Summer Jobs - 6/30/09

DENVER – June is winding down, which means the University of Denver basketball players are in full swing with summer classes and the coaches are getting ready to hit the recruiting trail again.

It always impresses me when I hear about how the DU athletes spend their summers. As mentioned in previous blogs, all of the basketball players are in Denver taking classes and working out.  It’s especially important for the newcomers to the program, who are learning the ways of Denver Basketball from the older players and are transitioning to life on their own. 

All of the players also worked at the Joe Scott Basketball Camps earlier this month, and Nate Rohnert and Andrew Hooper, along with DU women’s basketball players Ashly Robinson and Brianna Culberson, are working at the Chauncey Billups Basketball Academy this week down in Rohnert’s hometown of Parker, Colo. The report after Day One was that camp was going well and that Billups was doing a great job making sure all the kids were learning and having fun.

Then there are the Lewis brothers, as many people around the Ritchie Center refer to them because they always seem to be hanging out together – or perhaps it’s because they share the same last name.

Kyle Lewis and Rob Lewis are both finance majors who excel in the classroom, and both of them have landed internships at financial companies. 

Rob starts at Ryan Financial, and Kyle’s job is already underway at Lazarus Investment Partners. Kyle said the job is a great challenge and has immersed him in the financial world with everything coming at him pretty fast. This is how Kyle described it: “It’s kind of like learning a new language.”

It comes as no surprise that DU’s basketball players are spending their summers with internships, considering the grade point average of the returning players was right around 3.4 during the spring quarter. It really is an impressive group.

New Faces on Campus - 6/15/09

DENVER – Summer classes started this morning here at the University of Denver, and the newcomers to the men’s basketball team officially joined the DU community.

Freshmen Blake Foeman, Chase Hallam and Jeff Powers join transfer Trevor Noonan in taking their first classes at Denver, which also allows them to start weight training and conditioning, as well as open gym with the rest of the team.

“We are excited to have the guys on campus and starting to make an early transition to the challenges of college life,” head coach Joe Scott said. “I know that Nate Rohnert, Rob Lewis and Kyle Lewis and the rest of the upperclassmen will work with them this summer and prepare them for when workouts start in September.”

Joe Scott Basketball Camps: The Joe Scott Elite camp, which occurred from Friday to Sunday following a day camp earlier in the week, welcomed some of the best high school players in Colorado, as well as some from California, Florida, Missouri, Oregon, Texas and Wyoming.

The camp places a strong emphasis on overall individual skill improvement for players in grades 9-12, while also focusing on advanced offensive and defensive skills along with developing the competitiveness to be a college basketball player.

“The camps were well attended with high caliber players, who were eager to learn and improve their skills,” Scott said.

Obviously, the level of instruction was the highest caliber, as well, considering it was run by the Denver Basketball staff. In fact, both camps provided an excellent coaches-to-players ratio, providing participants with an exceptional amount of individualized instruction from Scott and his coaching staff.

Coach Scott will host a Team Camp on June 26-28, and more information can be found on DenverPioneers.com.

Sun Belt Conference Touranment - 3/8/09

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The Pioneers are back in Arkansas for the fourth time in the past five weeks, and not a single person is complaining about it. It’s Sun Belt Conference Tournament time down here, and there is an excitement as teams and fans walk through town.

The team arrived in Little Rock late on Friday night and stayed there because practice time was easier to come by at UALR than it would have been in Hot Springs, where there were four women’s games at Summit Arena yesterday. After practice, the players loaded back on the bus, headed about 60 minutes to Hot Springs and checked into the Arlington Hotel, an old place that has a bit of resemblance to the Stanley in Estes Park, Colo. Needless to say, the term “Redrum” has been utter more than a couple times (among other references to The Shining).

It seemed a little strange yesterday being on the road but not having a game. Most of the players took a walk through downtown, and of course several of them could be founding studying in the hotel lobby, since finals are coming up next week.

