More Oklahoma photos

Just a few more last photos from our Oklahoma trip!

 The Lloyd Noble Center as we were pulling up for the game

 Ryan Minor - manager of the Delmarva Shorebirds

 Coach Nick Robinson goes over the scouting report before the game

 Dishawn Bradshaw, JoJo Swift, Freddy Obame Obame,  RJ Tucker, Tim Burns, Hillary Haley

 Coach Allen talks before the guys head out to the court

 Boomer (or Sooner?) Oklahoma had two identical mascots... Boomer and Sooner.  If you want to know the reason behind this, shoot me an email, it's quite interesting.

 National Anthem

 Captain's meeting

 Found this shirt at the airport.  Usually I feel like airports have all the same stuff (you know those yellow and green cowtipping shirts that can be found in Milwaukee, Oklahoma, Iowa, Nebraska, everywhere!) but this shirt was quite unique and fun to read.

Welcome to New York!

On our way to New York, Coach Nick Robinson goes over the Columbia scouting report with the team.



Look what welcomed us to practice this evening...


Coach Brown first spotted him and it was actually after practice, but startling none-the-less. We joked around about it, but in reality, Columbia's Levien Gymnasium is a great facility. They've been doing some construction and the lobby that we entered through has been completely redone with marbling!

I've heard from some little birdies that we are expected to have a large contingent of UMES alumni from the Tri-State area in the arena tomorrow night. Hoping to see all the maroon and gray that can cheer the Hawks on to victory!

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!

Photo Day

Today was photo day for the team and of course I forgot to take camera shots until the end! Man, some of those boys were cheesin' hard! Wish I would've gotten some shots of that.

Freshman Louis Bell poses for his first official UMES photos!

Coach Nick Robinson doesn't smile in photos. I feel like all 10 of his head shots looked the same, but according to him there were vast differences. Uh huh, Coach Nick.

Kevin White was definitely the diva of the day... wanting to see his photos immediately after they were taken to make sure they were good and then picking the exact one that will be used this season! I told him he was worse than some of the volleyball girls.

Before photos, we had the team's first meeting of the season. I talked to the guys about safety and rules regarding UMES' Social Media Policy that we developed. It's really important that the guys and our student-athletes in general (and anyone else!) follows the guidelines because social media can be a dangerous (yet extremely helpful and AWESOME!)

Today is also my birthday, which I usually don't highly publicize, however the men's team caught wind of this (I have very good inclinations as to who) and they all sang Happy Birthday to me! It's good to have "family" away from home! Thanks guys! It's a good thing I love them all, otherwise the season would be extremely difficult since I pretty much have to spend 24/7 with them!

Outrageous Olympics

Earlier today we held the annual Outrageous Olympics. You can read more about it here. There is also an entire photo gallery on there... with some hilarious shots. I've included some below (first four courtesy of Lloydlee Heite).

Coach Brown shows off his hula-hooping skills. (He'll probably kill me for posting this picture so shhhh, don't tell him!)

Freshman Mike Spence shows off his gear for one of the wacky games of the day.

Mike and Tyler Hines pose for a quick photo.

Coaches Nick Robinson and Curtis Peery (in addition to men's baseball assistant coach Eric Armstrong) spent all day manning the grill, preparing hot dogs, burgers and chicken for after the games.

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

Shootaround at Florida A&M

Coach Allen watches one group work through their plays.

Athletic trainer Taryn Arvold bandages Sean Berry's bloodied hand up during shootaround this morning.

Assistant coach Nick Robinson works with the guards... Josh Bright, Roland Dunston and Hillary Haley shown here.

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!

Old-School Mountain Dew

Assistant coach Nick Robinson, who really hates it when I talk about him on the blog, has a routine of drinking a Mt. Dew before every game. He always leaves it with me during warmups and thinks it should be my only responsibility pre-game (little does he know what I really have to do.)

Today he finally found this throwback Mt. Dew. It really has "real" sugar in it. I tried some, and I don't like Mountain Dew anyways, but this stuff was gross. You can taste the enormous amount of sugar in it. Definitely should give this stuff to little kids around 7 p.m. at night...

Day before game-day

Today is a low-key day, with film, scouting, practice and then rest for the team as they prepare for Northern Illinois on Tuesday. I've attached a few photos and look to have one of the assistant coaches blog soon about what goes into scouting the opponent and then passing this information on to the players.

Assistant Coach Mike Blaine goes over his scouting report and film with the guys. Throughout the season, each opponent is assigned to one of the three assistant coaches. This coach is then responsible for breaking down film on the opponent and making sure the team knows everything they can about the other team.

Assistant Coaches Nick Robinson and Mike Blaine work with the guards (Tim Burns and Hillary Haley shown here) on drills.

Graduate Assistant Coach Curtis Peery and Associate Head Coach Jamal Brown (not shown) work with James Cotton and the 'big men' on post moves.

The practice gym (Victor E. Court) at the Convocation Center on Northern Illinois' campus. The women's volleyball team and men's wrestling team also hold their home contests on this court. We practice there on Sunday evening, but have moved to the main court for today's practice.

Shootaround

It's gameday! Here are a few pics from shoot-around at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio...

Redshirt junior Tim Burns works with Coaches Nick Robinson and Mike Blaine

Coach Frankie Allen talks to broadcaster Bret Lasky

Coaches Jamal Brown and Curtis Peery work with Freddy Obame Obame

Coach Allen talks to the guys about his expectations for shoot-around and the game later tonight against Wright State