After outrage over inequalities at basketball tournaments, NCAA says it’ll make changes
NCAA officials in San Antonio scrambled Friday to address complaints by women’s basketball players about inequities between their Texas tournament bubble and the men’s tournament being played in Indianapolis.
Players and team officials went public on social media, showing the differences in weight room equipment and food being offered.
On Friday morning, tournament officials admitted errors and vowed to have the situation addressed by Saturday morning.
“I’m a former women’s basketball student-athlete and it’s always been my priority to make this event the best possible experience for everyone involved,” an emotional Lynn Holzman, NCAA vice president of women’s basketball, said during a Zoom press conference Friday morning. “This is my passion. I care about women’s basketball and women in sport. We fell short this year in what we’ve been doing to prepare in the last 60 days for 64 teams to be here in San Antonio and we acknowledge that.”
Dan Gavitt is the NCAA’s senior vice president of basketball who oversees the men’s and women’s tournaments, a position that he said was designed to avoid such inequities.
“We have intentionally organized basketball under one umbrella, with the goal of consistency and collaboration,” Gavitt, speaking from Indianapolis, said during the press conference. “When we fall short of these expectations that’s on me.”
Saying he failed to “meet the expectations” that come with his vow to support the women’s tournament staff and teams, Gavitt said, “I apologize to women’s basketball student-athletes, to the coaches, to women’s basketball committee for dropping the ball frankly on the weight room issue.”
Different COVID tests used for men and women
Duke senior deputy athletic director Nina King chairs the NCAA women’s basketball committee that selected the tournament field this year. While her committee doesn’t have oversight over the issues in question, she spoke out against the inequities which she witnessed first hand in San Antonio.
“We’re all extremely dedicated to growing the game of women’s basketball, and when things like this happen it’s detrimental to our mission relative to women’s basketball but, honestly to all female athletes,” King said during the press conference.
Later Friday, according to Front Office Sports, Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said during a call with reporters that daily PCR tests are being administered at the men’s tournament while the women’s tournament is using antigen tests daily.
PCR tests are considered the more accurate of the two COVID-19 tests.
NCAA president Mark Emmert addressed the difference in tests on Friday.
“I’m not a medical expert so not going to get into a debate about PCR and antigen,” Emmert told USA Today. “All the health experts said the protocol that we’re using in all of our venues and all of our championships has no different at all in terms of our ability to mitigate risk.”
Amidst growing complaints from players about the weight room situation, Stanford sports performance coach Ali Kershner on Thursday posted photos on Twitter showing the single stack of weights next to a training table with sanitized yoga mats as compared to photos of men’s facilities with stacks of free weights, dumbbells and squat racks.
“These women want and deserve to be given the same opportunities,” Kershner, a former Duke soccer player, said in her Twitter post. “In a year defined by a fight for equality, this is a chance to have a conversation and get better.”
Plan for a larger weight training area?
On Thursday night, after the players began posting complaints on social media, Holzman released a statement blaming lack of space for the reason the women’s weight room had fewer and smaller weights than the men’s training facility in Indianapolis.
She also said that the plan all along was for the women’s weight training area to be larger once the tournament was down to 16 teams next week.
But that explanation didn’t quell the outcry.
Oregon’s Sedona Prince posted a video on Twitter showing empty space near a practice court that could have been used for a larger weight training area.
In a Zoom press conference Friday morning, N.C. State’s players said the disparity is an issue that needs to be addressed.
“I see it on social media and also we’re living in it,” Elissa Cunane, a junior center for the No. 1 seed Wolfpack, said. “It’s unfortunate and it just shows how far women’s sports has to go. I just think in this moment we’re just grateful that there is an NCAA tournament this year and we came to win games at the end of the day.”
N.C. State senior guard Raina Perez said, “It is what it is. It’s unfortunate because you really don’t expect those things coming to the NCAA tournament, but at the same time we try to find the positives as a team. We’re just excited to play games.”
King said she’s confident the situation will be fixed and the NCAA will look to head off any future such issues.
“We need to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” King said, “but I do have confidence that as a women’s basketball community, we can work together and we will address the shortfalls here in San Antonio and moving forward.”
Staff writer Jonas Pope contributed.
This story was originally published March 19, 2021 at 4:57 PM.