# NCAA Women's vs Men's at March Madness - weight room disparity **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** basketball-nba\ **Created:** [March 19, 2021, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245 "2021-03-19T15:02:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/1 "2021-03-19T15:02:45Z")
https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=426&width=340&share_id&href=https://www.facebook.com/espnW/videos/442042990462299/ Come on NCAA, that’s pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/2 "2021-03-19T15:06:07Z")
[sarcasm] You don’t want the women looking like men, do you? Kills TV ratings and ad revenue. [/sarcasm] ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/3 "2021-03-19T15:44:44Z")
> **[Steph Curry and Others Slam NCAA Over Oregon Forward Sedona Prince's Viral...](https://www.mediaite.com/sports/steph-curry-and-others-slam-ncaa-over-oregon-forward-sedona-princes-viral-video-of-womens-tiny-training-area-this-is-deplorable/)** > > Oregon Duck's Sedona Prince shared a video showing the flagrant differences between the men and women's NCAA training rooms, and it did not go over well on Twitter. There’s also a video and photos comparing the women’s prepackaged meal(which looks like a repackaged TV dinner) vs. the men’s full buffet and the goodie bag that each player receives. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/4 "2021-03-19T16:05:25Z")
How much of this is the NCAA’s fault, and how much is it the host location’s fault? I live in Indianapolis, where the men’s tournament is being hosted. It’s not the NCAA running around coordinating things and setting up the locations, it’s essentially the tourism/convention board and staff from the host schools. Indy benefits from a number of things - they have 2 local host schools in Indy itself, plus the NCAA headquarters right downtown. San Antonio seems a little more spread out for their first round. It’s a really bad look, and someone really screwed up. And this wasn’t in one of the smaller venues - the Oregon game is in the Alamo Dome, where most of the games are being played. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/5 "2021-03-19T16:08:37Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > How much of this is the NCAA’s fault, and how much is it the host location’s fault? - It’s under the NCAA’s control. If they don’t want flak, then they have to actually do their job. Second, they made excuses over the disparity rather than making sure it didn’t happen in the first place. Their tournament, their fault. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/6 "2021-03-19T16:13:21Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > It’s under the NCAA’s control. If they don’t want flak, then they have to actually do their job. Second, they made excuses over the disparity rather than making sure it didn’t happen in the first place. Their tournament, their fault. Sometimes it amazes me how often organizations just dig themselves into deeper holes by making weak excuses. What they should have said was, “You’re right, this disparity is unacceptable, we apologize, and we’re going to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/7 "2021-03-19T16:16:36Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Sometimes it amazes me how often organizations just dig themselves into deeper holes by making weak excuses. - I’m amazed that in this age of social media that they thought it wouldn’t get publicized. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/8 "2021-03-19T17:02:44Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > There’s also a video and photos comparing the women’s prepackaged meal(which looks like a repackaged TV dinner) vs. the men’s full buffet and the goodie bag that each player receives. I was just reading an article about how bad the men’s food was. They got bored lunches for dinner and cold eggs with no silverware for breakfast. So I’m curious how these disparities are arising. As for the “weight room” that is insane and if nothing else the coaches and ADs of those women’s programs should be losing their shit to ensure their teams have the proper equipment to succeed in the tournament. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/9 "2021-03-19T18:11:42Z")
It’s everything. The NCAA is completely ignoring the women. I know virtually nothing about basketball and even less about college basketball. But I decided to try to fill out brackets for both the men’s & women’s tournaments this year. When i looked (and I tried) the ncaa has an “official” online contest for the men’s. There isn’t one for the women’s (espn & other online portals have a contest for the women. The NCAA which should be supporting men & women equally? Not so much.) When I tried to look up data from past years to see if anything was interesting - [this is what I found for the men](https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2020-05-07/2016-ncaa-tournament-bracket-scores-stats-records). This is closest comparable page [for the women](http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/w_basketball_champs_records/2016/d1/html/confstat.htm). They couldn’t even bother to format it (and that costs them virtually nothing). The NCAA is (in yet another way) a disgrace. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/10 "2021-03-19T18:23:59Z")
