FACT CHECK: Harris Claims NCAA Did Now Allow A Bracket For Women’s Tournaments Until 2022
NCAA women's Division I basketball tournaments have used a bracket-oriented format since 1982
Airball: Kamala tries to make March Madness about sexism, says women's basketball tournament wasn't allowed to have brackets until 2022
Vice President Kamala Harris suffered another verbal blunder this week when she falsely proclaimed that the NCAA women's basketball tournament was "not allowed" to have brackets until 2022.
Harris attempted to claim that March Madness is swamped with sexism, which has caused women's college basketball to be less popular than men's. However, the vice president bricked her sexism claim by falsely declaring that women's college basketball teams were prohibited from having tournament brackets until 2022.
On Thursday, Harris spoke with Spectrum News at an event in Charlotte, North Carolina. Reporter Tim Boyum noted that this year's NCAA women's basketball tournament had been doing "extraordinarily well."
The Sports Business Journal reported that the women's basketball tournament is averaging 812,000 viewers through the second round, a 108% increase from last year.
When asked whether she had been watching March Madness, Kamala responded, "I have been watching it." Harris added that she had been watching the basketball tournament with Doug Emhoff, her husband and second gentleman of the United States.
A very confident Harris pronounced, "Do you know? Okay, a bit of a history lesson. Do you know that women were not. The women’s teams were not allowed to have brackets until 2022. Think about that."
She continued, "And what? That. Talk about progress. You know better late than never, but progress and what that has done."
Harris doubled down on her contention, "And even just now allowing the women to have brackets and what that does to encourage people to talk more about the women’s teams, to watch them now they’re being covered, you know, and and this is the reality people used to say are women’s sports. Who’s interested? Well, if you can’t see it, you won’t be. But when you see it, you realize, oh."
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The vice president's office admitted to Mediaite that Harris had misspoken.
The spokesperson claimed Harris meant to say that the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament didn't receive March Madness marketing and branding until 2022.
However, people have been filling out women's basketball tournament brackets since 1982 when the first NCAA women's tournament was played.
In fact, Kamala's husband filled out a women's college basketball tournament bracket in 2021. Harris even retweeted Emhoff's tweet showing a photo of his picks for the men's and women's NCAA tournaments in 2021.
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Former President Barack Obama has been filling out a women's basketball tournament every year since 2009, according to Sports Illustrated.
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'God really blessed me': NC State's DJ Burns Jr. thanking God for opportunities during magical March Madness run
North Carolina State basketball player D.J. Burns Jr. has attributed his amazing run in the 2024 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament to God nearly every step of the way.
At an official 6'9'', 275 pounds, Burns has enjoyed a fantastic performance in the 2024 iteration of March Madness, leading his team at N.C. State on an unlikely streak.
"We’re starting to click, and we’re clicking at the right time," Burns said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Burns was awarded MVP in the team's shocking ACC Tournament victory, which landed them an 11-seed in the nationwide tournament.
The Wolfpack trounced six-seed Texas Tech in the first round and then outlasted fellow Cinderella-story team Oakland in the second round. Burns led his team with 24 points.
"Thanks God," he wrote after the game.
Doubt has fueled the team as well, with Burns having made multiple mentions throughout the previous month that N.C. State has excelled when their back was against the wall.
"They didn’t really believe in us. They probably still don’t, but that doesn’t matter to us," he said during the post-game press conference. "We’re just going to stay together. If you’re supporting us, thank you. If not, that’s what it is."
"We executed and, shoot, we just, we just kept playing for each other," Burns added.
Thanks God\ud83e\udd1e\ud83c\udffe— (@)
The 23-year-old has seemingly always been forthcoming about his faith. With an X bio that says "Bible, Books, Ball," the South Carolina native has likely made more direct and clear attributions to God in public statements than the vast majority of athletes.
"God really blessed me with the opportunity to be able to showcase my talent more often, so it's a blessing," he told Inside Pack Sports.
