Start the music.

Norfolk State University’s history at the NCAA Big Dance is relatively short, but most exciting and filled with big-name dance partners.And it’s the same snappy beat this year.

The NSU Spartans, by virtue of winning the MEAC championship last Saturday, will play defending national champion Baylor University on Thursday, March 17, in Fort Worth, Texas.

Baylor is 26-6 and seeded No. 1 in the NCAA East Region. NSU, 24-6, is the region’s 16th seed.

A year ago, the Spartans won the MEAC and then defeated Appalachian State University 54-53 in the NCAA First Four in Dayton, Ohio. Next came a 98- 55 loss to national No. 1 overall seed Gonzaga University.

In 2012, NSU busted brackets across the land by defeating third-seed University of Missouri, 86-84. The Spartans, seeded 14th that year, then lost to the University of Florida in the second round.

The current Spartans, under Coach Robert Jones, will carry a six-game winning streak to Fort Worth after dumping Delaware State, Morgan State and Coppin State universities, in that order, in the MEAC Tournament at the Norfolk Scope Arena.

Joe Bryant had 23 points in the finale against Coppin State and was named MVP. Bryant, a 6-foot-1 senior from Norfolk’s Lake Taylor High School, was also the regular season MEAC MVP.

Bryant and Kyle O’Quinn (in 2012) are the only Spartans to earn both individual titles in the same season.

Bryant is an all-round performer who ranks with the best foul shooters in the nation. He is 127 for 138, or 92 percent, heading to Texas.

Another headliner in green and gold at the Scope was 6-foot- 8 Dana Tate Jr., a transfer from the University of Rhode Island. Tate had 13 points and eight rebounds against Coppin State.

It’s a shame NSU can’t play Baylor somewhere in Norfolk. The Spartans were 11-0 at Jo- seph G. Echols Memorial Hall on campus this season and 3-0 at the Scope. The Spartans, enjoying a NCAA brackets watch party at Echols Hall on Sunday evening, got some national exposure when their name was called on CBS.

Should NSU stun Baylor in an upset for the ages, the next game would be Saturday, March 19, against the winner of the game between the University of North Carolina and Marquette University, now led by Coach Shaka Smart, the former coach at Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Texas.