The team is currently at shoot around at Frost Arena on the campus of South Dakota State University. Yesterday was a nice, uneventful travel day. The team practiced in Hamilton Gymnasium in the morning before loading on the bus for the airport and an easy flight to Sioux Falls, S.D. The bus ride to Brookings was only an hour.
Apparently it's hunting
season. Or at least a big, orange sign welcomed hunters as we walked through
the airport, and another sign waited in the lobby of the hotel (pictured with Andrew Hooper). For the record,
the hotel is nice. The last time the team stayed here, we walked into a
beautiful, new lobby that was still sparkling. Then we went through a glass
door that led to our rooms. And 1952. That door was like a portal into an
earlier time, complete with shag carpet and cracking walls. This hotel is
considerably better.Frost Arena is also a nice venue, and it might have the nicest scoreboards in college sports. Daktronics, which makes a good number of the scoreboards around the country, was founded here in Brookings in 1968 by a South Dakota State alum. The scoreboard has large video screens on four sides, which are easily visible from every seat. There are also two wide video screens hanging above each basket and another one for ads in front of press row.
The Pioneers are playing here for the third time in the past five years. The first two were action-packed, but Denver came out on the losing end both times in heartbreaking fashion. In 2005, the Jacks hit a three-pointer that was determined to be before the buzzer to tie the game, and South Dakota State won 81-78 in overtime. DU led by two with 90 seconds remaining two years ago, but Garrett Callahan (Preseason All-Summit League First Team member this year) nailed a three-pointer, and the Jackrabbits sealed the game on free throws in the final minute.
As for South Dakota State, they have one of the best mascots in sports, at least from a Monty Python and the Holy Grail-sort of way. Their logo really makes a Jackrabbit look fierce, especially hanging in the rafters next to Oral Roberts' Foghorn Leghorn lookalike. The school itself may not have a ton of notable alumni, but it did produce Tom Daschle, former Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate, and four-time Super Bowl champion Adam Vinatieri.
Numbers Game: I have been getting a lot of questions about freshman Chase Hallam and his uniform number. Chase is listed in the media guide, on the website and almost everywhere else as No. 32. However, he wore No. 35 for the first four games at home this season. Let's just call it a wardrobe malfunction. Another jersey has been ordered, and Chase will be wearing a No. 32 home jersey soon. There are no problems with the road jersey, so tonight should mark the first game that Chase wears No. 32.
Badlands, You've Gotta Live It Every Day: Radio man Mitch Hyder has turned into a bit of an ironman in the northern states this week, as he calls both the men's and women's basketball teams. He called the women on Tuesday night in Missoula, Mont., returned to Denver to call the men's game on Wednesday, traveled with us to Brookings, S.D., for tonight's contest, and he heads to Fargo to call the women against tomorrow before returning back to Denver. Allegedly, Hyder tried to find a game to call in Idaho but couldn't.
Yearly travel totals:
Total Flights - 1
Total Mileage Flown - 483
Total Bus Miles - 94
Total Number of Hotels - 1
Total Number of Different Airports - 2
Total Number of Airline Delays - 0
Total Number of Cancelled Flights - 0
Total Number of Bags Lost This Year - 0
Total Number of "Welcome Hunters" Signs - 2
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