Monica McNutt: Keep Men’s, Women’s Final Fours Separate

As the profile of women’s college basketball has risen in recent years, one idea has repeatedly been raised: 

Have the men’s and women’s Final Fours in the same city at the same time.

It would solve a major problem for media members who cover both the men’s and women’s game but can’t be in two cities at once.

Monica McNutt, who played in college and now is a prominent analyst covering the game, is firmly against it.

McNutt told Front Office Sports reporter Amanda Christovich it’s in the best interest of the women’s game for the Final Fours to remain separate. The former Georgetown star and current ESPN/MSG Networks analyst spoke at the Tuned In summit Tuesday.

“The following of women’s sports—for them to potentially be pushed out because this thing has become a mass event, that makes my heart hurt,” McNutt said. “There’s so much loyalty there, and now, again, with the investment, the advertising, the mainstream of it all, it’s growing. I think this upcoming year is gonna be a really pivotal year in the conversation around women’s basketball and the NCAA tournament in particular. I think you grow what you’ve already built. I don’t think you necessarily have to merge the two, so I’m not for combining those.”

For the first time, the 2024 women’s Final Four outrated the men’s event on television. The Iowa–South Carolina final, Caitlin Clark’s college swan song, drew 18.9 million viewers on a Sunday afternoon, well ahead of the men’s final.

The conversation around combining the Final Fours predates Clark’s sensational senior season. As far back as 2013, Big East commissioner Val Ackerman was raising the possibility.

McNutt has become a leading voice on basketball as her profile has risen in tandem with the women’s game. She went viral in June for telling her ESPN colleague Stephen A. Smith that he could have been using his platform to promote the women’s game “three years ago if you wanted to.” Smith publicly attacked McNutt multiple times for the comment, but the two have since made up. 

She said the backlash she took from the comment “shocked” her. 

“I really thought I said water is wet,” McNutt said.