Lasky's Lounge - Week One

Welcome and thanks for stopping by my weekly column dedicated to UMES athletics, in particular the men’s and women’s basketball programs. This will be your one-stop-shop for all the behind the scenes information that doesn’t make the previews/recaps that our sports information guru’s post before/after each game. I hope you enjoy and if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please email me at umesbroadcast@gmail.com. Talk to you on the radio soon!

Did that Happen?: I’ll start each week by throwing out something that I’m really puzzled by. I was sitting courtside at Memorial Hall in Dover on Saturday broadcasting the UMES men’s basketball game when Dishawn Bradshaw drove down the right lane line and was fouled hard by Casey Walker. Then, I faintly heard Frankie Allen say to G. Jamal Brown, “that’s our first trip to the line.” The head coach was as shocked as I was. It took the Hawks exactly 29 minutes and 51 seconds to earn a trip to the free throw line. They didn’t shoot their first free throws until 10:09 left in the SECOND HALF. I have never seen that before. Believe it or not, UMES actually shot more free throws than Del. State (10 to 9). Only 24 total fouls were called in the game. For comparison, in the Hawks game against Navy, there were 41 fouls called.

Trivia time: Ok, who is ready for some trivia? When is the last time the women’s basketball team beat a team that hails from the great state of New York (either at home or on the road)?

Shout out of the Week: My shout out of the week goes to the UMES students, fans and supporters that made the haul across Route 13 to Memorial Hall for the men’s game on Saturday night. Even with my headset on, there were numerous times when I could hear “defense” chants echoing through Memorial Hall when Delaware State had possession. I saw many familiar faces in attendance including AD Keith Davidson and several members of the women’s basketball team including Amber Cook, Chelsea Sanders, Bria Jackson and Casey Morton. The support is awesome and definitely noticed.

Road Trip Happenings: Each week, I’ll provide some road trip insight. Our destination last week was Syracuse, N.Y. with the Lady Hawks. The departure time left most of us with bags under our eyes (how does 5:30 a.m. sound to you?). The trip up to central N.Y. was easy, especially when the best bus driver in America (Mo) is behind the steering wheel. On Tuesday night, we all had a chance to catch the Syracuse men’s basketball game against Cornell. We sat in the upper deck of the Carrier Dome and watched the ‘Cuse win. It was neat to see former UMES men’s basketball assistant Mike Blaine in action again. Coach Blaine is now an assistant at Cornell. The following day was gameday (Wednesday). We hopped on the bus for shootaround late in the morning and it wasn’t snowing. We left shootaround an hour later and it was snowing (welcome to Syracuse, I guess). The Lady Hawks showed a lot of grit to hang tight with the ‘Cuse. Remember, they were only down 17-14 at the 11:46 mark in the first half. Also remember that Syracuse has dominated teams this year. They beat Delaware State recently by 70 points if that gives you some perspective. After six games, Syracuse is winning by an average margin of 38.7. UMES lost by 23.

Number(s) of the Week: I have two this week, one of the men and one for the women. 22: The number of offensive rebounds that hard-nosed Hines (Tyler) has pulled down so far this season. He ranks fourth in the MEAC in total offensive rebounds. For the women, 85: The number of wins Fred Batchelor is eyeing with one more win. He has accumulated 84 (through 4 games this year) in his seven years at UMES, the most of any women’s basketball coach in program history. Kudos to a great coach and an even better person; just ask his players.

Birthday Fun: Caitlyn Dillard of the women’s basketball team celebrated her 22^nd birthday in style on Dec. 1. She had the chance to play at the Carrier Dome. Caitlyn went to Cayuga C.C., which is in Auburn, N.Y. (less than 30 miles from Syracuse). After the game, this is what Caitlyn told the Auburn Pub about the experience: “I felt I had a big opportunity to play where I dreamed of playing,” Dillard said. “It’s amazing to finally get on this court and play against Syracuse.” The next day when we returned, Caitlyn was our guest on the “Coaches Corner” radio show live from Peaky’s restaurant (I must admit that it was coach Whitley’s idea to bring the birthday girl on the show). She did a great job on the show and even got a birthday cake courtesy of Peaky’s.

