An HBCU basketball tournament is coming back to Charlotte.
Division II men’s and women’s teams from the SIAC and CIAA will compete this week to be crowned national champion.
The inaugural Black College Invitational Championship will be played at the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina from March 20-23, 2025.
An HBCU basketball tournament has not been held in Charlotte since the CIAA tournament left the city for Baltimore after the 2019-20 season.
The BCIC, which aims to spotlight HBCU schools and local Black-owned businesses, will also include high school education days and new sponsorship opportunities.
Championship games between the CIAA and SIAC are set for Saturday, March 22, and the men’s and women’s teams from the MEAC and SWAC are scheduled to meet in their finals on Sunday, March 23.
“This may sound weird to some of you, but I had a dream Wes Bellamy, creator of the BCIC, told The Charlotte Observer last year. “And I could see it, as clear as day: Us having this basketball tournament here in Charlotte. I called my best friend, Russell Stewart. I said, ‘Russ. I know this is gonna sound wild, but I had a dream about this basketball tournament. We have to do this here.’ And he told me: ‘Nothing you do is ever wild, because what you always put your mind to, you do.’”
Championship games between the CIAA and SIAC are set for Saturday, March 22.
According to Bellamy, who unveiled the tournament bracket on HBCU Nightly Monday night, these are the teams who will appear in the field:
- Allen
- Virginia Union
- Clark Atlanta
- Livingstone
- Claflin
- Morehouse
- Johnson C. Smith
- Central State
