Joel is a freshman guard on the UNC Wilmington men’s basketball team. He took time out of his schedule to jot down his thoughts on his first conference tournament experience.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock last year and the UNCW men’s basketball team was celebrating their first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament, I could not think about anything else but being a part of the team the next year and going for a repeat performance. I wanted to be there and experience what those guys were going through. And March from 3-5 I did. So here’s an inside look at our ride through the CAA tournament.

Friday, March 2We had practice here in Wilmington at eight this morning. Our main objective today was to go over both William and Mary and Old Dominion stuff. Since we were one of the top two teams in the tournament this year we got a bye in the first round, so we had to wait until Saturday night to see who we would be playing.

After practice, we made the long drive up to Richmond and went straight to the Richmond Coliseum for our practice time of one hour. Every team gets one hour to practice in the coliseum. We used this mainly for shooting drills and a chance to feel the place out.

After cleaning up a little bit, we headed to downtown Richmond for the annual CAA Basketball Banquet. Individuals did very well on this night. Brett Blizzard was named to the First team All-CAA for the second straight year. In addition, Marcus Green and Marty Jarmond were named to the All-Academic team. Marcus was on the All-Defensive team too. I was happy for all three of these guys.

However, the best award of the night was given to our coach, Jerry Wainwright. He received the CAA Coach of the Year award. This was something that he deserved and our team was very happy that he got this.

After the banquet, it was off to bed. Practice tomorrow at 10 a.m.

Saturday, March 3The wake-up call was not needed for me. I had been up since around 7 a.m. and was ready to practice. We had a good workout this morning. Now it was time for a little bit of “chill” time. So we got to go and check out the Richmond mall. It was good to hang out with the guys and just be together. The team gets along real well and enjoys being around each other.

Upon arriving at the hotel, we had found out that Old Dominion had defeated William and Mary. So now it was time to get focused on our opponent. We had a walk-through tonight and the sports club next door to the hotel. At walk-throughs we go over our game plan and how we are going to defend our opponent.

After a players only meeting we headed to bed. The game will be on us quickly. One o’clock tip.

Sunday, March 4After another walk-through, we headed to the pregame meal at the hotel. We always eat four hours before tip-off. Since it was 9 a.m., we had steak and eggs, and fruit. I can’t eat due to butterflies or something. But we head back to our rooms for a little downtime before heading to the coliseum. Once we get to the game, it is time for a little shooting around before warm-ups. As I step onto the floor, I hear and see the abundance of Seahawk fans that have made the trip up to Richmond. I was on a natural high at this point. Our fans are the best in the CAA and some of the best in the nation.

We kind of got off to a slow start and it took a defensive stand and two free throws by Ed to finally put away the pesky Monarchs. We were all excited because we were going back to the finals. One more game (which was on ESPN2.) Not much of a downtime for us because we still have one more game to win. After dinner, we get back to the hotel to find out that George Mason has beaten James Madison pretty bad. We are excited about the game already. We have our walk through for Mason and we head to bed, I can’t sleep. Probably because Tim Burnette and Justin Leith (my roommate) are bugging me, but it’s all good, because they are excited too.

Monday, March 5It’s Championship Monday. With the game being at 7:30 tonight, we have the whole day to prepare. We had practice at 11 a.m. at the coliseum. After a good workout, we headed back to the hotel for a little while. Pregame came up on us quick. With a later game, we had the pregame meal at 4:30. This time we had chicken parmesan and baked potatoes. The nerves were starting to get to me — I didn’t eat again — but I did get some stuff to take to my room.

Our fans were at the game there early once again. The game was the second-lowest scoring game since the shot clock was put into games. Unfortunately, it was 35-33 in George Mason’s favor. It was not a very pretty game for the fans to watch. This game was also bad because it was not a good portrayal of our team and how good we can play.

Our locker room was a tough place to be after the game because everyone was disappointed about the opportunity we had squandered. It was difficult for me to think about the three seniors on our team — Marcus, Marty and Barron. This could possibly be their last college game. We had talked all season about the season being a long distance race and now that could possibly be over. It hurts…. bad.

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I would like to take this chance to thank our fans who have supported us this year, the Hecklers, Hawkamaniacs, and Screamin’ Seahawks for all their support; you guys are the best. Also the Seahawk for their following us and covering us so close and well.