Adia Barnes says she’s grateful that the Arizona Wildcats are playing basketball in the midst of a pandemic and happy that this year’s NCAA Tournament is being played.
In her first day in San Antonio, however, the UA’s coach saw first-hand that all things are not created equally.
Photos and videos of the women’s teams’ weight rooms went viral, showing the stark differences between the resources at the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. The men have access to a huge, fully-stocked gym, while the women have one rack of weights, six yoga mats and a stationary bike.
Lynn Holzman, the NCAA’s vice president of women’s basketball, put out a statement Thursday afternoon saying the sparse workout areas were “due to the limited space” in San Antonio and surrounding areas, where the tournament is being played. Friday morning, an emotional Holzman addressed “the elephant in the room” during a news conference.
The NCAA says it plans to have improved weight rooms in place by Saturday morning.
Barnes said that there was plenty of room in the convention center, and that the weight room setup is “not acceptable.”
“Someone dropped the ball and it’s fine, but we can fix that. Nothing to do about it now, but fix it because that’s just not right,” Barnes said. “We have a long way to go. Everything is not perfect. But the fact that people care enough to tweet about it … for it to be an issue is very important. Because five years ago, this would have been the same situation, no one would have said anything about it.
“Does it have to change? Absolutely. I was embarrassed when I saw it. … It’s not OK. But I think that there are a lot of things that aren’t OK. And I realized that being a mom and being on lockdown here with a baby. There are a lot of things that have to change. But it takes people like me that were pro players, were on both sides and being a voice for things to change.”
There was at least one positive to come out of the uproar. Through the use of social media, the NCAA reacted much quicker than it would have in the past.
The outpouring of support for the women’s players from pros like like Sue Bird, Sabrina Ionescu, A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, Steph Curry, Dwyane Wade, Jamal Crawford and Ja Morant was encouraging.
Said Barnes: “There are a lot of voices out there, and people care now. They didn’t care five years ago. They didn’t care in the ’90s. (But) they care now, and the fact that the NCAA responded so fast I think that’s good. And I think that’s meaningful.”
The outcry began Thursday, when Stanford sports performance coach Ali Kershner posted picture of the setup on social media. Oregon’s Sedona Price posted a video to TikTok and Twitter showing the spaces and finished by saying, “if you’re not upset about this problem, then you are a part of it.”
Holzman and the NCAA are also addressing other issues, such as food and gift bags. The NCAA is expanding meal options to include restaurants from the surrounding areas. Photos shared to social media, indicate that the women received a T-shirt and scrunchie — far less than the men.
NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt apologized Friday, saying the NCAA “dropped the ball.” Holzman noted the women’s tournament has made strides: This year, all games will be televised nationally on ESPN’s family of networks.
Holzman became emotional again talking about the issue of equality for women. As a women’s basketball player in the 1990s, she said she experienced “when you don’t have something that’s the same.”
“This is also why it hits such a nerve with me,” Holzman said. “I think it’s appropriate that the conversations … that’s been a theme that there’s an accountability aspect … that is front of mind. …
“We’ve seen throughout our country this past year in particular in a variety of ways of individuals, human beings, people were being discriminated against, marginalized, where there are inequities. When it is personal, it is as real as it can get. It hurts, and when people passionately care about something, in this case, women’s basketball, our fans, our student athletes who are playing this game, it’s our responsibility to give them a great championship experience and one they can be proud of. It’s disappointing — I don’t even have the words to describe how painful it is personally.”
Rim shots
- Barnes is one of five former WNBA or NBA players now coaching in the tournament, joining South Carolina’s Dawn Staley, Florida State’s Brooke Wyckoff, Marquette’s Megan Duffy and BYU’s Jeff Judkins.
- In the last few days, the Wildcats have been getting their new gear from Nike for the NCAA Tournament. They traveled to San Antonio in new gray and black sweatsuits and new short sleeve Arizona “Just Us” tees — similar to the long-sleeved ones they wore for Monday’s selection show. Thursday, they got gray full-zip sweatshirts with a red Arizona basketball on it. Friday was shoe day: Each player got received a new pair of Paul George, Kyrie Irving or Giannis Antetokounmpo signature sneakers.
