James Madison (86) vs. Coastal Carolina (76) 03/01/2024

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Game #129 of 362 35% complete

I was surprised to see that James Madison came into this game with a 27-3 record. However I was shocked to see the Dukes barely receiving votes in various college basketball rankings. They are currently #62 in the Kenpom rankings. Perhaps the poor strength of schedule ranking at #299 is the main reason. It must be difficult for mid majors to find quality opponents outside their league and also face the fact that a league tournament championship is the only way to get a berth in March Madness.

The stated attendance was around 1500 fans as you can guess from the many empty seats. Coastal Carolina’s record at 8-20 may have something to do with this. I was told before my trip they are known more for their baseball program.

I could not post an outside photo of the arena due to a fierce rain storm. The weather for the first three days of our four day trip to Myrtle Beach was horrible. I take my wife once a year on a basketball trip that are balanced with trips to TJMaxx, Home Goods and Marshalls during our stay. I had a ocean facing room with a balcony that was of little use in the crappy weather. We did see a comedy show at the Comedy Cabana downtown which provided quite a few laughs. I was tempted to visit Top Golf but passed. A bad driving range session would put a damper on the trip for me.

As in most of my trips, finding parking at the arena is a hassle. The college web sites detailing parking instructions are mostly out of date or indecipherable. I usually drive up to the parking attendant at a premium lot and ask where the free lots are. This time, I was given directions to look for the YY lot. In the pouring rain, I drove around lost trying to follow the verbal directions till I noticed the shuttle bus in a parking lot. To my luck, I drove in and discovered that this was the YY lot only designated as far as I can see from the bus shuttle sign, As I have stated before, I love the arenas with a big free parking lot right in front.

The mascot is a chanticleer. I know your next question. This a type of a rooster used as a proper name in medieval fables. The ‘H’ is silent if you attempt to pronounce this.

From Wiki:

Why is Coastal Carolina the Chanticleers?

The Chanticleer is derived from Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, specifically “The Nun’s Priest Tale.” In the early 1960s, Coastal’s athletic teams were known as the Trojans until a group of Coastal students and their English professor-basketball coach Cal F. Maddox brought up the idea of a new mascot.

James Madison lead at half time with a score of 43-28 but the Chanticleers played a strong second half to make the score somewhat respectable. The Dukes had a well balanced scoring night led by Terrence Edwards with 18 points and Michael Green III with 16 points. Green a diminutive 6 foot guard from Brooklyn was very impressive off the bench. He is a graduate student transferring over from Robert Morris. His quickness was too much for the Chanticleers defense. The Dukes are a solid team who hopefully will be in the chosen field of 68.

Not sure why the score is not showing. It was there when I took the picture.

Time for a Margarita at Margaritaville!

University of Alabama – Birmingham (70) vs. Tulsa (63) 02/11/2024

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Game #128 of 362 35% complete

As you can see, I was sitting behind the ESPN announcers. I was surprised at the low turnout of the crowd for a Sunday afternoon game. Perhaps the reason was that it was Super Bowl Sunday.

The American Athletic Conference brought in 6 new teams this year. The turnover at these smaller conferences resembles the transfer portal where the best teams or individual players are always looking for higher ground. The conference did strengthen itself this year with the addition of Florida Atlantic (a final four participant) and North Texas who defeated AAC fellow member UAB in the 2023 NIT final. As a UConn fan, I wish the AAC members nothing but success but I am glad that we are in the Big East.

I had a great seat sitting in the second row right behind the ESPN announcers. The analyst was Pooh Richardson who I remember from his UCLA days. I took a picture of me on the TV monitor at the game and on on the replay when I got back home as you can see below.

The UAB coach was Andy Kennedy who has been a familiar face with his tenure at Cincinnati and Ole Miss. He never looked happy on the sideline regardless of who was winning.

Another first in the Operation 351 mission is a player who has the same first and last name. UAB has a player named Tony Toney. Another unusual name was UAB forward Yaxel Lendeborg who was the best player on the court and a probable all league selection. He and teammate Eric Gaines led the UAB Blazers with 17 points.

If you had to come up with a costume resembling a Hurricane, this will do I guess.

I was impressed by a display honoring the POWs and MIAs in the concourse.

Tulsa made the Elite 8 in the year 2000 eventually succumbing to North Carolina 59-55. The concourse had a team picture for this event which was the highest the Hurricanes have gone in the NCAA tournament.

