MONROE, La. – What
would a basketball team do if it showed up for a road game and had no shoes or
uniforms? That’s the question the Pioneers face today after a certain airline
(let’s just say it flies the American skies) left all 25 of the team’s bags in
Dallas. In case you’re wondering, the travel party comprised 21 of the plane’s
50 seats, and there are only two daily flights between Dallas and Monroe.
After assistant coach Jon Jordan, quite possibly the most
patient man on the planet, sat on hold with the airline for two hours, there is
hope that the team’s equipment will arrive on the first flight at 1:33 p.m.
While that means the players have no shoes or practice gear in time for the
scheduled shoot around at noon, at least they would have uniforms and shoes by
game time.
That’s better than a thought by an airline representative,
who suggested the team buy enough shoes and gear for five players, since only
five are on the court at a time. Apparently, each substitute would then trade
clothes with the guy coming off the court.
In the meantime, everyone is hanging out, waiting at the
Hilton Garden Inn, which has been incredibly helpful in the situation, even
running out to get enough toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant and contact lens
solution for everybody. We are open to suggestions on what to wear at the Fant
tonight. Feel free to send e-mails to michael.kennedy@du.edu,
if you have any ideas.
Who Wants Frozen
Custard?: As most Denver basketball fans know, the Pioneers ended “The Streak” on Saturday,
winning on the road for the first time in 43 consecutive road games. However,
it should be pointed out that the 2008-09 squad was responsible for only a
small fraction of that with a 12-game streak. In fact, only two people in DU’s
travel party have been there for all 43 games, and one of those guys is trainer
Pat Hoxsey, who also has seen an
awful lot of road victories in 15 years in the job.
People have asked whether the team reacted like they had won
a championship. The answer? They slapped a few high fives, shook hands with
Arkansas State and walked into the locker room, just like they always do at
home. Of course, the coaches did want to reward the players, so head coach Joe Scott told the bus driver to pull
into a frozen custard stand just down the road from the arena, and everyone
loaded up with milkshakes and malts. Needless to say, it could not have tasted
better.
Now, the torch of the road losing streak is passed on to
Sacramento State (36-straight) and New Jersey Institute of Technology (31-straight).
The Pioneers, meanwhile, are going for their second-straight road win and
four-consecutive win overall, at the Fant-Ewing Arena tonight.
About Monroe: Recently
Monroe, La., has found a name for itself on the HBO show “True Blood.” While we
have not run across any vampires, we can tell you that ULM is the alma mater of
country singer Tim McGraw, baseball All-Stars Ben Sheets and Chuck Finley, and Breaux
Greer. Who is Breaux Greer, you ask? That would be Hurricane from American
Gladiators. According to the NBC website, “Run for cover as fast as you can
whenever Hurricane blows into Gladiator Arena. Appearing without warning and
striking with enough energy to blow down a mountain, those contenders unlucky
enough to cross his path will experience a truly perfect storm of sheer
athletic prowess and destructive Gladiator instinct” (http://www.nbc.com/American_Gladiators/bios/hurricane.shtml).
With the potential for a storm like that, the risk of vampires appears
considerably less fearsome. (Thanks to ULM sports information director Jeff
Hendrix for providing that vital piece of information.)
Yearly travel totals:
Total Flights – 22
Total Mileage Flown
– 21,471
Total Bus Miles –
1,892
Total Number of Hotels – 18
Total Number of
Different Airports – 15
Total Number of
Airline Delays – 1
Total Number of
Cancelled Flights – 1
Total Number of Bags
Lost Yesterday – 25 (of 25)
Total Number of Bags
Lost This Year – 28
Total Number of the
Travel Party that Showed up at Breakfast in the Same Clothes They Wore
Yesterday – 21 (of 21)
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Arkansas State - 2/21/09
JONESBORO, Ark. – The
Pioneers are running through shoot around in the Convocation Center at Arkansas
State, while the weather outside the building is cold and rainy. The team flew
into Little Rock yesterday afternoon and bussed a little more than two hours to
Jonesboro in northeastern Arkansas.
The season is in its final stretch with three games remaining. While the coaches want the players to focus on continuing to improve and winning games, those of us at the scorer’s table are gazing at the Sun Belt standings, trying to figure out who Denver will be playing and where in the first round of the SBC Tournament.
The top team in each division, along with the team with the third best record regardless of division, receive a bye in the first round. The teams with the next five best records host the remaining five teams. The No. 4 seeded team hosts No. 13. No. 5 hosts No. 12, and so on. The teams with the byes and the winners of the first round games advance to the quarterfinals in Hot Springs, Ark. Western Kentucky (12-3), UALR (12-3) and Troy (12-4) seem to have the byes wrapped up.
