NCAA officials confirm that women’s March Madness court in Portland has two different distances for the 3-point lines on either side… with Texas and NC State playing through the difference this afternoon anyway

NC State and Texas decided to play on a Portland court that had a big difference in distance at the 3-point line.

It apparently wasn’t discovered until Texas coach Vic Schaefer and North Carolina State coach Wes Moore met with officials during pregame warmups to talk about it, and the tape measure broke to verify the problem.

According to the ESPN broadcast, the two teams agreed to continue their game with the extravagant 3-point lines in place, a game which the No. 3 seed Wolfpack won over top-seeded Texas 76-66 to advance to the Final Four.

But what made the situation really strange was that it took so long to discover the problem, or at least recognize it.

The Sweet 16 games between NC State and Stanford, Texas and Gonzaga, UConn and Duke and Baylor and Southern California had been played before anyone recognized the different distances, even though the discrepancy was noticeable to the naked eye.

The NCAA responded to the unusual circumstance Sunday afternoon, issuing a statement that read in part: “The NCAA was notified today that the three-point lines on the court at the Moda Center in Portland are not the same distance apart.”

The two head coaches were aware of the discrepancy and elected to play a full game on the field as is, rather than correct the field and delay the game.

“The pitch will be corrected before tomorrow’s game in Portland.”

The final schedule of games to be played in Portland, with a Final Four berth on the line, will be contested between No. 1 seed Southern Cal and No. 3 seed UConn.