NORFOLK, Va. — NORFOLK, Va. (WTKR) — Robert Jones is happy to be back in the Big Dance, he's just not a fan of the place his Norfolk State squad has been given on the dance floor.
After winning their first MEAC Tournament title since 2022 on Saturday, the Spartans received a No. 16 seed during Selection Sunday and will face one seed Florida in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
After winning 24 games and gritting their way through the league's bracket, Jones believed a 15th seed was in order for the green and gold.
"We played a really good schedule so I don't understand. Is it that much of a MEAC bias or that much of an HBCU bias," Jones asked. "We played who they wanted us to play, we beat who we were supposed to beat, we beat them by the metric we were supposed to beat them by and we still got a 16."
"We're going to be ready to play."
The Gators finished the season with a 30-4 record and a victory in the SEC Tournament title game.
In terms of NET Rankings, which is a system that helps the selection committee sort through data points during the seeding of the 68 squads, Norfolk State were the best of the six teams to earn a 16-seed with a 183 ranking.
They were ranked as high as 109th in December and owned a win over a Quad 2 opponent, a 77-74 victory at High Point. The Panthers ended up as a 13-seed in the field after winning the Big South.
While he was frustrated with the seeding, Jones vocal with his team that its time to go to work.
"We've got to go out there with a chip on our shoulder and show the world what's up," he said.
"We can go in the tournament and show why we should've gotten a higher seed," said transfer guard Brian Moore Jr. "We've got to win one game, we've got to be the better team for one game."
Getting back together during Selection Sunday at Roger Brown's Restaurant in Portsmouth was a nice treat for a team that's come so close over the last two years.
"We're glad to be here regardless of where we're at," said senior guard Christian Ings. "Just glad to have a chance to play on the big stage again."
The first round matchup tips off at 6:50 PM on Friday from Raleigh, North Carolina. Their return to Selection Sunday comes 13 years to the day that the program pulled off its biggest win, an 86-84 upset over No. 2 seed Missouri in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 15 seed.
One of the heroes of that game, Kyle O'Quinn, now works for the University. The players on this year's team are around him quite a bit, have heard the stories of shocking the world, and now set their sights on one-upping that moment.
"It's about togetherness. As long as we stay together as a unit like we did in the tournament," Ings said. "Defend together, score together, rebound together, communicate together, and get a little sprinkle of luck on top, we can get this done."
"Why not us? That's been one of our mottos all year," Moore said. "We played a really good game against Tennessee down at Tennessee. Playing against Florida on a neutral court, I like our odds."
