Alexa Philippoumar 28, 2025, 02:38 PM ET
CloseCovers Women’s College Basketball and the WNBA previously covered UConn and WNBA Connecticut Sun, and are a Hartford Courant Stanford alumni and Baltimore native, with more experience in Dallas Morning News, Seattle Times and Cincinnati Enquilers.
SPOCANE, Washington – UCONN coach Genocon Olienma retarded the two-host regional system of the women’s NCAA Tournament, saying on Friday “the person who came up with this super-regional thing – and I know who they are – ruined the game.”
“Half of the country doesn’t have the opportunity to get into the game in person. But you’re making billions from television. Well, it’s not really. It’s not a men’s tournament,” Auriemma said a day before Spokane’s second seed husky faces No. 3 seed Oklahoma. “Yeah, there are a lot of issues they need to fix, and again, we can hit our ass tomorrow and it won’t change my feelings.”
The NCAA moved to two regional sites for the women’s tournament in 2023 after holding games previously at four locations. The Women’s March Madness event will have two local sites by 2028. Fort Worth, Texas and Sacramento, California will be next year. Philadelphia and Las Vegas in 2027. 2028, Portland, Oregon, Washington, DC.
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Auriemma’s husky has had to go to the West Coast every year for the region since 2023. They were the second species in Seattle that year, falling to Ohio State in the Sweet 16, and the third-place seed in Portland last season, beating USC to advance to Final Four.
“In a normal world run by ordinary people, there will only be four teams here,” Orienma said. There are eight teams at Spokane Super Regional, so his team must wake up at 6am at 8am at practice windows and on Saturdays at 7:30am at 7:30am at 7:30am.
Spokane 1 Regional Games will be held on Friday and Sunday, while the Spokane 4th Contest will be held on Saturday and Monday, with four consecutive games at Spokane Arena.
“It takes longer to get through security than you actually are in court,” Orienma said.
If they win Saturday, the Husky plays Monday night in the regional finals and then punches tickets to the Final Four in Tampa, Florida, “You’ll have to spend the whole day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and play the biggest game of your life.
The national semi-finals and championship games were held for a long time on Sundays and Tuesdays, respectively, until they switched to the Friday/Sunday schedule that began in 2017.
“There are a lot of people in the women’s basketball community that think they’re smarter. [how they run things in men’s basketball]”Orienma said.
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley was also asked about Birmingham, Alabama’s two-regional system.
“[Juggling practice schedules] Probably that’s it,” Staley said of the complications. Other than that, I actually like two regions. I like the other seven teams that are going to advance to the Elite 8 and advance to the final four right in one place.
“I think it allows fans who are female basketball fans to be drawn to one place, so I know there will be more attendance.
Auriemma also said it will support opening a transfer portal after the NCAA tournament on Friday. This year, the portal opened on Monday.
“There’s just a lot going on right now, and some of the focus of the players, some of the focus of the coaches, and some of the focus of the coaches, are obviously clear,” Auriemma said. “The portal has become a big cloud for everything. …When schools finish playing, there are ways to track, monitor, and punish penalties, as in the NBA. There are guidelines for what you can do with free agency.