With an 11-2 record at Magness Arena, the Pioneers (7-8) are working for one of those home games in the first round, and as of now DU is in line for the seventh seed. However, North Texas (9-6), South Alabama (9-7) and Middle Tennessee (8-7) are all within striking distance. Meanwhile, Florida International (6-9), Louisiana-Lafayette (6-9) and New Orleans (6-10) are not fall behind the Pioneers.
Clearly, there is a high likelihood of ties in the standings. The first tie-breaker is the record between the teams that are tied. If the teams split their meetings, the second tie breaker is the records against the No. 1 seed, followed by the No. 2 seed and so on, until the tie is broken.
Needless to say, the Pioneers are looking for more wins so that the tie-breakers become irrelevant.
About Jonesboro: Thanks to loyal reader Steve Honda, we learned this week that Jonesboro was once the home to Bartleby Clown College. Apparently from 1952-59, the clown college operated in Jonesboro, which was convenient due to its many railroad connections. According to Wikipedia, which of course is the leading resource for clown college information, “The loss of Arkansas [sic] only clown college disappointed many in the industry.” There was no clarification about whether that was the clown industry or the clown teaching industry.
Yearly travel totals:
Total Flights – 20
Total Mileage Flown – 19,764
Total Bus Miles – 1,701
Total Number of Hotels – 16
Total Number of Different Airports – 14
Total Number of Airline Delays – 1
Total Number of Cancelled Flights – 1
Total Number of Bags Lost – 3
Total Number of Consecutive Weeks DU flew through the Little Rock Airport – 3
Total Number of Years Kyle Lewis has been alive – 20 (Happy Birthday, Kyle)
The season is in its final stretch with three games remaining. While the coaches want the players to focus on continuing to improve and winning games, those of us at the scorer’s table are gazing at the Sun Belt standings, trying to figure out who Denver will be playing and where in the first round of the SBC Tournament.
The top team in each division, along with the team with the third best record regardless of division, receive a bye in the first round. The teams with the next five best records host the remaining five teams. The No. 4 seeded team hosts No. 13. No. 5 hosts No. 12, and so on. The teams with the byes and the winners of the first round games advance to the quarterfinals in Hot Springs, Ark. Western Kentucky (12-3), UALR (12-3) and Troy (12-4) seem to have the byes wrapped up.
With an 11-2 record at Magness Arena, the Pioneers (7-8) are working for one of those home games in the first round, and as of now DU is in line for the seventh seed. However, North Texas (9-6), South Alabama (9-7) and Middle Tennessee (8-7) are all within striking distance. Meanwhile, Florida International (6-9), Louisiana-Lafayette (6-9) and New Orleans (6-10) are not fall behind the Pioneers.
Clearly, there is a high likelihood of ties in the standings. The first tie-breaker is the record between the teams that are tied. If the teams split their meetings, the second tie breaker is the records against the No. 1 seed, followed by the No. 2 seed and so on, until the tie is broken.
Needless to say, the Pioneers are looking for more wins so that the tie-breakers become irrelevant.
About Jonesboro: Thanks to loyal reader Steve Honda, we learned this week that Jonesboro was once the home to Bartleby Clown College. Apparently from 1952-59, the clown college operated in Jonesboro, which was convenient due to its many railroad connections. According to Wikipedia, which of course is the leading resource for clown college information, “The loss of Arkansas [sic] only clown college disappointed many in the industry.” There was no clarification about whether that was the clown industry or the clown teaching industry.
Yearly travel totals:
Total Flights – 20
Total Mileage Flown – 19,764
Total Bus Miles – 1,701
Total Number of Hotels – 16
Total Number of Different Airports – 14
Total Number of Airline Delays – 1
Total Number of Cancelled Flights – 1
Total Number of Bags Lost – 3
Total Number of Consecutive Weeks DU flew through the Little Rock Airport – 3
Total Number of Years Kyle Lewis has been alive – 20 (Happy Birthday, Kyle)
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Florida Atlantic - 2/12/09
BOCA RATON, Fla. – Normally,
the team flies commercial flights to road games, settling for whatever flights
gets there in enough time. This trip is different, though. Playing in South
Florida on Thursday before returning home for a game on Saturday presents a
challenge. Basically, it takes away many of the benefits that make a home court
advantage, like not traveling 1,700 miles to the game.
