No. 4 in my series of conference previews brings us to the MEAC conference. This conference of HBCU's has been striving for respect in the college basketball realm for a long time and it's high time we start paying it to them.
This conference has been a thorn in the major conferences side for a while now, but the this conference really got notoriety after the 2001 first round of upset of #2 seed Iowa State by Hampton. That wasn't the only time a MEAC pulled an upset as Coppin State did the exact same thing to #2 seed South Carolina in 1997. It would be foolish to overlook these teams and just focus on their outstanding bands, because they just might beat you on the court if you aren't careful.
Now onto the predictions:
1.
Hampton - Hampton wasn't supposed to be the best team in the conference this year. But they also were supposed to return wingman Devin Green, who was supposed to transfer. Well he is still here and now everyone should be afraid for the rest of the league. The junior guard avg. 14.9 ppg last year on a deep Hampton, but this year is primed to be his breakout year. Coach Bobby Collins has assembled quite a cast of characters and will start soph. Jeff Granger and JUCO transfer Jared Woodley. Those two will have solid backups behind them in Donald Didlake and Dewayne Spencer. Senior David Johnson returns to anchor the post for the Pirates, but what really has to worry the conference is the fact that the Pirates sport 3 guys who are 6'11 and all are sophomores. The best of the bunch is Frank Russell, who is a slim, but agile big man with good touch around the basket, the other two are bruisers Andrew Morrison and Bruce Brown. They say the best thing about freshman is they become sophomores and if this is the case with these guys we might be saying Hampton pulled the upset yet again. Also, coach Collins snagged a steal in getting Brandon Streeter from North Carolina. He will be heard from in the next 4 years, book it.
2.
South Carolina State - It was hard not to put this team first, even though they lost two starters and coach Cy Alexander went to Tennessee State and try to rebuild that program. Great players still reside here in Orangeburg however and they start with super soph Thurman Zimmerman. Zimmerman is a 6'5 guard who plays like a 6'9 PF. He is a bull against smaller guards and too quick for big players. He has the ability to be a 20 and 10 guy which is amazing considering how he is a guard. Next to Zimmerman, are three juniors who look to start in Demeco Hreath, Clary Judge and Cory Seels. They will all fill out the spots around Zimmerman, but the key to a big year for this team is Dakin Braddick. Getting him to come to SCSU was a coup, but now as a sophomore he needs to take the next step and become the interior threat for the Bulldogs and the secondary scorer to Zimmerman. If this happens, new coach Ben Betts shouldn't have much trouble doing what Cy Alexander did... and that's
Win.
3.
Florida A&M - The Rattlers begin their third year under coach Mike Gillespie and the reason for optimism lies on the shoulders of SG Terrance Woods. The conferences' leading returning scorer at just over 20 per game will need to be even better if they are gonna get back to the dance, which hasn't happened since 1999 on the team led by Monroe Pippins. Incoming transfer from NYC, Tony Tate looks to push Moses White for the PG spot, but while the Rattlers look set in the backcourt, someone is going to have to help OJ Sumter down low. Whether it's seniors Jermaine Hill and Abdelkhadre Cisse or one of their newcomers, someone is going to have to step up and help this team in the paint. If they don't this team might finish 4th. But having Woods, always gives Gillespie's team a chance.
4.
Delaware State - Aaron Matthews returns for his senior year to help anchor the inside attack for coach Greg Jackson. He will be joined by guards Miles Davis, Carlos Hawkins and Prince Parker, who look to help shoulder the scoring load. Also back is sophomore Terrance Hunter, a 6'8 forward who shot 36% from 3 and 46% from the field overall last year. His improvement is key for coach Jackson to win, since they use a slow down approach to stay in games. They will definitely frustrate a lot of opponents with their deliberate style of basketball.
5.
Maryland-Eastern Shore - Coach Thomas Trotter has struggled his first three years in the conference but this year he has a reason to smile. His son Tee Trotter is back for his senior season and he is looking forward to devastating opposing backcourts on his way to fighting for the scoring lead in the conference. Next to him is Soph Aaron Wellington who avg. 13 ppg as a freshman and shared the PG duties with Trotter. He figures to improve and on certain nights this team could have two 20 point scorers, maybe even 30. They are both excellent free-throw shooters so it behooves you not to be trailing in the final minutes. Soph Tim Parham is also looking for a breakout year after a typical freshman season for a big man. Highly regarded recruit from Illinois DeWitt Scott looks to walk right into a starting position. Forward Javes Wiggins has the PF spot on lock and gives Eastern Shore close to the best starting five in the conference if the young bigs can step up.