UAB pulled away in the end and was the best club on the floor. The Blazers now have an overall record of 16-8 placing them on the March madness tournament bubble.

I have 2 more games to go in my Operation 351 season visiting Myrtle Beach for games with Costal Carolina and UNC Wilmington.

Georgia (75) vs. Arkansas (78) 02/10/2024

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Game #127 of 362 35% complete

When I started this quest 9 years ago, I had many goals and wishes. At the top of the list was the desire to see an Operation 351 game with my grandchild who did not exist at the beginning of this journey. Welcome Jack my 3 1/2 year old grandson to this crazy quest!. May there be many games in the future with Grampy. My granddaughter Lily will soon be old enough to join me as well.

Of course, an Arkansas basketball and a stuffed razorback were bought by me as souvenirs for Jack.

Arkansas and Georgia are not exactly lighting up the SEC this year. Overall, the SEC has seen better days led by Kentucky and surprising South Carolina. But as in any SEC league game, the crowd was fired up.

Who can forget the Arkansas team who won the national championship in 1994 taking down Duke? Sophomores Corliss Williamson and Scotty Thurman were the leaders of that team. I remember Arkansas native President Clinton embracing Coach Nolan Richardson on the court when the Hogs won it all.

I always point out the firsts on my journey. There were two in this game. This first was a race of corgis during half time. The black corgi in the middle raced quickly to blow away his opponents. I also counted 5 times when an Arkansas player stepped on the end line. That has to be a Operation 351 record.

During one timeout, a freaking alarm went off with a buzzer and red lights flashing throughout. I was ready to evacuate but it was a precursor to a “cheer” video on the scoreboard. If you are regular to the Arkansas home games, it was no big deal. Not cool!

I lost track of the number of times I saw the word “Walton” traveling to the arena. Sam Walton began Walmart. Walmart is king in this area including the home arena. Bentonville has the Walmart corporate offices and resides next to the city of Fayetteville, the home of the University of Arkansas.

The game itself was nip and tuck from start to to the end. Arkansas’s tough defense held Georgia under their season average on offense. Neither of these teams will be in March Madness unless they win the league tourney.

RIP Toby Keith. A number of his songs were played during the timeouts.

Jack had a great time. Grampy can not wait till his next game.

UNC Asheville (71) vs. Charleston Southern (65) 01/27/2024

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Game #126 of 362 34% complete

I made the one and a half hour drive from Columbia to North Charleston in plenty of time for the 5:30PM start. The Buccaneer Field House with a capacity of 881 seats is the second smallest basketball Division 1 arena. The smallest is the G.B. Hodge Center in Spartanburg, SC with a capacity of 878 seats. This is the home of the University of South Carolina Upstate Spartans. I wonder if there was a competition between the two schools perhaps with the Spartans ripping out 5 seats to attain this honor.

I was sitting in the first row right in the middle of the court. An elderly gentlemen that was escorting an even older man sat next to me and quickly introduced himself. His name was Brooks and was a season ticket holder. He went to to Charleston Southern on a golf scholarship in 1965 so one can guess his age from that. We exchanged pleasantries and continued a running conversation throughout the game. He was well versed on every player of the Charleston Southern team. He was not afraid to yell at the refs and even at the UNC Asheville coach. He made my evening a memorable one. I prefer the small arenas and meeting up with folks like Brooks. I told him about my Operation 351 mission and he offered to put me up if I am ever in the Charlestown area to see other schools. This was Southern hospitality at its best.

The arena had a banner that said “EDIG”. It was on the players warmups as well. Brooks informed that it meant “Every Day is Game 7”.

Brooks said that most of the starters from last year entered the portal and are now with other schools. He said that the mid majors are turning into farm clubs for the power schools. He is sadly correct and makes me concerned about the future of college basketball. Will it turn into something like the major league baseball where the most money buys the best teams? I am in favor of the players be compensated for their name and likeness but the influence of big donors can not be good for the sport.

Buccaneer RJ Johnson led the his team with 23 points. He was a one man team keeping the Bucs in the game. Brooks lamented that he was probably gone after this year in the portal. Despite being double digit underdogs, the Buccaneers put up a valiant fight.

The player of the game was UNC Asheville player Drew Pember. This 6’10” center was lights on with his three point shooting and provided ample cushion when the Buccaneers tried to make a run. Pember was previously with the Tennessee Vols seeing little action in his first two seasons there. He found a home in the Big South earning Player of the Years honors last season.