In an attempt to offset that, the team chartered a 30-seat plane to get down to Boca Raton last night. It still made for a long day of travel that did not end until dinner last night at 9 p.m. However, we will be back to campus late tonight or, more likely, early tomorrow morning.
One unique aspect of chartering a plane like that is the need to stop and refuel. Halfway between Colorado and Florida, the plane landed at a small airport in Greenville, Mississippi. It appeared to be an airfield in the middle of countless acres of farmland, but it seems the town has some history. Sure there is Civil War history, but we were more interested to learn that this city in the heart of the Mississippi Delta produced Muppets creator Jim Henson, Kansas City Royals great Frank White and, according to some sources, NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice (thanks to loyal reader Steve Honda for pointing these out).
The best part of the flight for the players is considerably more room to stretch out. This blog has mentioned it before, but the tallest guys on the team seem to always end up in the smallest seats in commercial flights. Yesterday, on the other hand, 6-foot-9 center Justin Coughlin was relaxing in a double seat in the exit row when he declared, “I’ve never been happier on a plane.”
After arriving last night, the team gathered in the hotel restaurant for a basic grilled chicken meal before heading to their rooms. As usual on the road, the schedule tends to revolve around meals and the game, so everyone gathered again in the restaurant for breakfast this morning before heading to FAU Arena for shoot around. There will be a few hours of rest until the teams meets for the traditional pregame meal of chicken, pasta, steamed vegetables and salad, which takes place four hours prior to tip. At about 5:30 p.m., the bus will head back to the arena in time to prepare for the game, and we are hoping to be wheels up and on our way back to Denver shortly after the game ends.
Gotta Be the Shoes: Like most college basketball teams, the Pioneers have several pairs of shoes in their lockers, perhaps more than they need. The coaches asked the players to clean up their lockers and get rid of some of the shoes they did not need. Instead of throwing the old sneakers in their dorm rooms or tossing them away, the players got together and decided to donate the shoes to people who need them. The players donated the sneakers to Inter-Faith Community Services, a nonprofit organization in South Denver. The mother of backup guard Ryan Perry works for the organization, which will distribute the shoes to people who need them. For more information about the organization, visit ifcs.org.
Debatable: Tonight’s game marks the first time the Pioneers have played at FAU Arena. The team played the Owls in Boca Raton last season, but the game took place at nearby Lynn University due to the Republican Presidential debates occurring at FAU that night. The arena at Lynn is called the Count & Countess de Hoernle Sports and Cultural Center, which may unofficially hold the record for longest venue name in college sports. The game that night went to overtime on a DU three-pointer at the buzzer, but FAU pulled away thanks to good shooting at the free throw line.
Elevator Update: In reference to the elevator in the Jack Stephens Center mentioned in the last blog, our friends down at the University of New Orleans had another idea of what the “S-M-L-E” meant: Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large. It’s an interesting way to name the floors of a building, but it’s better than “smelly.”
Yearly travel totals:
Total Flights – 18
Total Mileage Flown – 17,293
Total Bus Miles – 1,537
Total Number of Hotels – 15
Total Number of Different Airports – 14
Total Number of Airline Delays – 1
Total Number of Cancelled Flights – 1
Total Number of Bags Lost – 3
Total Number of Players who hit their heads while boarding the charter yesterday – 5 (of 13)
Total Number of Players taller than 6-foot-5 who hit their heads while boarding the plane – 0
In an attempt to offset that, the team chartered a 30-seat plane to get down to Boca Raton last night. It still made for a long day of travel that did not end until dinner last night at 9 p.m. However, we will be back to campus late tonight or, more likely, early tomorrow morning.
One unique aspect of chartering a plane like that is the need to stop and refuel. Halfway between Colorado and Florida, the plane landed at a small airport in Greenville, Mississippi. It appeared to be an airfield in the middle of countless acres of farmland, but it seems the town has some history. Sure there is Civil War history, but we were more interested to learn that this city in the heart of the Mississippi Delta produced Muppets creator Jim Henson, Kansas City Royals great Frank White and, according to some sources, NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice (thanks to loyal reader Steve Honda for pointing these out).
The best part of the flight for the players is considerably more room to stretch out. This blog has mentioned it before, but the tallest guys on the team seem to always end up in the smallest seats in commercial flights. Yesterday, on the other hand, 6-foot-9 center Justin Coughlin was relaxing in a double seat in the exit row when he declared, “I’ve never been happier on a plane.”
