Sunday, March 8, 2009

Sun Belt Conference Touranment - 3/8/09

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The Pioneers are back in Arkansas for the fourth time in the past five weeks, and not a single person is complaining about it. It’s Sun Belt Conference Tournament time down here, and there is an excitement as teams and fans walk through town.
The team arrived in Little Rock late on Friday night and stayed there because practice time was easier to come by at UALR than it would have been in Hot Springs, where there were four women’s games at Summit Arena yesterday. After practice, the players loaded back on the bus, headed about 60 minutes to Hot Springs and checked into the Arlington Hotel, an old place that has a bit of resemblance to the Stanley in Estes Park, Colo. Needless to say, the term “Redrum” has been utter more than a couple times (among other references to The Shining).
It seemed a little strange yesterday being on the road but not having a game. Most of the players took a walk through downtown, and of course several of them could be founding studying in the hotel lobby, since finals are coming up next week.
After dinner last night, the team headed over to Summit Arena to watch the first half of the DU women’s game, but with the late game time and an early wakeup call summoning, the players headed back to the hotel to catch some sleep. On top of losing an hour with last night’s time change, DU’s shootaround time was 8:40 a.m. That may not seem especially early, but when considering the game is not until prime time, most teams prefer to sleep in longer and make sure they are rested.
With eight teams competing today, each school gets only 20 minutes on the court to get used to the baskets, as opposed to the usual hour. In order to get more preparation, the team headed immediately to Lakeside High School’s Ram Arena. The intimate gym feels like a full circle to the first practice of the year.
After this, the team will eat breakfast and then try to pass some time until the tip at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, when the Pioneers will take on Arkansas-Little Rock.
Bag Update: There were a record number of comments sent in after the last blog about the team’s bags not arriving in Monroe. To answer the most common question, the team fortunately did receive everything on the first flight of the day, although that plane did not arrive until 1:40 – long after the original shootaround time. Everyone grabbed his duffle from the baggage claim, took out practice gear and changed on the bus on the way to campus. Since we missed the time set aside to practice, the court was unavailable, but ULM arranged time for us to go through an abbreviated session in the student rec center. Based on the results, it worked out OK.
However, it is only right to offer the top responses when we asked for backup suggestions in case the uniforms did not arrive:
1.       Tank tops with Sharpied numbers
2.       Snuggie, which was offering a 2-for-1 deal
3.       ULM’s leftover women’s uniforms from their Think Pink event a few weeks prior
About Hot Springs: The boyhood home of Bill Clinton is surrounded on three sides by the Hot Springs National Park. The hotels are all within walking distance of the Arena, and the downtown section is lined with restaurants and other establishments.
And, of course, there are taps in the middle of town, where people bring bottles to fill up with natural spring water. Even though it’s only an hour from Arkansas-Little Rock, Hot Springs really has the feel of a neutral site – a place where fans from every team can gather and cheer for their teams. Based on the number of team shirts, there are plenty of fans for every team.
Yearly travel totals:                          
Total Flights – 24
Total Mileage Flown – 23,178
Total Bus Miles – 2,004
Total Number of Hotels – 19
Total Number of Different Airports – 15
Total Number of Airline Delays – 1
Total Number of Cancelled Flights – 1
Total Number of Bags Lost This Year – 28
Total Number of the Trips Involving the Little Rock Airport in the Past Five Weeks – 4 (at UALR, refueling on the way back to Denver from Florida Atlantic, at Arkansas State and the Sun Belt Conference Tournament)


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