Wednesday, February 9 - Sunday, February 13
Welcome to the inaugural men's basketball travel blog here on www.FightingSioux.com. With the team visiting two of the larger metropolitan areas in the country this week, I (
Ryan Powell, the men's basketball SID) felt like this would be a good trip to provide Sioux fans with an inside look at how the team travels.
(Travel to Newark, Day One) - FIRST INSTALLMENT
Every trip is different as far as logistics are concerned. Some start extremely early and others - like this one - gave the Sioux a chance to get one more practice in on their home court before heading to the Grand Forks Airport for the first leg of our trip.
The day still started early as the team practiced at 8 a.m. for just about an hour. They continued to prepare for an NJIT team that took two of three from the Sioux a year ago. The Highlanders ended our season with a victory in the opening round of the Great West Tournament, so there will be a little extra motivation going into Thursday night's contest.
The coaching staff focused the morning session on walking through some offensive and defensive sets that they expect to see against the Highlanders (9-12, 3-1 GWC) before concluding the session with a pressure-filled free throw shooting contest.
There is no question you have to hit your freebies on the road and even though they could not replicate a hostile road situation entirely, putting a little pressure on the team can never hurt.
After cleaning up, the team made its way to the airport in plenty of time and had a smooth process getting checked in. Sometimes it's hit or miss checking in a group, but this time all went well (knock on wood) and both of our flights today were without delay - much different from last year's journey to Newark.
The team grabbed a quick lunch in Minneapolis before departing for New Jersey. The choices today were either Quizno's (definitely recommend the Chicken Carbanara sandwich) or A&W. Usually, we have a good-sized layover and the team can fend for itself, but we only had an hour today in between flights.
No complaints though as the players chowed down before getting on the airplane for Newark.
Plus, there was plenty of room on the flight to Newark, which is always welcomed news for the taller players and coaches in the travel party. Three of the upperclassmen (the six-foot-eight and taller club) made their customary trip to the ticket counter to check on exit seat availability and in this case, they were able to change to the extra-leg room seats.
In fact, everyone who asked was accommodated, and the players who are not in an exit row all have an open seat next to them. The players do not take the extra room for granted because it's not always the case.
If you're wondering what players do to pass time in airports and on airplanes, here is a sampling of what I've seen taking place:
Junior
Patrick Mitchell is reading a book called "Nudge" - allegedly it's about helping people make good choices on staying healthy and wealthy (that's what the cover said anyway). How to dress appropriately was not part of the manuscript or Mitchell overlooked that part - he's wearing one white sock and one black sock. Probably would have gone unnoticed, but you have to take your shoes off at airport security (it's nice to have this platform for payback purposes). Maybe, he's just superstitious.
Aaron Anderson was studying some economics. He and a couple of his teammates have a mid-term coming up (glad those days are behind me).
A handful of players are choosing to catch a few ZZZs and most have headphones in listening to their choice of music.
Sophomore
Jordan Allard and redshirt freshman
Brandon Brekke are catching a movie on Brekke's iPad.
Head coach
Brian Jones is watching some NJIT game film on his laptop. Preparation is a strong suit of this team and the coaching staff always has the players well-informed on the opponent.
According to the pilot, the flight to Newark is an hour and 54 minutes, which is a pleasant surprise considering the time elapsed on our tickets said the flight should take just over three hours (yes, I accounted for the time-zone change).
We made good time from Grand Forks to Minneapolis, so the winds must be blowing pretty good from the West.
Once we arrive in Newark, the team will check in at our hotel and get ready for a team outing to New York City. I'll blog some more when we get back later tonight (may even try to upload some video - no promises though).
It should be a fun outing nonetheless and I'm curious to see what some of the players, who have never been, think about the country's most-populated area. I'll be sure to share some of the better opinions.
More later ...
(A Night In NYC, Day One) - SECOND INSTALLMENT
The team set out for a brief visit to New York City on Wednesday evening after arriving in Newark around 4:30 p.m. (with probably the smoothest travel of the season).
