DANVILLE, IL - The Howard Dragons are back at the NJCAA Division II national tournament for the first time since the 2012-13 season where they will go in as the #15 seed. They face off against the #18 ranked Florida State College at Jacksonville at 4 PM ET on Monday, March 18 in the first round of the 20-team tournament.

The last time the Dragons were at the national tournament was during coach Mike Smelkinson's first stint at Howard, as that team went 1-2 with their lone win coming against Grand Rapids CC. The Dragons won the region and district championship in 2019-20 and booked their ticket to the national tournament, only to have the tournament canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This time around, nothing has stopped the Dragons from making their way to Illinois where they will be the slight favorites to win their opening game. If they were to prevail, it would be a date with the #2 nationally ranked South Suburban Bulldogs in the second round.

The Dragons go into the tournament nearly full strength, although the loss of starting sophomore guard Shane Taylor (Ellicott City, MD/Centennial) to a lower body injury certainly hurts. Despite that, the stellar play of returning NJCAA All-American and tournament MVP Andrew Mills (Owings Mills, MD/New Town) will have the Dragons dreaming big dreams. The projected starting five of all sophomores including Jalen Bowie (Frederick, MD/Frederick), O'Meech Wilson (Glen Burnie, MD/North County), Ryan Conway (Towson, MD/Dulaney), and John Thomas (Baltimore, MD/Patterson) will provide the Dragons a veteran presence that should help keep the team steady despite the raised atmosphere. Howard will also be hoping for big contributions off the bench from the freshman contingent of Jaden Johnson (Upper Marlboro, MD/Dr. Henry A. Wise), Arthur Roache (Washington, DC/Theodore Roosevelt), Christian Dean (Elkridge, MD/Long Reach), and Emanuel Henriques (Baltimore, MD/Benjamin Franklin). 

This is the third national tournament that coach Smelkinson has been a part of as he also took the Harford Fighting Owls to the NJCAA Division I national tournament in the 2015-16. Assistant coaches Will Thomas and Jay Nowaskey are also veteran members of the coaching staff from those national tournament trips and will help provide guidance for the team.

Florida State College at Jacksonville comes into the postseason with a 25-8 record coming out of Region 8 where they defeated Florida Gateway College. They advanced to the Gulf South district championship where they took down Snead State 72-69 to book their first ever national tournament appearance. The Blue Wave are led by sophomore guard #1 Tarence Guinyard, who averages 21.4 points per game along with 6.1 rebounds per game, 3.3 assists per game, and 2.1 steals per game.

The winner of this first round competition will then advance to will face the #2 team South Suburban College from South Holland, Illinois on March 19th at 8:00 PM. For those who want to watch the game, it will be live streamed at www.njcaa.org/network/landing/index. You can purchase a day pass for $12 or a tournament pass for $35. For further information or to follow the bracket and results you can visit https://www.njcaa.org/championships/sports/mbkb/div2/index.