Five Stars: I’ll hand out my stars of the week. For the men, it’s probably easy to just pick Hillary Haley for his 32 point gem against Navy and his team high 16 vs. Delaware State, so I’m going in a different direction (sorry Hillary). The men’s recipient of this coveted prize is Mark Robertson. After playing a grand total of seven minutes against American, Kean and NIU combined, Robertson stepped up big against both Navy and DSU. Against the ‘Mids, he played 20 minutes and tied his career high with six rebounds. The real testament to Robertson against Navy is this: He checked in at the 15:47 mark in the first half and the Hawks were up two points. When he was subbed out (8:36), they were up seven. ‘Nuf said. Against DSU, Robertson had a season high 11 points and hit three 3-pointers. Let’s go deeper. Robertson checks in at the 10:42 mark in the first half and DSU is up 13-10. He was subbed out at the 5:03 mark and UMES was up 23-18 (seven point swing). ‘Nuf said. For the women, my star of the week goes to Amber Cook. She’s just so efficient in every area. Cook had 11 points, three steals, two rebounds, an assist and countless hustle plays that don’t make the boxscore. I didn’t realize this at the time, but Cook scored 9 of the first 11 UMES points. ‘Nuf said.

1 for the Road: As I bid you farewell this week, here is something to look forward to. The UMES men’s team is playing ODU on Thursday. One of ODU’s stars is Ben Finney. He is third on the team in scoring (11.7) and second in rebounding (6.4). Does his last name ring a bell? It should, he is the older brother of Sha-Kiyla Finney of the UMES women’s basketball team. We’ll see how the Hawks handle Finney.

Trivia Answer: November 17, 2007 when the Hawks dumped Niagara University 67-60 at the Hytche Athletic Center. Tiffany Reid led the Hawks with 17 points. April McBride had 16 and Casey Morton had 12 points. Since that game, the Lady Hawks have lost 11 straight games against teams from N.Y. Let’s hope the trivia question is no longer worthy after Wednesday’s game against Long Island.

If you have any questions for me, please feel free to contact me at umesbroadcast@gmail.com.

This week’s broadcast schedule:

Monday – Women’s basketball vs. Manhattan

Wednesday - Women’s basketball vs. Long Island

Thursday – Men’s basketball @ ODU

Saturday – Men’s basketball @ Evansville

Coach Blaine

As many already know, our assistant coach, Mike Blaine, has received another opportunity at Cornell University. We had a team meeting where he broke this news to us and as a team, hearing the news was very tough for us, in addition to me personally.

I spent three years with Coach Blaine and he taught me a lot in that time. While we run sprints as a team, I can still envision him throwing up his hand and saying, "didn't touch the line!" or "face cut Hines!" I'm glad he did this as this made us better as a team and as men.

I know I can speak on behalf of my teammates and myself in saying Good Luck to Coach Blaine... you will always be a Hawk.

--Tyler

Last 'free' weekend

This weekend marks the last "free" weekend that the guys will have until the end of the season as practice begins next Friday. Until April (hopefully!) everyone will be busy with practices, travel schedules, games, etc.

A lot of the guys took this time to go home and spend some downtime with family and friends before they really hit the grind (not that they're not already doing that!). I know Coach Blaine (Florida) and Coach Brown (Texas) were out of town recruiting and Coach Allen spent the weekend in D.C. with his wife and attended the Redskins-Packers game (which I do not want to talk about as the resident Cheesehead). Coach Robinson also headed home to Baltimore and hit up the Ravens game while Coach Peery went home to Roanoke.

