OT: Operation 351 begins its 6th season.

[Greathusky]

For those who don't know me, Operation 351 is my personal journey to visit every D1 college basketball site to see a basketball game. My travels are documented on my blog at www.journeyto351.com. When I started 5 years ago, there were a total of 351 D1 schools. That number has changed over the years. With Savannah State dropping down to D2, the number for the 2019-20 season will be at 352 teams.

As has been a tradition for the past 5 years, I annually repost a Boneyard quote from Fishy that I rate as one of the funniest in Boneyard history as he commented on my mission:

“You have no chance of doing it. But beyond that, you don’t want to. At some point, you’ll find yourself at Houston Baptist watching them host Incarnate Word wondering just why you threw your life away. Then, you’ll make your way back to your $29 a night hotel room in Cow Dick, Texas, and drown yourself in the toilet.”

I am at now 81 games and going strong!

Here are my choices for the upcoming season dependent on weather, scheduling conflicts and life:

1. Syracuse and Colgate – hopefully in early November or March because of the weather
2. Canisius and Niagara – ditto
3. George Mason and Maryland Eastern Shore
4. Bucknell and Penn State
5. St. Francis PA and Mount St. Mary
6. West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Robert Morris – hoping for a trifecta in one visit
7. South Florida – Against UConn representing my annual Operation 351 trip with my wife
8. Tulane and (LSU or New Orleans or Nicholls St.) - Tulane is playing UConn. A visit to the Big easy with good friends of ours.

Looking forward to an exciting season for the men and an eventual trip on the Metro North bar car for a trip to MSG!

 

[uchusky32]

Have you made it to Houston Baptist? Or is that going to be your swan song?

 

[husky429]

For those who don't know me, Operation 351 is my personal journey to visit every D1 college basketball site to see a basketball game. My travels are documented on my blog at www.journeyto351.com. When I started 5 years ago, there were a total of 351 D1 schools. That number has changed over the years. With Savannah State dropping down to D2, the number for the 2019-20 season will be at 352 teams.

As has been a tradition for the past 5 years, I annually repost a Boneyard quote from Fishy that I rate as one of the funniest in Boneyard history as he commented on my mission:

“You have no chance of doing it. But beyond that, you don’t want to. At some point, you’ll find yourself at Houston Baptist watching them host Incarnate Word wondering just why you threw your life away. Then, you’ll make your way back to your $29 a night hotel room in Cow Dick, Texas, and drown yourself in the toilet.”

I am at now 81 games and going strong!

Here are my choices for the upcoming season dependent on weather, scheduling conflicts and life:

1. Syracuse and Colgate – hopefully in early November or March because of the weather
2. Canisius and Niagara – ditto
3. George Mason and Maryland Eastern Shore
4. Bucknell and Penn State
5. St. Francis PA and Mount St. Mary
6. West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Robert Morris – hoping for a trifecta in one visit
7. South Florida – Against UConn representing my annual Operation 351 trip with my wife
8. Tulane and (LSU or New Orleans or Nicholls St.) - Tulane is playing UConn. A visit to the Big easy with good friends of ours.

Looking forward to an exciting season for the men and an eventual trip on the Metro North bar car for a trip to MSG!

Do you fly to all these places??

 

[browndog319]

Okay, that’s pretty cool.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Have you made it to Houston Baptist? Or is that going to be your swan song?

Apparently not, or post-drowning in Cow Dick, Texas @Greathusky now posts in the after life. Given he’ll be in Syracuse in Nov or Mar, appears he’s going to hell.

 

[Greathusky]

Have you made it to Houston Baptist? Or is that going to be your swan song?

Hawaii will be my last. I joked with wife that she will have to wheel my coffin to center court on that last trip.

 

[Greathusky]

Do you fly to all these places??

Mostly plane or train. The drivable ones are slowly disappearing as I venture more out of New England.

 

[husky429]

Mostly plane or train. The drivable ones are slowly disappearing as I venture more out of New England.

Wow amazing.

What's your favorite small venue so far?

 

[Greathusky]

Wow amazing.

What's your favorite small venue so far?

Princeton was a cool place. If you are a Disney fan, picture yourself walking into Spaceship Earth.

Yale at the Payne Whitney gym used to be an old church in the early 1900's. You can still see the cathedral glass windows high above the court. The seats slope down at an incredible pitch!

 

[HuskyHawk]

For those who don't know me, Operation 351 is my personal journey to visit every D1 college basketball site to see a basketball game. My travels are documented on my blog at www.journeyto351.com. When I started 5 years ago, there were a total of 351 D1 schools. That number has changed over the years. With Savannah State dropping down to D2, the number for the 2019-20 season will be at 352 teams.

