Expectations run high for Norfolk State's MEAC opener

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NORFOLK, Virginia  -- If Norfolk State really is the best team in the MEAC, the time to prove it has come.

And so has the time to get over last season's awful ending.

Florida A&M visits the Spartans at 8 p.m. today in the MEAC opener for both teams. NSU (5-3), which got picked by league coaches and sports information directors to repeat as the regular-season champion, ran the MEAC table last season before getting upset by Bethune-Cookman in the first round of the league tournament.

The Spartans want to make sure they live up to the preseason poll, starting with the Rattlers (2-5).

"We have to make a statement that we let last year go, and we're here this year," said senior guard Malcolm Hawkins, a Norview High product and NSU's top scorer. "It's a new team. It's a new attitude, and we have to let the other teams in the conference know that we're preseason No. 1 for a reason."

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