NORFOLK, Va. — College basketball season is just about underway and one team we can expect a dominant season out of are the Norfolk State Spartans.
They're coming off one of their best seasons in program history finishing 24-7, while also claiming their second consecutive MEAC championship.
Head Coach Robert Jones is entering his tenth season leading the Spartans who return with quite an experienced roster. They lost just one player, so essentially the entire team is back to post another impressive season on the court.
Because of this experience, they're holding themselves to a higher standards especially as they face three top 10 teams in the remainder of the month against Baylor, Houston, and UCLA.
"Honestly, we had some bad practices early on," said Coach Jones reflecting on how the number of veterans returning has impacted his team.
"Now our practices are a little better, their a little sharper and maybe that's because the seasons about to start. It was like veterans training camp for a long time. It was like people kind of going through the motions, things like that because sometimes they'd almost take it for granted that we got 12 guys back."
Kris Bankston, Spartans standout power forward, agrees.
"We got a lot of people back, a lot of returners so we don't have to explain a lot of the concepts to people because we already get it but its also harder because we still have to have that mentality," he explained. "We still got to fight and feel unaccomplished."
For former 2022 MEAC Player of the Year, Joe Bryant Jr., he's got one thing on his mind.
"I want to be the greatest team to ever walk through these doors and I want to be the greatest player to walk through these doors," he said. "That's how I work everyday, that's just the main goal."
The Spartans tip the 2022-2023 season off with a pair of home games against Virginia Lynchburg on Monday, and Cairns University on Wednesday.