NCAA president pushes back on Geno Auriemma criticism of women's tournament format

PHOENIX — A season ago, LSU’s Kim Mulkey and Vic Schaefer of Texas both took aim at the NCAA for its double-regional format in the women’s basketball tournament . This year, the loudest critic has been UConn coach Geno Auriemma . The winner of 12 national championships has argued that shrinking the regional sites from four to two has negatively impacted the experience of the players.

Before 2023, the women’s tournament operated like the men’s for the regional rounds; the 16 remaining teams were split up into four regional sites in different corners of the country. Now, just two sites host eight teams apiece, which has created unorthodox and truncated times for practices, shootarounds and media obligations. “Does anybody who makes these decisions ever ask the coaches and the players, hey, does this work?

Do you guys do this during the regular season? Is this normal? … I just don't understand some of the decisions that are made about our game when we're trying to grow the goddamn game,” Auriemma said last weekend in Fort Worth, Texas.

“I think there is a level of frustration right now among the coaches that's higher than any time I've ever seen it. ” But NCAA President Charlie Baker would urge detractors of the shift in format to look at the data. And indeed, the total attendance for this year’s regional rounds was 78,475 — ranked as the fourth-highest ever.