UConn's Geno Auriemma Explains Why He Doesn't Give NCAA Tournament Bracket Advice
UConn Huskies women's basketball head coach Geno Auriemma has taken his team to 35 consecutive NCAA Tournaments. Within those, he has gone to 23 Final Fours and won 11 National Championships, owning a total NCAA Tournament record of 137-24 (.851).
Imagine how much madness Auriemma has witnessed during those 35 NCAA Tournaments and 161 games played. Therefore, one would imagine that nobody would be better than him at putting an NCAA Tournament bracket together, right? Not quite; at least according to Auriemma.
The Huskies legend appeared on a March 17 episode of ESPN College Basketball's bracketology show to discuss all things UConn and the NCAA Tournament ahead of his team's first game on March 22. At one point, Auriemma got hilariously honest about his own bracket history.
"I don't even remember the last time I actually filled out a bracket. I really don't. And trust me, I certainly haven't filled one out in the last 20-25 years," Auriemma said. "I don't know that I was paying that much attention to all the other brackets. Until I saw our name, that's kind of what I wanted to know. That's it. Who are we playing, where are we playing, what time who's in our bracket, what's the potential path? Every[thing] else, that's for everybody that isn't coaching."
He was later asked whether he gets any text messages asking for advice about brackets.
"No. No, they don't ask me because I think everybody's better than us, I think everybody is going to beat us. So they don't trust me," Auriemma answered with a laugh.
ICYMI, we had Coach Auriemma on our Bracketology show. If you were wondering if there's a Geno filled bracket somewhere in the stratosphere, the answer is no. "They don't ask me because I think everybody's better than us, so they don't trust me" 😂 [1/2] pic.twitter.com/NKnZwIjh3J
— Arielle (Ari) Chambers (@ariivory) March 19, 2025
Experience doesn't breed bracket wisdom in Auriemma's case.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.