4 college basketball stars blasted the NCAA for the 'crazy' 2021 March Madness weight room scandal
- The 2021 NCAA tournament was marred by controversy following the weight room scandal.
- Social media posts revealed disparities between the resources at the men's and women's tourneys.
With increased parity across the board, bigger stars emerging each season, and more coverage of the sport itself, the women's NCAA tournament has been steadily making gains.
But in 2021, focus shifted from the hardwood to the weight room as March Madness was embroiled with controversy.
Thanks to a video shared on social media by Oregon Ducks star Sedona Prince, blatant disparities between the resources offered to athletes at the men's and women's tournaments were broadcast for all to see. Most notably, players at the men's tournament had access to a sparkling weight room filled with rows of top-notch machinery. At the women's tournament, players were expected to make due with a pile of yoga mats and a pathetic-looking rack of dumbbells.
Nearly a year later, four of college basketball's biggest superstars — Louisville's Hailey Van Lith, Baylor's NaLyssa Smith, Michigan's Naz Hillmon, and UConn's Christyn Williams — reflected on the experience during an exclusive roundtable with TOGETHXR.
"I mean, that was crazy," Williams said. "You can't even make that up."
"They tried us, for sure," Smith added with a laugh. "They tried to play us."
Williams then recounted the moment she and her Huskies teammates saw the weight room situation with their own eyes, a hint of disbelief in her voice.
"Like, honestly, we went to the gym and saw it had like five yoga mats and two-pound dumbbells," Williams said. "I'm like, WHAT?!"
"Our practice gym, like, had the lights turned off," Van Lith chimed in. "There was no lights in the practice gym! It was like a ballroom."
Williams then broke down the NCAA's "reasoning" for the uneven resources provided to the men's and women's basketball stars. Leadership of the governing body for college sports initially claimed that a lack of space at the women's tournament resulted in the lackluster weight room situation, but that turned out to be an easily debunked excuse.
"They had a whole new gym the next day, didn't they?!" Hillmon said, referencing the replacement weight room the NCAA cobbled together after the scandal erupted.
"They got it quick!" Williams added. "I'm like, y'all could've just did this at the beginning."
All four athletes commended Prince for making the initial video that shined a light on the NCAA's wrongdoing. Hillmon also noted that the powers that be will always find a way to cut corners "if we don't continue to hold them accountable."
"That took guts, too," Van Lith said of Prince. "If I was her, I don't know about going against the NCAA like that. That's big time."
Check out the full video — in which Van Lith, Smith, Hillmon, and Williams discuss NIL, March Madness, social media, mental health, and more —below: