Virginia Union University’s women’s basketball team leads a large delegation of HBCU teams which have secured bids to the NCAA Division II men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
The Lady Panthers will open the tournament as the top seed in the Atlantic division of the women’s bracket, and will play Indiana (Pa.) in the Arthur Ashe Center in Richmond on Mar. 11. Tournament sixth-seed and CIAA tournament runner-up Shaw University and seventh-seeded Chowan University will face West Liberty and California (Pa.) respectively, and with wins, will face each other in the second round.
SIAC women’s champion and second-seeded Benedict College will face Florida Tech in its opening round game, and fourth-seeded Kentucky State University draws Florida Southern.
In the men’s bracket, CIAA champion Virginia State University drew a sixth seed and will face Fairmont State in its tournament opener in Wheeling, WV. In its last tournament as a member of the NCAA, SIAC champion Stillman College will face West Georgia in its opening round game as a fifth seed in the South region.
Good luck to all those HBCU in the Division II tournament. Make the opponents remember you school and name when it all said and done.