A few of the guys decided to stay on campus and kudos to them for coming out to the Hytche and supporting the volleyball team as they defeated Morgan State (Friday) and Delaware State (today).

Hopefully everyone is now well rested, I know they're all anxious to get the season started!

Relay for Life

Friday night was the annual Relay for Life event. We had a great turnout from all teams! I'm attaching some photos that I took with my phone, but will definitely post the links to the story and photo galleries that we will make on the main web site (www.umeshawks.com). I'll also see if any of the guys took some photos and I know for sure that Tyler will want to post a recap. Maybe some of the other guys will join in on the discussion?

Mark and Tyler

You can't really tell, but that's a long stretch of UMES Athletics teams and supporters in their pink camo shirts.

Coach Blaine holds the infamous "Spirit Stick." Anytime someone would walk around the track they needed to carry this and a passport in order to get spirit points.

Each tent had various candle torches with names of people who were either being honored or memorialized by that team. Here is Coach Brown's wife's torch. It was great to have her on board in addition to the numerous other ones we had at our site (additionally, Coach Brummell and a ton of family members and friends).

Coach Blaine's Words of Wisdom

With the start of the new season approaching, Coach Blaine is deciding to post a daily words of wisdom - or something that comes out of the team/individual practices/workouts. This man always has some sort of quote or wisdom, so this will definitely be an interesting addition to the blog.

The first words of wisdom:

"It is not always enough to simply do your best, sometimes you must do what is required." Winston Churchill

In other words, there are standards of doing things and sometimes simply doing your best isn't good enough.

Art Shell Golf Outing

Earlier this week we held the Art Shell UMES Celebrity Golf Classic to benefit student scholarships for the university's PGA Golf Management Program.

This was a great event that included a junior tournament on Tuesday, which was followed by a Legends Reception pairing party. There were a bunch of NFL greats and UMES alumni on hand for a night full of Maryland-style cuisine (including hard crabs), live entertainment and a silent auction.

Wednesday was the Celebrity Golf Classic, which was held at Great Hope Golf Course in Westover, Md., followed by an awards dinner at the SSC.

NFL Hall of Famers that were in attendance include:

• Art Shell (Oakland Raiders 1968-81, Los Angeles Raiders 1982, UMES Class of 1968)
  
• Elvin Bethea (Houston Oilers 1968-83)
• Bobby Mitchell (Cleveland Browns 1958-61, Washington Redskins 1962-68)
  

College Hall of Famers that were in attendance include:

• Roger Brown (Detroit Lions 1960-66, Los Angeles Rams 1967-69, UMES Class of 1960)
• Emerson Boozer (New York Jets 1966-75, UMES Class of 1965)

"UMES, my alma mater, continues to reach students, many of whom are first generation college students and for whom college may have been out of reach due to limited resources," said Shell. "This is why, in times like these, it is important as ever to rally together to support students who desire more, and who can achieve more, if just given the opportunity."

You're probably wondering what this has to do with UMES basketball. Coach Allen attended the Legends Reception and was also joined by myself and Coach Blaine on Wed. for the golf outing. The men's team is great supporters of this event and really anything that helps promote UMES and bring scholarship money to students. Despite storms threatening on Wednesday, the golfers had perfect weather and never had to leave the course.

2009-10 Athletic Banquet

Last night was the annual Athletics Banquet and Awards Ceremony. It was a great event and major props go to Mr. Davidson, Stan Bradley, Sharon Brummell, Neema Connor and everyone else that was involved in making the night go smoothly.

Prior to the event, Coach Blaine was convinced that the team was going to win the Quantum Leap Award (goes to the team that made the biggest improvement from the previous season). Luckily, he wasn't a disappointed man leaving the banquet as the team did win that award. Great job to the coaching staff for all the hard work they put into making the guys better players, students and people.

There were also plenty of individual awards on the evening. Kevin White was presented with a personalized ball for breaking the school single-season assists record while Hillary Haley was named the Josten's UMES Male Sportsman of the Year.

