Top 5 all-time CIAA basketball players

The CIAA tournament is coming to town again and there’s plenty of talent coming. Let’s look at the best ever CIAA players:

5. Earl Lloyd, West Virginia State: Lloyd (above) led his college to CIAA titles in 1948 and ’49 and was a three-time all-conference pick. In 1950, he became the first black player to play in an NBA game, playing for the Washington Capitols, who drafted him in the ninth round. He scored 731 points in the 1954-55 season helping the Syracuse Nationals win the Eastern Division title. In 1968, he became the first black assistant in the league, working with Detroit. He’s in the Virginia hall of fame and Feb. 9, 2001 was named Earl Lloyd Day by Virginia’s governor.

4. Cleo Hill, Winston-Salem State: Averaged 25.4 points during four-year career and 26.7 during senior season, when he led the Rams to the CIAA title. Has 2,488 career points and is in the CIAA Hall of Fame.

3. Charles Oakley, Virginia Union: In 1985, Sports Illustrated called Division II Union the best team in Virginia and called the 6-9 Oakley (above) “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth as far as Division II basketball goes.” In the CIAA Tournament that year, Oakley averaged 27 points and 18.3 rebounds, about his season average. Cleveland selected him ninth in the 1985 NBA draft but traded him to Chicago.

2. Sam Jones, N.C. Central: College career at then N.C. College was interrupted because he had two years of military service. Jones (left) was a three-time all-conference pick who averaged 18.6 points and 10.7 rebounds his senior year. He’s an NAIA and Naismith Hall Of Famer. Later, Jones was a pretty good player for the Boston Celtics. Maybe you remember him.

1. Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, Winston-Salem State: In 1967, Monroe (above) played for coach Clarence "Big House" Gaines and helped his team win the Division-II national title. He averaged 41.5 points that season. Monroe went onto a long NBA career and was later voted one of the NBA’s 50 greatest players in 1996.

-- Langston Wertz Jr.

CIAA women’s starting five

The CIAA’s women’s basketball history isn’t as rich as the men’s, but here are five players who made their marks:

-- LaKisha Phifer, Saint Paul’s (1996-99): The greatest shot blocker in women’s college basketball history, Phifer’s averages of 7.0 (career) and 8.8 (season) are the best ever in the NCAA’s record book. The 6-foot-1 Phifer, who is from Charlotte and played at Independence High, once blocked 20 shots against Virginia Union, still an NCAA record. She also had 25 rebounds in a CIAA tournament game.

-- Kim Brewington, Johnson C. Smith (1988-91): Scored 64 points against Livingstone in 1990, second highest scoring game in Division II history. She also had 50 that same season against Livingstone. Her 32.4 point average in 1990 is third highest in Division II history.

-- Jackie Dolberry, Hampton (1986-89): At 6-1, she could play every position on the floor. The state of Virginia’s all-time leading scorer, Dolberry scored 52 points once against N.C. Central and had 2,645 in her career.

-- Norma Knight, Norfolk State (1982-83): She played just two seasons for the Spartans, but remains NCAA Division II’s all-time rebounding leader with an 18.4 average.

-- Celeste Trahan, Elizabeth City State (2005-08): The only player in Division II history to score at least 2,000 points and grab 1,500 rebounds in a career. Was the nation’s leading rebounder (15.9) and No. 2 scorer (23.7) in 2008.

– David Scott