Latest
UConn’s Geno Auriemma unloads on NCAA over tournament format: ‘I just don’t understand’
UConn women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma put the NCAA on blast.
The 72-year-old coach took umbrage with the NCAA for not consulting the players or coaches before making changes to the tournament’s format.
The NCAA shifted from a four-site regional to a two-site regional in 2023, which Auriemma said has created issues for shootaround times and quality of play.
“I just don’t understand some of the decisions that are made about our game when we’re trying to grow the god—- game,” Auriemma said at a press conference Saturday.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
“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?'”
Auriemma opened his news conference by listing some of the dismal 3-point shooting numbers from teams in Friday’s Sweet 16 games: 4 for 20 (UConn), 4 for 22 (North Carolina), 1 for 17 (Notre Dame), 5 for 18 (Vanderbilt), 4 for 16 (UCLA) and 7 for 26 (Duke).
The legendary coach lamented the timing and duration of UConn’s shootaround.
“Know what time our shootaround was yesterday?” Auriemma said. “Six twenty (a.m. ET), I think, for half an hour. This morning, I just saw Notre Dame leaving, so they had media this morning. Their practice time is tonight at 5:30. … You know what time our practice time is? 6:30 tonight.”
With eight teams sharing an arena, there is less practice time to go around for each team. Auriemma also suggested the equipment being used is causing a decrease in the quality of play.
“I think they bring in new baskets, new basketballs right out of the box,” Auriemma said.
“Got people dribbling the ball off their feet. You got people missing layups all over the place. You bounce the ball, and it goes up to the ceiling. There’s just no concept of how basketball is played.”
The 12-time national championship-winning head coach said maybe the teams had a bad shooting day, but all of their shooting numbers were well below what their averages were throughout the season.
“How many arenas are we going to sell out with that bulls—?” Auriemma said.
The NCAA’s intention of switching to a two-regional format was to drive attendance, and it told ESPN it has drawn the highest numbers in tournament history since implemented. Lynn Holzman, the NCAA’s vice president for women’s basketball, told ESPN the positives outweigh the negatives.
Auriemma said he does not have any answers for the right solution, just questions.
The esteemed head coach will look to lead his top-seeded, undefeated squad (37-0) to a victory in the Elite 8 against No. 6 Notre Dame Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Latest
UFC’s Dana White Sends Letter To President Trump For Assistance On Gambling Tax Provision
Latest
Tennessee angler lands monster 15-pound largemouth bass that shatters state record held since 2015
A Tennessee angler just landed the fish of a lifetime.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency confirmed this week that a new state record largemouth bass has officially been established after angler Darren Nunley reeled in an absolute monster earlier this year.
And when we say monster, we mean monster.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE OUTKICK SPORTS COVERAGE
Nunley’s fish weighed in at a staggering 15 pounds, 7 1/2 ounces and measured 27 7/8 inches long, officially breaking a state record that had stood for more than 11 years.
According to TWRA, Nunley caught the fish on Feb. 28 in Nickajack Reservoir using a jackhammer chatterbait lure while fishing with a 17-pound fluorocarbon line and a Shimano reel.
The Whitwell, Tenn., resident landed the fish around 8 a.m., and after the bass was weighed on a certified scale and underwent genetic testing, the state officially confirmed the new record on May 9.
The previous Tennessee record belonged to Gabe Keen, whose 15-pound, 3-ounce largemouth bass was caught back in 2015.
Longtime bass guide Hensley Powell was in the boat with Nunley when the record fish hit.
“I gave Darren a Z-Man JackHammer Chatterbait to tie on that morning,” Powell told Outdoor Life. “It was a half-ounce, colored green-pumpkin with a Hog Farmer Spunk Shad plastic trailer on the lure.”
At first, Powell thought Nunley had gotten snagged in grass.
“He was just swimming the lure along and had a strike,” Powell said. “I thought he was hung on grass when his rod bowed and he started cranking … I saw it boil the surface. It never jumped, but when it turned sideways, I told Darren that was a good one.”
Then came the moment every bass fisherman (and woman) dreams about.
“I told him, ‘Now that’s a fish,’” Powell recalled. “Darren was shocked when he saw how big it was.”
And the timing of all this couldn’t be much better for Tennessee’s bass fishing scene.
This fall, the Nashville area will host The Champions, a massive new bass fishing tournament featuring the top anglers from both the Bassmaster Elite Series and Major League Fishing’s Bass Pro Tour competing for a record-setting $3.25 million purse. The event is scheduled for Oct. 28-Nov. 1 on Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville, just outside Nashville.
And after seeing the kind of fish Tennessee waters are producing these days, it’s pretty easy to understand why the Volunteer State is becoming a bass fishing hot spot.
Latest
Toronto is handing out free World Cup-themed condoms, including one with an eggplant and attached soccer balls
In January, the Toronto Sun reported that Toronto Public Health was spending nearly $200,000 on “condoms and other sex paraphernalia for the World Cup.”
Among the items purchased were 576,000 branded condoms and 200,000 individual packages of lubricant. The outlet added that the wrappers on the condoms would come in six designs.
The free World Cup-themed condoms are so that fans can “score safely” next month when the tournament arrives in the city. The last thing the TPH wants is STDs in Toronto getting out of hand.
ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
Yesterday, the six World Cup condom designs hit social media and they are something. The six different designs didn’t just have a soccer ball or World Cup logo slapped on them.
These things are supposedly designed for fans “attending a soccer match, a watch party, hitting a summer festival or partying.” They look like they’re designed for collectors.
That’s plain to see when you see the wrappers for the first time. There are phrases like “block those shots” and “what a finish” on them. But the true magic of the designs is the ones with an eggplant emoji with soccer balls attached to it.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE OUTKICK CULTURE COVERAGE
That alone, in my humble opinion, would have made those wrappers. But they went a step further for public safety or promoting sexual health, or whatever they’re doing, by also including a peach emoji on that same condom wrapper standing in front of a goal.
I thought the point of these was for people to use them. Who in their right mind is going to tear open one of these bad boys?
I’m not even a soccer fan, not even when the World Cup is taking place, and if I got my hands on one of these, there isn’t a chance I’m destroying that kind of artwork.
That could just be me. I am a bit of an aesthete.
-
Latest4 weeks agoVance Leaves Meeting, Looks Straight Into Camera, Announces Stunning Arrest
-
News4 weeks agoAdam Schiff Facing 30 Years In Prison After Bank Records Leak
-
Latest4 weeks agoSupreme Curt Sides With Trump — He Can Remove The All
-
News1 month agoAll Hell Breaks Loose On Fox When Jesse Watters Asks Fetterman One Question
-
News4 weeks agoNBC Stops LIVE Broadcast — Breaks Big Trump News
-
News4 weeks agoSwalwell Facing Jail Time After Sickening New Video Leaks
-
Latest4 weeks agoTrump Pulls Off Miracle Of A Lifetime — It’s Permanently Open
-
Latest4 weeks agoUT Judge Drops Bombshell In Charlie Kirk Killer Case
