March Madness Shift: Will Other Stars Maintain Momentum Without JuJu?

Life after Caitlin Clark has gone about as expected for the women’s March Madness tournament. Viewership is down significantly, but the retention rate is high enough that the first two rounds still broke records when excluding last year’s numbers. 

But the continued success of the tournament was in no small part due to USC star JuJu Watkins. The Trojans had the second-most-watched women’s game of the first round and the third-most-watched game of the second round—even if the latter tipped off at 10 p.m. ET on Monday.

However, the second game saw Watkins go down with a season-ending ACL tear—one that will probably keep her out for most, if not all, of next season as well—which could be a slight setback in the momentum of women’s basketball especially after Paige Bueckers’s likely departure from UConn at the end of this season.

Luckily for March Madness and its rights holder, ESPN, Bueckers and UConn are still alive in this year’s tournament. The Huskies games were the most watched of each round, despite both being blowouts. UConn is a 15.5-point favorite to beat Oklahoma in the Sweet 16, though their Elite Eight battle was set up to be a duel against Watkins and the Trojans, which would have been the tournament’s best challenge at mirroring the Caitlin Clark Effect this year. The two sides drew 2.2 million viewers when they met in December, still the most-watched women’s basketball game of the season.

Remember the Names

Like last year, the remainder of the tournament will be a chance for new stars to emerge, whether for the next NCAA season or as they turn pro.

Notre Dame and TCU square off Saturday with several top prospects, with the Fighting Irish’s Hannah Hidalgo, Olivia Miles, and Sonia Citron facing the Horned Frogs’ Hailey Van Lith and Sedona Prince. Citron, Van Lith, and Prince are all expected to be in the 2025 WNBA draft, while Miles is projected to go as high as No. 2—unless she decides to return to college.

If she chooses to stay in school, a high-profile win over TCU and a deeper tournament run alongside Hidalgo—who is second to Watkins in odds to win the Wooden Award, and, like Watkins, will be WNBA draft eligible in 2027—could put the spotlight on South Bend next year.

Most of the powerhouse programs are still on the board because no team below the No. 5 seed advanced to the Sweet 16. Dawn Staley and South Carolina are right behind the Huskies as the tournament favorites, SEC rivals Texas and LSU have looked impressive, and UCLA’s Lauren Betts is third in Wooden Award odds. USC is not out of the picture with Kiki Iriafen, a projected top-five WNBA draft pick, taking over in the absence of Watkins.