LeBron James credits ‘icons’ like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers for women’s college basketball popularity

As women’s college basketball surges in popularity, LeBron James credited the “icons” of college basketball like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers, among others.

The women’s college basketball game has seen a meteoric rise over the last year, namely this season, thanks to the popularity of many of its top athletes. Caitlin Clark, obviously, deserves a lot of credit for that, but JuJu Watkins at USC, Angel Reese at LSU and Paige Bueckers at UConn have also become compelling athletes to root for and get behind.

On Monday, Clark and Reese squared off for a spot in the Final Four, resulting in one of the biggest games in women's college basketball history.

For the first time maybe ever, the women’s college game has seemingly surpassed the men’s college game in popularity. LeBron James, always willing and eager to share his opinions, was asked about this after the Lakers' win over the Wizards on Wednesday and provided his beliefs about the reasoning behind it.

“I think the popularity comes in is the icons they have in the women’s game,” LeBron said. “You look at Angel Reese, you look at JuJu (Watkins), you look at Caitlin Clark, you look Paige (Bueckers), you look at the young girl that’s at Iowa State, the freshman there (Audi Crooks), Brink at Stanford, and that’s just to name a few – the freshmen that’s at Notre Dame. Because they’re not allowed to go to the WNBA…you’re able to build a real iconic legacy at a program and that’s what we all love about it.

“That’s what makes the Final Four and Elite Eight so great. Iowa was a great team but Caitlin Clark was the reason we tuned in…Players, depending on who they are, will drive the attention when it comes to viewership.”

LeBron is absolutely right on this. Obviously, it helps that Clark is one of the greatest players in women’s college basketball history and has been chasing record after record this season, but she also has been a familiar face for multiple seasons now.

The transfer portal and NIL have been net positives for player empowerment in college basketball, something that can be traced back to LeBron ironically, but they’ve caused interest to wain. Fans don’t relate to programs quite as strongly as they used to.

That level of movement has not yet hit the women’s game yet, at least to top players. LeBron also discussed another important in that the top players can’t declare for the NBA. When Jalen Hood-Schifino has a great year at Indiana University, he declares for the draft and becomes a Laker. When JuJu Watkins does that, she returns for a sophomore season.

It creates storylines and intrigue and excitement.

These things are cyclical and the men’s game will eventually bounce back. But it’s been a joy to watch women’s college basketball this season and during March Madness with all the credit due to those icons.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.