No delays, the bags were waiting on us when we got to the carousel at baggage claim and the bus was waiting on us as well. Luckily, our hotel was not too far from the airport, so we literally threw our bags in our rooms and returned to the bus for the hour ride into the city. As you can imagine, there was a good bit of traffic at 6 p.m., but the extra wait was worth it.
I did a quick poll of the travel party on who had and who had not been into New York City before. Here's a breakdown:
Yes
Josh SchulerBrandon BrekkeDan StockdaleChris ClausenShane Hersch (manager)
Ross Kalka (manager)
Ryan Moody (assistant coach)
Paul Ralston (radio announcer)
We had two hours to find something to eat and check out the sites of Times Square and Broadway. And, from McDonald's to the Gucci store, there was a lot to fit in a two-hour window. The players were more concerned with sight-seeing than the coaches and staff, who were more worried about filling their empty stomachs with some fine New York cuisine.
Myself, Sand and Ralston found a legendary restaurant called Juniors that provided a hefty portion of food for three hungry souls. I had to go with the "Brooklyn" style wings and they were worth it. We also were served some pickled beets before our meal - after weighing my options carefully, I gave in and tried one. Only regrettable decision of the trip so far. Sand devoured two of the beets and was pleased with his brisket melt and Ralston's, who passed on the beets, had an open-faced turkey sandwich that could have fed half the team.
I saw pictures of the meal Coach Jones put away and it looked pretty impressive too. He had five types of ribs and said, "it was a true bar-be-que place because they brought you a washcloth for a napkin."
Both groups found what they were looking for and the kids (I should say players) waited until their return to our meeting stop (McDonald's on 42nd ave.) to indulge in their meal of choice. Anderson opted for a Big Mac and his only complaint was the price ($7).
Chris Clausen was seen putting away some McDonald's too, but he also devoured a slice of New York style pizza during his jaunt across several city blocks to the Gucci store. His comment on the pizza was, "you had to fold it over and eat like a sandwich." (must not have been that filling if he was still hungry for the golden arches).
There is some video of the highlights from the players' visit to Manhattan on the blog. Mitchell, Brekke, Schuler, Mathison, Anderson and Webb (the lone native New Yorker) all chime in on their visit to the NYC. Webb will have some visitors make the trek from his hometown of Buffalo for Thursday's game. The drive for his mom and sister will be about eight hours from the northwest corner of the state.
The night was not over when we returned to the hotel as the players were quickly brought back to reality. The day ended with their focus back on Thursday's opponent. Before hitting the sack, the team had a brief meeting to go over the Highlanders' personnel to get their minds back on basketball.
(Mental Preparation, Day Two) - THIRD INSTALLMENT
The end product is the action on the court, but all Division I basketball teams know there is a lot of work behind the scenes that goes into a game. The Fighting Sioux basketball team is no different and the players will be imersed with knowledge on the NJIT Highlanders before the game tips off at 7:30 p.m. CT tonight here in Newark.
Check out the video with associate head coach Ryan Moody as he discusses the importance of mental and emotional preparation the players all go through to get ready. There are also some snippets of video from the team meeting this morning that took place before shootaround.
A team scout meeting usually takes from 30-45 minutes and assistant coach Bryan Martin and Moody take turns going over the offensive and defensive keys to victory. I won't give away too many trade secrets, but the Sioux will be adequately prepared to take on the Highlanders.
As for the rest of the morning, all the good karma from yesterday's smooth travels ended when our bus driver was waiting for us at the Marriott. We made it to the Fleisher Center about 50 minutes late, but as good teams do, the team ignored the minor obstacle, kept its focus and had a nice shootaround. Lots of energy in the gym as the players got a feel for the rims and floor.
