Bluemling's Blog: U-M at The Great Alaska Shootout
12/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
As the Wolverines participated in the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage, Alaska, graduate assistant manager Tyler Bluemling penned the tales of the Maize and Blue during the week-long trip to the Great White North.
Why Don't We Just Bus Next Time
>> SUNDAY | NOV. 18, 2007
This could have possibly been the longest day ever. Woke up shortly before 6 a.m. to shower and finalize my packing. The team met at Crisler at 6:45 a.m. and left shortly after for the airport. One thing about college athletes is that not many, if any, are morning people. I'd tell you about the lack of activity on the bus but I was asleep before we even pulled out.
Our trip included a short stop in Minneapolis where we had a mechanical delay before we took off. But that actually lasted less than five minutes. The flight to Alaska was about five and a half hours so I was curious as to what our in-flight movie would be. Well, I found out that Northwest no longer shows in flight movies because it is "too expensive." How expensive could it possible be to show a DVD I would have taken anything, a thriller, a comedy, animated, heck, I would have taken "Hairspray." Thankfully, I was able to sleep for the first four hours. I am not sure how Zack (Gibson) or Ekpe (Udoh) last on some of these flights, and it seemed as though all the players were in a middle seat.
We arrived in Alaska to see nothing but white. It was only 4 p.m. Alaska Time (four hours behind the east coast) but the sun was already halfway down and the snow "flurries" were the size of golf balls. To many of us, it looked like weather that would keep us out of school for a week. Here, not so much. They don't even bother to clean the streets here.
Once we arrived at the hotel, we had dinner, watched some film (still watching that Georgetown game) and then were off to South Anchorage High School for a short practice. Coach (Beilein) tried to get the team acclimated to the time difference by keeping us up so we could sleep in the next day and get adjusted quicker. There was a lot of shooting with not much live action due to the long day sitting. The players were with Coach (John) Mahoney in the weight room for a little lift after practice to make sure we keep getting stronger. Once we arrived back at the hotel we had a small snack before everyone headed back to their rooms for the night.
The evening was over around 10:30 local time, 2:30 a.m. EST. In fact, my first day ended with me tucking in my week-long roommate and team manager Gerrit (Chernoff) and making sure there was enough separation between the two beds.
Just Looking For A Little Man vs. Wild
>> MONDAY | NOV. 19, 2007
Today we were supposed to go see a little bit of Alaska, but the plans changed. We had planned on going to a glacier park after practice, but it was cancelled the previous night when our bus driver advised against it due to expected weather.
We woke up, had breakfast, and headed to the bus. The sun didn't come up this morning until about 10 a.m. when we were headed to our host high school for our second practice. It was a beautiful drive in, as the sun was just peeking around some of the mountain tops. Everyone on the bus was enjoying the scenic view when a nameless player -- he wears the jersey number 22 -- asked if the mountains we were looking at were volcano's. This unnamed player tried to justify his question by saying he thought the clouds we were seeing was in fact steam coming from the "volcanic opening." Hey, looking out the window it did make some sense but we all got a good laugh out of it.
It was a good, hard practice that Coach seemed pleased with. We got some full court running in and some live scrimmaging at the end. The energy at practice seems to be getting better every day. The guys are starting to compete more and more each day in practice. We did have a small audience of students in attendance for the beginning of practice before they were herded back to their classes.
After practice, Tracy Hamner, Coach Mahoney, Matt Duprey and I planned on going ice skating at a local pond that was recommended to us. Turns out, weather in the low 20's is not cold enough to freeze over the water. Instead, we ended up heading to the Anchorage Mall. Just your standard mall, but we did make some friends at Nordstrom's. Needless to say Matt may be heading back to Nordstrom's tomorrow, Wednesday, or pretty much any other day we are here. Heck, he may even head back. Many of the players made the short walk to the mall after study table.
If time, or sunlight, permits, some of us may head up north to see the Alaskan wildlife tomorrow. All we are looking for is maybe an igloo, a polar bear, just a little "Man vs. Wild" experience. Not too much to ask.
Hopefully, tomorrow we can finalize the pool of "players" that will be playing in our first annual Turkey Bowl Thursday. Obviously, the rosters will not be filled with any players in fear of injury, but it should consist of some of the finer athletes Alaska has seen. It will be a highly anticipated match up that may or may not get coverage in the local newspaper. So far no cable companies or radio companies have taken us up on broadcasting this athletic showcase.
No Mushing Going on Here
>> TUESDAY | NOV. 20, 2007
I still can't believe how dark it is when I get up. There is no need to shut the blinds when you sleep because it looks like midnight when you are waking up. It does make it tough to get ready in the morning because it feels like you should still be in bed. Apparently everyone back east has forgotten that there is a time difference because I still am receiving phone calls at 5 and 6 a.m. Either that, or they just don't care they are waking me up.
