INDIANAPOLIS — Online abuse related to sports betting decreased during the NCAA's March Madness basketball tournaments compared with the prior year, but people involved in the competition still received more than 3,000 threatening messages, the NCAA said Tuesday.
The NCAA hired Signify Group to monitor messages directed at athletes, coaches, game officials, selection committee members and others with official roles in the tournament. Signify used both artificial intelligence and human analysts to confirm the threats and, when necessary, report them to law enforcement.
Overall, abuse related to sports betting was down 23%, the NCAA said in a news release.
The men's March Madness bracket was notable this year for the scarcity of upsets, with all four No. 1 seeds advancing to the Final Four and Florida, a popular pick to win it all, claiming the national title. On the women's side, three top seeds made the national semifinals and No. 2 seed UConn, among the pre-tournament favorites, won the championship.
The NCAA's analysis found that overall, abusive statements directed at people involved in the men's tournament increased by 140% — much of it directed at the selection committee and coaches — while abuse related to sports betting was down 36%.
Abuse was down 83% on the women's side and betting-related abuse declined 66%.
One women's player who was targeted online was Chandler Prater of Mississippi State, who was guarding Southern California star JuJu Watkins when she suffered a season-ending knee injury.
''I received all kinds of messages, so many of them hateful and abusive,'' Prater said in a statement. ''It was unlike anything I'd ever experienced before.''