As has been a tradition for the past 5 years, I annually repost a Boneyard quote from Fishy that I rate as one of the funniest in Boneyard history as he commented on my mission:

“You have no chance of doing it. But beyond that, you don’t want to. At some point, you’ll find yourself at Houston Baptist watching them host Incarnate Word wondering just why you threw your life away. Then, you’ll make your way back to your $29 a night hotel room in Cow Dick, Texas, and drown yourself in the toilet.”

I am at now 81 games and going strong!

Here are my choices for the upcoming season dependent on weather, scheduling conflicts and life:

1. Syracuse and Colgate – hopefully in early November or March because of the weather
2. Canisius and Niagara – ditto
3. George Mason and Maryland Eastern Shore
4. Bucknell and Penn State
5. St. Francis PA and Mount St. Mary
6. West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Robert Morris – hoping for a trifecta in one visit
7. South Florida – Against UConn representing my annual Operation 351 trip with my wife
8. Tulane and (LSU or New Orleans or Nicholls St.) - Tulane is playing UConn. A visit to the Big easy with good friends of ours.

Looking forward to an exciting season for the men and an eventual trip on the Metro North bar car for a trip to MSG!

I remember that quote. A Fishy classic. Good luck, but if this is your pace, it's going to take a long, long time. Let me know when you are headed to Allen Field House.

 

[Greathusky]

I remember that quote. A Fishy classic. Good luck, but if this is your pace, it's going to take a long, long time. Let me know when you are headed to Allen Field House.

At the age of 61 years old now, I am guessing it will completed by the time I am 80.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

For those who don't know me, Operation 351 is my personal journey to visit every D1 college basketball site to see a basketball game. My travels are documented on my blog at www.journeyto351.com. When I started 5 years ago, there were a total of 351 D1 schools. That number has changed over the years. With Savannah State dropping down to D2, the number for the 2019-20 season will be at 352 teams.

As has been a tradition for the past 5 years, I annually repost a Boneyard quote from Fishy that I rate as one of the funniest in Boneyard history as he commented on my mission:

“You have no chance of doing it. But beyond that, you don’t want to. At some point, you’ll find yourself at Houston Baptist watching them host Incarnate Word wondering just why you threw your life away. Then, you’ll make your way back to your $29 a night hotel room in Cow Dick, Texas, and drown yourself in the toilet.”

I am at now 81 games and going strong!

Here are my choices for the upcoming season dependent on weather, scheduling conflicts and life:

1. Syracuse and Colgate – hopefully in early November or March because of the weather
2. Canisius and Niagara – ditto
3. George Mason and Maryland Eastern Shore
4. Bucknell and Penn State
5. St. Francis PA and Mount St. Mary
6. West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Robert Morris – hoping for a trifecta in one visit
7. South Florida – Against UConn representing my annual Operation 351 trip with my wife
8. Tulane and (LSU or New Orleans or Nicholls St.) - Tulane is playing UConn. A visit to the Big easy with good friends of ours.

Looking forward to an exciting season for the men and an eventual trip on the Metro North bar car for a trip to MSG!

Very cool personal project! Inspirational for a 32-year-old like me with similar interests in visiting different basketball arenas. If UConn plays @ SMU on a weekend, I'll be at Moody!

If you end up going to Mount St. Mary's, I highly recommend crossing the bridge from Newburgh to visit Beacon. A fun little Main Street and nearby one of the best art museums in the country: Dia:Beacon.

 

[gwhuskyfan]

As someone who also likes to see new arenas looking forward to the new BE. Can finally pull of the Indiana trip I've been wanting - go see UConn @ Butler, game in Bloomington, maybe hit up Purdue or ND depending on how schedules work out.

 

[Fishy]

If you end up going to Mount St. Mary's, I highly recommend crossing the bridge from Newburgh to visit Beacon. A fun little Main Street and nearby one of the best art museums in the country: Dia:Beacon.

Mount St. Mary’s is a lovely little campus - my daughter has gone there for swim meets. And I second the recommendation about Beacon....my daughter’s swim team actually practices at Beacon High every night.

But that Mount St. Mary’s is DIII.

The DI version is down in Maryland.

 

[Greathusky]

Mount St. Mary’s is a lovely little campus - my daughter has gone there for swim meets. And I second the recommendation about Beacon....my daughter’s swim team actually practices at Beacon High every night.

But that Mount St. Mary’s is DIII.

The DI version is down in Maryland.

Thanks for the clarification. I am headed to Mount St. Mary's in MD obviously. My nephew is attending the seminary school.

 

[ConnZag3]

For those who don't know me, Operation 351 is my personal journey to visit every D1 college basketball site to see a basketball game. My travels are documented on my blog at www.journeyto351.com. When I started 5 years ago, there were a total of 351 D1 schools. That number has changed over the years. With Savannah State dropping down to D2, the number for the 2019-20 season will be at 352 teams.

As has been a tradition for the past 5 years, I annually repost a Boneyard quote from Fishy that I rate as one of the funniest in Boneyard history as he commented on my mission:

“You have no chance of doing it. But beyond that, you don’t want to. At some point, you’ll find yourself at Houston Baptist watching them host Incarnate Word wondering just why you threw your life away. Then, you’ll make your way back to your $29 a night hotel room in Cow Dick, Texas, and drown yourself in the toilet.”

