For all of the posts in this series, visit the 2018-19 Non-Conference Scheduling Hub.

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Ranking The Teams

Just once in the past 10 season has the MEAC representative escaped lines 15 and 16 of the bracket—LeVelle Moton’s 2013-14 N.C. Central squad that earned a 14 seed after posting a 28-6 record while claiming both conference titles. Norfolk State’s 15-over-2 upset over Missouri in 2012 is the league’s lone non-Opening Round victory in that span, with MEAC squads splitting their four appearances in Dayton over the past decade. Unfortunately, N.C. Central has both of those losses, in 2017 and 2018.

And with the Eagles the conference’s lone top 250 team in the four-year ranking and 10 of the league’s 12 teams in the bottom 25 (a factor which pushed the MEAC below the SWAC and into last place among the nation’s 32 conferences), another 16 seed is likely for this season’s conference champion.

When you’re the lowest-ranked conference in Division I, you’d think that the only way to go would be up. Unfortunately for the MEAC, KenPom projects that just two of the conference’s current 12 members will improve upon their four-year rankings. And with Bethune-Cookman and Howard both buried deep in the bottom 50, their potential improvement probably won’t do much to boost the conference’s national stature. And with former league power Hampton now in the Big South and perennial MEAC heavyweight N.C. Central projected to take a step back this year, don’t look for the conference’s NCAA rep to be any higher than a 16 seed once again.

Ranking The Schedules

As usual, the MEAC hosts some of the most difficult non-conference schedules in the country, but they’re just a little bit weaker than those of a season ago. In 2018-19, the conference’s 12 members average schedule strength ranks between eighth and 11th across the four categories, compared to a range of fourth to seventh in 2017-18. The main difference is a decline at the top. Last fall, five of the league’s then 13 members had non-league slates ranked within the top 100 nationally in most categories. That number dropped to three of 12 teams for 2018.

Note: The number of asterisks (*) represent the number of pending games on a team’s schedule.

Who Over- And Under-Scheduled?

With the majority of MEAC teams sitting in the bottom 50 of the four-year ranking, it’s not a surprise that every single team over-scheduled this year. (Three squads somehow managed to under-schedule a season ago.) A whopping nine teams over-scheduled by more than 100 spots, with Coppin State owning the largest single scheduling gap in the entire country—an unfathomable 332 places above the Eagles’ four-year ranking.

Hampton’s departure explains the declines in the number of home and non-D1 games schedules, with those totals dropping by four and three contests, respectively, from a season ago. Once again, no Power 7 team will visit a MEAC arena this fall, while conference members will play nine fewer games in Power 7 arenas this time around.

The primary reason why the MEAC will play so many fewer Power 7 road games this season? It’s not because of the Big Ten’s expansion of its conference schedule to 20 games—that league scheduled the same number of games against MEAC opponents as last season, seven. Instead, the Big 12, which scheduled six MEAC squads a season ago and none this time around, is main reason for the decline. Otherwise, the top five of this table largely matches last season’s version, though the Big South surged into third place behind the non-D1 group and the ACC. Hampton’s realignment only partly explains their new conference’s rise—only archrivals Norfolk State and Howard scheduled the Pirates this season.

Three Power 7 teams—DePaul, East Carolina, and Virginia Tech—scheduled three MEAC opponents each this season, as did Jacksonville from the ASUN.

Based on the four-year ranking, just four of the MEAC’s 49 non-conference home games qualify for Quad 3 status, and just three of those feature top 150 opponents. On the other hand, 45 league road games will feature Quad 1 and 2 opposition—with 39 of those featuring in the top 100. In other words, don’t expect many winning MEAC records heading into league play in January.

Team-By-Team Breakdown

Teams are listed in order of their Super Average Schedule Ranking. The number in front of an opponent name is its Four-Year Ranking. Logos via SportsLogos.net.

