Thursday, December 15, 2011

Northern Colorado - 12/15/11

DENVER - A few people expressed their disappointment that yesterday's road game did not feature a blog. So Pioneer Pete, David Kummer and anyone else looking for a blog yesterday, this one is for you.

The normal road game for the Pioneers features a midmorning breakfast, a light shoot around in the opponent's arena, chicken and pasta around 3 p.m., and a whole lot of rest time in hotel rooms.

With yesterday's game being just up the road in Greeley, Colo., the team stayed on campus until nearly 4 p.m., just after the pregame meal, before loading the bus and riding about an hour north to Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion.

While the Pioneers did not play their best basketball during the first half, redshirt sophomore Blake Foeman came off the bench and provided some much needed energy to the team.

Sometimes a player makes a big contribution to a win, even if the stat sheet doesn't necessarily show it.

That was the case with Foeman last night, which is why he more than doubled his previous career high in minutes played. Foeman had never played more than 11 minutes in a game. Last night, he played 23.

Foeman had five points, a couple of rebounds and assists, and a block. He also took a charge and did not have a turnover, while providing good perimeter defense. Foeman works hard during practice and keeps getting better. His contributions, especially last night, should not go overlooked.

Something to Talk About: It's nice to see media around the state and the country taking notice of Denver's 7-2 start.

In addition to superblogger Brendan Loy, who writes a nice blog called Mile High Mids and also contributes to MidMajority.com, some of the national writers are starting to take notice.

If you missed it, Myron Medcalf had a great story about the Pioneers on ESPN.com last week, a few days after Jeff Eisneberg called Denver a team to watch in a story on Yahoo! Sports.

ESPN's Joe Lunardi published his first Bracketology of the season, saying DU is a No. 14 seed and would face No. 3 seed Kansas in Omaha, Neb., if the season ended today.

And yesterday, former Pioneer great Nate Rohnert (from his computer France) was talking to ESPN commentator Fran Fraschilla on Twitter about this year's Denver team:

franfraschilla: My favorite stat so far: 6-2 Denver dead last (No. 345) in Offensive Rebounding % at 20%. Good news is they rarely give up fast break hoops!

naterohnert: @franfraschilla i think its because they never miss

franfraschilla: @naterohnert Guys like you were perfect for the offense. You still in Estonia?

franfraschilla: Former DU Pioneer star @naterohnert retweeting my stuff. He made great use of that Princeton offense! You still in Estonia?

naterohnert: @franfraschilla I'm in France now... DU will win the sun belt this year

franfraschilla: They're are a solid team with 3 Dallas kids I saw in HS a lot!

Finally, if you didn't see it, the Pioneers are ranked No. 23 in this week's Mid-Major Top 25.

Don't forget, Denver returns to Magness Arena to face future Western Athletic Conference rival Boise State on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. MT. Tickets are still available for $9-$15. Single-game tickets may be purchased in person at the Ritchie Center Box Office, by phone at 303-871-2336 or online at DenverPioneers.com. DU students are admitted to all Denver men's and women's basketball games FREE with their Pioneer Card.

See you at Magness Arena on Saturday.

Yearly travel totals:  
Total Flights - 8

Total Mileage by Air - 4,680

Total Mileage by Bus - 584

Total Number of Hotels - 4

Total Number of Different Airports - 6

Total Number of Airline Delays - 3

Total Number of Cancelled Flights - 0

Total Number of Bags Lost - 0

Total Number of Venues with Giant, Inflatable Animals - 1 (a 30-foot Bear at UNC)


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