Geno knows best, but maybe not here

Let’s say from the start that no one knows more about the Final Four than Geno Auriemma. His UConn teams make it an annual stop, with 13 straight visits among his 21 career appearances. He knows what he’s talking about. So his view on potentially combining the men’s and women’s Final Fours each year into one event needs to be taken seriously. He’s against it. Auriemma, who also has long experience coaching for the U.S. women’s national team, says combining the two is a bad idea because the women will inevitably get short shrift, with the majority of attention focused on the men’s side.

He’s likely right on that aspect. More people would tune in for the men’s games than the women’s, and the share of attention for events involving the athletes from each side would not be equal.

Unfortunately, that’s already the case. And while Auriemma is right that the women’s game needs to “carve out our own space separately from everybody else,” there are opportunities to do that in a combined event.

The debate arises from an NCAA report aimed at closing the gender equity gap between men’s and women’s college sports. Included were a number of provisions that Auriemma and others have deemed worthwhile and feasible, many of which are necessary to bring women’s sports to their rightful status in the public mind. Others generated more questions.

Connecticut is in a unique position as one of the few places where women’s basketball might be more popular than the men’s version. That’s no slight against the UConn men, who have four national championships of their own in the past 25 years, as many as any school in the country. But the UConn women have a special place in the state’s heart.

Central to the question raised by the NCAA report is cold hard cash. There’s money to be made in giving other sports a bigger profile, and women’s basketball is a good example. Connecticut has shown that fans will rally behind a winner, and sold-out arenas and universal name recognition for players show there is money to be made if teams are properly marketed.

Part of that is increasing visibility. And while it’s important that women’s Final Four games are nationally televised already, there could be more opportunities for people to watch in a combined event. With the eyes of the entire basketball world in one place, more people would finally see what we in Connecticut have known all along.

There would be benefits in terms of increased corporate support. Every player, men’s or women’s, would have access to the same amenities, sparing the embarrassment of last year’s viral photos of paltry offerings at the women’s tournament in comparison to the riches at the men’s version.

Maybe it wouldn’t work. Organizers are said to favor trying it on a trial basis, and that doesn’t seem like much to ask. If the events are better off being separate, they can always go back.

But it’s worth a try. Maybe Auriemma’s instincts are right. But for the sake of all college basketball, not just UConn, it’s worth trying a combined Final Four.

With the eyes of the entire basketball world in one place, more people would finally see what we in Connecticut have known all along.