Trip Report Arkansas

[TexanMark]

What a crazy, disjointed game...the refs did their best to take it away from us.

Anyways...we had a nice representation up in the 200 section. If I guessed we had 250 fans...maybe 300. Most up in the 200 section. Arkansas fans commented that we brought a bunch of fans and were impressed...the arena was probably at 99% capacity. Arena was very nice...brick and metal roof but not over the top luxurious, Concessions looked decent but nothing special. Bathrooms...sadly no troughs. The arena got very loud at times but Cuse kept shutting them down. Not a bad seat in the house...felt smaller than a 19,500 seat arena.

The player intro was funny...they yelled things after each Cuse player...Like: Nothing Special, Who Cares, etc... A ripoff from the Manley Zoo days but G rated. Their intro was very cool...NBA like. They did this Pig Sooie cheer 4 different times...19000 fans stand up and do this ritual. weird.

Dickson St is their Marshall St...very nice. Lots of good bars and food joints. Cuse was well represented downtown before and after the game. The university sits on a few huge hills...seemed more hilly than Syracuse's campus. Meet a bunch of new friends in the Cuse community...I recruited 2 or 3 of them to join the board. Driving back to Tejas tomorrow with Orangello and my wife.

 

[PeteCalvin]

Sorry I missed you guys, Mark. Our hosts weren't up to going out to Dickson St. after the game.

I thought the atmosphere at the arena was great. The fans were gracious and complimentary of our guys. Most of the fans we spoke to we're dumbfounded regarding J South. They couldn't believe he wasn't a starter. Every time he dropped a three they would tap us on the shoulder and ask why nobody knows about him. The Razorbacks had NO ONE who could check MCW or Triche. Their big guy, Powell, took it to our bigs in the second half. He put a spin move on DC2 that was embarrassing. He kept them in it.

I was lucky enough to watch the game from the floor and when I tell you this game was downright physical for 40 minutes, you better believe it. There was a ton of banging going on everywhere on the floor. In the end, we had more depth and more talent. Arkansas couldn't handle the size of our zone on the perimeter. Once we shut down that pass to the middle, they were sunk. The fans around us were screaming for their guys to get a three up in the final 2 minutes, but they simply couldn't find space to do it.

At one point mid second half the number of total fouls on the floor was 13 for SU and 4 for Ark. Late in the game we had four players with 4 each and one player (Keita) with 3. The lopsided calls were ridiculous.

Overall this was a cool trip. Fayetteville is a great college town. We met some Cuse fans from Wichita and Nebraska. We met some great Arkansas fans. And we won. Doesn't get much better than that.

 

[HoustonCuse]

Was this game more physical than other high level games you've seen us play at close range or are you simply commenting on how physical it is when you are up close? These games are all shockingly violent when you get up really close.

 

[Cowtown]

What a crazy, disjointed game...the refs did their best to take it away from us.

Anyways...we had a nice representation up in the 200 section. If I guessed we had 250 fans...maybe 300. Most up in the 200 section. Arkansas fans commented that we brought a bunch of fans and were impressed...the arena was probably at 99% capacity. Arena was very nice...brick and metal roof but not over the top luxurious, Concessions looked decent but nothing special. Bathrooms...sadly no troughs. The arena got very loud at times but Cuse kept shutting them down. Not a bad seat in the house...felt smaller than a 19,500 seat arena.

The player intro was funny...they yelled things after each Cuse player...Like: Nothing Special, Who Cares, etc... A ripoff from the Manley Zoo days but G rated. Their intro was very cool...NBA like. They did this Pig Sooie cheer 4 different times...19000 fans stand up and do this ritual. weird.

Dickson St is their Marshall St...very nice. Lots of good bars and food joints. Cuse was well represented downtown before and after the game. The university sits on a few huge hills...seemed more hilly than Syracuse's campus. Meet a bunch of new friends in the Cuse community...I recruited 2 or 3 of them to join the board. Driving back to Tejas tomorrow with Orangello and my wife.

Hey, TM. Just to let you know it's difficult to read the last two paragraphs, you know what I'm saying? Maybe you could "front-end load" the basketball stuff as long as she's on the roster? Just a thought ...

 

[gohogs14]

Glad you guys had a good time...congrats on the win. I was proud of our guys for sticking in there, especially since we played a lot of freshmen in the 2nd half, i wasnt expecting a win. The bud is usually a really hard place for opponents to get a win (ask michigan last year) but you guys were really impressive. I thought once southerland got 4 fouls we'd be done with him but he played amazingly. Hopefully anderson can get us going since we have a pretty good class for next year...gonna miss BJ young though

 

[Cowtown]

Glad you guys had a good time...congrats on the win. I was proud of our guys for sticking in there, especially since we played a lot of freshmen in the 2nd half, i wasnt expecting a win. The bud is usually a really hard place for opponents to get a win (ask michigan last year) but you guys were really impressive. I thought once southerland got 4 fouls we'd be done with him but he played amazingly. Hopefully anderson can get us going since we have a pretty good class for next year...gonna miss BJ young though

Good post & thanks. Been a Hogs fan since Jon Brittenum and Bobby Crockett and the Burnetts (edit). Even have an Uncle Heavy, I wear it on Hallowe'en. I still love Sidney Moncrief. Hope to get to a game down there one day.

 

[JOC44]

Please tell me you didn't rub your genitals in any passed out guys' face.

