Hoops Wrap-Up, Pt. 1
Monday's NCAA Div. I men's national championship game will bring an end to the 2006-07 college basketball season in some folks eyes, but the season's really not over at the Black College Sports Page until we give our assessments of the best black college players and teams in the land.
We do the teams this week and the players next week.
FINAL BCSP TOP TEN
MEN
As far as the teams go, no squad made a big splash on the national scene this year though some did cause some ripples.
On the men's side, regular season champ Virginia Union was stopped in the championship game by Elizabeth City State from winning its fourth straight CIAA Tournament title, and then was stopped by Wingate in the finals of the South Atlantic Regional from making a third straight trip to the NCAA Div. II Elite Eight. Dave Robbins' Panthers (23-6), last year's final BCSP top team, is second this year. ECSU (16-16), which went on to lose in the first round of the South Atlantic Regional, is seventh.
The top team is a newcomer to the spot though it did finish fifth a year ago.
West Virginia State (26-8), a former CIAA school that now competes out of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC), holds down the top spot this season.
The Yellow Jackets, led by conference Player of the Year, prolific scoring guard Ted Scott (SEE STAT CORNER) and all-WVIAC forward Tony Cornett, and coached by Bryan Poore, finished behind Alderson-Broaddus and West Liberty State in the regular season but knocked off A-B in the conference tournament finals to earn a automatic bid to the NCAA Div. II East Regional.
Once there, the Yellow Jackets had to again beat A-B and before coming within one-point, an 86-85 loss, of reaching the East Region championship game. That loss was to top-seed Barton, who went on to win the NCAA Div. II national championship.
The Yellow Jackets have made a steady climb up the BCSP ladder over the last three seasons and with this year's performance grab the top spot.
Jackson State (21-14), behind high-scoring guard Trey Johnson, took home the SWAC Tournament title by knocking off regular season champ Mississippi Valley State (18-16) in the championship game. The upstart Blue Tigers then threw a first-half scare into 2007 Final Four participant and 2006 national champion Florida in a first round NCAA Div. I Tournament game. Head coach Tevester Anderson's Tigers are third while James Green's Delta Devils of MVSU, who went on to lose a first round NIT game, are sixth.
Florida A&M (21-14) finished behind three-time regular season champ Delaware State 21-12) in the MEAC regular season but beat the Hornets for the second time in three tries this season in the Tournament's championship game. Mike Gillespie's Rattlers, who lost in the NCAA Tourney play-in game, finish in fourth, just ahead of Greg Jackson's Hornets (21-13), whose season ended with a first-round NIT loss.
Benedict (25-5), which ran roughshod through the SIAC winning the regular season title by five games before bowing in the tournament semifinals, is eighth followed by CIAA regular season runners-up, Virginia State (20-8) and MEAC Tourney semifinalist Morgan State (13-18).
WOMEN
The most dominant team on the women's side was MEAC regular season champ Coppin State, which stretched its conference winning streak of over two-plus years to 49 games before it was upset in the tournament semifinals by Morgan State. Head coach Derek Brown led the Lady Eagles to an 18-0 regular season mark and then got some consolation with a first round win in the WNIT, a postseason first for the CSU women's program. Their effort earns the Lady Eagles (24-8) the No. 1 ranking for the second year in a row. But they share it this year with North Carolina Central (26-6), who emerged from a year-long battle with Elizabeth City State (21-10) to take both the regular season and tournament titles in the CIAA. Head coach Joli Robinson won her first conference title and then got a first-round NCAA Div. II playoff win.
Delaware State (20-13), under Ed Davis, which earned its first MEAC Tournament title by knocking off Morgan State in the final game, is third. As a 15th seed, Davis's Lady Hornets played well before losing a first round NCAA game to second-seed Vanderbilt.
Prairie View (19-14), playing under ex-WNBA star, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, caught Jackson State in the regular season and beat them for the SWAC Tourney title, and claims the No. 4. spot, ahead of Tara Owens' Lady Vikings of ECSU. Jackson State, N. C. A&T, Morgan State, Benedict and Fort Valley State round out the Top Ten.
© 2007 Azeez Communications, Inc.