Basketball fans were shocked Sunday when it was revealed that a court used to play four high-stakes Women’s NCAA Tournament games had an incorrectly marked 3-point line.
It’s not yet clear how much the proper dimensions were off, but it appears the discrepancy was several inches. One of the 3-point lines was significantly closer to the basket.
The NCAA basketball 3-point line is supposed to be 22 feet, 1 3/4 inches.
Yikes, measurements off on one side of the court in Portland 😳 pic.twitter.com/0lHhmrgqy0
— Angel Gray (@Angel_Gray1) March 31, 2024
The NCAA said in a statement Sunday on social media:
“The NCAA was notified that the 3-point lines on the court at Moda Center in Portland are not the same distance. The NCAA staff and women’s basketball committee members on site consulted with the two head coaches [Texas and NC State] who were made aware of the discrepancy. All parties elected to play a complete game on the court as is, rather than correcting the court and delaying the game,” said Lynn Holzman, the NCAA’s vice president of women’s basketball.
The coaches elected to play the game as scheduled to keep it on ABC, according to reports.
“While the NCAA’s vendor has apologized for the error, we will investigate how this happened in the first place. The NCAA is working now to ensure the accuracy of all court markings for future games,” Holzman added. “We are not aware of any other issues at any of the prior sites for men’s or women’s tournament games.”
The court had been used since March 29 for women’s Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games. The Final Four and Women’s NCAA Tournament Championship Game will be held at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.
Regulated sportsbooks offered odds and lines on the games played on the court at the Moda Center, including in-game bets. Props were also offered on stats such as 3-pointers.
The teams switch sides of the court at halftime, but the discrepancy could have been relevant for in-game wagers and props. There was a 7.5% difference in shooting percentage between the two sides of the court.
According to the Associated Press, teams shooting on the end with the closer 3-point arc were 25.8% (23 of 89) on 3-pointers. At the correct end of the floor, teams shot 33.3% (29 of 87).
According to ESPN, teams averaged 66.8 points per game from the side of the court with correct 3-point line and 62.0 PPG from the side with the shorter one.
Did the incorrect distance throw off some shooters?
Nicki Collen, the head coach of Baylor University’s women’s basketball team, posted on X that she thinks her team performed better with the correct 3-point line. Baylor shot 42.8% on 3-pointers in the second half in its defeat on Saturday, March 30, to USC.
Guess that’s why we shot it better in the 2nd half… correct 3 pt distance!! 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!
— Nicki Collen (@NickiCollen) March 31, 2024
The NCAA’s vendor responsible for marking the court is the Michigan-based Connor Sports. The company apologized for the mistake in a statement to the Associated Press.
As of Monday, there have been no reports of suspicious gambling related to the games with the incorrect 3-point line.
AP Photo/Tim Booth
