Monday night’s WNBA draft added to the nationwide uptick in record-breaking women's sports viewership, pulling in 2.45 million viewers throughout the nearly two-hour broadcast and peaking at 3.09 million, according to an ESPN release. 

That number shatters the previous draft viewership record — 601,000 in 2004 — which was fueled primarily by then-No. 1 pick Diana Taurasi entering the league after UConn's historic three-peat March Madness performance.  

The 2023 WNBA draft drew 572,000 viewers, the most for any televised WNBA event since 2.74 million tuned in to NBC for a Memorial Day matchup between the New York Liberty and Houston Comets back in 2000.

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While many came to watch Caitlin Clark get drafted No. 1 overall, it’s important to note that viewership didn’t take a massive dip after the superstar shooter left the stage. The numbers show that a bulk of the audience stuck around to watch the remainder of the show, making 2024's event not just the most-viewed WNBA draft in history, but also the most-viewed WNBA program to ever air on ESPN platforms.

Draft Day's popularity is yet another sign indicating an expected rise in WNBA regular season viewership. Clark and Iowa's NCAA tournament showdown with the Chicago Sky-bound Kamilla Cardoso's South Carolina side drew a record 18.7 million to ABC's Sunday afternoon broadcast. Banking on this trend, 36 of Indiana's upcoming 40 games are set to be shown on national television. In-person ticket sales are also soaring, leading the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces to re-home their matchup with the Fever to a venue that can accommodate some 6,000 more fans.

The Naismith Awards sliced their already elite 10-athlete National Player of the Year (POY) list down to four finalists on Tuesday, narrowing the race for the 2024/25 NCAA basketball season's top individual honor.

Earning spots in the final tally are two sophomore phenoms, USC's JuJu Watkins and Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo, as well as UCLA junior Lauren Betts and UConn senior Paige Bueckers.

"The brilliance of these athletes and their unrelenting passion for college basketball are evident in their outstanding accomplishments," noted Atlanta Tipoff Club president Eric Oberman, whose organization bestows the annual award.

Three of the finalists have already claimed some POY hardware for their 2024/25 performances, with Hidalgo, Bueckers, and Watkins all earning the honor for their respective conferences. Hidalgo and Betts also bagged Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) awards from the ACC and Big Ten, respectively.

Double-dipping on the national stage are Betts, Hidalgo, and Watkins, whose POY finalist status comes just four days after the Naismith Awards named the trio to its four-athlete DPOY final list.

Buoyed by their individual contributions, all four players have helped their programs become veritable contenders to claim the 2024/25 national championship trophy.

Betts's Bruins entered March Madness as the overall No. 1 seed, with Watkins's Trojans also claiming a top spot in the 2025 NCAA bracket. Behind team-leading contributions from Bueckers and Hidalgo, UConn and Notre Dame snagged No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, respectively.

"Their efforts have been instrumental in their teams’ successes this season. Recognizing any of these extraordinary student-athletes with the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy would be a fitting tribute to their excellence."

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POY race reflects parity-filled NCAA season

Unlike past seasons with arguably clear-cut frontrunners, the 2024/25 NCAA season is stacked with both parity and standout performers, giving each member of the exclusive POY finalist quartet a strong case to snag the prestigious award.

With her third time as a POY finalist, Bueckers — a playmaking guard who shoots over 54% from the field — could add a second Naismith trophy to her shelf, bookending her UConn career after becoming the only freshman winner in the award's now 42-year history in 2021.

That said, she'll have stiff competition from fellow 2023/24 finalist Watkins, whose prolific scoring surpassed the two-season tally notched by the all-time Division I points leader, back-to-back POY winner-turned-WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark.

Star center Betts has anchored the Bruins in the paint all season, setting a UCLA record for blocks while shooting over 64% from the floor and averaging a near double-double with 9.7 rebounds per game.

As for Hidalgo, who currently sits third in the league with over 24 points per game, the Irish guard has yet to register a single collegiate appearances with less than 10 points.

The four finalists will have one final weekend of March Madness competition to impress voters before the POY winner is announced on April 2nd — two days before the NCAA tournament's Final Four tips off.

Unfortunately, after suffering a season-ending ACL tear on Monday, Watkins's POY bid rests on her already complete 2024/25 campaign.

