Second seeds sweep titles; Top seeds play on
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
A funny thing happened in Div. I black college basketball tournaments last weekend.
None of the top seeds won!
Instead, a quartet of second-seeded teams prevailed in men's and women's championships in the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference and Southwestern Athletic Conference (See TOURNEY FINALS RECAPS).
That strange development landed an unprecedented eight teams, two each from men's and women's teams in both conferences, in NCAA-run Tournaments.
The big prizes were automatic bids to the NCAA Div. I Championship Tournaments that went to Men's and Women's Tournament champions in both conferences.
But there is some consolation for regular season champs who were the top seeds in their respective tournaments. They get to play in the Men's and Women's NIT Tournaments which began on Tuesday (March 13) and Wednesday (March 14).
The NCAA Big Dance
The second-seeded women of Delaware State and men of Florida A&M prevailed at the MEAC Tournament in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday to earn their conference's automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament.
The Lady Hornets (20-12) knocked off Morgan State in the championship game after the Lady Bears had dethroned two-time tournament champion and regular season title holder, top seed Coppin State, in the semifinals. Coppin State had been on a 49-game winning streak against MEAC opponents.
Delaware State took its first MEAC women's title after reaching the title game for the fifth time in head coach Ed Davis's seven years. The Lady Hornets are seeded 15th in the NCAA's Greensboro Region and will open NCAA play in East Lansing, Mi., Sunday at 12 noon against second-seeded Vanderbilt (27-5), the tournament champion of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
Florida A&M (21-13) got a bucket in
the final second to hand three-time regular season men's
champ Delaware State its second consecutive MEAC title game
loss. Sixth-year FAMU head coach Mike Gillespie
will be leading the Rattlers (21-13) back to
the NCAA Tournament for the second time in four years. They last made an
appearance after winning the MEAC tourney title in 2004. They won a play-in game against
Lehigh (72-57) before bowing to St. Louis Region
top seed and the tournament's overall top seed Kentucky (96-76).
The Rattlers are again in the play-in game where they faced Mid Atlantic Conference Tournament champ Niagara (22-11) Tuesday night (March 13) in Dayton. If the Rattlers win that game they will advance to play in the West Region against top-seed, Big 12 Tournament champion Kansas (30-4), Friday in Chicago.
In the SWAC Tournament in Birmingham, Al., the Prairie View A&M women (19-13) and Jackson State (21-13) men continued the march of second seeds as they knocked off top seeds Jackson State and Mississippi Valley State respectively to take home their tournament titles.
Prairie View, under second-year head coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, the former star of the WNBA with the Houston Comets, won its first SWAC Tournament title in history and received its first-ever NCAA Tournament berth with its victory over Jackson State in the finals. Prairie View had tied JSU for the regular season title with both posting 14-4 records. JSU got the top seed by virtue of sweeping Prairie View in two regular season games. The Lady Panthers had never had a wining season and won just one game in SWAC Tournament history prior to this season. They are the 16th seed in the Dallas Region and will face top seed North Carolina (30-3), the ACC Tournament champ, Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh.
The men of Jackson State split with Mississippi Valley State in the two regular season contests and surrendered their regular season lead late in the season. But they came back to get the rubber-math against the Delta Devils in Saturday's finals. The Tigers will be making their third NCAA Tournament appearance but first under fourth-year head coach Tevester Anderson. Anderson twice took Murray State to the Tournament.
THE NIT
The National Invitational Tournament, known as the NIT, was taken over last year by the NCAA who awarded automatic bids to men's regular season champions that did not win their conference tournaments or get at-large NCAA Tournament bids. The men's field this year has 32 teams with the championship scheduled for Thursday, March 29 at Madison Square Garden in New York city.
Winners of regular season conference titles that bow out in conference tournaments and don't receive at-large bids were added to the women's field this year. The WNIT has a 48-team field this year.
The Delaware State men (21-11) are back in the tournament. They won a first-round game last year at Northern Arizona before bowing to Louisville in the second round. They opened at West Virginia (22-9) of the Big East Tuesday. Mississippi Valley State of the SWAC also played Tuesday at Mississippi State (18-13).
In the WNIT Wednesday, Jackson State played at Tulane and Coppin State (24-7) travelled to St. Joseph's (19-13).
© 2007 Azeez Communications, Inc.