Troy University Athletics
Whirlwind Trip to Arkansas
1/27/2009 6:00:00 AM | Basketball (W)
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Home in two hours from Little Rock, Arkansas. I'd like to think that's making good time. Of course, it helps that we were on board a 30-seater chartered turbo prop airplane. The men's and women's basketball teams got a taste of what the football team gets to experience every time there is a flight trip on the schedule.
Once we touched down in Little Rock, mini vans for the women and big vans for the men pulled up to the plane on the tarmac. We unfolded, disembarked with our luggage and were on our way to do some damage in Little Rock.
When asked "Why don't we do this EVERY time?", I used the analogy of why we don't call limousine service every time we want to go to the grocery store. We did save some money by consolidating the trip with the women's team and I think it was money well spent.
As promised, I spent the majority of the trip in the Jack Stephens Center on the campus UALR watching basketball. Thankfully, it's a nice place to spend a few hours, or 11. The women practiced shortly after we arrived in Little Rock until around 8:30 p.m. Then, I was treated to dinner at P.F. Changs with the women's team, as was my chauffer, Barry McKnight. By the time our meal arrive after 9:30 p.m., I was famished! And not all that happy about eating that late at night.
I was up early Saturday morning for breakfast and a walk to the Clinton Library compound, which was nearby, trying to work a little 'me' time in before the basketball marathon that lie ahead. I nearly froze to death on the quarter mile stroll, but took a picture as part of my journalistic responsibilities. It was too early to check out books, so I went back to the warmth of the hotel room.
The women's shoot around was at 10 and the men's at noon. In between the two, I made my daily jog, which took me through UALR's cold, windy, and hilly campus. In retrospect, I should have spent that hour sleeping! I had about 90 minutes to eat and change clothes and get back to the arena to tape after the men's shoot around. My hotel room vaguely resembled a phone booth similar to the one Superman used to change into his super-hero leotard. I wasn't wearing a leotard Saturday, but I did feel the pressure of a super-hero.
I digress. I added 24 ankles to the tape count with the women's team alone this weekend: 12 ankles for practice and 12 for the game. The men arrived, fashionably late, after the second half of the women's game was already underway. Luckily, the UALR Athletic Training staff put a taping table in the breezeway entrance just off the court so I could tape and monitor the happenings of the game in progress. I think I set a record for taping the nine of the 10 men's players. Add 18 ankles to the 24 for a trip total of 42! Then it was back to finish the women's game.
Game over. No injuries. On to the next. But not before some Ben and Jerry's ice cream I had spotted up on the mezzanine.
After the ice cream was savored, it was tip off time for the men's game.
From the start, the TROY Trojans never trailed. That is key to the success of this team, in my opinion. I have been in games with teams that have been down by 25 at half and taken it to overtime to win the game. Talk about stressful! I would guess that there aren't many teams are capable of that feat night in and night out and this year's Trojans are no different. In fact, after some play-by-play review of the last few games, the Trojans have been in the lead since around 1:00 remaining in the ULM game, three games ago (80+ minutes of basketball).
We were tied very early on in the UNO game, but haven't trailed on the score board since ULM. That's both exhausting and exciting to think about. I don't think we can hold on like this much longer, but it's nice to know that when we get ahead, we've been able to stay ahead.
I will say it was a bit confusing hearing the crowd yell "GO TROJANS!" during the games. I don't know if they just didn't realize we were the Trojans too, or if they just weren't able to come up with any other cheer. They ended up cheering us on to the victory and I was glad they helped us.
I had chosen a different pair of heels to wear on the sideline and am really, really glad they didn't let me down. Not only did we come out with a win, proving them as lucky as the pointy-toe ones I've worn the past two games, but they were better suited for walking the three miles I walked from the water cooler to the bench and back about 300 times during both games.
This week is shaping up to be the worst as far as travel goes this season. i'm not trying to jinx us and don't want to be held responsible if it turns out to be worse than already expected. At the moment, we are scheduled to depart on a commercial flight Wednesday afternoon. It's set to arrive in Dallas, Texas, around 9 p.m., which will encourage another late night supper. A shoot around and game on Saturday, with hopeful anticipation of two things: a win and arriving back into Troy Friday evening before Denver gets here. We will play Denver in Trojans Arena Saturday evening and it is quite likely they will get into Troy before we do. It is even remotely possible that they could be on the same flight from Atlanta to Montgomery. Crazy scheduling, if you ask me...but they don't.
There's somthing at the Super Pit on the campus of UNT that puts a spell on us. We've yet to win a game there, and have only beaten UNT once since being in the SunBelt Conference (by 3 in OT at home, last year). They've outscored us by 83 points in five meetings, with one game responsible for 41 of those deficit points. Needless to say, we have a job at hand and a streak to reckon with. (Yes, I know you're not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition and I do my best to be grammatically correct, but it just didn't sound right...correct...whatever!)
Cheer us on via radio against North Texas Thursday night and then join us in person Saturday night for a home game against Denver!
As always,
Go Trojans!
Alyson
P.S. Don't forget to check out the UALR photo album!