While we were waiting, a few of us were entertained by a hotel employee trying to fix the automated sliding doors with just a can of WD-40 and some muscle. It was comical and helped pass the time as we waited. Eventually, I think he got them working. It was a good lesson of perseverance for our team if nothing else.
(Off to Chicago with a short memory, Day Three) - FOURTH INSTALLMENT
The first five minutes at the Fleisher Athletic Center last went exactly as planned last night, but the next 35 minutes were indicative of just how hard it is to win on the road as the Sioux fell to NJIT, 65-49.
As we sit around the Newark International Airport waiting to board our first flight to Minneapolis, I sat down with a couple of the players to get a feel for how a team can mentally bounce back from a tough road loss.
And, to surmise the morning for the Fighting Sioux men's basketball team into a couple of words – those would be “short memory”.
And with those short memories, come a renewed attitude and focus that is now turned towards the next task – Saturday's game at Chicago State.
“We let it hurt for the night, but when we woke up this morning our focus became Chicago State,” junior forward
Patrick Mitchell said. “That is critical if we want to do great things and reach our own expectations.”
With a team getting more than 60 percent of its offense from freshmen, the veterans on the team know how important it is to keep everyone's heads up moving forward, especially the young players, who are experiencing these ups and downs for the first time.
“I think we learned a lot from the quadruple-overtime loss to Utah Valley,” senior
Chris Clausen chimed in. “That game probably hurt more than any loss I have ever experienced, but we bounced back from that and won three in a row.
“We learned how to regroup and have a short memory. And as veterans, it is our job to remind the young guys that it is a long season and to concentrate on getting the next win.”
UND raced out to an 11-1 lead, but NJIT used the next 15 minutes and 13 first-half turnovers by the Sioux to pull within two at the half, 20-18.
“From the game, we can learn how critical it is to put a full 40 minutes together, not just a half, especially on the road,“ Mitchell added. “We kind of strayed from the things that got us the lead last night and that cannot happen. “
The veteran leadership on this club is not lost on the younger plays. They rely on the upperclassmen who have been through it before to help them throughout the process.
“We have to have a short memory because we have another game in a couple of days,” redshirt freshman
Josh Schuler said. “We can't hang on to this one too long because the next one is the most important one.”
“(The upperclassmen) are the ones making us keep our head's up and keep us focused on the bigger picture. Both vocally and by example, and you never see them hanging their heads.”
Schuler is correct – there is no time to hang heads because we'll be in Chicago by this afternoon and the team will be back on the court tonight prepping for a Cougars team that will also be utilizing the same “short memory” tactic and hungry for a win after dropping a 75-71 contest to South Dakota on Thursday.
(Windy City has nothing on these nicknames, Day Three) - FIFTH INSTALLMENT
We arrived in Chicago around 4:30 p.m. this afternoon and made our way to probably one of the best hotels of the season – the Hilton in Oak Lawn.
Some fun was had before that though and part of that was because we once again had smooth air travel for the second straight air trip, which may or may not be a record for a Division I basketball team.
Anyway, I moved seats to give a lady traveling with a seven-month old an entire two seats to work with (patting myself on the back). Fortunately for me and probably unfortunately for him,
Aaron Anderson had an open seat in his row. I played the “it was the seat right behind me card”, but I was not about to scrunch in next to a taller player and I seized the opportunity to park it next to “Little Brother”.
With ourselves en route to the “Windy City”, we kept the mood light on the plane and since we were going to a great city with a well-known nickname, I decided to broach the topic of nicknames on the team. The topic dominated the conversation and lots of laughs ensued, some players defended their pride, but the onslaught was intensive. It was all in good fun though and definitely injected some humor throughout the hour-long plane ride.
The ring leader of the nickname brigade was Clausen or “Claw” as he is affectionately known by his teammates. Perhaps he took command as a right of passage for a veteran or maybe it's just silly Australian folk lore, but he seemed to have a dozen nicknames for all 14 of his teammates.
