ESPN last night drew a 2.0 overnight rating for Notre Dame's last-second win over Mississippi State in the NCAA Women's Tournament Final, down from a 2.4 overnight for South Carolina-Mississippi State last year, which did not air on Easter Sunday. The 2.0 is flat compared to UConn's rout of Syracuse in '16, which was the last final to air on a Tuesday night. UConn's win over Notre Dame in '15 earned a 2.3 overnight, while that same matchup drew a 3.1 in '14, when both teams entered the game undefeated for the season (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
STRONG EVENT: THE ATHLETIC's Richard Deitsch writes the "quality of the games should provide a bump for the sport heading forward with casual viewers tuning in to see programs keep growing alongside perennial favorite UConn." ESPN's Rebecca Lobo: "It's hard for the play to exceed the hype around a Final Four, but this year that happened in spades. It was everything we could ask for” (THEATHLETIC.com, 4/2). Meanwhile, in Columbus, Rob Oller writes this was the "most entertaining women's Final Four in the 37-year history of the event" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 4/2). In Toronto, Doug Smith writes the Final Four and title game were "three amazing games" that were as "electrifying as anything I've seen in years" (THESTAR.com, 4/2). SB NATION's Matt Ellentuck writes the last 72 hours of the women's basketball season "were incredible, unrepeatable and perfectly dramatic." Ellentuck: "It was everything we ask for in sports" (SBNATION.com, 4/2). USA TODAY's Laken Litman wrote, "You probably thought the national championship wouldn’t live up to the semifinals. ... But Sunday’s championship was just as crazy" (USATODAY.com, 4/1).
