Howard University / Howard University

The Howard University men’s basketball team won its biggest game in years last night, clinching their conference regular season crown. With the victory, the team is now poised for a run to their first national NCAA tournament in more than three decades.

In front of a packed house on senior night at Burr Gymnasium, the Howard Bison trampled defending conference champ Norfolk State by a score of 87 to 67. The win gives the team its first outright regular season Mid-Eastern Athletic Championship (MEAC) championship since 1987.

The upset also sends the Bison into next week’s MEAC conference tournament as the number one seed. And if they can string together several more wins at the conference tournament in Norfolk starting Wednesday, the team will head to the national NCAA tournament. Or, as many fans know the tournament, “March Madness.” If that were to happen, it would be the first time since 1992 that the Bison would be playing on such a national stage.

It’s been a long road for Howard’s men’s team over the last couple of decades. Before this season, the team has had only one winning record since 2001-2002. But over the last few years, the team has trended up. That’s due to at least two factors.

In May 2019, Kenny Blakeney was hired as the team’s head coach. While not a Howard alum, he is a D.C. native and a graduate of DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland.

After attending the local storied basketball program, he went on to play for another famed college basketball powerhouse — Duke University — where he helped the team win two national championships. He’s brings big program experience, credibility, and local ties to Howard, which has helped recruit some quality basketball talent.

And Blakeney’s biggest recruit was Makur Maker in the summer of 2020. One of the top prospects in the country at the time, Maker’s choice to attend a historically black college like Howard shook the college basketball landscape. That decision showed that Howard could be a viable destination for top-tier basketball talent.

Maker ended up only playing a handful of games for the Bison ever due to injury and leaving school early to pursue pro basketball. But coaches and school officials made clear that even just the phenom’s commitment to the school would pay immense dividends down the road.

This past fall, Coach Blakeney called Maker the “most influential HBCU/Howard student athlete of his generation!!” while visiting him at Washington Wizards’ practice.

And this season seems to provide a case in point to those claims.

The team finished the regular season with 19 wins and 12 losses, their best record since the 1986-1987 campaign. That includes 11 wins in the MEAC conference, with now two of those against Norfolk State. Last year, Norfolk State represented the MEAC in the NCAA tournament but lost to Baylor University in the first round.

This year, it could be the Howard Bison heading to March Madness for the first time in more than three decades.

It’s been a historic week for Howard in multiple sports. Over the weekend, the men’s swimming and diving team won their conference title for the first time in 34 years.

And the women’s basketball team also won their game against Norfolk State in an upset, on the same court where the Howard men’s team would make Howard history later that night.

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