As great as it is that the Florida A&M Rattlers women’s basketball team continues to scourge power conference teams throughout the southeast, they better be careful. Last night’s 61-52 upset win against Alabama may earn the Lady Rattlers significant RPI swag for the NCAA basketball tournament, but it certainly won’t win them any friends in scheduling out-of-conference guaranteed games next season.
Of course I’m kidding. Who wouldn’t want to claim their school as having a .500 record against the SEC and three Division I-A wins on the year? If they don’t win another game, it’s still official for the Lady Rattlers; short of an NCAA tournament win in 2010, they are the best black college basketball story since Coppin State in 1997.
big don 12:59 pm on December 17, 2009 Permalink
Well this game was AT our gym, so probably not much of a guarantee game. Recall that hardly any women’s basketball team has large crowds, so guarantee games are few and far between. No 6 figure paydays to play an away game for women’s ball. More like 30K at the most. So it’s more likely that our women’s teams could get better RPI and more home games b/c it is not on them to fund the rest of the department.
JC 1:39 pm on December 17, 2009 Permalink
FAMU still made money for a win. Does it matter much what the price tag was?
And I disagree that more teams will visit FAMU in the face of this kind of success. Most Division I-A teams that lose to a lower-level opponent never invite them back for another contest. You believe Alabama is coming back to your gym in the future?