The Little Dance
The culmination of the NCAA Basketball season is the NCAA Tournament, or, The Big Dance. March Madness is filled with conference tournaments and title games and the opening rounds of the most coveted tournament in college sports. I had the chance to cover Ohio University in the NCAA Tournament last year, in Providence and see them upset #3 seeded Georgetown first hand. This year, The University of Evansville was my only shot at covering The Big Dance again, and sadly they could only muster a bid to the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) a tournament in which teams actually pay $50,000 to host a game and could be considered the third tier of the post-season behind the National Invitational Tournament (NIT).
If the NCAA Tournament is The Big Dance, NCAA Division II Tournament is probably The Little Dance. While 64 Division II basketball programs are given a chance for their division’s title just like their big brothers in Division I, the pomp and circumstance around the tournament can’t hold a candle to Division I’s flame. The tournament is broken into eight brackets instead of four with the #1 seed in each region hosting the games. I wish I had known this before I drove out to Louisville to cover the University of Southern Indiana (USI) in their title bid. I had no idea that Bellarmine, the #1 seed in the region, was hosting the tournament and showed up at Louisville’s new arena, The KFC Yum! Center only to have 50 Lady Gaga fans alert me it was on the other side of town. While the Yum! Center features brand new amenities, roughly 22,000 seats and what I can only imagine is great lighting. Bellarmine plays in a gym that also features a stage and may hold 3,000 people. It’s saving grace was a bay of windows that let natural light pour in on one side and a bunch of recessed lights that created spotlights of light on the court.
Anyway, back to USI.
USI won the national title in 2009 and as a #2 seed were poised to make another run. The Screaming Eagles, who only had five losses coming into the tournament, would have to get through teams that handed them 80% of their losses on the season if they wanted to do it though. Bellarmine had beaten the Eagles each of the three times they faced them this season and would meat up with USI in the regional final if they each made it that far. Kentucky Wesleyan, USI’s arch rival, had split a series with them for another loss, and could take Bellarmine’s place in the regional final if they got past the Knights.
USI first had to get past Drury, a team they had already beaten by double digits early in the season and the regions #7 seed. What looked like an easy game when USI quickly drained a deep three for the first points, quickly looked like an upset no one predicted when Drury went on a 14-0 run to make the score 14-3 just five minutes into the game. USI battled back, but looked sloppy and without rhythm for most of the game. They somehow grabbed a lead in the second half with about six minutes to go and held it until the final seconds, which were the oddest final seconds of any game I’ve ever seen.
With 10 seconds remaining and the score tied at 63, Drury needed to inbound the ball and score with just four seconds on the shot clock. Some how they got a shot off and in as the shot clock expired to take a 65-63 lead. But then the shot clock buzzer went off, the clock stopped at 6.5 seconds, USI inbounded the ball, the buzzer went off again for a still unexplained reason and they had gotten the ball past mid court before the clock started again. USI worked the ball around and Brandon Hogg drove to the basket and put up a shot when he fouled as the buzzer sounded again. Confusion was rampant. Why had the buzzer sounded twice on the inbound? Why didn’t the clock start? Was Hogg fouled and was it in regulation?
The referees determined Hogg was fouled and would be allowed to shoot two free-throws with no time left on the clock. At this point, I figured the game was over. The pressure on Hogg to tie the game had to be immense, and he had to hit both shots. To my surprise, he drained the first, and I began to think this game might not be over. Typically in this situation, if a player hits the first, the confidence boost almost guarantees the second one is it, but Hogg sent it long off the back of the rim and Drury stormed the court in celebration.
Here’s a link to the story and one to the gallery:
USI forward Nick Duncheon leaps for a rebound in the second half of USI's 65-64 loss to Drury in the first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament held at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday, March 12, 2011.
Birds Eye View
Today I got a view of Evansville that few people get the chance to have, the birds eye view.
Yesterday my editor mentioned we may send someone to the airport for some aerial coverage of the flooding from the Wabash and Ohio Rivers. I immediately volunteered and that afternoon Kevin told me I was down for a 10am flight at Tri-State Aero for a photo hop.
I’ve always wanted to fly and while I actually enjoy the occasional long commercial flight, nothing can substitute the feeling of sitting in the cockpit. Although, I will say a bumpy roller coaster could be a fine comparison for what today’s flight was like.
With the weather warming up and today being the first nice day in two weeks, there was plenty of choppy air around 1,000 feet. Leaning out the window as the small Cessna banked around the target I was photographing was nerve racking enough, feeling the plane dip a few feet as I did it was a little freaky.
After a few tries I started to get used to it and came away with some good frames. It wasn’t much different than trying to fish on a small boat in open water at times. You rocked back and forth, up and down, but once you got a feel for it and knew what to expect it wasn’t bad. The flight smoothed out once we got away from the city too and out to the west of the city where the Wabash and Ohio meet, the site of the worst of the flooding. I was amazed at the power of the two rivers and how far they had surged past their banks. I can’t imagine how the barges that go up and down the river every day could possibly be doing it now as the normal boundaries of the river have completely disappeared, leaving full standing trees hiding underwater for any ship that strays too close to what would be the shore.
