Mis-seeded and Mistreated
from B1
Coppin State and Howard
(the Women's MEAC representa
tive) were victims of biased seed
ing, a enormous obstacle to
advancing out of the first and
second rounds.
Although Coppin State
Eagles sported a 22-8 record
entering selection Sunday
#(March 9), won the MEAC regu
lar season championship in con
vincing fashion, then captured
Hhe league's post-season champi
onship, no one expected the team
Ho make any noise in the touma
?tnent.
? Was that any type of way to
Hreat a team which held the
?nation's longest home winning
?Streak (42 games) in Division I
?basketball before having it
snapped midway through the sea
son?
Yet when the pairings were
^announced Coppin could do no
^better than the No. 15 seed and
?was matched against No. 2 in the
Ifeast Region, South Carolina. The
tfeagl es took the seeding as a chal
lenge to show t^ie Selection Com
inittee the errc/r of their ways.
Z Coppin came out with a chip
Ion its shoulder and throttled the
StJamecocks, taking the victory
Igoing away 78-65.
" "We believed, we always
Ibelieved," said Danny Singletary,
Jvho scored 22 points to lead the
^Eagles. "It was no miracle. We
?aid at the half that we could do
3t."
a When the game ended, Reg
gie Welch took the ball and
jieaved it far as he could. That
Symbolically was his way of
jelling the world that the MEAC
Jtnd black college teams had
jiually gotten the monkey off
jheirback. .
* "I threw the ball to throw
?away all the doubts surrounding
?this program," Welch said. "I
?wanted to throw it out of the
I&rena if I could."
Z In the process the Eagles
itecame only the third No. 15 to
upset a No.2 seed in tournament
25
history, and became the first i
MEAC team to advance past the <
tournament's first round.
The latter stat is misleading,
MEAC teams are traditionally
relegated to a No. 16 seed in one
of the four regions and occasion
ally the No. 15 spot. This forces
teams to play the nations elite
teams year in and year out. And
Antoine Brockington of Coppin State led the team in scoring during the
season and also played a pivotal role in the Eagles' win over South Car
olina.
even with this obstacle many of
the conference's teams have
given top-ranked teams problems
and scared more than a few pro
grams.
Coppin State was one point
and one errant pass away from
becoming the first No. 15 to ever
advance to the "Sweet 16".
Those plans were foiled by
Texas, which barely escaped the
contest with the Eagles, with an
82-81 win.
The play of Coppin State
convinced Texas coach Tom Pen
ders that the Eagles had been
seeded wrong.
"I'm going to say it like
Bobby Knight, 'There's no way
in hell they're [Coppin State] a
No. 15 seed," he said at the post
game press conference.
The selection committee,
unlike coach Penders, gives little
credit to the strength of histori
cally Black college conferences
like the ME AC and the SWAC,
however, coaches and athletic
directors in the nations premiere
conferences know well to fear the
bite of Black schools.
Coppin State head coach
Ron "Fang" Mitchell says that it
is nearly impossible to get
schools to schedule games with
them.
"We have trouble scheduling
home games," said Mitchell. "We
have trouble scheduling away
games. Our neighbor, Maryland
won't play us. They'll play
everybody except us. George
town won't play us."
A.D.'s and coaches are
understandably reluctant to play
a talented team that is at the same
time unknown and unacclaimed.
A win benefits these programs
little and a loss is extremely dam
aging, because of the perception
that these small Black institutions
should be easy victories.
Duquesne, the only Division
I team outside the conference to
play the Eagles on their home
court, got hammered when it
traveled to Coppin State (91-57).
And while understandable
that hesitafice on the part of
major programs to create games
is a key m Black schools inability
to compile a schedule that has a
favorable RP1 rating, the method
in which the NCAA measures
strength of schedule. Without
that favorable RP1 rating these
institutions are doomed to the
prisons of low seeding and con
tinually forced to compete
against the top 10 teams in col
lege basketball.
The story of the MEAC
Women's Champion, Howard
University, is even more disturb
ing. For one the Lady Bisons
were not able to avenge the folly
of their No. 16 seed with a win
over No.l ranked Stanford. But
the real injustice is that Howard
was ranked in a No. 16 spot at
all. The young women of
Howard were on a 23-game win
ning streak entering the tourna
ment, fifth longest in the nation,
including going undefeated
through the conference and blitz
ing their competition in the con
ference tournament.
Howard is only the second
team in history to complete com
plete conference play without a
loss. Their RPI rating was the
highest among historically black
schools and their roster includes
three players who rank nationally
in offensive and defensive cate
gories.
Before the selections were
announced head coach Sanya
Tyler spoke of her teams accom
plishments and believed that they
were more than enough to help
Howard escape a No. 16 seeding.
"If that's not enough to get
us out of a 16th slot, then we
need to reevaluate the way in
which the tournament is seeded,"
she said.
A week later the selection
committee, unmoved by the
superb season Howard had slot
ted them 16th for the second year
in a row. Stanford beat Howard
handily, as had the University of
Connecticut the year before. The
team deserved better than their
seeding and better than a first
round exit from the Big Dance.
But more than both of those facts
is that the country deserved a
chance to see two of the nations
most exciting players, Denique
Graves and Amanda Hayes play
out their senior seasons, and
Black institutions need to know
that their hard work counts for
something come selection time.
Tyler is now understandably
wondering what she could have
possibly done differently, and
what is sad is that there she will
not be able to come up with any
thing.
The Lady Bisons exceeded
the the criteria, and like this
country, outside of sport, often
the exceptional work of African
Americans is often still not
enough. The world of sport and
the NCAA in particular stands at
the same cross-road that this
country finds itself. And all of us
will either move forward with
fair and just decisions or move
backwards with prejudice and
bias. Coppin State and Howard
University were this year's litmus
test and the Selection committee
failed both miserably. Luckily for
all of us they have the chance to
take the test again next year.
The Wineton-Salem Chapter of
The Morehouee College National Alumni Aeeociation
? PRESENTS IN CONCERT ?
The World Famous
Morehouse College Glee Club
Dr. David Morrow, Director
Saturday, March 22,1997
7:30 PM
Kenneth R. Williams Auditorium
on the campus of Winston-Salem State University
Tickets $10 In advance / $12 at the door,
call: (910) 724-1561
? Proceeds will benefit the Kenneth R. Williams Scholarship Fund. ?
m i
11
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