Vow to fix inequities in men’s, women’s events
NCAA President Mark Emmert promised the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association he will work with coaches to fix the “stark difference” between the Division I men’s and women’s tournaments.
Though Emmert noted that a major hurdle was trying to hold both basketball tournaments in a kind of identical format required by the coronavirus pandemic, he added nobody liked the results and nobody wants to see similar issues arise in other sports in coming months.
“I, too, believe that it’s exactly the right moment to do it,” Emmert said. “You’ve got my commitment, my personal commitment to spend an enormous amount of time and energy on this problem and and making sure that we don’t lose the chance.”
Emmert and the NCAA’s heads of basketball Dan Gavitt and Lynn Holzman discussed the conditions in San Antonio on Wednesday with members of the WBCA, including two of the Final Four head coaches, UConn’s Geno Auriemma and Dawn Staley of South Carolina.
Several differences surfaced over the past two weeks, starting with female players, coaches and staff in San Antonio criticizing the NCAA for not initially providing a full weighttraining area to the women’s teams, noting the men’s teams in Indianapolis did not have the same problem.
Questions during the coaches’ meeting with Emmert ranged from the use of “March Madness” for branding, the number of NCAA staffers for both basketball tournaments (12 for the men, six for the women), the budget for both tournaments and why the NCAA doesn’t own the WNIT as it does the NIT.
The WBCA sent a letter to Emmert last week saying the external review he proposed to look into potential gender equity issues wasn’t good enough. In the letter, obtained by the Associated Press, the WBCA asked for a “Commission on Gender Inequity in College Sports” led by people chosen by both the WBCA and NCAA.
Georgia Tech head coach Nell Fortner, who criticized the NCAA on social media last week, asked about the use of the March Madness logos. Emmert told her he has been studying the branding but there currently is no legal or contractual restraints.
Fortner said the use of “March Madness” and other branding was like “eye candy” that makes a viewer stop and watch on TV. Yet, for the women’s Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, only “NCAA Women’s Basketball” was in the middle of the court.
Women’s awards: UConn guard Paige Bueckers is the first freshman ever to win the Associated Press women’s Player of the Year award. Bueckers is averaging 20.1 points, 5.9 assists and 4.8 rebounds this season.
⏩ Named as women’s Coach of the Year was Maryland’s Brenda Frese, who also won the award 19 years ago at Minnesota. Maryland lost five starters from last year’s Big Ten championship team but won the conference for the sixth time in seven years and went 263. The Terrapins lost in the Sweet 16 to Texas.
Going pro: Ziaire Williams announced he’s leaving Stanford after his freshman season to enter the NBA draft. A heralded recruit, the 6foot8 forward had an uneven season. Williams averaged 10.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.
He put together the second tripledouble (12 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists) in program history against Washington on Jan. 7, but for the season, he shot 37.4% from the floor, including 29.1% from 3point range. He also missed nearly a month of action after attending a family funeral and then needing to quarantine.
Last year, guard Tyrell Terry left Stanford after his freshman season. Dallas chose him with the first pick of the second round.
⏩ UConn sophomore James Bouknight, a 6foot5 guard, announced his intention to enter the NBA draft.