NORFOLK, Va. — The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) has announced its men’s and women’s pairings for the 2017 MEAC Basketball Tournament, March 6-11 at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va.

On the ladies’ side, Bethune-Cookman will be the top seed for the second straight year after concluding the regular season with a 15-1 mark in MEAC play.

The Lady Wildcats took the regular-season title outright this season after earning a share of the crown with North Carolina A&T State a season ago. Bethune-Cookman has earned a first-round bye and will play in the quarterfinal round on Wednesday, March 8 at 12 p.m. The Lady Wildcats will face the winner of the No. 8 Savannah State/No. 9 Morgan State matchup slated for Tuesday, March 7 at 12 p.m.

Games will start on Monday, March 6 with the No. 4 Florida A&M/No. 13 South Carolina State matchup at 11 a.m. and the No. 5 Norfolk State/No. 12 Delaware State matchup to follow roughly 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. Monday’s third game will pit the No. 6 seed, Coppin State, and the No. 11 seed, Maryland Eastern Shore.

Howard finished the season with a 12-4 mark to secure the No. 2 seed, while Hampton earned the No. 3 seed with an 11-5 mark in MEAC play. The Bison will face the winner of the No. 7 North Carolina A&T State/No. 10 North Carolina Central matchup on Wednesday, March 8 in the day’s second quarterfinal game.

The Lady Pirates will face the winner of the Coppin State-Maryland Eastern Shore game on Thursday, March 9 at 12 p.m.

The 2017 regular-season champions, regular-season runners-up, first team honorees and award winners including Player, Rookie, Defensive Player and Coach of the Year, will be recognized in pre-game presentations prior to the honorees’ first games in tournament play.

On the men’s side, The Eagles of North Carolina Central enter as the No. 1 seed for the third time in four years as they completed the season with a 13-3 conference record.

The Eagles have earned a first-round bye and will open tournament play on Wednesday, March 8 at 6 p.m.versus the winner of the No. 8 Delaware State/No. 9 Bethune-Cookman contest which takes place on Tuesday, March 7 at 4 p.m.

No. 5 Maryland Eastern Shore and No. 12 North Carolina A&T State tips off men’s tourney action on Monday, March 6 at 5 p.m. Coppin State (No. 6) and Howard (No. 11) concludes the first day of competition as they’ll square off at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 6.

For the third straight year, the Norfolk State Spartans enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed and hit the court on Wednesday, March 8 at 8 p.m. against the winner of the No. 7 South Carolina State/No. 10 Florida A&M match-up scheduled for Tuesday, March 7 at 6 p.m. Morgan State and Hampton both finished the 2017 season with identical 11-5 conference marks but by virtue of Morgan State’s 77-70 win over Hampton on Feb. 25, the Bears captured the No. 3 seed while Hampton enters as the No. 4 seed. Both teams will have a week off as its games aren’t scheduled until Thursday, March 9. Morgan State will meet the winner of Monday’s Coppin State/Howard contest while Hampton awaits the victor of Monday’s Maryland Eastern Shore/Howard matchup.

The 2017 regular season champion, regular season runners-up, first-team members and top honorees, including Player, Rookie, Defensive and Coach of the Year selections, will be recognized in pre-game presentations prior to the honorees’ first games in tournament play.

The 2017 regular-season champions, regular-season runners-up, first team honorees and award winners including Player, Rookie, Defensive Player and Coach of the Year, will be recognized in pre-game presentations prior to the honorees’ first games in tournament play.

The 2017 MEAC Basketball Tournament tips off Monday, March 6, and will conclude on Saturday, March 11 with the men’s and women’s championship games. The women’s game will begin one hour after the end of the men’s game and will be tape-delayed on ESPNU. It will air the following day, Sunday, March 12, at 11 a.m.

The men’s finale will begin at 1 p.m. and will broadcast live on ESPN2. The preliminary games will also be streamed live on ESPN3. Live statistics of all games will be available on the conference’s official website and the tournament’s official website, www.MEAChoops.com.