Bahamas Blog Day Three
8/13/2011 2:08:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Creighton men's basketball team departed for the Bahamas on the morning of Aug. 11, where they will play four games before returning on Aug. 17. While away from Omaha, sports information director Rob Anderson, video coordinator Nathan Wieseler and graduate manager Brian Kooienga plan to keep those who couldn't make the trip informed on the various activities with a daily diary, video and photos.
August 13, 2011 (Day Three)
I haven't written since before yesterday's game. As you can read in the recap, after a back-and-forth first quarter, the team played much better and dominated the Bahamas All-Stars, 106-82. At least we think that was the score. The scoreboard, Nathan Wieseler and Rob Anderson all thought it was 106-82, but the final box score had it as 107-82.
The final box score we got (posted here) likely had a few flaws on it. For instance, we had Jahenns Manigat with 7 points, while the box score had him with 14. On other categories such as rebounds, they listed Avery Dingman with 3, while Anderson had him with eight. Quite a difference. Wieseler spent his Saturday morning in the Bahamas re-watching the tape and calculating some new stats, which we hope to have for you at some point.
So as you see stats throughout the trip, keep that in mind, that not everything is perfect like you might see at a regular-season game. We'll do our best to correct where we can, but in the long-run it is just a preseason contest that won't be counted. In the defense of the crew doing stats yesterday, I'd imagine it would have been a tough game to score. The All-Stars had teal jerseys with a white/yellow number, except it was near-impossible to see in front of the yellow/orange sun background. Meanwhile, Creighton is wearing their practice jerseys down here, and those don't have numbers on the front.
Last night Louisville played before us. Because they had their game televised back home, they played regular NCAA rules, complete with full 135-second media timeouts. And there were nearly 135 fouls in the game too, or at least it seemed that way. Their game was also pushed back to a 7:30 pm start (again, for TV), which meant there was no way we were going to start at 9 pm as scheduled. Here's Rick Pitino being interviewed by a throng of media post-game.
With last night's game not starting until about 10 pm local time, the team didn't get back to the hotel until roughly 12:20 am. Thankfully, there was still one of the dinner buffet places located downstairs in the hotel when we returned, so the team got a little bit to eat before going to bed. Needless to say, the buffet wasn't stocked full for 15 hungry basketball players, but it was enough to get us to morning.
Breakfast was at 9:30 am today. Same menu as the day before, but there's still plenty of choices to select from. The omlette stand remains popular among most people it seems. Following breakfast there was nothing planned, so most guys headed back to the beach until lunch was scheduled at 12:30 pm, while Ethan Wragge read an issue of People magazine with Sandra Bullock on the cover, which probably doesn't help narrow down when it was published.
After writing about it on Thursday, I had promised we'd eventually get video of someone trying out the trapeze they've got behind our hotel. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the person in this video was none other than Will Artino's youngest sister, Karly. Not too shabby for her first day I'd say. We also saw a wedding ceremony being performed on the beach.
After lunch at 12:30 pm (again, at the hotel), the guys had a few more hours to relax before heading to this evening's game at 4 pm local time.
No games are scheduled for tomorrow, so the plan is to take everyone to Atlantis. I've never been there, but it's a huge hotel/resort that is probably the signature image of this entire island. It features to huge hotels that are side by-side, connected in the middle by a bridge of some sort. Here's a picture of it that I found on the internet, since that description wasn't all that great. I think it's got a water park and water slides as well. We plan to be there for most of the day on Sunday.
Lastly, congrats to Gregory Echenique, who learned he has earned a spot on the Venezuelan National Team as it attempts to qualify for the 2012 Olympics at month's end. That qualifying tournament is in Argentina, and I believe it'll be webcast for free on espn3.com. We'll be sure to keep GoCreighton.com updated as that nears.
Don't forget to check out the photo albums we've posted to, including the Day Three album that includes a few from late last night and some from earlier today.
Go Jays!
