Auriemma Blasts NCAA Tournament Format

0:00It's March 29th. Welcome to Global News Today, powered by AI. I'm Cory with the story. Yukon Coach Geno Ariema is calling out the women's NCAA tournament format, hard, blasting the switch to just two regional sites instead of four. He's got 12 national titles under his belt, and says this setup hurts teams in the game's growth, pointing to weak attendance, terrible. Three points shooting like four out of 20 across games, and crazy schedules where squads do media add dawn, then practice late at night. The NCAA pushed this change four years ago, and plans to keep it for five more, claiming it boosts ticket sales and lands bigger markets over smaller. One's with four sites. Officials say they've crunched the numbers, and it's working overall for expanding women's hoops. Ariema's players, like Ozzy Fud and Sarah Strong, back him up, saying it's not ideal, but they're adapting amid the chaos. Other coaches like UCLA's Cory Close, admit scheduling King's need fixing for better player well-being, and top play,

1:02while frustration among coaches. Hits a new high with little input heard. He's also ripping new rims and fresh out the box basketballs, messing with shots, leading to miss layups and wild bounces that throw kids off. Friday's games in Fort Worth and Sacramento drew just 18,821 fans combined. Meanwhile, undefeated Yukon faces Notre Dame in the regional final tomorrow, pushing through the mess as talks heat up on rethinking this format to truly elevate the sport.