Several black colleges have been named to the NCAA Division II National Basketball Tournament. Let’s run down the men’s and the women’s seedings.
Men’s
From the SIAC, a conference championship didn’t weight heavily on the selection committee, as the LeMoyne-Owen Magicians take the eighth seed in the South region. The teams who would be champions, Claflin University and Benedict College, receive third and fifth seeds, respectively. If the two teams win their opening rounds, they could face each other for the third time this season in the Sweet 16.
The CIAA sends its conference champion and runner-up to the national tournament in the Atlantic region. The Johnson C. Smith Golden Bulls get a fourth seed in the tournament, but the three-time national champion Virginia Union Panthers come in as the second seed. Pretty surprising considering JCSU repeated this year as CIAA basketball champions.
West Virginia State, regular season champs out of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, receive the sixth seed. The Yellow Jackets will face the winner of the VUU-Indiana(Pa.) game with a first round win against three-seed Kutztown.
Women’s
SIAC champion Fort Valley State and runner-up Clark-Atlanta come into the national tournament as a second and sixth seeds in the South region. The Lady Wildcats went undefeated in SIAC play this season, and Clark-Atlanta lost just two games in conference.
The UDC Firebirds receive an eighth-seed at-large bid to the national tournament after an impressive season. The Division II independents played a CIAA-heavy schedule, and their only loss against CIAA competition was a road defeat at the hands of Chowan College in early February.
The CIAA sends conference champion Johnson C. Smith to the tournament as a seventh-seed, and the Fayetteville State Lady Broncos, who lost in the first round of the CIAA Basketball Tournament, come in as a sixth seed.
