BALTIMORE, Md. — Seven schools’ men’s and women’s college basketball teams gathered at Coppin State Tuesday afternoon to hype up their respective upcoming seasons - Loyola, Towson, UMBC, Navy, Mount St. Mary’s, Coppin State and Morgan State.
For the Bears men it’s a new era. Kevin Broadus is the new head coach. The former Maryland Terrapins assistant replaces Morgan’s all-time winningest coach, Todd Bozeman, and jumps right into the Coppin-Morgan rivalry.
“Last year Coppin beat Morgan three times. We’re not trying to duplicate that,” said Broadus.
Terps legend Juan Dixon begins his third season leading the Eagles. Sweeping the Bears last winter could provide a springboard for this season’s team.
“Finding a way to beat them in the MEAC Tournament, for the third time, is extremely difficult. It gives us great confidence,” said Dixon.
Meanwhile, it’s another year the UMBC men will play with a target on their back. The Retrievers are a year removed from that historic 2018 NCAA Tournament 16 over 1 seed upset win over Virginia. Ryan Odom begins his fourth season as head coach. They lose their leading scorer from last year’s team that won 21 games, Joe Sherburne. They return, among others, senior guard K.J. Jackson.
“We’ve upped the expectation, not just to get back to the tournament, but to win more games,” said Jackson.
On the women’s side, for the first time in program history the Towson Tigers enter a season fresh off an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Diane Richardson’s team, coming off its first Colonial Athletic Association championship, returns four starters from the team that lost to powerhouse Connecticut 110-61 in the first round the big dance.
“While it was a lopsided game we continued to play the entire game,” said Richardson. “Our girls never backed down, never gave up. In the locker room postgame they talked about this experience and how we want to be better next year because we don’t want this type of result next year.”
Keep an eye on Coppin forward Chance Graham this season. She’s just 101 rebounds away from becoming the first Eagles women with 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds for a career.
Follow Shawn Stepner on Twitter @StepnerWMAR and Facebook
