By Mardeio Cannon | OBSERVER Columnist
We are in the middle of March and as all of you hoop fans know, that means “March Madness”.
Quick! Name one outstanding player in Division 1 men’s college basketball? Why the silence? I am still waiting! OK, you can’t name one outstanding men’s player in all of college basketball this year!
Now, let’s go over to the women’s side, where all of the hoopla and action is this year.
Have you heard of Caitlin Clark who is shattering every shooting record that ever existed in her final season at the University of Iowa? Coach Dawn Staley has led her South Carolina Lady Gamecocks to a second-consecutive unbeaten season heading into the NCAA Tournament.
Angel Reese has finally reconciled with her head coach Kim Mulkey and has led the defending national champion LSU Lady Tigers to the No. 8 ranking heading into the Big Dance, as the national tournament is called. And the USC Lady Trojans have a budding superstar in freshman JuJu Watkins.
The focus will be on the women’s side rather than the men. Arenas are selling out at the women’s game while no one player in the men’s game has matched the star status of Clark, Watkin and Reese.
Now let’s look ahead on how this will translate to professional basketball.
The WNBA (Women National Basketball Association) is still a minor league compared to the NBA. The top WNBA players have been going overseas every year just to make good money.
The Top NBA players have passed $50 million a year in compensation while the maximum salary for top WNBA players is $500,000 a year. I realize that the WNBA season only runs five months (May-September), while the NBA season runs eight months (November to June).
There is a tidal wave of difference in revenue between the NBA and the WNBA because of factors like total attendance, television money and merchandise sales.
The NBA didn’t get here overnight, I remember watching NBA games were never considered for prime time telecasting. It took the personalities of players like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird who were then followed by Michael Jordan to take the NBA from the outhouse to the penthouse.
I predict that the WNBA will go to another level next year because of players like Clark, Reese and Smith entering the league over the next few years. And after a successful 2024 NCAA Final Four Tournament, the lady’s game is not turning back.