The NCAA has egg on its face.
Just before tipoff in the women’s Elite Eight between Texas and North Carolina State, the NCAA was made aware of a discrepancy in the distance of the 3-point lines on either side of the March Madness courts at the Moda Center in Portland.
The news was first broadcast by ESPN before the game started, with the network reporting that the game would go ahead as scheduled and that head coaches Wes Moore and Vic Schaefer had agreed to play in order not to delay the game.
The NCAA acknowledged this in a statement released during halftime of the Texas-North Carolina State game, but provided few details about how the issue arose in the first place.
“The NCAA was notified today that the three-point lines on the court at the Moda Center in Portland are not the same distance,” the statement read. “Both head coaches recognized this discrepancy and chose to play the complete game on the court as is, rather than modifying the court and delaying the game. The court will be modified by tomorrow’s game in Portland. .”
Portland is one of two regional round sites for this year’s women’s tournament, the other being Albany’s MVP Arena.
What the NCAA didn’t say was how the mistake happened or why it took so long for anyone to notice.
The games were played there all weekend and the photos are from there Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic A mismatch with the 3-point line appeared to be indicative during the university’s 53-45 win over Duke University on Saturday night.
ESPN reported that the court was the same one the NCAA used throughout the weekend for Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games.
“Wes Moore and Vic Schaefer both came out on the floor to watch it,” ESPN’s Courtney Lyle told viewers during the broadcast. “They asked the NCAA to take measurements and they did it. They simply measured from the baseline to the top of the 3-point line and found that there was a discrepancy on one end of the floor and the other end. got it.”
Cameras captured both coaches examining the floor, and one video showed Moore placing one foot in a straight line in front of the other to check distance.
It remains unclear how serious the discrepancy between the 3-point lines is.
The 3-point line for women’s basketball is now 22 feet, 1¾ inches from the basket, a change made before the 2021-22 season.
The game between North Carolina State and Texas was the fifth of six games scheduled at Moda Center over the holiday weekend.
