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A complete history of HBCU men's basketball in the NCAA tournament’s round of 64 – NCAA.com
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North Carolina A&T and Southern broke NCAA tournament ground when they made the first appearance by an HBCU in the DI men’s basketball tournament’s round of 64 in 1985, the first year of the expanded bracket. Since then, a total of 18 HBCU men’s basketball programs have played in the first round of the March Madness bracket.
Let’s dive in to the past performance of the HBCU programs during the first round.
Texas Southern has the most round of 64 appearances of any HBCU men’s basketball program, but has yet to win a game. The Tigers last appeared in the round of 64 in 2022. North Carolina Central became the latest HBCU to make its debut appearance in the round of 64 during the 2014 season.
Here’s a look at the appearance of HBCUs in the round of 64.
The only HBCUs to win a round of 64 game are Southern, Coppin State, Hampton and Norfolk State. Alcorn State does have a first-round win, but that came in 1980 when there were only 32 teams in the bracket. Every other HBCU men’s NCAA tournament win came in the opening or First Four round.
Here’s a look at the records of HBCUs, by school, in the round of 64.
Here’s a breakdown of NCAA tournament performance by HBCU conference.
HBCUs have typically been seeded towards the bottom of the bracket since the round of 64 began. Of the 59 times HBCUs have participated in the round of 64, they have been seeded 16th — the lowest possible seed — 33 times.
The best seed any HBCU has had entering the Round of 64 has been No. 13, held by Southern in 1993. The Jaguars won their first round game with a 93-78 win over No. 4 Georgia Tech.
Here are the results from every round of 64 game from an HBCU men’s basketball program
Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s 2010 season was vacated for NCAA violations
Stan Becton joined NCAA.com in 2021 and has since served as an FCS, track and field, cross country and HBCU beat reporter. He has covered numerous NCAA championship events, including the FCS Championship, DI Track & Field Championships and Men’s Frozen Four. Additionally, he has covered the 2022 College Football Playoff’s Peach Bowl and HBCU sporting events like the Celebration Bowl and Legacy Classic. Stan graduated from Carnegie Mellon University, earning a degree in Professional Writing and playing football as a five-year letterman. You can follow him on Twitter @stan_becton.
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