Each coaching staff honored their team's Most Improved Player (Tyler Hines), Coach's Award (Josh Bright), Rookie of the Year (Freddy Obame Obame) and Player of the Year (Kevin White).

Many of the guys also received SAAC (Student Athlete Advisory Committee) and academic honors. Mark Robertson and Tyler received certificates for being members of SAAC. Mark, Tyler, Freddy, Tim Burns and RJ Tucker were awarded Scholar Athlete Umbrellas for their work receiving a 3.0-3.6 GPA.

Congratulations to all on your accomplishments! You all did a great job this season and I know you've been working hard improving for next year.

(We haven't gotten photos back yet and I was too busy to take any, so I will post some once I get them.)

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

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.

Recruiting Day 2 (More work, less travel)

As I entered day 2 of a whirlwind blitz for UMES Basketball, I realized how fortunate I am in a lot of areas. First and foremost this morning, I realized how fortunate I was to snag one of the last rooms at the Holiday Inn South Kingstown. With 29 different schools competing at the National Prep School Invitational, hotel rooms around the University of Rhode Island are at a premium! A 6 AM wake up call leads to a quick workout and allows a couple more hours to watch film on North Carolina A&T. In scouting, you have to be as prepared as you can for any possible contingency and watching as many game films as possible gives you a chance to see a lot of the finer details in a team’s approach. The extra time before our 10:00 AM tipoff proved to be most valuable.

The order of the day was evaluating talent, and fortunately at an event like this, there was plenty! NCAA rules prohibit me from publicly commenting on a prospective student-athlete before he signs a National Letter of Intent. What I CAN tell you is that I saw a lot of good young basketball players that could be excellent future Hawks!

After a busy day in the gym, I jumped back in the car to begin making my way back to Princess Anne before our Friday departure for Norfolk State. I’m very fortunate to have a brother and sister that live in New York City, which dramatically shortened my drive home last night!

Here’s some facts and figures from Day 2…

Tipoff of Game 1: 10:04 AM

Number of Basketball Games Watched: 8

Number of Trips to the Concession Stand: 3

Number of States/Countries Represented by Competing Teams Yesterday: 9 States and 1 Foreign Country (New Jersey, Maine, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Arizona, and The Canary Islands)

Final Buzzer of Game 8: 10:23 PM

Departure Time: 10:29 PM

Miles Traveled: 175.7

Water Consumption: 40.0 fl. oz

1^st Radio Song of the Night: U2, Vertigo

States Traveled Through: 3 (Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York)

Shell Gas Station Fill Ups: 1

Number of Billy Joel Songs that were heard on the radio: 3 (Piano Man, My Life, You May Be Right) – New York LOVES Billy Joel!

View of the Day/Night: The lights of New York City at 12:30 AM as I crossed the Whitestone Bridge

Last Radio Song of the Day: Usher, Papers

Food Suggestion: No great culinary experiences here, but the concession stand workers at Keaney Gym were very hospitable, and it’s always great to find a McDonald’s right before your exit to I-95!

Arrival in Brooklyn, NY: 1:17 AM

Tomorrow brings an early rise and a full day of driving ahead! More stories from the road coming soon…

-Coach Blaine

Coach Blaine on the road

Today begins a very busy 7 days for the UMES Hawks. With a stretch of 3 away games in 5 days looming on the horizon, it's a busy time for our program. However, during the stretch run of our season, recruiting also takes a high priority for the staff as the spring looms and we are a little over two months away from the spring signing period. As such, we take every opportunity we can to combine practices, games, team travel, and recruiting to be as efficient and effective as we can be as a coaching staff.

With a day off from practice today, I took advantage of the time to make my way up to Kingston, Rhode Island a day early to prepare for the National Prep Invitational. Ordinarily this might be a trip that I would make a plane flight for, but with time being such a pressing issue for us over the next few days, and many more recruiting trips ahead of our staff this week, it was in our best interest for me to drive, thereby allowing us the freedom to make travel adjustments along the way.

