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Stan Becton | krikya18.com | March 23, 2024

A complete history of every HBCU women's basketball appearance in the NCAA tournament

Howard vs. Incarnate Word - First Four NCAA tournament extended highlights

Howard, Jackson State and Cheyney broke NCAA tournament ground when they appeared in the inaugural DI women's basketball tournament back in 1982. Since then, a total of 19 HBCU women's basketball programs have played in the March Madness bracket.

Let's dive in to the past performance of how the HBCU programs fared.

School breakdown

Hampton has the most NCAA tournament appearances of any HBCU women's basketball program, but has yet to win a game. The Pirates last appeared in the tournament in 2017. Bethune-Cookman became the latest HBCU to make its debut appearance in the tournament during the 2019 season.

Here's a look at the appearance of HBCUs in the DI women's basketball tournament

# of Appearances HBCU
9 Hampton
7 Jackson State
6 Prairie View A&M, Grambling State, Howard, Southern
5 North Carolina A&T
3 Tennessee State, Coppin State, Cheyney,
Alcorn State, Alabama State, Norfolk State
2 Florida A&M
1 Texas Southern, South Carolina State, Savannah State,
Delaware State, Bethune-Cookman

The only HBCUs to win a tournament game are Cheyney, South Carolina State and Howard. Only Howard has won a game since there have been at least 64 teams in the bracket. Cheyney is the only HBCU women's basketball team to advance to a Final Four or title game.

Here's a look at every HBCU's all-time record in the tournament:

School record Win % Last APp
Alabama State 0-3 .000 2016
Alcorn State 0-3 .000 2005
Bethune-Cookman 0-1 .000 2019
Cheyney 8-3 .727 1984
Coppin State 0-3 .000 2008
Delaware State 0-1 .000 2007
Florida A&M 0-2 .000 1999
Grambling State 0-6 .000 2018
Hampton 0-9 .000 2017
Howard 1-7 .125 2022
Jackson State 0-7 .000 2024
Norfolk State 0-3 .000 2024
North Carolina A&T 0-5 .000 2021
Prairie View A&M 0-6 .000 2014
Savannah State 0-1 .000 2015
South Carolina State 1-1 .500 1983
Southern 0-6 .000 2023
Tennessee State 0-3 .000 2015
Texas Southern 0-1 .000 2017

Seeding

HBCUs have typically been seeded towards the bottom of the bracket since the Round of 64 began. Of the 64 times HBCUs have participated in the Round of 64, they have been seeded 16th — the lowest possible seed — 34 times.

The highest seed any HBCU has had entering the Round of 64 has been No. 12, a height reached three times.

Prior to the tournament's expansion, Cheyney received the No. 1, 2 and 3 seeds in 1983, 1982 and 1984, respectively. A No. 7 seed — the second-lowest seed — went to Jackson State in 1982 and a No. 8 seed — the lowest seed — went to Howard in 1982 and Jackson State and South Carolina State in 1983.

All-time HBCU women's basketball in NCAA tournament by seed
Seed Total seeds % Seeded Seed Record Win %
No. 1 1 .016 1-1 .500
No. 2 1 .016 4-1 .800
No. 3 1 .016 2-1 .666
No. 7 1 ..016 0-1 .000
No. 8 3 .047 1-3 .250
No. 12 3 .047 0-3 .000
No. 13 2 .031 0-2 .000
No. 14 5 .078 0-5 .000
No. 15 19 .297 0-19 .000
No. 16 34 .531 1-33 .029

Game results

Here are the results from every NCAA tournament game from an HBCU women's basketball program.

