Well, the first three members of the five-person D3hoops.com contingent in Salem have arrived and our people are up in Springfield today as well.
First note of the day: ESPN’s producer tells me that the Outside the Lines piece that ran last night may run, it its entirety, on tonight’s 6 p.m. SportsCenter. (This is obviously barring some sort of breaking news.) That would be huge.
I checked in at the Jostens Trophy ceremony elsewhere in the Salem Civic Center and they are doing lunch, so I stopped down at the first practice. Wittenberg is on the floor right now.
Wittenberg came out with two minutes already gone by in their 90 minute session. Bill Brown gathered his team in the southeast corner of the court to instruct the team on how he wants them to come out for warmups tomorrow night. The Tigers ran off and didn’t do exactly what Brown wanted…
Whistle blows…”Do it again, and this time, do it the right way. Let’s go men.”
Re-practicing the warmup entrance. The second time is the charm.
Pat Denbow is on fire from beyond the arc…I know, it’s practice. But practice really matters in a facility such as this. Normally, baskets have some sort of immediate background behind it (wall, netting, etc). Not the case here at the Salem Civic Center. There is at least 50 feet of space, including seating, behind each of the baskets.
Depth perception is an issue here more so than many gyms…practice matters.
Amherst is in the building and going through their pre-game photos and media conference. They’ll be on the floor in about 11 minutes.
Wittenberg’s set practice seems to be done with 9:32 remaining in their session…it’s free shooting time.
“Check your spots” is the cadence from an assistant coach. The Salem Civic Center floor is wood on top of a smooth concrete surface. Nothing between the two really. The floor certainly has it’s unique qualities if you went and bounced a ball the length of the court. Different sounds echo based on the angle the balls hit and the “liveliness” of the floor.
Dave McHugh and Jared Rosenbaum have since arrived…let the party begin.
Wittenberg has just left the floor with 2:30 remaining in their session.
Amherst is on the clock.
Amherst emerges from the curtained area behind the court and takes the floor as soon as the 90:00 clock begins to roll. Starting with a shootaround as it seems Coach Hixon is still being interviewed in the back.
Coach Hixon brings the team to center court with 81:37 left in the practice.
“You’re probably on a little bit of a high right now,” says Hixon…I missed the rest of his comment, but you can probably summize his thoughts.
John Casnocha and Kevin Hopkins slam it home…the basket shakes…ahh sweet physics.
“In it’s entirety”?
Is it longer than 20 minutes or are you just saying they are running the whole D3 Outside the Lines on Sports Center? 6 pm, Eastern time?
That’s what we’ve been told…assuming they will run only the portion covering D3. It wasn’t a 20 minute piece on OTL.
Amherst likes to go above the rim, at least in practice…
Dan Wheeler won’t win a beauty contest with his three point shot. Arms are way above his head and the chances of blocking his three pointers are probably pretty slim.
That being said…it don’t matter how it looks if it goes in. And Wheeler’s do…44.4% of the time.
Hixon gathers his squad at midcourt for a brief tutorial with 31 minutes remaining in the session…back to full court scrimmage.
Jared Rosenbaum with some thoughts…Such a perfect day here in Salem! Of course, when you come from Detroit, just about anywhere is looking better right now.
Amherst looks only fair, but then again, so did Witt, so at this point either team can win…of course, 24 hours before a game both teams generally have the same chance…right around 50%
My initial thought is that Witt will be able to keep Amherst from running and this game will be in the low 60’s with Witt winning by 4…we’ll see.
Amherst is through and IWU is on the floor…
Both teams, at some point, made it into the media room after or before their practice where the D1 tourney is on…
Needless to say, the dramatic ends of regulation and the first overtime of the Boston College/Pacific game brought some reaction. An unnamed IWU all-American has BC in the title game…and was hanging on every shot. IWU left before seeing BC pull away in 2OT.
Amherst saw Pacific get a wide-open shot at the end of the first overtime, which happened after the clock expired…Coach Hixon, always coaching, asked: “Who’s guarding that guy?” – as if he was Al Skinner.
All right, Pat. Battle of the Wesleyans. Who will it be…VWC or IWU?
IWU is on the floor and they are clearly having the most physical, up-tempo, engaging practice of the 3 teams so far today. I saw them play twice last weekend, and I knew this is how they would look here…but for those who haven’t seen them this year, they are being impressed right now.
Scott Trost demands much from his team, and he’ll let them know when he isn’t getting it. He’s been more vocal and more involved in the practice than the other coaches.
Tune into Hoopsville tonight at 8pm ET to find out…
Here’s something you don’t see often…
Text sandwiched between the bold words “TITAN BASKETBALL” on IWU practice jersey…
“A tradition of success”
On the practice jersey!
Backup forward Darius Gant just took a hard fall in practice…30 minutes until VaWes takes the court.
And Trost said, “that’s alright, you looked good doing it,” or words to that effect.
Virginia Wesleyan is running thier practice hard. Coach Madedo is just partoling the court… barking orders… yelling commands… all with a ton of voice you would expect from an experienced drill sargeant… but without the cuse words.
During breaks in segments, he makes sure to quietly bring the team together and has a few encouraging words and reassurance. And… it almost seems he knows how to act for the cameras walking around the building.
I am still facinated by his circling the court and the team… switching directions every so often… watching both ends of the court… and nedver without some words for the player he is watching. Even taking the time to walk up to individual players while they are in line during drills… and saying something quiet to them.
I would have probably loved to have played for a coach like him.
He is constantly coaching and encouraging.
And he is also wearing a t-shirt…on the front…
“Fear this…”
Just saw the piece on ESPN about Lincoln and IWU. Other than Garfield callin CNU wack (since Im a CNU fan AKA Goose13 on the boards), I thought it was a great piece.
Guys, this is a really neat inside look into the parts of the final four fans don’t normally see. Thanks for doing it!
See you down there. 🙂