MEAC Tournament Photos

Finally have some time to upload photos, so here they are! Sorry for the loooong delay.

Captain's meeting with the referees

Associate Head Coach Jamal Brown goes over his scouting report

Associate Head Coach Jamal Brown goes over his scouting report

The team lines up for the National Anthem

The team huddles prior to the game

Tip-off against South Carolina State

Team timeout

Post-game press conference with Hillary Haley, Coach Allen and Neal Pitt

GAME DAY! MEAC Tournament - UMES vs. South Carolina State - STARTERS

UMES - Maroon uniforms (Visiting team)

00 Obame Obame

3 White

10 Bright

11 Burns

32 Hines

South Carolina State - White uniforms (Home team)

1 Tombs

4 Porter

12 Pitt

15 Flagler

22 Bennett

GAME DAY! MEAC Tournament - UMES vs. South Carolina State

Coach Brown goes over the starters and his scouting report for the game

Captains Kevin White, Hillary Haley and Neal Pitt meet with the refs prior to the game

Early Morning Shootaround

Usually for a 6 p.m. game the guys would have shootaround around noon or so, but with the format of the MEAC Tournament, all of the other teams have to get their shootarounds in before games start at noon.

Today's shootaround went from 8:30 until 9. Here are a few pics...

The Howard women's team was using the court for their shootaround when we arrived at about 8:15, so the guys had to utilize the hallways for stretching and getting loose.

Coach Blaine works with the guards. Josh Bright shown shooting.

Coach Peery works with the posts. Our wonderful blogger, Tyler Hines, is shown here grabbing a rebound.

Coach Brown goes through his scouting report with the team

UMES 64, Coppin State 58 - FINAL

Way to go guys! Congrats to Coach Allen and his staff for their hard work and to the entire team for their efforts this afternoon.

Hillary Haley, Coach Allen and Kevin White partake in the post-game press conference

Kevin White goes on air with Bret and Nick

The TV in our hotel lobby... CONGRATULATIONS TO THE UMES HAWKS!

It's nice to celebrate a win... but tomorrow'll come fast, so now it's on to the next one! And I know the coaches are working their butts off getting ready for South Carolina State.

GAME DAY! MEAC Tournament - UMES vs. Coppin State - STARTERS

UMES - Gray uniforms (Home team)

00 Obame Obame

3 White

10 Bright

11 Burns

32 Hines

Coppin State - Blue uniforms (Visiting team)

5 Harper

11 Goldsberry

20 Reggins

33 Coleman

34 Doughty

GAME DAY! MEAC Tournament - UMES vs. Coppin State

It's finally game day! The guys are focused, excited and ready to take on the Eagles. (The photos uploaded out of order.)

Team huddle just after starting lineups

Team listening to Coach Nick Robinson give his scouting report

In the locker room after Coach Nick Robinson's final scouting report and team meeting

Warmups

Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum

The MEAC Tournament is being held at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum (home of the Wake Forest University basketball team) in Winston-Salem, N.C. Here are a few pics from the area...

Gene Hooks Stadium - home of the Deacon baseball program (also the former home of the minor league Winston-Salem Dash)

Lady Hawks vs. Delaware State - Opening Round

Congratulations to the Lady Hawks who just defeated Delaware State in the Opening Round of the MEAC Tournament! Way to go ladies!

April McBride accepts her All-MEAC First Team award prior to the game

The men's team came out to help cheer on the Lady Hawks... Tyler was the only one who wanted his picture posted.

Excited for MEACs

First off, I would like to say GOOD LUCK to the Lady Hawks as they take on Delaware State this morning in the Opening Round of the MEAC Tournament.

Also, CONGRATULATIONS to the Lady Hawk Cheerleaders that received second place in their competition last night.

Finally, it is just our first full day here in Winston-Salem, but I have already met a lot of alumni while I was eating breakfast this morning. Listening to all of them talk about UMES and the history at our school made me even more focused and excited for our first game tomorrow.

We're about ready to leave the hotel to go watch the women's game... I'll write again soon.

--Tyler

Motivation

I see that Maggie already posted about our bus ride down and I just want to touch on the LeBron James movie, "More Than A Game," a little bit more.

The movie was extremely inspiring as it showed our team the ups and downs that LeBron and his teammates went through during their four years in high school. It really showed that hard work brings success and it's all about heart and being a family.

That movie was definitely a much needed motivational tool to watch before the Tournament and I really appreciate the coaches putting it on for us to see.

--Tyler

The Road to the MEACs

As you should already know (and if you don't, you need to start following www.umeshawks.com ASAP!) the guys are the #6 seed in MEAC tournament and play Coppin State on Wednesday.

