AGGIE BASKETBALL vs. Morgan State
RALEIGH, October 9, 2007 – The North Carolina A&T men’s and women’s basketball teams were both predicted to finish third in their respective leagues at the MEAC Basketball Tip-Off Luncheon at the downtown Raleigh Sheraton Tuesday afternoon. Steven Rush was selected as a preseason first-team All-MEAC selection for the men, while Amber Bland earned the same honor for the women.

The predicted third place finishes for both teams were positives signs that the two programs continue to move in the right direction.

From 2000 until the start of last season, the men’s basketball program had just 39 wins and had an average finish of 8^th place in that span. But last season the Aggies finished the regular season in third place with a 10-8 conference record, their best finish in 10 seasons. The Aggies also compiled as many wins – 15 – as they had in the previous four seasons combined.

““Our goal is to win a championship,’’ said Eaves. “But to say have you resurrected your program to at least stable ground? Yes. But the thing about A&T, success is based on championships. (Aggie legendary men’s basketball coaches) Cal Irvin and Don Corbett kind of set the bar high, so until the team can win a championship I wouldn’t say it was rebuilt because A&T is based on championships.

If A&T had never won a championship and you win 17, 18, 19 games coming from one (win), I would say you’ve done a nice job, but our goal is to try to win it.”

The women were 17-13 overall and 12-6 in the MEAC, which was good enough for a second-place tie with Delaware State. The Aggie women won just 41 games the start of the 2000-01 season until the end of the 2005-06 season. Their average finish was 9^th place over that span.

Bibbs brings back all five starters and did not lose any players from last year’s team, including first-team All-MEAC guard Amber Bland and MEAC Rookie of the Year Tu’Wuana Cook. A solid recruiting class has Aggie fans excited about the upcoming season.

“On paper this looks like a pretty good team,” said Bibbs. “People keep saying you’re loaded.  My thing is these kids should be hungry and want to go the NCAA despite what people might say. That’s the goal.”

The men’s season starts Nov. 9 when they travel to Pittsburgh to play in the Pittsburgh Tournament between Nov. 9-11. The women start their season on Nov. 9 at Stetson.