Troy - 2/12/11

TROY, Ala. - There is considerably less snow here in Central Alabama. In fact, there's none. It's sunny and pretty nice outside.  

Troy is not the easiest place to get in and out of, so the men's and women's teams flew one of their few charters of the year yesterday, landing around 6 p.m. in Dothan, Ala., before jumping on a bus for the hour-long drive north to drive.

As usual, the team dropped the bags off at the hotel and headed to dinner. This morning, everyone gathered in a meeting room for scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes and cereal.

After shoot around, the team will head back to the hotel to clean up and rest before pregame meal. When we arrive at the hotel, everyone will walk up to their rooms, only to discover that the keys no longer work, and everyone has to get them reactivated in the lobby. Happens every time.

As Kyle Lewis mentioned a few times last summer, pregame will be "Coach Scott's famous pasta and chicken." In all likelihood, it will consist of noodles and meat sauce, salad, fresh fruit, some sort of steamed vegetable, grilled chicken and rolls.

It's a doubleheader tonight with the women starting at 4:15 p.m. MT, and the men will tip off 30 minutes after that game (scheduled for 6:30 p.m. MT, but more likely a few minutes later).

About Troy - This is almost certainly DU's last trip to Troy, based on the preliminary schedules for next year, which have the Trojans heading to Denver.

That means it's unlikely that the Pioneers will ever play in Trojan Arena, which is being built nearby and is slated to open in time for next season. Based on the renderings, it looks like it will be a nice addition to this campus, which is much nicer than people might assume.

Most of the buildings are brick and very well maintained, and there is a quad area at the center of campus which leads into the main administration building.

What really makes Troy a nice place, though, is the people, who are as friendly as any place we travel.

Sure, we've been known to point out some of the obscure aspects of the school, including the extraordinary number of Survivor contestants from here (at least three, including Tocantins winner J.T. Thomas, Jr. and Marquesas winner Vecepia Towery), but Troy has had quite a bit of success in sports over the years.

Men's basketball coach Don Maestri has done a very nice job during his 30 years at Troy, including a Sun Belt regular season championship and NIT bid last season. The Troy football team won national championships in NAIA (1946) and Division II (1984 and 1987) before turning Division I in 2004. The Trojans adjusted well, upsetting No. 17 Missouri just a few weeks into that first season, and they continue to excel, winning the past five SBC championships.

As usual, we like to mention a few of the distinguished alumni from the schools we visit. In addition to the reality "stars" mentioned previously, Troy boasts DeMarcus Ware (Dallas Cowboys), Jill Dobson (Fox News) and Windham Rotunda. Who is Windham Rotunda? He's a professional wrestler in the WWE, who goes by Husky Harris and is a member of The Nexus. He has also wrestled under the names Alex Rotundo and Duke Rotundo.

Happy Birthday: For the record, Blake Foeman turned 20 back in December. Somehow that note ended up in the last blog again. Our apologizes to Blake for the error, but then again we like to treat every day like Blake's birthday.

Yearly travel totals:       
Total Flights, regular season only - 14

Total Mileage by Air, regular season only - 11,657

Total Mileage by Air, including Spain - 21,935

Total Mileage by Bus, regular season only - 1,326

Total Mileage by Bus, including Spain - 2,701

Total Number of Hotels - 10

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 - 2

Total Number of Hotel Key Cards That Worked after Shoot Around This Season - 0