Finding our shot at Lucas Oil Stadium
We knew coming into the week that Wednesday had to be the most productive day of our stay — and it really was! Two days before a game like this is the last day we can really go hard in practice. We will do some live situations on Thursday, but it will be more of a mental day of preparation.
Before we got down to business, I had a couple of early morning media obligations. I had a blast joining the “Fox 61 Morning Show” at 7:15 a.m. That group has huge levels of energy. I could definitely hang out with them daily! I appreciate Tim Lammers and his colleagues spending some time with me.
Right after that, I had a lot of fun speaking with ESPN Radio personalities Jay Williams, Alan Hahnand Bart Scott! They are very passionate about sports and are really good at what they do. Wehit it off immediately. We talked about how“scared money never wins” at a casino, and a confident approach like that is so critical when playing an elite team like Baylor.
Then it was time to continue to prepare with my group. We had a 9 a.m. practice slot at Lucas Oil Stadium, where wewill play Baylor on Friday afternoon. This was the first — and only — time we would step onto our game court prior to warm ups Friday.
The home of the Indianapolis Colts is obviously massive, so we plugged in a number of shooting segments to get our guys used to knocking down shots in a big arena. When the clock struck 10:30, the horn sounded and a tournament representative reminded us that we didn’t have to go home, but we couldn’t stay here! I must say the NCAAstaff and volunteers have been incredible at every turn during our trip.
We each took our daily COVID19 tests when we returned to the hotel, and then rested before lunch. I had a few more interviews to do, including one with mybuddy Pete Sousa from Philadelphia who is now in Waco, Texas, reporting for KWTX. To my happy surprise, Pete recounted a story about a few of us playing in the Donofrio Classic years ago in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. My team was facing a team led by Kobe Bryant, and I got lucky early hitting a couple of 3s while he guarded me. I wasn’t exactly modest about it, and Bryant decided to put his team on his back and erased our 11-point lead and ended up winning in overtime. In the game of basketball, stories are so valuable because they stand the test of time and contribute so much to hoop culture. I hope our team has memorable tales from their run this year that they can share for years to come.
We had a great afternoon. The Hawks had another hour of exercise on Victory Field at 3 p.m. Hunter Marks, Matt Hobbs and D.J. Mitchell devised some type of game that incorporated volleyball, badminton and soccer. Leave it to themtoinvent a gameinthemiddle of a professional baseball park that has nothing to do with baseball. I took a walk around the warning track and tried to take in a little sunshine. We were getting excited for what we were able to do next.
At 4 p.m., our group had a brief photo shoot on top of the parking garage attached to the Indiana Convention Center. Our travel party posed in front of the massive NCAA Tournament bracket that hangs from the JWMarriott. What an incredible setting. I can’t wait to see those pictures. That was the highlight of our day.
We went back to work before dinner and studied Baylor more on film. My staff distributed the scouting reports, which allows the group two nights to digest this information.
After dinner, we gave the guys the option of getting more shots up in the Convention Center, and this spirited hour ended with Michael Dunne winning a team “knock out” competition. The guys needed to have some levity in their day while theycontinuedtoprepareforFriday.
I think we accomplished both goals: We learned a lot more about our opponent and had some fun in the process. Twomore sleeps until Baylor.