Month: December 2025

Ball State (64) vs. Campbell University (69) 12/14/2025

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Game #149 of 364 41% complete

The nickname of Campbell’s sports programs is the “Fighting Camels.” While camels are often thought of as peace-loving animals, the school’s founder, Dr. J. A. Campbell, admired them for their endurance and toughness in thriving under harsh desert conditions. In the 1920s, he felt these traits symbolized the resilience of the school’s athletes, which led to the adoption of the name.

I missed the opening tap while watching a couple of recruits being led to their seats. Although this may be common at Bible Belt schools, it was the first time I had heard a prayer offered before the national anthem. As a note of trivia, the famous baseball stars and brothers, Gaylord and Jim Perry, both graduated from Campbell.

Dovydas Butka led the way for the Fighting Camels with 22 points and 10 rebounds. The 6’9″ forward from Lithuania continued the trend of overseas players making significant contributions to their team’s success. It raises the question of how recent, more restrictive immigration policies may affect these athletes in the future.

I now present you with more camel pictures.

I read that the university is quite proud of its unique mascot—and rightfully so.

I was very impressed with Campbell’s point guard, DJ Smith. With the score tied at halftime, Smith poured in 17 points in the second half to break the game open. The 5’1″, 155-pound guard played for three teams—Little Rock, Robert Morris, and Bowling Green—while searching for a home before finally settling at Campbell.

Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus also stopped by for a visit. I was tempted to sit on their lap and wish for a warm North Carolina day.

Campbell remained unbeaten at home, pulling away from the Ball State Cardinals in the final minutes of the game.

I committed heresy for a UConn fan by eating lunch at the Duke University Golf Club and enjoying a fine steak. I wanted to take a picture of Cameron Indoor Stadium, but parking was a long walk away, and it was simply too cold to make the effort worthwhile.

That evening, I visited Durham Bulls Athletic Park for a Christmas light show. While I was disappointed with the food options, the entire stadium was beautifully adorned with lights. Had it not been for the 15-degree weather and gusty winds, I would have stayed longer than my brief 20-minute visit.

Back to snowbound Connecticut. Happy holidays to all my college basketball junkies—see you in January!

Northern Illinois (79) vs. Elon University (85) 12/13/2025

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Game #148 of 364 41% complete

I needed to use my Breeze Airline credit before the end of the year, so I started searching for a destination they fly to from Hartford. My criteria were simple: I needed to find a place where at least two teams were playing on both Saturday and Sunday. After some searching, the only option that fit was a flight to Raleigh/Durham to watch the Elon and Campbell. I even tried hard to find a third game in North Carolina, but unfortunately, nothing else matched up.

Elon University and Queens University of Charlotte recently announced plans to merge, with a target completion date of August 2026. Naturally, my first question was whether this merger would impact their Division I basketball programs. The answer, for now, is no—unless the NCAA intervenes with a disqualifying rule.

My last visit to Elon was about 20 years ago, when I came with my daughter during a southern college tour. The weather was unusually cold, almost identical to the chill I experienced in Detroit last month. The highways of North Carolina never seem to change—always lined with towering pine trees. As I drove in, I asked the parking attendant where the free parking was. He chuckled and said, “Go straight, and you’ll find all the parking you need.”

In 1999, the Board of Trustees at Elon College voted unanimously to adopt a new identity for the school’s athletics program, retiring the “Fightin’ Christians” moniker and mascot in favor of one more fitting for Elon’s growing national profile and its transition to NCAA Division I. The “Fightin’ Christians”? Is that essentially the same as being called the Crusaders? Today, they’re known as the Phoenix.

Like many mid-major schools, Northern Illinois relies heavily on international players and transfers. Makhai Valentine, a transfer from Missouri State, and Gustav Winther from Denmark led the Huskies with 17 and 15 points, respectively. However, NIU couldn’t hold on to an 11-point lead in the second half and ultimately fell to the Phoenix. Elon scored the last 11 points of the game to seal the victory. Kacper Klaczek, from Poland, led Elon with a game-high 23 points and 8 rebounds.

I sat behind the NIU bench, and the energy from Husky Jao Ituka was hard to miss. Wearing number 10, he was the first to jump off the bench to greet his teammates as they came off the court, and he took on the role of lead cheerleader throughout the game.

Two kids held up a brick every time NIU took a free throw. It was a clever cheer I’d never seen before in all my travels.

If you’re in the mood for a great breakfast, make sure to check out the State Farmers Market in Raleigh. The food is delicious, and the atmosphere really makes you feel like you’re at an authentic farmers market.