Sports Poets Society

HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES HAVE BEEN OVERLOOKED NATIONALLY FOR FAR TOO LONG, AND THE SAME GOES FOR THEIR BASKETBALL PROGRAMS, MANY OF WHICH HAVE IMPORTANT AND HISTORIC LEGACIES. TO EXPLAIN THE GREATNESS OF THESE SCHOOLS, WE TAPPED FOUR HBCU STUDENTS TO SHED SOME LIGHT ON THEIR SCHOOLS' HOOP CULTURE. SLAM Magazine #231 - April, 2021 THE COPPIN CULTURE  Words by Desiree Carrizosa  LET’S BRING IT BACK to the ’90s. Back when Coppin State University ruled the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and the 1996-97 squad was somethin’ different different. Coached by Ronald L. “Fang” Mitchell, the Eagles were regular season and Conference Tournament Champions, defeating North Carolina A&T in overtime. Coppin’s 20-game winning streak (the fourth in five years) didn’t stop there. This 15-seed team from Maryland shook the basketball world by beating the No. 2 seed, South Carolina, in the NCAA tournament by 13 points, becoming the first MEAC school to do so. Eagles fly

https://vault.si.com/vault/1986/04/07/a-crashing-success MASTER OF THE THEATRICAL FALL, DETROIT'S BILL LAIMBEER IS ONE OF THE NBA'S MOST DISLIKED PLAYERS—AND ITS TOP REBOUNDER JACK MCCALLUM Sport Illustrated - April 7, 1986 It is the lot of Detroit Pistons center William Laimbeer Jr. to collect both rebounds and scorn in quantity. He is the NBA leader in the former category, with an average of 12.9 per game at week's end, which should be enough to break Moses Malone's six-year stranglehold on the rebounding title . And speaking of strangleholds, that's what several NBA teams, the Boston Celtics in particular, would like to apply to the thick neck of one Bill Laimbeer. "You want me to say something about Laimbeer, eh?" says Bill Walton. Walton says something, then flashes a huge grin. "But you can't print it." Robert Parish, who has been involved in a fight with Laimbeer in each of the last two seasons: "I was always taught if you can'