 

[texascpa]

Which of you guys were behind the Arkansas bench, jumping up after each score.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Glad you guys had a good time...congrats on the win. I was proud of our guys for sticking in there, especially since we played a lot of freshmen in the 2nd half, i wasnt expecting a win. The bud is usually a really hard place for opponents to get a win (ask michigan last year) but you guys were really impressive. I thought once southerland got 4 fouls we'd be done with him but he played amazingly. Hopefully anderson can get us going since we have a pretty good class for next year...gonna miss BJ young though

I didn't go to the game but am a BIG fan of Fayetteville. I know the WAC people and have played there. Spent a couple of weeks there the past couple of summers. BJ Young is special. I was at USC when Arenas was at Arizona. He reminds me of him. I couldn't believe how he was like shot out of a cannon when he drove to the rim after we tried to squeeze him at the 3pt line. I think it was early 2H. He split a trap then was fouled by Rak at the rim in a blink of an eye.

 

[PeteCalvin]

Which of you guys were behind the Arkansas bench, jumping up after each score.

That was my brother and I. I have a hilarious story about that. The guy sitting next to him received a text from a friend that said "Please punch that guy next to you in the face.". My brother had been chatting it up with him before the game, so he showed it to my brother and we were all crying it was so funny. He was a pretty big dude, which made it funnier. So the guy and my brother posed for a picture where they were smiling and had their arms around one another and sent it back to the guy. Freakin hilarious. That guy was really impressed with our team, BTW.

 

[bballbeadle]

It is great to hear the "we were there" stories because on television, the crowd didn't seem that loud. I suppose out of necessity tv needs to dampen down the sound, but then you don't get a good feel for what it was like in that arena. I know that when I go to Dome games and the crowd is shrieking to the high heavens, I come home and watch the game and it just doesn't translate. Thank you, gohogs14, for coming on the board, and good luck to you this season! PeteCalvin, your story about you and your brother was very pleasing!

 

[llandz]

Thanks for all the observations. Pete, so that was you? First thing I pointed out to the group of SU alums I was watching with was look at those 2 Orange shirts. You really stood out with all the white shirts. I also hated those refs. That was a huge topic of conversation, and yelling at our game watch. I wasn't even at the game, and am hoarse from yelling at them. Glad you all got to go to the game. Texan we never have troughs in the ladies room so it wouldn't have mattered to me, lol. Go hogs, your #11 is incredible. Had some of the best moves I have seen in a long time. James Sutherland...enough said. Also MCW one away from triple/double.

 

[texascpa]

That was my brother and I. I have a hilarious story about that. The guy sitting next to him received a text from a friend that said "Please punch that guy next to you in the face.". My brother had been chatting it up with him before the game, so he showed it to my brother and we were all crying it was so funny. He was a pretty big dude, which made it funnier. So the guy and my brother posed for a picture where they were smiling and had their arms around one another and sent it back to the guy. Freakin hilarious. That guy was really impressed with our team, BTW.

LOL, that is awesome. Another question, being that close were you able to hear what the Ark coach/bench was saying during the game or timeouts. Be cool to hear what's being said by the other team.

 

[OttoMets]

It is great to hear the "we were there" stories because on television, the crowd didn't seem that loud. I suppose out of necessity tv needs to dampen down the sound, but then you don't get a good feel for what it was like in that arena. I know that when I go to Dome games and the crowd is shrieking to the high heavens, I come home and watch the game and it just doesn't translate. Thank you, gohogs14, for coming on the board, and good luck to you this season! PeteCalvin, your story about you and your brother was very pleasing!

It plays differently on different networks; it's really striking how much better CBS captures the arena atmosphere than ESPN does.

 

[SoBeCuse]

That was my brother and I. I have a hilarious story about that. The guy sitting next to him received a text from a friend that said "Please punch that guy next to you in the face.". My brother had been chatting it up with him before the game, so he showed it to my brother and we were all crying it was so funny. He was a pretty big dude, which made it funnier. So the guy and my brother posed for a picture where they were smiling and had their arms around one another and sent it back to the guy. Freakin hilarious. That guy was really impressed with our team, BTW.

That's great man! Yeah, you guys looked very present amongst the white and I could see all the fist pumps when Southerland was raining 3s. Good !

 

[jekelish]

That was my brother and I. I have a hilarious story about that. The guy sitting next to him received a text from a friend that said "Please punch that guy next to you in the face.". My brother had been chatting it up with him before the game, so he showed it to my brother and we were all crying it was so funny. He was a pretty big dude, which made it funnier. So the guy and my brother posed for a picture where they were smiling and had their arms around one another and sent it back to the guy. Freakin hilarious. That guy was really impressed with our team, BTW.

I always enjoy these stories more than talk of fans getting after each other. At the end of the day it's a game played by college kids, so it's nice to hear when fans are cordial to one another and realize that they have just as little impact on the outcome as the guy sitting next to them, so what's the point of being a dick? Sit back, enjoy the game, hope your team wins, and realize that if they don't then the other team's fans had nothing to do with that fact.

That sounded very Hallmark Channel movie of me, but oh well. Sportsmanship and grace is a good thing.

 

[brandokc]

Great to meet you, the Mrs, Orangello and our new friends from Memphis and Witchita.

The fans at the game were very welcoming. I had a good back and forth with an older gentleman sitting next to me.
When we got back to Farrell's after the game and there was a douche screaming obsentities at us. However he proved to be the exception

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[SoBeCuse]

Great to meet you, the Mrs, Orangello and our new friends from Memphis and Witchita.

The fans at the game were very welcoming. I had a good back and forth with an older gentleman sitting next to me.
When we got back to Farrell's after the game and there was a douche screaming obsentities at us. However he proved to be the exception

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

How did you guys like Farrell's? They actually have one of the better HD projectors I've seen. Dickson St. is sweet.

 

[brandokc]

Great little bar. Service was a tad slow but I will just attribute that to my orange attire.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2