UConn Basketball Coaches Won’t Attend Final Four Over Indiana Law

March 15th 2015: Head Coach Kevin Ollie of Uconn in action during the NCAA American Conference Tournament Championship Basketball game between the SMU Mustangs and the Connecticut Huskies at The XL Center in Hartford... March 15th 2015: Head Coach Kevin Ollie of Uconn in action during the NCAA American Conference Tournament Championship Basketball game between the SMU Mustangs and the Connecticut Huskies at The XL Center in Hartford, CT. Gregory Vasil/CSM (Cal Sport Media via AP Images) MORE LESS
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The coaches of University of Connecticut’s basketball team will not attend the Final Four games in Indianapolis this week due to Indiana’s controversial religious freedom law that may allow discrimination against gay people.

Although University of Connecticut did not make the Final Four, head coach Kevin Ollie and his assistant coaches were set to attend the National Association of Basketball Coaches convention in Indianapolis. Since the university receives state funding, the school’s president had to abide by Gov. Dan Malloy’s (D) ban on state funded travel to Indiana, according to the Hartford Courant.

“In support of Governor Malloy’s travel ban to the state of Indiana, Kevin Ollie and other members of the UConn men’s basketball staff will not travel to Indianapolis for the NCAA Final Four and events surrounding it,” University of Connecticut President Susan Herbst said in a statement. “UConn is a community that values all of our members and treats each person with the same degree of respect, regardless of their background and beliefs and we will not tolerate any other behavior.”

Despite calls for the NCAA to pull the Final Four out of Indianapolis over the state’s new law, the tournament will go on as planned on April 4. The NCAA has also not indicated that the league will move its headquarters from Indianapolis.

In statements this week, the four schools with basketball teams playing in the Final Four called on the state of Indiana to issue a clarification for the law.

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