High flood waters from the Ohio River, west of the city of Evansville, run through fields and over roads on Friday, March 11, 2011.
One Last Time
Today, my first day back at work after my 5-day trip back home, wasn’t quite the way I expected to get back into the grind. I started early… at 8am… and went out to St. Mary’s Medical Center to shoot chaplains making their rounds at the hospital. I felt so bad for John Charles, one of the chaplains on duty this morning, as he’d been on-call since 4pm the day before and had gotten little sleep through the night. It was a bit difficult being a fly on the wall when medical release forms had to be signed with every room we entered, but everyone I did photograph seemed pretty relaxed and comfortable. It was actually the chaplains and doctors that seemed to feel awkward.
I got back to the office, did my edit and got the photos in and then found out what my second assignment for the day was. At noon, Jonathan Weinzapfel, the mayor of Evansville, was giving what would be his final State of the City Address at the Evansville Rotary Club. Weinzapfel, though only 45 years-old and a fairly successful mayor, isn’t seeking reelection in the fall and therefore, won’t have any more addresses to make. Speculation has bounced around thatWeinzapfel may make a run for governor, but he hasn’t committed to anything, and even dodged the question yet again today after his speech.
Usually these assignments tend to be fairly boring and fairly typical. A person stands at a podium, it’s indoors under poor light and if you’re having a really bad day, there’s some Powerpoint presentation behind them what kills your background. I had all of that today, but I stayed late and got a good shot as Weinzapfel’s mother came up to give her son a hug after his speech and interview with local television.
Weinzapfel has been one of the best politicians I’ve had to cover so far in my career. He’s been really personable and easy to talk to any time I’ve had an encounter. It will be interesting to see, if he does make a run for higher office, if and how that changes.
Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel receives a hug from his mother, Sylvia, after delivering his State of the City Address for the last time at the Evansville Rotary Club on Tuesday afternoon. Weinzapfel is completing the final year in his last term as mayor of Evansville.
Icing On the Cake
While their girls basketball team was traveling to Fort Wayne for the 3A Girls Basketball Championship, The Reitz Memorial High School hockey team was battling rival Harrison High School for the Evansville city championship at Swonder Arena on Wednesday night last week. It was the last assignment I had before my long weekend trip home and it was worth it.
Hockey, for me at least, has always been the one sport I’ve struggled shooting. I may be the restriction of having to shoot through a glass wall that never seems clean. It could be the light that never seems bright enough despite the ample reflection from the white floor. It could be my lack of strategic understanding in the sport. Or, it could just be my achilles heal when it comes to sports shooting.
Regardless, I was actually happy with what I got from the game. Memorial came out fast and went right at Harrison. It seemed that every time they were in Harrison ice they were in the crease in second. Harrison took the opposite approach, launching shot after shot from distance trying to power it past Memorial’s goalie or get a rebound and a tip. It seemed pretty apparent though, that Memorial’s fast play was wearing on Harrison pretty early, and when they jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead, it was more than Harrison could handle.
The game finished 7-3, with Memorial’s last goal coming on an empty-netter, and two players recorded hat-tricks in the game, which lead to a few hats finding their way to the ice each time. You’d with one team riding an insurmountable lead in the second period would lead to some boring shots and lack of emotion, but Memorial’s players were as excited about every goal like it was their first and led me to some great shots.
Memorial's Sam Curtis (7) celebrates his second period goal against Harrison in the second period of their 7-3 win over Harrison on Wednesday night, March 2, 2011 in the Old National High School Hockey Championship. Curtis' goal put the Tigers up 4-1 in the game and was his second of the night. Both Curtis and teammate Reid Schultheis each finished with hat tricks in the game.
Mardi Bras
I’m almost having to force myself to write this blog post. I haven’t blogged since the Indiana State Wrestling tournament and that’s because I haven’t had a day off since then, until this past weekend. From last Thursday to yesterday I finally got a break from the grind and got to go home and see the family and Buster. It was great to recharge the batteries, but I had to jump straight back into it today.
During the nonstop grind that was the past few weeks though, I did get to do some cool assignments. My schedule jumped around a bit and I covered some great games and had another trip to Indy for the team wrestling tournament. I ran out on a fire that gave me some decent images for once, worked a bit on my own stories and did the daily stuff that pops up. One of the more unique assignments I had, though, was covering Mardi Bras, an artistic bra fashion show put on to raise money for AIDS research and support groups.
The bras weren’t what you see in the Victoria Secret Fashion Show, and neither was the pre-show entertainment as we were treated to belly dancing and a burlesque show. The bras ranged from semi-traditional lingerie to wild pieces of art with social and political undertones. It was pretty crazy, but definitely a nice break from the usual and a fun way to spend my Sunday.
Model Misty Adye does the robot as she struts down the catwalk wearing artist Jerrilee Lamar's "Wireless" bra design in the Mardi Bras fashion show fundraiser held at the Casino Aztar Executive Conference Center on Sunday afternoon, February 27. 2011. The annual Mardi Bras event benefitted the AIDS Resource Group (ARG) and raised money through silent auctions and donations on the various pieces of bra art modeled at the show.
