Sixers' Ben Simmons Sounds Off on NCAA for Treatment of Women's Teams

Ben Simmons calls out the NCAA.

March Madness is supposed to be a time when college basketball fans can sit back and enjoy the surplus of hoops throughout the remainder of the month, but the NCAA really dropped the ball this year after they got exposed for the way the women's teams were treated in comparison to the men's.

Earlier this week, players arrived at their bubble locations for the tournament, which tipped off on Friday. As players started packing in the bubble, there was an odd difference between how the men's workout facilities looked compared to how the women's gyms appeared.

Oregon basketball player Sedona Prince noticed the obvious difference and created a Tik Tok to show everybody outside of the bubble just how much different the two facilities are. As expected, that caused a lot of necessary outrage. 

Let me put it on Twitter too cause this needs the attention pic.twitter.com/t0DWKL2YHR

— SEDONA (@sedonaprince_) March 19, 2021

Over the last few days, NBA players and fans have blasted the NCAA for their treatment of women in basketball, and recently, Sixers All-Star Ben Simmons added his opinion on the subject following a team shootaround on Saturday morning. 

“I don’t have any respect for NCAA at all,” Simmons stated. “I think what they’re doing is wrong. I’ve seen the women’s stuff at the gym, and that’s obviously not fair, but they have so much money that they can’t set up a weight room the same and be equal with that? That’s bull****. There’s no excuse for that. They have no excuse.”

According to a Business Insider report from March of 2019, the NCAA reels in over $1 billion a year. Knowing that number, many fans and players have grown frustrated with the fact that the NCAA doesn't pay its athletes. Now, they also treat both sides differently as the women's teams received different gyms, welcome packages, and food.

“They have too much money to not be able to do that and take care of the women’s side,” Simmons added. “So on that side, the NCAA has been bull**** about that. It’s disrespectful to those girls who are working just as hard as the guys and having the same opportunity.”

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_ & Instagram: @JGrassoNBA.