There’s probably an element here of how fewer truly athletic women are recruited for their athleticism because of the public’s general disinterest in women’s sports *in comparison to men* (don’t twist my argument here to say that I’m arguing disinterest in women’s sports, *period).* And that likely leads to more consolidation of the best female athletes on the best teams which is likely why the higher-seeded women’s teams are a lot more likely to win.
I don’t know that there are any UConn-types of teams in men’s sports where they can win in the first round with scores like 103 – 34, which the Paige Bueckers-driven Huskies did on Saturday.
Interest in women’s sports has increased a LOT these last few years, especially in basketball, so I wonder if we’ll start seeing more recruitment of women and thus stronger lower-seeded teams that stand more of a chance in the NCAA tournament.
JimOfSomeTrades on
Statisticians: is it fair to conclude that women’s basketball has a lower average depth of talent? Obviously not saying women are bad at sports, but rather that the tournament and the individual teams can’t field enough top-tier players to make (for example) a 1 vs 8 matchup competitive.
ptrdo on
Small point, perhaps, but I wanted to see the smaller numbers (actually, the higher seed) up top. Flip the y?
![March Madness: average seed of teams in the Sweet 16 (2000-2025) [OC]](https://www.byteseu.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/3tii03of2uqe1-1536x1382.jpeg "March Madness: average seed of teams in the Sweet 16 (2000-2025) [OC]")
4 Comments
It’s a chalky year so far
Interesting stuff.
There’s probably an element here of how fewer truly athletic women are recruited for their athleticism because of the public’s general disinterest in women’s sports *in comparison to men* (don’t twist my argument here to say that I’m arguing disinterest in women’s sports, *period).* And that likely leads to more consolidation of the best female athletes on the best teams which is likely why the higher-seeded women’s teams are a lot more likely to win.
I don’t know that there are any UConn-types of teams in men’s sports where they can win in the first round with scores like 103 – 34, which the Paige Bueckers-driven Huskies did on Saturday.
Interest in women’s sports has increased a LOT these last few years, especially in basketball, so I wonder if we’ll start seeing more recruitment of women and thus stronger lower-seeded teams that stand more of a chance in the NCAA tournament.
Statisticians: is it fair to conclude that women’s basketball has a lower average depth of talent? Obviously not saying women are bad at sports, but rather that the tournament and the individual teams can’t field enough top-tier players to make (for example) a 1 vs 8 matchup competitive.
Small point, perhaps, but I wanted to see the smaller numbers (actually, the higher seed) up top. Flip the y?