By Jarrett Hoffman
(Source: HBCU)
The regular season is coming to a close at the Division II and NAIA levels, which means tournament season is soon to begin.
As teams prepare for conference championships, here are some things we’ve learned from last week’s slate of games.
Fayetteville State men streak grows
The Fayetteville State Broncos men’s basketball team has been the hottest in HBCU basketball at the Division II or NAIA levels.
After a slow start to the 2025 calendar year, in which they lost two of their first three contests, the Broncos have caught fire, winning 12 straight, including three wins this past week.
Their most recent win against Livingstone this past Saturday secured the team’s first 20-win season since 2021-2022.
With two games left in their regular season, the reigning CIAA championship runner-ups are peaking at the right time.
Chaos at the top of the CIAA North women’s standings
Sticking with the CIAA on the women’s side, the CIAA North has a struggle at the top going on between three teams fighting for the division’s top seed.
Virginia State and Virginia Union boast identical records across the board, including 12-2 conference records, while Bowie State hangs on by a thread with an 11-3 mark.
Virginia Union kept itself in the race with Virginia State for the division title with a 68-62 win over Bowie State on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Virginia State secured wins over Bluefield State and Elizabeth City State to extend its win streak to four games.
Despite their loss to Virginia Union, the Bulldogs remain in the race for first place due to their previous win over Virginia State.
In addition, the Trojans’ final two regular-season games will be against their CIAA North foes (both on the road), adding to the intrigue as the season winds down.
Miles is on a roll
No HBCU men’s basketball team in Division II or NAIA has a better record in the 2025 calendar year than the Miles Golden Bears.
Miles holds an 11-1 in the new year (not including its exhibition loss to Talladega) after claiming wins over Spring Hill and Lemoyne-Owen in the past week.
The Golden Bears improved their overall record to 20-3, marking the team’s fourth straight 20-win season. This includes a 16-1 record against the SIAC and a perfect 9-0 record against divisional opponents.
Miles is aiming for its fourth SIAC conference championship in the past six seasons.
Florida Memorial has a strong week
It was a great week for men’s and women’s basketball at Florida Memorial with each team handling business in their respective schedules.
The men ended the week with a perfect 3-0 record by an average margin of 24.3 points while the women won their two contests by a total of 35 points.
The Lady Lions’ win over St. Thomas (Fla.) on Saturday marked their 20th win of the season. This makes Florida Memorial the only program in HBCU basketball at any level whose men’s and women’s teams each have 20-win seasons.
Paul Quinn upsets Xavier University of Louisiana
In the most surprising outcome of the week, the Paul Quinn Lady Tigers ended the six-game win streak of Xavier University of Louisiana with a 76-75 overtime win.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Paul Quinn, improving their overall record to 10-15. It also snapped a 12-game losing streak against XULA dating back to 2004.
Meanwhile, this loss was just the second for XULA this season (not including exhibition losses to LSU and Grambling State), dropping to 25-2.
