NCAA Basketball: 5 keys to a successful and continuing HBCU movement

 A deeper dive into Howard’s history

Notice a theme here? Because I surely do. Howard won between 6-12 games 12 times in those 15 seasons and only finished with a .500 overall record twice. Likewise, they only finished with a conference record above .500 twice, and can’t seem to figure out a way to win more than 10 conference games in a season. (Which is only a problem because they rarely won more than 7 conference games during that time span)

I should also point out that in 15 seasons, the Bison managed to win just 137 total games, and lose 341 total games. If you want me to break those numbers down even further, winning 137 games in 15 seasons means that on average, they won 9.13 (or 9 ) games per season, and losing 341 games means that on average, they lost 22.7 (or 23 rounded up) games per season. Essentially, a 9-23 season is considered normal for them at the moment, which is probably why most Howard fans haven’t been able to raise their expectations for them.

During those 15 seasons, they also won an abysmal 83 conference games, which is equivalent to 5.5 wins (or 5/6 wins, depending on which way you decide to round) per season, and lost a mind-boggling 161 conference games, which is equivalent to 9.8 (10 rounded up) loses per season.

You may be thinking that a 5/6-10 average conference record isn’t necessarily something to freak out about, because it could always be worse, but you can’t ignore the fact that they won 5/6 conference games or less 12 times. In fact, Howard won less than 5/6 conference games 5 times during those 15 seasons.

Basically, what I am trying to get across to you is, it is one thing to repeatedly finish with a 5/6-10 conference record every season, but when you have multiple seasons where you struggled to even get to that number and have made it clear to everyone that your current ceiling is only 10 conference wins, you can’t convince anyone that your program isn’t crumbling to pieces.

And just when you thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse, Howard has made an appearance in the NCAA tournament just twice in the last 39 years (which probably isn’t much of a surprise to you now, but it is still worth noting).

In 1981, they reached the NCAA tournament as a 12 seed, after finishing with a 17-12 overall record, a 6-4 record in MEAC play (which was good for 2nd place in the conference), and winning three games in the MEAC tournament (against Delaware State, Florida A&M, and North Carolina A&T). Sadly, they weren’t able to celebrate for too long, because they were obliterated by Wyoming in the round of 64 in the 1981 NCAA tournament, 78-43.

In 1992, they finished with a 17-14 overall record but used their 12-4 MEAC record (which resulted in a first-place finish) and strong showing in the MEAC tournament (winning three tight games by a total of 9 points) to reach the NCAA tournament as a 16 seed. Again, the Bison ran into an opponent that seemed to overwhelmed them tremendously on the big stage, and they ultimately fell 100-67 to Kansas.

I suppose the big takeaway from this section is, Maker certainly has his work cut out for him at Howard. Considering the fact that he is a highly touted/respected prospect, that chose to take a route that still hasn’t registered in some people’s minds, he will almost immediately feel pressured to take Howard exceedingly far this year. However, after Howard’s embarrassing performance last season (4-29 overall record, and 1-15 conference record) no one should expect Maker to come in, and help Howard complete an epic final four run.