March Madness fans accuse tournament of being ‘rigged’ after major court issue emerges causing huge advantage

The NCAA released a statement sharing a plan to correct the court

THE women’s NCAA Tournament Elite Eight hit an unusual snag after officials realized something was wrong with the court.

In a rare error, it was discovered that NC State and Texas were shooting from different distances on each side of the court.

The court for the women’s Elite Eight was lined incorrectly on SundayCredit: ESPN

Each three-point line was a different distanceCredit: ESPN
The error wasn’t discovered until warmups, where Texas coach Vic Schaefer and NC State coach Wes Moore met with officials to discuss the problem.

During that meeting they broke out tape measures to confirm that the three-point line was in fact at a different position on each end of the court.

The two teams agreed to play out their match despite the discrepancy, as they would both have equal amount of time on each side of the court.

The teams battled it out, with No. 3 seed NC State upsetting No. 1 seed Texas 76-66 to advance to the Final Four.

The Elite Eight matchup took place in Portland, Oregon, and the Final Four is in Cleveland, Ohio, so NC State won’t need to play on the court again.

However, the NCAA has one of its most anticipated matchup of the year playing on the court on Monday, forcing them to quickly correct the issue.

UConn and Southern California are facing off in a battle of dominant talents, with Paige Bueckers lining up against Juju Watkins.

The NCAA confirmed in a statement that the court will be adjusted in time for the 9:15 pm ET matchup on Monday.

“The NCAA was notified today that the three-point lines on the court at Moda Center in Portland are not the same distance,” the statement read.

“The two head coaches were made aware of the discrepancy and elected to play a complete game on the court as is, rather than correcting the court and delaying the game.

“The court will be corrected before tomorrow’s game in Portland.”

It is surprising that the error wasn’t noticed sooner, as Sweet 16 games featuring NC State and Stanford, Texas and Gonzaga, UConn and Duke and Baylor and Southern California all took place on the court before the measuring mess up was realized.

NCAA fans were baffled that an error like that could go unnoticed, and shared their concerns on Twitter.

“Who the heck lined this court?” one fan said.

“Haha its not even close to being the same lmao,” another fan said.

“Always the women get screwed over. You never see this happen to the men,” a third fan said.