Tara VanDerveer calls three-point line error at NCAA Tournament 'unacceptable'

If someone were to measure the court in Portland for the Women’s Elite Eight, they would have found that the three-point lines were different distances from their respective baskets. It’s a mistake that Stanford Cardinal head coach Tara VanDerveer recently called out.

VanDerveer said that this kind of error at the Women’s NCAA Tournament is “inexcusable and unfair to every team that played on it.”

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Tara VanDerveer went on to explain that at a minimum, you expect a court to be measured correctly and that this is the kind of mistake that overshadows an excellent and important weekend of women’s basketball.

“When you arrive at a gym, especially in the NCAA Tournament, at the very least you expect the baskets to be 10 feet and the floor markings to be correct,” VanDerveer said. “For an error of that magnitude to overshadow what has been an incredible two weekends of basketball featuring sensational teams and incredible individual performances is unacceptable and extremely upsetting.”

The NCAA became aware of the mistake ahead of the game between NC State and Texas in Portland. After discussing it, the two teams agreed to play the game with one three-point line at the correct length and the other wrong by about nine inches. It was later corrected ahead of the game between USC and UConn on Monday night.

The NCAA went on to describe the issue as “human error.” The NCAA also apologized and said that it wishes it caught the issue sooner than it did.

“We apologize for this error and the length of time for which it went unnoticed. Simply put, this court did not meet our expectations, and the NCAA should have caught the error sooner,” the NCAA said.

“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.”

In the game between NC State and Texas, the Wolfpack shot 50 percent from three-point range in a winning effort. The Longhorns, meanwhile, only shot 16.7 percent from three-point range. However, both coaches agreed that the discrepancy didn’t impact either team’s shooting. Of course, both teams also played an equal amount of time shooting on either end of the court.

Tara VanDerveer has spent her long career around women’s college basketball, having coached Stanford since 1985 and been a college coach since 1978. During that time, she has seen plenty of things and won more games than any other coach in college basketball history. Still, this was a unique and frustrating situation for her.

This season, Tara VanDerveer’s Stanford team was eliminated by NC State in the Sweet 16.