That’s a wrap! Thanks to Breeze Airlines for providing a cheap direct flight between Hartford and Charleston.

Missouri (64) vs. University of South Carolina (72) 01/27/2024

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Game #125 of 362 34% complete

My plans for a 4 game trip to Wisconsin early in January were snuffed by a blizzard halting all flights into the Milwaukee area. I had a complimentary ticket to one game and was honored to be designated as the “fan of the game” at another school as I always give the athletic directors a heads up to my upcoming visits. I donated my Marquette ticket to the Big Brothers and Sisters organization in Wisconsin to find some good in this snafu. So in desperation to salvage this season, I scheduled a quickie trip to South Carolina with two games in one afternoon and a return the next day back to Connecticut. Kudos to Breeze Airlines for their non stop trip to Charleston. The downside of this kind of trip is the lack of time to see the sights or visit some cool restaurant.

I was greeted by a huge statue of former South Carolina player A’ja Wilson. The women’s program is celebrated here due to the dominance in women’s college basketball. Coming from a UConn fan, coach Dawn Staley has done an excellent job making the Gamecocks a perennial power.

The pre game introductions were quite a show with fire and fireworks celebrating each Gamecock player introduction. The house was packed and certainly one of the loudest that I have experienced in my travels. Having the students in the lower level surrounding the court made the atmosphere even more outstanding. The fans also had a towel that they would wave in a circle over the heads in beat with the fast music from the DJ.

I was very impressed with South Carolina forward B.J. Mack a 6’8″ 280 pound forward who came over from Wofford. He was first team at SoCon last year and came over as a grad student to the Gamecocks this season. He has a soft touch and can play inside or shoot from the outside as evidenced by his 21 points from all areas of the court in this game.

In the picture above, you can see #75 Connor Vanover sitting at the end on the Tigers bench. I thought ’75” was an unusual number till I looked up his height. You guessed it – 7 feet 5 inches. As happens many times in my travels, I see players who I have seen before somewhere. I looked it up and quickly remembered that he was on the Oral Roberts team that made a run to the elite 8 in the 2021 March Madness tournament. His teammate was Max Abmas who now stars for Texas. Vanover was impressive in this game but sat quite frequently for reasons unknown to me.

Missouri despite being 0-6 in the SEC conference gave South Carolina a run for its money. I am sure the South Carolina fans are used to this but I had to smirk at the cheer when one side of the arena yells “Go” and the other side yells “Cocks” Just for the record, a “gamecock” is a type of rooster.

Florida Gulf Coast (62) vs. Cincinnati (99) 12/03/2023

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Game #124 of 362 34% complete

This is the last of a three game set in the Cincinnati area. Of course, I would be greeted by a statue of the great Oscar Robertson. Once again, I had an unplanned 20 minute walk to the arena from my parking area reserved for visitors who are too dumb to figure out the parking rules. Because I spent too much time at the Underground Museum (comments later on), I did not have enough time to make the opening tip.

My seat was in the very last row of the arena. It was a bench reserved for families who let their kids run around during the game with an open area behind the bench. As I watched the first half, I searched for locations in the lower levels. Note to self: do a better job picking out seats on Ticketmaster.

When the first half ended, I quickly learned that the security is very tight for seating in the lower sections. The arena posts security around the areas of the lower seats so you can not even get close without a badge. I headed over to the side where there was no security area. I began taking pictures behind the section when the usher reminded me to stay behind the green line. I began a conversation with the usher who was doing a diligent job checking folks going to their lower level seats. The chatting began with why I was there for my Operation 351 mission. He was very interested and wanted to learn more. After awhile, I won him over and he snuck me into the last empty row of the section. Forever grateful to this unnamed but appreciated usher. (I don’t want to to get this gentlemen in trouble!) You can see the differences in the game pictures of the location.

Like the Dayton game, this was a blowout for the Bearcats from the opening tips. I have come to expect these results with games before league play. P5 teams need to fill their schedule early on with a patsy to boost up their record and provide game time readiness for the upcoming bruising league play. You hope for an upset to make things exciting but that rarely happens.

Victor Lakhin and CJ Fredrick, a transfer from Iowa, lead all scorers with 19 points. The undefeated Bearcats are not ranked so it will be interesting how they fare in Big 12 league play. Lahkin is the Bearcats’ leading returning scorer and led the AAC in field goal shooting last season. I was interested in seeing Simas Lukosius  who played in the Big East for Butler. I was always impressed with his play and wished that UConn had a shot with him. Unfortunately, he was recently struck by a car. He had a bruise on his leg and smashed the windshield of the car that hit him. He is doing okay and recovering nicely.

