UCONN Doesn’t Have a Plane to Get to Phoenix (Merged Thread)

[Bomber36]

Did the NCAA think no one would notice the disparity in treatment two years in a row? Real bunch of Einsteins running this clown show.

 

[Umami Zen]

Well, it can fly on one engine and lands on short fields as shown above! Vintage is in.

I'm sure Allegiant's commercial planes can accommodate the leg space needed for CBB players for a five hour cross country trip. Imagine Donovan/Samson/Singare/Karaban/Stewart enjoyed the flight.

 

[HuskyHawk]

UConn turning a distraction for us into a distraction for everyone. Well played.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Really a huge miss by the UConn athletic department not to ship 15 king-sized beds to Phoenix this week.

Our AD reminds me of my dad. "He needs the stiffest bed you've got". Hearing the NCAA offered individual rooms but we turned them down to promote comradery.

 

[Stew Crew]

Our AD reminds me of my dad. "He needs the stiffest bed you've got". Hearing the NCAA offered individual rooms but we turned them down to promote comradery.

Could be superstition. I believe they room together on most/all road trips. I remember hearing that Karaban always has to enter hotel room before Spencer (I think). In Boston, they would always exit the hotel through the same door.

 

[RC111]

BUT MUH CONSPIRACY

If this is true, thread is over. Hurley chose to practice here and rolled the dice regarding flights. Blew up in his face. Sucks, but we will deal.

When a person's only job is logistics for a billion dollar basketball tournament, that person can do better than whatever shenanigans you've been through that you think are comparable. As others have pointed out, your presence (or lack thereof) is not going to throw a billion dollar tournament out of whack.

Mechanical issues occur. Flight crew sometimes get maxed out, sure. But why were they chartering a plane from Kansas City with a crew that had that many hours already on the clock? Poor planning. That could absolutely be done better. My brother in law runs a charter business and those types of things are ALWAYS on his mind when he is planning flights and/ or flying himself.

Same brother in law owns and runs this private charter business out of Bradley, and I guarantee he's not the only game in the entire Northeast. Would have made more sense to go with a closer company, and you'd be hard-pressed to convince me that there weren't options out of JFK, La Guardia, Bradley, Newark, Boston, Philly, Providence, Tweed, Portland (ME) etc etc etc. At the very least, assuming the Kansas City option WAS a good one, I'm amazed that our own people had to do the troubleshooting. More on that below.

There's a tweet from one of our alums who said that HE and NOT the NCAA set up the backup. The NCAA was supposedly NOT trying to get us there sooner and was going to wait till the original crew (new crew?) was cleared to fly at something like 10am the next morning.

 

[ec33]

Hurley was in the final 4 last season and won it all. I think he understands how this stuff works.

Last year Hurley consulted with various coaches (naming JC and Geno in particular, but I think Jay Wright as well) on how to handle the week leading up to the FF. And yes, I am sure he used that original guidance plus his recent personal experience to choose this week's arrangements.

 

[RC111]

How are they supposed to do that? How exactly does that work? What flight crew was going to be paid to sit on their hands to potentially do nothing, and what plane was going to be bought and reserved by the NCAA? Do you have a concrete example of the NCAA or professional having done this before?

I've already responded to this, but chartered planes and their pilots get hired to sit around all the time. At the very least, they could have booked a plane to arrive Wednesday morning or Tuesday evening. In the same manner that we'd have to wait for the original crew to rest, a crew flying in Tuesday could rest and fly out the next day.

I've lived abroad for several years and hired drivers to help me get around foreign countries. When I have a really important meeting to get to, I don't have the driver show up at the moment I want to leave. I'm amazed you find the concept of a plane arriving early, in case something goes wrong, so it can still be ready on time, so crazy.

 

[RC111]

My daughter played D1 sball for a mid-major and lost to Alabama in the NCAA tournament. They played at Alabama and were eliminated mid-day and were flown home on a private charted jet in the early evening.

Not a direct correlation but if the NCAA can have a private jet waiting for a small d1 school in a non-revenue women’s sport, they better make sure a plane is waiting in Hartford for the reigning national champs and # 1 basketball team in America. Don’t blame the weather. This is entirely on the NCAA for not planning ahead. They are out to get us!!!

