Geno Auriemma, the head coach of UConn’s women’s basketball team, had some people wondering if he was trying to pull an April Fools’ Day joke by calling men’s college basketball “a joke.” But it sounds like he was really serious about it.
During a conference call with the media, Auriemma said that the men’s game is “so far behind the times, it’s unbelievable.
After calling men’s basketball “a joke,” he explained further, “It really is. I don't coach it. I don't play it, so I don't understand the ins and outs of it. But as a spectator watching it, it's a joke. There's only like 10 teams, you know, out of 25, that actually play the kind of game of basketball that you'd like to watch.”
Auriemma later said that there isn’t enough scoring in men’s basketball and it’s not because of great defense, according to a transcript from ASAPSports.com. “College men's basketball is so far behind the times it's unbelievable. I mean women's basketball is behind the times. Men's basketball is even further behind the times,” Auriemma said.
Auriemma said that “every coach will tell you that there’s 90 million reasons” for there only being so many teams that play the kind of basketball he likes, but he didn’t say what any of those reasons are. He also stressed that he was making his comments as a fan, not as a coach.
As ESPN notes, Auriemma is preparing his team for a record 10th national championship. The team plays Maryland on Sunday in Tampa.