Year School Seed Opponent Result Score
2024 Norfolk State No. 5 No. 2 Stanford L 79-50
  Jackson State No. 14 No. 3 UConn L 86-64
2023 Southern No. 16 No. 16 Sacred Heart L 47-57
  Norfolk State No. 16 No. 1 South Carolina L 40-72
2022 Howard No. 16 No. 16 Incarnate Word W 55–51
  Howard No. 16 No. 1 South Carolina L 21–79
  Jackson State No. 14 No. 3 LSU L 77–83
2021 Jackson State No. 15 No. 2 Baylor L 52–101
  North Carolina A&T No. 16 No. 1 NC State L 58–71
2019 Bethune-Cookman No. 16 No. 1 Notre Dame L 50-92
  Southern No. 16 No. 1 Mississippi State L 46-103
2018 North Carolina A&T No. 15 No. 2 South Carolina L 52–63
  Grambling State No. 15 No. 2 Baylor L 46-96
2017 Hampton No. 15 No. 2 Duke L 31−94
  Texas Southern No. 16 No. 1 Baylor L 30-119
2016 Alabama State No. 15 No. 2 Texas L 42-86
  North Carolina A&T No. 16 No. 1 Notre Dame L 61–95
2015 Alabama State No. 15 No. 2 Florida State L 49-91
  Savannah State No. 16 No. 1 South Carolina L 48-81
  Tennessee State No. 15 No. 2 Kentucky L 52-97
2014 Hampton No. 12 No. 5 Michigan State L 61−91
  Prairie View A&M No. 16 No. 1 Connecticut L 44–87
2013 Hampton No. 15 No. 2 Duke L 51−67
  Prairie View A&M No. 16 No. 1 Baylor L 40–82
2012 Hampton No. 16 No. 1 Stanford L 51−73
  Prairie View A&M No. 16 No. 1 Connecticut L 47–83
2011 Hampton No. 13 No. 4 Kentucky L 62−66 (OT)
  Prairie View A&M No. 16 No. 1 Baylor L 30–66
2010 Hampton No. 15 No. 2 Duke L 37−72
  Southern No. 16 No. 1 Connecticut L 39-95
2009 North Carolina A&T No. 14 No. 3 Florida State L 71–83
  Prairie View A&M No. 16 No. 1 Oklahoma L 47–76
2008 Coppin State No. 16 No. 1 Maryland L 66–80
  Jackson State No. 15 No. 2 LSU L 32–66
2007 Delaware State No. 15 No. 2 Vanderbilt L 47-62
  Prairie View A&M No. 16 No. 1 North Carolina L 38–95
2006 Coppin State No. 15 No. 2 Connecticut L 54–77
  Southern No. 16 No. 1 Duke L 27-96
2005 Alcorn State No. 16 No. 1 Michigan State L 41–73
  Coppin State No. 16 No. 1 North Carolina L 62–97
2004 Hampton No. 16 No. 1 Penn State L 42−79
  Southern No. 16 No. 1 Texas L 57-92
2003 Alabama State No. 16 No. 1 Tennessee L 43-95
  Hampton No. 15 No. 2 Texas L 46−90
2002 Norfolk State No. 16 No. 1 Duke L 48-95
  Southern No. 14 No. 3 Colorado L 61-88
2001 Alcorn State No. 16 No. 1 Notre Dame L 49–98
  Howard No. 15 No. 2 Iowa State L 61–100
2000 Alcorn State No. 16 No. 1 Louisiana Tech L 53–95
  Hampton No. 16 No. 1 Connecticut L 45−116
1999 Florida A&M No. 15 No. 2 Clemson L 45-76
  Grambling State No. 12 No. 5 Alabama L 68-80
1998 Howard No. 15 No. 2 North Carolina L 71–91
  Grambling State No. 16 No. 1 Texas Tech L 75-87
1997 Howard No. 16 No. 1 Stanford L 59–111
  Grambling State No. 14 No. 3 Tennessee L 54-91
1996 Howard No. 16 No. 1 Connecticut L 63–94
  Grambling State No. 16 No. 1 Stanford L 43-82
1995 Florida A&M No. 16 No. 1 Tennessee L 59-96
  Jackson State No. 15 No. 2 Penn State L 62–75
  Tennessee State No. 12 No. 5 Oregon State L 75-88 (OT)
1994 North Carolina A&T No. 16 No. 1 Tennessee L 37–111
  Grambling State No. 15 No. 2 Vanderbilt L 85-95
  Tennessee State No. 13 No. 4 Southern Miss L 72-86
1984 Cheyney No. 3 No. 6 Maryland W 92-64
  Cheyney No. 3 No. 2 North Carolina W 73-72
  Cheyney No. 3 No. 1 Old Dominion W 80-71
  Cheyney No. 3 No. 3 Tennessee L 71-80
1983 Cheyney No. 1 No. 8 Monmouth W 107-35
  Cheyney No. 1 No. 5 Penn State L 72-73
  Jackson State No. 8 No. 8 Middle Tennessee State L 61–64
  South Carolina State No. 8 No. 8 La Salle W 85-67
1983 South Carolina State No. 8 No. 1 Tennessee L 51-86
1982 Cheyney No. 2 No. 7 Auburn W 75-64
  Cheyney No. 2 No. 3 NC State W 74-61
  Cheyney No. 2 No. 4 Kansas Sate W 93-71
  Cheyney No. 2 No. 2 Maryland W 76-66
  Cheyney No. 2 No. 1 Louisiana Tech L 76-62
  Howard No. 8 No. 1 Long Beach State L 57–95
  Jackson State No. 7 No. 2 Tennessee L 56–72
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