Arkansas State - 1/30/10

JONESBORO, Ark. - Most of us feel like we've been through everything on the road. Ask trainer Pat Hoxsey or radio voice Mitch Hyder, who both have been with the Pioneers for over a decade, and they'll tell you some pretty strange stories from the road, including a memorable ride from Jonesboro to Memphis in 2004, when the team bus caught fire (and Hyder saved a slab of ribs as he evacuated).

This blizzard that hit Arkansas during the past few days was a new one for us, though. This was the first time that the Denver team had seen snow fall during a Sun Belt Conference road trip.

Needless to say, the fine people of Arkansas were not sure exactly how to react. Just about everything in Jonesboro closed yesterday. The woman at the hotel front desk told someone, "I think there's a gas station open." Last night, there was only one restaurant in town that remained open, although the hotel cooked dinner for the team.

The lead news report yesterday evening was about a woman whose car went completely out of control. In the mayhem that followed, her car slid, grazed a tree and broke the passenger side window.

This morning on the way to shoot around, the coaching staff had to run to the parking lot and literally push the bus, which was stuck on some ice. To be clear, it only snowed about four inches, but they really are not accustomed to this. The hotel doesn't have a shovel to clear the walkways.

Everyone is still hoping that the game goes off without a hitch, and the team will spend the night in Memphis before catching a flight back home tomorrow morning.

Yearly travel totals:       

Total Flights - 12

Total Mileage Flown - 8,455

Total Bus Miles - 1,294

Total Number of Hotels - 8

Total Number of Different Airports - 10

Total Number of Airline Delays - 1

Total Number of Cancelled Flights - 0

Total Number of Bags Lost This Year - 1

Total Number of Jonesboro Restaurants Open Last Night - 1

Arkansas-Little Rock - 1/28/10

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Looking out on the court during shoot around here at the Jack Stephens Center, it's nice to see director of basketball operations John Fitzgerald wearing his own clothing.

Fitzgerald, who does a great job of making sure that everything runs as smoothly as possible at home and on the road, was the first victim of lost luggage this season. During practice yesterday, he was wearing a collection of clothing from the other coaches, including shoes that were clearly bigger than his normal size.

All of us who have waited hours and/or days for an airline to finally deliver a clean change of clothing and a toothbrush know just how miserable it can be.

The team arrived at the Little Rock Airport yesterday afternoon, and it felt like home away from home. Loyal readers of this blog may remember that the team flew through this airport four of the last five weeks of last season.

The Jack Stephens Center is one of the nicer venues in the Sun Belt Conference with 5,600 seats, but the place has not been nice to the Pioneers. Denver is looking for its first win in Little Rock after falling in the first even trips to UALR. There is always a little added incentive to get revenge on the team that ended your season, which the Trojans did last year, and the Pioneers are hoping to do so tonight.

Rohnert Number Update: Chaparral High School did a nice job when they retired the No. 24 jersey of alum and current Pioneer Nate Rohnert last week. Nate's high school coach Jason Jacob, who has since left Chaparral, joined current Wolverines coach Robert Johnson during the ceremony.

In a nice move, Johnson's players all emerged from the lockerroom to watch the ceremony and show some appreciation for Rohnert.

Fortunately for everyone involved, the ceremony was nearly over when a fire alarm began blaring. It seems that someone burned popcorn in the concessions area, so everyone was ushered from the gym until safety was ensured.

The Red Light: When the team travels to a night game, like tonight, the Pioneers stay in a hotel until about 5 p.m., when they check out and head to the arena. In order to do this, special arrangements are made with the hotel to allow an extra late check out.

While it's a very convenient process for the most part, sometimes technology is not quite flawless. Most hotels are set to have the key cards expire no later than 2 p.m.

So at about 2:15 p.m., the lobby starts to fill with members of the travel party asking the front desk to reactivate their room keys. It's really not a problem or a big deal, but it is a fairly common occurrence, although it seems to happen most often when the block of rooms is in the farthest point in the hotel from the lobby. In fact, it's happened each of the last three trips to Little Rock, including today.

Fortunately, like usual, the woman at the front desk smiled each time and quickly fixed everyone's key.

