UConn's head coach Geno Auriemma joined the chorus of voices rallying around Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve, who was fined $15,000 for her outburst during Game 3 of the Semifinals against the Phoenix Mercury. At the heart of the debate is one that has been brewing all season: does officiating in the WNBA need to be reevaluated, particularly in light of mounting player injuries and calls that either come too frequently or not at all? Or is there another element — perhaps something the league leadership is pushing for — at play, as Auriemma ultimately suggested?
Auriemma is no stranger to women's basketball, and has been coaching the Huskies for decades. He's also sent dozens of players to the league (at present, there are 15 former Huskies on WNBA rosters this season). While speaking to reporters following UConn's first day of practice this season, Auriemma agreed with Aces' coach Becky Hammon about physicality in the NBA versus the WNBA.
"I've had a lot of NBA people, and a lot of former WNBA players, tell me that what goes on in a WNBA game is way more physical than what happens in a NBA game," he explained. Hammon previously noted that many of her assistant coaches come from the NBA and have noted that the kind of physical plays that happen in the W could never fly in the men's league because "there would be fights."
"On a daily basis, I think the WNBA game is not conducive to great basketball. I mean, you can spin it any way you want. 'Well, there's more viewers, there's more that.' That's great. That doesn't mean that it's a better game just because people are watching, supposedly," he added, before referencing last year's Finals match between the Lynx and the Liberty, which he described as "horrendous."
But Auriemma didn't blame league officials for the current discord and debate that's dominating WNBA discourse: he appeared to put the blame squarely on league leadership. "And I don't blame the officials... I don't think it's the people actually officiating the games. I think it's what's either in the rulebook or what's accepted as, 'This is the style of play that we want.' Because if they didn't want that style of play, they wouldn't have it," he concluded.
Is the WNBA allowing physical play on purpose?
Auriemma's charge that officials aren't the problem but that the rulebook is appears to imply that he believes someone, somewhere in the WNBA is encouraging the current dynamic between referees, players, coaches, and fans, for reasons that remain a mystery. Perhaps conversations about physical play in the league drive viewership numbers, which in turn benefits the league as a whole (but at a heavy cost, as made by evident by player injuries).
But, despite those conversations, it's still not completely clear that the WNBA is any more physical than it's ever been. Conversations with retired players often come to the same conclusion: the league has always been physical, and right now there are just more eyes on it, more people realizing women play physically, too, and the ability for every single person who has a hot take to offer it up.
What did Cheryl Reeve do?
Reeve lost her cool after Napheesa Collier was injured during the final 30 seconds of the team's game against the Mercury Friday night. Collier was dribbling the ball when the Mercury's Alyssa Thomas moved in for a steal — a move that has been largely declared clean — and Collier rolled her foot. She immediately fell to the floor in pain and was later seen on a mobile scooter after the game's end.
Reeve refused to take questions from reporters following the game and used the press conference to blast the game's officiating. She said in part, "I want to call for a change of leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating. It's bad for the game. The officiating crew that we had tonight, for the leadership to deem those three people semi-finals playoff worthy is f***ing malpractice."
Reeve was ultimately suspended for a game and fined $15,000 for her conduct (Fever coach Stephanie White and Aces coach Becky Hammon were each fined $1,000 for agreeing with Reeve). The Lynx lost Game 4 to the Mercury, who are set to face either the Aces or the Fever in the WNBA Finals.