Florida Atlantic - 2/9/12

BOCA RATON, Fla. - Yesterday's trip to Florida was completely uneventful, which is the way everyone prefers it.

The Pioneers practiced early Wednesday morning before heading to DIA for the four-hour flight to Fort Lauderdale.

For most of us, it was an ordinary flight, but freshman Royce O'Nealewas thrilled to catch a glimpse of the ocean and beach for the first time as the plane descended.

This trip also marks the first (and possibly only) chance that redshirt sophomore Blake Foeman will play in front of his hometown crowd.

Foeman grew up about 45 southwest of FAU in Weston, Fla. As a high school senior, Foeman attended the only game DU previously played in FAU Arena in 2009.

The Pioneers have actually traveled to play the Owls twice, but their first game during Joe Scott's first season in 2007-08 was played across town at the Count & Countess de Hoernle Sports and Cultural Center on the campus of Lynn University, due to the Republican Presidential Debates being held at Florida Atlantic.

In addition to a Foeman contingent, the Pioneers are expecting to see a few more familiar faces in the stands tonight. The parents of Rob Lewismade this final regular season trip in the Sun Belt Conference, as did the parents of Chase Hallam and Travis Hallam, and the parents of head coach Joe Scott spend their winters nearby.

Getting Back from Lafayette - In case you missed it from the various Twitter feeds reporting the situation, the Pioneers were a little concerned about getting back to Denver after playing at Louisiana-Lafayette last Thursday.

With the snow storm raging in Colorado, a lot of flights in and out of DIA were being canceled. The team didn't have a lot of options other than flying from Lafayette to Dallas-Fort Worth and hoping to make it home.

When the team approached the gate, there was a surprise waiting. Middle Tennessee, which was also flying to Denver for the game against the Pioneers, was on the same flight.

Yahoo Sports' Jeff Eisenberg did a nice job of capturing the somewhatawkward situation.

Needless to say, both teams ended up making it to arguably the most exciting basketball game in Magness Arena history.

The players (and everyone else in the DU Athletics Department) were ecstatic about the atmosphere surrounding the game and remain thankful for everyone that put in so much hard work to make it great.

It was exciting to have ESPN2 in the building, but it was even nicer to see so many fans having such a good time.

About Florida Atlantic - Sports fans will recognize a couple of head coaches at FAU. Men's basketball coach Mike Jarvis guided Boston University, George Washington and St. John's to the NCAA Tournament before taking over the Owls three seasons ago.

And until December, Howard Schnellenberger roamed the sidelines as football head coach. Schnellenberger guided the Miami Hurricanes to the 1983 national title and served as offensive coordinator for the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins.

Florida Atlantic was founded in 1964 and now has about 28,000 students. As a fairly young university, there is not an overwhelming list of notable alumni. However, Don Brewer, the drummer and founding member of Grand Funk Railroad, received a degree from here in 1990.

More Restaurants - Friend of the Blog Jason Plotkin wrote in to suggest a restaurant we omitted from the Best in the Belt Restaurant list.