ESPN's suffers disastrous mistake with NCAA women's basketball bracket likely due to AI

ESPN has called themselves the “Worldwide Leader in Sports.” That moniker was earned in the 1990s and early 2000s when they were, in every way imaginable, the number one source for sports news and information.

In the early decades, ESPN as a sports information platform. The first 24-hour fully dedicated to sports television network carved out its own lane by presenting the best and most accurate sports information and analysis.

Those days are long gone. Instead, leaning into 'sports entertainment' took a massive leap in the wrong direction on Tuesday.

ESPN published men’s numbers for the women’s tournament

No one is perfect and mistakes will happen in life. However, that is not that. In the world of sports and sports media, there are mistakes that are permissible and there are mistakes that require an explanation.

What ESPN published requires an explanation. Either someone was given this assignment and just made a mistake or it's something more concerning. The world of AI and not Allen Iverson. 

If the result of the published “Women’s basketball tournament betting: Odds, spreads, totals for every game” article does include computer generated content, then it's a bad look. In the meantime, the ‘mistakes’ were cleaned up. The article has been changed, but thanks to Awful Announcing, the receipts are out there.

The evidence

No. 15 Holy Cross vs No. 2 Michigan

ESPN published that Holy Cross went 11-22 and 5-13 in conference while Michigan had a 31-2 record going 19-1 in conference. The problem is the Women’s Wolverines went 25-6 and 15-3 in conference while the Women’s Crusaders went 23-9 and 14-4 in conference.

No. 13 Western Illinois vs No. 4 North Carolina

ESPN published that Western Illinois had a 5-26 record and 1-19 in conference. No. 4 North Carolina went 24-8 and 12-6 in conference. The problem is the Women’s Leathernecks went 26-5 and 16-4 in conference while the Women’s Tar Heels team went 26-7 and 14-4 in conference

No. 15 Jacksonville vs No. 2 LSU

ESPN published that Jacksonville went 12-20 and 7-11 in conference. No. 2 LSU went 15-17 and 3-15 in conference. The problem is the Women’s Dolphins team went 24-8 and 13-5 in conference while the Women’s Tigers went 27-5 and 12-4 in conference.

The winner of No. 16s Southern Jaguars/Samford Bulldogs vs S.  Carolina

ESPN did not publish any information about teams that still have a play-in game. However, it’s the same mistakes. ESPN published the South Carolina Gamecocks, arguably the best Women’s program over the last decade, went 13-19 and 4-14 in conference. Coach Dawn Staley would be beside herself. The Women’s Gamecocks team went 31-3 and 15-1 in conference.

No. 10s Virginia Cavaliers and Arizona State Sun Devils vs No. 7 Georgia

ESPN published that Georgia went 22-10 and 10-8 in conference. The problem is the Women’s Bulldogs went 22-9 and 8-8 in conference.

No. 11 Fairfield vs No. 6 Notre Dame

ESPN published that Fairfield went 21-13 and 11-9 in conference. Notre Dame went 13-18 and 4-14 in conference. The problem is Fairfield went 28-4 and 19-1 in conference while the Women’s Fighting Irish team went 22-10 and 12-6 in conference.

What does it all mean

The short answer is ESPN published an article that outlined every matchup of the opening week of the women’s NCAA Tournament and applied records, conference records and betting lines specific to the men’s NCAA Tournament teams. The longer answer requires questions that need answers.

This is not a small mistake. Is it possible someone was accidentally looking at the men’s records and not the women’s? Yes, that is a possibility. But it’s a possibility that gets smaller the deeper you go.

For example, the men’s Fairfield Stags program has only made the NCAA Tournament three times (1986, 1987, 1997). The women’s Fairfield Stags program has made the Tournament eight times and five of which have been in the last 20 years.

Holy Cross, Western Illinois, Jacksonville, LSU and South Carolina are far more egregious examples. In what world does a 5-26 team who went 1-19 (W. ILL) in the conference even dream of making an NCAA Tournament bid?

The Jacksonville Dolphins, LSU Tigers, South Carolina Gamecocks and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish all had losing records according to ESPN’s article and no one thought to question that?

The day Dawn Staley (South Carolina) and Kim Mulkey (LSU) have losing records is probably the day they step down. Two of the winningest coaches in the women’s college game and that didn’t throw up a single red flag?

What this should and likely does mean is that ESPN chose to completely phone in their efforts on the women’s coverage at the very least.

The larger question is how does this even happen? What is the ESPN process that allowed this to slip through the editing cracks?

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