How to vote for the 2024/25 National Player of the Year

While the majority of the Naismith Awards' final counts rest with coaches, conference commissioners, journalists, and former winners, fans account for 5% of the total vote.

With POY candidates, DPOY finalists, and Coach of the Year nominees on the ballot, fans can vote once per day online for the NCAA's top basketball personnel. Voting closes at 12 PM ET on April 1st.

Welcome to another episode of Sports Are Fun! presented by TurboTax.

Every week on Sports Are Fun!, co-hosts soccer legend Kelley O'Hara, sports journalist Greydy Diaz, and NWSL champ Merritt Mathias serve up their hottest takes on all things women's sports. And in today's episode, the crew is talking March Madness, as the NCAA tournament cruises to the Sweet 16.

After lamenting their busted brackets, the discussion turns to UConn Huskies guard Azzi Fudd. Is a healthy Fudd this year’s secret NCAA tournament weapon?

“I think my biggest one that I was like, ‘whoa,’ was UConn,” O'Hara said of Connecticut’s first-round blowout.

“UConn by 69!" marvels Diaz. "We do have to talk about miss Azzi Fudd. 21 points in the first half of that game.”

"Is that why you wore the shirt?" asks O'Hara, pointing to Fudd's face emblazoned on Diaz's Round 21 t-shirt.

"Of course!" says Diaz. "We gotta show love to Azzi Fudd."

“We said if she shows up, she will be a differentiator for this team going deep into March Madness,” echoed Mathias.

All in all, the co-hosts tackle the NWSL's top weekend goals, followed by the future debut of World Sevens Football, Trinity Rodman and Ben Shelton's hard launch, and so much more.

'Sports Are Fun!' hosts debate NWSL Rookie of the Year odds

Later, the hosts put on their soccer hats to discuss the NWSL Rookie of the Year. With younger players joining the league — coupled with the abolishment of the college draft — what subsequently even counts as a true rookie season anymore?

"People are already starting to have these these chats about who's up for Rookie of the Year," starts O'Hara. "My take is this: When is Rookie of the Year going to no longer exist? Because like you said, [Seattle goal-scorer] Jordyn Bugg is technically in her second year. But in my opinion, she's still a rookie."

"These players who are showing up to the league as teenagers, not coming out of college, their chances of Rookie of the Year are greatly diminished," she continues. "Are we going to get a Under-20 Player of the Year award at some point?"

"It's a conversation to be had. But it's also the evolution of the game," says Mathias. "If you want to enter the league at such a young age, it signals, 'I'm willing to forsake like Rookie of the Year awards to be able to develop my game in this environment.'"

"You want to go to college and run that route, that is your reward for taking that time, feeling a bit more able to take on the pressure, the demands," she adds. "So you get rewarded with things like Rookie of the Year and allowing your stock to grow."

About 'Sports Are Fun!' with Kelley O'Hara

'Sports Are Fun!' is a show that’ll remind you why you fell in love with women's sports in the first place.

Join World Cup champ, Olympic gold medalist, and aspiring barista Kelley O'Hara as she sits down with sports journalist Greydy Diaz and a revolving cast of co-hosts and friends. Together, they're talking the biggest, funnest, and most need-to-know stories in the world of women’s sports.

From on-court drama to off-field shenanigans, to candid (and silly) chats with the most important personalities in the space, this show screams "Sports Are Fun!"

Subscribe to Just Women's Sports on YouTube to never miss an episode.

The New York Sirens made PWHL history this weekend, as forward Abby Roque — who grew up in Michigan — scored the second-year league’s first-ever Michigan goal against the Ottawa Charge on Saturday.

With Ottawa leading 3-1 in the game's third period, Roque skated behind the Charge’s net, snapping the puck under the crossbar to register her sixth goal of the season.

A very rare trick shot, "The Michigan" entered the sport's lingo in the 1990s, after University of Michigan men's hockey winger Mike Legg successfully replicated minor-leaguer Bill Armstrong’s lacrosse-style "high wrap" goal during a 1996 NCAA Tournament game against Minnesota.

Requiring deft mechanics, the shooter lifts the puck with their stick, slotting it into the top near corner of the net behind an unsuspecting goalkeeper.

"There was a lot around the net and I just I knew I had time behind the net to pick it up, [so] I thought I may as well," said Roque after her performance. "It’s something that has become a joke and we say every day when I come to the rink: 'Michigan today.'"

