UConn Women’s Coach Geno Auriemma Says Men’s College Basketball Is Basically A Joke

Geno Auriemma has turned the Connecticut Huskies women’s basketball team into one of the most dominant teams in sporting history. They just go out there and crush opponents with minimal drama and mercy. Their losses are monumental events.

Hell, the Huskies are a 23-point favorite against fellow No. 1 seed Maryland in this weekend’s Final Four.

This tremendous canyon in quality between UConn and the rest of the women’s basketball teams isn’t a problem for Auriemma. But the men’s game?

He sees some problems with the men’s game.

I think the game is a joke.  It really is.  I don’t coach it.  I don’t play it, so I don’t understand all the ins and outs of it.  But as a spectator, forget that I’m a coach, as a spectator, watching it, it’s a joke.  There’s only like ten teams, you know, out of 25, that actually play the kind of game of basketball that you’d like to watch.  Every coach will tell you that there’s 90 million reasons for it.

And the bottom line is that nobody can score, and they’ll tell you it’s because of great defense, great scouting, a lot of team work, nonsense, nonsense.  College men’s basketball is so far behind the times it’s unbelievable.

Alright. He may have a point about aesthetic quality of the play. Many others have bemoaned the lack of scoring and overcoaching that’s been a plague the past few years.

On the other hand, raise your hand if this year’s NCAA Tournament hasn’t entertained you?

No hands? OK, let’s move on.

Now raise your hand if you haven’t watched a non-UConn women’s game since 1994.

Many of you? OK, let’s move on.

Auriemma stopped short of saying what improvements the guys could aim to make or, really, providing any specifics at all.

It’s hard to not view these comments as the product of sour grapes.

And if you do agree with Auriemma, there are plenty of tickets available in Tampa.

See you all there.