After dinner last night, the team headed over to Summit Arena to watch the first half of the DU women’s game, but with the late game time and an early wakeup call summoning, the players headed back to the hotel to catch some sleep. On top of losing an hour with last night’s time change, DU’s shootaround time was 8:40 a.m. That may not seem especially early, but when considering the game is not until prime time, most teams prefer to sleep in longer and make sure they are rested.

With eight teams competing today, each school gets only 20 minutes on the court to get used to the baskets, as opposed to the usual hour. In order to get more preparation, the team headed immediately to Lakeside High School’s Ram Arena. The intimate gym feels like a full circle to the first practice of the year.

After this, the team will eat breakfast and then try to pass some time until the tip at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, when the Pioneers will take on Arkansas-Little Rock.

Bag Update: There were a record number of comments sent in after the last blog about the team’s bags not arriving in Monroe. To answer the most common question, the team fortunately did receive everything on the first flight of the day, although that plane did not arrive until 1:40 – long after the original shootaround time. Everyone grabbed his duffle from the baggage claim, took out practice gear and changed on the bus on the way to campus. Since we missed the time set aside to practice, the court was unavailable, but ULM arranged time for us to go through an abbreviated session in the student rec center. Based on the results, it worked out OK.

However, it is only right to offer the top responses when we asked for backup suggestions in case the uniforms did not arrive:

1.       Tank tops with Sharpied numbers

2.       Snuggie, which was offering a 2-for-1 deal

3.       ULM’s leftover women’s uniforms from their Think Pink event a few weeks prior

About Hot Springs: The boyhood home of Bill Clinton is surrounded on three sides by the Hot Springs National Park. The hotels are all within walking distance of the Arena, and the downtown section is lined with restaurants and other establishments.

And, of course, there are taps in the middle of town, where people bring bottles to fill up with natural spring water. Even though it’s only an hour from Arkansas-Little Rock, Hot Springs really has the feel of a neutral site – a place where fans from every team can gather and cheer for their teams. Based on the number of team shirts, there are plenty of fans for every team.

Yearly travel totals:                          

Total Flights – 24

Total Mileage Flown – 23,178

Total Bus Miles – 2,004

Total Number of Hotels – 19

Total Number of Different Airports – 15

Total Number of Airline Delays – 1

Total Number of Cancelled Flights – 1

Total Number of Bags Lost This Year – 28

Total Number of the Trips Involving the Little Rock Airport in the Past Five Weeks – 4 (at UALR, refueling on the way back to Denver from Florida Atlantic, at Arkansas State and the Sun Belt Conference Tournament)

Louisiana-Monroe - 2/26/09

MONROE, La. – What would a basketball team do if it showed up for a road game and had no shoes or uniforms? That’s the question the Pioneers face today after a certain airline (let’s just say it flies the American skies) left all 25 of the team’s bags in Dallas. In case you’re wondering, the travel party comprised 21 of the plane’s 50 seats, and there are only two daily flights between Dallas and Monroe.

After assistant coach Jon Jordan, quite possibly the most patient man on the planet, sat on hold with the airline for two hours, there is hope that the team’s equipment will arrive on the first flight at 1:33 p.m. While that means the players have no shoes or practice gear in time for the scheduled shoot around at noon, at least they would have uniforms and shoes by game time.

That’s better than a thought by an airline representative, who suggested the team buy enough shoes and gear for five players, since only five are on the court at a time. Apparently, each substitute would then trade clothes with the guy coming off the court.

In the meantime, everyone is hanging out, waiting at the Hilton Garden Inn, which has been incredibly helpful in the situation, even running out to get enough toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant and contact lens solution for everybody. We are open to suggestions on what to wear at the Fant tonight. Feel free to send e-mails to michael.kennedy@du.edu, if you have any ideas.

Who Wants Frozen Custard?: As most Denver basketball fans know, the  Pioneers ended “The Streak” on Saturday, winning on the road for the first time in 43 consecutive road games. However, it should be pointed out that the 2008-09 squad was responsible for only a small fraction of that with a 12-game streak. In fact, only two people in DU’s travel party have been there for all 43 games, and one of those guys is trainer Pat Hoxsey, who also has seen an awful lot of road victories in 15 years in the job.

