LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor

The men’s tournament champions of the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) have a much different draw than their women counterparts heading into their respective NCAA “Big Dance” Div. I national tournaments this week.

The Men

MEAC men’s champion Howard and SWAC men’s champ Grambling State are both seeded 16th and last in their respective NCAA regions and will be involved in winnable play-in games–dubbed First Four games – early in the week.

Howard (18-16) won its second straight MEAC Tourney title, this time as a No. 4 seed. The Bison were awarded a First Four game Tuesday (6:40 p.m.) in Dayton, Ohio in the West Region vs. NEC champion Wagner (16-15). The Seahawks grabbed their league title as a No. 6 seed.The winner of the Howard/Wagner game will face the region’s top seed, North Carolina, Thursday in Charlotte, N.C. (2:45 p.m.)

The Bison, making their second appearance under now fourth-year head coach Kenny Blakeney, were given a 16-seed a year ago and faced West Region top seed Kansas in the first round (a 96-68 loss). This is Howard’s fifth appearance overall in the NCAA Tournament.

Grambling (20-14), under seventh-year head coach Donte’ Jackson, won its first-ever SWAC men’s tourney title as a No. 1 seed and earned the program’s first-ever NCAA berth.

The G-Men drew Big Sky champion Montana State (17-17), who won its tournament title as a No. 5 seed, in a First Four Midwest Region game. Their match up is Wednesday in Dayton at 6:40 p.m. The GSU/MSU winner will face the region’s top seed Purdue (29-4) on Friday in Indianapolis at 7:25 p.m.

The Ladies

Like Grambling’s men, both SWAC women’s champion Jackson State (26-6) and MEAC women’s champion Norfolk State (27- 5) emerged as winners of their tournaments as No. 1 seeds. Unlike Grambling however, the ladies were not seeded 16th or last in their respec- tive regions.

And unlike Grambling or Howard, the ladies will be facing perennial national powers when they open play on Friday.

Jackson State, under sixth-year head coach Tomekia Reed, is making its third NCAA appearance in four years. The Lady Tigers earned a program-best No. 14 seed in the Portland 4 Region.

They will face Big East Tournament champion and perennial national power, No. 3 UConn (29-5) with Hall of Fame head coach Gino

Auriemma Friday (1 p.m.) on the Lady Huskies home court in Storrs, Connecticut.

UConn has won 11 national championships under Auriemma but enters Friday’s game with maybe eight healthy players. Don’t count out the deep JSU squad.

After earning its second straight MEAC tournament title and NCAA berth under eighth-year head coach Larry Vickers, Norfolk State is seeded 15th in the Portland 3 Region.

The Lady Spartans will face Pac-12 Tournament runners-up No. 2 Stanford (28-5) on its home floor in Stanford, California, Friday at 1 p.m.

In their first appearance a year ago, Vickers’ troops were seeded 16th and gained praise from top seed South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley after a 72-40 first round win by the Lady Gamecocks.

This post was originally published on this site