Shortly before tip-off of No. 3 seed NC State's 76-66 win over No. 1 seed Texas in the Elite Eight on Sunday, ESPN reported the 3-point line on one end of the court used for the Portland regionals had been painted incorrectly. Both Texas coach Vic Schaefer and NC State coach Wes Moore agreed to go ahead with the game despite the error in order to prevent any extensive delay.
The NCAA released a statement at halftime confirming as much:
"The NCAA was notified today that the 3-point lines on the court at Moda Center in Portland are not the same distance. 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."
The broadcast showed a bizarre scene in which the coaches were unofficially measuring the court by walking off the distance with their feet as their teams were going through pre-game shooting drills.
"The NCAA notified both coaches at approximately noon local time, 3 ET," play-by-play announcer Courtney Lyle said. "Both Wes Moore and Vic Schaefer came out to the floor to take a look at it. They asked the NCAA to measure, and they did that. The NCAA measured from the baseline to the top of the 3-point line and found there was a discrepancy on one end of the floor from the other. Both Wes Moore and Vic Schaefer have agreed to go ahead and play this game to avoid any delays."
How are they just now figuring out the court has been jacked up in Portland? It was the same for every other game there too.
— Chris Hassel (@Hassel_Chris) March 31, 2024
This was Baylor/USC last night. Can clearly tell it’s shorter distance on left. pic.twitter.com/baGkWLRIMk
Here's more from ESPN reporter Brooke Weisbrod:
"[Lisa Peterson of the NCAA] confirmed the floor had been the same all week and both coaches decided after taking a look at it that they were OK with it. It had been measured, but [Peterson] did say it will be professionally measured tomorrow just to ensure we have the exact measurements. For right now, both coaches are OK to play the way it is."
Texas coach Vic Schaefer said that the news of the issue reached him just before the game started after his team had already warmed up.
"They gave us the option of bringing someone in and remarking it, which would've taken about an hour and we might have lost our window with ABC, or playing it out. [NC State coach] Wes [Moore] wanted to play, and we played. I wasn't going to be the guy to go 'I don't want to do it' so ... You want to know if I think it had anything to do with the game? Probably not.
"I really would have loved to have done what I normally do my last 12 minutes before a game instead of walking around out there trying to see if the floor is screwed up. If I would have done it, I would have been the only one in the room who wanted to do it."
Prior to the 2021-22 season, the NCAA approved the adoption of the international 3-point line for women's basketball after "studying statistical trends that showed the number of attempted and successful 3-point field goal attempts reached all-time high levels." The change pushed the line back to 22 feet, 1 and 3/4 inches.
"They were measuring some things," Moore said during an in-game interview in the first half. "That's all I want to say at this time. Let's talk about the game."
The exact error regarding the lines for the Portland court remain unclear. From the broadcast view, the left side of the court is the one with a smaller distance between the top of the key and the 3-point line. Over the first four games in Portland, teams shot marginally better from downtown on that side of the floor.
| Totals | Left side | Right side |
|---|---|---|
3PM | 23 | 19 |
3PA | 79 | 73 |
3P% | 29.1% | 26.0% |
Two teams -- Texas in its win over Gonzaga and NC State in its win over Stanford -- had a half where they shot at least 50% from the left side of the floor, while the highest mark recorded in a half on the right side of the floor was Baylor's 42.3% in its loss to USC.
"Guess that's why we shot it better in the 2nd half… correct 3 pt distance!!" Baylor head coach Nicki Collen wrote on social media. "FYI with 8 teams at one site you get so little prep time on the main court and your focus is on game planning and simply getting shots up!"
While the splits are inconclusive, there's no question that teams have struggled to shoot the ball in Portland this week.