After arriving last night, the team gathered in the hotel restaurant for a basic grilled chicken meal before heading to their rooms. As usual on the road, the schedule tends to revolve around meals and the game, so everyone gathered again in the restaurant for breakfast this morning before heading to FAU Arena for shoot around. There will be a few hours of rest until the teams meets for the traditional pregame meal of chicken, pasta, steamed vegetables and salad, which takes place four hours prior to tip. At about 5:30 p.m., the bus will head back to the arena in time to prepare for the game, and we are hoping to be wheels up and on our way back to Denver shortly after the game ends.
Gotta Be the Shoes: Like most college basketball teams, the Pioneers have several pairs of shoes in their lockers, perhaps more than they need. The coaches asked the players to clean up their lockers and get rid of some of the shoes they did not need. Instead of throwing the old sneakers in their dorm rooms or tossing them away, the players got together and decided to donate the shoes to people who need them. The players donated the sneakers to Inter-Faith Community Services, a nonprofit organization in South Denver. The mother of backup guard Ryan Perry works for the organization, which will distribute the shoes to people who need them. For more information about the organization, visit ifcs.org.
Debatable: Tonight’s game marks the first time the Pioneers have played at FAU Arena. The team played the Owls in Boca Raton last season, but the game took place at nearby Lynn University due to the Republican Presidential debates occurring at FAU that night. The arena at Lynn is called the Count & Countess de Hoernle Sports and Cultural Center, which may unofficially hold the record for longest venue name in college sports. The game that night went to overtime on a DU three-pointer at the buzzer, but FAU pulled away thanks to good shooting at the free throw line.
Elevator Update: In reference to the elevator in the Jack Stephens Center mentioned in the last blog, our friends down at the University of New Orleans had another idea of what the “S-M-L-E” meant: Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large. It’s an interesting way to name the floors of a building, but it’s better than “smelly.”
Yearly travel totals:
Total Flights – 18
Total Mileage Flown – 17,293
Total Bus Miles – 1,537
Total Number of Hotels – 15
Total Number of Different Airports – 14
Total Number of Airline Delays – 1
Total Number of Cancelled Flights – 1
Total Number of Bags Lost – 3
Total Number of Players who hit their heads while boarding the charter yesterday – 5 (of 13)
Total Number of Players taller than 6-foot-5 who hit their heads while boarding the plane – 0
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Arkansas-Little Rock - 2/7/09
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Last
night’s win was pretty impressive. When the schedules came out, this five-game
stretch really jumped out. Seeing Western Kentucky, South Alabama, at Troy,
Middle Tennessee and at Arkansas-Little Rock consecutively in a 15-day period
was daunting. Right now, those are the five best teams in the Sun Belt
Conference, all fighting for a first round bye in the SBC Tournament.
So, spirits were very high after beating Middle Tennessee last night, which added to the victories over both NCAA Tournament teams from last season. In fact, the Pioneers are within an overtime period of heading into the game at UALR on a four-game winning streak over the top teams in the SBC East Division.
With that, UALR is playing very well this season. In the nonconference season, the Trojans beat Creighton at home, and took out Pepperdine and Oral Roberts on the road. They narrowly dropped an eight-point loss to Memphis, which came within 2:13 of a national championship last year but lost to Kansas. UALR has won 16 games this season, and the team leads the SBC West Division by a solid four games with seven left to play.
The good news is the Pioneers are one of the teams tied for second place behind the Trojans. The less-than-good news is that DU is tied with Arkansas State, North Texas and Louisiana-Lafayette, while New Orleans sits just a half game behind those four teams. With that many teams bunched together, the fight to host first round games in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament is full swing.
The seeding for the tournament is somewhat confusing, but here are the basics. The top team from each division (currently Western Kentucky and UALR) and the team with the next best record will all receive first round byes and automatically advance to the quarterfinals in Hot Springs, Ark. The fourth through eighth seeds will host a first round game, in which No. 4 would play No. 13, No. 5 would play No. 12, and so on.
I know people might be growing tired of hearing how young this team is, but it seems to be less of an excuse or apology than it is a sense of amazement at this point. This team has played really well since Dec. 9, going 9-6 in those 15 games. DU has put up double-digit leads in four road games, even if the team did eventually lose. And those six losses? They were by a total of 18 points. That’s three points per game – or an average of a single possession. That sounds more like a veteran team than the youngest team in the nation.
Elevation: The elevator in the Jack Stephens Center has no numbers associated to each floor. Instead, from top to bottom, it spells “S-M-L-E.” I mentioned that it was nice that the elevator buttons look like “smile.” Mitch Hyder, on the other hand, thought it looked more like “smelly.” Of course, Hyder also pointed out the tree enthusiasts could read it from the bottom up and get “elms.” Yes, these are the things we notice.
