The Highs And Lows of March Madness Social Media

March Madness is the pinnacle of men’s and women’s college basketball. It is everything college teams are gearing up for throughout the season.

It is a cash cow for the NCAA. They made 1.29 billion in revenue in 2023 fiscal year. More than 80% comes from men’s March Madness. A majority of that comes from TV rights of course.

March Madness is not only filled with massive amounts of cash, but also tons of storylines throughout the tournament. From sleepers to cindarellas to favorite teams losing and more. The excitement of March Madness is the “David vs. Goliath” storylines, unlikely stars being born and the occasional viral moments like the piccolo girl from Villanova in 2015.

Two social media moments that I want to bring up in today’s newsletter comes from the first weekend of the men’s and women’s tournament. One good moment and one that shines a dark light on the trolling nature of today’s sports social media audience.

The Growth of the Social Media Following of Oakland’s Jack Gohlke

Every heard of Jack Gohlke before last Wednesday? I know I didn’t, but I also don’t watch Horizon League basketball.

Gohlke became a March Madness star after scoring 32 points and hitting 10 three-pointers in Oakland’s 80-76 victory over No. 3 seed Kentucky.

Before the game, Gohlke started with under 500 followers and was unverified. Now, he is verified and has nearly 65K followers. After the victory over the Wildcats, Golkhe started getting the NIL money coming in!

He got two partnerships, one with OOFOS and one with TurboTax. Not bad for someone with no NIL deals before March Madness. He even dropped his own merch collection with NIL Store.

Making NIL money is what the law change should all be about, especially a March Madness moment like Golkhe’s.

The Trolling of Audi Crooks’ Weight After 40-Point Game vs. Maryland

Over the years, women’s sports has constantly seen trolling from all over the place. They receive comments like “women’s sports aren’t legit, stay in the kitchen” and other hurtful messaging. I have seen this numerous times in sports social media over the past 11 years working in the industry. Frankly, it’s despicable!

Women’s sports should always remain equal to men’s sports and I believe the trolling comments should stop. There is no place for that type of negativity in social media. Period.

Another incident has occurred after Iowa State freshman Audi Crooks scored 40 points in a March Madness win over Maryland. Impressive? Damn straight it is. 40 points in any game, either collegiate or professional is impressive.

The trolls revealed themselves again to made fun of Crooks and her weight. It was shameful to watch these trolling comments pop up throughout posts about her on social media. I saw it all over my timeline.

Again, social media can be a place for positivity and certainly negativity. We should celebrate and reward her for her impact in the game against Maryland, not shame her for her weight. She went 18-for-20 FG that night. How many of the trolls in the comments above can say that??

I would love to see Crooks get more NIL deals, just like Gohlke did right after his game vs. Kentucky.

Let’s give all NCAA athletes the opportunity to benefit from NIL money because a very small percentage actually play professional and this is their opportunity to get rewarded financially for their efforts.

Let’s also praise athletes for impressive moments in big games and not troll them because they look different.

Of course, change takes time, especially changing the behavior of trolls in social media. But can it be done? Yes, if the world comes together and puts a stop to this nonsense.