Without Team, NCCU Still Plays Part in CIAA Tourney

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Without Team, NCCU Still Plays Part in CIAA Tourney

Alden Jackson, a North Carolina Central University alumni, said the CIAA tournament is about tradition and camaraderie, more so than competition and victory.

Feb 29, 2008

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Charlotte, N.C. — Although its basketball team has moved to another conference, North Carolina Central University fans have still had an impact on this year's Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association tournament.

NCCU fans have flocked to the CIAA tournament in Charlotte, though they do not have a team for which to root. Fans said the competition among historically black unveristies and colleges is about more than and victory.

"This is a happening. I've been coming for over 50 years," NCCU graduate Walter Green said. "See, this is an event."

"It's the comraderie, friends. It's the competition, and it's being away from home for a while," NCCU alumni Alden Jackson said.

NCCU transferred into the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference this year – the second time the university has made that move in its history. When NCCU left the CIAA in the 1970s, though, it eventually returned and continued to play in college basketball's oldest conference for nearly 30 years.

Many NCCU fans said they hope that history repeats itself, but even if it does not, they still plan to make the CIAA tournament part of their travel plans. That way NCCU will be represented in the CIAA, even without a basketball team, Jackson said.

"It's heritage. It's part of me and my friends and our colleagues from all the universities in the CIAA," Jackson said. "Central has always been a part of it, will always be a part of it. And it's somethign we're going to do.

"To me, it's a chance to get away."It's a chance to still meet and greet different people from different schools," NCCU alumna Vickey Price said. "But I really miss Central being here."

CIAA Commissioner LeonKerry said the tournament remains a strong link between longtime friends and family.

"If you want to see people you went to school with, they're here," Kerry said. "I've got Eagles fans, Winston-Salem fans, Hampton fans, Norfolk State fans. As long as there is a CIAA, we'll be there."

NCCU will be playing in the MEAC tournament, which tips off in Raleigh's RBC Center on March 10.