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Wednesday, March 15, 2006
The Bucknell team is leaving (probably left by the time you read this) Lewisburg at 7 this morning, busing to Harrisburg for a charter flight straight to Dallas.
Media travel is not quite that smooth. At 4 a.m., Eric Thomas of the Shamokin News-Item, Tom Housenick of the Daily Item, Jake Felix of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette and I piled into ET's jeep and headed to Philly, where ET, Tom and I were catching a 7:30 to Houston, with a puddle jumper from there to Dallas. Jake will arrive in Dallas almost the same time, despite leaving Philly a half hour later and traveling through Orlando.
Needless to say, that does not leave any time this morning for a full update. We've gone ahead and posted some generic links to sports sections where you should be able to find stuff on the game this morning. Most likely we will make that a standing feature somehow during the tournament, freeing our time to produce more original content.
For those who didn't discover Hoop Time until this season, or those who want to relive last year's Bucknell NCAA tournament experience, just hit the links under the "Deja Vu" heading below. Those will take you to the Hoop Time Archives. The archives are weekly, so you can scroll down through everything leading up to and including the Kansas game with the link labeled "Kansas." The "Wisconsin" link covers the Sunday game and aftermath.
Last year we were forced to leave Oklahoma City after the Kansas game to catch a flight back to Washington D.C. to cover the Holy Cross women's NCAA first round game in College Park, Md. on Sunday.
The final buzzer had barely stopped sounding. Donald Brown was popping his jersey. And our brother called my cell phone asking, "O.K., what's plan B?" There was no plan B. The commitment to cover the other game had been made before the decision to head to Oklahoma City and had to be honored.
Besides, if Bucknell lost, we'd have burned a long-time (and decent paying) freelance association, not to mention a check that was being counted on to help pay for the OKC trip. If they won, we'd catch up to them in Syracuse.
We left that women's game immediately after the post game press conference, scurried up 83 to York, Pa., where we knew the game would be on the local CBS affiliate, and watched the first half at Damons, then broke land speed records to get back home for the second half, writing the story from the women's game as we watched.
Our reservations are through Sunday night in Dallas.
We will try to swing by the team hotel later, with an report on the mood of the Bison and the Dallas atmosphere expected late afternoon or early evening, so be sure to check back.
The Bison are set for a press conference around 11:30 Thursday at the arena, followed by their public shootaround. Arkansas will also hold a press conference and shootaround, so we will get a chance to talk to Stan Heath and some players, and to see them on the floor a little.
For the most part, you cannot tell anything about a team from these shootaround sessions. These are more for the fans that the teams. Aside from stretching out and getting used to the shooting background, there is not a whole lot of work done. Last year, Pat Flannery ran the Bison through some light drills. Most of the teams in Oklahoma City didn't go that far. For most it was a short shooting session, then a dunking show for the fans.
Basketball will be the focus, and certainly the number one priority, but if Bucknell does things like it did last year, the players will also get some free time to explore the city.
"I promise you number one, the kids are going to have fun. They are going to enjoy it," Flannery said during Monday's conference call. "They are going to enjoy it every step of the way. They deserve it."
They also will likely hold a more serious practice at a local facility away from the American Airlines Center. Last year Bucknell was assigned a local high school gym.
Not sure where any of the other teams practiced in Oklahoma City, but we know most of them stayed in the downtown area, near the Ford Center. Bucknell, as a 14-seed, was assigned a Holiday Inn that was more motel than hotel, located several miles up an interstate on the outskirts of OKC.
This year, the No. 9 seed Bison are at Westin City Center on North Pearl St. in Dallas. Certainly sounds like an upgrade.
Flannery is happy with that seeding. In the conference call he said it was a compliment to the team and the league, mentioning the respect the Patriot League gained from the combination of his team's NCAA performance and Holy Cross' showing in the NIT.
"It shows you a little bit about your league and a little bit about the research they do," Flannery said.
At the same time, he quickly downplayed the team's seeding -- the highest ever to a Patriot League team, saying, "That was a nice honor, but its not going to get us a single point or a single rebound."
By the way, lost in all the tourney hoopla Monday, Bucknell finished the regular season ranked tops among "others receiving votes" in .
And speaking of polls, want to know which coach voted Bucknell No. 13 in the final week (Joe Mihalich of Niagara), or which week Pat Flannery ranked his own team highest (19th in week 13 -- and his was not the highest ranking the Bison got that week, Saint Joe's Phil Martelli had them at No. 18 in week 13), check out that lets you click around to see each coach's ballot each week of the season.
That should keep you busy until we update from Dallas.