I am at now 81 games and going strong!

Here are my choices for the upcoming season dependent on weather, scheduling conflicts and life:

1. Syracuse and Colgate – hopefully in early November or March because of the weather
2. Canisius and Niagara – ditto
3. George Mason and Maryland Eastern Shore
4. Bucknell and Penn State
5. St. Francis PA and Mount St. Mary
6. West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Robert Morris – hoping for a trifecta in one visit
7. South Florida – Against UConn representing my annual Operation 351 trip with my wife
8. Tulane and (LSU or New Orleans or Nicholls St.) - Tulane is playing UConn. A visit to the Big easy with good friends of ours.

Looking forward to an exciting season for the men and an eventual trip on the Metro North bar car for a trip to MSG!

Just a heads up that we're still at 353 actually as Merrimack is joining D1 to offset the dropdown of Savannah St.

 

[Greathusky]

Institution	Athletics	Current Division II conference	Future Division I conference	Start Year	Active (Full member)	Notes
Merrimack College	Warriors	Northeast-10 Conference	Northeast Conference	2019–20	2023–24	[4]
Bellarmine University	Knights	Great Lakes Valley Conference	ASUN Conference	2020–21	2024–25	[5]
Dixie State University	Trailblazers	Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference	Western Athletic Conference	2020–21	2024–25	[6]
C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University	Pioneers	East Coast Conference	Northeast Conference	2019–20	2019–20	The LIU Post athletic program will merge with that of LIU Brooklyn to become a single Long Island University (LIU) athletic program, competing as the LIU Sharks. Teams in sports that Post sponsors but Brooklyn doesn't will be reclassified to Division I. [7]
University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego)	Tritons	California Collegiate Athletic Association	Big West Conference	2020–21	2024–25

You are correct. There is an interesting scenario at the CW Post campus. I attended LIU previously. The CW Post campus is merging into LIU. I have made the decision not to revisit there since it was and still remains a D1 school.

Not happy about visiting Merrimack since I had completed all the New England schools at this point.

Cal Baptist and Northern Alabama went D1 last year bring the total to 353.

Tough shooting at a moving target.

 

[Kolumbo]

 

[nomar]

Have you made it to Houston Baptist? Or is that going to be your swan song?

Operation 351 will culminate in Greathusky's wife calling him at his hotel in Cow Dick, Texas after the Houston Baptist game to let him know that she's filed for divorce.

 

[Hogoff]

Apparently not, or post-drowning in Cow Dick, Texas @Greathusky now posts in the after life. Given he’ll be in Syracuse in Nov or Mar, appears he’s going to hell.

Wouldn’t it be Bull Dick, Texas?

 

[auror]

Not happy about visiting Merrimack since I had completed all the New England schools at this point.

You can go ahead and skip Merrimack. Not missing anything.

 

[McLovin]

• UCONN (no blog post available)

Come on, man!!

 

[ConnZag3]

USC Upstate might have been the "greatest" when I visited last year. Smallest gym in D1 with a capacity of around 800. Went for a weekday afternoon game before Xmas and I couldn't even find where they were selling tickets to the game so just walked into the gym for free, no questions asked.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Wouldn’t it be Bull Dick, Texas?

Cmon, it’s either a 2019 thing or just consistent with Fishy’s cited words?

 

[Travelman6]

Thanks for the update, keep it up!

 

[Moose1979]

When you ARE ready to watch Houston Baptist v Incarnate Word, do it at Incarnate Word here in my new home, San Antonio. While here you can also catch a UTSA game ( UConn beat UTSA in the first round of its 1999 national title run)

 

[willie99]

Go Danny Go, I'm envious my friend

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Yale at the Payne Whitney gym used to be an old church in the early 1900's. You can still see the cathedral glass windows high above the court.

Gothic Revival architecture similar to more than a few churches, but Payne Whitney was never a church. It does have some attractive stain glass, but it was always a purpose-built athletic facility and was completed around the Great Depression era.

Along with many Yale buildings, Payne Whitney’s an interesting structure to visit. Similarly, Eero Saarinen’s Ingalls Rink “The Whale” is both interesting and a great arena to watch a hockey game.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Similarly, Eero Saarinen’s Ingalls Rink “The Whale” is both interesting and a great arena to watch a hockey game.

Love Ingalls. Went there a bunch as a kid when my friends’ parents were Yale grads.

Went there for the first time as an adult on New Year’s Eve to watch UConn beat Yale and my wife and had a blast.

 

[WallStreetHusky]

I hate to be a literal buzz kill, but there are no more bar cars on Metro North. They even did away with the bar carts inside Grand Central. However they do have 2 liquor stores inside GCT. At least that's what I have been told!