Utah's women's basketball team deserved so much better from the NCAA
This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Good morning, Winners! Thanks so much for rocking with the Morning Win today. We appreciate you giving us a bit of your time.
The more information we get about Utah’s women’s basketball team’s awful weekend, the more I feel this should’ve been avoided.
To make a long story short, for part of the weekend, the Utes had to stay in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, instead of Spokane, Washington, where their games were being played because of a lack of space.
While staying in Idaho, the team experienced the worst parts of humanity. They were the targets of some racist attacks from people in Coeur d’Alene. As they were coming to and from dinner at their team hotel, they were harassed. They had people revving trucks at them and calling them the N-word. The attacks were so bad the team had to switch hotels.
READ MORE: Everything we know about the racist incidents experienced by Utah’s basketball team
That’s why Utah head coach Lynne Roberts said what she said after the team’s loss to Gonzaga on Monday.
Utah head coach Lynne Roberts on the racial remarks made toward her team in Coeur d’Alene:
“For our players and staff to not feel safe in an NCAA Tournament environment, it’s messed up.” pic.twitter.com/dBqJtjhkwh— Andrew Quinn (@andrewquinny) March 26, 2024
“For our players and staff not to feel safe in an NCAA tournament environment, it’s messed up,” Roberts said. And she’s right — it is messed up.
This is supposed to be one of the best moments of her players’ lives. Instead, it became a moment of anguish for her team, staff and traveling party. That should never have been allowed to happen.
Look, I don’t want to blame the NCAA for people’s racism. It’s not the organization’s fault that these hateful people targeted Utah.
But, at the same time, sending this team to Coeur d’Alene was a clear mistake.
The surrounding region in northern Idaho has been known as a haven for white supremacists. The Aryan Nations — a Neo-Nazi hate group — was once rooted in the region for decades before being removed just 24 years ago in 2000. There are still remnants of folks who believe in the group’s principles.
A quick Google search tells you all of that. Do you mean to tell me that no one could’ve done that for Utah’s basketball team before they were moved into the town? It doesn’t take that much.
Truthfully, it’s a shame that the team even had to move in the first place.
I get it. There wasn’t enough space to house Utah in Spokane for the weekend with the men’s and women’s tournaments in the same area. The NCAA picked Spokane as one of the men’s tournament sites four years ago, according to The Athletic. The women’s tournament’s first few rounds use the home arenas of the first four ranked teams in each region as the tournament sites. It’s a tricky confluence of events, to be sure.
But shouldn’t the teams playing in the area get a bit of priority here? Why should they travel 30 minutes away just to come back and play a game the next day? That’s absurd.
The NCAA has come a long way with the treatment of the women’s tournament. It’s always been an afterthought — March Madness branding wasn’t even used for it. To be fair to the NCAA, that’s changed in recent years. This incident makes it clear the organization still has a long way to go.
Utah’s safety wasn’t a concern. The NCAA just treated it as a logistical piece. These women were placed in a space that was clearly unsafe, and the NCAA didn’t seem to care until the damage was already done. Now, here we are.
The NCAA released a statement condemning racism on Tuesday, per CNN. “The NCAA condemns racism and hatred in any form and is committed to providing a world-class athletics and academic experience for student-athletes that fosters lifelong well-being,” the organization said.
That’s nice. But you know what would be even nicer? If Utah was never put in this position in the first place.
Hopefully, the NCAA will be more proactive in situations like this moving forward.
Coach Cal is back in blue
Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-USA TODAY Sports
The thing we all knew was going to happen actually happened. Despite Kentucky’s upset loss to Oakland in the first round of the NCAA tournament, John Calipari will return as the head coach next season.
School Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart confirmed Cal’s return via Twitter.
As we normally do at the end of every season, Coach Calipari and I have had conversations about the direction of our men’s basketball program and I can confirm that he will return for his 16th season as our head coach.
— Mitch Barnhart (@UKMitchBarnhart) March 27, 2024
“As we normally do at the end of every season, Coach Calipari and I have had conversations about the direction of our men’s basketball program and I can confirm that he will return for his 16th season as our head coach.”
Oh, boy. To be a fly on the wall during those conversations. I can only imagine what was said before the decision to bring Calipari back.
Let’s be honest, though. Cal was never going anywhere — there are 35 million reasons why.
READ MORE: Kentucky is keeping John Calipari for another year and fans couldn’t believe it.
March Madness in the NBA
NBA basketball tends to go a bit under the radar in March with college hoops taking up all of our attention. But if you weren’t watching last night, you missed a treat from the Bucks and Lakers on Tuesday.
Milwaukee had a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter. The Lakers came all the way back to tie the game up and send it to overtime. Not behind some insane LeBron James barrage of 3-pointers. Not because of some incredibly dominant game from Anthony Davis (though he was great!).
Nope. Instead, it was Austin Reaves getting buckets. 29 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists and one turnover. Plus a dominant fourth quarter.
Austin Reaves hit the game-winning three and scored 16 of his 29 points in the 4th quarter and OTs
He also had 14 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 blocks and only 1 turnover! pic.twitter.com/niUCE12YUk https://t.co/h3624unksT
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) March 27, 2024
I’ll tell you what, man. If these are the Lakers that show up for the playoffs this year? That first-round series could be pretty fun … as long as they make it out of the Play-In Tournament.
READ MORE: LeBron James hilariously trolled Giannis by timing his free throws
Quick hits: Upset watch for March Madness … Shaq still thinks Caitlin Clark is the GOAT … and more
— Prince Grimes has four teams in men’s March Madness he’s putting on upset watch
— Shaq explains why he’s got Caitlin Clark as his GOAT in women’s basketball. Meg Hall has more.
— Here’s a video of how the NFL’s new kickoff will work. It’s weird…yet kind of fun? Charles Curtis has more.
— Here’s Andrew Joseph with our first MLB Power Ranking of the season. Baseball is back, folks!
— The Predators might be the hottest team in the NHL right now after this wild comeback. Here’s Cory Woodroof with more.
— Saquon Barkley is trying to bring Jason Kelce back to the Eagles. Hopefully, it works.
That’s all, folks! Thanks so much for reading today. I hope you have an amazing Wednesday. Let’s chat again tomorrow. Talk soon! Peace. We out.
-Sykes