The Tournament Begins This Week for the Hornets

Well Hornet fans the regular season is over and it is time for a new season: The 2009 MEAC Tournament in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. What better place to play in but at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum aka "The Joel."

Now people wonder who usually plays at "The Joel," well it is home to the Wake Forest Demon-Deacons where the CIAA Tournament was held from 1994-1999. It's the place where the NCAA Tournament was held three times and the same the court where the Harlem Globetrotters performed for the fans.

Wait...what I am talking about? I'm here to talk about the Hornets not the history who performs "The Joel."

The Hornet men have a short time to prepared because 10th DSU will played 7th seed Hampton in the first round of the tournament. The winner of that game will play number two seed South Carolina State on Wednesday in the quarterfinals.

As for the lady hornets they are the number three seed but they have a lot of time to prepared as they await the winner of 6th seed Hampton and and 9th seed Norfolk State in quarterfinals on Thursday.

I understand that Raleigh has given the Hornets nightmares when the Hornet men lose three straight heartbreak games:

• Championship game 2006 Hampton,


• Championship game 2007 Florida A&M,


• Semi-finals 2008 Morgan State
  

It also gave lady hornets some good memories like 2007 when they won the MEAC Tournament against Morgan State and dance their way into the NCAA Tournament as a 15th seed.

However there are nightmares that the lady hornets will never forget:

• 2006 Losing to Coppin State in the championship game

• 2008 Losing to the same team in the semi-final
  

Maybe Winston-Salem will be a fresh start to both the men and lady hornets basketball and who know they can pull a Coppin State mircale from last year.

Like I always anything can happen in the MEAC because the MEAC Tournament is open season.

Cathell Earning a Birth to the National Championship

Congratulations to Matt Cathell for capturing his second straight NCAA East Regional wrestling title in the 149 pound division. He is also placed a birth at the national championship in St. Louis (March 19-21).

During the East regional, in the which the Hornets finished 4th in the team standings, Cathell made record times in three of his competitions in under two minutes.

In the the first match, Matt need just 50 seconds to defeat Jacob Villaret of Wagner University to advance to the semi-finals. During the semis, he pinned Campbell University's Matt King with a time of 109 seconds. In the championship round Matt made hornet wrestling history by defeating Frank Gayeski of Liberty University with a time of 95 seconds.

Matt is still undefeated at 16-0 where he will become the first ever hornet wrestler to compete in back-to-back national championships since Francky Francois accomplishments in 1997 and 1998.

Last year in the 2008 NCAA Nationals, Cathell, who was a freshman, has a 1-2 record including a loss to Indiana University's Kurt Kinser.

Good luck Matt in the NCAA Nationals and represent Delaware State proud with hornet pride.

Lady Hornets Picking Up Where They Left Off

Through March 8th, the Lady Hornets Softball team have continue their winning ways ever since they won the MEAC Tournament last spring. Even though last year was all a distant memory, this year there are some different changes in the lady hornets softball team:

• Shai Tabor has not played during the first eight games of the season
• The Lady Hornets has not hit a home run yet
• Lady Hornets are 5-0 when scoring five runs or more and 0-3 when scoring four runs or less

Softball coach Jeff Savage knows how to find ways to win. Compare to last year their pitching this year has improve successfully with a team ERA of 2.80 with their starting pitching ERA of 2.51

What's even more impressive is that Delaware State is doing what they do every season and that is getting runners on base and scoring runs what ever they can with walks, hits, stolen bases. If the lady hornets continue their Lady Hornet Recipe, you might be looking at the Lady Hornets as being the MEAC Tournament Champions for the second straight year. Remember the lady hornets are predicted to finished first in the MEAC.

Good Start for Hornets Baseball

Well hornet fans the Hornets baseball team, who was predicted to finished fourth in the MEAC, is getting off to a terrific start with a 4-1-1 through the first six games of the season.

The Hornets are batting .331 with 46 RBIs, and 61 runs scored.

What's even better is that four hornets are hitting .300 or better:

• Wynton Weather .375
• Jose Sanchez .444
• Justin Bittner .563
• Ross Babineaux .600

You have to give the pitching a lot of credit so far because the hornets have a ERA of 3.56 while striking out 52 batters and allowing their opponents to bat .220.

Big props to Justin Schmidt because he lead their pitching staff to a 2-0 record with a ERA of 3.29 with a shutout, a save, striking out 16 while only walking two.

Even though Delaware State don't hit a lot of home runs (2), they will finds a way to scored runs by good base running, solid pitching, good defense (.966 fielding percentage and six errors) and being patience at the plate.

