It’s a shame that Xavier University (La.) does not compete in NCAA athletics, because we certainly would hear a lot more about them on a regular basis. They are among the dominant athletic programs in the Gold Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, and they will continue their dominance this basketball season. The women’s and men’s teams are ranked number one and two in the GCAC, respectively.
The Gold Nuggets captured the 2000-08 GCAC championship on a last-second shot, but that was just the icing on a terrific season. It was their seventh consecutive 20-win season, seventh consecutive appearance in the NAIA Division I National Tournament, and the Nuggets finished in the top-25 of the NAIA national poll.
The Rush finished their 2008 campaign with an appearance in the GCAC championship game, and their fifth consecutive 20-win season. They were ranked as high as eigth in the NAIA national poll late in the season, and had three players named to the all-GCAC team.
If anybody knows a school that is this dominant in both men’s and women’s black college basketball, I’d love to put them against XULA. Not to many programs in any division or any association, do it better than the gold standard at Xavier.
LJ 2:02 pm on October 15, 2008 Permalink
Xavier has also dominated their conference [the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference,not Gold Coast) in men's and women's tennis and cross country. The tennis teams did well at the HBCU Tennis Tournament in Atlanta winning double titles on the men and women side against Florida A&M. The cross country teams are defending conference champions and finished first in the Dallas University Invitational Meet last saturday. Back in the 50's the university had a stellar athletic program when they played football against the likes of Southern, Fisk and Stillman College. Also, Dillard, Tougaloo and Southern University-New Orleans [SUNO] (three other HBCUs) are members of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, which play in NAIA Division I. These small schools get very little headlines, but Xavier and the others rebuilt their athletic programs after their schools (Xavier, Dillard and SUNO) were all affected by Hurricane Katrina. These schools have a lot to be proud of and the universities and students deserve much of the credit of helping rebuild a region that was devestated by Katrina and keeping a community together.
JC 2:06 pm on October 15, 2008 Permalink
Excellent points, and thanks for the corrections on Gulf Coast.
My only wish, as it is with many other HBCUs, is that the information from the sports information offices and media coverage was much more in-depth, as to provide perspective on how well these programs are doing.