Year 2 of revamped HBCU basketball showcase in Virginia

JOHNSON C. SMITH ATHLETICS

Johnson C. Smith basketball players and supporters celebrate the Golden Bulls' win in the 2025 Black College Invitational Championship at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte. The HBCU showcase is moving to Ettrick, Virginia in 2026.

Lonnie Blow is off the ledge.

Blow had been walking the tightrope ever since Virginia State lost in the CIAA Tournament semifinal to Bluefield State. The Trojans were hoping to defend their championship that Fayetteville State eventually won.
But Blow is back on solid footing now. “I got hungry on the ledge,” he said.

He also has to get back into coaching mode, as both the Trojans women’s and men’s teams will participate in the Black College Invitational Championship March 27-28. They really had no choice. Virginia State is hosting the BCIC after its inaugural year at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte was a bust.

According to its website, the two-day tournament is basically a battle between the CIAA and SIAC. Four games will be played on Friday (two women and two men), and the winners meet for the championship on Saturday.

No HBCU Division I teams accepted an invitation last year. Guess BCIC founder Wes Bellamy, who is also a Virginia State department chair, got the message. The BCIC may give teams a second life, but it’s also an inconvenience.

Just as athletics directors start evaluating their coaching staffs once the season is over, so do head coaches with their rosters. Coaches know which players won’t return once the clock strikes 0:00. The humane thing to do is meet as soon as possible and give them two words of pertinent advice: transfer portal. Then hit the road recruiting; unless, of course, the AD calls first.

“There are some players you can’t wait to get rid of,” said an SIAC coach who asked not to be named. “After you discover who they really are during the season, you don’t want to be around them anymore.”
The BCIC delays that routine for teams that sign on. A coach certainly can’t say, ‘I’m cutting you from the team after you play in this tournament. Let’s go win it.’

Blow said he generalizes the suggestion a few weeks before the season ends, so no one feels targeted, and players can make their own decision before he does it for them.

“I tell them the season is almost over. If they’re not happy or looking to make a change, then they need to get in the portal as soon as possible,” he said.

We got next

Next season CIAA basketball will follow in the footsteps of its football colleagues and eliminate divisions. Yep, no more Northern and Southern winners. Teams will be ranked from No. 1-12. And everybody will play twice.
“This eliminates having to play so many North Carolina Christian schools,” Blow said. 

You know, those schools (bless their hearts) that walk into the gymnasium down by 20 points before the game even starts. Hey, it’s not all the CIAA’s fault. Opponents shy away from scheduling good conference teams. Yeah, they’ll visit Elizabeth City State but won’t travel to Virginia State.

Think West Liberty will return to Virginia Union again in the next century after losing to the Panthers? 

Blow said most coaches have been wanting this for a long time. It will help with strength of schedule while still allowing space for nonconference opponents and a tip-off classic or two.
It’s a whole new sports world.

Bonitta Best is sports editor at The Triangle Tribune in Durham.

Comments