Utah women's basketball team victims of 'racial hate crimes.' Here's what we know so far

Members of the Utah women's basketball team were the victims of "racial hate crimes" near the hotel they stayed in for March Madness late last week.

Utes head coach Lynn Roberts said the incident occurred shortly after the team checked into their hotel on Thursday night in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Coeur d'Alene is 32 miles from where Gonzaga was hosting women's tournament games in Spokane, Washington.

The team checked out of the original hotel and moved to a different one on Friday, the same day they were scheduled to play South Dakota State in the first round of the women's tournament.

"We had several instances of some kind of racial hate crimes towards our program. Incredibly upsetting for all of us," Roberts said Monday. "It's shocking. There's so much diversity on a college campus, so you're just not exposed to that very often."

"You have people say, 'Man, I can't believe that happened.' But, you know, racism is real, and it happens, and it's awful... No one knew how to handle it."

Utah won their first-round clash with South Dakota State, 68-54, but their tournament run ended with a 77-66 loss to Gonzaga in the round of 32.

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What happened to Utah's women's basketball team?

According to a police report obtained by USA TODAY, members of the team were walking down the street to dinner when two pickup trucks revved their engines as they sped by the players. After passing by, the trucks turned around, and the drivers yelled racial slurs at the group of women.

A statement from the Kootenai County Task Force on Human relations said the truck displayed a Confederate flag.

"As the players left the restaurant after dinner, the same perpetrator with reinforcements from fellow racists followed the women back to the Coeur d’Alene Resort continuing the racial threats while revving up their engines in a serious threat to the players' safety. The players were so traumatized they rushed back to the hotel and on Friday and Saturday left Coeur d’Alene with their coaches and staff."

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Aftermath of "racial hate crimes" against Utah women's basketball team

The team checked out of their hotel on Friday and moved to another location with the help of Gonzaga and the NCAA. UC Irvine's team, which was staying in the same hotel in Coeur d'Alene, also moved hotels, though they were not exposed to the same or similar racist incidents.

Coeur d'Alene mayor Jim Hammond held a press conference Tuesday, saying, "I strongly condemn the appalling treatment of the female college athletes who are visiting Coeur d’Alene. We express regret and true sorrow that your student-athletes were treated with such disdainful treatment while visiting our city."

Gonzaga's athletics department also released a statement. It said, "We are frustrated and deeply saddened to know that what should always be an amazing visitor and championship experience was in any way compromised by this situation, for it in no way reflects the values, standards, and beliefs to which we at Gonzaga University hold ourselves accountable."

On Tuesday, Utah Director of Athletics Mark Harlan released a joint statement with Roberts. It summarized the incidents, then read:

"As we continue to heal, we remain very disappointed in the decision to assign our team to hotels such a great distance from the competition site, in another state. We will work with NCAA leadership to make it clear that being so far removed from the site was unacceptable and a contributing factor to the impact of this incident."

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Why was Utah's women's basketball team staying in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho?

Hotels closer to Gonzaga – in or near Spokane – were at capacity.

The NCAA had planned for Spokane to be a regional host for the first two rounds of the men's tournament. Eight men's teams played at the Spokane Arena Friday, March 21.

On the women's side, the top 16 seeds in the tournament – seeds No. 1 through 4 in each region of the bracket – earn the privilege to host games in the first two rounds. Gonzaga's women's team, as a No. 4 seed, brought more March Madness traffic to Spokane when they hosted games at McCarthey Athletic Center.

Spokane also hosts a volleyball tournament – the Pacific Northwest Qualifier – that brings tens of thousands of athletes and fans to the area. This year, its first weekend took place March 23-25, the same weekend as the first two rounds of March Madness.

The tournament's website offers information for 39 different hotel options for tournament attendees, including seven hotels in the "Coeur d'Alene area."

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho demographics

According to data from the 2020 U.S. Census, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho has a population of over 1.8 million people. Of those, more than 1.5 million people (88.5%) are white. Fifteen thousand citizens (0.4%) are Black.

The Census' data note over 153,000 people (7.3%) are listed as "Two or More Races."

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