Nov. 20, 2008
The trip began following our typical afternoon practice as we loaded the bus and headed to Charlotte to prepare four early Thursday morning flight. We woke up bright and early Thursday morning to catch a flight from Charlotte to Detroit followed up with a flight from Detroit to Hartford.
We arrived in Hartford, Connecticut around 2 p.m. where we loaded a local charter bust and headed to Bristol where we toured the ESPN Studio Campus. This was a once in a lifetime experience that the entire team really enjoyed. During our tour we saw numerous ESPN sets such as Outside the Lines, NASCAR NOW, College Football Live and NFL Live. The equipment and work that it took to make those shows work was truly mind boggling. SportsCenter was on air while we were there so we were not able to see that set but we were able to take a look at the production rooms where all the behind the scenes work is done.
Following the tour we headed to the hotel to check in quickly before heading to an scheduled practice at Gampel Pavilion. Practice went well and we had a great feeling heading into our game Friday night. On our way back from practice we ate at an authentic Italian Restaurant called Angellino's. After dinner we walked back to the hotel where we relaxed until 11 p.m. when it was lights out.
Friday morning arrived and the team woke up and had breakfast at the hotel preceding a film session and short walk through to "put the hay in the barn" as Coach [Larry] Hunter would say. After some rest and a pre-game meal, we headed to the arena.
The game did not end the way we would have liked or the way we expected, but there were several positives we took from the game. Exempting two big runs made by Connecticut early in the first half and midway through the second, we were actually neck and neck with them the entire game. We were close as 10 with 14 minutes left in the game but were never able to climb over the hill and keep it close. We ended the game losing 81-55 which was not indicative of how the game really went. It was a good learning experience for us and showed several areas we need to work on.
|
|
 |
