As the women’s game approaches, I have to comment on some of the press conferences from UConn’s coach Geno Auriemma and how other lead coaches like Kim Mulkey have chimed in on it.
It all started at the Super Regional where in his press conference, Geno complained about the super regional format. As I steal quotes from multiple articles, here is what he had to say.
“In a normal world, run by normal people, there would only be four teams here,” Auriemma said. “Which means there would be no games today, the games would be tomorrow. Which means we wouldn’t have to get up at 6 a.m. to have an 8 o’clock practice here this morning for an hour.”
“God bless whoever wins Monday night, OK, and they have got to fly cross-country, which is all day Tuesday, then they have two days, Wednesday and Thursday, to play the biggest game of their life,” Auriemma said.
“So whoever came up with this super regional stuff, and I know who they are, ruined the game. They did. They ruined the game. Half the country has no chance to get to a game in person,” Auriemma said. “But you’re making billions off of TV. Well, actually you’re not, that would be the men’s tournament. So, yeah, there’s a lot of issues that they need to fix.”
He also quipped that it took more time to get the players through security at the arena than the amount of time they were allocated to actually practice on the court.
Of course, LSU’s Kim Mulkey chimed in as well about how it was unfair to their fans to make them travel like this. Of course, I am biased because of my opinions of Mulkey and Auriemma from past comments, but this last part annoyed me.
So, let me break this down. Geno mentioned something that should have occurred to me but never did. If you have 8 teams at a site and have games being played every day starting at Noon, when are the players going to get a chance to have a shootaround on the court to get used to the court. Well – now we know thanks to Geno, it is apparently ridiculously early in the morning and I agree with him that sounds horrible.
They still probably have to start pretty early. But if there are only 4 schools there, they either get a later start or more time, either of which would be a better experience for the athletes.
Also, why are they playing on separate days. UConn’s opponents also had to fly cross-country – the UCLA super-regional was also in Spokane. But why did they play the day before. Why wouldn’t you have an off-day and allow the players some more time on the court during the off-day.
I have to respectfully disagree with the Hall of Famer about the travel. Ideally, there would be no travel. The timing is because they want as many of their games on the weekends – it is all about TV contracts, and those TV contracts is helping the game grow. They are getting a lot better coverage with their Final Four being on Friday and Sunday vs. the old method of Sunday and Tuesday.
I agree with the comment that my wife made – why is the game at 3 pm? She likes it because she doesn’t have to stay up super late, but it seems like a double standard – if the men’s game was today, it would be during prime-time. But I think that they are getting more viewers having the championship on Sunday and so while I wouldn’t mind a different time, I think you are stuck with the Friday / Sunday timeslots.
I thoroughly disagree about the travel piece. Geno and Kim can be upset about the regional being in Spokane, but the Huskies and Tigers were not the #1 seeds. The regional is meant to be the closest for the top seed – and those teams in Spokane were UCLA and USC. For them, the super-regional reduced their travel. not increased it.
Lets remember the men’s West regional this year. The Florida Gators were sent to Los Angeles along with Texas Tech, Maryland and Arkansas. I didn’t hear anyone on the men’s side complaining about the travel (maybe I just didn’t get the right press conference details). At least in Spokane for the women’s tournament, the #1 seeds USC and UCLA were West Coast teams.
We also have to remember the first rounds. While I have not double checked it, I am pretty sure that in this amazing 17 years that UConn has continuously made the Final Four, they have probably always been a top 4 protected seed. That means that every year, the Huskies start their journey to the Final Four to play their first two games on their home court. There is not a single men’s team playing a game on their home court – the rules around neutral courts prevent a team hosting their own games.
If we added two regionals in the Midwest (Chicago) and the East (Philadelphia) and setup the bracket the way the men’s tournament is set up, UCLA would have gone to Spokane, South Carolina would go to Birmingham, Texas would have gone to Chicago in the Midwest and then USC would have been forced out East to Philadelphia.
In this scenario, LSU still would have gone to Spokane. They were in UCLA’s bracket, and so they were still heading West. Four regionals instead of super-regionals would not have changed anything for them.
UConn would have lucked out – they would have taken on USC in Philadelphia instead of Spokane. And while that might have been better for the Huskies’ fans, it certainly wouldn’t have been better for the Trojans’ fans – and the Trojans were the #1 seed.
In this situation assuming the bracketing process would have kept the same brackets, USC, UConn, Oklahoma and Kansas State would have gone to Philadelphia instead of Spokane (without doing a huge internet mapping exercise, it seems like it would be worse for USC, better for UConn and neutral for Oklahoma and Kansas State) and Texas, TCU, Notre Dame and Tennessee would have headed to Chicago instead of Birmingham (guessing better for Notre Dame and worse for Texas, TCU and Tennessee). So, we would have made the travel better for 2 teams, and worse for 4 teams – including the two #1 seeds.
I think Geno is probably right that it would be better in a regional format. At a minimum, if you are going to do a super-regional, why not have the two finals in that super-regional play on the same day and then they have the same travel and rest for the Final Four. Or maybe at least pick some more central super-regional sites so that teams are not travelling across the country.
But lets not make the statement that it is about travel for the fans and players. It is just as possible that four regionals would increase the amount of travel for the 16 teams – and it would certainly increase the travel if they went to the neutral courts for the first two rounds like the men’s tournament.
Today, Geno made one last statement, and it gave me a new impression of the Hall of Fame coach.
“Before I do leave here, though, I do have to say this, and not just because it’s women’s basketball. But I’ve been to these Final Fours for 24 years: This is the most women I’ve ever seen at a press conference since I started this 40 years ago. And I’m just really, really proud of you all. Really,”
The game of women’s basketball is growing, and it impacts more than simply the wonderful athletes who are on the court today. And while I have complained about some of the statements that Geno has made in the past and I don’t completely think he has thought through the ramifications of his statements, I do feel that it is coming from a place of sincerity. He is simply doing his best to help promote the equality of women’s sports.
Geno Auriemma is doing great work, and it is not simply because he has led the Connecticut Huskies to another Final Four.
And just so that it doesn’t get lost in the rambling, Dawn Staley of South Carolina is doing incredible work as well. She had some great comments in her press conferences that put all the honor and accolades on her players. She is a fantastic coach who has started to create her own dynasty and Hall of Fame career. South Carolina is going to be competitive for years to come because Dawn Staley is there. She simply didn’t say anything controversial to make the Lunatic rant. In a way, that should be recognized and rewarded more.