BALTIMORE, MD (February 19, 2023) – The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), the nation's oldest historically Black athletic conference, announces the brackets for its 2023 Women's and Men's Basketball Tournament. The single-elimination tournament will be held in CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, MD on February 21-25. Championship games will tip-off at 1:00 p.m. for the men followed by the women at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 25. Each bracket is seeded 1 through 12 based on conference winning percentage.  

Fayetteville State University, under the guidance of Head Women's Basketball Coach Serena King-Coleman, clinched the Southern Division and the top overall seed in the tournament after finishing the regular season with a 14-2 conference record. The last time the Broncos were the top team entering the tournament was in 2019-20 when they won the conference championship. Since taking over as head coach in 2016, King-Coleman has guided Fayetteville State to four division titles in six seasons.

Lincoln (PA) University earned the women's Northern Division crown earlier last week with a 55-52 win over Elizabeth City State Wednesday. Head coach Janice Washington and the No. 2 seed Lions will be looking to defend their conference championship after finishing the regular season with a 12-4 mark in conference action. Winston-Salem State University earned the No. 3 seed, followed by No. 4 seed Bowie State University. The top four seeds will each have a bye in the opening round. The Bulldogs' season sweep of No. 5 seed Elizabeth City State looms large as Bowie State finished a game ahead of the Vikings in the standings. As a reminder, the conference's tiebreaker for seeding is as follows: head-to-head competition, head-to-head point differential, divisional winning percentage, and a coin toss.


Set to play in Tuesday's opening round of the tournament, Elizabeth City State University receives the No. 5 seed, followed by No. 6 Shaw University, No. 7 Virginia State University, and No. 8 Johnson C. Smith University. No. 9 Virginia Union University sits ahead of No. 10 Livingstone College due to the Panthers winning the season's matchup, 75-71, in overtime. Claflin University and Saint Augustine's are the No. 11 and 12 seeds, respectively.


2023 CIAA Women's Tournament Bracket

The women will tip-off the 2023 CIAA Basketball Tournament Tuesday, February 21 at 10:00 a.m. with Shaw and Claflin playing in the opening round. The other women's contests on Tuesday include Johnson C. Smith and Virginia Union at 12:10 p.m., Elizabeth City State and St. Augustine's at 2:20 p.m., and Virginia State and Livingstone at 4:30 p.m. Fayetteville State will await the winner of Johnson C. Smith versus Virginia Union in Wednesday's quarterfinals for a 2:20 p.m. tip-off time. Lincoln (PA) is slotted for a 4:30 p.m. Wednesday quarterfinals against either the Trojans or the Blue Bears. Thursday's quarterfinals will be featuring Bowie State playing the winner of the Vikings and Falcons game at 2:00 p.m. and the victor of the Shaw-Claflin game playing Winston-Salem State at 12:00 p.m.

In the men's field, Virginia Union solidified the top seed in the tournament following Saturday's 87-69 win over Virginia State. Led by head coach Jay Butler, Panthers finished the regular season with a 12-4 record in CIAA action and earned their second consecutive Northern Division title. Last season, as a No. 2 seed, Virginia Union advanced to the conference championship, before losing to Fayetteville State, 65-62.

The defending champion Broncos obtained a Southern Division title for a second straight season by finishing with a conference record of 11-5. Fayetteville State, under the leadership of Luke D'Alessio, actually clinched the division earlier on Wednesday with a win against Claflin, 71-61. Claflin finished the regular season as the No. 4 seed, behind No. 3 seed Virginia State. Both teams finished with the same conference record (10-6) but the Trojans held the tiebreaker by virtue of a 74-68 win over the Panthers on December 19. Each team will receive a bye in the opening round as a result of being a top-four seed.


Winston-Salem State is probably lamenting its two losses to Claflin as those games are the difference between the No. 4 seed and a bye and the No. 5 seed and playing in the opening round of the tournament. The No. 6 seed is Shaw, who sits above No. 7 Lincoln (PA), thanks to the Bears earning a season sweep of the Lions. At No. 8 is Livingstone, followed by Elizabeth City State, Bowie State, Johnson C. Smith, and St. Augustine's. The Bulldogs, Golden Bulls, and Falcons are all tied at 5-11 in conference play, however, Johnson C. Smith owns the tiebreaker over St. Augustine's due to head-to-head point differential and Bowie State holds the edge over the Golden Bulls, thanks to a head-to-head win on December 17.


CIAA Men's Tournament Bracket

The first men's game of the 2023 CIAA Basketball Tournament will be Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. with Bowie State taking on Shaw. The other men's contest that will be played on Tuesday is Livingstone versus Elizabeth City State at 8:50 p.m. The opening round continues on Wednesday with Lincoln (PA) and Johnson C. Smith playing at 10 a.m. and Winston-Salem State and St. Augustine's playing at 12:30 p.m. In the quarterfinals, the winner of Livingstone/Elizabeth City State advances to face Virginia Union Wednesday at 6:40 p.m. and Fayetteville State awaits the winner of Bowie State and Shaw for an 8:50 p.m. Wednesday tipoff time. Men's quarterfinal action will continue Thursday with Virginia State facing either Lincoln (PA) or Johnson C. Smith at 6:00 p.m. and Claflin playing either Winston-Salem State or St. Augustine's at 8:00 p.m.

All 22 games will be broadcast exclusively on ESPN+ (https://plus.espn.com/) with the championship games also being shown on ESPNU.


For the latest information on the 2023 CIAA Men's & Women's Basketball Tournament, visit ciaatournament.org or download the CIAA mobile app via the Apple Store or Google Play. You can also follow the CIAA on Twitter (@CIAAforLife), Instagram (@CIAASports), and Facebook (The CIAA), or search #CIAATourney23, #CreatingNewLegacies, or #CIAAHoops on all platforms.