Georgia High School Association On Wrong-Sized Basketball Court Used For Championship Games: Eh

Georgia high schools playing in the state basketball championships at the Macon Coliseum this weekend discovered that the court used for the games wasn’t regulation-size. The hoops were incorrectly positioned an extra foot away, but instead of fixing the error, the Georgia High School Association played the games and chalked it up as an equal disadvantage for everyone.

According to the Macon the GHSA didn’t correct the hoops so that Saturday’s games wouldn’t run behind schedule. Afterward, the association said in a statement that none of the outcomes would be changed:

“The goals were the same distance into the court at both ends of the floor,” said GHSA Executive Director Gary Phillips. “The playing conditions were exactly the same for both teams on the court and for all of the 14 championship games that were played. So I can’t see any reason we would consider changing the outcomes.

“Only one coach even mentioned a possible problem, and my basketball staff watched the games closely and did not notice any appreciable effect on the shooting or the play of any of the teams. Some of the teams even shot extremely well from both the floor and the free throw line. But, overall, it looked like typical championship play.

“While this certainly was not an ideal situation or one that we wanted to have happen, we think the conditions were fair for all the teams. And, more importantly, it was the same for all the teams. We have plans to make sure this never happens again, but we have no plans to change anything that happened this week in Macon.”

Veterans High School coach Nicki Miranda, whose girls team shot 21 percent from the field, didn’t see the screwup as even for every school:

“I was physically sick,” she said in a text from Jacksonville, Florida, where she was watching the SEC Women’s Tournament. “My girls told me the free-throw line was too far away in warmups. They kept telling me they were short, (especially senior Kya Cochran).”

Miranda, as most coaches would, chalked it up to nerves and exaggeration.

“Then she misses her first four free throws in the first quarter, she has never done that,” Miranda texted. “We are a perimeter shooting team, and it made a difference for us. (Americus-Sumter) is a penetrating team, didn’t affect them much.”

[...]

“No excuse for the missed layups,” Miranda texted, reiterating what she said after the game. “But we get our free throws and a handful of outside shots to fall, and who knows? This is inexcusable.”

[ Telegraph]

Image via YouTube

H/t to Eric

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