Herd It Here First

Ose Okojie scored 23 points in Dayton, Howard beat UMBC 86–83, and a program that had never won an NCAA Tournament game finally had a March memory to keep. Six months later, the interesting part is how little Howard seems interested in stopping there. John Wall has joined the front office. Cedric Taylor III is back. Kenny Blakeney's next team inherits something more demanding than a good story: expectations. That is the MEAC's central drama entering 2026–27. Howard has reached three of the past four NCAA Tournaments and now has a nationally recognizable basketball figure helping with roster construction and player mentorship. Wall's appointment as president of basketball operations adds substance to the program's ambition, but it cannot replace Bryce Harris' production. The Bison have to defend their place in the league without the player who supplied 17.3 points and 6.9 rebounds a night. For everyone chasing them, that is the opening. Taylor makes it a narrow one. The former Morehouse standout averaged 17.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists in his first Howard season while winning MEAC Defensive Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year. He briefly entered the transfer portal before choosing to return, an offseason win with immediate consequences for this race. At 6-foot-7, he gives Blakeney a scorer who can see over smaller defenders and help protect the basket at the other end. The next leap is handling the extra attention Harris used to command. Taylor shot 29.8 percent from three; opponents have a reason to crowd his drives until he makes them pay. Howard has help for that assignment. Cam Gillus delivered 164 assists against 82 turnovers, Alex Cotton made 72 threes, and Okojie's breakout in Dayton showed what can happen when a defense treats him as an afterthought. Their familiarity gives the Bison a head start while so much of the league is introducing new teammates. The center position is less settled. North Carolina transfer James Brown brings size, but February foot surgery ended his previous season after nine appearances; his readiness for a larger workload is worth watching. Howard's experienced perimeter can carry the offense. Replacing Harris' rebounding will require more hands. Norfolk State has no reason to applaud politely from second place. Anthony McComb III averaged 17.1 points and hit 38.1 percent of his threes; Elijah Jamison added 14.6 points and won the league's sixth-man award. Together, they can make Howard defend scoring threats beyond Taylor's immediate reach. Robert Jones also got an August look at his newcomers in Puerto Rico, where Brandon Gardner scored 13 points and Dramane Camara grabbed 12 rebounds in the tour finale. Exhibition numbers are only a first look, but those contributions identify the support Norfolk needs around its guards. One consequential caveat: McComb is listed on the roster but is involved in the fifth-year eligibility litigation, and the September 1 update in his South Carolina case indicated the court would deny preliminary relief. His availability remains a condition of the Spartans' contender projection. Morgan State's challenge starts with an easy fact to overlook: the Bears went 10–4 in the MEAC, just one game behind Howard. Kevin Broadus is trying to preserve that standing with a different cast. Trey Pettigrew arrives from Johnson C. Smith after averaging 17.4 points and shooting 37.6 percent from three. Pair him with Wagner transfer John Awoke and the Bears have multiple ways to start an attack. Translating Pettigrew's Division II production, then giving those guards enough rebounding support, will determine whether Morgan stays on Howard's shoulder. The most dramatic reset belongs to N.C. Central. LeVelle Moton reached the conference final in March, then assembled a roster with 14 newcomers and one returner. There is a plan inside the upheaval: former Brunswick teammates Darius Kane and Alius Bowser bring an existing connection, with Kane coming off 6.6 assists per game and Bowser shooting 42.8 percent from three. Moton has emphasized adding size across positions. If that recruitment produces a defense as coherent as the backcourt, the Eagles can make our fifth-place projection look cautious. South Carolina State has a more immediate way to cause trouble: Noah Treadwell's 72 made threes demand attention even when someone else has the ball. A favorite that loses him through a screen can watch its cushion disappear quickly. Howard gets the first pick because Taylor, Gillus, Cotton and Okojie give it so much established basketball to build around. Norfolk's guards and Morgan's scorers give the chase substance, while Central offers the widest range of possibilities. The Bison have already made history. This season will tell us whether the rest of the MEAC is watching a program pull away or preparing to catch it at precisely the moment its ambitions grow.