Geno: Women’s tourney should stay its own entity

HOUSTON — UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma is attending his first men’s Final Four since 1981, when he happened to live in the host city of Philadelphia and had a ticket. He recalled going on the same day that President Ronald Reagan was shot.

His return to the event more than four decades later reaffirmed his opinion that the men’s and women’s Final Fours should never be combined. This has been a discussion topic since gender equity issues arose during the 2021 NCAA tournaments and it included a formal recommendation of combining the men’s and women’s Final Fours.

“The Houston Astros are the defending World Series champions,” Auriemma told ESPN at NRG Stadium on Sunday. “Nobody cares [here]. They don’t even know they exist. The Lakers and Rockets [playing on Sunday] and these things. The Final Four swallows all of it up, like whales eat winnows. If we were to be put in this environment as a women’s tournament, we would lose everything that’s happening in Dallas right now.”

Auriemma said that having the women’s Final Four in a different venue than the men’s isn’t indicative of the caliber of the games being less compelling.

“What you’re seeing [this weekend] is that if you have your own unique product it works, because it’s an alternative,” Auriemma said. “It’s not something that’s inferior. It’s an alternative. [If you don’t like it], then don’t turn the game on. But six million people turn it on. It’s an alternative. It’s a different viewing option.”

While Auriemma spoke outside UConn’s men’s practice Saturday at NRG Stadium, the women’s NCAA final was being played in Dallas. It marked the first time in 14 years that Auriemma didn’t have a team in the Final Four, and he’s excited to see the sport have a galvanizing moment. Even if his Huskies weren’t involved.

“Before the women’s World Cup Final in the Rose Bowl, how many people in America thought that that was something that was going to be must-see TV?” he asked. “How about nobody? Look what one tournament did to galvanize the entire country behind women’s soccer. So it takes a moment like that, a tournament like that.”

Auriemma added that the sport needs to be focused on capitalizing on the momentum, which included six million viewers on ESPN for the semifinal game between South Carolina and Iowa. (The women’s final, which saw LSU defeat Iowa 102-85, was on ABC for the first time, and the appearance on broadcast television could boost ratings.)

Auriemma mentioned that the moment Iowa star Caitlin Clark was having this weekend, despite losing in the final, didn’t go unnoticed by his star guard, Paige Bueckers. As a freshman, Bueckers won multiple national player of the year awards after averaging 20 points and 5.7 assists per game. She missed time because of an injury as a sophomore and did not play at all this season after tearing her ACL over the summer.

Auriemma predicted one way to capitalize on the momentum was for Bueckers to face Iowa’s Clark, who averaged 27.7 points per game this year, in the title game. “Next year, if it’s those two in the final,” Auriemma said, “it won’t be six million, it’ll be 10 million.”

After Clark scored 41 points in both the Elite Eight and the national semifinal, Auriemma said his middle daughter, Alysa, brought up an accurate analogy of Clark’s talent and style.

Auriemma said: “My daughter said, ‘She’s Pete Maravich.’ And I thought, ‘You know what? She’s right. She’s Pete Maravich with the 3-point line.’ She has free rein to take any shot, anytime, from anywhere, and she believes that it’s going in.”