Yearly travel totals:       

Total Flights - 12

Total Mileage Flown - 8,455

Total Bus Miles - 1,138

Total Number of Hotels - 7

Total Number of Different Airports - 10

Total Number of Airline Delays - 1

Total Number of Cancelled Flights - 0

Total Number of Bags Lost This Year - 1

Total Consecutive Years the Hotel Key Cards Have Been Deactivated in Little Rock - 1

Total Number of Fire Alarms Going off During Nate Rohnert's High School Jersey Retirement - 1

Nate Rohnert's Jersey - 1/19/10

DENVER - Tonight's a big night for Nate Rohnert. He's heading back to his old stomping grounds at Chaparral High School, which is going to retire Nate's high school jersey during halftime of the Wolverines game against Mountain Vista.

A four-year starter, Nate remains Chaparral's all-time career leader in points, assists and steals. As a senior, he led the Wolverines to the Colorado Class 5A Great 8 and earned All-Colorado honors.

Nate is now a senior guard with the Pioneers and continues to climb up the Denver record books. Rohnert is 18th on DU's all-time scorer list with 1,145 points, 11 points from John Johnson (1,156 points) for 17th place and 21 away from Mark Ziegler (1,166 points) in 16th place. The senior captain is sixth on Denver's all-time career list with 316 assists, 327 career free throws made and 456 free throw attempts. With 109 career steals, Rohnert is two shy of Dave Collignon (111) for 10th place on DU's all-time list.

Last year Nate was named All-Sun Belt Conference First Team, and he already has won SBC Player of the Week honors twice this season.

This is quite an honor for Nate, and it's well deserved.

Caught Traveling: For whatever reason, the Denver team always seems to run into trouble traveling to and from Monroe, La., the site of last Saturday's game.

Two years ago, we planned to drive to Shreveport after the night game against the Warhawks, catch some sleep and then jump on the first flight of the morning to Dallas, where we would connect to Denver. However, as we were pulling into the hotel around 2 a.m., the airline called to let us know that our morning flight had been cancelled. So, we checked into the hotel, slept for about an hour and then jumped right back in the bus for a four-hour ride to Dallas.

Regular readers of this blog might remember the memorable trip to Monroe last season, when the airline forgot to load the luggage of every member of the DU travel party on the plane, leaving the team to wonder if they would have uniforms for the game.

This year's trip was perhaps not to the level of those last two, but it did showcase a few examples of the challenges, or at least odd situations, that the team faces on the road.

After the two-hour drive through a rainstorm, the team arrived at the Shreveport Regional Airport and was told that the flight had been delayed by an hour. That was concerning, considering that our connection time was roughly 60 minutes. Quick calculations determined that we were better off taking the chance, since trying to drive to DFW in time would have been nearly impossible.

Chase Hallam told me that he had been looking forward to getting something to eat while we waited at the airport. Call it a freshman mistake. Because we were apparently on the final flight of the day, nothing was open in the airport.

There were some vending machines and a microwave, so at least one of the coaches dined on Cup Noodles.

Instead of being an hour delayed, the airline representative came on the intercom early to say, "Due to the weather, we are going to ask everyone to board at once, instead of by the usual sections." None of us had any idea why weather affected such a things, but we lined up anyway.

As the final two members of the travel party were boarding, the gentleman taking the boarding passes stopped them and said, "I have a question for you guys. Do either of you have a dollar that I can have?" In mild shock, they shook their heads and handed him their boarding passes.

It seems that one person on the plane did not match the number of boarding passes they had (they were collected, not scanned), so to figure out who the extra passenger was, they called role. Just as a second grade teacher might on the first day of class, they called each name and the corresponding passenger pushed the flight attendant call button. Everyone got a nice laugh when they butchered trainer Pat Hoxsey's and assistant coach's A.J. Kuhle's names.

In the end, one passenger had inadvertently kept his boarding pass and after handing it over, the propellers started spinning and we were ready for takeoff.

When we arrived to Dallas, there was just enough time to rush to the connector gate, leaving Chase Hallam even hungrier.

Despite the challenges - and short delay - the team made it back to Denver and their own beds on Saturday night. By the way, in order to remember all the details, all notes were written on an airsickness bag.

One Last Thing: One astute reader of the last blog questioned the final statistic on the "Yearly travel totals," which read, "Total Number of Dead Opossums that Assistant Coach Jon Jordan Saw on His Run in Monroe - 1."

To answer your question, Dan W. of Denver, there is a distinct possibility that the animal was not dead and was simply "playing opossum." Truth be told, I went running along the same route as Coach Jordan later in the day but saw no evidence of a opossum, either dead or alive.

Thanks for reading, Dan W., and please keep those questions and comments rolling in.

