Last year the Bison relied on a solid front line to compete at a high level in the MEAC.  They did not win the conference but finished higher than expected and have everyone coming back for maybe some more surprises.   Coach A.B. Williamson has got some studs and some big time recruits coming to DC to play for the Bison including someone he knows very well.  Williamson also decided to go outside the box and recruit a couple of transfer kids.  Howard is such a prestigious University that transfer kids were kind of off limits ala the Ivy schools but Willimson convinced a stud from Tennessee to leave after his first year in Knoxville.  James Ratiff was not playing much behind his DC buddy Bernard King and his new sidekick Ernie Grunfield (the Ernie and Bernie show) so decided to come back home.  That is a huge get for the Bison bringing home a local talent that a conference like the SEC had deemed worthy.  Williamson also has a 7 footer from Oakland coming in who is green but can really block shots.  The tide seems to be turning for some of these HBCU programs, especially Howard, on getting some high-level talent to join their teams. 

As for the returnees, leading the way will be sophomore forward Larry Spriggs.  Spriggs is a hard-working tough guy who can run the floor or bang underneath.  This local kid was not recruited to major colleges and went the route of the JC down at San Jacinto and was terrific there and Williamson easily convinced him to come back home.  Spriggs is a leader by nature and gets his shots on hard work.  He will bang all night and is a tremendous defensive player.   He is a true combo forward who can hang with fours and run with threes but can bang all day in the paint as well.  Heck, he even played some five last year but with Ratiff around his role will change.  His main offensive weapon is his ability to run the court and finish with a thump.  He is a tremendous leaper who is not afraid of contact even when he is throwing one down.  He is also one heck of an intimidating presence who set the tone for this team with his willingness to throw it down with anyone.  Just ask Terry Cummings about that one as the two almost came to blows after Spriggs clotheslined the talented power forward.  Spriggs was expected to be good but no one expected the dominating first season he had for the Bison.  The faithful who come to the games love his work ethic and he definitely has become a team leader and fan favorite.  He may have some work to do on the offensive end but when your skills set says you are a role player and suddenly they are talking about you possible playing at the next level then you know you are doing something right. 

The third part of the superb group of forwards is Junior Gerald Glover.  Not quite as talented as his brethren, Glover too can score and board and can run the floor.  He is another six seven athlete who can jump through the roof and is a consistent offensive performer.  This Atlanta kid is better suited as a four but with Ratiff and Spriggs around might play at the five trying to guard much bigger guys which is not his forte. The bad thing about this situation is that this trio are the best three players on the team and all played the same position.  Still, it is not a bad thing to have depth at this kind of position especially up front in this brutally physical league.  Williamson knows where his bread is buttered and will put his best players on the court.  Somehow. 

It was not that Williamson didn’t have some true centers on his roster, he does, it was just that they are nowhere near the offensive forces of the terrific trio of forwards.  Joining Spriggs, Ratiff and Glover up front are big men Dorian Dent, James Terry and Achilles Carroll.  Dent is a junior and is the incumbent at center and and brings solid defense and rebounding to the Bison front line.  This six foot ten stud is another DC product who became the defensive presence this team needed down low.  Dent is a terrific shot blocker who is not much of an offensive presence but he is not on the court to score.  He was getting about 25 minutes a game and doing his job well when he got an injury 12 games in that opened the door for his competitors.  Terry goes at about six eleven but never really took advantage of his opportunity though Williamson kept sending him out there.  This sophomore has three more years to improve and get the ‘project’ moniker off from his name.  Terry can finish and is the official leader of the ‘Dunk Patrol’ but the Cleveland kid has to get more passionate about defense as he should be blocking 3 or four shots a game with his size and athleticism.   Carroll is stuck in between these two as he does bring some offense but only goes 6’7.  Defense is his dare I say ‘weakness’ but Carroll did take advantage of Dent’s absence and averaged 10 points a game over the last month.  With Ratiff (and others) around, the low post will be a battle for minutes but Carroll is as of right now the best offensive player on this team on the blocks.  Heck, the Bison are so deep up front that a trio of undersized forwards might not get on the court much this year after killing it on JV the last two years.  Vadnay Cotton, Michael Nettles and Robert Lewis bounced back and forth from JV to varsity last year, usually one at a time.  When they were all together at the end for the conference JV tourney, they dominated.  Cotton is the best of the three, at least he led the JV in scoring and rebounding, and is a bull underneath.  But he only goes 6’6 and will have a hard time beating out Spriggs, Glover and now Ratiff for the four which is what he plays.  Nettles is a bit bigger at 6’7 and solid and much better on the defensive end.  Unless something happens though he will be pushing for center minutes with is what he played on JV and in this league, 6’7 is a bit small for the five.  Ironically, Lewis has the best shot of playing and he only goes 6’3.  A tremendous leaper, Lewis plays the three and that seems to have the biggest opportunity for minutes considering Spriggs is not accustomed to the wing. 

