Norfolk State Strikes A Blow For Every HBCU
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By DERON SNYDER
I graduated from Howard University, which competes against Norfolk State University in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Doesn’t matter.
Friends of mine graduated from other MEAC schools, such as Hampton, Florida A&M, Morgan State and Bethune-Cookman. Irrelevant.
I also have friends who attended schools in the Southwestern Athletic Conference — the other Division I league that consists of historically black colleges and universities, such as Texas Southern, Grambling and Prairie View. Inconsequential.
For one glorious weekend, no matter our alma maters, we were all Norfolk State fans. We were rooting as hard as anyone, right alongside NSU students, faculty and alumni in the school’s first-ever trip to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament: “Behold the green and gold!”
When the Spartans upset the University of Missouri on Friday, 86-84, they became the weekend’s biggest story (at least until Lehigh shocked Duke a couple of hours later). It was an upset of historic proportions, since No. 15 seeds had lost a whopping 104 of 108 games against No. 2 seeds prior to Friday. But Norfolk State defied the odds, becoming the first No. 15 to beat a No. 2 since 2001.