15. Coppin State Eagles

Record against returning opponents from 2017-18: 1 win (Navy) and 1 loss (@UMBC)

Juan Dixon’s first season in charge in Baltimore ended with just five wins—with the Eagles going 0-15 in non-conference play. And with 12 true road games on 2018’s non-conference slate, including trips to Houston, Notre Dame, Virginia, and Wisconsin, a similar start could be in the cards. Fun fact: the second-lowest-ranked team on this schedule, UMBC, made history last March in a game you might have heard of.

46. Savannah State Tigers

Record against returning opponents from 2017-18: 1 win (Middle Georgia State) and 1 loss (@Texas A&M)

The Tigers head into their final Division I season having come so close to finally reaching the NCAA Tournament a season ago. Unfortunately, Horace Broadnax’s squad couldn’t follow up its shared MEAC regular season title with postseason success, as N.C. Central eliminated Savannah State in the MEAC quarterfinals. SSU will get one last chance this season, and five Power 7 road trips (three against the SEC and two featuring Big Ten opponents) should prepare them for anything the conference slate throws at them. Curiously, the Tigers will play a pair of non-conference home-and-home series in their final Division I campaign, against Gardner-Webb and Tennessee Tech.

55. Morgan State Bears

Record against returning opponents from 2017-18: 1 win (Lincoln) and 6 losses (@Binghamton, @Mount St. Mary’s, @Navy, @Towson, @George Mason, @Cal State Northridge)

Todd Bozeman’s Bears claimed a Power 7 victory last November, winning at South Florida by 10. But Morgan State won just three more times during non-conference play before stumbling to a 7-9 MEAC mark. But there’s room for optimism in Baltimore, even with the top two teams in the four-year ranking on this schedule. That’s because the Bears will play six non-conference home games this fall, including five against Division I foes.

147. South Carolina State Bulldogs

Record against returning opponents from 2017-18: 3 wins (Brevard, Charleston Southern, Jacksonville) and 2 losses (@Presbyterian, @College of Charleston)

With just one Division I non-conference home game (as opposed to two a season ago) and 13 road contests, including four Power 7 contests and a road matchup against defending CAA champ College of Charleston, Murray Garvin’s Bulldogs won’t likely equal their 2017-18 non-league win total of four. And that’s going to make it difficult for S.C. State to improve upon its overall victory total of 10.

165. North Carolina A&T Aggies

Record against returning opponents from 2017-18: 4 wins (Greenboro, Mid-Atlantic Christian, @East Carolina, Tennessee State) and 3 losses (@Central Connecticut State, @Presbyterian, @Virginia Tech)

Jay Joyner’s second Aggie squad improved its win total by a whopping 17 games a season ago, even though they finished a game outside of the three-way tie for the MEAC regular season crown and fell to Hampton in the conference semifinals (and then Liberty in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament’s first round). And a respectable run through non-conference play, where the Aggies went 7-8 highlighted by a Power 7 win at East Carolina Pirates, helped Joyner’s squad significantly. But five power conference road games, a trip to Marshall as part of Maryland‘s exempt event, and a visit from SoCon favorite UNCG mean this year’s A&T squad could head into MEAC play even more tested than last year’s version, but with a worse record.

170. Norfolk State Spartans

Record against returning opponents from 2017-18: 2 wins (Mid-Atlantic Christian, @Stony Brook) and 5 losses (Kent State, @Loyola Chicago, Niagara, @Hampton, Hampton)

Last season, the Spartans failed to finish at .500 or better for the first time in five seasons under Robert Jones. The primary reason for the decline: a 2-12 start against a non-conference slate that featured five home games. This season’s schedule also features a quintet of contests at Echols Hall, including a three non-D1 matchups and visits from Hampton (who swept the Spartans in conference play last season) and Stony Brook (who Norfolk State defeated in Long Island a year ago). Note that the Seawolves could also feature on day two of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off’s Springfield Bracket in Connecticut. That event is one of two tournaments the Spartans will find themselves in this season, as they’ll face UTEP in the semifinals of the Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational for the second time in four seasons. (Norfolk State stunned the Miners back in 2015.)

