The NCAA claims “human error” led to the embarrassing realization that the three-point line at the women’s basketball tournament venue at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, had been incorrectly measured.
NCAA vice president of women’s basketball Lynn Holtzman said the 3-point line was “approximately 9 inches shorter at the top of the arc.” As explained in a detailed letter released on Monday, and held the independent contractor who finished the courtroom in Portland responsible for the measurement error.
The NCAA uses courts manufactured by Conner Sports, but the court supplier outsourced the finishing of the courts to a third party, making the now-infamous mistake.
The hole in the center of the court, used to place the center of the net, was drilled in the wrong location, about 9 inches away from where it should have been, which led to an error in the arc of the 3-point line. .
“Conner Sports and the NCAA determined that the inaccurate line was the result of human error by a finisher contracted with Conner Sports.” was also found to have been accurately painted,” the letter said.
The NCAA fixed the problem overnight, filling in the incorrect line with a color that matched the color of the floor and correctly repainting the 3-point line in black.
The governing body for college sports said it also confirmed that the markings on the courts at other venues for the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments were correct.
The incorrect 3-point line was first noticed Sunday before Texas played North Carolina State in the Elite Eight at the Moda Center, and both coaches were notified of the discovery around noon local time.
By that time, four games had already been played with inaccurate 3-point lines on the court, and making the issue even more embarrassing for the NCAA, the mistake was only discovered by a dedicated fan. This is said to be because he was present at the time. The Washington Post reported.
Attorney Michael McGrath happened to buy a last-minute ticket in the 300 minute mark and took a photo to post on Reddit, but a nearby fan who apparently knew someone involved in the tournament He claimed that he had told them to let him know about the issue.
The NCAA has not acknowledged that it was the fans who first brought the issue to their attention.
“I apologize for this mistake and the length of time it went unnoticed,” Holtzman wrote. “Simply put, this court did not meet our expectations and the NCAA should have discovered the mistake sooner.
“We are working with all NCAA suppliers and vendors to establish additional quality control measures to ensure this does not occur in future tournaments.”
The final game will be played in Portland on Monday, when UConn will face USC for a spot in the Final Four.