I always get a good laugh on games at half time featuring mascots. Some can not move their arms or see very well. Basketballs are bouncing off of their head. They fall down and need help getting back up.

As I was exiting the arena, I followed a crowd downstairs thinking that this would lead to an exit. Much to my surprise, fans were lining up to give high fives to the Bearcat players. I did as well even though I felt like an imposter.

The National Underground Museum is a must see on a visit to Cincinnati. The idea that slavery still exists today though forced child labor and sex trades was an eye opener. The museum had many interesting exhibits and gave the visitor a complete picture of the underground railroads in America.

Happy Holidays to all!

Grambling State (46) vs. Dayton (77) 12/02/2023

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Game #123 of 362 33% complete

The University of Dayton Arena is the site of the annual “First Four” part of March Madness.  The four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams playoff with the winners advancing to the next round. The most notable team coming out of the first four was VCU in 2011 who made it to the Final Four succumbing to Butler in the semi final.

The team has an phone application that most major college teams have. During the player introductions, fans were instructed to go to the app and activate a flashing light. This was pretty cool to see and a first in my travels.

Grambling State was overmatched right from the start. Nate Santos, a transfer from Pittsburgh, was on fire tonight. He was the high scorer with 26 points. He went 6-7 from three point range. Santos was hardly used at Pitt last year so I wonder what the story was there. He certainly looked like an ACC caliber-level player to me.

I thought it odd that the scores of the the individual players was nowhere to be found on the scoreboards.

The 20 minute walk from the overflow parking was invigorating in the cold breeze. I like to walk but admittedly the confusing and usually outdated parking instructions on the college web sites led me to keep on driving ’til I saw the last available parking lot. This lot is mostly reserved for the frugal fans who do not want to pay $20 for parking.

Obi Toppin was voted the top national college player of the year in 2020. He was drafted in the first round by the Knicks (my favorite NBA team) and floundered for two seasons before being traded to the Indiana Pacers. As happens with most Knicks prospects when they are traded, he is experiencing a rejuvenated career averaging 13 points a game.

I am trying to make it a habit to continue exercising on my Operation 351 trips. I am in the hotel exercise room looking out the back window. I see a few horses running around a track. I had no clue that the hotel was next to a race track. On Saturday night after the afternoon game, I visited and lost a few bucks at the the racetrack. It was however very cool to be positioned at the start and finish lines watching the horses run.

The mama and bay hippos swimming underwater and the huddled African dogs were my two favorite pictures from my visit to the Cincinnati Zoo.

On to the University of Cincinnati!

Houston (66) vs. Xavier (60) 12/01/2023

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Game #122 of 362 33% complete

The arena is better known as the Centras Arena but that sign was displayed on another entrance.

My first game of a three game set in Ohio begins with fourth ranked Houston playing at Xavier in the Big 12/ Big East Challenge. I was actually staying in Florence, Kentucky which is right over the Ohio border and close to the airport. I heard “Welcome to Ohio” or “Welcome to Kentucky” numerous times over WAZE as I crossed back and forth between states.

The students were in full force tonight as the Musketeers wanted desperately to knock off a ranked team. UConn, Marquette and Creighton are mentioned this year as the cream of the crop in the Big East. I am sure this has rankled Xavier’s fans thinking if only they had a healthy Zach Freemantle and Jerome Hunter. Both are out with possibly season ending injuries.

I usually root for the home team in my travels but I had mixed emotions tonight. Xavier is a rival to UConn however looking at it logically, a Big East win here would help all teams in the league come March Madness time.

I was most impressed with Houston guard LJ Cryer who transferred over from Baylor. He led all scorers with 23 points. Cryer is a very shifty guard who finds his way in the lane dropping tear drop buckets. He is very quick off the ball and difficult to stop on the penetration. To be honest, I was not excited about the other Houston players. Perhaps Houston had an off night but they did not play as a team ranked fourth nationally.

I am always on the lookout for players from Connecticut in my travels. Xavier guard Des Claude is from New Haven who played for Putnam Academy. Des was a consensus four star recruit and ranked 83rd in the country. This school is a machine for turning out college basketball D1 players, He was selected to the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team by the league coaches last year. Xavier fans are looking for a breakout season from Claude. He was easily the best player on the floor tonight for the Musketeers. Although Quincy Olivari, the transfer from Rice, led Xavier with 17 points, Claude was the engine for Xavier’s offense.