"The opportunity presented itself, so I had to try."

Roque joins short list of "Michigan" goalscorers

Roque — Team USA's first-ever Indigenous hockey player — now inks her name onto a short list of athletes who have scored a Michigan goal.

The first successful major pro league attempt came in the NHL, when Carolina Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov converted the trick shot against the Calgary Flames in October 2019.

On the women's side, PWHL history-maker Roque is just the third athlete to claim Michigan goal success.

Slovakia's teen star Nela Lopušanová paved the way, flicking in the first-ever women's Michigan shot during the 2023 U18 IIHF World Championships at just 14 years old.

Leading the charge Stateside is Brown University forward Margot Norehad. As a freshman for the Bears, Norehad netted a Michigan during a February 2024 NCAA game against Quinnipiac.

While Roque's shot wasn't enough to secure a Sirens win on Saturday, she did manage to her individual 16-point season total with style.

USC star sophomore JuJu Watkins suffered a serious injury in the No. 1-seed Trojans’ second-round March Madness win over No. 9-seed Mississippi State on Monday, putting a dismal stamp on the final day of the 2024/25 NCAA tournament's first weekend.

After taking contact from two defenders midway through the first quarter, a visibly distraught Watkins crumbled to the court with a season-ending ACL tear in her right knee. The season's second-leading Division I scorer will soon undergo surgery before beginning rehabilitation.

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"I'd be lying if I told you I wasn’t rattled seeing JuJu lying on the floor and crying," said USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb afterwards. "This is a human game, so I obviously tried my best to be what I need to be for the team, but internally it’s a lot."

The arena mirrored Gottlieb's reaction, a testament to Watkins's impact on the USC community.

"You cannot tell me the energy of that crowd, and how sort of angry they were with the other team, and how much fire they showed for our team, is so much about what JuJu has given to this arena, to this program, to the city," added Gottlieb. "And you just want to give it all back."

A National Player of the Year frontrunner, Watkins’s injury will reverberate throughout USC’s tournament run, as the Trojans stare down a potential Elite Eight rematch with surging No. 2-seed UConn.

Trojans step up after Watkins injury

After seeing their teammate carried off the court, USC regrouped in a big way, converting their early 13-2 lead into a 96-59 blowout victory over the Bulldogs to clinch a spot in the Sweet 16.

In light of the Watkins injury, star transfer forward Kiki Iriafen took charge, putting up a season-high 36 points and nearly notching a double-double by adding nine rebounds to her stat sheet.

Also taking up Watkins' mantle were a pair of freshmen guards, Avery Howell and Kayleigh Heckel, who came off the bench to add 18 and 13 points, respectively.

The added emotional tenacity the Trojans displayed was not lost on Gottlieb, who thanked her team in a post-game locker room address.

"I will never forget this game for as long as I live," the USC coach told her players. "You guys did something really special today."

"I have to say it with a calm face and tell you how incredibly proud I am of the way you stepped up for one another...it was a tidal wave of a team."

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Top NCAA tournament seeds dominate Sweet 16 berths

Ultimately, losing Watkins is a devastating blow not just to USC, but to college basketball at large, radically reshaping the competitive landscape as March Madness gears up for next weekend's Sweet 16 round.

Monday's final buzzer officially set that field, locking in every team seeded No. 3 and above, plus one No. 4 seed and a trio of No. 5 seeds.

In a day void of upsets, seven of Monday's games averaged a wide 28-point margin of victory. The lone outlier was Maryland's bombshell victory, as the Terps booked their Sweet 16 spot in an instant classic game against No. 5-seed Alabama.

After the Terrapins rallied from a 17-point third-quarter deficit to push the game into overtime, Tide fifth-year guard Sarah Ashlee Barker forced double-overtime with a trio of free throws.

Though the Terps ultimately emerged with the 111-108 victory, Barker set records, notching a career-high 45 points — the most by any SEC athlete and the fourth-most by any Division I player in March Madness history.

"It didn't go our way but, at the end of the day, I'm gonna walk out and hold [my] head high," said Barker about the game that capped her NCAA career. "If you're a women's basketball fan, or anybody that loves basketball, I think that every single person could say that that was one of the best games they've ever watched."

With games between the NCAA's best stacking next weekend's Sweet 16 slate, this year's March Madness tournament is could see even more blockbuster clashes.