DEJA VU:
TALK HOOPS:
(2 p.m. Eastern)
ARKANSAS LINKS:
BUCKNELL LINKS:
(Shamokin News-Item beat writer, posts his stories here)
DALLAS AREA PAPERS:
Media travel is not quite that smooth. At 4 a.m., Eric Thomas of the Shamokin News-Item, Tom Housenick of the Daily Item, Jake Felix of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette and I piled into ET's jeep and headed to Philly, where ET, Tom and I were catching a 7:30 to Houston, with a puddle jumper from there to Dallas. Jake will arrive in Dallas almost the same time, despite leaving Philly a half hour later and traveling through Orlando.
Needless to say, that does not leave any time this morning for a full update. We've gone ahead and posted some generic links to sports sections where you should be able to find stuff on the game this morning. Most likely we will make that a standing feature somehow during the tournament, freeing our time to produce more original content.
For those who didn't discover Hoop Time until this season, or those who want to relive last year's Bucknell NCAA tournament experience, just hit the links under the "Deja Vu" heading below. Those will take you to the Hoop Time Archives. The archives are weekly, so you can scroll down through everything leading up to and including the Kansas game with the link labeled "Kansas." The "Wisconsin" link covers the Sunday game and aftermath.
Last year we were forced to leave Oklahoma City after the Kansas game to catch a flight back to Washington D.C. to cover the Holy Cross women's NCAA first round game in College Park, Md. on Sunday.
The final buzzer had barely stopped sounding. Donald Brown was popping his jersey. And our brother called my cell phone asking, "O.K., what's plan B?" There was no plan B. The commitment to cover the other game had been made before the decision to head to Oklahoma City and had to be honored.
Besides, if Bucknell lost, we'd have burned a long-time (and decent paying) freelance association, not to mention a check that was being counted on to help pay for the OKC trip. If they won, we'd catch up to them in Syracuse.
We left that women's game immediately after the post game press conference, scurried up 83 to York, Pa., where we knew the game would be on the local CBS affiliate, and watched the first half at Damons, then broke land speed records to get back home for the second half, writing the story from the women's game as we watched.
Our reservations are through Sunday night in Dallas.
We will try to swing by the team hotel later, with an report on the mood of the Bison and the Dallas atmosphere expected late afternoon or early evening, so be sure to check back.
The Bison are set for a press conference around 11:30 Thursday at the arena, followed by their public shootaround. Arkansas will also hold a press conference and shootaround, so we will get a chance to talk to Stan Heath and some players, and to see them on the floor a little.
For the most part, you cannot tell anything about a team from these shootaround sessions. These are more for the fans that the teams. Aside from stretching out and getting used to the shooting background, there is not a whole lot of work done. Last year, Pat Flannery ran the Bison through some light drills. Most of the teams in Oklahoma City didn't go that far. For most it was a short shooting session, then a dunking show for the fans.
Basketball will be the focus, and certainly the number one priority, but if Bucknell does things like it did last year, the players will also get some free time to explore the city.
"I promise you number one, the kids are going to have fun. They are going to enjoy it," Flannery said during Monday's conference call. "They are going to enjoy it every step of the way. They deserve it."
They also will likely hold a more serious practice at a local facility away from the American Airlines Center. Last year Bucknell was assigned a local high school gym.
Not sure where any of the other teams practiced in Oklahoma City, but we know most of them stayed in the downtown area, near the Ford Center. Bucknell, as a 14-seed, was assigned a Holiday Inn that was more motel than hotel, located several miles up an interstate on the outskirts of OKC.
This year, the No. 9 seed Bison are at Westin City Center on North Pearl St. in Dallas. Certainly sounds like an upgrade.
Flannery is happy with that seeding. In the conference call he said it was a compliment to the team and the league, mentioning the respect the Patriot League gained from the combination of his team's NCAA performance and Holy Cross' showing in the NIT.
"It shows you a little bit about your league and a little bit about the research they do," Flannery said.
At the same time, he quickly downplayed the team's seeding -- the highest ever to a Patriot League team, saying, "That was a nice honor, but its not going to get us a single point or a single rebound."
By the way, lost in all the tourney hoopla Monday, Bucknell finished the regular season ranked tops among "others receiving votes" in .
And speaking of polls, want to know which coach voted Bucknell No. 13 in the final week (Joe Mihalich of Niagara), or which week Pat Flannery ranked his own team highest (19th in week 13 -- and his was not the highest ranking the Bison got that week, Saint Joe's Phil Martelli had them at No. 18 in week 13), check out that lets you click around to see each coach's ballot each week of the season.
That should keep you busy until we update from Dallas.
DEJA VU:
TALK HOOPS:
ARKANSAS LINKS:
BUCKNELL LINKS:
DALLAS AREA PAPERS:
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