Last year, Howard women's basketball did something that hadn't been done since 2001, win the MEAC tournament and advance to the NCAA tournament. Norfolk State's men basketball hadn't done that either since 2012.  This year, Howard's men's basketball will look to do something on MEAC Championship Saturday their program hasn't done since 1992, win the MEAC tournament and advance to the NCAA tournament. Norfolk State women's basketball team hadn't done that either since 1993.  Both schools will play each other for the third time looking to end a streak and make history.

The Howard-Norfolk State Championship doubleheader will play out on the big stage Saturday at Norfolk Scope Arena with the men's game starting at 1pm and women's game at 4:30pm. Both games airing on ESPN+.  If either schools program should win both games on Saturday, the two basketball programs will accomplish something in the conference that hasn't been done since the other HU did it in 2011.

Hampton University, now competing in the CAA, pulled off the rare men-women double title on MEAC Championship Saturday in 2011. It just happened to be the first of four consecutive seasons that Hampton women won the regular season title and the tournament. Coppin State's men and women teams pulled off a similar feat with their programs in 2008.

Howard (16-12) women won their MEAC semifinal contest over Maryland Eastern Shore 62-60 in a back-and-forth final 15 seconds where both teams exchanged leads until Howard's Brooklynn Fort-Davis completed a 3-pt play with 1.8 seconds remaining to give Howard the final lead change.  The win sent Howard's women to their 3rd consecutive MEAC Championship game. The Bison, led by Coach Ty Grace, won the tournament and automatic bid to the NCAA last year against Norfolk State after missing the opportunity the previous year on a last second shot from North Carolina A&T. 

Norfolk State women's team (25-6) won the regular season and have been dominant on their road back to a 2nd consecutive championship game. They defeated North Carolina Central 81-59 after an opening round win by 24 points. "We came out ready to play," Norfolk State head coach Larry Vickers, the MEAC Coach of the Year, said. "We were flying around on defense and it helped us to be very productive in our transition game."  Norfolk State had clinched the conference outright when they lost the last meeting between the schools on March 2 at Howard, 60-55. The Lady Spartans won the first contest in early January by 27 points.

Howard's men have been dominant these past two days at The Scope. They dispatched of their opening round opponent 91-55, then showed Maryland Eastern Shore the exit in the semifinals with a 74-55 victory.  Now, the Bison (21-12) have to defeat the hometown, and defending tournament champs, Norfolk State Spartans at 1pm ET to earn the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. Coach Kenney Blakeney's team defeated NSU twice during the regular season. Once in a controversial final seconds on the Spartans home court, snapping their 19-game win streak, and at Burr Gymnasium by 20 points the last week of the regular season to win the MEAC regular season title outright.

Norfolk State (22-10) men have enjoyed having MEAC Playof the Year Joe Bryant, Jr. back in the lineup the last two games. The Spartans needed an extra 5 minutes of basketball to get past 2-seed North Carolina Central 72-65.  Bryant, Jr. had 23 points, including a 15-for-18 performance from the free throw line, and 10 rebounds to lead head coach Robert Jones’ team. Bryant had 10 of his total in the extra period, including 6-for-6 from the line. In the previous game against Coppin State, Bryant scores a game-high 25 points to lead NSU to a 73-56 win.

The MEAC and city of Norfolk got the best possible outcomes for Championship Saturday:  Hometown teams and an historic storyline. Let's hope both teams have enough juice in their tanks to make the trilogy worth more than the price of admission, or streaming.