NCAA admits inequities in women’s tourney
Mark Emmert acknowledged the glaring failures to give the coaches and players in the women’s tournament the same attention the NCAA gave the men was a result of a lack of communication between the two basketball staffs along with focusing on trying to tip off both events safely during a pandemic.
The NCAA president said the oversights resulted in overlooking differences that led to inequities that has cast a dark, looming cloud over the women’s tournament.
“Clearly, we should have had better communication between my teams,” Emmert said in a 30-minute interview Friday. “Clearly, we should have really had a better focus on a number of those details that are hardly details but are really, really important.
“The emphasis that needed to be on health and wellness and the complete and utter focus on how to pull this off in a pandemic led us to get our eye off the ball on a handful of things, and that’s really unfortunate.”
VANDERVEER HAS BEEF WITH REFS
Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer questioned whether referees are allowing too much contact in the women’s tournament compared to the regular season.
“It is a problem when all season long, handchecking is supposed to be called, and then when we get to the tournament, all of a sudden there are different rules. It should be consistent,” said VanDerveer, whose top-seeded team plays No. 5 Missouri State on Sunday.
VanDerveer said she favors aggressive play but has seen some games cross the line.
“An overly physical game takes away from the strength of women’s basketball, which is our athleticism, our fluidity of the game, what I call beautiful basketball,” she said.
WISCONSIN TURNS TO MOSELEY
The Badgers hired Boston University’s Marisa Moseley as coach in an effort to rejuvenate a program that hasn’t had a winning season in a decade. Moseley, who was 45-29 at Boston, takes over for Jonathan Tsipis, who was fired after going 50-99 in five seasons.
PURDUE NAMES VERSYP’S SUCCESSOR
The Boilermakers announced that former star player Katie Gearlds was hired as associate head coach and that she will replace coach Sharon Versyp in 2022-23. Versyp, 55, is coming off the third losing season of her 15-year tenure at Purdue.