LARAMIE, Wyo. – It’s
9:30 a.m., just over six hours away from tipoff, and the Pioneers just rolled
into Arena Auditorium for an early shoot around. As always, the team began the
practice session with dribbling drills, cutting and spinning, while running from
baseline to baseline. After that, it’s on to center court, where the guys stand
in five lines and pass the ball in a star-like formation.
We loaded the bus yesterday afternoon at 4:30, just after
practice. About halfway through the ride, the rain started falling, and by the
time we hit the Wyoming border the snow was coming down. The highway was pretty
slick, based on the handful of accidents we passed, which added about an hour
to a trip that’s normally just over two hours. We woke up today to an inch or
two remaining on the ground, not too bad, but the sky is gray. Someone
mentioned this morning that after such a nice, long autumn winter may be just a
little harder to adapt to this year.
The gray outside is visible through small windows at the top
of Arena Auditorium – or the Double A or the Dome of Doom, both of which I have
heard references to this morning – and the cloudy skies blend in with the dark
brown and Dijon mustard colored seats, separated into seven stripes going up to
the top of the arena. The town of Laramie has been built up quite a bit in the
two years since the team has played here, including a new hotel overlooking the
football stadium and arena.
There have been a few questions about what the team did on
Thanksgiving. With just two days between games, the team needed to prepare for
the Cowboys, but the players started in the morning and were done with plenty
of time to eat turkey and mashed potatoes. On a team with nine players from
Colorado, most of the players could spend the afternoon and evening with their families.
Likewise, the parents of freshmen Brian Stafford and Tyler Thalken traveled to
Denver for a long weekend, so they spent the holiday with his family, as well.
The other guys from out-of-state either had relatives in town or found a
teammate’s family to adopt them for the day.
One of the best parts of playing regional games is that right
after the game, the team will jump back on the bus and head back to Denver. Last
week after the Lamar game was pretty typical of most of our trips. We checked
out of our hotel in Beaumont before heading to the arena, and after the game we
jumped on a bus to Houston, where we checked into another hotel near the
airport. The next morning, we woke up, grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed
to the airport to fly back home. Needless to say, the players and coaches would
rather go home after the games and sleep in their own beds. We are all pleased
that we will head home tonight, weather permitting. According to John
Fitzgerald, DU’s director of basketball operations, Princeton played a game at
Wyoming, when he was working for Joe Scott’s staff there. They flew into Denver
and took a bus to Laramie, but I-80 was closed on their way up, and they were
forced to spend the night in a budget motel in Cheyenne before continuing to the game the following day.
Hopefully it stays fairly clear today, especially since
Denver fans will be hitting the road in a few hours to provide support at the
game this afternoon. A group of fans and cheerleaders are loading up a few packed
busses around noon today. As I said in the last blog, it’s always nice to see
some friendly faces in enemy territory. It should be even nicer to see
bus-loads this afternoon.
Finally, if you did not make the trip to Wyoming, you can
still watch it on The Mountain. Former DU color analyst Mike Evans, who called
action on Pioneer radio broadcasts for six years, will be handling play-by-play
(a late change for Tim Neverett, who was originally scheduled). Working as
color analyst for the broadcast will be Larry Mangino, who spent seven years as
an assistant at Air Force, including four under head coach Joe Scott.
Yearly travel totals:
Total Flights – 6
Total Mileage Flown
– 3,511
Total Bus Miles –
602
Total Number of
Hotels – 4
Total Number of Different
Airports – 4
Total Number of
Airline Delays – 0
Total Number of Bags
Lost – 0
Total Number of
Waffles in the Shape of a State – 1 (Texas)
No comments:
Post a Comment