Yearly travel totals:       

Total Flights - 11

Total Mileage Flown - 7,685

Total Bus Miles - 1,089

Total Number of Hotels - 6

Total Number of Different Airports - 9

Total Number of Airline Delays - 1

Total Number of Cancelled Flights - 0

Total Number of Bags Lost This Year - 0

Total Number of Ticket Takers Who Asked the Team for $1 - 1

Louisiana-Monroe - 1/16/10

Monroe, La. – Playing a day game on the road always feels a little strange. The pregame meal that everyone is used to consists of salad, baked chicken, pasta, some sort of veggies and rolls.

But when it’s a day game, that meal is replaced by scrambled eggs, potatoes, breakfast meets and bagels. Everyone tends to look a little sleepier for those pregame meals, too.

Monroe is also a little different from most of the towns that the team visits. I’m not sure the players always know where they are, because they spend their time in airports, hotels and arenas with little time to explore. Usually, though, they at least can walk to a grocery store to pick up snacks.

The hotel we stay at in Monroe is across the street from the Ike Hamilton Exposition Center and a John Deere dealership. There is virtually nothing else around (aside from a nice running trail that the coaches have used), so the players tend to hang out in the rooms studying and watching quality television. I hear Jersey Shore is particularly popular with some of the players, as well as the others who like to make fun of Jersey Shore.

The Ag Expo is being held across the street, and the team shared the hotel with the Louisiana Cattlemen’s and Cattlewomen’s Associations.

Today’s game is on the Sun Belt Network and tape delayed on FSN Rocky Mountain tonight at 9 p.m. MT.

Unfortunately the team will be unable to watch that tape delay, but only because we are heading back to Denver this evening, which I am sure all of us are happy about.

Yearly travel totals:  

Total Flights – 9

Total Mileage Flown – 6,851

Total Bus Miles – 977

Total Number of Hotels – 6

Total Number of Different Airports – 7

Total Number of Airline Delays – 0

Total Number of Cancelled Flights – 0

Total Number of Bags Lost This Year – 0

Total Number of Water Glasses Dumped on Mitch Hyder’s Lap at Dinner Last Night – 4

Total Number of Dead Opossums that Assistant Coach Jon Jordan Saw on His Run in Monroe – 1

Louisiana-Lafayette - 1/14/10

LAFAYETTE, La. - The team is shooting around in a semi-dark Cajundome. The main lights are coming on, but the players had to start warming up with little more than the advertisements from the various video boards lighting the court.

This dome is enormous. It has capacity for 11,500 for basketball games, but the height of the place seems endless. The Cajuns have drawn as many as 11,479 for a game (in 1992) and have drawn over 10,000 five times, although most of their largest crowds were during the late '80s and early '90s. 

The biggest crowd in Cajundome history was in the first week of operation in 1985, when 13,500 filled the dome to watch Kenny Rogers.

The Denver team left campus yesterday after a morning practice and flew through Houston before arriving in Lafayette around 8 p.m. Most times, the team avoids connections (and the higher risk of lost luggage) by flying directly into the nearest possible airport. In the past, we have flown to Baton Rouge or New Orleans before bussing for a few hours to Lafayette.

Everything went smoothly yesterday, however, and the flight from Houston to Lafayette actually took off ahead of schedule since all the passengers were there and ready to go.

After checking into the hotel, the players headed across the street to eat and then headed back to get some rest.

About Louisiana-Lafayette: ULL's campus is a nice and definitely Southern with cypress trees throughout. Cypress Lake, or "The Swamp," sits right outside the student union with various signs that advise visitors not to feed the alligators and to keep pets on their leashes.

None of the players can confirm any of this, of course, since the Cajundome is far enough away that none of them have actually seen it.

Among ULL's athletic alumni are Carolina Panthers starting quarterback Jake Delhomme, Toronto Blue Jays closer B.J. Ryan, Denver Broncos receiver Brandon Stokley and New York Yankees legend Ron Guidry.

A few other alums: Former Miss USA Ali Landry, who may be better known for a Doritos commercial, and fitness guru Richard Simmons, whose picture is unfortunately nowhere to be seen around campus.

Yearly travel totals:  

Total Flights - 9

Total Mileage Flown - 6,851

Total Bus Miles - 782

Total Number of Hotels - 5

Total Number of Different Airports - 7

Total Number of Airline Delays - 0

Total Number of Cancelled Flights - 0

Total Number of Bags Lost This Year - 0

Total Abandoned Christmas Trees Inexplicably Lying Next to the Outback Steakhouse Parking Lot - 1

Bracketology - 1/11/10

DENVER - It probably goes without saying that the win over Western Kentucky on Sunday was big.

