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Former Duke Basketball Guards Orchestrate Huge Feat for Howard
Kenny Blakeney, a four-year Duke basketball reserve guard in the early 1990s and one-time national champion, is now in his fifth season as head coach at Howard. And for the first time in program history, the Bison are set to make a second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament following their MEAC title on Saturday.
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Howard, boasting another former four-year Duke basketball backcourt talent in 2014 Blue Devil grad and fifth-year assistant Tyler Thornton, defeated Delaware State, 70-67, in the championship game.
The Bison, who were 9-5 in MEAC regular-season play and finished in a tie with NC Central and South Carolina State at No. 2 in the conference standings, enter Selection Sunday with an 18-16 overall record. They're likely to be a No. 16 seed, same as last year when they fell to No. 1 seed Kansas, 96-68.
When Kenny Blakeney, now 62-75 overall, assumed the reins at Howard, the program hadn't been part of March Madness since 1992, his freshman year at Duke. While his Bison tenure had a rough start, to the tune of five wins between his first two seasons at the helm, the 52-year-old has now clinched a third consecutive winning record.
Blakeney, Thornton, and the upstart Bison find out their NCAA Tournament destination when the Selection Show airs on CBS at 6 p.m. ET Sunday. Howard didn't win a game in any of its previous three trips to the Big Dance.
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