People have asked whether the team reacted like they had won a championship. The answer? They slapped a few high fives, shook hands with Arkansas State and walked into the locker room, just like they always do at home. Of course, the coaches did want to reward the players, so head coach Joe Scott told the bus driver to pull into a frozen custard stand just down the road from the arena, and everyone loaded up with milkshakes and malts. Needless to say, it could not have tasted better.

Now, the torch of the road losing streak is passed on to Sacramento State (36-straight) and New Jersey Institute of Technology (31-straight). The Pioneers, meanwhile, are going for their second-straight road win and four-consecutive win overall, at the Fant-Ewing Arena tonight.

About Monroe: Recently Monroe, La., has found a name for itself on the HBO show “True Blood.” While we have not run across any vampires, we can tell you that ULM is the alma mater of country singer Tim McGraw, baseball All-Stars Ben Sheets and Chuck Finley, and Breaux Greer. Who is Breaux Greer, you ask? That would be Hurricane from American Gladiators. According to the NBC website, “Run for cover as fast as you can whenever Hurricane blows into Gladiator Arena. Appearing without warning and striking with enough energy to blow down a mountain, those contenders unlucky enough to cross his path will experience a truly perfect storm of sheer athletic prowess and destructive Gladiator instinct” (http://www.nbc.com/American_Gladiators/bios/hurricane.shtml). With the potential for a storm like that, the risk of vampires appears considerably less fearsome. (Thanks to ULM sports information director Jeff Hendrix for providing that vital piece of information.)

Yearly travel totals:                          

Total Flights – 22

Total Mileage Flown – 21,471

Total Bus Miles – 1,892

Total Number of Hotels – 18

Total Number of Different Airports – 15

Total Number of Airline Delays – 1

Total Number of Cancelled Flights – 1

Total Number of Bags Lost Yesterday – 25 (of 25)

Total Number of Bags Lost This Year – 28

Total Number of the Travel Party that Showed up at Breakfast in the Same Clothes They Wore Yesterday – 21 (of 21)

Arkansas State - 2/21/09

JONESBORO, Ark. – The Pioneers are running through shoot around in the Convocation Center at Arkansas State, while the weather outside the building is cold and rainy. The team flew into Little Rock yesterday afternoon and bussed a little more than two hours to Jonesboro in northeastern Arkansas.

The season is in its final stretch with three games remaining. While the coaches want the players to focus on continuing to improve and winning games, those of us at the scorer’s table are gazing at the Sun Belt standings, trying to figure out who Denver will be playing and where in the first round of the SBC Tournament.

The top team in each division, along with the team with the third best record regardless of division, receive a bye in the first round. The teams with the next five best records host the remaining five teams. The No. 4 seeded team hosts No. 13. No. 5 hosts No. 12, and so on. The teams with the byes and the winners of the first round games advance to the quarterfinals in Hot Springs, Ark. Western Kentucky (12-3), UALR (12-3) and Troy (12-4) seem to have the byes wrapped up.

With an 11-2 record at Magness Arena, the Pioneers (7-8) are working for one of those home games in the first round, and as of now DU is in line for the seventh seed. However, North Texas (9-6), South Alabama (9-7) and Middle Tennessee (8-7) are all within striking distance. Meanwhile, Florida International (6-9), Louisiana-Lafayette (6-9) and New Orleans (6-10) are not fall behind the Pioneers.

Clearly, there is a high likelihood of ties in the standings. The first tie-breaker is the record between the teams that are tied. If the teams split their meetings, the second tie breaker is the records against the No. 1 seed, followed by the No. 2 seed and so on, until the tie is broken.

Needless to say, the Pioneers are looking for more wins so that the tie-breakers become irrelevant.

About Jonesboro: Thanks to loyal reader Steve Honda, we learned this week that Jonesboro was once the home to Bartleby Clown College. Apparently from 1952-59, the clown college operated in Jonesboro, which was convenient due to its many railroad connections. According to Wikipedia, which of course is the leading resource for clown college information, “The loss of Arkansas [sic] only clown college disappointed many in the industry.” There was no clarification about whether that was the clown industry or the clown teaching industry.

