PHOENIX — A season ago, LSU's Kim Mulkey and Vic Schaefer of Texas both took aim at the NCAA for its double-regional format in thewomen's basketball tournament. This year, the loudest critic has beenUConn coach Geno Auriemma.
The winner of 12 national championships has argued that shrinking the regional sites from four to two has negatively impacted the experience of the players. Before 2023, the women's tournament operated like the men's for the regional rounds; the 16 remaining teams were split up into four regional sites in different corners of the country. Now, just two sites host eight teams apiece, which has created unorthodox and truncated times for practices, shootarounds and media obligations.
"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? … I just don't understand some of the decisions that are made about our game when we're trying to grow the goddamn game," Auriemma said last weekend in Fort Worth, Texas. "I think there is a level of frustration right now among the coaches that's higher than any time I've ever seen it."
The Final Four matchup between South Carolina and UConn was played with intensity throughout, with emotions building as the game reached its closing stretch.That tension surfaced late as the outcome was decided, leading to visible reactions and an exchange between two of women's basketball's most prominent coaches.
Above, UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley react during the second half of the 2026 Women's Final Four semifinal at Mortgage Matchup Center." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Head coach Dawn Staley of the South Carolina Gamecocks and head coach Geno Auriemma of the UConn Huskies exchange words during the fourth quarter in the Final Four of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at Mortgage Matchup Center on April 03, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma bring intensity to SC‑UConn. See photos
The Final Four matchup between South Carolina and UConn was played with intensity throughout, withemotions building as the game reached its closing stretch.That tension surfaced late as the outcome was decided, leading to visible reactions and an exchange between two of women's basketball's most prominent coaches.Above, UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley react during the second half of the 2026 Women's Final Four semifinal at Mortgage Matchup Center.
But NCAA President Charlie Baker would urge detractors of the shift in format to look at the data. And indeed, the total attendance for this year's regional rounds was 78,475 — ranked as the fourth-highest ever. That figure is about 16,000 greater than the number of fans that attended the final season of the four-regional format in 2022, and about 12,000 more than 2019's figure.
During an impromptu media scrum with reporters at the Mortgage Matchup Center on Friday, Baker continued to defend the double-regional format.
"The one big thing that the basketball committee has always said is they want the experience for the kids in the arena to be loud, boisterous, enthusiastic and full and bigger," Baker said. "And if you look at all the data — the ticket data, the attendance data, the viewership data — it's all gone up dramatically over the past few years."
Ticket sales and total revenue for the Women's NCAA Tournament reached $4.4 million this year, the highest total ever, according to data provided by the NCAA. And as Baker said, viewership continues to be up, too. Elite Eight games between UConn and Notre Dame, Duke and UCLA, and TCU and South Carolina this season ranked inside the top 10 of the most-watched regional finals ever, each eclipsing 2.7 million viewers.
"The committee will go back and take a look at all the stuff that was raised around all of those issues and make decisions about what they do going forward, but it's pretty hard to argue when attendance is up, viewership's up, and ticket sales are up consistently year over year, that this formula isn't working," Baker said. "I understand the issue around the scheduling, and that's something I think the committee will take a good hard look at."
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Regionals this year were held in Fort Worth, Texas, and Sacramento, California. The NCAA already has its regional sites booked for the next two years, with Philadelphia and Las Vegas hosting games in 2027, and Washington, D.C. and Portland, Oregon, hosting in 2028.
This is also the second year for units for the Women's NCAA Tournament, which means teams that make March Madness and win games in it earn money for their school and program. This year, one unit is worth a little more than $113,000.
Those units are primarily funded by the NCAA's media rights deal with ESPN. The newest agreement between the NCAA and ESPN began in 2024, an eight-year deal for 40 championships that values the women's tournament at $65 million per year.
When asked Thursday if the women's tournament could be spun off into its own singular deal — like the men's basketball tournament is — Baker expressed optimism in that change.
"I would really like to see us be able to come up with something other than the status quo on that," Baker said. "And I made that pretty clear to our media partners pretty much since I got the job."
Whether it's the media rights deal, changing the regional format or selecting which referees are chosen for the Final Four, UCLA head coach Cori Close simply wants coaches to have a voice in making those decisions.
"I do think when you have balanced representation in decision-making bodies, you usually end up in a better place. I think it would be wise if we took a step back. Where are we? How are our structures working? What adjustments need to be made to just enhance it? You get in trouble when you make big swell swoops," said Close, a former president of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. "If there's something that doesn't have transparency in how the process goes, if it doesn't have principled things that you can go back to … I do think there's some adjustments to be made."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Charlie Baker hits back at criticism of Women's NCAA Tournament format