History of baseball team nicknames by calling them "Pirates" for "stealing" their players. The "Pirates" tag stuck and the alliterative name was eventually adopted as Pittsburgh's official team nickname. By the time of the 1903 World Series, the team was commonly known as "Pirates", although the club did not acknowledge it on their uniforms until 1912. Alternate nicknames such as "Bucs" or "Buccos", short for "buccaneer", have been used through the years. "Buccaneer" is typically used synonymously with "pirate", although historically "buccaneer" is a more specific term for pirates who operated in the Caribbean, especially along the Spanish Main coast. The Pittsburgh Steelers of the
2017–18 Hampton Pirates men's basketball team lost in the quarterfinals of the MEAC Tournament to Maryland Eastern Shore. They were invited to the College Basketball Invitational where they lost in the first round to Coastal Carolina. The Pirates were picked to finish fourth in the MEAC in a preseason poll of coaches and sports information directors. Sophomore guard Jermaine Morrow was named to the preseason All-MEAC second team. Preseason All MEAC 2nd Team MEAC Player of the Week MEAC Defensive Player of the Week !colspan=9 style=| Exhibition !colspan=9 style=| Non-conference regular season !colspan=9 style=| MEAC regular season !colspan=9 style=| MEAC Tournament !colspan=9 style=| NIT 2017–18 Hampton