If the Hornets can follow the baseball science formula, they can be a dangerous threat in the MEAC Conference and a challenge to defending MEAC champion Bethune-Cookman.

Finally a DSU vs UD Matchup in Football

For those who did or did not hear the news, last Tuesday both Delaware State and University of Delaware will play each other in football for the first time ever.

According to the News Journal, both the Hornets and the Blue Hens will begin their first ever regular season in state rivalry game this season on Saturday September 19. After that game they will meet again for three straight years September 8, 2012, September 7, 2013, and September 6, 2014. All games will be played at Tubby Raymond Field on the campus of University of Delaware.

Now everybody remembers what happen when these two teams met. It was November 2007 (the day after Thanksgiving) when Joe Flacco and Omar Cuff dominated against the Hornets best defense and the offense had no answer as University of Delaware defeat the Hornets 44-7 in the first round of the Football Championship Sub-Division playoffs.

I guess Jack Markell wanted to have in-state rivalry football so Delaware can have a great time. This is something that Former Gov. Ruth Ann Miner failed to accomplish.

I'm glad that both presidents, both coaches and the Governor of Delaware had a chance to sit down and talk about the game that Delaware had been waiting for many decades.

There was no heated discussion nor ducking out of way of a million excuses but just a good conversations and nice press conference just to make a agreement. Both coaches K.C. Keeler and Al Lavan are looking forward to these meetings on a regular basics and who know they might spend Thanksgiving together every year starting November 2009.

A Hornet Football Legend is in the MEAC Hall of Fame

Congratulations to Bryant "Gene" Lake for being inducted into the MEAC Hall of Fame. On March 12, Lake will join four other MEAC Hall of Famers during the ceremonies of the MEAC Tournament.

For Hornet fan that don't know who Bryant Lake is, here are his highlights:

• Led all college players with a school record 1,722 rushing yards
• Holds the Hornet records in rushing yards in a game (336), 20 rushing touchdowns in one season, and 35 career rushing touchdowns.
• Named MEAC Offensive Player of the Year and State Athlete of the Year in 1984
• Third all time at DSU and ninth all time in MEAC history with 3,123 career rushing yards
• Inducted to the DSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001
• Named Kodak Division I-AA and Sheridan Black College All-American in 1984

Wow, that's an impressive resume for a all time Hornet Legend liek Bryant "Gene" Lake. Once again congratualtions on Bryant Lake for being honored to the MEAC Hall of Fame. Who knows we might see Shaheer McBride and Darnerien McCants in the MEAC Hall of Fame in the near future.

A Look Back at the Lady Hornet Seniors

There comes a time where good things come to an end and for the lady hornet seniors. They were honored and recognized for their outstanding athletic achievements but on and off the court.

First there is Sade Bowen who played only for the lady hornets for a year a half due to injuries. Sade has already experience championship taste when she watched the lady hornets win the MEAC tournament in March 2007 and moved on to the Big Dance. Even though I get to see her played basketball several times during the 2007-2008 season I enjoy her post player presence in the middle.
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Speaking of post player presence you have Thea Littlepage, one the best shot blockers in Lady Hornets history. I will never forget the games when she is always trying to rebound, scoring, and playing very tough defense. Despite getting into early foul trouble in some games, she will always have that great smile and the toughness that will always written that Littlepage is the second best post player right behind Najmah Fauntleroy.
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You want toughness try Keyhana Wakefield, the next Dwayne Wade of basketball. The reason why I call the transferred from George Mason the D-Wade of hoops is because every time she drives to the hoop, she gets foul and fall to the floor. Not just one game but almost every game. That's why I keep saying, "Fall Down, Get Up Eight." Not only she a very great player, but she brings heavy pressure defense and a offensive player by scoring 500 points in her career against Howard University back on February 9. Since she is a business major maybe she can start her own big business in her hometown or compete against the big boys of business.
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Last but certainly not least is Jameka Smith, the veteran of the Lady Hornets. She has been around the lady hornets since the 2004-2005 basketball season. Even though Jameka is not a scoring player but she is stealing machine when it come to defense. She became the lady hornets all time steals leader, a MEAC Champion, and sometimes a quiet vocal to the team. She understands she will have good games and bad games. Every player should know that Smith has the case of the been there done that issue before when comes to games, practices, making plays. With her family watching her from the stands every game, Jameka has the comfort of being called a winner no matter what the score, stats, or records says.

Congratulations to the lady hornet seniors that were honored on senior night and good luck in your future careers. HORNETS!!!