For decades those proud Howard University alumni would lament their futility in sports because they were the proverbial academic school where athletics were the epitome of an afterthought.
However, with their second straight Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference men’s basketball championship following a visit to the Celebration Bowl, the level of success and expectations has risen along with their brand.
“There are those who might say that last year [2023] was a lucky year,” said Howard athletics director Kery Davis. “But when you go back to back that shows you are building a championship culture.”
Howard University men’s basketball coach Kenny Blakeney led the Bison to their second consecutive MEAC Basketball Championship and will play in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament vs Wagner (Photo courtesy: Howard University Athletics)
Howard faces Wagner in a First Four NCAA Tournament game to tip March Madness off in Dayton. The two unheralded basketball schools are squaring off for an opportunity to play No. 1 seed North Carolina in the first round. It would be a great step for both programs.
Former Duke National Champion Blakeney and Howard Survived Injuries
The Bison faced a rash of injuries that depleted their roster earlier this season, but the resilience that was installed by head coach Kenny Blakeney helped them cut down the nets in Norfolk after their victory over Delaware State.
Last season Howard made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1992 and got stomped by No. 1 seed Kansas, 96-68. This season, Howard seems to be a team of destiny led by fourth-year coach Blakeney, who was a part of Duke’s 1991 NCAA championship team, blending quiet confidence with understated style and not putting himself ahead of the program.
If you didn’t know he was crafted from the championship armor of a blue-blood program, his star presence would be inconspicuous in a packed room.
He came back to the DMV wearing nothing but passion as he began crafting a program in ashes when he came to Howard.
“I love Howard University,” Blakeney said in a press conference. “There’s no place I’d rather be as a higher education professional. Having the chance to help the next group of successful professionals reach their goals in life after basketball is a joy for me”.
Road To Consecutive MEAC Titles
The road to consecutive conference titles was not without its potholes along the way. In his first season, Howard finished 4-29 and they lost 15 of 16 conference games.
Then came the COVID season of 2021 which shut the program down. However, Blakeney responded by landing the nation’s top prospect Makur Maker.
Maker set back the program because he didn’t stay healthy, but his decision to go to an HBCU had an immediate impact on recruiting.
However, that was where the renaissance began. The Bison haven’t produced a losing season since the pandemic.
Now that Howard has won back-to-back MEAC titles the perception of the program is no longer that of a transfer program, it has become a destination for elite players. Blakeney’s millennial personality has been able to resonate with top ballers who now embrace the HBCU experience.
As one who played for the late Morgan Wooten at historic DeMatha Catholic High School in suburban Maryland and then the NCAA’s all-time winningest men’s hoop’s coach in former Duke legend Coach K, Blakeney has planted a flag of championship credibility in DMV.
High Level Recruits Choosing Howard
In one of the most fertile recruiting bases for college basketball prospects in the country. when HU knocks at the door recruits are willing to do more than just listen.
“Coach Blakeney told me about his vision and the opportunity I would have here,” guard Jelani Williams said in the postgame presser. Williams played at Sidwell Friends School, where Sasha and Malia Obama matriculated during their father’s presidency.
“Being from the DMV, it was about legacy. I had the opportunity to come back home and be around my family to do something that hadn’t been done in almost 40 years, so I jumped at it. I went to middle school on Howard’s campus, so it was a no-brainer.”
A Howard victory over Wagner in the first game of the NCAA Tournament would create a ripple effect in the only nationally televised game at the time.
The Bison are now in a position to be the focus of the basketball world and maybe even the next Cinderella story, with a chance to get their first victory in the NCAA Tournament, which would definitely help change the perception of HBCU basketball forever.