The front court was not the issue for the Bison last year.  Even with Dent’s injury and Terry’s inconsistency they were a solid group.  The issue was the back court.  Primarily the lack of experience!  Williamson brought in a big group of freshman and basically said here’s two positions, who wants them?  He did find a group of willing players who can play but it kind of kills you when you back court is that green no matter what league you are in. 

Point guard was a difficult task for Williamson as he wanted to find someone more dynamic to run his vaunted spread offense.  The ‘incumbent’ in DC is Sophomore Rodney Wright.  Another DC kid and a terrific high school player who bounced around a bit and came back home and Williamson was waiting with open arms.  This five-foot eleven true point guard is a pass first distributor who knows how to run this offense to a T.  He is cat quick and knows how to get to the paint and then kick it to one of his more offensive teammates.  His only downside is that he does not have a good outside shot and teams lay off from him too much waiting for him to penetrate.  This does not bode well for their patented inside game.  Williamson tried a few others trying to get some more scoring but came back to this basketball savvy kid when all was said and done.  Sophomores Fred ‘Birdman’ Hill and George ‘The Natural Tan’ Hamilton got some minutes but did not beat out Wright. Hill began the season as the first guy off the bench but had some issues with turnovers and was nowhere near the distributor that Wright is.  Hamilton is a solid overall player but more suited for the two spot and was in line there as well for backup minutes.  Wright showed once again is he is the best overall and should continue to start next year. This battle will be ongoing especially with all of the kids Williamson recruited at this position even though most of them are not any bigger than Wright.  

Coach Williamson does not have the same kind of competition at the two spot.  The ‘incumbent’ was the much sought after Smyrna Georgia native Bernard Perry.  This Sophomore has the smoothest stroke this side of Freddie Couples but is hesitant to fire away.  Williamson (and his teammates) want him to shoot more but he would rather play defense.  What?????   Yep, this kid loves to guard people and is a terrific defensive end.  He used his six foot five frame to lead the team in steals and clog more passing lanes than a Tampa two defense.  He makes 18 footers like they are second nature but he has to become more selfish because this kid can be a star if he shot more often.  The aforementioned Evil Knievel wanna be Hamilton got the backup minutes but is not challenge to replacing Perry.  Perry is the starter and with his defense if he can move that beautiful jump shot back about three feet (and shoot it a bit more often) he could be something special.     

The Howard Bison are a prestigious University set in the heart of our nation’s capital.  It is a great school that sends many a well-educated student out into the real world with the skills to meet the challenges of life.  Basketball at Howard is an afterthought.  Or should I say a way of getting through the cold in the winter months.  This may never change at Howard.  Coach A.B. Williamson will keep recruiting solid young men who love the game to come and play for him.  And the Bison will keep competing in the MEAC for glory.  But the real reason these kids are coming here is to get a first-rate education.  And isn’t that the way it should be?