I’m not sure what’s more surprising: That this happened in the first place, or that it took four games for somebody to notice.
The NCAA acknowledged today that the three point lines on the court for the women’s regional in Portland are at two different distances – and have been for the entire last round of the tournament.
The mistake was noticed while NC State and Texas were warming up ahead of their Elite Eight matchup, and officials brought out a tape measure to verify that the distance between the top of the key and the three point line was shorter at one end of the court.
The coaches agreed to play on the court as it is rather than delay the game, and the NCAA announced in a statement that the mistake would be fixed ahead of tomorrow’s games:
“The NCAA was notified today that the three-point lines on the court at Moda Center in Portland are not the same distance. The two head coaches were made aware of the discrepancy and elected to play a complete game on the court as is, rather than correcting the court and delaying the game. The court will be corrected before tomorrow’s games in Portland.”
The baffling part though is that the court has already been used for four Sweet Sixteen games in Portland, and apparently nobody noticed. NC State and Texas both played on the court once in their wins over Stanford and Gonzaga in the last round, and USC/Baylor and UConn/Duke both made it through entire games without catching the mistake.
The women’s three-point line was pushed back to 22 feet, 1 and 3/4 inches in 2021, the same distance as the men’s line. So it’s unclear why one line is closer than the other on the court, but either way, people were quick to rip the NCAA for the insane error.
Of course both teams play two quarters on each end of the court, so the time spent with each three point line will be the same for each team, but still…how in the hell does something like this happen, and then nobody notices for four games? Rookie stuff, especially when it’s pretty clearly visible on the broadcast.
Either way, NC State ended up taking down Texas on the effed up court – and the NCAA says that it will be fixed in time for USC and UConn to face off tomorrow.
Do better, NCAA. Just in general.
