‘Go somewhere where they’re wanted’
After tournament’s 2nd run in Baltimore, officials hope to continue the partnership
Hall of Famer Bobby Dandridge led the Norfolk State men’s basketball program to the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association title in 1968 in Greensboro, North Carolina, and had attended conference tournaments in Norfolk, Virginia, Charlotte, North Carolina, and — for the past two years — Baltimore.
“The Greyhound,” as Dandridge was nicknamed, said Baltimore has proved to be a worthy host after the CIAA elected to move the tournament from Charlotte after the 2019-20 season.
“It was time for it to move out of Charlotte because I don’t know if Charlotte really continued to take the CIAA as serious as it should be,” said the 75-year-old Dandridge, who helped capture NBA championships with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971 and the Washington Bullets in 1978. “If you stay somewhere too long, you tend to take it for granted, and I think Baltimore, from what I’ve seen, has opened up the city to the CIAA, and that’s what every conference wants. They want to go somewhere where they’re wanted, and you can see Baltimore is working very hard to keep it here.”
The tournament’s second run in Baltimore came to a close Saturday, and early indications suggest that this year was a more popular draw than the 2022 version. Although the announced attendance for the men’s and women’s championship games at CFG Bank Arena were not available Saturday night, the lower bowl at the 13,000-seat venue was almost completely filled for the men’s final.
Those fans first watched No. 5 seed Winston-Salem State hold off No. 6 seed
Lincoln, 62-57, for the program’s 13th men’s title and second since 2020.
Then No. 5 seed Elizabeth City State — in its second consecutive final — defeated No. 6 seed and 11-time CIAA champion Shaw, 55-40, for its first championship. Both Winston-Salem State and Elizabeth City State earned automatic berths to the NCAA Division II tournaments.
Other numbers, such as overall attendance for the entire tournament, ticket sales and economic impact, won’t be solidified until at least March, according to officials from Baltimore and the nation’s oldest historically Black athletic conference. But anecdotally, the five-day tournament was deemed a success.
“It’s magic. It’s been great,” CIAA commissioner Jacqie McWilliams said. “It’s everything that as a leader with a passion for this conference you could have hoped for, that people feel loved and connected, that we see them and they see us, that they hear us and we hear them. We’re celebrating everything that’s great about our HBCU schools.”
Saturday brought out several celebrities and politicians. Actor Lance Gross, a Howard University graduate who is perhaps most known for his role as Calvin Payne on “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne,” was courtside for the men’s game. Singer and rapper Lil’ Mo, who spent some of her childhood years in Baltimore, performed at halftime of the men’s game, while singer Tamar Braxton, the youngest of five sisters of the Braxton family who grew up in Severn, did the same at halftime of the women’s game.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott flanked Bowie State president Aminta Breaux along the baseline. Moore, who graduated from Johns Hopkins, applauded Baltimore for hosting the tournament.
“The energy here is real, and it’s not just exciting for Baltimore to see this level of energy and this level of excitement,” he said. “It’s also really exciting for the people of Baltimore to see that the CIAA chose us and that this is the right home for the CIAA. It means so much to have a chance to show off Baltimore, to show off Maryland, and to show the CIAA that this is a great long-term home.”
In June, CIAA and Baltimore officials had announced a two-year extension that kept the basketball tournaments here through 2025. Visit Baltimore CEO and president Al Hutchinson said the conference’s 12 presidents are scheduled to review attendance figures, ticket sales and fan feedback and determine whether to add a year to that previous extension.
Asked whether there was a lot riding on Baltimore’s efforts as a host, Hutchinson replied: “We’re in the performance business. So everything’s based on performance. That doesn’t scare me or intimidate us because that’s good. We want to make sure that this experience for the CIAA presidents and commissioners holds value for them. I think it will, but we want to see what they say back to us. But I’m hearing really good stuff, and we’re anticipating a really positive decision about another extension.”
McWilliams said her objective remains to fill every seat in the arena for the championship games. But she was 90% certain Baltimore might receive some good news.
“I think [the university presidents] are seeing the experience that our student-athletes are having, that their fans and alumni are having, and the ones they are having themselves,” she said. “We’ve heard nothing but good positive feedback, and I believe they will take a very serious look at revisiting this opportunity, and we’ll see if they get that extension for 2026 or beyond.”
At least for Winston-Salem State coach Cleo Hill Jr., who won the CIAA Tournament crown in 2020 in Charlotte, Baltimore earned an “A” in his assessment.
“I thought Baltimore did a great job,” he said. “The improvements they made, they were visible. I thought throughout the city, you could see that the CIAA Tournament was here.”
Shaw’s loss to Elizabeth City State in the women’s final spoiled a Cinderella bid for senior shooting guard Makenzie Pollard, who grew up in Baltimore, graduated from Western, and transferred from Saint Francis (Pa.). But she had no regrets about falling short in her hometown.
“I started here. So it feels good to finish,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
If there remains any resistance from stalwarts who still consider the CIAA the domain of Charlotte, Dandridge said he would anticipate that line of thinking changing soon.
“It takes a little while for it to catch on, but I think the CIAA is moving and working well with the city of Baltimore and vice versa,” he said.