MORAGA, Calif. - As
we were driving through the drizzling rain in the hills of Northern
California on our way to McKeon Pavilion, the bus ride brought back a
few memories of Spain. Fortunately, despite the winding roads around the
St. Mary's campus, they were all two lanes and the bus could drive
through (non-hairpin) turns without blasting a warning honk.
Even so, Mitch Hyder commented
that he was happy to work at Denver and not a place that might cause
motion sickness every time he drove to campus, like this one.
St. Mary's is about
30 minutes north and a little bit west of Oakland, and the team bus
drove through some of the legendary California freeway traffic on the
way to the hotel in Walnut Creek. If that town sounds familiar to
Pioneer fans, it's because it's part of junior guard Brian Stafford's introduction.
Stafford grew up on
Walnut Creek and still calls it home. During a break last summer,
Stafford returned home and played pickup games with St. Mary's players
and some other players who live in the surrounding area. Head coach Joe Scott and
the rest of the Pioneers are hoping Stafford's familiarity with the
court and the rims will translate into success during tonight's game.
It's probably safe to
say the 50 or so friends of family that are coming to watch Stafford
are hoping the same thing. Junior guard Alex Pickert,
who grew up in Carmel, Calif., a great town a couple hours down the
coast in the shadows of Pebble Beach Golf Course, rounded up a few
tickets for his family and friends, too. Rounding out the Denver
connection to the area, assistant coach A.J. Kuhle is from just up the road in Concord, Calif.
Rumor has it that an
impressive number of Denver alumni are planning to attend the game, as
well, and based on the size of this gym - which lists a capacity of
3,500 but appears much smaller - the percentage of DU fans to Gaels fans
might be significant.
For those unable to attend the game in Northern California, the live video stream will be available onPioneer Vision, although it will use St. Mary's commentators.
About St. Mary's: College
basketball fans are sure to recognize St. Mary's, which has had some
great seasons in recent years, including a run to the Sweet 16 of last
year's NCAA Tournament.
Names like Patrick Mills
and Omar Samhan became popular, as the Gaels became a major contender of
Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference played deep into March. (Side
note: The first 2,000 fans tonight will receive an Omar Samhan
bobblehead.)
But St. Mary's had some
pretty good teams in the past. There's a banner hanging in McKeon
Pavilion for the 1958-59 team, which went all the way to the NCAA
Tournament's Elite Eight. They lost one game shy of the Final Four to
eventual national champion California, who had a player named Dave
Stafford on its roster. Yes, that's Brian's grandfather.
Our good friend Brendan Loy, who started a blog about the Denver basketball team called Pioneer Pulse, pointed us Mid-Majority's "State of the Other 25," which ranks the top Mid-Major basketball teams in the nation.
As of yesterday, they had
St. Mary's ranked No. 1, pointing to strong wins against St. John's and
Texas Tech. They also pointed out that the Gaels are shooting better
than 50 percent and is getting 1.23 points for every shot they take.
What's a Gael?: As shoot around was starting, senior forward Rob Lewis leaned
over and asked, "What the heck is a Gael anyway?" A few of us kind of
laughed and then realized that we weren't totally sure either. We were
pretty sure it was some sort of Irish warrior. So we went to www.smcgaels.com to find out:
"The Gaels are an
ethno-linguistic group which spread from Ireland to Scotland and the
Isle of Man. Their language is of the Gaelic (Goidelic) family, a
division of Insular Celtic languages. The word in English was adopted in
1810 from Scottish Gaelic Gaidheal (compare Irish Gaedhealg and Old
Irish Goídeleg) to designate a Highlander (OED). Gael or Goídeleg was
first used as a collective term to describe people from Ireland; it is
thought to have come from Welsh Gwyddel (Old Welsh Goídel), originally
"raider", now "Irish person". Many people who do not speak Gaelic
consider themselves to be 'Gaels' in a broader sense because of their
ancestry and heritage."
Where There's Smoke: This
morning's shoot around was going great until a shrill fire alarm
blasted throughout the gym. Despite the faint smell of smoke, it was a
false alarm, and the players and coaches did their best to ignore it.
Maybe it will work as a drill to drown out the hostile crowd this
evening.
Travel Partners?: As
the Pioneers were heading to baggage claim yesterday, the men's
basketball team from San Diego State exited their flight a few gates
away. The Aztecs will take on Cal tonight in Berkeley.
Happy Birthday: Redshirt freshman forward Blake Foeman is celebrating his 20th birthday today.
Back in the Bay: Denver
radio voice Mitch Hyder and I landed at the Oakland airport for the
third time in as many Pioneer road trips this season. Although we
normally travel with the team, extenuating circumstances forced us to
fly through San Francisco coming back from Eugene, Ore., and on our way
to Boise, Idaho.
Yearly travel totals:
Total Flights, regular season only - 5
Total Mileage by Air, regular season only - 4,209
Total Mileage by Air, including Spain - 14,452
Total Mileage by Bus, regular season only - 351
Total Mileage by Bus, including Spain - 2,101
Total Number of Hotels - 3
Total Number of Different Airports - 4
Total Number of Airline Delays - 0
Total Number of Cancelled Flights - 0
Total Number of Bags Lost This Year - 1
Total Number of Fire Alarms Ignored During Practice - 1
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