Sion James' Bahamas Blog
Nov 22, 2021 | Men's Basketball
NASSAU, Bahamas - The Tulane University men's basketball team has made its way South for the inaugural Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship. Joining the Green Wave in the Bahamas will be Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Drexel, Jacksonville State, Toledo and Valparaiso. To give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the Green Wave's trip down South to the Bahamas, Tulane guard Sion James will recap each day.
We hope you enjoy the tournament through Sion's eyes…
Bahamas Blog Day 4
We’ve reached the end of our journey together. Sorry about the late releases the last few days! Some light technical difficulties really highlight my inexperience as a writer. Plus, our team spent last night together, so I couldn’t get anything out. In fact, I’m on the airplane heading to Atlanta as I type (this wailing baby is a bit distracting though). Regardless, thank you all for your continued support! Now let’s go back in time to Wednesday morning.
Because we lost the Toledo game, we were scheduled to play Valparaiso in the consolation game at 5:30. We woke up for breakfast, film, and walk-through just as we had a day before. That left us free time of about two hours before our 2:00 o’clock pregame meal. In that time, I caught up on some film study and watched the college games on TV. Plus, my athletic trainer came by to do some treatment on my legs. Since it was our third straight day playing, my body was really breaking down. We ate at 2:00, got taped at 4:15, and started our pregame warmup at 4:30.
Once 5:30 rolled around, it was time to play. Everything went according to plan for the first 35 minutes of the night, but we collapsed in the end and allowed a good Valparaiso team to sneak away with a win. We were dejected. That was the quietest our team had ever been in the locker room. We all hate losing but giving away a game in the fashion that we did amplifies the pain. As a team, we decided that something needs to change, and quickly.
Because it was our last night in Nassau, our coaches gave us per diem money to get dinner, so a few of us stepped over to “The Pizza Lab'' in the bottom floor of the resort for dinner with a strict “no basketball conversation” rule. The emotions were too fresh, and we needed to take our minds away. We talked about life, school, our pasts, and our futures. By the end, we were in the mood for some sweets, so we headed over to “The Sugar Factory” to meet the rest of our teammates.
I’ve mentioned this before to other media, but the chemistry on this team is unmatched for any team I’ve ever played on. The fact that we all could spend a night out together after a painful loss shows our maturity and shows immense potential for this group moving forward.
We didn’t wanna end the night too early, so we spent the rest of the time downstairs in the resort. The funny part of staying in a hotel with a tournament full of people is that you see them everywhere. We ran into our coaches, our staff, the Valpo players, and many other teams throughout the night. Either way, we enjoyed our last night in paradise, but we didn’t want the fun to end there. We weren’t scheduled to leave the resort until 12:30pm the next day, so we made plans for that morning.
I set my alarm for 7:19am. By 7:30, Braelee, Max, Sandy and I were chillin in the jacuzzi. An hour later, we were laid out by the beach. An hour after that, the rest of our team came down with plans to hit the water park. We waited by the water until the park opened, and as soon as the clock struck 10:00, we ran in. We only had about 30 minutes to spend before we had to run upstairs and pack/eat, so we got right to work. By this point, there were 8 of us, so we went on all the group tube slides. Simply put, we had a blast. We were running around like kids, and we couldn’t be happier doing it. Soon enough, however, we had to go. We headed back to our rooms to clean up, grab our things, and head to our meeting space for a Thanksgiving meal.
Our coaches organized a brunch for us to celebrate the holiday since we’re away from our families. It came complete with turkey, green beans, mac & cheese, stuffing, and many other Thanksgiving classics. It was nice to have a family meal one more time before we left. After we finished, we thanked our servers and headed to the lobby. We were met by two shuttle busses who brought us to the airport.
Travelling with a party of about 30 is an intense experience. With 30 passports, 30 boarding passes, and over 40 different bags of personal belongings and equipment, things can get messy quickly. It took a while to process our things, so by the time we made it to the terminal, the plane was already boarding. We took the Delta flight from Nassau to Atlanta, and the connecting flight will deliver us to New Orleans.
