Women's basketball dominated the airwaves in a highly anticipated night of Elite 8 basketball. I woke up this morning to ESPN as I always do but today was different. Today's focus was women's basketball. We all know how popular women's basketball became this year because of names like Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers and Angel Reese but women's basketball being at the forefront was pretty cool. I started this article after the Iowa/LSU game where we saw Iowa beat last year's champ 94-87. Caitlin Clark is HER. Caitlin finished with 41 points, 12 assists and 7 rebounds. Her ability to shoot off the dribble and in traffic is something that cannot be taught. She gets her shot off with no space and it's the same stroke every time. If Caitlin can develop a floater or 12–15-foot jump shot she's going to be lethal at the next level. Kate Martin finished with 21 and Sydney Affolter finished with 16. 

Now let's chat about LSU. LSU has been in the news the last few days for all the wrong reasons. An LA Times article came out ahead of the UCLA vs LSU game the other day and the writer said some disparaging things about the lady Tigers. This is not my opinion but I think some of the players on the LSU team rub people the wrong way. They talk trash, they yell, they clap in opponents faces. Now for my opinion...SO WHAT? They're basketball players. They compete at a high level and emotions take over. It's literally what we see every night in the NBA. Why the double standard? Ok, it might not be your style of basketball but it's theirs. Let them play. Unfortunately they couldn't get past Iowa tonight so their season is over. Angel Reese could have played her last game at LSU tonight finishing with 17 points and 20 rebounds while Flau'jae Johnson finished with 23 points and Mikaylah Williams finished with 18. 

The second game of the night had just as many stars as USC fell to UCONN. The Juju Watkins vs Paige Bueckers matchup did NOT disappoint. Paige Bueckers put on a show scoring 28 points with 10 rebounds and 6 assists. USC's freshman of the year, Juju Watkins scored 25 with 9 rebounds. Every time USC made a run, UCONN combated it and controlled the pace.  The Geno Auriemma lead Huskies returns to the Final Four for the 15th consecutive time. 

Here's my takeaway...Women's college basketball is in a VERY good place. New fans are popping up everywhere. The ratings are way up. I'm hopeful we can get not only little girls but little boys playing basketball in their backyards counting down 3...2...1 and yelling Clark or Reese as they shoot the game winning shot.