Gophers practice at High Point, blog of team in NC

[BleedGopher]

per GopherSports.com:

Tuesday, March 17

Minnesota arrived at Greensboro Airport at a little after 4 p.m. The team took a Sun Country Airlines charter from the Humphrey Terminal to the charter terminal at Greensboro Airport. In addition to the team and staff, the band and spirit squads are on the same trip. After piling all of the baggage onto two buses, the Gophers made the 11-mile trek to the Marriott Downtown where the travel party will hopefully be residing until Sunday. The team then had an evening meeting before the lights were out at 10 p.m. with heavy anticipation for Wednesday.

Wednesday, March 18

The team left for practice at 9:30 a.m. at High Point University's Mills Athletic & Convocation Center. The University is just 10 miles away or so. It bears some major significance as Tubby Smith is a 1973 graduate of the institution. The University greeted him with signs. The video board in the arena read "Welcome Home Tubby." Smith clearly has many friends in the area and is excited to be back in North Carolina. Ironically, Smith played college basketball against Texas head coach Rick Barnes. Smith was a senior at High Point, where he is still the sixth-leading scorer in school history, and Barnes was a freshman at nearby Lenoir-Rhyne College.

After returning from practice, the team returned to the hotel where they will rest before heading to Greensboro Coliseum for the first time. The team has media availability from 5:15-5:45 before a 40-minute practice on the Coliseum court that is open to the public and the media. Several players (Jamal Abu-Shamala, Damian Johnson and Lawrence Westbrook) will take the podium with Coach Smith to answers from the media while the remainder of the team is available in the locker room for questions. It's also a chance for the CBS television crew to watch the team and gather information for the broadcast during the practice session. The Greensboro region drew the top CBS announcing crew of Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg.

The atmosphere should be electric in the Coliseum tomorrow with Duke and North Carolina both being assigned to the site, although they are on different sides of the bracket. UNC will face Radford, who is also staying at the Marriott Downtown, in the second game of the afternoon session. Duke and Binghamton follow the Gophers-Texas game at some time around 9:40 p.m.

The hospitality in Greensboro is simply amazing. Not only are the people incredibly friendly just about everywhere you go, the team is assigned two hosts, both named Jim from the Greensboro Sports Council. The two gentlemen provide transportation to meetings and other places and essentially act as tour guides. It's very clear that Greensboro really enjoys hosting these events...they also hosted the ACC Tournament last week. They are really excited to meet teams from around the country and go out of their way to go the extra mile. The two hosts actually took Matt and I (athletic communications contacts) to our SID meetings this morning, came with us to the meetings, gave us an extra tour of the Coliseum and offered to be of any assistance. Anyway, the hospitality and attention to detail is very impressive.

Another thing I have noticed is the number of Division I basketball schools that are in the Greensboro area. Obviously, this area is a hotbed for college basketball but the numbers are staggering. In addition to the big four schools that are located within 45 minutes to an hour away (UNC, Duke, Wake Forest, N.C. State), there are plenty of others. UNC Greensboro is right down the street from us while the area also has Elon College, Appalachain State, Charlotte, North Carolina A&T, UNC-Asheville, UNC-Wilmington, Winston-Salem State, Davidson, Campbell and others. It's remarkable considering that Minnesota is the 12th-largest state by size while North Carolina is 28th. Minnesota has just one NCAA Division I basketball program and North Carolina has that many.

Wednesday, March 18

The Gophers completed their open practice and media availability around 6:30. Coach Smith had a variety of media engagements. In addition to his press conference, he did radio interviews for the Minnesota and Texas radio networks to air before tomorrow night's game. He also spent some time with Nantz and Kellogg during the open practice. The players put on a little show for the fans like many teams with around five minutes of dunks. From my vantage point, Devron Bostick and Devoe Joseph appear to be the team's best dunkers. I was surprised with the quality of dunks from big man Colton Iverson as well. The team returned back to the hotel for dinner and a team meeting.

The Gophers will return to Greensboro Coliseum at 10 a.m. for a brief shootaround. The anticipation is starting to build for tomorrow night's game.

http://www.gophersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8400&ATCLID=3695264

Go Gophers!!

 

[BleedGopher]

Here is Marcus' blog:

Gophers practice at Tubby's alma mater
The Gophers had their first NCAA tournament practice at Tubby Smith's alma mater High Point University, which was about 15 minutes away from Greensboro, N.C.

A sign that read, "Welcome back Tubby" made Minnesota's second-year coach feel at home again. Smith also met with his former college coach Jerry Steele, who talked with his players.

"I've got a lot of intererst in that vacant job," Smith joked. "You know, I have three sons in the coaching business. ...Just going around the campus, the buildings, it's phenomenal how fast (it changes)."

"We got to see where he was when he played," freshman Devoe Joseph said. "They were playing music. It was a fun experience."

-- Texas is hard to beat when guard A.J. Abrams lights up the scoreboard, so Minnesota's guards are focused on shutting him down. Easier said than done though.

"I think that will be a big part to helping us win," said Joseph, who didn't think Abrams reminded him of any Big Ten player. "He's one of the best shooters I've seen in the country. He's very talented. We're going to have to work real hard to shut him down.

-- Joseph said the Gophers saw the movie "Push" at a theater in Greensboro, N.C.

"It was kind of a small theater," he said. "We've seen one or two movies here. When you do get to do it, it's cool."

--Sophomore Paul Carter said seeing Smith back at the NCAA tournament gave him flashbacks of watching his coach at Kentucky.

"I remember not too long ago they had Rajon Rondo and they were playing Michigan State," Carter said. "That was a big game. They replayed it on the Big Ten Network a couple times. I went down to the wire. Rajon tried to give it to (Kelenna) Azubike and it didn't go well. I just remember Coach Smith give that look. Watching the game was kind of funny seeing guys get into trouble. When he gives that stare, you're sitting in your room and want to change the channel."

-- Practicing in front of hundreds of fans at Greensboro Coliseum was pretty nerve-racking for Minnesota's players this evening. They were the second to the last team to take the floor before Binghamton.

"It was exciting; you can't really describe it," sophomore Blake Hoffarber said. "You can feel the energy of March Madness. I just can't imagine what tomorrow is going to feel like."

http://blogs.twincities.com/gophers/2009/03/gophers_practice_at_tubbys_alm.html

Go Gophers!!

 

[TheDinkytowner]

UNC Greensboro is right down the street from us while the area also has Elon College, Appalachain State, Charlotte, North Carolina A&T, UNC-Asheville, UNC-Wilmington, Winston-Salem State, Davidson, Campbell and others. It's remarkable considering that Minnesota is the 12th-largest state by size while North Carolina is 28th. Minnesota has just one NCAA Division I basketball program and North Carolina has that many.

That's why there's 350 D1 teams now, it's a joke.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Just a year and a half ago, I lived 4 blocks from High Point University. I know a bunch of people that work in the athletic dept. and probably could have gotten in there to watch them. I guess I moved a little too early!