Sports Writer Claims NC Bathroom Law Contributed to Duke’s Loss to South Carolina in NCAA Tournament

Don’t let your lying eyes deceive you that the stunning 65-point, second half scoring assault by the South Carolina Gamecocks against the ACC champion Duke University was the reason for their win on Sunday.

Sports writer Ty Duffy at The Big Lead suggests that North Carolina’s bathroom laws ultimately brought down the Blue Devils during the second round of the NCAA tournament on Sunday.

USC picked up their first NCAA win since 1973 on Friday, and overcame a dismal first half against Duke to win back-to-back NCAA tournament games for the first time in the university’s history. The win eliminated any hopes for coach Mike Krzyzewski to lead the Blue Devils to their sixth NCAA tournament championship.

Initially, Sunday’s round was slated to be played in Greensboro, North Carolina, but the NCAA changed venues to Greenville, South Carolina, to protest the Tar Heel state’s bathroom privacy law. The law, otherwise known as HB2, mandates people to use bathrooms in government buildings and state universities that correspond with the biological gender in which they were born.

Duffy argues that the original venue in Greensboro, only an hour away from Duke University, would have made the game more of a home game for the Blue Devils. As it turned out the game being played in Greenville effectively made it a home game for the Gamecocks and gave them an advantage.

“We can’t say whether a change in venue would have altered the result. Duke provided its fair share of disappointment this season. But, it certainly compounded Duke’s difficulty,” The Big Lead author penned.

The NCAA notified North Carolina in February that the state could be banned from hosting the NCAA tournament for five more years.