Brawls, rivalries and superstars: how women’s college basketball became the main event

This year's women's NCAA Tournament is more anticipated than the men's. It's a wonder it took people so long to come around

When South Carolina led LSU late in the fourth quarter of this month's Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game, they looked poised to salt the game away. Then a fight broke out between the two teams that cleared the benches and sucked in a player's brother from the crowd. The game was delayed for 20 minutes while officials sorted out the punishment (the family member was arrested.) Ultimately, South Carolina held on to win the tournament, remain undefeated for the season and claim the top overall seed in the NCAA tournament, where this year the women are the main event.

After decades of dribbling in the shadow of men's college basketball, the women's game has seized the spotlight. It's where the stars are, where the rivalries are, where the fights are, where the eyeballs are. The South Carolina-LSU game drew almost two million viewers, making it ESPN's most-watched women's basketball game outside the NCAA tournament in 10 years. When the two teams played in January, more people watched them than an NBA matchup between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat playing at the same time. The numbers for last weekend's Big Ten championship game between Iowa and Nebraska were even larger: the contest drew more than three million viewers on the way to becoming CBS's most watched women's college basketball game in 25 years.