The NCAA gets over $800 million for the broadcast rights to the men’s tournament, but a much smaller amount for the women’s tournament. Still, this was stupid of them not to have made the same arrangements for both tournaments. And there was also stark inequity in the “[swag](https://twitter.com/danhenry3/status/1372622757587001350/)” offered. That’s also stupid, because some of the stuff in the men’s swag bag is obviously provided by outside companies, like the Lysol wipes and the shampoo. They could easily have required the supplier to provide the same things for the women. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/11 "2021-03-19T18:29:34Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > There isn’t one for the women’s (espn & other online portals have a contest for the women. The NCAA which should be supporting men & women equally? Not so much.) Yikes - that’s a huge oversight. The men’s has corporate sponsorship, but you can’t tell me it’d be that hard to find a sponsor for the women’s. > [@amarinth](#): > > This is closest comparable page [for the women](http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/w_basketball_champs_records/2016/d1/html/confstat.htm). [This](http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/w_final_four_records_book/2020/Brackets.pdf) was pretty easy to find on their website. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/12 "2021-03-19T19:13:52Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > [This](http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/w_final_four_records_book/2020/Brackets.pdf) was pretty easy to find on their website. That’s why I said “comparable page.” The men’s page I linked to was 2016 specific as was the one I said was comparable. That pdf is not; it includes brackets from all years of the tournament. The 2016 men’s page has a copy of the bracket at the top. It also has easily parsed (by both human and machine) information on upsets, defense, and offensive statistics. And it has a well formatted list of scores for the tournament - breaking it down by game round and conference and including the makes it straightforward to read. On the women’s page linked to earlier - that information is all there, but it takes me more work to get through (e.g., there are three different date formats in that list. The list is almost, but not quite, in reverse chronological order. I can go through the box scores to put together a list of statistics, but it’s a project for me). The conclusion I came to is that the NCAA just doesn’t give a fuck about the women’s competition. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2021, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/13 "2021-03-19T19:29:01Z")
I found [this](https://www.ncaa.org/championships/statistics/ncaa-womens-basketball-championship-tournament-records) earlier, which goes back to 2000, and has information formatted even better as far as I can tell. But I’m not going to argue that the NCAA has a good website, or that things are easy to find, let alone are equally distributed between men’s and women’s. It seems far too easy to set it up so that things mirror each other in an easy-to-navigate system. The NCAA is a terrible organization in many many ways - it doesn’t surprise me that they have a shitty website as well. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2021, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/14 "2021-03-20T09:30:02Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > The conclusion I came to is that the NCAA just doesn’t give a fuck about the women’s competition. A lot of people don’t give a fuck about women’s sports, even a lot of entities that make noise about supporting women in sports can be seen by their (lack of) actions to not give a fuck. This is not news to some of us. Frankly, I’d only be shocked if someone posted a video showing a venue where men and women actually did have equal facilities. Pleasantly shocked. But I don’t expect to ever see that in my lifetime because these sexist attitudes are so entrenched. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2021, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/15 "2021-03-20T14:03:13Z")
I could care less about women’s basketball and am tired of their whining. How about they bring in some $$$$ for their universities and the NCAA like the men do? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2021, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/16 "2021-03-20T14:06:43Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I could care less about women’s basketball and am tired of their whining. How about they bring in some $$$$ for their universities and the NCAA like the men do? - What is it about women’s basketball that you find lacking? Sounds like a Catch-22 to me. You won’t support women’s basketball but you expect them to provide a better product with absolutely no support to enable improvement. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2021, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/17 "2021-03-20T14:19:04Z")
Why do they have separate facilities for men and women? Yeah, yeah, different locker rooms, but why do they have separate weight rooms and meal services? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2021, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/18 "2021-03-20T14:27:54Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Why do they have separate facilities for men and women? Yeah, yeah, different locker rooms, but why do they have separate weight rooms and meal services? - The men are playing in Indianapolis, the women in San Antonio. No excuse though, for the insanely unequal facilities. Who seriously thought 64 womens’ teams were adequately served by a single rack of baby weight dumbbells? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2021, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/19 "2021-03-20T14:28:04Z")
Well, they are in different cities. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2021, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245/20 "2021-03-20T14:28:39Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Frankly, I’d only be shocked if someone posted a video showing a venue where men and women actually did have equal facilities. Pleasantly shocked. But I don’t expect to ever see that in my lifetime because these sexist attitudes are so entrenched. How about the Olympics? Are the facilities equal there? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ncaa-womens-vs-mens-at-march-madness-weight-room-disparity/938245.md?page=2)