NBPA To Hold Top 50 Basketball Camp in July for SIAC and SWAC Players

By ADD SEYMOUR JR.

The 50 of the best ballers from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the Southwestern Athletic Conference will participate in a full-range basketball camp run by some of the NBA's present and former stars.

The National Basketball Players Association has announced an agreement with the SIAC and the SWAC to hold a basketball camp July 20-23 at Morehouse College's Forbes Arena in Atlanta for 25 players from each of the conferences made up primarily of historically black colleges and universities.

The NBPA is the union that represents the NBA's players.

The camp is modeled after the Top 100 Camp which plays host to the nation's top high school basketball players, but also provides mentoring for education, leadership, life skills, character and skills development. So think the same thing, but for the top SIAC and SWAC players.

"Our members are very excited to be able to share their professional knowledge and life experiences with today's student-athlete," said NBPA Executive Director Michele Roberts.  "This relationship with the HBCUs demonstrates the NBPA's capacity to play a role in enlightening the young people of today as they seek to shape their future, on and off the court."

The camp also gives current and former NBA players looking towards a coaching career an opportunity to connect with administrators and officials at HBCUs where many often get their first shot at coaching careers.

"Historically black colleges and universities often provide crucial "first chance" opportunities to professional athletes seeking coaching and administrator opportunities in intercollegiate athletics," said SIAC Commissioner Greg Moore.  "This initiative seeks to cultivate, institutionalize and ultimately broaden critically important talent pipelines, while also imparting invaluable skill instruction and mentoring to our student-athletes."

"The Southwestern Athletic Conference is honored to work with the leadership and members of the NBPA, as well as the SIAC, to bring this incredible opportunity to our stakeholders," added SWAC Commissioner Duer Sharp.  "The most fulfilling piece to this is an opportunity for these future leaders to develop their academic and character compass as they embark on their future on and off the court."

Football Media Days Soon To Kick Off New HBCU Season

By ADD SEYMOUR JR.

HBCU football fans won't have to wait much longer for the unofficial start to a new football season.

The first HBCU conference football Media Day is only a few weeks away as the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference holds their media day on July 11.  This year comes a new venue and city - instead of Montgomery, Alabama where it had been held, the event moves this year to the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

"The College Football Hall of Fame and Chick-fil-A Fan Experience was built to serve as the home for an celebrate all things college football - players, coaches, teams, conferences and fans," said Dennis Adamovich, CEO of the Hall.  "We are the perfect venue for important events like this and we are thrilled to welcome the SIAC here to host their Football Media Day."

"We are very pleased to have the SIAC Football Media Day hosted by the College Football Hall of Fame," added SIAC Commissioner Greg Moore.  "In light of the rich history which spans more than 100 years, I cannot think of a more appropriate place to hold this year's event."

Coaches from the SIAC's football playing institutions will speak about their teams and will each be accompanied by two players.  The preseason All-SIAC team will be announced, as will the teams predicted order of finish.

A few days later, the Southwestern Athletic Conference holds their annual Media Day on July 14 in Birmingham, Ala.  Following the same format of the SIAC, it will also be the first opportunity media types will have to question a gathering of the league's coaches, administrators and players about SWAC officials' new plan to do away with the SWAC football championship game after this season.

SWAC Media Day will stream live on the SWAC Digital Network.  It will be available via audio and video online at SWAC.org.

Six days later, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association holds their football Media Day on July 20 in Roanoke, Va.  It kicks off a special season for the CIAA as the conference is celebrating the 125th year of black college football. CIAA institutions Livingstone College and Biddle Memorial Institute, which is now Johnson C. Smith University, played the first black college football game on December 27, 1892.

On July 28, in Norfolk, Va., the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference will hold their annual Media Day. One of the biggest off-season news items to come up for the MEAC is the decision by Savannah State University to leave the MEAC and FCS competition to drop back down to Division II in two years.