Both the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments started over the weekend, and things were looking a bit different for each tournament. They are each being held in a single ‘bubble’ location rather than multiple sites across the country.

The men’s tournament is taking place in Indianapolis, while the women’s tournament is taking place in San Antonio. All teams arrived at the beginning of the week to prepare for their  upcoming opponents.

It didn’t take long for some to notice the women’s teams were getting significantly less treatment than the men’s teams in Indy.

Every player received ‘swag bags’ once they arrived in their hotel rooms. The men all received a variety of things including hoodies, hats, blankets, shower products and books.

All the women got was a t-shirt, a towel, some water bottles and a few little things. They also received fewer food options and inferior COVID-19 testing, but the main difference that caught everybody’s attention was a picture posted on social media showing the men’s weight room with multiple weights and racks all across the room, while the women’s weight room consisted of one rack of dumbbells.

Multiple athletes, including Stephen Curry, Sabrina Ionescu and Kyrie Irving, took to social media regarding the issue, calling out the NCAA for letting this happen in the first place.

The NCAA did eventually add a weight room to the women’s practice facility, but the fact that it took so much backlash for it to happen is another example on the long list of blunders by the NCAA.

NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a statement that “the weight rooms that were shown on the videos, those were never intended to be weight rooms. Those were exercise rooms before the kids went onto the court for practice.”

All this controversy taking place certainly diverted the attention away from the games being played and is a clear indication that if change is going to be made within the NCAA, a change in leadership is necessary.

Title IX requirements for the equal treatment of female and male student-athletes:

• Equipment and supplies
• Scheduling of games and practice times
• Travel and daily allowance/per diem
• Access to tutoring
• Coaching
• Locker rooms, practice and competitive facilities
• Medical training facilities and services
• Housing and dining facilities and services
• Publicity and promotions
• Support services
• Recruitment of student athletes