By RALPH D. RUSSO (AP College Sports Writer)
The NCAA said Monday one of the 3-point lines on the court used for the women’s basketball regionals at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, was about 9 inches short of regulation, a mistake by the contractor that makes the courts used throughout March Madness.
The line has been corrected, the NCAA said. UConn and USC will play the final Elite Eight game of the tournament Monday night on that court.
The NCAA uses Connor Sports to supply and install the courts. The NCAA said the marking used to draw the line at the top of the arc in the center of the court was marked too short.
“For all NCAA courts, a small hole is punched in the floor at each end of the court that indicates ‘center-of-basket’ during the finishing process. A calibrated vinyl-tape device is then placed in the hole, which lays the 2-inch game line to be painted,” Lynn Holzman, NCAA vice president for women’s basketball, said in an email update that went out to members.
After reviewing the Portland court, it was found that the center hole was punched about 9 inches short of where it needed to be at the apex of the 3-point arc.
“Connor Sports and the NCAA found the inaccurate line was the result of human error by the finisher contracted by Connor Sports,” Holzman said. “The review also found the sides of the 3-point line were accurately painted, as were all other court markings.”
The discrepancy in distance was discovered Sunday when Texas and North Carolina State played an Elite Eight game to determine a spot in the Final Four. Four games already had been been played over two days with the mismatched 3-point lines.
The teams’ coaches agreed to play Sunday’s game as scheduled with one line shorter than the other rather than delay it. N.C. State beat Texas 76-66 to advance to the Final Four.
The NCAA 3-point line is at 22 feet, 1 3/4 inches for both women and men.
“We apologize for this error and the length of time for which it went unnoticed,” Holzman said. “Simply put, this court did not meet our expectations, and the NCAA should have caught the error sooner.
“We will work with all of the NCAA’s suppliers and vendors to establish additional quality control measures to ensure this does not happen in future tournaments.”
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket/ and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness