The most hyped matchup of March Madness is happening on the women's side - whether the NCAA likes it or not

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The most hyped matchup of March Madness is happening on the women's side - whether the NCAA likes it or not
UConn and Iowa's Sweet 16 showdown between Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark is highly anticipated in spite of the NCAA's efforts, not because of them.AP Photo/Darron Cummings/AP Photo/Ronald Cortes/David Butler II/Pool Photo via AP
  • UConn and Iowa will meet in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA women's tournament on Saturday.
  • Thanks to Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark, it's the most hyped matchup of March Madness this year.
  • Despite disparate treatment from the NCAA, the women boast star power and the game of the year.
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The most highly anticipated matchup of this year's March Madness has arrived - and it's taking place on the women's side.

The most hyped matchup of March Madness is happening on the women's side - whether the NCAA likes it or not
Caitlin Clark (center) huddles up with her Iowa Hawkeyes teammates.AP Photo/Julio Cortez

The top-seeded UConn Huskies will take on the No. 5 Iowa Hawkeyes in a Sweet Sixteen grudge match airing on ABC at 1 p.m. ET Saturday. And with two superstar freshmen facing off head-to-head for the first time in their short-but-esteemed college careers, the game is already eliciting more fanfare than any other game of this NCAA tournament season.

Iowa's Caitlin Clark is the 'must-watch' player of March Madness

Clark is the leading scorer in all of Division I - men's and women's - with 26.8 points per game this year. And with an NCAA women's-best 7.2 assists per game and 274 three-pointers made to boot, the six-foot 19-year-old is "the most exciting player in college basketball right now," according to WNBA legend Sue Bird.

The most hyped matchup of March Madness is happening on the women's side - whether the NCAA likes it or not
Caitlin Clark.AP Photo/Julio Cortez

Clark made good on Bird's word in the second round against Rhyne Howard and the No. 4 Kentucky Wildcats, dropping 35 points on 6-of-12 shooting from behind the arc while adding seven rebounds and six assists to lead her Hawkeyes to the 14-point upset. But the competition only gets stiffer as the NCAA tournament field whittles down, and Saturday's opponent represents the cream of the crop.

And so does the point guard she'll be up against.

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Paige Bueckers was a superstar before she stepped foot on a college basketball court, and she's exceeded the hype

One of the highest-touted players in the country coming out of high school, Bueckers was already Geno Auriemma's next big star even before she arrived on UConn's campus. And when Bird - a Huskies legend herself - told Insider in September that "Paige just has a flair for the game and a swag to her [that] can impact the game in so many different ways at that point guard spot," she certainly wasn't exaggerating.

The most hyped matchup of March Madness is happening on the women's side - whether the NCAA likes it or not
Paige Bueckers.David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

In February, the 5-foot-11 19-year-old went on an unprecedented tear for the greatest program in NCAA basketball history, becoming the first player for UConn to score 30 points in three consecutive games. And though many of women's basketball's brightest talents have passed through Storrs on their way to the WNBA, none of them - Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, Swin Cash, Tina Charles, Jennifer Rizzotti, Rebecca Lobo, Renee Montgomery, Moriah Jefferson, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Morgan Tuck, Gabby Williams, and Breanna Stewart included - ever accomplished that feat.

And Bueckers did it less than 15 games into her college career.

Clark vs. Bueckers has been the top talking point in women's college basketball all season. Now they'll face each other for the first time.

As the leader of the most esteemed, most successful, and most closely-watched program in the women's collegiate game, Bueckers has not had any trouble receiving her flowers throughout the season. She's been featured on ESPN more times than you could count, and she's earned the highly-coveted accolades to back that up: AP first-team All-America selection, Big East Player, and Freshman of the Year, espnW Player and Freshman of the Year, and more.

The most hyped matchup of March Madness is happening on the women's side - whether the NCAA likes it or not
Paige Bueckers.Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports

Bueckers is also one of four finalists - and the only freshman - in contention for this year's Naismith Women's Player of the Year award. The Hopkins, Minnesota native is also the only freshman featured on the 15-player Women's National Ballot for the John R. Wooden Award.

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To say the acknowledgment of Bueckers' brilliance is well deserved would be an understatement. But given her loaded resume, Clark undoubtedly has earned similar praise and consideration for top accolades. The fact that she's been granted neither is indefensible, but Saturday's game on college basketball's biggest stage will serve as Clark's chance to prove her worth - and that she belonged on those lists.

The megawatt matchup comes despite apparent sexism and unequal treatment from the NCAA

It's no secret that women at all levels of athletics are fighting an uphill battle for equality in sports. But in this year's March Madness, sexism from the NCAA was on full, unobstructed display.

Viral images circulated ahead of the first games revealing blatant disparities between the facilities and resources at the men's and women's tournaments. While men's players had access to gourmet buffets, full weight rooms, and loaded "swag bags," the women's players were forced to stomach inadequate meals, share a single rack of dumbbells, and accept far less merchandise. The inequity even trickled down to the puzzles gifted to players; the men got 500-piece sets, while the women's only had 150 pieces.

But perhaps most significantly, the NCAA appears to have intentionally stifled marketing and exposure for the women's game to exclusively promote the men's side. According to The Wall Street Journal, the organization "withheld use of the lucrative "March Madness" moniker from women's college basketball. So while the men's courts and promotional materials are plastered with the highly-recognizable term, the women's side has no choice but to settle for "women's basketball."

The disparate resources and exposure granted to this year's championships undoubtedly could have hindered the success of the women's tourney. But it didn't.

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The most hyped matchup of March Madness is happening on the women's side - whether the NCAA likes it or not
The NCAA has simply branded its women's championship as "women's basketball."Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

Though viewership ratings have not yet been released, ESPN's Women's Tournament Challenge grew 103% year-over-year, per Adweek's Mollie Cahillane, setting a new all-time record. And according to reporting from The Northern Star, ESPN found that "Twitter references of the NCAA Women's tournament are up almost 90% during games compared to two seasons ago."

Both statistics suggest that this year's competition on the women's side has garnered an unprecedented level of engagement from fans. The UConn vs. Iowa, Bueckers vs. Clark Sweet Sixteen showdown on Saturday will only further contribute to the positive trend - and that's despite the NCAA's official efforts, not because of them.

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