A pair of No. 1 seeds—Indiana and Stanford—were knocked out of the women’s NCAA tournament in the opening weekend, the first time two top-seeded contenders failed to reach the Sweet 16 since 1998. Yet only one of those surprise goodbyes doubled as a financial upset, and it was No. 8 Ole Miss’ stunning victory over No. 1 Stanford on Sunday.
The Rebels invested $6.4 million in their program last year, more than the average spender in the women’s tournament ($4.02 million) but still less than the top-seeded and notably well-funded Cardinal ($8 million). No. 9 Miami, on the other hand, actually has a bigger budget than the No. 1 seed Indiana team the ’Canes sent home the next night.
But neither matchup represented the biggest budgetary imbalance of opening weekend. Of the 52 games played in the first two rounds of the women’s tournament, that honor belongs to Princeton—as it did on the men’s side. The Tigers’ one-point win over No. 7 NC State in the first round highlighted a significant spending gap between the two programs. The Ivy League contender’s $1.27 million budget was 3.5 times less than the Wolfpack’s $4.5 million, according to financial data schools submit each year to the U.S. Department of Education. (Princeton fell in the round of 32 to No. 2 Utah.)
No. 9 South Dakota State, which overcame No. 8 USC despite a 3.4x difference in spending between the two programs, had the only other victory over a team with more than three times the funding. The Trojans athletic department spent $5.7 million on its women’s team, $4 million more than the Jackrabbits’ budget. No. 6 Colorado’s defeat of No. 3 Duke marked the bracket’s lone 2x upset.
The outcomes added some chaos to the women’s bracket through the first two rounds, but only one of these financial underdogs advanced to the Sweet 16—the Buffaloes. When the games were done, chalk still reigned supreme.
The top four seeds in two of the tournament’s four regions advanced. In the second Greenville regional, No. 9 Miami sits in the place of the top-seeded Hoosiers but is joined by the remaining two, three and four seeds. In the second Seattle region, however, Caitlin Clark’s No. 2 Iowa is joined in the Sweet 16 by sixth-seeded Colorado, who the Hawkeyes will face on Friday; No. 5 Louisville; and No. 8 Ole Miss.
Princeton’s team also pulled off the two biggest monetary upsets of the men’s March Madness tournament. The Tigers spent more than seven times less than Arizona ($12.2 million) and six times less than Missouri ($10.3 million)—multiples absent from the women’s side.
In general, most Division I athletic departments spend less on their women’s basketball programs. As a result, the financial discrepancies between opponents tend to be smaller than on the men’s side, where upsets like No. 16 FDU topping No. 1 Purdue highlighted a 5.2x spending gap. Even No. 9 FAU’s first-round win over No. 8 Memphis came with a 5.1x difference.
Despite Princeton’s athletic spending—which is low compared to other tournament participants from Power Five conferences but comparable to the rest of the Ivy League—the Tigers still represent one of the wealthiest schools in the country. Princeton’s endowment was $35.8 billion at the end of the last fiscal year, which is more than 17 times larger than NC State’s ($2.02 billion).
March 20: Biggest Financial Underdog Is… Princeton?
March 19: Princeton’s Ivy Peers Score NCAA’s Most Valuable Wins
March 18: CBI Leader Hails Pay-For-Play For Athletes
March 17: Iowa Star Caitlin Clark By The Numbers
March 16: No. 1 Seeds Look to Continue Recent Dominance
March 15: FDU Is Already a Cinderella Off the Court
March 14: Can the NCAA Diversify Beyond its Cash Cow?