March Madness

March Madness for the Bobcats came early this past weekend on our last conference trip to UNC and NAU. It's all about the Denver International Airport.

WEDNESDAY:
Travel from Bozeman to Denver to Greeley, no problem.

FRIDAY:
Left hotel at 6:00am for airport to go from Denver-Phoenix-Flagstaff.

Rachel Semansky forgets whiteboards in van. Mandy Close goes back to get them and misses flight.

Board the plane in Denver. Sit on it for an hour listening to the worst sound humanly bearable. Pilot explains that sound is NOT normal. Flight gets cancelled.

10:00am
Rejoin Mandy. Rachel apologizes for forgetting whiteboards.

Team takes turns standing in line for help desk.

Mandy talks to Montana Travel and Chad at help desk to find all possible solutions. Fly to Las Vegas and drive from there? Drive from Denver?

Jamie Thornton buys me a diet soda to keep me happy.

12:00pm
Finally get team on two different flights into Phoenix. One party leaves at 6:45pm, other at 9:00pm. Now I am dehydrated from drinking too much soda.

Leave terminal to get bags and recheck onto later flights. We can't check our luggage until four hours prior, so check bags into storage. First group gets seated in first class (yay!).

Mandy's bag is lost from other flight they put her on.

2:00pm
Get lunch with some vouchers for the flight cancelled. Vouchers cover the tip. Could have used a refill on my water.

Group on later flight takes a shuttle to a mall to watch the worst movie they have ever seen. Our group vegges out in boredom for 2 more hours.

4:00pm
Head through security. I take a walk down terminal to get exercise.

6:30pm
It's finally time to board. Get to rehydrate with water in GLASSES rather than cups in first class. I could get used to first class travel. They refill your glass.

10:00pm
First group arrives at airport hotel. Justin Scanson continues texting all of the possible scenarios for tournament seeds.

12:30pm
2nd group arrives. Everyone snuggles as this hotel doesn't have any double rooms left. Amy manages to get us a free breakfast buffet though.

SATURDAY:
7:00am
Leave for Phoenix airport. Direct flight into Flagstaff with minimal delays. Minimal at this point is anything under a half a day.

11:30am
Arrive at hotel and head to shootaround.

Step on court to explain what the purpose of this adversity was for. Tired, fatigued, sore. We must show our mental focus and mental toughness to get through this game tonight at 7,000 feet.

5:45pm
Arrive to arena. NAU staff leaves a whiteboard for our staff and washed our uniforms, which we are thankful for.

8:00pm
Win our first game in Flagstaff since I have been the head coach at MSU.

SUNDAY:
6:00am
Leave airport-Flagstaff to Phoenix. Later hear Flagstaff has a whiteout and no other flights are leaving.

Get to DENVER airport and find out we have a delay. After 5 hours of waiting in Denver we board and get HOME at 6:30pm.

Long story short. We are taking the bus to Cheney for the Big Sky Tournament tomorrow.

Go Cats!