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Dec. 31, 2007

Someone once said that the reason behind the sky being Carolina blue was because god was a tar heel. That must explain why the sunset off of the coast of Isla Vista is adorned in Gaucho gold on most California dusks.

Christmas break was very festive, although Christmas and the presents accompany it were just around the corner, the Gauchos were held with a one-track mind. That is, to go undefeated going into the North Carolina game. This goal of ours was put on the high horse once all of the students left for break, and we were able to go about our daily routine with no outside distractions. While pushing through finals week and the departure of friends our minds began to settle in on the games ahead.

First being at Ball State in Muncie Indiana. Wow, talk about the heartland of America. Muncie wasŠ in a good way an interesting place to spend a long and cold three days. Arriving into Indianapolis, we had the opportunity to see 2 hrs of Indiana¹s countryside along Highway 69. Needless to say it wasn¹t quite the PCH. The temperature was around a steady thirty degrees and there was fresh snow that had just fallen. This called for multiple snow ball fights that randomly broke out when opportunity arose. Sam Phippen, the high powered gunslinger from Durango set his sights on many of his own teammates and released a solid 5 innings worth of 90 mph snow balls. That kid¹s got an arm! Coach Williams even fell victim to the snow escapade after being lightly brushed on a ball from Paul Roemer. After catching up to the time difference and eating at some of the most healthy restaurants that Muncie had to offer including Steak and Shake and Ryan¹s buffet, we had our first game in 10 days. The Worthen arena impressed many of us. I knew we were in the heart of basketball country but they went OTT (over the top) when building the arena, it was one of the nicest mid major gyms we¹ve seen.

Impress your friends with this fact, of the 25 largest high school gymnasiums nationwide, 23 are in Indiana.

The game went just as we had hoped, our defense furiously swarmed them and forced 20 turnovers. Our second half explosion tucked the Cardinals away for the night on a 27 point deficit. The trip, along with improving our record to 10-2, did instill an even deeper appreciation for an already highly valued thankfulness of Santa Barbara. Speaking of appreciation we must thank the faithful Gauchos that came to Indiana to watch us play, including the Posley and Harris family as well K-Pols, one our own from IV. We left our Best Western, Muncie's finest, early the next morning leaving our Mid-western paradise behind.

We undoubtedly became aware of the challenge ahead once out of Muncie and made it a point to prepare ourselves with two days of practice prior to the game. Upon Arrival into the Raleigh Durham airport many of the guys realized that they weren¹t in California anymore. Needless to say, I felt comfortably at home, however at the same time unwelcome as an opponent to the fan-craved Tar heels. Leading up to the game, I felt more animosity and fraudulent behavior from the general public than ever before. Even from fragile elderly ladies after our dinner, screaming, ³Taaarrr Heeels² and ³What the heck is a Gaucho², come on lady, everyone knows it¹s an Argentinean Cowboy. As our second day in North Carolina arrived we had the opportunity to tour Cameron Indoor stadium on the campus of Duke University. We took the short trip down tobacco road after practice and arrived on a campus that reflects its prestige through its stone architecture and plaques of the famous Duke alum. Historically embedded as one of the hardest places to play, its minimal size alone reflects the acoustics that rattle opponents. Many of us realized after getting on the court, that if the T-dome opened the first row of seating, and fan attendance increased that we could rival Cameron Indoor as one of the most difficult arenas to compete in. With our educational venture complete it was time to make pre-game preparations for UNC.

The day of the game had arrived and we were as mentally prepared as if it were the big dance itself. The initial awe of the Dean Dome had worn off and now that we had our memories tucked away in our camera phones, it was time to take care of business. Adrenaline was pumping once we came out of the locker room and heard the chants of the 20,000 or so Tar Heel fans. Although they were decked out in school spirit, they failed to block out the Gaucho chants from the 200 or so faithful that made the trip, we thank you so much for your support. As many of you know who caught the highlights of the unbeaten on sportscenter the game was put in the L column for the Gauchos, however it was an incredible learning experience. We have been working hard breaking down the film multiple times, and look forward to putting constructive changes to our game. We look forward to the Eastern Washington game in Cheney this week. It will give us a chance to improve our schedule, before we head into Big West conference play on the 3rd against Cal State Long Beach.

Look forward to seeing all of the locos at our next home game, we really appreciate the explosive energy that you bring to the games. See you next week.