NORFOLK — Robert Jones has rebuilt rosters before, but never quite like this.
Norfolk State brings back only a sliver of last year’s production after a 24-win season and an NCAA Tournament appearance, replacing nearly the entire rotation with newcomers from all corners of college basketball. Even for a coach who has made winning the program’s default setting, this preseason felt different.
Jones didn’t hide it. With 11 newcomers — 12 if you count a redshirt returner who didn’t log minutes last year — the summer tested the staff’s patience and the team’s learning curve. He called it “the toughest preseason summer” he has experienced, not because the group lacked effort, but because it was all new: new personalities, new systems, new habits.
The continuity that often defines his veteran teams simply wasn’t there yet. Jones responded by slowing down the install process, taking a more deliberate approach in practice than in years past. He admitted the Spartans are “a little behind where we normally are,” though he emphasized that every group develops at its own pace and that what is in place is strong enough to compete early.
Rebuilding the roster meant addressing every need twice over. Jones spent the spring and summer balancing affordability, fit and skill-set, scouring a transfer portal flooded with experienced players. He targeted proven scorers and versatile guards, players who could step in immediately for a team that lost nearly all of its scoring. Anthony McComb III, a late portal steal who averaged 13 points for New Hampshire, fit that mold. So did Elijah Jameson, a capable scorer who had yet to reach his potential, and Devon Ellis, a double-figure producer for Maryland Eastern Shore two seasons ago who is adjusting to doing it on a winning team.
Together, they form the backbone of an offensive overhaul, one built to replace what NSU lost and sustain what it expects to be.
Even with so much transition, Jones stressed that the program’s identity isn’t negotiable.
“We’re not bending our culture,” he said, describing a defense-first approach that aims to generate offense through pressure, toughness and discipline. He believes this roster has enough scoring ability — the challenge is getting newcomers to embrace the defensive standard that has defined the Jones era. Many players arrived from motion offenses, Princeton-style systems or dribble-drive schemes, meaning the learning curve in NSU’s schemes has been steep.
Jones sees the first week of the season as a critical checkpoint. Early wins could accelerate buy-in from players who are still learning what Spartan basketball looks like in real time.
“If we can go 3–0 this week,” he said, “that moves the culture forward.”
Success, he believes, builds belief faster than any speech or drill.
That urgency is tied to the expectations that surround the program — fair or not. NSU was voted first in the MEAC preseason poll despite returning only 5% of last year’s scoring. Jones understands why: The ballot reflected the program’s history, not its roster. But that comes with consequences. The Spartans have built a reputation that demands championships, a bar Jones acknowledged can be “a victim of your own success.”
Still, he isn’t running from it.
“Championship is a successful season for us,” he said, even while admitting that standard might be unfair to a roster this new. The goal, as always, is to reach the NCAA Tournament — but collecting early nonconference wins, then building momentum in MEAC play, will matter too.
For now, Jones is embracing the uncertainty. This team may be younger, newer and further behind than usual, but the blueprint hasn’t changed. Defense, toughness, and growth will carry the Spartans. And if the newcomers settle quickly into the program’s culture, another title run isn’t out of reach.
Norfolk State men at a glance
Last year: 24-11, 11-3 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (finished first)
Coach: Robert Jones (236-159 in 12 seasons)
Season opener: Monday vs. Washington Adventist, 7 p.m.
MEAC predicted order of finish, as selected by coaches: 1. Norfolk State, 2. Howard, 3. South Carolina State, 4. Morgan State, T5. Delaware State, T5. North Carolina Central, 7. Maryland Eastern Shore, 8. Coppin State
Schedule
November: 3: vs. Washington Adventist, 7 p.m.; 5: vs. Regent, 7 p.m.; 8: vs. William & Mary, 4 p.m.; 11: at Old Dominion, 7 p.m.; 14: at Towson, 7 p.m.; 21: vs. Hampton, 8 p.m.; 23: at Wyoming, 4 p.m.; 25: vs. Virginia University of Lynchburg, 7 p.m.; 29: at Arizona, 4 p.m.
December: 6: at James Madison, 2 p.m.; 10: at Baylor, 12 p.m.; 18: vs. Grambling in Atlanta, 7:30 p.m.; 19: vs. Jackson State in Atlanta, 7:30 p.m.; 21: at UTEP, 9 p.m.; 22: vs. North Dakota State or UC Irvine in El Paso, Texas, TBD; 28: at Louisiana, 3 p.m.
January: 3: at North Carolina Central, 4:30 p.m.; 10: at Delaware State, 4 p.m.; 12: vs. Maryland Eastern Shore, 7 p.m.; 17: at South Carolina State, TBD; 19: vs. Elizabeth City State, 7 p.m.; 24: vs. Coppin State, 4:30 p.m.; 26: vs. Morgan State, 7 p.m.; 31: at Howard, 4 p.m.
February: 7: vs. North Carolina Central, TBD; 14: vs. Delaware State, 4 p.m.; 16: at Maryland Eastern Shore, 7 p.m.; 21: vs. South Carolina State, 4 p.m.; 28: at Coppin State, 4:30 p.m.
March: 2: at Morgan State, 6 p.m.; 5: vs. Howard, TBD
