Interestingly enough, the MEAC is the only conference in the country to sport two top-ten scorers.  Morgan State’s Reggie Holmes, and Norfolk State’s Michael Deloach are placed eighth and tenth respectively among Division I players this season.

Morgan State has been nothing short of a dominating force in conference play the last three years, losing only six total games, one of which came this season.  Morgan State lost a squeaker to South Carolina State 71-68 for their only conference loss.  Morgan State boasts two stars, one who has been around a while in the senior Holmes and the other 6-9 sophomore forward Kevin Thompson, who is averaging just over 12 points and 12 rebounds for the season.

Morgan State is coached by Todd Bozeman, who was previously successful at California but had his legacy (that included Jason Kidd, Sharif Abdur-Rahim and Lamond Murray) tarnished by a variety of accusations and admissions at Cal that led to some NCAA sanctions.

The Teams: Morgan State (15-1, 24-9), Delaware State (11-5, 16-11), South Carolina State (10-6, 16-13), Norfolk State (9-7, 11-18), Hampton (8-8, 13-17), Maryland-Eastern Shore (8-8, 10-20), Bethune-Cookman (7-9, 16-15), Howard (6-10, 7-24) North Carolina A&T (6-10, 10-21), Florida A&M (5-11, 9-21), Coppin State (3-13, 8-21)

Players to Watch: Reggie Holmes, Morgan St. (22.4 ppg), Michael Deloach, Norfolk State (21.8 ppg),  CJ Cook, Bethune-Cookman 15.7 ppg), Kevin Thompson, Morgan St. (12.6 ppg, 12 rpg).

Winner: Morgan State.  This one should be easy.  (Famous last words).

NCAA Tournament Outlook: Sweet 16.  Morgan State is one of the teams I love coming from the mid-major ranks.  They have a great scoring guard in Holmes and an inside force with Thompson.  They have good balance and are well coached.  This is another “one of those teams”.  Sweet 16 is far from a lock, but a favorable matchup as a 13-seed could put them in the mix.

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