Practice was good today. We went to the Sullivan Center where we will be playing our games. It is a nice arena. It looks like a great venue to watch a college hockey game. We are hearing that there are only a limited number of tickets left for the games this week which should give us some good crowds. After our short one hour practice at the arena, we went back to South Anchorage High School for another hour to run through our offensive sets. Like I said earlier this week, the guys are getting better each day, and starting to look a little more comfortable. That being said, we still have a lot of work ahead of us.
We are looking forward to playing Butler. The Bulldogs are a top-25 team that is experienced. They have one of the top guards in the country in A.J. Graves. This should be an interesting matchup -- hopefully Michigan can come out of it with a win.
After practice yesterday, the players attended a cultural activity that was being presented to all teams. The activity gave facts about Alaska, showed a short film, and had a short dance from a local cultural group. One interesting fact that was talked about is that Alaska has more than three million lakes in the entire state.
Since we had the entire afternoon off, a group of us looked into trying to go dog-sledding. Turns out that the weather was too dangerous down south and we were advised against it. So we decided to just jump in the team car and start driving in search of something Alaskan. Coach Mahoney, Matt Duprey and I ended up just driving an hour south along the water and snow-capped mountains. It was really pretty, but the weather was a little ugly so we didn't get many clear views.
Later on, we had a short film session, scouting reports were handed out, and the team called it a day. Then the fun began as three of us went late-night bowling. Matt -- a.k.a. "Big Bowling Baller," Gerrit -- a.k.a. "Twinkle Toes" and myself - a.k.a. "Spirit Fingers" faced off in what the locals are calling "The Bowling Beauty." Matt won the first two battles and I finished the night off a winner. It was probably some of the worst bowling the locals have ever seen.
Hopefully tomorrow I will be writing about our victory over Butler. We also are one day closer to the highly anticipated Turkey Bowl.
Another Educational Moment
>>WEDNESDAY | NOV. 21, 2007
Today was the first day of games, as U-M faced off against Butler today. The team had a short walk through this morning where we went over some of their offensive sets and ran through some of our sets. Afterwards, we had some time to relax before our pre-game meal and then it was off to the arena around 6:15 local time.
This will be our second straight game against a ranked opponent. Georgetown was a top-five program and Butler is a top-20 program. It returned a lot of players from last year's Sweet 16 run. We felt if we could keep the game close, we had a good chance of pulling it out in the end.
If you watched the game on ESPN2, you saw that Butler could really shoot the ball. We went down early on some hot shooting by Pete Campbell. Our man defense did not do much to slow down their shooting and neither did our zone. Being down only eight at half with them hitting eight 3's was a good sign. We didn't think they could keep the hot shooting up through the second half, but they did. The second half they hit nine 3's giving them 17 for the game which was a Great Alaskan Shoot Out record.
Although we ended up losing the game 79-65, Coach told the guys after the game that it was a good game for us to play because that is what we want to be like -- a well-taught, smart, good-shooting team. We are a young team that is still learning so in the end it will only make us better.
The Battle of Bragging Rights
>>THURSDAY | NOV. 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving!!! Today was a day off for the most part for the players. We had a short one hour practice at South Anchorage High School where we continued to work on our sets and getting better timing and recognition. It is nice that we played Wednesday, because this means we will be playing three games in four days while some of the other teams play three games in three days.
It is tough for a lot of us being away from our family on this holiday. It is especially tough on the coaches who have their wives and kids at home. We had a nice Thanksgiving turkey dinner at the hotel with some Michigan alumni. It just isn't the same as being at home watching football in the afternoon with family and friends. The Detroit/Green Bay game was already on when we had our wake up call. It just doesn't seem right.
After dinner it was time for the "Big Game." There wasn't as high of a turnout as I thought there would be for the Turkey Bowl. Many of the coaches had work to do on scouts and some of the other media and staff went out for a little social time. That left us with four true gamers that weren't going to be stopped by a little fatigue or the sloppy weather conditions.
Pete Burak, Will Vergollo, Eric Puls and I headed to the heart of downtown Anchorage where we found a nice 35-yard plot of grass beside a company building. We played two on two, no first downs, one blitz per series, game to 63. Will and I faced up against Pete and Eric.
It was a back and forth game with a lot of trash talking. At some points, Eric's height (6-10) proved to be too much on some lop passes to the end zone. Pete and Eric liked to play small ball with short routs and then tried to make some moves on the slippery terrain. Will and I played the exact opposite. We went deep, and we went deep often. Eric and Pete didn't stand a chance against our go-to corner rout, which often led me dangerously close to the corner of the building.
The intensity was so high, we had many locals stop and watch the game ... even a man dressed as Santa Claus (it was probably one of his helpers because I think the real Santa is usually busy around this time of year). Either way, the game ended with Will and I on top, 63-56We are trying to get a copy of a local security camera that may have caught some of the action; I am guessing it will be no time before it ends up on ESPN Classic.
The game was definitely a highlight of the trip. Tomorrow will be a big game for us against Eastern Washington. They play very hard and gave Virginia Tech a good game.
Holding on for the Win
>> FRIDAY | NOV. 23, 2007
Early game today against Eastern Washington. It was nice to have a day off for Thanksgiving and regroup after the loss to Butler. Eastern Washington lost to Virginia Tech on Wednesday night drawing us in the second game.
