By Nick Birdsong
Two and through.
That’s typically the path of historically black colleges and universities in the NCAA Tournament. The Mid-Eastern Conference and Southwestern Athletic Conference champions arrive to the Big Dance with much of the same fanfare as the other one-bid conferences only to be ousted before the party really gets jumping.
Unfortunately, the 2016-17 campaign was no different.
North Carolina Central, the best shooting team in the MEAC, connected on just 35.8 percent of its field goal attempts in a 67-63 First Four loss against UC Davis. SWAC champion Texas Southern got fed to No. 1 North Carolina in the first round of the South Regional and promptly suffered its largest defeat of the season.
But with the Sweet 16 set to tipoff Thursday, there’s still something, or rather someone, to pay attention to for those with ties to HBCUS. Xavier senior guard Malcolm Bernard is a Florida A&M alumnus. The Miami native, whose college hoops career began at Charleston Southern, graduated from FAMU this past May. He decided to transfer to Xavier, pursue a master’s degree and immediately play out his final year of college eligibility.
https://hbcusports.com/2017/03/21/s...alcolm-bernard-had-to-leave-famu-to-flourish/
Two and through.
That’s typically the path of historically black colleges and universities in the NCAA Tournament. The Mid-Eastern Conference and Southwestern Athletic Conference champions arrive to the Big Dance with much of the same fanfare as the other one-bid conferences only to be ousted before the party really gets jumping.
Unfortunately, the 2016-17 campaign was no different.
North Carolina Central, the best shooting team in the MEAC, connected on just 35.8 percent of its field goal attempts in a 67-63 First Four loss against UC Davis. SWAC champion Texas Southern got fed to No. 1 North Carolina in the first round of the South Regional and promptly suffered its largest defeat of the season.
But with the Sweet 16 set to tipoff Thursday, there’s still something, or rather someone, to pay attention to for those with ties to HBCUS. Xavier senior guard Malcolm Bernard is a Florida A&M alumnus. The Miami native, whose college hoops career began at Charleston Southern, graduated from FAMU this past May. He decided to transfer to Xavier, pursue a master’s degree and immediately play out his final year of college eligibility.
https://hbcusports.com/2017/03/21/s...alcolm-bernard-had-to-leave-famu-to-flourish/
