Well, day one is in the books!
This year's Deep South Classic was set up entirely different that in prior years as I was told by numerous coaches this year. It was also very difficult to follow -- as you can imagine 18 games being played simultaneousl can cause a big stir.
Jeff Walz' appearance in the building seemed to cause a ton of stir. Geno was not present though a source of mine did confirm he had three hotel rooms reserved at a separate hotel from where all the other college coaches were staying. I saw coaches/representatives from UNC (Sylvia included, boo), Duke, Iowa State, Georgia, Penn State, Wisconsin, Maryland, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, LSU, Boston College, etc. ... quite a few smaller schools, as well ... and of course, the lovely Chris Dailey was present herself (which nearly caused this North Carolina girl to have a cow -- especially since she had just sent me a personal note in the mail less than a month ago!)
With the compactness of the games, it was difficult to navigate around; but I did take in a variety of games and saw quite a bit talent. Maryland was viewing different games than UNC and Louisville, I will have to look at my notes to see if I can recall the team names.
Surprisingly, there were not a lot of people watching A'ja's game. Sadly, their game ended very early on in the second half when an opposing player went down with a knee injury. I am assuming they forfeited the game because it ended after that. UNC, Maryland, Tennessee, Louisville were all watching A'ja play. Chris Dailey stood with me for a good part of the first half of the game, as well. (I was on cloud nine to say the least!)
The highlight of the 6pm game was when we had a partial power outage in the convention center thanks to some very nasty weather that was brewing. Those who weren't from NC had no idea what was happening (they hadn't looked at the weather) and an eerie silence filled the center; but they kept playing with partial lighting. CD came over to me rather rattled wanting to know if I knew what happened -- I assured her it was okay; it was just the storms -- to which she asked me for a history lesson on the state of NC, haha! I had met her very, very briefly two years ago after they played Duke here; ironically, she remembered me. I was very scared or intimiated of her then; but wow, she took 15-20 minutes of her hectic schedule to just talk to me about anything and everything. What an amazing lady she is!
CD left very quickly to head to Norfolk for Boo Williams -- she said it was too far to drive (only three hours but that's when I gave her a lesson on the North vs. the South, haha!); so she was hitching a flight with some other coaches (you can guess who!). She said that Geno was not in town yet but if he came, he would be there on Sunday. So my question would be, why would they have three rooms reserved in his name when it appears no one will use them?
So not much to report -- I tried to take in as many games as I could. A'ja looked very impressive. Her height I am still trying to figure but I feel she is definitely taller than CD (who I believe is around 6'1" or 6'2") so I would say A'ja is probably 6'4" but I could be off with that. I really am bummed we didn't get to see her play a full game -- but we shall see!
Either way, this NC girl is a happy camper because Chris Dailey earned some massive brownie points in my book twice in less than a month now. It's ashame more coaches can't be like her!
Plus I've got my camera -- I am ready to roll! Now hurry up time clock -- I should've taken the day off. If y'all happen to hear which UConn staff member is here in Raleigh, please let me know!
