UConn coach Geno Auriemma speaks the truth: "a real spoiled group of fans"

…for taking that job at the University of Virginia.

…okay, for those UConn fans that passed out, I was just kidding. Well, a little bit anyway.

Just to clarify Knoxville’s percentages: during the NCAA tournament, the upper level is blocked off by black curtains, so Thompson-Boling Arena only holds 12,000ish for the tourney games. That’s how 9,000 gets you 75% in a 21,000+ seat stadium.

Jessica, great information, but…

First, there were several tweets from at least Baylor and Tennessee with “first 1,000 students in free tonight”. Are those reflected in the numbers, as they did not happen at Connecticut?

Did you find out ticket prices at other arenas? In the past, I know UConn charged more than any other venue. I would be interested in knowing.

It’s not just $22 + $8 either. Remember you usually go at least two people together, so now you are up to $44 + $8. Now consider the 7 pm start (as opposed to 7:30 regular season) means you usually have to buy food there, at the $4 per hot dog level, so let’s add another $20 for food. So now you are up to $72 for the game.

I’m sorry, but if you think Hartford County is affluent, you are extremely mistaken. Things are tough here, jobs are scarce, and prices are high. We have the highest gas tax in the country. Storrs is nowhere near a city; it takes at least a half hour and a good amount of gas with traffic to get there. So now add in the gas to get there and back.

Now factor in that the game was clearly advertised as being broadcast in its entirety on ESPN the other night. No whip around. It was 100% on for everyone in the area. With an early game time, and let’s face it, an outcome that was never in doubt vs. a non-sexy opponent, to drop around $100 when you can watch it for free in comfort of your living room isn’t particularly appealing to a fixed income audience, which a lot of the Husky fans consists of.

And let’s not overlook the tournament committee’s part in this itself. Think about it for a second. Connecticut’s schedule prior to the Final Four consists of Hartford (no threat at all, series was even cancelled by Hartford this year because it was so one-sided), Purdue or Kansas State (did anyone consider them a threat? I know I didn’t), yet another game vs. Georgetown (already beat twice), and another game vs. Duke (beat by 30). People are expected to get excited for these games? Really???? You’ll have to excuse UConn fans for looking past these.

Now let’s add in the other sport factor. The men’s team went on an amazing Big East tourney run, where a lot of fans went into NYC to go support and see them. Money spent there. Some have continued out west to watch them, money spent there. Football team went out to Arizona for a bowl game. Money spent there.

How much money are people supposed to spend on what? Several more I know bypassed Gampel, and are going to Philly or Indianapolis. Money spent there.

Am I disappointed by the turnout, of course I am. Does Geno as Coach have a right to be pissed off? Absolutely!!! Hey, if we’re going to promote this as “the last home game for the seniors” let’s just blow off But to “threaten” with I’m going to suggest we don’t bid and I’ll play road games instead so there? Well that seems silly. Who’s he hurting? His own team, but he’ll teach the fans!

All I’m saying is this is not such a clearcut argument as “spoiled fans” as it seems to those on the “outside looking in.”

1. Is Geno wrong in calling out his fans?
Perhaps he could have worded things a little differently, but he has a point. The Huskies averaged 9,075 fans a game at home this season, so for an NCAA tournament game at home, they should’ve averaged that amount at least in his eyes. However, like it has been the last four years, the Huskies dominate against EVERY team not in the Top 10, and yes, the fans assumed they’d make at least the sweet 16, and yes, they assumed the team would make the Final Four at a minimum. The Huskies have played every one of the teams in their bracket in the Philly regional and have beaten ALL OF THEM badly. Sure upsets happen, but Geno’s such a good coach and his players are so good to the point where a bad night for them will still beat every team in the country except for a Top 10 team when they play their best game.

Link to stats
http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/w-baskbl/stats/2010-2011/teamcume.html

2. Does the men’s basketball team’s success hurt the women’s basketball team?
As to the fact that fans’ money could be split between the men’s basketball team and the women’s basketball team, I don’t buy that completely. I think I said somewhere that a team’s men’s basketball fanbase isn’t the same as a team’s women’s basketball fanbase, at least at neutral arenas. Most of the UConn women’s fans I know don’t care about the men’s basketball team and in the DC area, I don’t know anyone who likes the UConn men’s team since we have UMD, GTown, Mason, etc. Also ask the students, who do make a considerable portion of the crowd at tourney games. If UConn got in the Final Four for both the men’s and women’s tourneys which has happened twice (2004 and 2009), most of the students would rather see the men than the women if they had the dough to go there, as well as most alumni.

As with the Huskies football team this past year, that could have been a somewhat minor factor as to why the women’s basketball team had bad attendance for their standards in addition to the fact that the team hosts the Big East women’s tourney most years if not every year. At least this is a good problem to have when the football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball teams are all kicking serious tail in their conferences and getting national respect.

3. Should UConn host less women’s basketball games for the NCAA’s and the Big East?
I agree with Auriemma that they should host less. It gives the team more challenging games, but this also gives other schools an opportunity to “show their stuff” for a lack of better term. For the NCAA’s, maybe UConn could host the women’s tournament, but don’t place UConn at the venue. I would think that a school can request that.

As with the Big East, putting it at Hartford (at the XL Center nonetheless) every year does give the Huskies an unfair advantage every year. Rotate it around at another team’s home arena or a nearby NBA/NHL arena. They could do something like this considering how big the Big East’s geography is:

Year 1: Hartford at XL Center
Year 2: NYC at Madison Square Garden (Home of the Knicks/Rangers/Liberty) or at Barclays Center (when the Nets move across the Hudson)
Year 3: Pittsburgh at the Consol Energy Center (Home of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins)
Year 4: Washington at the Verizon Center (Home of the Wizards/Capitals/Mystics)
Year 5: Indianapolis at Conseco Fieldhouse (home of the Pacers/Fever)
Year 6: Dallas at the American Airlines Center (home of the Mavericks/Stars)/Tampa at St. Pete Times Forum (home of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning) – TCU and USF are outliers of the Big East but still should get an opportunity to host the tournament. You could also add the Bradley Center in Milwaukee since Marquette is there.

