Four Sweet 16 Women’s College Basketball games were played in Portland, Oregon, on March 29 and 30, paving the way for an exciting Elite Eight matchup between North Carolina State and Texas.
However, officials, players, and coaches didn’t realize that the three-point line on one side of the court was longer than the other. An eagle-eyed fan in the crowd finally noticed pre-game and pointed it out to the referees.
At first, officials used the always-accurate “step it off” method, simplycounting the number of stepsbetween the hoop and the top of the arc.
Lmao at trying to measure it with the extremely official “walking off the distance with your feet” systemhttps://t.co/UXMoESC7Wn
It revealed a slightly different measurement, so they busted out a tape measurer to confirm the error. According to the ESPN broadcast, the two head coaches agreed to continue the game anyway.
Fans couldn’t believe it while watching the officials realize that the error had apparently beenpresent for multiple games.
According to those in attendance, no one on the court realized the mistake until a fan said something, leading to a flurry ofwitty remarksonline.
Another fan called it, “one of thesingle most embarrassing thingsI’ve ever seen from the NCAA,” given the magnitude of the Elite Eight game at hand.
One X user took a different approach. They said, “It’s the same wrong [distance] for every team that played there,” thusmaking it fairin their estimation.
Related:
The NC State Wolfpack shot 50 percent (9/18) from the three-point line, en route to a 10-point victory against Texas — a team that hit only one shot from beyond the arc on the day.
Hunter Haas was a Senior Sports Writer at Dexerto. Over the last two years he has worked as a writer and editor for FanSided at NFLMocks. He also served as an editor at The Raider Ramble and The Blue Stable. Hunter is an expert in all things MMA, WWE, and NFL.
You can email him here: hunter.haas@dexerto.com
