All head to Big Dance as 16th seeds
Top seeds sweep
MEAC/SWAC Tourneys
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
Form held in both the MEAC and SWAC Basketball Tournaments as the men's and women's top seeds in both conferences won out and advanced to the NCAA Div. I Big Dance.
Form also held as all four winners enter their respective Regionals as 16th or last seeds.
On the men's side, the SWAC and MEAC champs probably would
have met in Tuesday's Play-in game as the conferences were at the bottom of the
31 conferences in RPI ratings. The MEAC was 30th and the SWAC 31st.
But 12-18 Oakland's upset win over Oral Roberts in the Mid-Continent Conference final game left that team rated below either the SWAC or MEAC winner and facing the SWAC champion on Tuesday (March 15).
Either the MEAC or SWAC champion has been involved in each play-in game since the contest was started four years ago. Last year's MEAC champ, Florida A&M, was the first to get a win.
MEAC
Delaware State's men and Coppin State's
women rolled to championships in the MEAC Tournament in
Richmond giving their respective teams their first NCAA Tournament bids.
DSU guard Aaron Williams gathered in a loose ball in midair after a scramble for a rebound and put it in to give Greg Jackson's Hornets (19-13) a tense 55-53 win over second-seed Hampton in Saturday's men's finals.
DSU trailed by four (25-21) at the half and went down by nine (30-21) early in the second half before putting together a stirring comeback. Tournament MVP Jahsha Bluntt had 11 of his game-high 16 points over the final seven minutes of the second half, including three three-pointers that either tied the game or gave the Hornets the lead. His final three-pointer with 1:13 left tied the game at 53. The final play was set up after Hampton's Jeff Granger missed a jumper and Bruce Brown's tip from point-blank range fell away.
After a DSU timeout, Bruce Davis three-point attempt from deep in the corner bounced out of Brown's hands to Williams who calmly sank the ten-foot follow shot with 1.6 seconds on the clock. Hampton's full-court inbounds pass was knocked away as the horn sounded.
The Hornets received a 16th seed in the Austin, Tx., Region and begin play Friday at 7:25 p.m. in Charlotte vs. the top seed, ACC champion Duke (25-5). Top-seed Coppin State's 67-43 win over seventh-seed Norfolk State in the women's final was much less dramatic.
Derek Brown's Lady Eagles (23-7) wore down the Lady Spartans, playing their fourth game in five days, with an up tempo pace and relentless inside game. Tournament MVP Lakeisha Wills (20 points, 13 rebounds) and big center Leisel Harry (10 pts., 8 rebs.) did most of the damage.
The Lady Eagles are seeded 16th in the Tempe, Ar., Region and will begin the opening round by travelling to Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sunday at 7 p.m. to take on top seed, ACC champion North Carolina (27-3).
SWAC
L. Vann Pettaway and his Bulldogs of
Alabama A&M continued the trend of first-timers heading to the
Big Dance, but Shirley Walker's Lady Braves of
Alcorn State stopped it.
A&M (16-13), just six years after moving from the Div. II SIAC to the SWAC, won its first title and earned its first berth to the Big Dance. They will face Oakland Tuesday in the play-in game with the winner advancing to meet the Syracuse Region's top seed, North Carolina (27-4), Friday in Charlotte (3 p.m.).
SWAC Player and Defensive Player of the Year Obie Trotter took over the SWAC championship game in Birmingham Sunday. The nation's steals leader scored all 24 of his points on eight three-pointers as the Bulldogs routed rival Alabama State, 74-53. Trotter also won the Tournament MVP award.
Walker's Lady Braves (23-7) had to overcome a 32-point performance by tournament MVP Rolanda Monroe of Southern to earn the SWAC title and NCAA Tourney berth with a 56-47 victory. This will be Walker's third trip after winning back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001.
The Lady Braves never trailed in the contest, jumping out to a 10-0 lead, leading by as much as 29-13 before settling for a 29-18 lead at halftime. Southern got within 33-26 before ASU put the game away with a 23-3 run. Natasha Dennis and Tamika Nunez both had 12 points to lead the Lady Braves.
Walker's troops will travel to Minneapolis to face Kansas City Region top seed Michigan State (28-3) Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
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