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Geno Auriemma, the highly successful head coach of the UConn women's team (he's won 7 National Championships, and has appeared in 13 Final Fours) is not happy with the way women's basketball has failed to grow, or appeal to new fans, and he is proposing several new rules should be adopted. He says he will introduce changes including a lower basket, a 24 second shot clock, an 8 second backcourt clock (currently the women's game does not have any backcourt time limit), and more flexibility for teams to schedule scrimmages against other D1 teams. He also doesn't like the fact that women use a smaller ball.
"The game hasn't grown as much as it should in the last 10 years"...
"In 2002, we played the Final Four in front of 30,000 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
"Now, 10 years later [2011], we [the women's Final Four] can't sell out the Conseco Field House [in Indianapolis]? So how much has the game possibly improved, in terms of how badly people want to see it?"
"What makes fans not want to watch women's basketball is that some of the players can't shoot and they miss layups and that forces the game to slow down," he said.
"How do help improve that? Lower the rim [from 10 feet]. Do you think the average fan knows that the net is lower in women's volleyball than men's volleyball? It's about seven inches shorter so the women have the chance for the same kind of success at the net [as the men]."
"Let's say the average men's player is 6-5 and the average woman is 5-11," Auriemma said. "Let's lower the rim seven inches; let's say 7.2 inches to honor Title IX [instituted in 1972]. If you lower it, the average fan likely wouldn't even notice it.
"Now there would be fewer missed layups because the players are actually at the rim [when they shoot]. Shooting percentages go up. There would be more tip-ins.
"This spring, I plan on proposing [to the rules committee] that the NCAA allow programs to keep their teams together in order to play scrimmages against an opponent, with the lower basket, with a 24-second shot clock and an eight-second backcourt rule, and see what happens."
"Why is softball played on a different field than baseball?" Auriemma said. "Why don't they ask those women to play with 90-foot base paths?
"And I hate the smaller ball [that women use]. They either need to change the ball or change the rims. The bigger ball sits on the rim longer [for layups]. But no one wants to hear that.
"The game hasn't grown as much as it should in the last 10 years"...
"In 2002, we played the Final Four in front of 30,000 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
"Now, 10 years later [2011], we [the women's Final Four] can't sell out the Conseco Field House [in Indianapolis]? So how much has the game possibly improved, in terms of how badly people want to see it?"
"What makes fans not want to watch women's basketball is that some of the players can't shoot and they miss layups and that forces the game to slow down," he said.
"How do help improve that? Lower the rim [from 10 feet]. Do you think the average fan knows that the net is lower in women's volleyball than men's volleyball? It's about seven inches shorter so the women have the chance for the same kind of success at the net [as the men]."
"Let's say the average men's player is 6-5 and the average woman is 5-11," Auriemma said. "Let's lower the rim seven inches; let's say 7.2 inches to honor Title IX [instituted in 1972]. If you lower it, the average fan likely wouldn't even notice it.
"Now there would be fewer missed layups because the players are actually at the rim [when they shoot]. Shooting percentages go up. There would be more tip-ins.
"This spring, I plan on proposing [to the rules committee] that the NCAA allow programs to keep their teams together in order to play scrimmages against an opponent, with the lower basket, with a 24-second shot clock and an eight-second backcourt rule, and see what happens."
"Why is softball played on a different field than baseball?" Auriemma said. "Why don't they ask those women to play with 90-foot base paths?
"And I hate the smaller ball [that women use]. They either need to change the ball or change the rims. The bigger ball sits on the rim longer [for layups]. But no one wants to hear that.
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