CIAA Releases 2015 Basketball Tournament Pairings

HAMPTON, Virginia -- The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) has released its pairings for the 2015 basketball tournament as determined by the CIAA Tournament Committee. Both men and women begin play on Tuesday, February 24 at the Time Warner Cable Arena.

The regular season race for supremacy, in the respective divisions, came down to the wire with three men's games going to overtime. Prior to seeding the tournament, four instances of tied records needed to the sorted for the men, while two needed sorting for the women.

The CIAA utilized the following formula as a tie-breaker policy for divisional seeding:

Divisional Record
Head-to-Head Competition
Head-to-Head Point Differential
Conference Record
Results vs. Common Opponents
Coin Flip
In the CIAA men’s Northern Division, Bowie State University and Virginia State University will represent the division as Co-Divisional Champs. The tie-breaker policy will seed Bowie State as the #1 seed and Virginia State as the #2 seed. The Bulldogs of BSU had a better conference record over the Trojans.

The Lincoln University will be seeded #3 over #4 Chowan after the Lions defeated the Hawks twice in the regular season.

Winston-Salem State University and Livingstone College will share the title as Co-Southern Division Champions. WSSU will be seeded #1 in the Southern Division, while LC gets the #2 seed. With identical divisional records and split head-to-head results, the Rams finished with the better point differential after an 89-80 victory at the end of January compared to the Blue Bears 86-83 win Saturday night.

The rivalry between Johnson C. Smith University and Fayetteville State University extended to the final option in the tie-breaker scenario. FSU will receive the #3 seed by virtue of a coin flip.

In the women’s Northern Division, The Lincoln University and Virginia State University will share the title of Co-Northern Division Champs. The Lincoln Lady Lions will receive the #1 seed with a better head-to-head point differential versus Virginia State. The Lady Lions defeated the Trojans by 11 points on January 31 as compared to Virginia State holding a five-point victory on February 21.

In the Southern Division, Shaw University will retain the Divisional crown.

Due to penalties levied by the conference, Livingstone is not eligible to be named division champ nor be involved in tie-breaker scenarios. After the nullification process was applied, Livingstone received the #3 seed.

Saint Augustine’s won the coin flip in the tie-breaker process to claim the #4 seed. Winston-Salem State will receive the #5 seed.

Women's Bracket  |  Men's Bracket

COURTESY CIAA MEDIA RELATIONS