Yearly travel totals:                          

Total Flights – 20

Total Mileage Flown – 19,764

Total Bus Miles – 1,701

Total Number of Hotels – 16

Total Number of Different Airports – 14

Total Number of Airline Delays – 1

Total Number of Cancelled Flights – 1

Total Number of Bags Lost – 3

Total Number of Consecutive Weeks DU flew through the Little Rock Airport – 3

Total Number of Years Kyle Lewis has been alive – 20 (Happy Birthday, Kyle)

Florida Atlantic - 2/12/09

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Normally, the team flies commercial flights to road games, settling for whatever flights gets there in enough time. This trip is different, though. Playing in South Florida on Thursday before returning home for a game on Saturday presents a challenge. Basically, it takes away many of the benefits that make a home court advantage, like not traveling 1,700 miles to the game.

In an attempt to offset that, the team chartered a 30-seat plane to get down to Boca Raton last night. It still made for a long day of travel that did not end until dinner last night at 9 p.m. However, we will be back to campus late tonight or, more likely, early tomorrow morning.

One unique aspect of chartering a plane like that is the need to stop and refuel. Halfway between Colorado and Florida, the plane landed at a small airport in Greenville, Mississippi. It appeared to be an airfield in the middle of countless acres of farmland, but it seems the town has some history. Sure there is Civil War history, but we were more interested to learn that this city in the heart of the Mississippi Delta produced Muppets creator Jim Henson, Kansas City Royals great Frank White and, according to some sources, NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice (thanks to loyal reader Steve Honda for pointing these out).

The best part of the flight for the players is considerably more room to stretch out. This blog has mentioned it before, but the tallest guys on the team seem to always end up in the smallest seats in commercial flights. Yesterday, on the other hand, 6-foot-9 center Justin Coughlin was relaxing in a double seat in the exit row when he declared, “I’ve never been happier on a plane.”

After arriving last night, the team gathered in the hotel restaurant for a basic grilled chicken meal before heading to their rooms. As usual on the road, the schedule tends to revolve around meals and the game, so everyone gathered again in the restaurant for breakfast this morning before heading to FAU Arena for shoot around. There will be a few hours of rest until the teams meets for the traditional pregame meal of chicken, pasta, steamed vegetables and salad, which takes place four hours prior to tip.  At about 5:30 p.m., the bus will head back to the arena in time to prepare for the game, and we are hoping to be wheels up and on our way back to Denver shortly after the game ends.

Gotta Be the Shoes: Like most college basketball teams, the Pioneers have several pairs of shoes in their lockers, perhaps more than they need. The coaches asked the players to clean up their lockers and get rid of some of the shoes they did not need. Instead of throwing the old sneakers in their dorm rooms or tossing them away, the players got together and decided to donate the shoes to people who need them. The players donated the sneakers to Inter-Faith Community Services, a nonprofit organization in South Denver. The mother of backup guard Ryan Perry works for the organization, which will distribute the shoes to people who need them. For more information about the organization, visit ifcs.org.

Debatable: Tonight’s game marks the first time the Pioneers have played at FAU Arena. The team played the Owls in Boca Raton last season, but the game took place at nearby Lynn University due to the Republican Presidential debates occurring at FAU that night. The arena at Lynn is called the Count & Countess de Hoernle Sports and Cultural Center, which may unofficially hold the record for longest venue name in college sports. The game that night went to overtime on a DU three-pointer at the buzzer, but FAU pulled away thanks to good shooting at the free throw line.

Elevator Update: In reference to the elevator in the Jack Stephens Center mentioned in the last blog, our friends down at the University of New Orleans had another idea of what the “S-M-L-E” meant: Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large. It’s an interesting way to name the floors of a building, but it’s better than “smelly.”

