The NCAA Seems to Have Forgotten That Women's Basketball Players Have a Tournament Too
The NCAA Basketball Tournaments start this weekened with the men's tournament tipping off on Friday and the women getting started on Sunday. With the men in Indianapolis and the women in San Antonio, it's become very clear just how differently the two groups of athletes are being treated with the women getting the extreme short end of the stick, which is impressive considering how the men's players feel.
First there is the difference in weight room availability that went viral on Thursday. Stanford Sports Performance coach Ali Kershner posted these pictures to her Instagram for comparison. Oregon star Sabrina Ionescu and a number of other players then tweeted the pictures. The NCAA responded by saying there was limited space and they were looking into it.
Ionescu and teammate Sedona Prince were also among those to call out the NCAA for claiming they were dealing with "limited space."
Let me put it on Twitter too cause this needs the attention pic.twitter.com/t0DWKL2YHR
— Sedona Prince (@sedonaprince_) March 19, 2021
“Limited space” they say... ?? https://t.co/DwTe2T9Zh6 pic.twitter.com/iT1UVLVZSJ
— Sabrina Ionescu (@sabrina_i20) March 19, 2021
If it was just the workout facilities, you could chalk it up to ignorant casual sexism, but now we're starting to see complaints about the food. We've seen the food available to the men in Indianapolis which has resulted in the usual complaints about the cafateria-ness of the food. Meanwhile, the women just want to eat.
I’ve talked to multiple players in the bubble and they’re, “only eating the snacks they brought.” They can’t order food because no one can come to the hotel. If you don’t eat meat you can’t eat most of the meal. So expect a lot of your favorite players to be “running on snacks.”
— Chloe Pavlech (@Cpav15) March 19, 2021
Finally, the least important, but still extremely insulting differnce is in the free stuff the women get compared to the men.
From what I have been shown it appears the swag bags that the Men receive from the @NCAA are much more substantial than the Women as well. @ncaawbb @marchmadness. C'mon NCAA do better. Be better! pic.twitter.com/tDRjI9e5UJ
— Dan Henry (@danhenry3) March 18, 2021
As far as unpaid labor goes, the women are clearly even more unpaid. You would think that the NCAA would keep this kind of thing in mind when they're already under fire for subpar working conditions. Then again, that would eat into the profits.