6.
Coppin State - The Dean of MEAC coaches, Ron "Fang" Mitchell has a tough job ahead of him. Leading scorer Larry Tucker graduated and Deke Thompson transferred. So what's left? Well, it's starts with swingman Jimmy Boykin. The 6'7 guard avg. over 14 a game last year and will need to step it up even more as Coach Mitchell did add some intriguing wingmen in Kelvin Green and Nicholas King (who sat out last year). Darryl Jones and Raheem Scott will hold down the backcourt and hopefully they will be better with an extra year under their belts. Junior PF/C Henry Coulter must anchor the paint for this team to be able to move anywhere near the top of the conference. A long road ahead but Coach Mitchell has done it before.
7.
Norfolk State - The Spartans are going to look a little different after having 2 players graduate and 3 transfer in the off-season. Coach Dwight Freeman, will continue to imploy his pressure attack which got him 10 conference wins in his first year coaching in the MEAC. The team is undersized, but makes up for it with fever-paced basketball played at break neck speed and that should continue with the return of guards Derrick Smith and Chawkowby Hicks and soph forward Ryan Grier. Soph center Karandick Ogunnde could use some help as he is only 6'7. This team is going to get murdered on the class even though they return their top 3 rebounders. So expect a lot of pressure and zone defense from the Spartans this year.
8.
Bethune-Cookman - Cliff Reed begins his 3rd year coaching Bethune with a little more optimism than in past year. That's because he might have the most experience frontcourt in the conference in Center Pape Ba and forwards Diondre Lamond and Michael Williams. Reed has brought in 4 JUCO transfers to help to continue the re-building job of BC Basketball and the class is led by PG Aundrea Grayson. He is a scoring PG, but who isn't nowadays and might be able to bring somezip to a pretty non-descript group of holdovers in O'Neal Carter and Markey Picard. Soon enough Coach Reed will have this team near the top of the conference.
9.
Howard - Frankie Allen has been with the Bison for 3 years and they have improved under him. That's the good news. The bad news is, he should have done even better when you have talent like Ron Williamson in uniform. So coach Allen must turn to forwards James Wilkinson and Seye Aluko to spearhead his attack from the inside. Hopefully they are up to the task of greater responsibility. Little guard Louis Ford and Hekima Jackson will try and pick up the slack in the backcourt or they could lose their PT to a group of freshman. If sharp shooter Bilal Russell is healthy after his having heart problems, that is the best gift he can get. Anything he can give them on the court is absolutely gravy.
10.
Morgan State - Former NJ Nets coach Butch Beard, might not have realized how tough a job this team was before he took it. I bet after going 10-47 his first two years he knows now. If NC A&T didn't have such a bad season last year, this team would be my choice for the basement. Beard has improved them from 3 wins to 7 wins but his recruiting and player development leave a lot to be desired. As for the players, Beard does have a few good ones led by guard Sam Brand and forward Aaron Andrews. Ron Timus and PG Cedric Barrow are going to also have to play big minutes because there isn't much talent on the bench behind them. This team overall looks to be in a lot of trouble this year, and most of their top players are seniors, which leads many to believe this will be a long season in Baltimore and unfortunately with my Aunt finishing up her masters at Morgan I am going to have to hear about it. Uggh.
11.
North Carolina A&T - Oh where have you gone Jeff Capel, Sr. We miss you sir. They haven't been to the tournament now going on a decade and they could sure use your coaching ability. Curtis Hunter truly destroyed this program which saw it bottom out with a 1-26 record and his termination. New coach Jerry Eaves steps into a ground zero sized whole of a coaching job. He is going to need to build from the bottom up and it's going to take some time, however to try and make Eaves life a little bit easier, he does have a trio of sophomores on the perimeter in guards Tyrone Green, Steven Koger and William Howard. The trio avg. over 30 as combined last year as freshman and that number should jump up considerably with the experience they gained last year. Senior big people Adam Traore and Chris Ferguson are going to have to bring it in the paint or they will be sitting on the pine. Coach Eaves brought in 9 newcomers and is going to play the youth to help better their future in the league, so everyone has to bring their A games if they want to start. The basement is not precluded to A&T, but they are going to have to prove they can get out of the basement by winning games not by being predicted to win.
NCAA Tournament Team: Hampton Pirates
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