COVER STORY
Journal: What’s your normal game day routine during basketball season? Meeks: It’s not as interesting as you might think. Of course, get up and grab some breakfast and after that, we attend class. After class, we have a shoot-around. Then we have a pre-game meal four hours before the game. After that, I listen to music or take a nap, or do whatever I have to do to get calmed down. From that point, you go to the training room to get taped. That’s when you really start to catch the game-day vibe from your teammates and get hyped. And after that, it’s game time. Journal: Did you have a leadership role on the team? Meeks: Yes sir. I was a team captain this year. Journal: Team captain of the Na- tional Champs. Very impressive brother.
Journal: How was tournament preparation different than regular season game prep given that you guys had to play unfamiliar teams so close in succession to one another, along with the “Sudden Death” nature of the tournament? Meeks: One thing is you have to be mentally prepared. Me and the other two captains tried to drill into our team- mates that it’s going to be a rough road, and we only have six games left. So we have to be prepared to do whatever we have to do to reach the goal. Whether that’s getting proper rest or eating the right foods or just staying on top of each other about staying focused and serious. I feel like, for sure that going through the process prepared me for situa- tions like that. Being under pressure in certain situations, and trying to come through the best that I can for my team. Journal: Would you say that going through The Membership Training
Academy (MTA) Process gave you a mental edge over your opponents? Meeks: Oh for sure! Definitely! No question in my mind about that. Journal: Excellent! So, what is your major and when will you graduate? Meeks: Communication studies ma- jor with a minor in Sociology. I graduate May 14, 2017. Journal: Of course, you know the University of North Carolina Basketball is an international brand with millions of fans all over the world. In fact, I’m in Virginia, and most of the people here are Tar Heels fans. For the Tar Heels fans, what is the one attribute your coach, Roy Williams, possesses that you admire most? Meeks: Probably his resilience. I think that is something that he teaches us every day with his efforts on and off the court. Him watching film every day and coming into practice every day and giving his all, even though he’s not play- ing. For someone that is already a Hall of Fame coach, and has reached that amount of success to still come in and give his all every day. You have no choice but to admire that. Journal: What image from the tour- nament stands out most for you? Other than the obvious cutting down the nets and confetti of course. Meeks: Seeing the smile on my teammates faces. As you know, we lost in the finals last year and things didn’t work out for us. I just definitely think the main thing this year was for us to get redemption. I almost feel like we de- served it last year, and the game slipped away from us because of a few mistakes we made. My main focus as a senior Journal: Congratulations. Meeks: Appreciate that.
Meeks: Thanks, I appreciate that.
Seeing the smile on their faces was the best feeling. They’ve been through so much—and so have I—so my focus is just to grind it out every day to support those guys because they helped me along the way. They’re my number one priority. I have all the love in the world for my family.
68 | SPRING 2017 THE JOURNAL
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