189. Maryland Eastern Shore Fighting Hawks

Record against returning opponents from 2017-18: 2 wins (American, Central Penn.) and 3 losses (@Georgetown, @Duquesne, @Virginia Tech)

Clifford Reed, who used to coach Bethune-Cookman, replaces Bobby Collins after the Hawks went 7-25 in his fourth season on the sidelines in Princess Anne. Last year, Maryland Eastern Shore won nearly as many D1 non-conference games (two) as MEAC contests (three). Home games against Delaware and Longwood and a trip to American—who the Hawks defeated at home last season—are UMES’s best chances at toppling Division I opposition before league play rolls arrives this time around.

191. Florida A&M Rattlers

Record against returning opponents from 2017-18: 0 wins and 2 losses (North Florida, @Georgia Tech)

Robert McCullum, formerly coach at Western Michigan and South Florida, led the Rattlers to nine wins in his first campaign in charge in Tallahassee. However, FAMU went 1-15 in non-conference play, beating only Division II Albany State along the way. With a pair of non-D1 squads on this season’s schedule, the Rattlers should double their non-league win total this season, but with 11 games away from home, including daunting Pac-12 contests against Oregon and Utah, they might not win many more. However, all hope is not lost for A&M, as games in Montego Bay against Campbell and Central Connecticut State could be possible neutral-site wins.

199. Bethune-Cookman Wildcats

Record against returning opponents from 2017-18: 3 wins (Johnson (Fla.), @Jacksonville, Cal Poly) and 2 losses (@FAU, Boston University)

Ryan Ridder’s first season in charge in Daytona Beach was a success, with an eight-win improvement over 2017-18 and share of the MEAC regular season title. That conference success followed a rough 5-9 trip through a non-MEAC schedule that was easier than this one will be. And it could have been even worse for the Wildcats, as B-CU will play just one Division I game as part of its participation in the NIT Season Tip-Off—a trip to Marquette.

216. N.C. Central Eagles

Record against returning opponents from 2017-18: 4 wins (Warren Wilson, Southern, Christendom, McNeese State) and 1 loss (@George Mason)

Thanks to four wins in five days in the MEAC Tournament, LeVelle Moton’s Eagles advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season and third time in five seasons. But it was not a vintage season for Central, who finished the regular season right at .500, after a 5-8 non-conference start. This slate, highlighted by trips to 2018 NCAA teams Cincinnati and Clemson and A 10 contenders George Mason and Saint Louis, might see the Eagles head into league play with a similar record. Note that NCCU’s lone Division I home game is half of a pre-conference home-and-home series with McNeese State.

295. Howard Bison

Record against returning opponents from 2017-18: 2 wins (Central Penn., Washington Adventist) and 3 losses (@Georgetown, @American, Hampton)

For the second season in a row, Kevin Nickelberry’s Bison won 10 games, with one of those coming over a D1 opponent in non-conference play. The best chances for Howard this time around are likely to come at Burr Gym against American (the Bison’s lone D1 non-league win in 2016-17) and on day two of the Las Vegas Holiday Invitational visitors’ bracket at ... Little Rock, where Howard will play either D1 newcomer Cal Baptist or SWAC favorite Arkansas Pine Bluff.

Note that the renewal of the “Real HU” rivalry will take place in the new home of the Washington Mystics and Capital City Go-Go in Southeast D.C.

296. Delaware State Hornets

Record against returning opponents from 2017-18: 0 wins and 3 losses (@East Carolina, Delaware, @Penn)

Erik Skeeters, an assistant on last year’s UMBC squad, replaces Keith Walker after a 4-28 season that saw the Hornets lose their first 25 games against Division I opposition. This schedule, which sees Delaware State play just one top 75 squad—St. Bonaventure—while skipping an exempt event should give them more chances at victory, but it’s more likely to be another long November and December in Dover.

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