Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / March 6, 1997, edition 1 / Page 37
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Sports Review PUBLISHER ? Ernest H. Pitt BCSR Editor ? Sam Davis Production Manager ? Kathy Lee PRODUCTION STAFF WRITER David W Schlosser, Cover Design Courtney Daniel Roger Martin, Layout Ken M. Griffin Jr., intern Are better d ahead for MEAC Tourney? Is this the year that the MEAC finally stabi lizes the condition of its ailing basketball tournament? Since its inception in 1972, when the first tournament was held in Durham's Cameron Indoor Stadium on the Duke University campus, the league has searched for a permanent home (or at least one where it could pull up its chair for awhile). Thus far, however, it hasn't been able to come up I JJ1P IIW From the Press 0rail with a location where the fans and community have rallied around it. It has experienced moderate success in some locales, but others have proven to be total bombs. Some cities in the past have offered incentives to lure the tournament and not gotten the return that they expected on their investments. Others have offered lit tle and gotten back even less, but the proper marriage has never been arranged. This year's move to Norfolk might be the best idea that has come along in quite a while. It looks like the place where the league can finally get a chance to turn a profit and add some luster to its diminishing image. Why Norfolk? First of all, it is a tournament city. The CIAA Tournament experienced a great deal of growth and success during its stays in Norfolk. The African American community in that area is seemingly sup portive of its institutions and time-honored traditions See Page 14?' ?LACK CIUECE SPIITS l(fIIR - CIM EIIIIIN it published by Black Sports Inc., 817 North Liberty Street. Winston-Salem. N.C. 27101. Unsolicited manuscripts and photographs will not be returned. Inquiries should be addressed to Ernest H. Pitt, Publisher, ILiCI CIUECE SfllTS IEIIEW - HE AC illTIM, P.O. Box 1636, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27102 BCSR Is a supplement to theee newspapers: Chicago Crusader. Charleston Chronicle. The New York Beacon. The Informer and Texas Freeman. Philadelphia Tribune, Miama Times. Michigan Chronicle. Baltimore Times, Altanta Inquirer and The Winston-Salem Chonide Coppin, Howard are teams to beat The outlook for this year's MEAC Tournament looks to be pretty clear-cut. In the women's tournament, Howard is the prohibitive favorite after becoming only the sec-^l ond women's team in league history to go^p* through the conference slate undefeated. / jp; Coppin State was the class of the men's u w*. division and finished two games ahead of the! f next-closest finisher. The Eagles weren't asU S dominant as the Lady Bison, but they never theless possess a wealth of talent. V That's considering, of course, if you loolyr A at the conference tournament as an extension/, W of the regular season. If history is any indi-Mm a cator, it isn't. The tournament's history isM a littered with upsets. m a Could this be another year ow Jf upsets? K a Quite possibly there are some^K dark horses in the field, but it looksV like the favorites this year have theB^ j. inside track on the tournamentKjl^ championships and with them thc^lfj automatic bids to the NCAA^H|Ss Tournament. Ron "Fang" Mitchell, Coppin^ftJI State's coach, said that possibilityMjjfl is always on the minds of the^^H coaches as they approach the annual^^^P affair. "You always have the possibility^ of upsets when you have a tourna-M ment," Mitchell said. "It's happened? often in our tournament and peoples, look for it to happen every year. But it's a matter of going out playing youn^ game and executing. If you play well,? you're going to win. If not, the team that w comes in hungry and ready to play is! going to knock off the team that isn't pre pared." i In the men s bracket, opposing coach-flBHB es would probably tell you different. ThellflW North Carolina A&T men have madcWVjrJ ways down through the years to steal more than their share of the tournament crowns. This year could be another of their run;^^ through the tournament. A&T is a veter an team that is capable of playing witf^^HHp^" the best on any given night. Coppin State certainly has the^^v^ manpower to roar through the touma-^^Hn^^M ment and make some noise in the^^^LaMM NCAA if it can stay focused. Tho^^H^HgU Eagles have two of the league's^^^^^^K| outstanding players in Antoine^^^^^^^Hra Brockington and Terquin Mott.^H^^^^^Hfji Both were named to the mi? Ar* tAom iv. ivaiii. Mott, 6 -8.. CV 2 4 o - pound senior, has been compared to] New York Knick Larry^ Johnson in the way he^J plays the game. Mott^H has the strength to post^H up inside and the^^J quickness to get past^^H players his size. Brockington, who, like his fellow all-conference teammate, is from Philadelphia, gives the Eagles solid leadership in the backcourt. Brockington is equally adept at shooting and distributing ??' * the basketball ^ j||i' Reggie Welch also helps to ll anchor the Eagles' attack. The 6-6 ?sophomore was named to the All ?MEAC second team. Let s not torget .South \Carolina State, which had the \ league's Player of the Year ^and leading scorer in i ^^Roderick "Moo Moo" I ^^^Blakeney, a 5-10 junior. | mBlakeney kept his team M m in a lot of games with V jwoutside shooting and I *mhis powerful drives to V wthe basket. If he can /V a produce big offensive nights, his team stands sVa chance of getting through the tournament to the championship r" Jerome James, Flonda A&M's huge center, is capa ble of carrying his team on his back and getting the Rattlers to Saturday's championship game. James, 7-1, 295 pounds, has battled a knee injury all season but is nearly 100 pcr icent healthy heading into the k tournament. If he can avoid Lthe kind of foul trouble that Bhas hounded him all season, H the Rattlers might be able to Hplay above the form it ? showed during the regular ? season. W The rest of the-men's teams are about on equal foot ing when it comes to their Schances. None have the out k standing individual players B who can catapult them to ^k the tournament crown. But ^Bbecause it only takes three ^^kgood games in a row to t^Bget a team the title, each has a chance to stake its : claim to the title when * MVplay begins with play | s^B\ in games on s * Tuesday ttl That certainly isn't the case for the women. ^^^^^Howard has over ^^J^Bwhelmed league ^^^Bteams for two ^^^^^ksons now and the ^^^^^BLady Bison seem ^^^?to be gathering ^^^^^|steam as they go ^^^^Balong. Howard b hy wade Nash See Page 12
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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March 6, 1997, edition 1
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