We left today for Winston-Salem, N.C. around 12:30 and the guys had practice beforehand. Here are a few photos from our trip...

The team held a normal practice prior to leaving this afternoon. I had to snap this pic because Coach Blaine has resumed to practicing with the team again. It's always fun to watch him play.

Kevin always likes being shown on the blog, so here he is loading his stuff under the bus. I should really take a pic after everything is loaded on, it gets pretty full in there!

During the 7ish hour bus ride, we were able to watch three movies. We started off with the LeBron James documentary, More Than A Game. I thought it was really good and everyone seemed into it. It's simply amazing the things he did growing up and the kids he was surrounded by in high school. I thought it was funny at the end when they were showing what everyone was doing now, after high school, and for Mr. James it said: Employed seasonally in Cleveland. If anyone has to ask doing what, they need to be slapped. :-) With about an hour left in the trip, and just after dinner, we begin watching it again. Needless to say, I was tired and caught a quick nap.

After that movie we watched American History X. I had never seen this before and did not know what it was about or what to expect. Man, was I in for it! There were numerous times through the movie that I felt like I was going to be physically ill, I've never had that feeling before. And the end definitely had me crying. It was such a sad and telling story, I cannot imagine having that lifestyle. If you haven't seen it, I would recommend it, but if you have a weak stomach, I would just stay prepared. I thoroughly enjoyed it; however, I just don't think I can mentally watch it again.

After that we watched The Hangover, which I had seen the beginning part of on a previous trip. Still funny and everyone on the bus was dying laughing. The best part for me, I think, would be listening to and seeing Freddy Obame Obame laughing. Seeing this is an experience of itself. Too funny.

Between movies and music, the guys spend a lot of the ride sleeping. I'm pretty short, so I have a hard time getting comfortable to sleep on the bus. The guys have it easy (maybe?) since they can stretch out across the aisles (my legs are just too short!). It's always funny to look back and only see legs across the aisles as everyone is napping.

Meeting with Dr. Dean

After having off Friday, we were back at it Saturday and Sunday. It wasn't a normal weekend of practice, however. It was special because we were meeting with Dr. Dean, a sports psychologist who came to campus early in the season. (He also spent time with some of the other teams).

Dr. Dean talked to us as a team and got us mentally prepared before the MEAC Tournament.

One of the most important things we learned was how to be free -- meaning whenever you are doing something, you need to just free yourself of any worries, relax and find your place.

For example, he was giving us tips before we would shoot free throws and would say, "Is that you?" meaning, is that your shot, or is that the way you do it? Did you feel relaxed?

I believe Dr. Dean helped us come together mentally, physically and mentally. We learned a lot about each other as a team, on and off the court, which I believe will make us very successful with the start of the MEAC Tournament.

--Tyler

Guest Blogger: Tyler Hines

In preparation for the MEAC tournament, sophomore Tyler Hines will try to blog daily about the player's perspective and his schedule with practice, travel, classes, etc.

Enjoy!

It's that time of year again, what every college basketball player lives for... March Madness. It's considered crunch time and it's the part of the season when freshmen play like sophomores, sophomores play like juniors, juniors play like seniors and seniors play like pros.

Today is the last day of preparation for the Delaware State game tomorrow night. We had three good days of practice and one much needed day off to rest our legs and use the day to get caught up with academics. I know as a team we are amped up for tomorrow's game in Dover.

As a team, we have been mentally in tune and focused on getting ready for the big game tomorrow. This is probably one of the biggest games this year because Delaware State is not only our rival, but this is the last game to determine seeding for the MEAC Tournament. It would also mean another sweep in the MEAC, after we defeated them earlier this season at home.

If we receive a four or five seed, we will have a first round bye and continue to make history this season at UMES.

I know I can speak for both the team and myself when I say that we hope to see you all in Dover Thursday night. Be sure to bring your maroon and gray and HAWK PRIDE! Trust me, it's going to be another exciting game to watch.

-Tyler

MEAC Seedings?

Yesterday afternoon, Coach Robinson and myself spent a few hours trying to figure out all the different scenarios for MEAC tournament seedings. Definitely was an interesting experience that I've tried before, but not at the same magnitude. We spread out in the conference room and probably wore out the whiteboard markers with the million different ways that we can get different seeds.

With the results of Monday night's games a few of the scenarios were taken away, but as of right now we can get anywhere from a 4 seed to a 7 seed. As far as I'm concerned, the destiny is in our own hands and with a win we clinch either the 4 or 5 seed. We will see after Thursday's game at Delaware State!