We opened our 2011-2012 season in Dallas, Texas on November 18-19 at the University of Dallas Tip-Off Classic. It was a good way for our team to get away from home and just be with their teammates for a few days.
We left Minneapolis/St. Paul International on Thursday ( Nov. 17) and arrived in the Dallas area mid afternoon. Flight was good and we came in to Dallas by flying right over Dallas Cowboys Stadium and The Ball Park in Arlington. Pretty cool to have that be one of the first things we saw as we entered Texas.
We checked in our hotel, relaxed for a little bit and then went and got a good meal before practice. Thursday was a travel day, but still a work day. It was good to get in the gym, see the surroundings, get shots up and get a sweat going. Our legs were a little dead butit that was expected and that's why we went a day early.
Friday - November 18
We started off the day by jumping in 3 mini vans and a car and taking our caravan to Arlington and Dallas Cowboys Stadium for a VIP tour. What a phenomenal place. Tour took about 90 minutes and took us to lower level seating, private suite level clubs that can also be rented out for other various occasions (wedding receptions, etc), smaller suites, Cotton Bowl offices, Dr. Pepper standing room only deck, Miller Lite club on field level where players enter, media room, locker rooms of the cheerleaders and of the Cowboys, and finally out on to the field itself. The stadium cost $1.2 billion and they made it all back in year 1. They sold 13 tons of nachos at the Super Bowl, stadium includes 3000 flat screens, roof can open in 9 minutes and close in 12, lockers are made of wood imported from Africa and cost $9000 a piece, and the minimum lease for a suite is 10 years. It was phenomenal to see the stadium and hear all the facts and figures that go along with a place like this.
We went right from the stadium to our shoot around at the Univ. of Dallas. Shot the ball better and we had pretty good focus when going through the scouting report. Not the ideal environment for doing scouting report with such an open space and the gym not enclosed, but no excuses. We made it work.
We finally tipped off about 8:20 pm Friday night against the Univ. of Dallas. It was their 2nd game, but it was the home opener. Crowd was good and it made for a fun environment. The first half was back and forth. We withstood their initial burst of energy and excitement but it was tough playing without our senior captain, Pat Freeman, for most of the first half. We were down a half dozen or so at the half. Second half saw Dallas build a lead but we continued to battle back. Had the ball a couple times with it being a one possession game but just weren't able to tie or take the lead. We lost 75-71.
Saturday - November 19
Quick turnaround. Got back to the hotel after 11 Friday night and had scouting report at 10 am Saturday morning. Our next opponent was the Austin College Kangaroos. They were a bigger, more athletic team than we saw on Friday. We opened the game very aggressive and got to the bonus very early in the game. Again we had to play with 2 of our main guys on the bench in foul trouble. Despite that we went to the locker room at half only down 1. We had the lead in the second half and Austin College really struggled guarding us when we had Pat and Mike in there, but both ended up fouling out and we couldn't over come that.
We left Dallas 0-2 but we did some very good things. The new guys got their feet wet, we shot 24 more free throws than our opponents but we just couldn't knock down open shots. Those shots will go in. We must stay confident shooting the ball and have a short memory.
More to come....
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