On one show, the fact the Big Ten landed nine teams in the NCAA men's tournament was a talking point, mindful that no team from the conference has won the title since Michigan State in 2000.
On another show, the number of teams on double-digit winning streaks entering the NCAA women's tournament was a topic. Can the teams on a roll stay on a roll, including Stanford, the defending champion currently on a 20-game win streak?
And around these shows, we could start filling out our brackets.
After years of being held on separate days, the women's selection show was back to being held on the same evening as men's show. There was a resulting Selection Sunday Showcase — although I had to switch channels to make it feel like a showcase — that should become a fixture and something advertisers can support.
This came about as the women's tournament has been expanded to 68 teams — 64 teams plus the winners of four play-in games. Since the play-in games need to be held earlier in the week, the women's selection show was moved to Sunday, an hour after the men's show ended.
College hoopologists were in heaven as they broke down two brackets, including one for the women's Final Four that will be played April 1-3 at Target Center.
Putting both men's and women's selection shows on the same night broadens the spotlight on college basketball during its most important month. Everyone benefits. The NCAA shows it is addressing disparities. The continued growth and interest in women's basketball is being recognized. And the players, especially those with name, image and likeness deals, benefit from the broader spotlight as well.
Some of this progress has come the hard way, as a committee had to examine and recommended changes after women's teams did not receive or have access to the same facilities as men did last season when the games were in a bubble. It took that setting, because of the pandemic, to expose the inequalities between the two tournaments.