Connecticut guard Saylor Poffenbarger (4) is defended by St. John’s guard Danaijah Williams (24) and forward Cecilia Holmberg (11) during the fourth quarter of an NCAA college basketball game in New York last month. The women’s NCAA championship begins Sunday.
Kathy Willens/AP
On Thursday, Stanford University sports performance coach Ali Kershner posted a photo comparing the weight room set-up for the NCAA women’s and men’s basketball tournament.
While the set-up for the men’s teams included a number of power racks with Olympic bars and weights, the women were provided with a set of dumbbells and yoga mats for the three weeks they will be in the tournament bubble.
The post created another sort of March Madness.
Players, advocates and fans quickly took to social media expressing their anger at what they described as the discrimination and disrespect the women’s teams were facing.
In support, WNBA player and last year’s NCAA national player of the year Sabrina Ionescu tweeted, “Women’s @NCAA bubble weight room vs Men’s weight room… thought this was a joke. WTF is this?!? To all the women playing in the @marchmadness tournament, keep grinding!”
NBA star Steph Curry also spoke up tweeting, “wow-come on now! @marchmadness @NCAA y’all trippin trippin.”
Another WNBA player and former Notre Dame University student-athlete Brianna Turner wrote, “In regards to the NCAA wbb tournament weight room that looks like it belongs in a senior care facility… it’s inexcusable. It shows that they didn’t care. It shows it wasn’t a priority.”
Following the backlash, NCAA Vice President Lynn Holzman put out a statement and said that the organization acknowledges the difference between the amenities provided in each tournament but that it was caused due to “space limitations” in the women’s facility.