I'll keep a few of the nicknames in the “lockerroom” where they belong, but there were definitely a few worth sharing that hopefully gives you a glimpse of the tight-knit bond this team has.
The before-mentioned
Aaron Anderson spewed out a few of his own: “Little A”, “AA”, “A-Train” and “Air-run” before his teammates chimed in with “Little Brother”, “Little Man”, “Snowflake”, “Ernie” and “Small Fry”.
Nick Haugen was a little less forthcoming, but I got “Sticky” out of him before a few teammates shouted out “Nickmas Kid”, “Ninja” and “Shady”. There is no telling where the origin of some of these names came from, but if I know and it's worth sharing, I will certainly do so.
Dan Stockdale, a walk-on with some serious hops quickly earned the nickname “Bouncy” when he arrived on campus and you can hear that one shouted throughout practice, including this one I'm watching as I type, when the six-foot-eight forward sends one home. He also goes by “D-Stocks”, which actually makes sense compared to some other ones.
Redshirt freshman
Josh Schuler also has a nickname that is actually used on a daily basis – “Julz”. Not sure where that one came from, but you hear a lot of his teammates using that moniker a lot. A few more for Schuler were “Ferris Schuler”, “Julio”, “Casper” and “Shaggy”, he does bare a resemblance to Scooby Doo's best friend.
Schuler's real life best friend and teammate
Brandon Brekke, does not go by Scooby Doo, but for a guy shooting better than 65 percent from the field on the season, I'm not sure how “Sir Bricks A Lot” fits as a nickname, but he owned it. Brekke also goes by “Breks”, “Simple”, “Yancy” and “Hammer”.
Doug Archer claims “Dougmore”, in contrast to his real name of Douglas, “Rupert” and “Dougie” as his terms of endearment.
Sophomore
Jordan Allard goes simply by “J” and he'll have a “Jour-din” mixed in everyone once in a while.
Senior
Derek Benter is just known as “Big DB” and “Haus”, fellow post player
Patrick Mitchell goes by “Peace” and “Peezy”. He was not a big fan of “Patrish” (can't say that I blame him), but his teammates booed him when he scratched that one off the list I had compiled.
Freshman
Troy Huff had several as well: “DeDe”, “Explosive”, “TJ”, “Smooki” and probably one of the more creative ones, “HasselHuff”.
Classmate
Jamal Webb has one of the longest-standing nicknames of “Mallie” that dates back to before his UND days and has stuck here with his new teammates. One that he has picked up since arriving in Grand Forks is “Knucks” – he's a big fan of giving the press row workers a fist pound before each game, but I'm not sure that's the true origin of the name.
Big
Mike Mathison is the self-proclaimed “BMOC” and he is also affectionately known as “The Thing”, “Mr. Clean”, “Diesel” and “The Animal” by his jealous teammates.
The guys did not want to leave out their two injured teammates back home, so
Spencer Goodman and
Mitch Wilmer were thrown into the conversation as well. Goodman had a few, a simple one of “Spence” and the other was “Grandpa”. The tallest player on the squad, Wilmer, is sometimes referred to as “Meetch” and “Big Mitch”.
Last, but not least is Clausen's array of nicknames. He had so many that Schuler pulled out his phone and rattled off literally 15 nicknames from a list he had on the senior captain. Julz was talking too fast for me to jot them all down, but here are a few: “Shanks”, “Old Man”, “Uncle Chris” and “Christopherson”.
The laughter ceased for a while, but as we were landing in Chicago, Claw and Dougmore decided to serenade Nickmas Kid with a nice little ditty that brought the laughter back before we departed for the hotel.
As is the norm and after we settled in for a half-hour or so, the team was well fed before a film session on tomorrow night's opponent. Hamburgers and Chicken sandwiches were on the menu along with pasta salad, fries and some fruit salad.
So, after the feast and the film session, the day ended with an hour practice at the home court of the Cougars. This is one of the nice arenas in the conference and there should be a good contingent of Sioux fans in attendance to watch the game tomorrow at 4:30 p.m.
