March Madness 2023: Angel Reese Hits 1 Million Instagram Followers
LSU star Angel Reese got the last laugh Sunday afternoon, holding the NCAA women’s college basketball trophy after defeating Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes. She may have gotten the extra like, too.
While Clark grabbed the nation’s attention, scoring a record—men’s and women’s—191 points during the tournament, it was Reese who added more followers on Instagram. Already a social media influencer with roughly 450,000 followers before the tournament, she eclipsed the 1 million mark on Monday. Clark, meanwhile, passed the 500k mark on Instagram after starting the tournament with just under 200,000 followers.
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i just hit a milli on instagram AHHH
— Angel Reese (@Reese10Angel) April 4, 2023
On TikTok, Reese is now up to 1.1 million followers after posting a video repeating her ‘You can’t see me’ hand gesture Monday morning. Reese’s dominance continued on Twitter, too, where she was mentioned half a million times over the weekend, according to LSU associate AD Cody Worsham, with a reach of 3.84 billion views.
Both Reese and Clark boast far more social media followers than any of the players in the men’s tournament. UConn’s most popular posting player, Andre Jackson, was still fighting his way towards 75,000 Instagram followers after the Huskies lifted their own trophy Monday night.
In fact, Reese gained more followers in six hours on Monday than any men’s Final Four player has gained in his entire life. Reese’s freshman teammate, Flau’jae Johnson, also just crossed the 1 million Instagram follower mark.
The final between LSU and Iowa set a record for most viewed women’s college basketball game, averaging 10 million viewers.
Both Reese and Clark were already local celebrities before their March Madness runs, coming into the tournament with a number of NIL deals. Reese’s 17 partnerships, including deals with Bose and McDonald’s, are often cited as the most in college basketball. Clark, meanwhile, has signed with Nike, Topps and Bose, as well.
Each is also set to return to college next year, as the WNBA requires entrants be 22 years old or have graduated from college before going pro. More sponsorships surely await. Reese’s agent, Jeanine Ogbonnaya, told On3 she is currently evaluating a potential sneaker deal.
On Monday afternoon, Reese appeared on ESPN’s NBA Today, telling the studio group that she was yet to sleep since winning the title. She had a message to potential endorsers: “The price just went up.”
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