The MEAC Tournament is around the corner, and both brackets will be filled with some interesting matchups. Although the conference seems easy to call, this year’s tournament is deep on both ends. For the women, there are currently four teams with at least 10 conference wins. For the men, there are at least five teams with nine conference wins. And unlike previous seasons, the gap between first place and other top seeds is close; very close.
Here’s your MEAC Tournament Projections before the last week of MEAC play begins.
Seedings
- North Carolina A&T, 11-3 in MEAC Play
- NC Central, 10-3 in MEAC Play
- Norfolk State, 9-4 in MEAC Play
- Bethune-Cookman, 9-5 in MEAC Play
- Morgan State, 9-5 in MEAC Play
- SC State, 6-8 in MEAC Play
- Coppin State, 5-9 in MEAC Play
- MD Eastern Shore, 4-9 in MEAC Play
- Delaware State, 2-11 in MEAC Play
- Howard, 0-13 in MEAC Play
Florida A&M is ineligible
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Bracket Breakdown
First Round | Tuesday, March 10
Game 3: MD Eastern Shore vs. Delaware State, 6 p.m.
Game 4: Coppin State vs. Howard, 8 p.m.*
Quarterfinals | Wednesday, March 11
Game 7: North Carolina A&T vs. Winner of UMES vs DSU, 6 p.m.
Game 8: NC Central vs. Winner of CSU vs HU, 8 p.m.*
Quarterfinals | Thursday, March 12
Game 11: Bethune-Cookman vs. Morgan State, 6 p.m.
Game 12: Norfolk State vs. SC State, 8 p.m.*
Semifinals | Friday, March 13
Game 15: NCAT, UMES, or DSU vs. Winner of BCU vs MSU, 6 p.m.
Game 16: NCCU, CSU, or HU vs. Winner of NSU vs SCSU, 8 p.m.*
Championship | Saturday, March 14
Game 17: NCAT, UMES, DSU, BCU, or MSU vs. NCCU, CSU, HU, NSU, or SCSU, 1 p.m.
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The Road To The Title Game, Who Teams Will Have to Go Through
Bracket Side One: North Carolina A&T Side
North Carolina A&T, Maryland Eastern Shore, Delaware State, Bethune-Cookman, Morgan State
Bracket Side Two: NC Central Side
NC Central, Coppin State, Howard, Norfolk State, SC State
We have a potential MEAC title rematch from last year in the semifinals. NC Central and Norfolk State can meet during the primetime slot on Thursday Night. We can also have an Aggie-Eagle title game, which is always a tense matchup. The upper tier of the schedule will most likely open up with the Northern MEAC schools starting things off. And with those teams having some close games and even bad blood; it adds some early entertainment in the tourney. Bethune-Cookman and Morgan State can win one game and land easily on the Friday slot. That will be the latest that Morgan State has played in the tourney in recent seasons.
Everything Is Not Set…Yet
But unlike the women’s bracket, there’s still much more movement that can occur within the seeding. This Saturday, NC Central faces SC State on the road. A loss there can help Norfolk State move up as they have a last-place Howard team coming into Norfolk. This Monday, NCCU and BCU clash as NCAT and SC State will be facing off as well. And on the last night of the regular season, we have NCCU and NCAT, NSU vs MSU, and FAMU vs BCU. Mathematically, a few top projected seeds you see now will have to lose within the next week before the MEAC Tournament begins.
Take this projection with a grain of salt because the end of the season will be madness, MEAC madness.
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