Nowhere was the difference between big time college football and basketball made clearer than this past Sunday afternoon.
Following the selection show where all the teams and brackets were outlined, the CBS staff turned to interview the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball chairman.
He is Charles McClelland, Commissioner of the Southwest Athletic Conference (SWAC). Put another way, the person in charge of one of the NCAA’s two biggest cash cows is not only a Black man, but one from an HBCU.
By contrast, HBCUs aren’t even part of the equation when it comes to the college football playoffs. The huge pot of gold there has been deemed exclusively the property of the power conferences. The HBCUs find themselves relegated to the lower division playoffs. They have no say in anything regarding the lucrative business of major college football. The SEC and Big 10 call the tune.
The NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments are far more inclusive. The small conferences get a chance to participate. No, they don’t win too many times against the big boys, but the chances still exist.
Does this mean everything is ideal on the basketball side? With the NCAA basketball tourney, the SEC, Big 10, Big12, even ACC and Mountain West all get multiple teams in the field. That’s not the case for the SWAC or MEAC.
But still, at least for now, the SWAC has a key member of its inner circle at the helm.