How about that Brooke Demetre!? Stanford makes a habit of recruiting players who go unnoticed until they rescue Stanford in an elimination game. Near the end of the 2021 tournament, I couldn’t remember if I’d seen Ashten Prechtel before. Who’s this kid making a flock of 3-pointers to save their season?
A reporter said about Stanford’s tense (I don’t think either team led by more than 5 until the end) overtime win against Iowa State last night that Coach VanDerveer showed more emotion at the end of that game than at any other in memory. (I think this might be another hint that Coach VanDerveer is prepared to step aside, because someone has to coach WNBA San Francisco.)
Good for Stanford surviving, because I want Utah to get another shot at the Cardinal.
I’ve logged many miles, but I don’t consider myself a traveler. From the inside, chess tournament venues and basketball arenas look like the others.
I could make a travel guide to basketball gyms.
The Jenny Craig Pavilion at the University of San Diego is decorated in a Southwestern motif. It imparts the desired feel, but it’s unobtrusive to the business of indoor sports. Recommended for lovers of Southwestern decor, when the Toreros are a good basketball team.
The city of Portland offers basketball travelers a varied look. The University of Portland is on a bluff overlooking water. If I ever got lost up there, goodbye forever. Inside the Chiles Center, everything that can be painted purple is painted purple. Portland State University, on the other, is nestled within the concrete jungle downtown. At Portland State, the athletics and academics are under the same roof, so if you can’t find the gym, it can be trying to find anyone who knows where it is. Then there’s Powell’s World of Books, a bookstore so renowned that basketball travelers do, in fact, schedule trips to Portland in season, carrying empty suitcases.
I’ve never built a fire, but I’ve seen it done on screen, where one might stuff kindling into the base of a pyramid made of sticks. That’s the Thunderdome at the University of California at Santa Barbara. It’s supposed to look like a dome, but whenever I look toward the ceiling, I feel like the place could ignite. UCSB kids suck. Avoid. (Unless sophomore guard Kathleen Hutchens is loving her education there, I’d be in favor of her entering the portal to land at a place I’d like to visit.)
I’ve never before been this tired on a basketball trip. Unsteady on my feet, reaching to hold things for balance.
My chess teacher once said: “Someday you’re going to go too far for a basketball game.” It crossed my mind that this could be the trip too far.
I overhear conversations in the media room in which it’s said that since Ejim and Pili are both unstoppable, it’ll be the guard play that settles this one. Gonzaga’s guard rotation is three grad students plus one senior. Sheesh, I think.
In 12 hours, I’ll be back at the Oakland airport. From there, I Lyft home to get my car, and continue south to teach a chess lesson. I never schedule enough rest, but that time is expensive.