The NCAA let down the Utah women’s basketball team

The NCAA must have known higher.

On March 21, members of the University of Utah women’s basketball travel team – players, coaches, associate athletic director, cheerleaders and band members – arrived in Spokane, Washington for the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament after which achieved a rating of 33.5 – a mile trip to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where their hotel was situated.

A short while later, while walking to a restaurant, group members said a white pickup truck pulled up in front of them, the driver revved the engine, then shouted the N-word and drove away.

When they left the restaurant two hours later to return to the hotel, two trucks they were supposedly waitingagain revving the engines in a threatening manner and shouting epithets.

Utah worked with the NCAA and Gonzaga to maneuver the group to a hotel in Spokane for the remainder of their stay. The Utes won their first game against South Dakota State and lost in the second round to host Gonzaga.

Days later, Utah State officials and players are still processing racial trauma and pointing fingers at the NCAA.

On Tuesday, an announcement issued by the University of Utah and signed by athletic director Mark Harlan, associate athletic director Charmelle Green and coach Lynne Roberts read partially: “We proceed to supply support and resources to all those impacted by the situation. As we proceed to get better, we’re very disillusioned with the decision to allocate our team to hotels situated to date from the competition venue in one other state.

“We will work with NCAA leadership to clarify that this distance from the scene was unacceptable and was a contributing factor to the impact of this incident.”

I believe anyone reading this knows that anti-black sentiment is all over the place on this country. This is what it was built on.

However, the NCAA and Gonzaga failed these young women and their team’s support staff, in addition to UC Irvine and South Dakota State, the remaining teams that were forced to stay in Coeur d’Alene.

If there’s one place on this country that could be called the home of hate, it’s northern Idaho. Lake Hayden, about six miles north of Coeur d’Alene, is where the neo-Nazi group Aryan Nations was founded in 1977 and held annual meetings until the late Nineties. According to state statistics20 of the 50 reported hate crimes in Idaho in 2022 were reported by Black people. Although the situation improved after the bankruptcy of the Aryan Nations and their eventual expulsion from the city, the Southern Poverty Law Center, who tracks hate groups, claims that the variety of white supremacist cells in Idaho has increased in recent times. And now a few of these groups apparently have the support of state and native politicians, with far-right Republicans gaining ground in the state GOP.

Just this week, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed a bill banning “diversity statements” and other activities related to diversity, equity and inclusion teaching and advocacy. shouts about it on Facebooktacitly condoning those that stoke racial animosity (while ignoring the indisputable fact that DEI initiatives also aim to assist women and folks with disabilities).

It must be emphasized that it was pure coincidence that Spokane hosted the first two rounds of the men’s and women’s tournaments, and since a big youth volleyball tournament was held on this relatively small city last weekend, accommodations were scarce. The men’s teams play all rounds at neutral sites, and Spokane has long been awarded first- and second-round games in the 2024 men’s tournament. On the women’s side, the top 4 seeds in each region will host the weekend’s opening matches. Since Gonzaga was the No. 4 seed in the Portland area, that meant much more athletes headed to Eastern Washington. Gonzaga asked and received permission from the NCAA to position teams in Coeur d’Alene since it is greater than half-hour away from the host stadium.

But given all the history, how could anyone involved on this case think it was a very good idea to place any teams in the city, let alone two that included several black players, coaches and support staff? The UC Irvine team includes one in every of the few women’s college basketball players who wears a hijab. Given the hatred that many white supremacist groups have towards Muslims, one shudders to think what might occur in the event that they saw the Anteaters guarding Diaby Konate.

A University of California, Irvine official said that after hearing what happened to the Utes, the group moved out of Coeur d’Alene.

Green, the Utes’ associate athletic director and a Black woman, told Utah online news site KSL.com that she was upset after the horrific events.

“We were all in shock and looked at each other like, did we just hear that? … Everyone was in shock – our cheerleaders and the students who were in the area who heard it clearly just froze,” Green said. “We kept walking, just shaking our heads like I couldn’t believe it.”

After the second hate incident, as the band was leaving the restaurant, ‘I became emotional and commenced crying’ – said Green. After ensuring the group returned safely to the hotel, “I got here back and just had a while to myself. I used to be just numb all night.

Couer d’Alene Mayor Jim Hammond condemned the abuse, apologizing and saying he would really like to talk to the staff and team. The police chief said investigators are on the lookout for video footage and witness reports The FBI is now involved.

Gonzaga officials quickly issued an announcement expressing remorse. But as of this writing, the NCAA, the same organization that gave Gonzaga the green light to position these teams in a spot famous for being a haven for extremists, has remained silent.

Given the way the NCAA has treated women’s teams over the years – remember the low standard “weighing room” were delivered during the 2021 tournament? – the organization does not benefit from the doubt that it simply did not know the history of Coeur d’Alene, not this writer. Not when she tried to explain the clear evidence of poor facilities and treatment of female athletes an external investigation conducted almost three years ago found that the NCAA intentionally undervalued the Division I women’s basketball tournament “in a way that creates, normalizes and perpetuates gender inequality.”

A second investigation into sports beyond basketball revealed more gender inequality, which “while disappointing, is not surprising,” the report said.

What must have been a joyous time for the Utes, a likelihood to point out off a rapidly growing program and rejoice seniors, will as an alternative be remembered for the worst of reasons.

They deserved more.