Because my family is in Atlanta, Coach Hunter is letting me stay in the city for an extra day to be with them for the holidays. I’m excited to see them and tell them all about the time I had in the Bahamas.
Once again, thank you all for your continued support! We had a rough week on the floor, but the hospitality we received from tournament directors and resort employees made our stay worthwhile. We hope to be back sometime soon!
Bahamas Blog Day 3
Hey guys. Sion checking back in with y’all. We had a rough game today. We lost a one point game to a hard-nosed Toledo team. Anyone that knows me knows I hate losing, so it’s been hard to get over, but I’m still trying to make the most out of our time in paradise.
Today started as a pretty routine day. We had breakfast at 10 followed by a walk-through and our introduction to Toledo. Early season tournaments are hard because we have so little time to prepare for each game. Plus, last night was a tough physical and emotional game making the turn-around even more difficult. After our walk-through, we had a team stretch & recovery session led by our strength coach. Playing back-to-back days is hard, so we did everything possible to prepare ourselves.
Then, we had some free time before our pregame meal at 2:00pm.I needed to watch film from the Drexel game, so I went back to my hotel room and cracked open my laptop. About 4 minutes into the game, Braelee, my roommate on our road trips, told me he and Max were headed down to the beach to relax. Typically when I’m on vacation, I try my best to avoid sitting in the room. I feel guilty because if I was just gonna sit in the room, I could’ve done that at home. While this isn’t vacation, I still try to make the most out of this trip, so I decided to join them by the water. I grabbed my laptop, a bottle of powerade, and a hat and headed down with them. I told myself I’d just finish the film out there, and it was a great decision. I spent my Tuesday afternoon on the beach in Nassau watching basketball. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Soon enough, pregame meal rolled around (bet lasagna I’ve had in a long time), and after that, we got dressed for the game. Once 5:30 hit, it was game time. Toledo got off to a fast start, but we weathered the storm throughout the first half. We closed the score to a one-possession game for the majority of the second half, but we were never able to get over the hump. For the third time in this young season, we lost a game that came down to the wire. Losing hurts every single time. We all hate it, but we must learn from it in order to move forward. I love this team, and I trust us to improve.
Even with the loss, we still have to play again tomorrow. We play a Valparaiso team who, once again, will force us to play our best game to beat them. Like I said, back-to-back games is hard, but now we have to a third. Our bodies are starting to wear down, so recovery is more important than ever. Just like a night ago, a few of us headed down to the hot tub for a soak. It was a fun way to take our minds off a tough loss and get our bodies ready for the final game of the tournament.
Another way we take our minds off of our game is to watch other college games from around the country. Braelee and I are watching the Gonzaga v. UCLA game as I type. Plus, we’re following the Cincinatti v. Arkansas game. When you love the sport, nothing will take you away from it, not even a loss.
We’ve had a great time in the Bahamas so far, and while we missed our opportunity to bring a trophy back to NOLA, we can still leave with another meaningful win and another learning experience. I’ll check back in with y’all tomorrow! I’ve loved writing this blog, and I hope y’all enjoy it!
Bahamas Blog Day 2
What’s up y’all! It’s Sion again. All I can say is wow, what a day.
Today was one of the wildest days I’ve had as a basketball player. We finished our 2:30pm game at 9:00. Crazy, right? Let’s backtrack.
At first, everything was normal. We were able to sleep in this morning, so I didn’t wake up until 10:30 for 11:00 breakfast. Then, we met back at 1:15 to get ready to play. Soon enough, 2:30 rolled around and it was game time. We played a hot-shooting Drexel team who played in March Madness a year ago. We got off to a fast start and carried that into halftime. During the second half, they went on a run and cut the lead to 4.
