MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Day 3, third gym and games 7 and 8. I’d heard bad things about Huntingdon’s gym but those things are oudated — the place was renovated this summer and has a much more updated look. It’s a 1950s era building that may not have been updated previously.

Picture below:

New floor, chairbacks, standalone baskets, etc.

We start with a neutral site game between Sewanee and the University of Dallas. As is often the case, Huntingdon SID Tim Lutz was the last to know this game was taking place in his gym. Even I knew beforehand, apparently.

I knew something was up today when I pulled into the parking lot at Oglethorpe and saw Bowdoin coach Stefanie Pemper stepping out of a vehicle with Maine plates.

Maine is a long way from here. Dave McHugh would counter that Maine is a long way from just about anywhere, but I wouldn’t drive to Maine from D.C., let alone Atlanta.

Turns out that the flight the Bowdoin women’s basketball team was scheduled to be on this week to Atlanta was canceled. Since the next flight they could’ve gotten to here wasn’t until Monday, they hopped in school vans and drove. Twenty hours. Rolled in about 7 p.m. and played Wilmington at 10 last night.

There’s a kicker to this story, too — Bowdoin will be making its regular flight out of Atlanta on Monday but of course, there’s that sticky issue of the school vans they drove down here. So while the players will be flying to Maine, the coaches will be driving 20 hours back home.

Bowdoin off to a 14-5 lead in the early going. Going to head down and take some photos.

I also have interviews from last night to post. Had a real interesting conversation with Piedmont coach Lee Glenn about the state of D-III basketball in the Deep South and I will spotlight that at a separate time.

Meanwhile, I know we have other things going on today, especially that game between No. 1 Mary Washington and No. 5 UW-Whitewater.

Updated
I had a chance to talk with Oglethorpe coach Ron Sattele about topics ranging from his team’s incredible junior class, surprise 2006 tournament run and his desire to avoid the interstate at all costs. I also spoke with Wilmington coach Jerry Scheve, our first real chance to catch up with Wilmington after the 2004 national title. I asked how it affected the program and you might be surprised by the answer.

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Been a great day so far. Any time you can go without a jacket at the end of December you have to be pretty happy, right? It’s certainly a better trip weatherwise than the one I took this weekend last year.

Played a little bit of tourist this afternoon before heading up here to Demorest, Ga., with evidence below.

Game just underway. Going to go take some pictures. Chatted with Maryville (Tenn.) coach Randy Lambert briefly before this game (Maryville/Averett) — haven’t seen him since his turn on the men’s basketball national committee ended. We’ll have more later. Not a big crowd here but definitely pro-Maryville.

Also got to see Piedmont’s excellent baseball stadium.

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Best-laid plans aside, I’m sitting on the tarmac in Columbia, S.C. Fog in Atlanta has us diverted … 210 miles east of town, a friend informs me. Saved a few minutes of phone surfing to figure that out.

Still hoping to get over to Oglethorpe to talk to some of the coaches in that tournament, including 2004 finalists Wilmington and Bowdoin. If we don’t get off the ground soon I’ll be able to listen to that entire game.

Assuming it’s on my laptop still.

Yes, Georgia in December. I’ve already been warned about the traffic, which I remember reading stories about back in ’96 before the Olympics. I have to get a hot dog or eat at The Varsity, and I see it’s about 10 degrees warmer than it is here in the also considerably balmy D.C. area.

But the focus is hoops, many of them. I’ll be seeing 22 teams, 15 or 16 of which I’ve never seen before. (Have to check my records more closely on the Methodist men — I was at the USAC semis at Shenandoah a few years back.)

Here’s where I’ll be, day by day:

Dec. 29 at Piedmont: Maryville (Tenn.) men play Averett and Piedmont men play Methodist.
Dec. 30 at Oglethorpe: Roanoke women play Bowdoin and Oglethorpe women play Wilmington with men’s games featuring Oglethorpe and Mt. St. Vincent’s men playing either Trinity (Conn.) or Christopher Newport.
Dec. 31 at Huntingdon: Road tripping to Montgomery, Ala., where Sewanee’s women play U. Dallas and the men play Huntingdon.
Jan. 1 at LaGrange: The LaGrange men play Hampden-Sydney.
Jan. 2 at Agnes Scott: Agnes Scott (women only) plays Emory.
Jan. 2 at Emory: Emory men host Birmingham-Southern.

And so if I have brain left I should have a decent handle on the Great South men’s race, at least. Wilmington, Christopher Newport, Mt. St. Vincent, Trinity and Hampden-Sydney I have seen before. Thanks to Philip Ponder at Oglethorpe for putting this together and finding the confluence of all of these games, while I know other coaches had a hand in it as well.

I know fan turnout isn’t very high during these New Year’s type events, but hope to see people and spread the good word about D3hoops.com. And the like.