The coach of Uconn Geno Auriemma criticizes the NCAA Super Regional format: “They ruined the game”
Spokane, Wash. – It is the third year that Uconn arrived in the Pacific Northwest for the NCAA Super Regional tournament and the experience has not become more pleasant.
Before Saturday Sweet 16 Clash against n. 3 Oklahoma, the coach of the Huskies Geno Auriemma has again recorded himself at the regional concept with two sites, a perennial source of frustration for him dating back to Uconn’s journey to Seattle in 2023.
“Anyone who found this super regional stuff – and I know who I am – ruined the game. They did. They ruined the game,” said Auriemma. “Half of the country has no chance of getting to a game in person. But you are gaining billions from TV. Well, in reality you are not, it would be the tournament of men. So, yes, there are many problems they have to solve.”
The NCAA went from four regional sites to two in 2023 in response to the dimensions of the falling of the crowd. Since then the crowd has grown, but with more teams in less sites, some teams have complained about logistics such as sharing the field space, to find enough hotels and travel program.
The Huskies had a practice of an hour at 8 on Friday to host the four regional Spokan 4 teams that have to practice in the Arena and four other Spokan 1 teams who need a shooter before their games tonight. Saturday, they will have a precedent shooter with the games that overturned at the beginning of the day.
“In a normal world, managed by normal people, there would be only four teams here,” said Auriemma. “Which means that there would be no games today, the games would be tomorrow. Which means that we should not get up at 6 in the morning to have a practice of 8 this morning for an hour. Which means that we should not get up at 5 to have a shooter at 7:30 for half an hour. It takes us longer to overcome safety rather than actually being on the field?”
The Super Regional presents a further problem with travel, even if mainly for the winning teams in Spokan, who will have to make a cross -country trip (the second in a week if Uconn wins) to get to Tampa, Florida. For the Final Four. The female tournament has changed its last four days from Sunday-Tuesday to Friday-Sunday in 2017, which offers teams playing in the eight eight on Monday even less time to prepare for the national semifinal. As for men, Eight Eight ends on Sunday before the Saturday Final Four.
The journey could theoretically be simplified if the tournament sites were more central, but it was not so during the first three years of the super regional era. None of the teams that emerged from the West Super Regional won the national championship in the last two seasons, and only Iowa in 2023 has played the game of the national title, although the size of the champion is too small to draw conclusions.
This format is blocked until 2028 In 2028, they will once again travel to Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis, respectively, for the next lap.
(Photo: David Butler II / Image Images)
