- The Washington Times - Sunday, March 21, 2021

When Maryland forward Chloe Bibby saw the sparse weight room setup the NCAA initially provided for teams at the women’s tournament in San Antonio compared to the men’s competition in Indianapolis, she was disappointed. But she wasn’t all that surprised.

“Being women, I think we are conditioned to expect less,” Bibby said Sunday, ahead of the No. 2-seed Terrapins’ first-round matchup against No. 15 Mount St. Mary’s on Monday. “And that’s really sad.”

The widespread outcry directed at the NCAA following pictures comparing the weight rooms led to an apology from NCAA President Mark Emmert and resulted in hasty improvements to facilities. What was a single rack of small dumbbells and a stack of yoga mats has since been replaced by more equipment in a larger space. Social media posts also showed a difference in the meals and “swag” bags given at each competition.

The underwhelming amenities initially provided rankled many within the sport — and plenty on the outside, too — leaving them to wonder why discrepancies between the two tournaments exist at all.

“There is no answer that the NCAA executive leadership led by Mark Emmert can give to explain the disparities,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley wrote in part on Twitter. “Mark Emmert and his team point blank chose to create them! The real issue is not the weights or the ‘swag’ bags; it’s that they did not think or do not think that the women’s players ‘deserve’ the same amenities of the men.”

The controversy gained traction Thursday night, when Ali Kershner, an assistant Stanford coach, tweeted photos comparing the weight rooms between the tournaments. Lynn Holzman, the NCAA’s vice president of women’s basketball, said the organization originally planned for teams to have access to a full weight room once they had reached the third round of the competition.

In addition to apparent differences in meals and apparel handed out, UConn coach Geno Auriemma revealed that women’s teams received daily antigen coronavirus tests while men’s teams had daily PCR coronavirus tests — which are more accurate.

The NCAA confirmed the differences in testing procedures, and the NCAA’s advisory group said both daily antigen and PCR testing are “equally effective models for basketball championships.”

NCAA officials said Friday that while the “swag” bags looked different in size, they were of equal value for the men’s and women’s tournaments. The differences in food, meanwhile, would be “addressed immediately.” The players at the men’s tournament have access to full buffets, while women’s players ate prepackaged meals, according to posts from Oregon forward Sedona Prince.

The disparities led Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer and Setsuko Ishiyama, the Cardinal’s director of women’s basketball, to issue a statement Saturday night decrying the overall differences as “evidence of blatant sexism.

“Women athletes and coaches are done waiting, not just for upgrades of a weight room, but for equity in every facet of life,” Stanford’s statement read. “Seeing men’s health valued at a higher level than that of women, as evidenced by different testing protocols at both tournaments, is disheartening.”

Maryland coach Brenda Frese said she’s happy all the differences have been well documented on social media, because that prompted changes to be made. And Bibby said she’s pleased with the improvements to the weight rooms.

But both wish those improvements didn’t have to be made after the fact.

“We’ve all made mistakes in life,” Frese said. “And hopefully it’s a learning, teachable moment that never happens again.”

• Andy Kostka can be reached at akostka@washingtontimes.com.

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