UConn's 88-point win in the NCAA tournament is a loss for women's basketball

After the Connecticut women’s basketball team beat Saint Francis of Pennsylvania 140-52  Saturday in Storrs, Conn., in the first round of the the NCAA tournament, coach Geno Auriemma was in celebratory spirits.

Embarrassment would have been more appropriate.

Auriemma, in unleashing his superior players, exposed what dilutes his accomplishments — the disparity between the best and the rest in women’s basketball is so significant, they could use a mercy rule. Or a coach who knows how to show mercy.

Both would have been welcome rather than the 88-point win, but Auriemma seemed to relish — rather than recoil — in what happened. 

“Once the pace was established,’’ he told reporters after the game, ‘it just became, for us, 'How many layups can we get? And how many open shots can we get?’"

Way too many, it turned out.

UConn outscored the No. 16 seed 96-10 in the paint while improving its record to 33-0 and, for at least a game, making the women's tournament look like a farce. Early round games feel beyond inconsequential with teams losing by 88 points — a result embarrassing even on the high school level.

(Auriemma isn’t the only who who has contributed to this shameful reality of mismatches: Baylor beat Texas Southern by 89 in the 2017 tournament.)

As a result, UConn’s win on Saturday was a loss for women’s college basketball.