Robbins, VUU looking for third title; Shaw first
CIAA champs aim for national titles
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
The Shaw University women and the Virginia Union men, champions of both the CIAA and the South Atlantic Region Tournaments, continue their quests for NCAA Div. II national basketball championships Wednesday at far away venues.
| BLACK COLLEGE
BASKETBALL TEAMS IN NCAA DIV. II ELITE EIGHT |
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MEN ELITE EIGHT (Quarterfinal) Wed., March 23, 8:30 pm (CST) Engelstad Arena - Grand Forks, ND Virginia Union (27-4) vs Metro State (29-3) The VUU/MSC winner plays the Lynn/Findlay winner in the men's semifinals on Thursday, March 24 at either 6 pm or 8:30 pm. The men's final game is Sat., March 26 at 12 noon CST and will be carried live on ESPN2. WOMEN ELITE EIGHT (Quarterfinal) Wed, March 23, 8 pm (CST) Hot Springs, Ark. - Summit Arena Shaw (32-1) vs. Central Arkansas (27-6) The Shaw/Cent. Atk. winner plays the Charleston/Washburn winner in the women's semifinals at 8 pm CST on Thursday, March 24. The women's final game is set for Sat., March 26 at 4 pm (CST) and will be carried live on ESPN2. |
The Shaw Lady Bears (32-1) are in Conway, Ark., for the women's Elite Eight and began play in the quarterfinals Wednesday vs. South Region champ, Central Arkansas (27-6).
VUU (27-4) has a tough quarterfinal date Wednesday with Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and North Central Regional champ, Metro State (29-3) at the Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Shaw
Shaw enters its first Elite Eight under Head Coach Jacques Curtis ranked as the No. 1 team in all of Div. II women's basketball for the first time in its history.
The Lady Bears, ranked second prior to their Regional championship, took over first place by moving past Drury, a team that lost in its regional. The Lady Bears received 22 first place votes in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) poll to easily outdistance Washburn, who received just two first place votes.
They enter the national quarterfinals on a 22-game winning streak dating back to their only loss of the season on Jan. 2, a 60-48 decision to defending national champion, California of Pa. Off-guard Kiarsha Curtis (18.3 ppg.) leads four Shaw double figure scorers that helped the Lady Bears lead the nation in scoring offense at 91.2 points per game. Reserve forward Joy Hairston averages a hefty 18.1 ppg. Guards Natassia Boucicault (12.8 and Jessica Hawkins (10.6 ppg.) round out the double-figure scorers.
Shaw also led the nation in scoring margin, outscoring its opponents by 29.1 points per game this season.
The defense is led by Hawkins and Curtis, who are among the nation's leaders in steals.
Central Arkansas under head coach Checola Seals, comes in with an 18-game win streak of its own and features two players among the nation's scoring leaders, guards Carone Harris (22.4 ppg.) and Caronica Randle (19.0 ppg.). The Bears average 78.3 ppg., and hit 7.1 three pointers per game, 15th best in the nation. Shaw's 8.6 threes per game are third nationally.
Virginia Union
Dave Robbins' VUU Panthers face Metro State of Denver, perhaps the most dominant team in Div. II basketball over the past seven seasons under head coach Mike Dunlap.
The Roadrunners, ranked second nationally in the last NABC poll, have made the NCAA Tournament seven straight years winning five North Central Regional titles, have been to the Final Four on four occasions, won national titles in 2000 and 2002 and were the national runners-up in 1999. Dunlap, who previously coached professional basketball in Australia, features three players from that country including scoring leader, 6-8 senior Mark Worthington (19.9 ppg.), and one from Austria, 6-9 senior center Ben Oertner (16.3 ppg., 7.0 rpg., 2.8 bpg.).
This year's Roadrunners squad is full of great shooters. The team hits 49.3% of its shots from the field (18th in the nation), 42.7% from three-point range (3rd in the nation) and 78.9% from the free throw line (2nd). They average 82.8 points per game.
Virginia Union, who won Div. II national titles under Robbins in 1980 and 1992 and is making its seventh trip to the Elite Eight, has five starters averaging in double figures led by CIAA and South Atlantic Region MVP, junior swingman Darius Hargrove (16.1 ppg.). The Panthers were sixth in the final Div. II poll after spending six weeks during the season at No. 1.
The Panthers, whose tallest starters are 6-6 forwards, Ralph Brown (13.3 ppg., 8.3 rpg.) and Duan Crockett (13.3 ppg.) are led on the boards by undersized 6-4 center, Antwan Walton (11.9 ppg., 8.9 rpg.).
Luqman Jaaber (12.5 ppg.) is the captain and leader of the Panthers. The senior point guard averages 4.5 assists and leads the nation in free throw percentage at 89.7%.
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