League of Their Own: Western Kentucky’s Courtney Lee has gotten a lot of publicity for going from the Sun Belt to the NBA, and it’s certainly warranted. Lee is playing well for the Orlando Magic, including a 21-point performance by going 9-for-10 on Wednesday night.
However, another Sun Belt alum is considerably more established in the NBA, and his number is hanging in the rafters of the Jack Stephens Center here at UALR. Derek Fisher played for the Trojans from 1992-96, culminating in a SBC championship his senior season. Since then, Fisher helped the Los Angeles Lakers win three-consecutive NBA Championships from 1999-2002, and played on two other Laker teams that lost in the Finals, including last year. Fisher returned to L.A. after three years with Golden State and Utah, to help the Lakers reach the Finals before falling to the Boston Celtics.
Yearly travel totals:
Total Flights – 17
Total Mileage Flown – 15,584
Total Bus Miles – 1,506
Total Number of Hotels – 14
Total Number of Different Airports – 11
Total Number of Airline Delays – 1
Total Number of Cancelled Flights – 1
Total Number of Bags Lost – 3
Total Number of Games as a Head Coach for Joe Scott after Tonight – 250
Total Number of Snuggies Ads Passed by the Team Bus – 1 ($14.99 at Walgreens)
So, spirits were very high after beating Middle Tennessee last night, which added to the victories over both NCAA Tournament teams from last season. In fact, the Pioneers are within an overtime period of heading into the game at UALR on a four-game winning streak over the top teams in the SBC East Division.
With that, UALR is playing very well this season. In the nonconference season, the Trojans beat Creighton at home, and took out Pepperdine and Oral Roberts on the road. They narrowly dropped an eight-point loss to Memphis, which came within 2:13 of a national championship last year but lost to Kansas. UALR has won 16 games this season, and the team leads the SBC West Division by a solid four games with seven left to play.
The good news is the Pioneers are one of the teams tied for second place behind the Trojans. The less-than-good news is that DU is tied with Arkansas State, North Texas and Louisiana-Lafayette, while New Orleans sits just a half game behind those four teams. With that many teams bunched together, the fight to host first round games in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament is full swing.
The seeding for the tournament is somewhat confusing, but here are the basics. The top team from each division (currently Western Kentucky and UALR) and the team with the next best record will all receive first round byes and automatically advance to the quarterfinals in Hot Springs, Ark. The fourth through eighth seeds will host a first round game, in which No. 4 would play No. 13, No. 5 would play No. 12, and so on.
I know people might be growing tired of hearing how young this team is, but it seems to be less of an excuse or apology than it is a sense of amazement at this point. This team has played really well since Dec. 9, going 9-6 in those 15 games. DU has put up double-digit leads in four road games, even if the team did eventually lose. And those six losses? They were by a total of 18 points. That’s three points per game – or an average of a single possession. That sounds more like a veteran team than the youngest team in the nation.
Elevation: The elevator in the Jack Stephens Center has no numbers associated to each floor. Instead, from top to bottom, it spells “S-M-L-E.” I mentioned that it was nice that the elevator buttons look like “smile.” Mitch Hyder, on the other hand, thought it looked more like “smelly.” Of course, Hyder also pointed out the tree enthusiasts could read it from the bottom up and get “elms.” Yes, these are the things we notice.
League of Their Own: Western Kentucky’s Courtney Lee has gotten a lot of publicity for going from the Sun Belt to the NBA, and it’s certainly warranted. Lee is playing well for the Orlando Magic, including a 21-point performance by going 9-for-10 on Wednesday night.
However, another Sun Belt alum is considerably more established in the NBA, and his number is hanging in the rafters of the Jack Stephens Center here at UALR. Derek Fisher played for the Trojans from 1992-96, culminating in a SBC championship his senior season. Since then, Fisher helped the Los Angeles Lakers win three-consecutive NBA Championships from 1999-2002, and played on two other Laker teams that lost in the Finals, including last year. Fisher returned to L.A. after three years with Golden State and Utah, to help the Lakers reach the Finals before falling to the Boston Celtics.
Yearly travel totals:
Total Flights – 17
Total Mileage Flown – 15,584
Total Bus Miles – 1,506
Total Number of Hotels – 14
Total Number of Different Airports – 11
Total Number of Airline Delays – 1
Total Number of Cancelled Flights – 1
Total Number of Bags Lost – 3
Total Number of Games as a Head Coach for Joe Scott after Tonight – 250
Total Number of Snuggies Ads Passed by the Team Bus – 1 ($14.99 at Walgreens)
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