Great anecdote.

 

[superjohn]

I've already responded to this, but chartered planes and their pilots get hired to sit around all the time. At the very least, they could have booked a plane to arrive Wednesday morning or Tuesday evening. In the same manner that we'd have to wait for the original crew to rest, a crew flying in Tuesday could rest and fly out the next day.

I've lived abroad for several years and hired drivers to help me get around foreign countries. When I have a really important meeting to get to, I don't have the driver show up at the moment I want to leave. I'm amazed you find the concept of a plane arriving early, in case something goes wrong, so it can still be ready on time, so crazy.

His posts are strange on the matter, it sounds like he thinks professional teams fly commercial.

 

[Rocktheworld]

I've already responded to this, but chartered planes and their pilots get hired to sit around all the time. At the very least, they could have booked a plane to arrive Wednesday morning or Tuesday evening. In the same manner that we'd have to wait for the original crew to rest, a crew flying in Tuesday could rest and fly out the next day.

I've lived abroad for several years and hired drivers to help me get around foreign countries. When I have a really important meeting to get to, I don't have the driver show up at the moment I want to leave. I'm amazed you find the concept of a plane arriving early, in case something goes wrong, so it can still be ready on time, so crazy.

Lol please. I don’t find that idea crazy at all.

What is the precedent for the NCAA doing what you’ve proposed?

 

[UConnSwag11]

Lol please. I don’t find that idea crazy at all.

What is the precedent for the NCAA doing what you’ve proposed?

OMG let it go

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[JMick]

Lol please. I don’t find that idea crazy at all.

What is the precedent for the NCAA doing what you’ve proposed?

I know someone that has flown private a lot, and their plane almost always arrived half a day in advance. The pilots would arrive, sleep, and then get ready a few hours in advance in case they needed to leave earlier due to a scheduling change. It's really not that crazy when you have to be somewhere. I figured it was standard for all private flights

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Kolumbo]

The kids today have music, video, chat, messaging, all kinds of things to stay occupied and connected. I hate to go all "back in the old days," but we literally had to sit around for hours upon hours with only our siblings to help pass the time. Stuck in places with no entertainment, all sorts of confined spaces, no AC, nothing but complete and absolute boredom. Anyone complaining about a couple two tree hours these days is just soft.

 

[RC111]

I know someone that has flown private a lot, and their plane almost always arrived half a day in advance. The pilots would arrive, sleep, and then get ready a few hours in advance in case they needed to leave earlier due to a scheduling change. It's really not that crazy when you have to be somewhere. I figured it was standard for all private flights

That's what I said, but he's still wondering what the precedent is for the NCAA to do it lol

 

[huskymedic]

Alternate access <<

 

[auror]

Do we know for sure NC State players aren't sharing that larger bed? Or that said room wasn't a one off where most of the rooms were equivalent?

NC state fans said their other players had smaller beds. Burns must have gotten a coach's bed or something lol.

 

[B1GEast]

I would get an air bnb instead of a hotel for the team. All they need is a 3am fire alarm to disrupt the team.

 

[OviedoFLHusky]

Great article (The Athletic one above), thanks.

Hurley's attitude is amazing: publicly, anyway, he's not letting the NCAA clown show affect him ("Never let 'em see you sweat"). I'd have gone apoplectic! Maybe that's what the NCAA was looking for -- many kudos for not giving it to them, Coach!!

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Jimdish255]

We’ll adjust the schedule and be fine. They’re college kids. I can remember sitting in airports for 8-10 hours during trips with the track team and we’d arrive, do our pre meet and then go compete like normal.

These guys have several days and will just skip some media stuff to get back to normal schedule. That and Danny will use it as a positive.

huskies by 25.

We used to have kegs on the sidelines during rugby matches and club hockey. Everything is the same, right?

 

[KembaRunner]

We used to have kegs on the sidelines during rugby matches and club hockey. Everything is the same, right?

No, but the point is- stuff happens and they have days to figure out how to adjust to this minor bump in the road.

Danny himself said “these kids used to drive 14 hours to peach jam and play a game 2 hours later, we’ll be fine.”