LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor
Basketball tournaments got underway this week at the Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Ga. (SWAC – Monday, March 9 –
Saturday, March 14) ) and the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va. (MEAC Wednesday, March 11 – Saturday, March 14) as these leagues
determine which men’s and women’s teams will advance to the NCAA Div. I Big Dances.
The Alabama A&M women, under head coach Dawn Thornton, and the Bethune-Cookman men, led by head coach Reggie Theus, captured their first-ever SWAC regular season titles and top seeds in their tournaments.
The Howard women, with head coach Ty Grace at the helm, and Howard men, led by head coach Kenneth Blakeney, swept
regular season MEAC titles and sit atop their brackets.
SWAC tournament play has alternating women’s and men’s early games at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. and late games at 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
thru Friday’s semifinals.
The 12-team SWAC tourney’s opening rounds Monday and Tuesday had the lowest seeded women’s and men’s teams facing each other
(see results on right). At press time Tuesday, the first SWAC women’s quarterfinals was set with top see Alabama A&M facing No. 8 Florida A&M Wednesday at 11 a.m. No. 2 seed Alcorn State was to meet the winner of No. 7 Arkansas-Pine Bluff and No. 9 Miss. Valley State in Wednesday’s 5:30 p.m. quarterfinal. The teams seeded third and fourth then face opponents in quarterfinal match ups on Thursday. The semifinals are Friday.
The women’s championship game is Saturday at 1 p.m. with the men’s title game at 7:30 p.m. All women’s and men’s SWAC Tournament games thru the semifinals will be streamed on ESPN+ with the championship game on ESPNU.
The 8-team women’s MEAC Tournament has games going of at 12 noon and 2 p.m. thru Wednesday and Thursday’s quarterfinals and Friday’s semifinals. The men’s games will follow at 6 and 8 p.m. The men’s championship game will be held first at 1 p.m. Saturday followed by the women’s title game at 4 p.m. Because the Coppin State men are ineligible for the tournament this year, only seven teams are vying for the men’s title. That means top seed Howard avoids a quarterfinal match up and gets a bye into Friday’s 6 p.m.
semifinal game. No. 2 seed Morgan State will play the only men’s game Wednesday in a quarterfinal contest vs. No. 7 Delaware State. Teams seeded fourth (Norfolk State – 6 p.m.) and third (NC Ccntral – 8 p.m.) have quarterfinal games Thursday.
ESPN+ is streaming all the games thru Friday’s semifinals with ESPN News carrying the women’s final and ESPN2 carrying the men’s championship contest on Saturday.