ASMA KHALID, HOST:
We're now in the home stretch of the NCAA basketball finals. And while there has been no real Cinderella story in this year's tournament, there's still a lot of excitement about the championships. The women's final is tomorrow at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. Two iconic teams will face off, the UConn Huskies and the South Carolina Gamecocks. And we have got Nicole Auerbach of NBC Sports here to give us a preview. She's actually in the arena in Tampa, Florida, for the games. Welcome back to the show.
NICOLE AUERBACH: Yeah, thanks for having me.
KHALID: So Nicole, when we spoke to you last week, I know your bracket for the women's tournament was still intact. I got to begin by asking you, how's it looking now?
AUERBACH: It is not looking too, too great. I did...
KHALID: Uh-oh.
AUERBACH: ...Think that Juju Watkins - who, unfortunately, was injured and tore her ACL - I kind of had put too much faith in her to carry the USC here. But I think the two winners of the two national semifinal games, which were pretty lopsided here on Friday night - like, those were the two best teams. Those were the right teams. They're the iconic coaches. It's the star power - the teams that have really defined women's basketball for a really, really long time. So it definitely feels like we're getting the two right teams in a heavyweight fight.
KHALID: Yeah. I mean, you mentioned the two right teams - we're looking at the No. 1 seed, South Carolina, battling the No. 2 seed, UConn. It sounds like you think that this was expected by many folks. Maybe you don't want to go into predictions, but do you have a prediction for tomorrow's game?
AUERBACH: Yeah, you know, facing this back to last week and watching UConn in the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight, they just look like they're going to win it all. They're firing at such a high cylinder. They're so smooth offensively, and then their defense is honestly a bit underrated. But the way that we saw them shut down the No. 1 overall seed in UCLA and the unique challenge of the 6'7" center Lauren Betts, you just can't come away from that and not be impressed by what UConn is doing right now. They also beat South Carolina handily a few months ago. And so I think that they're going to be the ones that are cutting down the net on Sunday.
KHALID: I do want to ask you about the audience and the viewership in this moment because I do think there was some concerns that with Caitlin Clark going pro - that maybe the viewership numbers for the NCAA women's basketball tournament would drop. How has this year's tournament compared to last year and two years prior?
AUERBACH: Well, I think last year was an aberration. I mean, the women's championship game outdrew the men's, which has never happened before, and I don't think anyone thought it was going to match that. But what's really encouraging is the numbers are significantly up compared to 2023, the year before, you know, the peak of the Caitlin Clark effect in women's college basketball. So I think that shows you that people who have been introduced to the sport in recent years are sticking around, even if they are now also watching the WNBA.
KHALID: Nicole Auerbach of NBC Sports, thank you so much for talking to us. Hope you enjoy the game tomorrow.
AUERBACH: Thanks for having me.
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