The UConn Huskies crashed out of the 2026 NCAA Tournament, but head coach Geno Auriemma’s antics are the bigger story from the women’s March Madness Final Four.

Friday’s loss against South Carolina marked a new low for Auriemma due to his incredibly unprofessional outburst after the game. Auriemma and South Carolina coach Dawn Staley got into a heated exchange that boiled over following the matchup.

MORE: Watch Dawn Staley, Geno Auriemma heated altercation in tense Final Four battle

Meanwhile, Stephen A. Smith didn’t waste any time in bashing the UConn head coach for his “horrible” actions at the Final Four.

That was some straight B.S. from the GREAT Geno Auriemma. Never — ever — thought I’d see the day when the greatest woman’s college coach in history would go down so CLASSLESSLY!!! Horrible look, and should be called out for it. He got OUTCOACHED. Plain and simple. And gets in her…

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) April 4, 2026

Many college basketball fans and media immediately jumped to the defense of Staley, who has also been known to be quite fiery during her legendary career. However, Auriemma is the bigger topic after allegedly getting upset at Staley for not shaking hands during pregame shoot-around.

Smith bashes Auriemma’s unprofessional antics

“That was some straight B.S. from the GREAT Geno Auriemma,” Smith said in a viral X post. “Never — ever — thought I’d see the day when the greatest woman’s college coach in history would go down so CLASSLESSLY!!!”

Smith continued on his warpath by suggesting that Staley thoroughly “out coached” Auriemma. Her Gamecocks team is now en route to the national championship game.

MORE: Bryce James’ March Madness experience gets awkward at Final Four

Auriemma is an 11-time national champion, but the UConn legend is known for having a short temper when suffering defeat. The Huskies are regularly in the March Madness mix, but his team has captured one title in the past decade.

Auriemma did point to a serious foul discrepancy in the third quarter during the South Carolina matchup. However, many are still up in arms about how the UConn coach handled the situation with Staley.

“There were six fouls called that quarter — all of them against us,” Auriemma told ESPN. “Their coach rants and raves on the sidelines and calls the referees some names you don’t want to hear.”

Women’s basketball has never been bigger, so the ongoing feud between Auriemma and Staley only increases the sport’s popularity.

College basketball is a sacred space throughout March and early April, but NCAA executives are actively planning to ruin March Madness as fans know it.

The NCAA Tournament features 68 teams in its current capacity. However, the higher ups running the show with college sports’ governing body want to dilute the greatest two-week period in basketball.

MORE: Geno Auriemma crashes out during UConn’s Final Four shocker

March Madness is about to look very different in the coming seasons as the NCAA aims to finalize a proposal to expand the men’s and women’s tournaments to 76 teams. On the surface, this may not seem like a huge deal to casual college basketball viewers.

NCAA leadership is expected to finalize an expansion of the men’s and women’s tournaments to 76 teams soon after this year’s tournament 🏀

The proposal would add eight games to the First Four, with 24 teams playing in an opening round before advancing into the main bracket.

Via… pic.twitter.com/GNp3bj4mAK

— Sports Business Journal (@SBJ) April 3, 2026

However, the allure of the NCAA Tournament is always the ability for smaller schools to pull off upsets in the early rounds. Then, traditional powerhouses like Connecticut, Duke, Kansas and North Carolina swoop in to steal the show in the Elite Eight and Final Four.

College basketball’s huge problem with increased transfers and certain schools spending millions with NIL money is growing. The disparity between blue bloods and top programs is only expanding, which creates a massive gap with mid-major schools.

NCAA is actively ruining March Madness

Last season, all one seeds represented every men’s Final Four team. Meanwhile, this year’s Final Four bracket in Indianapolis features two one seeds, a two seed and a third seed.

MORE: 2026 Final Four TV schedule, tip times for today’s games on April 4

On Friday, president Donald Trump even signed an executive order that aims to stop the bleeding for college sports. His action takes aim by limiting the number of years players can compete in college athletics.

Trump’s action also plans to ensure that student-athletes are only able to transfer once during their collegiate career. While lawyers across America will surely challenge the president’s executive order, it’s clear that broader change in college sports isn’t slowing down.

Professional leagues continue to hurt college sports

Many other sports are currently seeing similar issues when it comes to diluting the product. NFL, MLB and NBA each experimented with adding more teams to their respective playoffs in recent years.

Meanwhile, the FIFA World Cup is expanding to 48 soccer teams in 2026 for the first time in tournament history. Realistically, history always indicates that leagues will prioritize money over anything else, but in the case of college sports the amateurism is completely gone.

The college basketball transfer portal will open in April. Based on top schools’ spending habits from last season, it’s evident that programs are only going to up the ante further.

In 2025, Kentucky boosted its roster under head coach Mark Pope by spending over $23 million. That comes despite the Wildcats crashing out of the NCAA Tournament in the Round of 64.

Perhaps Trump and the NCAA come together to figure out how players and schools can find a way back to what originally made March Madness great. However, the current road that the sport is heading for doesn’t seem to indicate that scenario is possible.