By Lut Williams
BCSP Editor
After all the hoopla, hype and Madness of postseason basketball, only two black college teams out of the 20 that entered play – the women of Maryland-Eastern Shore in the WNIT and the men of Langston in the NAIA – are left standing (see POSTSEASON TOURNAMENT RECAPS) and were playing as of Tuesday.
Maryland-Eastern Shore women
The UMES women, led by second-year head coach Malikah Willis, stepped up this season and were part of unseating three-time champion Norfolk State in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
Willis’s troops tied NSU for second in the MEAC regular season behind eventual champion Howard, splitting two games with Norfolk State in the regular season before losing a close game to the Spartans in the MEAC Tournament.
Granted a bid to the Women’s National Invitational Tournament by virtue of its 19-14 record and conference finish, the Lady Hawks went into ACC territory and came away with a win as they downed Wake Forest on its home floor Friday, 59-48. It was the first postseason win for the UMES program and its first win against a power conference opponent.
The Lady Hawks were in action in a second round WNIT game Tuesday (6:30 p.m.) at Youngstown State (24-9).
Langston men
The Langston Lions (29-7) under the direction of third-year head coach Chris Wright were in the NAIA Championship game Tuesday for the second time in three years. In the title game, they faced the same program, Freed-Hardeman of Tennessee (34-1), that the Lions fell to in the 2024 NAIA title game, 71-64. In that game, Langston led for most of the game before falling apart in the final two minutes.
Wright, whose name has been mentioned for several black college coaching vacancies, guided Tougaloo College to the NAIA finals before moving to Langston.
