Geno Auriemma Says The State Of Men's College Basketball Is 'A Joke'

Yahoo Sports- "I think the game is a joke. It really is," Auriemma said. "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."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. I mean women's basketball is behind the times. Men's basketball is even further behind the times."

Numerous coaches have advocated going to a 30-second shot clock in the men's game, which currently uses a 35-second shot clock. The women already use a 30-second shot clock. 

Auriemma has won nine national titles coaching the Huskies and he makes $2 million annually. He said he is fine with men's coach Kevin Ollie making $3 million. Ollie led the Huskies to the national title on the men's side last season but his program didn't make it back to the NCAA tournament this season.


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I am not saying that men's college basketball is without it's drawbacks. As mentioned above the extended shot clock is something that needed to be remedied years ago. Scoring is definitely down. Whether that be because the most talented players don't stay longer than one year, I don't know, but it is to the detriment of the viewing audience. Sometimes you get the feel that the players are over coached and it takes away from the flow of the game.

With that said, the last person who I want to hear it from is Geno Auriemma. You know how, up until recently, Floyd Mayweather Jr. got a lot of heat for actively avoiding the elephant in the room. By elephant of course I mean that small little Filipino boxer that drinks his own urine. Floyd just kept accepting fight after fight against low level competition, while the state of boxing was so dreary that the only person that had a chance of overtaking him was Pacquaio. That's what Geno Auriemma has been doing for 30 years. I have no problem with a man becoming one of the most prominent women's coaches of all time, I just don't need his opinion on a sport when he refuses any attempt to excel at it's highest level. You would think a natural progression after winning 9 national championships in women's basketball would be to take your talents to the more competitive men's game. After all, if you are going be so outspoken about the problems, why not be part of the solution?

Geno Auriemma has basically been winning a layup contest for years, and now he wants to judge the legitimacy of the dunk contest based on absolutely no merit. This is like a low level employee telling a CEO all the faults in the business without even offering as much as a resolution. If you want to be heard, take a seat at the table first Geno. I am not saying that he hasn't done a great job at UConn, but let's be honest...I could coach this year's Lady Huskies to a national championship. Steve Jobs wouldn't have taken advice from the founder of Nokia, Stephen King wouldn't let me edit his novels, and I don't need to know what Geno Auriemma thinks of a sport that is more entertaining than the one he has called home for the last 3 decades.

Maybe this was the point. Maybe he just wanted someone to pay attention to him. In that case, he succeeded. I can say with a fair amount of certainty that I wouldn't be talking about women's basketball if it weren't for one of it's figureheads criticizing a game that has never needed help getting my attention. 

I probably have more to say, but after searching for this picture I need a nap...