Samford women’s basketball coach Mike Morrison challenged his team with a tough nonconference schedule this season. But Monday’s game against UTC was a new experience for his Bulldogs.
“We’ve played Tulane, UCLA, Kansas, Kansas State and Auburn,” he said following the Mocs’ 49-32 win at McKenzie Arena. “This is the first ranked team we’ve played.”
UTC was ranked No. 25 in The Associated Press women’s poll released Monday afternoon, giving the program its first appearance in the AP Top 25 since 1984. That team ranked as high as No. 19 and was No. 20 in the final poll.
Mocs coach Jim Foster, in his second season in Chattanooga, becomes the only coach to lead four teams into the Top 25. In his 37th season as a head coach, Foster previously coached ranked teams at St. Joseph’s, Vanderbilt and Ohio State.
“I think it’s great for grade-school kids all over the country, because they’ll learn how to spell ‘Chattanooga’ seeing it in their local paper,” he said Monday night. “There are Chattanooga graduates all over the country. Now they can go the agate page and see if the sports editor knows how to spell.”
The Mocs lost four starters and five seniors from last season’s Southern Conference regular-season and tournament championship squad but beat then-No. 4 Tennessee 67-63 on Nov. 16 and won 54-46 over then-No. 7 Stanford on Dec. 17.
“We’re very excited that it happened. It’s a team effort. so we’re very excited for our team,” UTC junior Alicia “Red” Payne said of the ranking. “I guess it’s a big accomplishment, but we still have to focus on one game at a time in SoCon (play).”
Morrison thinks the recognition UTC has earned helps every program in the SoCon, which doesn’t generally draw much national attention.
“I think it’s great, and I think it’s great for our league,” he said. “I want them to win every game except when they play us. I’d love for us to beat them in the (SoCon tournament) championship game and they get an at-large bid (into the NCAA tournament).”
Contact Jim Tanner at jtanner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6478. Follow him at twitter.com/JFTanner.