BEST FOOTBALL NUMBERS: The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference has captured the NCAA Division II football attendance title for the third consecutive year in figures released by the NCAA last week. The SIAC averaged 6,361 fans for its 46 home games which was slightly down from 2004 numbers. Five confe-rence teams finished in the top 25 in team attendance. Tuskegee was the highest ranked SIAC team finishing second overall with an average of 11,307 for its four home games. The Golden Tigers finished just ahead of Miles who finished third with an average of 10,214 fans for five home dates. The SIAC had five other teams finish in the top 50, Albany State (12th), Morehouse (13th), Fort Valley State (20th), Kentucky State (23rd) and Benedict (27th). West Texas A&M finished first averaging 13,089 fans per contest. The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association finished sixth among the conferences averaging 4,695 fans in its 53 home dates. Winston-Salem State was the highest ranked CIAA team finishing tenth averaging 8,051 fans for six home games. Three other CIAA teams, Virginia State (17th), North Carolina Central (18th) and Shaw (32nd) finished in the top 50. There are 147 teams and 15 conferences in Division II. NCAA finished the 2005 season attracting the third-highest total number of fans since the organization began tracking attendance in 1948. While total attendance was up by 381,093 fans from last season, the per-game average actually dropped slightly — but it still topped the 13,000 mark for the fourth straight year. The 615 NCAA teams totaled 43,486,574 fans for all four divisions in 2005. The all-time high of 46,114,539 was set during the 2003 season when, because of the way the calendar fell that year, Divisions I-A and I-AA institutions were permitted to play 12 games.

RATTLERS TO RALEIGH: Both the men's and women's basketball teams at Florida A&M will be able to compete in the MEAC Tournament in March after the school announced conclusions of a major NCAA infractions inquiry.
The school had imposed bans on the hoops teams from postseason play as part of its internal report to the NCAA last summer. After the NCAA sanctions were announced, Athletic Director Nelson Townsend rescinded that decision along with a off-campus recruiting ban for men's head coach Mike Gillespie and his staff. The NCAA placed the school on four years probation ending in January 2010, reduced scholarships in 15 sports, reduced football practice times and ordered educational and testing sessions on NCAA rules and an NCAA compliance review in one year.

© 2006 Azeez Communications, Inc.

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