BCSP Notes . . .
MEAC Basketball tips its hand
The Delaware State men and Coppin State women are overwhelming favorites to claim basketball titles in the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference according to results of voting by the league's head coaches and sports information directors. The results were unveiled at last week's basketball press luncheon at Raleigh's RBC Center, the site of the league's March 5-10 tournament.
DSU, which won its second consecutive
regular season title in the 2005-06 season with a 16-2
MEAC record, set a school record for victories finishing
at 21-14 overall including a first round win in the
NIT postseason tournament. The Hornets, who return five starters, received all 14 first-place votes.
Norfolk State and Florida A&M finished second
and third in the poll with Coppin State and last
year's tournament champion, Hampton, rounding out
the top five.
Coppin State, the two-time defending women's champion received 18 of 20 first-place votes. The Lady Eagles finished with an 18-0 record in the conference last year and have won 29 straight conference games. Delaware State came in second in this year's poll, earning one first place vote. Maryland-Eastern Shore, Howard and South Carolina State complete the preseason top five.
Reigning MEAC Player of the Year, 6-6 forward Jasha Bluntt of Delaware State, and 2005-06 Tourney MVP Rashida Suber of Coppin State were picked as preseason players of the year.
| MEN | WOMEN |
| 1. Delaware State (14) 308 | 1. Coppin State (18) 434 |
| 2. Norfolk State 228 | 2. Delaware State (1) 369 |
| 3. Florida A&M 202 | 3. Md.-Eastern Shore 324 |
| 4. Coppin State 196 | 4. Howard (1) 305 |
| 5. Hampton 164 | 5. South Carolina State 218 |
| 6. South Carolina State 160 | 6. Florida A&M 204 |
| 7. North Carolina A&T 146 | 7. North Carolina A&T 202 |
| 8. Bethune-Cookman 110 | 8. Hampton 182 |
| 9. Howard 94 | 9. Norfolk State 80 |
| 10. Morgan State 70 | 10. Morgan State 78 |
| 11. Md.-Eastern Shore 30 | 11. Bethune-Cookman 44 |
MEN
FIRST TEAM Jahsha Bluntt, 6-6, Sr., G, DSU; Tywain McKee, 6-2, Sr., G, CSU; Tony
Murphy, 6-4, Jr., NSU; Brian Mason, 6-4, Sr., SCSU; Jason Wills, 6-6, Jr., NC A&T
Second Team Darrin Shine, 5-10, Sr., DSU; Sean Booker, 6-3, Jr., NCA&T; Brian Greene, 6-5, Sr., FAMU;
Sam Barber, 6-6, Sr., B-CC; Rome Sanders, 6-8, Sr., FAMU
WOMEN
FIRST TEAM Rashida Suber, 5-8, Sr., CSU; Rachel Butler, 5-8, Jr., Hampton; Raquel Collier,
5-9, Jr., DSU; Melloni Benson, 6-2, Sr., Howard; Kristi Veltkamp, 6-3, Jr., UMES
Second Team
Shalamar Oakley, 5-6, Jr., Coppin State; Deidra Jones, 5-10, So., FAMU; Whitney Johnson,
5-9, Sr., MSU; Katreem Palmer, 6-1, Jr., DSU; Ifeoma Onuaku, 6-4, Sr., FAMU
Trio of picks leads CIAA hoop selections
Four teams, the men of St. Paul's and St. Augustine's and the women of Elizabeth City State and Johnson C. Smith, placed three players on all-conference squads and three of the squads are predicted to be the best in their division in voting by the head basketball coaches in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Those predictions and picks were announced last week at the league's preseason basketball press conference and luncheon at the Charlotte Civic Center.
St. Aug's three 2005-06 selections to the
all-CIAA team, guard Antonio Fitzgerald and
forwards Nicholas King and Claude
Neeley, are expected to vault the Falcons to the top of the
men's West Division. Two-time all-conference
center Celeste Trahan along with teammates
Deanna Price and Tiffany Smith make the ECSU
Lady Vikings the pick in the women's East. Tiana
Pope, Brittany Sumpter and Ashley Chase
are penciled in as leaders of the JCSU Lady Golden Bulls' rise
to the top of the women's West Division. St.
Paul's placed three players on the men's preseason team
but the Tigers were picked sixth (last) in the East.
The biggest surprises may have been the paltry selections from the two most dominant teams in CIAA basketball on the preseason teams. Three-time men's champion and two-time NCAA Div. II finalist Virginia Union, which won the national title in the 2004-05 season, placed only one player, 6-7 senior center Brad Byerson, on the men's squad. Four-time defending women's champion, Shaw, who enters the season on a 79-game conference winning streak,placed only forward Leslie Anderson on the women's team. VUU was still picked to win the men's East Division while Shaw was chosen second in the women's East.
MEN
EAST 1) Virginia Union 2) Bowie State 3) Virginia State 4) Elizabeth City State 5) Shaw 6)
St. Paul's WEST 1) St. Augustine's 2) J. C. Smith 3) NC Central 4) Fayetteville State 5) Livingstone
WOMEN
East 1) Elizabeth City State 2) Shaw 3) Bowie State 4) St. Paul's 5) Virginia Union 6)
Virginia State WEST 1) J. C. Smith 2) NC Central 3) St. Augustine's 4) Fayetteville State 5) Livingstone
MEN
Anthony Hilliard,6-3, Sr., ECSU; Maurice Hooper, 6-2, Jr., JCSU; Jason Hervey, 6-9, Sr,
NCCU; Nicholas King, 6-7, Sr., SAC; Antonio Fitzgerald, 6-1, Sr., SAC; Claude Neeley, 6-2, Sr.,
SAC; Tristan Rankin, Sr., G, SPC; Hassan Robinson, 6-3, Sr., SPC; Bruce Royal, 5-10, G, SPC;
Avis Wyatt, 6-11, Sr., VSU; Michael Askew, 6-7, Sr., VSU; Brad Byerson, 6-7, Sr., VUU
WOMEN
Allyson Swailes, 6-2, Jr., BSU; Celeste Trahan, 6-2, Jr., ECSU; Tiffany Smith, 5-11, Sr.,
ECSU; Deanna Price, 5-7, Sr, ECSU; Chelsea Jeter, 5-10, So., FSU; Ashley Chase, 6-7, Sr.
JCSU; Brittany Sumpter, 5-8, Sr., JCSU; Tiana Pope, 5-8, Sr., JCSU; Cassie King, 6-0, Sr.,
NCCU; LaConya Polk, 6-0, Sr., SAC; Valicia Brown, 5-9, Sr., SAC; Leslie Anderson, 5-8, Jr., Shaw
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