Then, right before the second media timeout of the half, the refs stopped play because there was water on the floor. They then realized that the ceiling was leaking due to the storm outside. They sent both teams back to their benches as they investigated. Eventually, the facilities workers informed us that it’d take some time to resolve the issue, so we went back to the locker room. We spent about an hour in limbo as Coach Hunter went back and forth with Drexel’s coach and the facilities workers about the status of the rest of the game. There was still 12 minutes on the clock, and we both have games to play the next day, so it was very important to finish tonight. At about 5:15 (45 minutes after the game should’ve been over), Coach Hunter sent us up to our hotel rooms to wait on the final decision. At 6:30, we got a text that said we’d start back up in 90 minutes.
There was a few differences between parts one and two of Tulane vs. Drexel. The first part was in a huge ballroom with a decorated court, nice seating for fans, and tons of cameras and bright lights. Because the leak was never resolved, part two was held in the cold practice gym in the back of the hotel. They had to bring the scoreboards, cameras, shot clock, and all other equipment from the main gym to the practice court. On top of that, the sound in the room made things challenging, because it was a sound trap. It was one of the loudest games I’ve played in, and we just played at Florida State last week.
The game resumed at 8:00pm with us leading by 4. It was a back and forth game the whole way. With us down 3 with 15 seconds left, Cook dropped the ball off to Kev who dunked it home for an and-one to tie the game. Eventually, the game went into overtime and we won by 3. We were so happy to win and advance given the circumstances.
We had a mini celebration in the locker room. As coach always tells us, winning is hard, so we have to enjoy it. However, in less than 24 hours we’ll be back on the floor, so we needed to be ready. Part of being ready is making sure your body is fresh. We took that to heart, so a few of us went down to the hot tub to soak our legs. What better way to cap off the day than with a relaxing sit in a jacuzzi? Like I told y’all, we’re taking advantage of all aspects of the Bahamas.
I hope this blog captures the rollercoaster of emotions we all felt today. It was a game like no other, and we have to get back up and do it again tomorrow. We play a tough Toledo team who will force us to play our best game. Hopefully, we can use our momentum from today to lead us through it.
Thank you all for your continued support! We can’t wait to join y’all back in NOLA! I’ll check back in with y’all tomorrow. This is Sion signing out from Nassau!
We’ll just leave this one here until tomorrow! #RollWave ?? pic.twitter.com/WrgRUBUQho
— Tulane Men's Basketball (@GreenWaveMBB) November 23, 2021
Bahamas Blog Day 1
What’s up Green Wave Nation! This is Sion checking in with y’all from the Bahamas. I wanted to give y’all a peak into our time here and share some of our experiences. It’s Sunday night as I write this. We got in yesterday night, and after practice and dinner, a couple of us went exploring the resort. The tournament directors hooked us up too because this place is REAL nice. It’s got a bunch of pools, a waterpark, and beach access. After a while, we met up with the rest of the team. The funny part about walking around with 15 tall guys is that everyone knows you’re a sports team right away. Plus, the other teams are in the resort too. We play Drexel day 1, and we walk past them all the time ??. We even saw Coach Hunter enjoying himself at the resort. We had a ton of fun our first night.
Today, we had breakfast and practice, and then we had the afternoon off. We took advantage of our free time and went to the water park. We didn’t stay too long though because we have games to prepare for, but it was still fun enjoying the resort. There was a group water slide that we went on and Sandy was screaming like a kid lol. After that, we went to relax and recharge for the day. A few hours later, we had a light shootaround on the game floor and then dinner in the ballroom.
We’ve had our fun so far, but it’s time to get focused for the game. Like I said, we play Drexel tomorrow, and they can shoot the lights out. We’ll have to defend the three-point line to win the game.
We appreciate y’all for supporting us! We hope to bring a trophy back to NOLA with us. I’ll keep y’all updated with pictures and videos! Nassau is a beautiful city and we want y’all to experience it with us. I’ll check back in with y’all tomorrow!
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