PORTLAND, Ore. – In an embarrassing admission, the NCAA has conceded that the three-point lines on the court at Portland’s Moda Center – for Sunday’s Elite Eight women’s matchup between North Carolina State and Texas – are not the same distance.
On the hardwood at the Moda Center Sunday afternoon, a quick examination clearly showed the right side of the floor, from the broadcast’s angle, had a significantly wider distance from the top of the key to the three-point arc than the left side of the floor. Buzz on social media quickly began circulating; shortly after, the NCAA released a statement to media, saying they were “notified today” of the discrepancy.
“The two head coaches were made aware of the discrepancy and elected to play a complete game on the court as is,” the statement read, “rather than correcting the court and delaying the game. The court will be corrected before tomorrow’s game in Portland.”
The statement, a brief admission, established the court had been incorrectly positioned for previous women’s Sweet 16 matchups on Friday and Saturday, including USC’s 74-70 win over Baylor on Saturday afternoon.
USC’s three-point shooting numbers remained relatively steady from half-to-half on Saturday. Baylor, however, got hot after switching from the left side (shorter distance) to the right side (deeper space from the top of the key), going from 3-of-12 in the first half to 6-of-14 in the second half from deep.
“Guess that’s why we shot it better in the 2nd half … correct 3 pt distance!!” Baylor head coach Nicki Collen wrote on Twitter Sunday. “FYI with 8 teams at one site you get so little prep time on the main court and your focus is on game planning and simply getting shots up!”
It’s unclear which side of the court was the correct measurement Sunday. The NCAA-mandated measurement of the three-point line is 22 feet, 1 and 3/4 inches.
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It continues a tumultuous women’s basketball tournament for the NCAA, which has seen plenty of on-court magic but has repeatedly been overshadowed by off-the-court drama – or in this case, drama over the court itself. In early rounds, Utah women’s basketball coach Lynne Roberts said her team had been the target of racist harassment while in Idaho; in Notre Dame’s loss to Oregon Friday, controversy brewed as Notre Dame freshman star Hannah Hidalgo was forced mid-game to remove a nose ring she’d been wearing all season.
It’s the latest incident in a line of administrative or referee-based controversies for the NCAA, an issue which UCLA coach Cori Close touched upon in an impassioned speech after UCLA’s loss to USC in the Pac-12 Tournament in March.
“If our game is going to grow at a rate,” Close implored then, “so does the officiating – need to grow at that same rate. So we need to encourage that. But I do think our systems could be better.”
