by Kent Lowe, Sr. Associate Sports Information Director
The LSU basketball team's season is in full swing and this will be the spot to check at LSUsports.net for notes and updates.
We start in earnest this week with the NIT semifinals in NYC which puts us all in a (to quote the Billy Joel song) "in a New York state of mind."
Check back often for updates.
Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26
8:30 p.m. EST
Just back from a visit to Rockefeller Plaza and the famed sites you see on the Today Show every day. Interesting to look inside that studio window as an area that looks so large and is actually so small in the studio.
The teams enjoyed a very nice Thanksgiving dinner at the hotel and it was an exceptional meal. Bob Knight and his wife and Dick Vitale and his wife also enjoyed the very informal event. Again, just what the players wanted, lots of food and no program. Enjoy the food and nothing to listen too. The NIT officials were also there. Duke had a late practice and only their large official party was there and whether they were coming later I don’t know, but the other three teams were shy about getting their fill.
So now the final day is set. LSU and Arizona State is honestly an appetizer and mostly forgotten with UConn and Duke in the final. I have a feeling even at 5 p.m. the place will be as full as it as been in years for an NIT final. But I will be surprised if LSU and ASU don’t put on a good show in a third place game that both teams really want to win. It’s so early in the year that a consolation game still means something to these two teams and the Tigers want to show that they are better than what they displayed on Wednesday.
Remember, the game is early afternoon at 1:30 p.m. on ESPN2 and the LSU Sports Radio Network.
Noon EDT
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! The sun tried to come out tomorrow for the LSU men’s basketball team and the best thing about this event is that two days later you get to go again. That’s what will happen for the Tigers Friday at 1:30 p.m. CST when they take on Arizona State in the third place game.
Don’t know if the transcript of Coach Johnson’s press conference made it to you or not, but transition baskets and rebounding were two of the things that disappointed him, but he was pleased with the play of Eddie Ludwig who maybe grew as a player against the difficult UConn team and of course Storm Warren continues to show his maturation as a sophomore for the Tigers.
But the game is over. As coach has said in New York everything gets exposed on a national stage and now hopefully the players understand what they have to work on and improve for the Arizona State game.
Bo Spencer sprained his right ankle with about 14 minutes to go. He did not practice Thursday and is day-to-day.
The Macy’s parade ended about 11:15 a.m. here in front of packed streets at 46th and Broadway in Times Square (noon if you were watching on NBC which had more commercials than an SEC Football game).
Many of the NIT official parties watched it at an NIT Brunch held on the ninth floor of the Marriott Marquis overlooking Times Square. The teams had scheduled practice sessions during the morning on the off day so many got a glimpse of the parade before heading for workouts at the Garden which isn’t the easiest thing to get to on a good day, much less on Thanksgiving.
Tonight, the teams will gather for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and it should be a nice evening for everyone. I hope you get the chance to spend Thanksgiving with friends and/or family and we’ll have an update tonight on that event. We took a few pictures from our location above the balloons and these will be posted on my phlog soon.
Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009
LSU vs. UConn (6 p.m. CST)
4:40 p.m. EST
Coaches and players beginning to make their way on to the bus to head to the Garden. There is a holiday mood around the hotel and it is fun to watch the kids gawk at big, tall LSU basketball players.
It is cool and misty in the Big Apple tonight which may not bode well for the parade tomorrow, but first things first. Game time is 6 p.m. (in Baton Rouge) and I will Tweet updates at the media time outs. Let's hope for a good night for the Tigers and we'll have some more for you a little while after the game.
12:05 pm EST
It is officially gameday. Team has just finished at Madison Square Garden with its shootaround and UConn is on the court now.
ESPN2 announcers Dan Schulman, Coach Knight and one of the top sideline reporters in the business, Doris Burke, were on hand.
They visited with Coach J, Tas, Storm and Bo afterwards to get some of the notes you will hear on the broadcast.
Now it is just a case of getting this bus back to the Marriott through this traffic which is noon-time jammed. But our bus driver is a pro and knows eactly how to beat a cab to the smallest hole in the traffic when it is available. Game time less than 7 hours away.
Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009
9:15 p.m. EST
Team has been busy this afternoon and tonight. First it was practice at Baruch College, the City College of New York. The athletic center is located in the one main building that is the “campus” so to speak. The school is one of the most diverse in the country with students hailing from 160 countries.
The team then returned to the Marriott and changed clothes and joined the three other teams for a wonderful dinner at the Tavern on the Green. The historic location on the edge of Central Park is already decorated for the Christmas season and was quite a site. The best thing for the players was of course a good meal and either steak or fish was a good choice on this night to make the players happy heading back to the hotel. The fact that Coach C. M. Newton knows that the program needs to be short to keep everyone happy did just that – keep everyone happy.
This most famous restaurant is having some issues as in August the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation announced that it had declined to renew the restaurant’s license, granting it instead to another operator and restaurant and that all furniture be removed and operations ceased on Jan. 1, 2010, which is apparently what will happen. Bankruptcy was filed in September so there is an ongoing saga with the place, but it did nothing to damage the place’s reputation with the people there tonight.
The team has a fairly early curfew and then it is the first look at the Garden tomorrow for an 11 a.m. EST shoot around and just eight hours later the game with UConn at 7 p.m. EST (6 p.m. CST).
3:49 p.m. EST
Here are images from the press conference courtesy of the NIT's Steve Smith.
1:45 p.m. EST
The NIT Season Tip-Off press conference has just ended and if there was a contest to determine the most writers UConn’s media horde would win in a walk. It appears to me about 10 beat writers from UConn papers and radio are here but it is like a home game for them. It seemed like the media just stayed at the UConn table during the one-on-one session but it gradually floated over to the LSU table where Coach Johnson and Tasmin Mitchell were sitting. ESPN also did interviews with Coach Johnson and Tasmin during that time period that will be used on the telecast.
Kind of a neat thing is that this is the 75th year of college basketball in MSG and the Garden is having each coach sign a couple of basketballs celebrating all the teams that will play in the Garden this year. One ball will be auctioned off for charity and the other one will be put in permanent display at MSG.
The program concluded when Dan Shulman, who will handle play-by-play duties with Bob Knight, Dick Vitale and Doris Burke, invited all four coaches up to the podium for formal remarks.
Many of the NIT selection committee members were there including former coaches C.M. Newton, Don Devoe and Les Robinson and all four coaches heaped praise on their committee for their work in making the NIT such a special tournament. As Coach Newton indicated in his remarks, this is the one tournament where you truly have to earn you way to the semifinals, something a lot of preseason tournaments can’t say.
Following the session, Coach Johnson and the team boarded the bus for a drive to Baruch College and we’ll have more on the media session and set more of the stage in our game advance story coming later today.
Monday, Nov. 23, 2009
10 p.m. EST
The team has made it to New York City and the drive in from JFK to the heart of the city brings a few ooos and ahhs from the back of the bus as we approach the hotel. The toughest part of the first day was figuring out how the fancy elevators work where you push the floor you want at a master bank and it tells you which lettered elevator you go too. Try doing that with a bunch of players and luggage.
The team had a quick dinner at the hotel and a short meeting and then headed to bed after a long day on the road. The team will sleep in Wednesday morning before Coach Johnson and Tasmin Mitchell attend the NIT press conference at noon. Following that the team will go to a local college to practice (I believe Jimmy Buffett has the Garden booked Wednesday night for a concert) and then there will be a special function for all the teams at Tavern on the Green. We’ll update you again following Wednesday’s press session. That’s it for now from the city that really does never sleep and I wonder how to turn out all those lights shining off the buildings into my room.
2:21 p.m. CT
The team has boarded their flight to New York via Boston as they head to the Big Apple for Wednesday's NIT semfinal with UConn (6 p.m. CST on ESPN2).
There is a great sense of anticipation on the players part and a good start -- it looks like the first plane will leave early. Off we go and more here throughtout the week.
