By Mekhi AbbottSpecial to the AFROmabbott@afro.com
With the school basketball season about to tip off, Monumental Sports activities Community continues to extend the visibility of traditionally Black faculties and universities (HBCU) by saying a partnership with Hampton College and its continued partnership with HBCU Go.
Monumental will air 67 school basketball video games this upcoming season, a brand new report excessive. Of these 67, a minimum of 38 will embody a minimum of one HBCU. Monumental will air 20 taped HBCU basketball video games particularly by means of its partnership with HBCU Go. Monumental introduced a 20-game collegiate soccer schedule in August that included each HBCUs and different native universities. The community may also associate with 4 different faculties within the larger Washington, D.C.-Maryland-Virginia space, together with George Mason College, Towson College, the College of Richmond and George Washington College.
“With universities from D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, in addition to a number of HBCUs taking part in on our air this yr, we’re attaining our purpose of utilizing our platform to uplift native athletics in any respect ranges and supply probably the most strong D.C. sports activities programming out there,” stated Caitlin Mangum, vp of content material and programming at Monumental Sports activities by way of a press launch.
The Hampton Pirates will likely be trying to enhance on their report from final yr after the lads completed with the second-worst report within the Coastal Athletic Affiliation convention. This summer time, the Pirates bolstered their roster with the addition of graduate switch Noah Farrakhan. The New Jersey guard has already scored 1,000 factors in his collegiate profession and averaged 12.1 factors and a pair of.7 assists throughout his two seasons at East Carolina.
“HBCU sports activities are so usually underrated and unseen. This partnership provides us a possibility to be seen because the sports activities powerhouses that we frequently instances are,” stated Mikayla Roberts, a 2023 graduate of Hampton College. “There are such a lot of skilled athletes that go to their respective leagues and even the Olympics that aren’t recognized till they make it to the worldwide stage. Hopefully this partnership provides athletes following of their footsteps larger visibility and help.”
The primary slate of school basketball video games broadcasting on Monumental Sports activities Community this season will start on Nov. 16 with Hampton’s women and men basketball groups taking part in a doubleheader at 5 p.m. and eight p.m. EST, respectively. Native school basketball followers with a TV supplier will have the ability to watch video games on Monumental Sports activities Community. Video games may also be streamed on monumentalplus.com or on the Monumental+ app.
