Duke women’s basketball coach Kara Lawson tried to file a complaint with the claim that officials used a men’s ball during the first half of last Sunday’s game against the Blue Devils, but the ACC has denied the filing after an investigation.
Lawson claimed that her players complained that the ball used during the game against Florida State on Jan 29 was the larger men’s official ball, not the size the women use. A men’s college basketball weighs 29.5 ounces, while the women’s ball is slightly smaller at 28.5, the New York Post reported.
“It’s a complete failure,” Lawson recently exclaimed. “And you can figure out who the people I’m talking about that failed the sport and our players and both teams… This would never happen in a men’s game. It’s embarrassing for our sport.”
Lawson added that during the game, the ball was switched to a proper women’s ball after her complaints. Duke lost the game 23-16.
“Florida State beat us. But I can’t say if we’d have played with a women’s ball in the first half and the second half that we would have won. But they can’t say that, either,” Lawson insisted.
Assistant coach, Kara Lawson of the Boston Celtics, passes the ball before the game against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center on January 9, 2020, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
The Duke coach subsequently tried to file an appeal of the game, but the NCAA denied the filing because they claimed an investigation disproved Lawson’s claim, and there is no such appeal process in the rules, anyway.
The ACC claimed it conducted a “comprehensive review” into the accusations and said Lawson’s claims are groundless.
The conference said it conducted interviews with the officials, players, and equipment managers, and there was “no evidence found to support the claim.” But the ACC also added, “there is no appeal or protest process.”
Lawson had just taken her place as Duke’s coach in 2020 when she turned around and shut the program down because two players tested positive for the coronavirus. As a result, Duke ended the season having played only four games. The following 2021-22 season, the team had a poor 17-13 record with several more game cancellations over the virus.
This season, though, the team has come battling back. Today, no. 16 Duke is ranked first in the ACC with a 19-3 record.
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