Here's some early information about the 1st day of a busy week ahead!

Departure Time: 7:45 AM

Miles Traveled: 427.9

Water Consumption: 69.7 fl oz

1st Radio Song of the Day: Garth Brooks, Friends in Low Places

States Traveled Through: 6 (Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island)

Number of Times "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga was heard on the radio: 7

Starbucks Stops: 1

Number of Different U2 Songs that were heard on the radio: 6 (I Will Follow, Bad, The Sweetest Thing, One, With or Without You, Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own)

Shell Gas Station Fill Ups: 1

View of the Day: Looking into New York City as I crossed over the George Washington Bridge on a clear afternoon

Last Radio Song of the Day: Kid Rock, All Summer Long

Food Suggestion: Upon the recommendation of a Rhode Island native and friend of the UMES basketball, if you ever find yourself in Wakefield, RI, you must make your way over to Mews' Tavern. The large neon shamrock on the top of the restaurant makes it hard to miss! Ask for Sandra, who provided prompt and efficient service, and try the Shepherd's Pie. It's a great classic and a staple of their menu!

My night ended with some film study for our upcoming game against North Carolina A&T. They will be a tough test, especially on the road. Make sure you tune in and check it out Monday night on ESPNU! Time to get some sleep and be ready for a busy day of basketball tomorrow!

-Coach Blaine

Recruiting Trips

Coach Blaine left today for a whirl wind of a recruiting trip. He will be posting details hopefully nightly of his CRAZY week.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to assistant coach Mike Blaine!

(I know this isn't a women's blog, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY to women's associate head coach Revonda Whitley too!)

COACHES' CORNER RADIO SHOW

In the past few weeks, Bret and Nick have been busy preparing to debut a new weekly men's and women's basketball radio show. Today was the official debut of the show, hosted on 540 WGOP AM radio out of Pocomoke. Usually the show will be located at the Hawks Nest (inside the Student Services Center on UMES campus), but with the winter break, the Hawks Nest is closed. This will be great for fans because then they can come watch the show live and meet the coaches and their guests!

Today, however, we had to host out of the W.P. Hytche Athletic Center and our cozy conference room. Head coach Frankie Allen was unable to attend because he's on the road recruiting so assistant coach Mike Blaine took his place this morning. He talked with Bret and Nick about the schedule so far and his view on this weekend's matchup with Florida A&M.

Kevin White (aka "Mr. Bathrobe") was also a guest on today's show and discussed growing up in New York, playing at Technical Career Institutes, what brought him to UMES and his outlook on the season.

Coaches' Corner Details
Who: head coach Frankie Allen, players and other guests
What: Radio show, hosted on WGOP 540 a.m., live audio at www.umeshawks.com and live video streaming on www.umeshawks.com
Where: Hawks Nest (inside the Student Services Center on Campus)
When: Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to noon
Don't forget to join us next week!

Practice

I just walked by the arena and the guys were practicing. Noticed that assistant coaches Mike Blaine, Nick Robinson and Curtis Peery were "practicing" again. Love to watch them play, but wish it would be for other reasons than guys being out with injuries. Hopefully we get the wounded back on the court soon!

GAME DAY! UMES @ Nebraska

Bret put up a great video a few hours ago to show what goes on during shootaround on game day. I also took a few still pictures....

Court

Head coach Frankie Allen, Nebraska head coach Doc Sadler and assistant coach Mike Blaine

Nebraska Football Stadium

Football Stadium

Football Practice Facility

Taryn Arvold, our athletic trainer, was making fun of Bret and I because we looked like "Japanese tourists" with our cameras on the bus taking pictures. "Hey, look...a parking garage! Take a picture of that!" So for Taryn's pleasure, I took a picture of a parking garage. Enjoy!