NJCAA tourney in Hutchinson

I thought the women's tourney was at Salina, which is a much more happenin' place relative to Hutch.

Had to cover the women a couple of years back, but went down to Hutch on an off day to catch some of the men's action. Most of the people in the crowd had portable TVs in their laps watching the Jayhawks. About the only other thing I remember is Applebee's is on the north end of town.

 

Women's tourney is in Salina; But, (no pun intended) there is a neat strip club called "Wild Wild West" that the girls from Wichita drive up for. Something that has to do with all nude instead of just the tops. Not that I would have any damn idea about this.

 

Oh, but their commercials are soooo entertaining :

Where in Salina is the women's tournament? The Bi Center?

 

Ummm....

 

Bi Center = local slang for Bicentennial Center.

 

Honestly wish I was up there, JandE. In our preps-heavy coverage, JUCO basketball is easily my favorite thing to cover all year. Our teams aren't great and play in Region XIV, which is usually just a fight between San Jacinto and Paris to see who goes.

Something to maybe watch for is Navarro being at the tourney. Navarro beat Paris in 2OTs to get the Region XIV bid. Lewis Orr, who coached Navarro for 30-something years, "retired" after last season ended having never made it to the NJCAA tournament. Now, in the first year he's not there, Navarro makes it.

I think Orr is a consultant for Buzz Williams at Marquette. Orr is a bit of a mentor to Williams and MU director of basketball operations Scott Monarch, another Region XIV veteran who's known for the "Fullcourt Express" offense. I think Orr's being honored at the tournament, but I could be wrong.

 

Good for Coach Wendell Weathers.
Took over for his (longtime coach) dad a few years back and has been productive in the highly competitive Mississippi JUCO circuit.
This is a plum reward for his staff and the program.

Yes, Justin Ray's exciting to watch.

 

Not near as entertaining as the commercials for Michelle's Beach House in Derby. Nothing like adjusting the ad to reflect the season or month, without fail.

Re: NJCAA Tournament, it's fun to cover. Good to see the games, good to see which Division I coaches who don't have any more games to prepare for show up to recruit and spend half their time on cell phones in the concourse. Doc Sadler (now at Nebraska) was one of my favorites to cover when he brought Westark/UA-Fort Smith to town. Good sense of humor.

 

Bob Huggins and Frank Martin are regulars in Hutch for the national tournament. Stunning, I know.

I'll be there for SW Tenn. vs. Chipola game today. Two losses between the two teams. The winner gets Cape Fear, N.C. or Lamar, Colo. 23 losses between those two teams. I can't wait for some young blood to take over this tournament and actually seed the teams.

 

My wife is one of the officials in the women's tournament. She actually just worked the DIII women's JUCO tournament in Minnesota then was sent to Kansas.

 

I covered it about 10 years ago. Very underrated event.

I was there not to cover the games, but to write features on some of the players. If you look at all, there are guys on most of the teams who have been in prison or have something insane in their backgrounds. There's usually a pretty good reason why most of these guys didn't go D-I out of high school and it's not for lack of talent.

 

Have you seen some of the girls from Michelle's?

There's a reason some of the girls are called "Michelle's Beached Whales"

Eureka.