"March Madness" is the popular term used to describe the NCAA basketball tournament.

For University of Delaware graduate Janine Hunt-Hilliard, BE '92, the term took on a whole new meaning this year, although one still very much connected to basketball.

Hunt-Hilliard and her family are the proud owners of the Atlanta Justice, a new franchise in the four-team professional division of the National Women's Basketball League (NWBL).

As an owner, Hunt-Hilliard says she has been involved in decisions on everything from the home gym to the team name.

"Our family built this from the ground up," she says. "We have had to hire a general manager, find a coach, find office space, design a logo and sign players. It has been a challenge, but it has also been very rewarding."

Hunt-Hilliard, whose husband is Earl Hilliard Jr., and whose father-in-law is U.S. Rep. Earl Hilliard Sr. of Alabama, says the family was approached by the NWBL to purchase a franchise.

"We thought it was a good cause, as well as a good investment," she says.

"For many players, there is no alternative other than the WNBA [a professional league run by the NBA] or leagues overseas," Hunt-Hilliard says. "Many players do not want to go overseas, so this provides an opportunity for them to play at another level."

As the league prepared for its late February opening games, individual teams held tryouts in their communities. The Justice signed several players as a result of that tryout, and other players deemed worthy were invited to a scouting combine in which all of the NWBL teams participated.

The NWBL is a multi-tiered league, with a national network of semi-professional teams and the four-team professional league. The other top-level franchises are in Kansas City, Mo., Birmingham, Ala., and Mobile, Ala.

The Atlanta Justice plays its home games at John H. Lewis Sports Complex on the campus of Morris Brown College.

The team name was selected based on the motto of the state of Georgia, which is "Wisdom, Justice and Moderation," although Hunt-Hilliard says it is also appropriate, given the nature of her family.

"It is coincidental, but four of the people in our family are attorneys-at-law, so the name seemed to fit," she says.

Although Hunt-Hilliard never played basketball, she says several members of her family are very much interested in the women's game and were enthusiastic about the opportunity to purchase the team.

Hunt-Hilliard says her experience at UD prepared her well for the demands of team ownership.

"At Delaware, I had an opportunity to become very well-rounded," she says. "My major in accounting and a good background in business, plus outside activities including membership in the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, have allowed me to do various things."

After graduating from UD, Hunt-Hilliard worked as a pharmaceutical representative for Merck & Co. and then decided to return to school. She enrolled at Howard University and earned a law degree and a master of business administration degree.

While in law school, she worked for several law firms in Washington, D.C., and also served as personal assistant to Earl Graves, the chief executive officer of Black Enterprise magazine.

During her final years of law school, Hunt-Hilliard went to Capitol Hill and joined Hilliard's staff. She continued working there through the MBA program and, after completing her education, became his general counsel.

She also met her husband.

Last year, Hunt-Hilliard, her husband and her sister-in-law, Alesia Hilliard-Smith, opened the law firm of Hilliard, Smith & Hunt in Birmingham.

"Our firm specializes in corporate/business law and government relations," she says. "We practice primarily in Alabama, but are licensed to practice in four states [Alabama, California, Georgia and Maryland] and the District of Columbia."

She personally is licensed to practice in Alabama, California and Maryland. She says the firm also lobbies on local, state and national levels.

Of course, during the NWBL season, she does most of her lobbying in Georgia as the biggest fan of the Atlanta Justice, which, by the way, won the NWBL championship this year, defeating Birmingham 90-75 on April 22.

--Neil Thomas, AS '76