Saturday Night Live took a break from politics in its cold open to riff on March Madness — more specifically how the women’s tournament has been a lot more exciting than the men’s competition.
The set up was TBS’s post-game coverage, with co-host Kenny Smith (Devon Walker) noting that 14 million people watched the the Iowa-Connecticut game, where Caitlin Clark faced Paige Bueckers.
Fellow host Charles Barkley [Kenan Thompson] chimed in, “The women’s is turning up the stars. Caitlin Clark is going as for State Farm, Subway, XFinity and Nike. I’m only doing ads for three of those companies.”
Later, the anchors go to LSU coach Kim Mulkey (Heidi Gardner), who says she’s been made up to look “like the Riddler with the Talbots.”
When she was asked about her reputation for being too tough on her players, she told them, “Ohh please. People think I’m just mean because I have resting QAnon face.”
She went on, “That is what it takes to win in a college game, and I work my girls hard every day. I make then run 10 miles breathing in Louisiana swamp gas. We practice full contact, and if I don’t see hustle, I’ll throw a live alligator on the court.”
Then co-host Ernie Johnson (James Austin Johnson) asks her, “Who do you like for the men’s final on Monday?”
Mulkey answered, “Oh. Northern, southern state.”
“She’s clearly not watching it either,” Johnson said.
It was one of a number of references to the relative lack of stars on the men’s side. At one point Barkley breezed through the matchups, not even bothering with names. “Him and him. This guy on this guy. …Tall white versus tall Asian.”
At one point, when asked who he is picking for the women’s final, Barkley checked out his iPhone to do a Google search for “the Vegas women’s spread.” Then, he saw the search results and said, “OK, that is not what I thought it was gonna be.”
Smith said that he was going with South Carolina. “They haven’t lost a single game this entire season.”
Barkley responded, “Oh, come on Kenny, you know Iowa is a team of destiny. They’re hot right now. And they’ve got the greatest player of her generation. That’s why I bet $500,000 they are going to lose by ten.”
“You have a problem, Charles,” Johnson responded.
