Morning Distribution for Tuesday, March 24, 2020

A [FiveThirtyEight]( email [Morning Distribution]( Tuesday, March 24, 2020 Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s new morning newsletter. What’ll be in this email? We’re keeping it simple for now: It’ll have our top story each morning, along with the latest updates from our various real-time trackers in politics and sports (once there are sports again). Have ideas for what should be included in this newsletter? Send your thoughts to [contact@fivethirtyeight.com](mailto:contact@fivethirtyeight.com?subject=Morning%20Distribution). --------------------------------------------------------------- The Morning Story [Washington Oregon Basketball]( [Women’s Basketball Was Building Momentum. Then All The Games Stopped.]( By [Neil Paine]( The spring and summer of 2020 were poised to offer some of the biggest moments yet for women’s basketball. Stellar Oregon guard Sabrina Ionescu — who [declined to enter the WNBA draft]( as a junior last year for another crack at the national title — had the Ducks [looking like the favorite]( going into this season’s tournament. Ionescu is also the [presumptive No. 1 pick]( in this year’s WNBA draft, whereupon she would have the chance to start a rivalry with Elena Delle Donne and the rest of the league’s veteran stars. And of course, the best women’s players in the world would [congregate in Tokyo this July]( for the Olympics, another prime showcase for the sport on a global stage. Now all of that is up in the air because of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. The NCAA Tournament was canceled, denying Ionescu her last chance at college glory. The draft, the subsequent WNBA season and even the Olympics [have not yet been postponed]( but there will be many logistical challenges to keeping their schedules — from the [90-plus active players currently overseas]( during the outbreak, to the possibility that postponed men’s sports will crowd the women out of arenas deep into the summer. And that’s assuming the virus’s spread is stopped in time to hold sporting events (with or without fans) before summer’s end. Whatever momentum women’s basketball had a few weeks ago will likely be gone by the time it resumes again. And it did have momentum. The women’s NCAA Tournament [saw its highest attendance in 15 years]( in 2019, and television ratings for the final [were slightly up]( year-over-year — despite [subscriber losses]( from ESPN, the event’s main broadcaster, and a less dominant season than usual by [perennial draw]( UConn. The WNBA [had a rough finals]( in terms of television ratings but had [shown more encouraging signs]( earlier in the summer. And in general, interest in women’s basketball has been rising in recent years. According to [Google Trends]( search interest in both the women’s NCAA tourney and (especially) the WNBA was higher in 2019 than it was in 2016: [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- The Latest Data Who will win the 2020 Democratic primary? [Who Will Win The 2020 Democratic Primary?]( How popular is Donald Trump? [How popular is Donald Trump?]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Weekly Listen [Play]( [Politics Podcast: How COVID-19 Is — And Isn’t — Changing Politics]( [FiveThirtyEight] [View in browser]( [ABC News]( [Unsubscribe]( Our mailing address: FiveThirtyEight, 47 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023.