Countdown to CIAA, SIAC Tourneys
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
The battle for the five men's first-round byes in next week's CIAA Tournament will come down to this week's final games.
Three-time defending Tournament champion Virginia Union, at 15-4 in conference play, has already clinched the top seed and one of the byes.
Following play Thursday, Virginia
State (14-5) is second and has one game left,
St. 
Augustine's (14-6) can finish no worse than fourth depending on the outcome of Johnson C. Smith's (13-6) game against NC Central on Saturday.
Bowie State and Fayetteville State (11-7) are fighting for the fifth seed with one game to go.
Bowie State and Virginia State tangle on Friday. Fayetteville meets Livingstone on Saturday.
On the women's side, North Carolina Central (16-3) and Elizabeth City State (15-4), have nailed down the top two seeds and first-round byes. Shaw (14-6) and Fayetteville State (12-6), have wrapped up the third and fourth seeds. The fifth seed goes to Bowie State (11-8) regardless of the outcome of their game against VSU Friday.
Pairings for the both the men's and women's Tournament will be announced on Sunday with women's first round play beginning Monday at 1 p.m. and men's first round play scheduled to begin on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
The CIAA also announced this week that officiating pioneer Angie Lewis will be the guest speaker for the women's Tipoff Banquet on Sunday in Charlotte at the Westin Hotel. Nevil Shed, who played at North Carolina A&T before joining the all-black starting team at Texas Western that knocked off Kentucky in the 1966 NCAA Championship game told in the Walt Disney move "Glory Road" and who is now a motivational speaker, will keynote the men's Tipoff Banquet on Tuesday.
The SIAC is also in its final week of regular season play. On the men's side, Benedict (24-3, 20-2) has clinched the top seed and will get a first-round bye along with Paine (15-7), Fort Valley State (14-7)and Stillman (13-8).
First-round byes go to the top five women's teams. Benedict (15-5), Fort Valley State (15-4), Kentucky State, and Tuskegee both at 14-5, and Paine at 14-6, have clinched those byes.
Play for both the men and women in the SIAC Tournament in Birmingham begins Wednesday at 9 a.m.
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