I have a pet peeve for the scoreboard operators. I make it a habit to post a picture of the final score in my blog. Xavier keeps the final score on the board for a few seconds after the game ends and then flashes a “THANK YOU FANS’ in its place. They are not the only school to do this. I had not time to get a picture so what you get is the final score from the side scoreboard – small and distant. I can hear my mother saying “May all you problems be small ones”.

Any trip to Cincy must include a visit to William Henry Taft’s house in Cincinnati. I am sure most of us don’t know about the life of Taft but he held many positions in government including being the 27th president of the United States. Many of the lesser known presidents made for interesting lives. Taft was also the solicitor general of the United States, Secretary of War and a Supreme Court judge. I was given a tour of his home by a very knowledgeable tour guide who gave me a deeper appreciation of Taft.

On to Dayton!

IUPUI (57) vs. Indiana State (96) 11/14/2023

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Game #121 of 362 33% complete

Welcome to Larry Bird country! As a Knicks fan, I was not a Larry Bird fan in what he did to my Knicks but I do recognize him as the second best NBA player ever behind Jordan. Terra Haute is a quiet city and I can see why Bird was attracted to this area coming from a small town.

This game was another blowout on my trip. I do have to take umbrage with the name “IUPUI” for a school which stands for Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. Seriously, couldn’t’ve they come up with a better name perhaps like Central Indiana University?

Robbie Avila was the star for the Sycamores tonight. His glasses give him a Clark Kent appearance. I always wonder when a basketball player who wears glasses chooses to or he has to because of his inability to wear contacts. He does posses an high BB IQ and looked like an old soul out here. His 16 points tied teammate Isiah Swope for game high points.

Isiah Swope was a transfer the University of Southern Indiana. He made some long three pointers and was the quickest player out there. The Sycamores completely overwhelmed the Jaguars and the game was over early on.

More Larry Bird memorabilia if you need some more.

If I have some free time, I enjoy going for a walk on the home campus before the game. On my travels, I came across a robot carrying food for delivery to one of the dorms. This was another “first” moment for me.

I try to get some walking in on my trip to offset the gluttonous approach to food on these trips. I visited the Griffy Lake Nature Preserve in Bloomington before the hour trip to Terra Haute.

Goodbye Indiana! On to Cincinnati for my next trip.

East Tennessee State (47) vs. Butler (81) 11/13/2023

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Game #120 of 362 33% complete

The Hinkle Fieldhouse is on the “you got to see this arena” list whenever great arenas are brought up in conversations about my journey. Referred to as the “Indiana’s Basketball Cathedral”, its main claim to fame among non college basketball junkies is the home of the movie “Hoosiers”. It was the site of the site of the 1954 championship game between Milan High School and Muncie Central featured in the movie. Hinkle has also hosted numerous political rallies with presidential candidates and served as barracks during World War 2. The fieldhouse lives up to its reputation with padded seats in the lower section along with the sight lines unparalleled in other arenas.

Butler completely outplayed the Buccaneers from Tennessee. I was particularly interested in Posh Alexander the transfer from St. John’s. I have seen him play multiple times in the Big East and was always puzzled by his decline over the past two years. He was the 2021 Big East Freshman of the Year and 2021 Big East co-defensive player of the year as well. The past two years were not as successful. Posh dazzled tonight with all facets of play especially his defensive presence so it is hopeful that the change to Butler will be for the good.

I was impressed with the play DJ Davis a transfer from UC Irvine. He was the high scorer for the Bulldogs with 15 points. He is super quick and possesses a lethal three point shot. Butler will be improved from last year but every team with the exception of Georgetown and DePaul can say the same.

The Butler live mascot Blue IV made an appearance tonight much to the delight of the fans. Poor Blue suffered a tear in a knee ligament in October. He is on the mend after an operation and is back on the sidelines cheering on his team.

The fieldhouse much like the Palestra offers up a plethora of memorabilia in its concourse. High school basketball takes on a whole new level here more than most other states.

If you are in Indianapolis and love history, be sure to checkout the home the 23rd president Benjamin Harrison. An interesting trivia item is that William Henry Harrison and Benjamin formed the only grandfather/grandson team in the White House. Benjamin declined to run for a second term because the death of his wife in the White House during his first term left too many sad memories.

Of course, my followers know that a visit to the zoo is must for every visit. Here are some of the residents at the Indianapolis Zoo.

Day 2 is complete.