Yearly travel totals:                          

Total Flights – 18

Total Mileage Flown – 17,293

Total Bus Miles – 1,537

Total Number of Hotels – 15                 

Total Number of Different Airports – 14

Total Number of Airline Delays – 1

Total Number of Cancelled Flights – 1

Total Number of Bags Lost – 3

Total Number of Players who hit their heads while boarding the charter yesterday – 5 (of 13)

Total Number of Players taller than 6-foot-5 who hit their heads while boarding the plane – 0

Arkansas-Little Rock - 2/7/09

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Last night’s win was pretty impressive. When the schedules came out, this five-game stretch really jumped out. Seeing Western Kentucky, South Alabama, at Troy, Middle Tennessee and at Arkansas-Little Rock consecutively in a 15-day period was daunting. Right now, those are the five best teams in the Sun Belt Conference, all fighting for a first round bye in the SBC Tournament.

So, spirits were very high after beating Middle Tennessee last night, which added to the victories over both NCAA Tournament teams from last season. In fact, the Pioneers are within an overtime period of heading into the game at UALR on a four-game winning streak over the top teams in the SBC East Division.

With that, UALR is playing very well this season. In the nonconference season, the Trojans beat Creighton at home, and took out Pepperdine and Oral Roberts on the road. They narrowly dropped an eight-point loss to Memphis, which came within 2:13 of a national championship last year but lost to Kansas. UALR has won 16 games this season, and the team leads the SBC West Division by a solid four games with seven left to play.

The good news is the Pioneers are one of the teams tied for second place behind the Trojans. The less-than-good news is that DU is tied with Arkansas State, North Texas and Louisiana-Lafayette, while New Orleans sits just a half game behind those four teams. With that many teams bunched together, the fight to host first round games in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament is full swing.

The seeding for the tournament is somewhat confusing, but here are the basics. The top team from each division (currently Western Kentucky and UALR) and the team with the next best record will all receive first round byes and automatically advance to the quarterfinals in Hot Springs, Ark. The fourth through eighth seeds will host a first round game, in which No. 4 would play No. 13, No. 5 would play No. 12, and so on.

I know people might be growing tired of hearing how young this team is, but it seems to be less of an excuse or apology than it is a sense of amazement at this point. This team has played really well since Dec. 9, going 9-6 in those 15 games. DU has put up double-digit leads in four road games, even if the team did eventually lose. And those six losses? They were by a total of 18 points. That’s three points per game – or an average of a single possession. That sounds more like a veteran team than the youngest team in the nation.

Elevation: The elevator in the Jack Stephens Center has no numbers associated to each floor. Instead, from top to bottom, it spells “S-M-L-E.” I mentioned that it was nice that the elevator buttons look like “smile.” Mitch Hyder, on the other hand, thought it looked more like “smelly.” Of course, Hyder also pointed out the tree enthusiasts could read it from the bottom up and get “elms.” Yes, these are the things we notice.

League of Their Own: Western Kentucky’s Courtney Lee has gotten a lot of publicity for going from the Sun Belt to the NBA, and it’s certainly warranted. Lee is playing well for the Orlando Magic, including a 21-point performance by going 9-for-10 on Wednesday night.

However, another Sun Belt alum is considerably more established in the NBA, and his number is hanging in the rafters of the Jack Stephens Center here at UALR. Derek Fisher played for the Trojans from 1992-96, culminating in a SBC championship his senior season. Since then, Fisher helped the Los Angeles Lakers win three-consecutive NBA Championships from 1999-2002, and played on two other Laker teams that lost in the Finals, including last year. Fisher returned to L.A. after three years with Golden State and Utah, to help the Lakers reach the Finals before falling to the Boston Celtics.

Yearly travel totals:                          

Total Flights – 17

Total Mileage Flown – 15,584

Total Bus Miles – 1,506

Total Number of Hotels – 14                 

Total Number of Different Airports – 11

Total Number of Airline Delays – 1

Total Number of Cancelled Flights – 1

Total Number of Bags Lost – 3

Total Number of Games as a Head Coach for Joe Scott after Tonight – 250

Total Number of Snuggies Ads Passed by the Team Bus – 1 ($14.99 at Walgreens)