NCAA women’s basketball is headed to Paris
NCAA women’s basketball is going international later this year, when South Carolina and Notre Dame will tip off the 2023-24 season in Paris.
The game, which will be played on Nov. 6, will be the first NCAA women’s regular season basketball game played on “Parisian soil,” according to a statement from South Carolina.
“We did not hesitate to accept the invitation,” South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said in the statement. “Playing Notre Dame in Paris is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for our student-athletes, and I’m thankful for the support of our administration and our donors.”
Both South Carolina and Notre Dame are ranked in the top 10 of ESPN’s way-to-early Top 25 rankings for the 2023-24 season.
Notre Dame made it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament this year, where the Irish fell to No. 2 seed Maryland. South Carolina attempted to repeat as champions with an undefeated streak dating back to last season, but fell to Iowa in the Final Four.
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The NCAA’s choice of two women’s teams to play in its first regular-season game in Paris shows the growing popularity of women’s basketball.
This year’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament saw record-breaking TV viewership numbers. The final between LSU and Iowa drew an average of 9.9 million viewers, making it the most viewed NCAA women’s basketball final in history, The New York Times reported.
“It’s always been my mission to break barriers and provide opportunities for my players to have life-changing experiences,” Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said. “Women’s basketball is on the rise, and having this exposure will help to grow the game on an international level.”
South Carolina lost five players to the WNBA this month, including Aliyah Boston who was the No. 1 overall pick in the draft on Monday. But it will still have SEC all-freshman guard Raven Johnson, who’s 3-pointers played a pivotal role in South Carolina’s attempt to come back against Iowa.
November’s game will also feature two coach of the year recipients: Staley, a three-time Naismith Coach of the Year winner, and Ivey, the 2023 ACC Coach of the Year, according to the statement.
This won’t be Staley’s first time coaching a game internationally. Staley was the head coach of the USA Basketball women’s national team at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where the U.S. won its seventh consecutive gold medal, according to USA Basketball’s website.
The venue for the Paris game has yet to be announced — Notre Dame says the information will be released in the spring — but when the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls played in Paris in January, Accor Arena was filled to 100% capacity with 15,885 people in attendance, according to ESPN.
NCAA games abroad
While this is the NCAA’s first regular-season basketball game in Paris, it is not the institution’s first international game.
Last summer, over 50 men’s college basketball teams played in foreign exhibition tours in Europe, Australia and Canada, according to On3. Per NCAA rules, a team can make an international trip once every four years.
And Notre Dame’s women’s basketball team won’t be the only Notre Dame team to play internationally this year. Notre Dame football will travel to Dublin, Ireland, to play Navy in August, Front Office Sports reported.