4. Do I think this is a sign that Auriemma wants out?
Probably not. But at the same time you can never say never. Debbie Ryan, his mentor left UVA, and I would think that the Cavaliers would do their due diligence and gauge his interest at the women’s job there at a school in a stronger conference, a school which is more academically prestigious than UConn (also a good school in its own right), and it also has better resources than UConn including the local talent base in DC and the arena.

Obviously, there is always a chance that he could take a Division I men’s job, which I think is still possible, but he would never walk across the hallway to replace Calhoun because it wouldn’t look good on his team, and it’s unlikely that he’d go to Tennessee out of respect for UConn. Wouldn’t be surprised to see if OU or NC State give him a call this year about those vacancies and I’m pretty sure men’s programs do contact UConn about permission to speak to Auriemma since there is a clause in his contract about it specifically.

If he still really wants a men’s job and Geno “holds out” another year or two, Georgetown, Indiana, Virginia, and/or Maryland could have men’s basketball vacancies available should the Hoyas continue to disappoint early in the Dance or worse, the Hoosiers don’t appear to have had much progress at all since Crean came to town, the Hoos continue to struggle though there is progress there, and if the Terps continue to disappoint their fans (not to mention Randy Edsall could try to recruit him there). Same thing goes for Pitt possibly…

I am playing devil’s advocate here!

I do believe there should have been a better turnout, and it is embarrassing to Maya and Lorin that they did not play before a bigger crowd on their final game.

I just think there is a lot of piling on, not by Jessica here specifically, but in general.

It would be nice if ESPN could talk about Gonzaga, Louisville, or one of the upcoming games instead of this garbage.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/geno-auriemma-how-to-lose-fans-and-alienate-people/2011/03/24/ABwqNoPB_story.html

So a petulant Auriemma has decided to punish the Storrs unfaithful. Although Connecticut has hosted at least one round of the NCAA tourament since 1989, with the exception of last season, Auriemma said Tuesday night he would ask Athletic Director Jeff Hathaway not to bid to host any tournament games for the next five years.

As threats go, that’s the equivalent of "I’m going to take my ball and go home!" And it’s directed at a group of fans who have shown themselves to be among the most loyal in all of women’s basketball.

It’s also just bad coaching strategy. Because Storrs has proven to have a strong fan base, Connecticut is often awarded tournament games, which are also home games. What coach would willingly give that up?

I looked up from press row 5 minutes to game time and was shocked at the number of empty seats. It didn’t help that half the teams were gone sending home their fans and allowing others to move down.

I live in Connecticut and gas is $4.00 a gallon. I get it. I also understand that the average person in this state has 3 cars for a 2 driver household. Hard times mean that we vacation on Martha’s Vineyard instead of the Hamptons. We’re spoiled. We’re use to getting our way when we want it. We throw temper tantrums when we don’t get it. Hard times have hit everyone across the country but the prices were reflective of the cost of living in their respective regions.

In Geno’s defense, he was asked a question in the presser and answered. Was he disappointed? Yes. Hell, I was disappointed. These ladies have done everything that was asked from them and more for the last 4 years. They have lost 3 games, had a 90 game winning streak. They deserved a better send off. It didn’t happen. Not exactly the end of the world though. They get to keep playing.

Geno was being part sarcastic and glib in his answers and part this is how I feel. I actually understand his point. The luster of what UConn women’s basketball isn’t what it used to be. I remember in 1995, 2000 and 2004 actually being able to buy t-shirts off of street corners when UConn won Championships people were so excited. Now people read the headlines and go, ‘Good job girls.’ It’s too easy for fans in this state. Everything is spoon fed to them.

There is a lot of money, time, effort and staff that goes into hosting. It’s supposed to be this great honor that you can say this how our state and our fans look at women’s basketball. It didn’t happen. But it isn’t the first time. BET games to non UConn games was pathetic and these are games that people paid money to see and just didn’t go. The same thing happened in November at the World Vision Classic.

Storrs doesn’t help the situation. There is 1.5 ways into the town and 1.5 ways out. But that doesn’t typically stop people from attending

Now onto the Geno thing… Is Geno spoiled? Yeah. But he has the right to be. He built what he has from the ground up. He feels that him and his ladies are being disrespected and under appreciated. His thoughts are we’ll go play in front of someone that will appreciate us. Where he has a point. UConn has sold out other people’s arenas across the country on others wanting to see the ‘circus.’

So take his ball and go home? Sure. But wouldn’t you if you were constantly getting pushed down. “They’ll miss me when they don’t have my ball to play with.”

1. To those who seriously think that Geno is going anywhere other than a winery in California or a beach in Italy are delusional. He likes his kids, his program, his resources. That’s like selling your dream house because you don’t like that mailman. In all my years of talking to people, I have never met a man that is better with words and getting what he wants out of people with those words than Geno.

2. The BET will not be moved out of CT in the foreseeable future. While talking with BET officials a few weeks ago, they like Hartford. It’s like MSG for the men’s tournament. It has the hotels, venue space, and restaurants that they like. In addition the cost to have this venue is not as much as others. This tournament like most women’s tourney’s lose money. Why lose even more.

3. Geno would love to be sent to Ethiopia for the first round if it allows him to develop an us against them attitude for his team. He could care less about the where it’s the who that worries him.

Geno might be right, but his job is to win games, not spout off to the media about fans. But I guess spouting off is something he enjoys.