Photo illustration by Nick Roy / theScore / Getty Images
Before Kenny Blakeney and Mike Brey became Division I basketball coaches, they graduated from the same high school, DeMatha Catholic in Maryland. Brey used to run the JV squad at this hoops powerhouse, and he also taught American history for six classes a day. When Blakeney got in touch last offseason to pitch an idea, he knew Brey would understand its purpose, potential, and merit beyond the court.
The idea was this: On Jan. 18, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Brey s Notre Dame Fighting Irish would visit Howard University in D.C. to squeeze a nationally televised, non-conference road game into the thick of their ACC schedule. Blakeney is Howard s head coach and a D.C. native. If pandemic protocols allowed, he envisioned his opponents touring the King memorial, the site of King s I Have a Dream speech, and the