The men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments get under way this weekend in Indianapolis and San Antonio respectively and, from the looks of it, the two host sites couldn’t be any more different. The stark contrast was first noted by Ali Kershner, a performance coach for top-seeded Stanford, who begins its March Madness run Sunday against WAC Champion Utah Valley. Peep these laughably inferior amenities (notice the women’s “weight room” consists of a single weight rack and a few yoga mats) compared to the sprawling, well-equipped gym available to players competing on the men’s side in Indy.
In a statement released Thursday, VP of women’s basketball Lynn Holzman explained that the comparatively underwhelming facilities seen at the women’s tournament were due to “limited space.” University of Oregon forward Sedona Prince, who has been documenting the Ducks’ trip to San Antonio, quickly debunked that theory.
While the men eat like kings, Prince and her Oregon teammates are left slumming it in San Antonio with barely edible mystery meat disguised as “Salisbury Steak.”
The dire conditions at the women’s site have caught the attention of NBA stars Steph Curry, Ja Morant and CJ McCollum, among others. Former Oregon player Sabrina Ionescu, now of the New York Liberty, also ripped the NCAA for continuing to let women fight for scraps while men get all the glory.
Time and again we’ve seen the NCAA prioritize money over equality, pumping unlimited perks and resources into the men’s game while women’s athletics continue to be an afterthought. You’d think after years of public shaming the NCAA would be motivated to address this deficiency, but apparently not.
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