The NCAA is under fire after photos comparing the weight room for men’s teams vs. the weight room for women’s teams at their corresponding tournament “bubbles” went viral on Twitter earlier in the week.
The men, as you can see, have tons of equipment while the women get one set of barbells and some yoga mats:
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! pic.twitter.com/K04KTv6s46— Sabrina Ionescu (@sabrina_i20) March 18, 2021
The NCAA released a statement admitting they need to do better in the future:
The NCAA releases statements addressing the weight room and other amenities in the women's tournament bubble: pic.twitter.com/VLxciQJx8X
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) March 19, 2021
But an earlier statement blamed “limited space” for the women’s set-up, which just wasn’t true:
“Limited space” they say… ?? https://t.co/DwTe2T9Zh6 pic.twitter.com/iT1UVLVZSJ
— Sabrina Ionescu (@sabrina_i20) March 19, 2021
Women’s teams are also angry at differences in the food and swag-bags:
Here are the differences in amenities/provisions between the Women’s & Men’s NCAA Tournament I’ve seen so far
– Weight room/equipment
– Food
– Swag BagsPhotos from: @Cpav15, @sedonaprince_, @danhenry3, @alikershner pic.twitter.com/2YfCeXaJNn
— AJ McCord (@AJ_McCord) March 19, 2021
But on Friday, things got worse for the NCAA when it was discovered that the men’s teams were using the more accurate PCR tests for Covid-19 compared to antigen test for the women:
On call with reporters, UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma confirms that inside their respective bubbles, men's teams are using daily PCR tests and women's teams are using daily antigen tests.
He doesn't know why they're using different types of tests.
— Amanda Christovich (@achristovichh) March 19, 2021
The NCAA isn’t commenting:
More disparities in the NCAA bubble: the women are getting less accurate COVID antigen tests while the men are getting PCR tests, known as the "gold standard."
I've put out two requests for comment to the NCAA but haven't heard back. https://t.co/IASVSkKQoG
— Molly Hensley-Clancy (@mollyhc) March 19, 2021
Yeah, they know they have an issue on this one:
Some context: I asked the NCAA to clarify if women's and men's teams would both get same kinds of tests weeks ago in two separate emails.
In first email, the question was evaded. The second email was ignored altogether.
— Amanda Christovich (@achristovichh) March 19, 2021
Whoops!
Just looked back at those emails. I didn't even ask if they were the same!! I simply asked what kind of tests women's teams would get….
— Amanda Christovich (@achristovichh) March 19, 2021
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