We are still about 6 weeks away from the tip-off of the college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to prepare for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Howard head coach Kenny Blakeney, who talked about making the NCAA tourney last March and his expectations for this season.
You played for Hall of Fame coach Morgan Wootten at DeMatha Catholic High School and were named Gatorade Player of the Year in Maryland: what made him such a great coach? He was such a humble dude and super-smart. He had already been coaching for 35 years at that point and it felt good to be around him because he always had the right answers. He was the smartest guy in the room but never wanted that perception. He was so well-read/well-spoken and fundamentally sound and played a huge part in my growth/development.
What made you choose Duke for college? I love winning! Duke had been to a number of Final 4s over the previous 6-8 years but had not been able to get over the hump. I am a 1st-generation college kid so to set the precedent for my family and see that I put education 1st was a big thing for me. Coach K was wonderful and I had a great relationship with the rest of his staff including Mike Brey/Tommy Amaker. I had great conversations with Grant Hill and his mother and was also great friends with Brian Davis.
Take me through the magical 1992 NCAA tourney:
In the Elite 8 Grant Hill threw a full-court pass to Christian Laettner who made the game-winning jumper at the buzzer in a 1-PT win over Kentucky: what is your memory of 1 of the greatest college basketball games ever? We beat UNLV in the Final 4 before winning the title in 1991, so the goal in 1992 was to win it again. It was a heavyweight fight with Kentucky/Coach Pitino and went back and forth all night. Whoever had the ball last was going to win: I do not know if there has ever been a better game in any sport.
In the title game you had a 20-PT win over Michigan: what did it mean to you to win the title? To win back-to-back titles has only happened again with Florida so it is an incredibly hard feat. When you are the defending champ you will get everyone’s best shot, from your opponent to their fans to even the announcers! Coach K kept saying that we were not defending our 1991 title but rather pursuing the 1992 title.
You served as team captain as a senior: what is the key to being a good leader? I had to learn from some incredible captains before me like Brian/Christian/Grant/Bobby Hurley. Getting to sit in Coach K’s classroom everyday was like getting a PhD in basketball/leadership. I was fortunate to have so many mentors along the way who help put our team in a position to win. Our team imploded in 1995 but it prepared me for the future.
After graduating you spent almost 2 decades as an assistant for several great head coaches including Lefty Driesell/Mike Brey/Tommy Amaker: what was the most important thing that you learned from any of them? You take a lot from each 1 of them, both what to do and what not to do. Our grad assistants at Duke were Quin Snyder/Jay Bilas so there were plenty of intelligent people in that locker room. You have to be true to a style that fits you as a person.
In 2019 you were named head coach at Howard: why did you take the job, and did you have any regrets after going a combined 5-33 during your 1st 2 years? I saw a blank canvas at a campus that has accomplished so much. When you see the list of alumni who have walked our halls (Thurgood Marshall/David Dinkins/Kamala Harris), they have done so many incredible things. 1 thing that had not happened before was a sustainable successful basketball program, which I saw Tommy do with an “undervalued stock” at Harvard. You have to go through some hard times to get to the other side. Howard has often been ranked 350th or so in the nation so there was not the winning DNA that any program needs to become successful. It was hard to try to flip it but we have a great administration that has been a great partner as we build this program.
Take me through the 2023 postseason:
In the MEAC tourney title game Jelani Williams made 2 FTs with 6.1 seconds left in a 1-PT win over Norfolk State: how big a deal was it to clinch the school’s 1st MEAC title since 1992? It was absolutely huge when you talk about 3 decades without going to March Madness so we checked a box that had not been checked in a long time. It not only ignited our campus but energized all of DC: we have the best record of any team in DC over the past 2 years! We are looking forward to the challenge of trying to be good again this year.
In the NCAA tourney you lost to #1 seed Kansas: what did your team learn from that loss that will help them this season? The message that I conveyed to the team was that you do not win or lose it on gameday: it is about how you prepare and build up to having some resiliency when you compete against a team like Kansas. We need to practice/prepare today with a vision toward winning a game in March. We have Cincinnati/Rutgers/Georgia Tech on our schedule this year and want to have a chance to win those games.
You ended up winning 22 games and were named MEAC COY: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It is not something that you go to work to try to accomplish. I have great partners/great assistant coaches who complement each other well. We added a “chief program strategist” in Daniel Marks to help us accomplish some social justice goals in the community. I do not think that we would have won as many games last year had our guys not been so mature: it ended up making the basketball part look easy. The number of Black women dying during pregnancy/childbirth/post-pregnancy due to maternal health problems was both alarming/shocking. Our team took on such a serious topic that it scared me, but we took a deep dive before amplifying/supporting those women.
You lost your top-2 scorers from last year in Elijah Hawkins/Steve Settle III: how will you try to replace all of that offense? It will be different. I was nervous as heck and had a very long summer: it is never easy to lose a couple of DeMatha guys who chose us. We helped develop them and they helped me grow as a coach. If you looked at our roster we should have had it together for the next 2 years, which I was really looking forward to. I really thought we could turn it into a mid-major program like Loyola-Chicago that can win multiple tourney games in March. However, the transfer portal can change an entire program with just a conversation or 2. On the flip side, the portal also gives you an opportunity to rebuild your program almost via free agency. We brought in Dom Campbell from Notre Dame, Seth Towns (who was Ivy POY as a sophomore at Harvard), and Jordan Hairston as a grad transfer who can shoot/score at a high clip. Joshua Strong played D-2, graduated college in just 2 years, and after applying to law school at Harvard he has 2 years of eligibility left. I love the way that we were able to put our team back together and I think that we have a chance to be competitive.
What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? My goal is to try to win every game and we have a fantastic schedule so that we are prepared for March with some competitive regional matchups. We will have to play a little slower and be very physical: we have some players with Big 10-type bodies so we will run more sets than I normally have done in the past. We will have to play inside-out with some big men who are physical so it will be interesting…although it makes me nervous to get away from the up-tempo style I am comfortable with.