Friday, November 20, 2009

Final Exams - 11/20/09

DENVER - The 2009-10 basketball season is in full swing, although this weekend brings a slow workload hoops-wise, as the players concentrate on final exams. Since DU is on the quarter system, the school's holiday break begins as early as today for some students and no later than Monday, depending on the schedule of their finals, and it last through the New Year.

That means the players can concentrate on basketball without having to worry about class work for the next six weeks or so, during which the Pioneers will play a dozen games, including eight at home in Magness Arena.

The season is off to a good start. After dropping a hard-fought game to heavy Missouri Valley Conference favorite Northern Iowa, the Pioneers have won two straight heading into a clash with regional rival Wyoming on Wednesday, which should serve as a nice appetizer to a Thanksgiving Day full of college basketball, football and entirely way too much food.

Sports Illustrated put out its annual college basketball preview this week, and their experts predicted that all three DU opponents so far - Northern Iowa, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Montana -will make the NCAA Tournament.

As for Wyoming, there appears to have been a home-court advantage in the series during recent years. The Pioneers have won the last three meetings in Denver, while the Cowboys have taken the past four in Laramie.

Here's hoping that trend continues for another year.

In the Genes: The family of sophomore Brian Stafford was in town this weekend, and to say the Pioneers sharpshooter has athleticism in his genes is a drastic understatement. Look for a story on DenverPioneers.com early next week, as well as in the game program on Wednesday. Here's a preview: Brian's grandfather played basketball, his father played football and his mother was an All-American track star, all at Cal.

Discussing his grandfather David's career playing for Hall of Fame coach Pete Newell was fun, although I felt a little guilty about discussing his team's loss in the 1960 NCAA title game to Ohio State, which also marked the final game of Newell's career. It's just not fair to talk about that loss because it was one of the few defeats those teams suffered. During David's sophomore and junior years, the Golden Bears went a combined 53-6 and won the 1959 national championship against a West Virginian who later became the logo of the NBA.

Brian's dad, Pete, gets a sheepish grin when he's asked about his football career. He was a backup quarterback for Cal in the early 1980s and, according to him, might have thrown the ball 40 times in his career. He did, however, have a great vantage point of one of the great moments in college football history. In the final game of his career, Pete was on the sideline for what many simply call "The Play." Stanford had taken a one-point lead with four seconds remaining, but on the ensuing kickoff Cal used five lateral passes and ran over a few members of the Stanford band, as the Bears returned it for a touchdown and the win. That was also the last college game for the Stanford quarterback, after which he wore No. 7 for the Denver Broncos.

Yearly travel totals:                          

Total Flights - 0

Total Mileage Flown - 0

Total Bus Miles - 0

Total Number of Hotels - 0

Total Number of Different Airports - 0

Total Number of Airline Delays - 0

Total Number of Cancelled Flights - 0

Total Number of Bags Lost This Year - 0


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