How to Follow Women's College Basketball

Women's basketball has likely become the third most followed college sport, second only to football and men's basketball. While the women's game still lags behind the other two traditional draws in terms of media coverage, it has taken giant leaps since the Internet and dish TV have come to prominence. One thing I notice about the women's game though is there isn't as much parity as there is in the men's game. There seem to be more blowouts and fewer upsets. Hopefully that will change as more schools get more media exposure and thus recruiting becomes more equal as it has in the men's game. Read this article to learn some of the tools that are essential for following women's basketball.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Internet
• TV (preferably a dish)

1. Attend a Game
   
   As with the men's game, there are 341 Division I women's basketball programs spread out over 49 states. It's even easier to attend a women's game than a men's, due to lower costs and fewer sellouts.

2. Use the Internet
   
   The internet is an even more vital tool for following women's basketball than for men's, since there is less coverage of women's basketball in traditional media forms such as TV and newspapers. Please see "Resources" below for a list of hot links to such difficult to find aspects as RPI and live game webcasts.

3. Watch TV
   
   While there are still a lot more men's than women's basketball games televised, the latter at least proportionately seems to close the gap each season. See the Comprehensive TV Schedules under "Resources" to be sure that you catch the games, since especially with the women's game you might not otherwise be aware of live coverage. As you may find based upon channel listings, a dish, especially DirecTV with the inexpensive SportsPack, is nearly a necessity for following women's college basketball in any but a cursory manner.

4. Listen to the Radio
   
   Most official athletics pages for each school will direct you to radio stations that carry its women's basketball games. Unfortunately the women's games seem often to be carried by a single station in the immediate area of the school, without nearly so many additional affiliate stations in outlying areas. See the Index to School Athletics Websites under "Resources" in order to find school-by-school listings.

Tips & Warnings

• Due to less media hype than the men's game, the Resources below are vital to following women's college basketball.
• Don't expect a ten-second violation (ten seconds in the backcourt) to be called in women's college basketball, as there is no such rule.

Resources

• Index to School Athletics Websites
• TV Schedule
• Another TV Schedule
• RealTime Unofficial RPI
• NCAA Women's Basketball Page
• A Good Scoreboard
• Live Webcasts
• Live Stats and Webcasts
• Division II-III Webcasts
• Map of Division I Schools
• Map of Division II Schools
• By Conference
• Rankings (Polls)

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