By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The 2026 NCAA Women’s College Basketball Final Four was hard to watch, and that was even without episodes of the Andy Griffith Show and the Rockford Files being shown at the same time.

And yet, I still found myself changing the channel, though I was watching when Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma embarrassed himself by behaving like an entitled bully after losing to South Carolina in the semifinals.

Nearly three decades of dominance has apparently gone to Geno’s head, turning him into a petulant child when things don’t go his way.

That will be the lasting take for the 2026 Final Four because UCLA’s 79-51 beat-down of South Carolina in the title game on Sunday isn’t worth remembering unless, of course, you’re a UCLA fan.

The game itself was dreadful as South Carolina shockingly offered little resistance.

Iowa head Jan Jensen and her players can take some solace in knowing that the game in which they lost by 51 points in the Big Ten Tournament this season came against the eventual national champion, which would go on to win won the title game by 28 points.

Auriemma might have lost it just from having to watch his team fall to South Carolina 62-48 in the semifinal.

The Huskies were flirting with perfection, entering the Final Four with a 38-0 record, and with a 54-game winning streak dating back to last season.

But their performance, including shooting just 31-percent from the field, fell far short of perfection.

And then Geno made a bad situation worse by being a sore loser, and by taking his frustration out on South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley for not shaking his hand right before the tipoff, which is Final Four tradition, though they did shake hands earlier.

Geno’s tirade seemed to be about more than just a handshake.

Staley has built her own dynasty at South Carolina, so perhaps Geno feels threatened by her success.

The Women’s Final Four already lacked a Cinderella story with all four of the teams expected to be there as No. 1 seeds.

But the three games weren’t even that competitive.

The most competitive game was UCLA’s 51-44 victory over Texas in the semifinal, but it was boring to watch unless you enjoy watching teams miss a bunch of three-point shots and struggle just to function on offense.

Sunday’s championship game never was competitive as UCLA never trailed and opened up a double-digit lead in the first quarter.

The 28-point margin of victory was the third-largest in a Division I women’s championship final; great for UCLA, but bad for the game.

Caitlin Clark didn’t just spoil Iowa fans with her rise to legendary status as a Hawkeye.

She also spoiled fans of the women’s game; turning the 2023 and 2024 Final Fours into monumental events that captivated the nation.

Whether you liked Clark and the Hawkeyes or not, they were fun to watch and that was never more apparent than the two Final Fours when Clark performed like a generational talent.

This year’s Final Four, on the other hand, didn’t come close to matching the Final Fours with Clark as there was little drama, and way more defense than offense.

It just wasn’t fun to watch, and that hurts the women’s game after it had made so much progress during the Clark years.