Geno auriemma joke
Geno auriemma joke, Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma had some things to say during a conference call Wednesday, four days before the Huskies will take on Maryland in the Final Four.
Some of those things may even have regarded women’s college basketball. But that’s not what we’re talking about here.
Now, according to someone who was on the call, Auriemma was talking only as a fan of the men’s game and wasn’t comparing men’s and women’s college basketball.
Okay, sure: The men’s college game has its issues. Scoring is down. The referees have fallen hopelessly behind and couldn’t differentiate between a block and a charge if you gave them a replay on every single play. The best players leave after one year.
But here’s the thing about men’s college basketball, especially in the NCAA tournament: Apart from the No. 16 seeds, just about every team has a chance to at least win once. In Auriemma’s sport, the talent is consolidated into about five programs, meaning we see the same teams winning year after year after year. How is that any better? How is that not “a joke”?
Take, for instance, Auriemma’s Huskies. Since 1985, his first season at the helm, U-Conn. has won nine national titles, including four of the past six (the Huskies merely reached the Final Four in the other two years). The other champions over those 29 completed seasons: Tennessee (eight times), Stanford (twice), Baylor (twice), Texas, Louisiana Tech, Texas Tech, North Carolina, Purdue, Notre Dame, Maryland and Texas A&M.
Twenty-nine seasons, 12 champions. With 17 championships going to two programs and 21 championships won by only four. That’s nearly 75 percent of the titles, won by four teams.
Over the same span in the men’s game, 17 programs have won the championship.
Or we could look at Connecticut’s run to this year’s Final Four. The Huskies have won their four games by 56, 36, 51 and 21 points. Maryland has yet to win a game by less than 10 points in the tournament. Notre Dame’s closest win was a nine-point victory over Baylor in the region final. Only South Carolina, which beat North Carolina and Florida State by a combined eight points in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, has been truly challenged.Guess when the last time a team seeded lower than No. 5 reached the women’s Final Four? That would be 2004.
Again, how is this also not “a joke”? Who would want to watch an NCAA tournament game in which the outcome has been all but decided before tip-off? Yet this happens, year after year.
To Auriemma’s credit, he has acknowledged the problems with women’s college basketball’s imbalance of power in the past, even suggesting in 2012 that they lower the rims and see what happens. He also acknowledged the issue Wednesday.
“So the good teams are going to be good all the time because they have the culture of winning. And it’s up to everybody else to catch up,” he said. “And I think the catching up is happening.”
And when it does finally happen, Auriemma can take all the shots at the men’s game he wants.
Some of those things may even have regarded women’s college basketball. But that’s not what we’re talking about here.
Now, according to someone who was on the call, Auriemma was talking only as a fan of the men’s game and wasn’t comparing men’s and women’s college basketball.
Okay, sure: The men’s college game has its issues. Scoring is down. The referees have fallen hopelessly behind and couldn’t differentiate between a block and a charge if you gave them a replay on every single play. The best players leave after one year.
But here’s the thing about men’s college basketball, especially in the NCAA tournament: Apart from the No. 16 seeds, just about every team has a chance to at least win once. In Auriemma’s sport, the talent is consolidated into about five programs, meaning we see the same teams winning year after year after year. How is that any better? How is that not “a joke”?
Take, for instance, Auriemma’s Huskies. Since 1985, his first season at the helm, U-Conn. has won nine national titles, including four of the past six (the Huskies merely reached the Final Four in the other two years). The other champions over those 29 completed seasons: Tennessee (eight times), Stanford (twice), Baylor (twice), Texas, Louisiana Tech, Texas Tech, North Carolina, Purdue, Notre Dame, Maryland and Texas A&M.
Twenty-nine seasons, 12 champions. With 17 championships going to two programs and 21 championships won by only four. That’s nearly 75 percent of the titles, won by four teams.
Over the same span in the men’s game, 17 programs have won the championship.
Or we could look at Connecticut’s run to this year’s Final Four. The Huskies have won their four games by 56, 36, 51 and 21 points. Maryland has yet to win a game by less than 10 points in the tournament. Notre Dame’s closest win was a nine-point victory over Baylor in the region final. Only South Carolina, which beat North Carolina and Florida State by a combined eight points in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, has been truly challenged.Guess when the last time a team seeded lower than No. 5 reached the women’s Final Four? That would be 2004.
Again, how is this also not “a joke”? Who would want to watch an NCAA tournament game in which the outcome has been all but decided before tip-off? Yet this happens, year after year.
To Auriemma’s credit, he has acknowledged the problems with women’s college basketball’s imbalance of power in the past, even suggesting in 2012 that they lower the rims and see what happens. He also acknowledged the issue Wednesday.
“So the good teams are going to be good all the time because they have the culture of winning. And it’s up to everybody else to catch up,” he said. “And I think the catching up is happening.”
And when it does finally happen, Auriemma can take all the shots at the men’s game he wants.
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Geno auriemma joke
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