Coach Todd Bozeman said he didn't lose any sleep over Morgan State's loss to North Carolina Central in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament final in March. But his son admitted that the defeat still resonates eight months later.
"That was my second year in a row of losing in the championship," senior guard Blake Bozeman said. "Of course I remember. There's a natural motivation to win the championship and go to the [NCAA] tournament."
The Bears have been the most consistent team in the league. In the elder Bozeman's eight previous seasons at Morgan State, the program has advanced to six tournament championship games.
But the Bears have won just two of those and missed out on the NCAA tournament in their past three trips.
"I don't view it as a negative," Todd Bozeman said. "There were only two of us there out of 13 teams in the league. That's not to say there are any moral victories, but you still have to view it from a positive standpoint."
Morgan State was voted third in the MEAC preseason poll, so another shot at a conference championship is possible.
"You've got to take advantage of every opportunity," Blake Bozeman said. "You want to get there, but once you get there, win it because there's no guarantee that a team will make it to the championship game."