James have sung her 賞賛するs and on Wednesday she was 指名するd the Naismith Women's College Player of the Year.
Up next in the Final Four is the proverbial immovable 反対する -- undefeated South Carolina, the defending champs. The result could be the biggest windfall for women's basketball in years.
Clark is building herself a 遺産／遺物, and her 偉業／利用するs are captivating basketball fans young and old. Iowa's 97-83 勝利，勝つ over Louisville drew an 普通の／平均（する） of 2.5 million テレビ視聴者s to ESPN, more than any NBA game the 網状組織 has shown all season.
The number to （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 for the most-watched women's Final Four game is 5.681 million テレビ視聴者s, によれば Sports マスコミ Watch, 始める，決める by the 2002 選手権 game between UConn and Oklahoma. For 状況, last year's South Carolina-UConn 肩書を与える game 普通の／平均（する）d 4.85 million.
South Carolina has begun to 支配する the women's basketball landscape in a manner not seen since UConn was at the 頂点（に達する） of its 力／強力にする. Now coach 夜明け Staley's program 直面するs its toughest 実験（する） yet -- as do Clark and the Hawkeyes.
"I think the biggest thing for us is just understanding this is a bigger 行う／開催する／段階, but we don't have to be anything other than ourselves," Clark said on ESPN. "Just go out there and play Iowa basketball. 明白に we're gonna need to 回復する and 遂行する／発効させる offensively."
The Gamecocks not only 長，率いる to Dallas on a 42-game winning streak, they also have a 281-34 記録，記録的な／記録する (89.2 パーセント) over the past nine seasons, with two 国家の 肩書を与えるs and two other Final Four trips. They have Aliyah Boston, last year's Naismith 勝利者 and the two-time 防御の Player of the Year, 普通の／平均（する）ing 12.0 points and 11.0 回復するs this tournament.
Staley wants to 含む／封じ込める part of Clark's multifaceted 不快な／攻撃 game, understanding that even the Gamecocks' third-階級d 得点する／非難する／２０ing 弁護 won't stop all of it.
"We really 港／避難所't played against a player like Caitlin and her ability to have a big game, fill up the stat sheet," Staley said. .".. We have to take something away: her ability to 得点する／非難する／２０ in bunches or her ability to 分配する the basketball. She just really can't have the 十分な 攻撃する of what she does."
The 対決 comes まっただ中に a pivotal time on the sports television 前線.
As it stands, ESPN is 支払う／賃金ing about $35 million a year for the 権利s to most NCAA 選手権s outside football and men's basketball. In 近づいている 交渉s, the NCAA may want the women's basketball tournament spun off from the 残り／休憩（する） of the 一括, after a gender 公正，普通株主権 review showed it could earn closer to $100 million 毎年 on its own.
If that's the market value for these TV 権利s, the next 世代 of Caitlin Clarks and Aliyah Bostons could step into a much better-基金d sport.
"We need to have the television ニュース報道 and we need to have the money in women's basketball that it can 供給する," Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said after the Louisville 勝利，勝つ. "We've been shortchanging ourselves for years and years. But certainly when you have a 製品 like this that , you know, a game like this, it helps make it really seem like, yeah, this is a no-brainer."
--By Adam Zielonka, Field Level マスコミ
