Grayson Weir
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As Ja Morant continues to grab headlines, his sister Teniya ‘Niya’ Morant made her college decision on late Wednesday night. She is headed to the SWAC and will play for Mississippi Valley State University.
Niya, a 5-foot-7 guard, did not receive a lot of offers out of high school. The Delta Devils were the first to offer her, and Grambling State made a big push down the stretch.
In the end, though, Niya decided that the first school was the right school.
Mississippi Valley State will be thrilled to have such a prominent name on the court for both notoriety, and talent. She is joining a team that was absolutely terrible last season.
The school is located in Itta Bena, Mississippi, right in the heart of the Delta, hence the name.
Its women’s basketball team went 2-27 during the 2022/23 season — with one of those two wins coming against 900-student Tougaloo College, an NAIA program. Their only D-I win came against New Orleans (which won just eight games) by four in overtime and they went an imperfect 0-18 in conference play.
They won just four games in both 2021/22 and 2020/21, and won just 10 games combined in the three years before that. Yikes.
Niya Morant will hope to be the Devilettes’ much-needed spark.
Both Jamie and Tee Morant hooped in college, and their athletic gene pool led their children to do the same. The two siblings play with very similar style.
Niya’s game looks a lot like Ja’s. She averaged 11.7 points, 1.5 steals and 4.7 rebounds per game at Houston High School in Germantown (Memphis), Tennessee last season and her highlight tape is saucy.
Niya plays with a lot of grit and emotion, while dicing up defenses and finishing hard through contact. Sound familiar?
Ja played his college basketball at Murray State and went on to be drafted No. 2 overall. Niya is headed to Mississippi Valley, which isn’t quite the same as her brother’s former mid-major program, but comes with the same path.
She will have to show out at a program that doesn’t often get looks to one day play in the WNBA. And in the age of the transfer portal, Niya may not stay in the Delta for more than a year or two.
Regardless of how things play out, Niya is going to be a big part of a roster that was not only abysmal last season, but returns just six players. She likely slates to be in the starting lineup right away!
Horribly written story. You people think all HBCU’s are bad.
I COMPLETELY disagree with anyone who says that HBCUs are bad. That is not an accurate representation of my thought, and I am not an “all.”
Mississippi Valley State women’s basketball, though, has been terrible in recent history.
The writer, Grayson Weir should never describe any school or program as “terrible”. These kids put all their heart and time into basketball for a chance to get drafted into the WNBA and obtain their degree without any monetary compensation. I wonder if this writer would’ve described any of the PWS schools or basketball programs as “terrible”? I doubt it!
I absolutely, 100%, would describe a PWS basketball program as “terrible” if it won just 14 games in five years.
I wondered how long it would take for a white liberal would jump into the conversation and become a race baiter .don’t you have child porn to look at it or stand in front of your window with your Hand down your pants watching children play
Your name is “mvsu92.” We see why you’d make such an assumption. People who talk sports DAILY, not just when a school they have ties to is mentioned, call other school’s teams “terrible” and worse, ALL THE TIME!!
There’s absolutely NO WAY AROUND how pathetic MVSU basketball is. It doesn’t matter if the people who attended the school were actual RED like the mascot, it’s a TERRIBLE BASKETBALL PROGRAM. LMAO
He’s not referring to the SCHOOL as a whole, as being “terrible.” Y’all gotta learn how to read to comprehend and stop being so emotional.
As a proud graduate of an HBCU the title of this article is very insensitive and offensive coming from a privileged white mail. He should never feel bold enough to say the words terrible and HBCU in the same sentence. How dare he! Trump has made entitled white males feel like it’s okay to publicly make ignorant comments like this.
If I wrote this article, being a Black man, would you still be crying?? Your emotions are causing you to make this about Black and White and not realize that a team going 2-27 in a season and winning 14 games in TWO seasons is beyond “terrible.”
REGARDLESS of whether it’s an HBCU or a PWI!!
Y’all trying to make this sound like he’s saying the school, itself, is “terrible.” It’s a sad reach. MVSU is actually horrendous.
Correction 14 games in FIVE seasons.
I’m truly not surprised to see that it was a honky that described an HBCU as terrible, in what is suppose to be a news article and not an opinion piece. Don’t worry about what black people do. She prefers to be in an environment where people like you aren’t (culturally insensitive, which is based in white supremacy. Why do white people get so upset when black folks support black folks. Never forget what Malcolm said; Only a fool would let his enemy teach their children.
2-27 is flat out pathetic, screw terrible. I don’t give a damn if MLK attended the school and it was given his name sake.
If I wrote this article, being a Black man, would you still be crying?? Your emotions are causing you to make this about Black and White and not realize that a team going 2-27 in a season and winning 14 games in TWO seasons is beyond “terrible.”
REGARDLESS of whether it’s an HBCU or a PWI!!
Y’all trying to make this sound like he’s saying the school, itself, is “terrible.” It’s a sad reach. MVSU is actually horrendous.
If you think white people are your enemy, I feel sorry for you. I’d suggest turning off the media and taking a break from social media for awhile. Your brain is being taken over. Stop listening to politicians and people who stay relevant/make money from division and racial tension. You’re thinking exactly how they want you to think. Do some independent thinking and soon you’ll see we’re all in the same boat, getting screwed over by the government in one way or another.
I get that you wanted to highlight the fact that you’re racist by using the word “honky” but no one cares about that word like you think. I know zero white people who are offended by that word because…you know…it’s just a word.
Let me get this straight, so y’all don’t think 2-27 is a “terrible program” REGARDLESS of being a PWI or an HBCU?? Get out your feelings.
This is coming from a Black man who attended an HBCU (NCCU) in his hometown. LMFAOOO
Also, Murray State is not an HBCU. Kentucky State and Simmons College are the only HBCUs in the state of Kentucky.
Thank you for being the voice of reason Neezy. I noticed you’ve received no responses. Wonder why? 😂
I knew there would be some thin-skinned, racist, race baiters in here. So no one can criticize a HBCU basketball team because black people go there? Grow up. No one is free from criticism, especially if you win 14 games in 5 years.
HBCU or not…their TEAM record is atrocious! Is that better. Geesus people let go of the stupid stuff! So what a white dude wrote an article…y’all took it way out of context!