I'll try to get a video up on some explanations of a few of these nicknames, so you won't have to pour over all of this text, but the team's focus is back on basketball right now and working hard to get a split on the road trip.
(Hidden Messages, Day Four) - SIXTH INSTALLMENT
Inspiration is a funny thing. Well, it can be a funny thing. And, can anyone really put a finger on where it comes from?
After a tough loss to NJIT on Thursday night, the team could have gone in the tank but the veteran leadership on this team would not allow that to happen as witnessed by an 80-70 bounce-back victory over Chicago State and without even knowing it, neither would assistant coach
Nate Philippe.
The message was simple - don't give up, don't ever give up. Check out the newest video to see just what I am talking about and the clear message that if at first you do not succeed, try, try again.
If you listen closely, you can hear constant ridiculing and badgering, much like our players face on the road, by a hostile group of onlookers, but he in the end Philippe overcame all of that (plus an heavy onset of fatigue) to finish the task.
What a great message to send to a team and luckily for the Fighting Sioux, they were learning a valuable lesson without even knowing it.
Saturday morning the team opted to get more rest instead of going to the gym, which is usually a 30-minute ride from our hotel. So, they ate hefty breakfast buffet and added a pre-game meal following a film session on the Cougars before taking off for the arena. There is not a lot of down time at the hotel, but players take advantage of it when they can to remain on top of their studies and just take it easy for the time that is allotted.
The bus ride to the gym took an hour and according to reports (I rode over with the women's team so I could chat during both games), the hour-long ride was a bit dicey. The bus stalled four times, but the driver managed to will the machine into the back of the convocation center in time and without having 20 passengers pushing it from behind.
The extra time on the bus did not deter the team from playing well though and you can where the players drew their inspiration from. It was a good day all-in-all and the postgame victory meal was at a famous Chicago joint called Palermo's.
(Back on familiar ground, Day Five) - SEVENTH INSTALLMENT
The team arrived safely back in Grand Forks around 3 p.m. Sunday. It was another smooth travel day as the flights were once again all on time - nothing short of amazing this time of year that all six of our flights on the trip were not delayed once.
If we could capture all that remedy in a bottle and take it with us on our next couple of trips, we would be gladly do so. And, as expected, the spirits were high after the 10-point road win and the pizza had to taste a little better at Palermo's after the game.
What made the win even more special for several players was the fact they had family and friends in attendance, who took advantage of the team playing in the Windy City. There were also several former Sioux players on hand to watch as Daniel Harkins, Josh Doyle and O.J. Harrison all came to the Jones Convocation Center. There had to have been more than 60 people cheering on UND helping push attendance at Chicago State's homecoming over the 1,000 mark.
The guys really responded to the tough loss at NJIT on Thursday and came out with that hunger and passion Patrick Mitchell said earlier that they would need too. And, one of those former players took notice of that. Harkins' first words to head coach Brian Jones after the game were, "I love the way you guys play." You could see the pride he had for his former teammates.
One of the common phrases heard a lot lately in the lockerroom is "Team Together" and the victory over the Cougars probably exemplified that more than any other game this season. The bench came up in a big way, outscoring Chicago State's 38-6, and the freshmen class combined for 48 points to go over 1,000 points scored this season.
There are lots of good things happening with this program right now and I was glad to be able to share some of that and bring some insight into how the team travels and what all a road trip in the Great West Conference entails.
The team is back home for four days before we start a similar two-city trip on Friday (play at Utah Valley on Saturday and at Northern Colorado, a future Big Sky foe, on Monday).
In the middle of that four-day stretch is a chance for the fans to see this exciting Sioux team that has won seven of its last nine games play an established Division I program at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. The opponent will be former NBA great Karl Malone's alma mater Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs are 11-16 and 2-10 in Western Athletic Conference play. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. See you there!