In addition to winning the last two Sun Belt Conference titles and being predicted to repeat by most preseason polls, the Hilltoppers are rich in tradition. WKU has captured 41 conference championships (third-most in NCAA history), won 20-or-more wins in 39 seasons, played in 21 NCAA Tournaments, collected the 14^th most victories in NCAA history and been to a Final Four (although it was later vacated).

People around the country started noticing the Pioneers and their 12-5 record before the game, but the win over the Hilltoppers amplified it.

Joe Lunardi predicts which 65 teams will play in the NCAA Tournament and where. In his latest Bracketology, published today on ESPN.com, Lunardi had Denver as the No. 15 seed, taking on No. 2 Purdue in the West Region.

If today's version of Bracketology turned out to be accurate, the Pioneers would be one of three teams from Colorado in the Big Dance. Lunardi also had Colorado State (No. 14 seed in the Midwest) and Northern Colorado (No. 13 seed in the West), both of which played DU this season. Northern Iowa, which played Denver in the season opener, was the No. 8 seed in the Midwest.

Great Scott: Our friends across campus in the University of Denver Communications Department put together a great video about head coach Joe Scott and the progress that the Pioneers have made.


More from Troy: Avid blog readers contacted us about a few notable Troy alumni that were left out of my previous blog.

Dan W. from Denver pointed out that the Buffalo Bills drafted Leodis McKelvin out of Troy University with the 11^th pick in the first round of the 2008 NFL draft.  

And, according to reader Steve H. from Highlands Ranch, Colo.: "Further research indicates that Troy has actually had multiple Survivor winners, which must rank it head and shoulders above any institution of higher education across the country. Not that anyone cares (including me), per Wikipedia, they've had 3 total contestants, 2 of who won."

Yearly travel totals:  

Total Flights - 7

Total Mileage Flown - 5,773

Total Bus Miles - 746

Total Number of Hotels - 4

Total Number of Different Airports - 5

Total Number of Airline Delays - 0

Total Number of Cancelled Flights - 0

Total Number of Bags Lost This Year - 0

Troy - 1/2/10

TROY, Ala. - The holidays are finished, and the Pioneers finished the 2009 portion of their schedule at 10-4 - their best start since returning to NCAA Division I. It's also only the third time in Denver history that the Pioneers have won 10 games before New Year's Day.

Senior Nate Rohnert became just the 28^th player in the 106-year history of Denver basketball to score 1,000 points in his career. Nate's sitting on 1,070 career points, which is 23^rd in DU history, and with 16 points he will jump to 21^st.

Rohnert is seventh in team history with 299 assists and 310 free throws made, and he's pulled down 429 rebounds.

If you missed junior Andrew Hooper's shot to win the Seattle game (No. 6 on the SportsCenter Top 10 that night), you can still catch it on Pioneer Vision along with Britteni Rice's game-winner for the DU women the night before.

And there are still 15 games left in the regular season.

Pioneer Comforts: The team was welcomed into a brand new hotel here in Troy. It's considerably nicer than another that the team stayed at in the past, affectionately referred to as the Bates Motel.

The trip in was fairly easy, as the men's and women's teams flew together, directly into Montgomery and bused an hour south.

The sun is shining with a brisk wind outside, while the Pioneers are inside Trojan Arena for shot around. Although it is a nice day, the team will hop right back on a plane tonight and head back to Denver.

About Troy: According to research guru Nicole Dupes, with the help of always reliable Wikipedia, Troy has one of the top collegiate rodeo programs east of the Mississippi. Unfortunately, it did not list the other collegiate rodeo programs east of the Mississippi, although Troy calf roper Ben Mayworth was the 2007 national champion.

Regular readers of this blog may remember that Troy's campus is home to a random red British phone booth. I am happy to report that it still resides in the middle of campus, but its door is now leaning against its side and there is still no phone inside.

Troy's notable alumni include NFL All-Pro linebacker DeMarcus Ware, Fox News' Jill Dobson and Survivor: Tocantins winner J.T. Thomas.  

Yearly travel totals:  

Total Flights - 4

Total Mileage Flown - 3,359

Total Bus Miles - 658

Total Number of Hotels - 4

Total Number of Different Airports - 5

Total Number of Airline Delays - 0

Total Number of Cancelled Flights - 0

Total Number of Bags Lost This Year - 0

Total Number of Names in the History of Troy - 6 (Troy State Normal School in 1887, Troy State Teachers College in 1929, Troy State College in 1957, Troy State University in 1967, and Troy University in 2005)