Who Isn’t Watching Women’s College Basketball?
The girls come out to play in women’s college basketball
Women’s college basketball dates back to 1893 when some freshman girls played against some sophomores at Smith College. But the first official match of women’s college basketball was help in April of 1896 between Berkley and Stanford. And women’s college basketball has come a long way since then.
In the beginning
The first rules that would govern women’s college basketball were written in 1901, but these do not necessarily mirror the modern times.
For example, women’s college basketball rules dictates that the net of the basket be sewn together so that the referee (umpire in those times) would have to go and get it again.
And some of the games were played on grass courts.
But then things began to change
In 1975, the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women started the first women’s college basketball tournament.
That same year, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association picked the first All-American team. With the ABL (American Basketball League) formed in 1996 and the Women’s NBA (WNBA) in 1997, it seems that everyone realized that women were meant to play too.
And if the United States wasn’t going to support them, there were foreign leagues that they could play in.
College days
With three divisions to sort out the best players, women’s college basketball is quite another sport than what it started out to be.
Division I (just like in men’s basketball) is still the most prominent in women’s college basketball and features schools that support at least seven sports for women to play.
And these teams are required to play against each other for all but two games.
Going on down the line, Division II and III do not require as many sports for women as in Division I.
Just like men’s college basketball, women’s college basketball really gets going when the tournament season begins. With brackets and seeds, the newest women’s college basketball fans can cheer their favorite teams through March Madness.