Burns' X account is also riddled with mentions of his belief in God as he has progressed throughout his college basketball career, which started in Tennessee.
"I talk to God he don’t make no mistakes," he wrote in 2021.
"Glory be to God. Through him it is always possible to overcome obstacles," Burns also wrote before the NCAA tournament. Two weeks later, he scored 16 points in 16 minutes in the tournament opener, seeing limited time despite starting the game.
Glory be to God. Through him it is always possible to overcome obstacles\ud83d\udcaf— (@)
Burns was asked to give advice for fellow players making their first splash in the big tournament; he responded:
"You just got to leave it all on the floor. Don't leave nothing behind you or you going home. You be able to recharge for the time you get after, before the next game, but don't leave nothing on that floor."
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Hillsdale Transfer Jack Gohlke Leads No. 14 Oakland In Stunning Victory Over No. 3 Kentucky
The No. 14 seed Oakland Grizzlies defeated the No. 3 seed Kentucky Wildcats in a stunning 80-76 upset Thursday night.Shorts on backward and a shoe 'blowing out': Wardrobe issues add even more fun to March Madness
The NCAA men's basketball tournament is now in full swing, and while the play on the court remains the main story, two wardrobe issues in different tournament games added an extra layer of fun on Thursday.
A.J. Hoggard, a senior guard for the Michigan State Spartans, committed the first wardrobe foul of the day when he played the first several minutes of the day's opening matchup between Michigan State and Mississippi State with his uniform shorts on backward.
As the Spartans were wearing green uniforms marked with a Greek key pattern on one side and just the Spartan logo on the other, the Greek key pattern should have extended all along the right side of Hoggard's body. But for a little while, that wasn't the case, and several media outlets and fans with a sharp eye made note of his mistake on social media.
In the image below, sophomore guard Tre Holloman, circled in blue, has his uniform on the correct way. Hoggard, whose shorts are circled in red, does not.
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Luckily, teammate Steven Izzo, son of legendary MSU head coach Tom Izzo, reportedly noticed and apprised Hoggard of the issue during a timeout. "I’m definitely going viral for that," Hoggard replied, according to MLive MSU beat writer Kyle Austin.
The backward shorts may have been good luck as the Spartans got out to an early 5-0 lead and never really looked back. The Bulldogs made some big shots in key moments, threatening to stage a comeback for about three-quarters of the game before going cold from the floor.
The Spartans held such a comfortable lead with one minute to play in the game that Steven Izzo and other team benchwarmers substituted in for the unforgettable chance at some tournament playing time. During one especially special moment for Spartan fans, Izzo dished a pass to Davis Smith, son of Steve Smith, one of the best shooters in MSU history. As the shot clock was about to expire, Smith tossed up a shot from well behind the arc — and hit nothing but net.
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The Spartans ultimately defeated the Bulldogs, 69-51, and will face North Carolina, the top seed in the West region, on Saturday. Highlights from the MSU-MSU matchup can be seen below:
The other wardrobe issue on Thursday involved a referee for the Creighton-Akron game in the Midwest region. Early in the second half, referee Kelly Pfeifer suddenly needed an assist from back-up official Adam Flore after "blowing out" one of his shoes.
During a stoppage in play, Pfeifer walked over to Flore, who happens to wear the same size as Pfeifer. Pfeifer initially wanted to borrow just one of Flore's shoes, but as the two men were wearing different brands, he had to borrow both and slip them on quickly so that he could return to his officiating duties.
The shoe swap was caught on camera:
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The Creighton Bluejays easily sailed passed the Akron Zips, 77-60. The Bluejays will now take on the Oregon Ducks, who have played some of their best basketball in the last week or so, upsetting the Arizona Wildcats and then besting the Colorado Buffaloes to clinch the Pac-12 Tournament championship and an automatic bid to the Big Dance.
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Unexpected Final Four Harks Back To North Carolina State’s Cinderella Story
The 1982-83 N.C. State Wolfpack taught fans important lessons about life — and revolutionized college basketball in the process.
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