We played a really solid first half holding EWU to only 21 points. We hit some early three's, eight in the first half, to help build our first half 13-point lead. Eastern Washington made an early second half run hitting five triples and eventually cutting our lead to only one point with just under two minutes to play. Luckily, their hot shooting went cold and we were able to ice the game down the stretch with some big free throws.
After the game, the players went back to the hotel to relax while the coaches stayed to scout our next opponent in either Western Kentucky or Alaska Anchorage. Western Kentucky pulled out a close game over the hometown Sea Wolves. Western has a great player in Courtney Lee who could give us some trouble tomorrow with his size and ability to score.
Around five o'clock, when everyone had a chance to shower and relax, we headed off for a nice dinner at Simon and Seaforts. This restaurant claimed to have the "freshest crab legs you can get." Many of us had never tried crab legs before so they brought out a platter for each table. Now, I don't know anything about crab legs, but if you would have put the legs I saw on a crab, it would have been the size of a small dog. They were almost the length of my forearm. The taste was alright. Not sure it is all it is cracked up to be, but they were still good. I guess I expected something more since they are so expensive. If I were paying that kind of money for, those legs better fill me up for two days or so.
Once we all gave the crab legs a try, they brought out our steaks and chicken. I take full advantage of these free meals. I didn't realize how nice I had it when my mom would cook all my meals before I left for college. Also, on my salary, pretty much anything above peanut butter and jelly is considered a delicacy.
It Only Took Six days and 23 Hours to Finally See Something
>> SATURDAY | NOV. 24, 2007
Another rather early game today. We had an early morning film session and walk-through before breakfast. Western Kentucky is a good team with Courtney Lee leading the way. They built an early first half 13-point lead. We allowed way too many points in the first half, 45, and had to battle back in the second half for a chance to win.
Our defense picked up the slack in the second half and it transitioned into some easy buckets and trips to the FT line. The players could have very easily shut it down facing such a large deficit, but the guys battled to within two in the second half with 43 seconds left. WKU missed a runner in the lane with just under 15 seconds left but D.J. Magley somehow hit a falling leaner to seal the game with 10 seconds left.
It was a tough loss, but it was encouraging to see the players battle back in the second half with a chance to send it to overtime.
We had the rest of the day off. The players went out to dinner while many of the coaches roamed downtown for a place to eat. Coach Mahoney, Matt Duprey and I headed just out of town to an Applebee's.
It is getting late and everyone was ready to get out of Alaska. We never saw any wildlife and the weather wasn't very "Alaskan." I went back to the hotel and had Will Vergollo do bed checks at 11 p.m. since I needed to get to bed early with my 5:30 wake up call. At 11:45 my phone rings and I see it is Will. I immediately think that someone broke curfew or someone is missing.
I answer the phone and ask what is wrong. Will tells me to hurry up and look out the window. Great, now I am thinking someone is in a fight or something outside. I jump out of bed and open the curtains to see a small group of people taking pictures g across the street. What do you know, it was a moose!
I instantly tell Will to meet me outside, throw some cloths on, grab my camera and head out. The moose was standing on a small patch of grass along the sidewalk eating some of the small trees that lined the street. I couldn't believe how big it was. I would say it looked like a big horse with antlers.
Being that many of us only had Bullwinkle as our only moose experience, we thought they were harmless. We were getting within 10 feet or so trying to take pictures with it. Any time it moved however, we ran like little girls back across the street. Ron, Jevohn, Ekpe and Dave also came outside to get a glimpse of this. The moose just stood around eating the branch while many on-lookers watched and snapped pictures.
We were later told that moose are actually very dangerous and can reach speeds of 35 mph. Moose even kill more tourist than bears. But none of us knew that at the time or it may have changed how close we were getting. Ahh ... wildlife. Finally!
Sleeping On Take Off ... Again
>> SUNDAY | NOV. 25, 2007
Wake up for the team was at 6:30 a.m. and we headed to the Airport by 7 a.m. Ah, but it is really 10:30 a.m., right Time changes are never fun. It was going to be another long day of travel. We weren't scheduled to arrive until 10:40 p.m. EST. Like I said, time changes are never fun.
Once again, we flew to Minneapolis on the same flight as Butler (the champions of the tournament). There were no grudges held and no in-flight fights between teams which is good. But I did miss take off again, because I was sleeping. After the five hours to Minneapolis we had a short hour and a half lay over before we headed back to Detroit. We had some food and watched the Bears/Broncos game on TV.
We took off for Detroit, and well, I missed that takeoff too. We finally touched down at Metro and it was good to be home, that is all I have to say. After a small bag delay, we were finally on our way to Ann Arbor. We ended up at Crisler around 11:20 p.m., unpacked, and we all went home.
It was a long eight days. Some of us had more fun than others, but everyone was ready to get back to their normal schedules and see more than five hours of daylight. All I have to say is, it was a wonderful experience.
