J-MART NOTE: This is an amazing blog entry, and I’m not even kidding. I’m certain we’ll hear from Mr. Wolters in the coming days. In fact, I’d be disappointed if we didn’t, although Dude won’t be happy with the pic I posted. But hey, I’m resourceful…
Really, this is the best name I could come up with for my blog debut. A bit sad, but if you have any recommendations for something a little more flashy, I’m all for listening.
But nevertheless, I’m in Orlando at the beautiful Milk House. Sure, it’s possibly the worst name for an arena in American history; and, yes, in the media room there is a huge mural of famous athletes with the famous Milk ‘Staches plastered on their larger-than-life faces (I’m sorry, but I can’t look at Tom Brady with milk on his upper lip without giggling); but it’s really a neat place.
As for my journey down, which began at 5 a.m…well it’s over, and that’s all that’s important. Joining me on my bus ride from the airport to the hotel was Manhattan city commissioner Bob Strawn, who said, among other things, he’s a faithful K-Stated reader. Yep, J-Mart is famous in the eyes of Manhattan’s elite. Mr. Strawn wasn’t sure what to expect with the Wildcats this week, but he did say he’s looking forward to Dominique Sutton’s arrival to help with K-State’s shooting. So there’s that.
Also, I just wrapped up a conversation with assistant sports information director Tom Gilbert. He gave me a brief lowdown on how the Wildcats have spent their time in O-Town since arriving late Tuesday.
Last night, MGM Studios had a little after hours get together for the eight teams. The park kept the rides going for all to enjoy and put out a huge spread of food for all to dine on. Sounded like a blast. Apparently there was quite a bit of familiarity among the players from their days in the AAU ranks and whatnot.
No special Thanksgiving dinner today, however. K-State had a short shootaround this morning and then it was back to the hotel for meetings and probably some rest after the late night.
And just in case you want a what-might-have-been moment before tipoff, South Carolina guard Devan Downey, who dropped 30 on Penn State here earlier today, could have been in purple tonight. Downey transferred from Cincinnati before last season and, before settling on the Gamecocks, considered Huggins and the Wildcats.
That could have been your shooter, Mr. Strawn.
P.S. – J-Mart’s on va-cay, so I’m keeping my entries to one-a-day (Vitamin!), so he doesn’t have to keep putting these up on the site. But I’ll be watching the comments below. Shoot me some questions. What would you like to know…other than about Dave Hoskins’ knee.
P.P.S. – Hope your Thanksgiving Day has been wonderful, everyone.
8 Comments
Hey levi,
You wouldn’t happen to be any good at shooting wide open 3’s, would you?
Thanks for the updates. One a day sounds good to me. Bill Walker looked better to me tonight. He is still just trying too hard. The ESPN play by play guys predicted that the Cats will be hard to handle by mid-January. One more thing the ESPN guys suggested since prep time is short, was for Coach to pick highlights only from tonights game film to prep the team for tomorrow. Show them 10 bad decision plays by us and 10 good decision plays by the more experienced team we played tonight. Sounded like good advice.
Actually, yes. But that’s all I do.
we’ll take it.
About what I expected last night. Figured it could go either way and we’ve got a ways to go. JMart never answered my earlier question…on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being he’s in the house, what is your take on Samuels and Sutton making it by Dec 1?? Well I didn’t ask about Hoskins knee! Good blog.
Random, but how did Martin react to Walker’s technical? They didn’t show the reaction of it on ESPN or anything
Mood of the team following the loss?
Motivated to dominate UCF?
Beasley getting frustrated with teammates 4 games in? (I don’t think he would, just curious).
Wow. Got some catching up to do…
Sutton and Samuels: I really don’t don’t know. But I like throwing out numbers, so how about a 7. People not necessarily in the know seem fairly confident…but that deadline isn’t exactly a long way away.
Martin’s reaction to Walker’s T: He put his hands on his knees and look straight ahead. Bill walked up to him shrugging his shoulders and saying something. Frank wouldn’t look at him.
Mood of the team: Blake Young was the only player the media was allowed to speak with, and I had to leave before he spoke because I was on deadline, so I’m not sure. Though Frank did say Beasley was takin the loss harder than anyone, because all Mike cares about is winning.
Motivated to dominate UCF: Again, we couldn’t dive to deep into that with our limited access last night, but wouldn’t you think they’d have to be? They got showed up last night on national television by a mid-major. I’m guessing in their eyes, if they drop tonight’s game, this trip is a massive failure no matter what happens on Sunday.
Beasley frustrated: I doubt it. Again, we haven’t been able to talk to him yet, but if there was ever a point he was going to be frustrated it was at halftime last night. Obviously he wasn’t. He came out and played great and saved K-State from really being embarrassed. Now, if he hates losing as much as Frank says he does, then maybe he’s still mourning last night’s result today. I really doubt that, though.