This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, which is CBC Sports' daily email newsletter. Stay up to speed on what's happening in sports by subscribing here. The annual college-basketball/office-gambling extravaganza that is March Madness officially tipped off this afternoon.
While the NCAA men's bracket remains a cultural juggernaut, generating billions of dollars in broadcast revenue and billions more in wagering (much of it by people who haven't watched a minute of college hoops all year), it's the women's tournament that now seems to have all the juice.
Things had been trending in this direction for a while, but the women's game truly went viral last spring — thanks mostly to Caitlin Clark.
The Steph Curry-esque sensation shot Iowa to the national championship game almost single-handedly, dropping a 41-point triple-double on Louisville to send her team to the Final Four before pouring in another 41 to upset undefeated South Carolina in the semifinals.