Sheer madness: NCAA says 3-point lines ‘not the same’ during women’s games in Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. — The 3-point lines during the women’s Elite Eight NCAA Tournament game in Portland on Sunday did not measure up.

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The lengths of the arc from the top of the key to the 3-point line at the Moda Center were different distances at each end, the NCAA confirmed in a statement during halftime of the game between North Carolina State and Texas.

The Wolfpack advanced to the women’s Final Four with a 76-66 victory against the Longhorns in the Regional 4 final, but the length of the 3-point arc commanded most of the attention, The Oregonian reported.

“Well, I hate to say this, but I have a lot of colleagues that would say, ‘Only in women’s basketball,’” Texas coach Vic Schaefer said after the game. “I mean, it’s a shame, really, that it even happened. But it is what it is.”

Under NCAA rules adopted for the 2021-22 season, the women’s 3-point line was set at 22 feet,1¾ inches, according to USA Today. However, the spaces from the top of the key to the 3-point line at the Moda Center appeared to be different at both ends of the court.

“The NCAA was notified today that the 3-point lines on the court at Moda Center in Portland are not the same distance,” Lynn Holzman, the NCAA’s vice president of women’s basketball, said in a statement on Sunday. “The two head coaches were made aware of the discrepancy and elected to play a complete game on the court as is, rather than correcting the court and delaying the game. The court will be corrected before tomorrow’s game in Portland.”

Connecticut and the University of Southern California will meet Monday in the other regional final.

The wrong distance was also used for the four regional semifinals on Friday and Saturday, ESPN reported.

The opposing head coaches -- Schaefer and N.C. State’s Wes Moore -- were notified minutes before Sunday’s 12:16 PDT tip-off about the discrepancy, according to the cable sports network.

After pacing off the distances on both ends of the court, the coaches agreed to play.

“At first Vic was hesitant about it, and then he finally said, you know, ‘I didn’t want to wait an hour or something to play the game,’” Moore said. “I was ready to get going. But Vic probably figured out, you know what? This line down here is what we’re used to. That line down there isn’t.

“And if you’ll look, I think we shot the ball better on the other end both games, because that’s the normal line. But I’m not going to blame it on that. I mean, these kids, like I said, they shoot so far behind it sometimes nowadays, who knows where the line is?”

“They gave us the option of bringing somebody in and remarking it, but it would have taken an hour and we might have lost our (television) window on ABC,” Schaefer told reporters. “I wasn’t going to be the guy that goes, ‘No, I don’t want to play.’”

According to ESPN Stats & Information tracking, teams during the five games in the Portland regionals shot 29% from the 3-point line that was too short, as compared to 33% from the correct distance.

The NCAA expanded on its original statement after the game, The Oregonian reported.

“At the conclusion of tonight’s game and practice in Portland, the NCAA will be measuring all court lines and markings on the court at the Moda Center,” the updated statement read. “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. We are not aware of any other issues at any of the prior sites for men’s or women’s tournament games. The NCAA regrets the error was not discovered sooner.”

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