MBB: Podcast with Jared Nuness & Road Trip Notes

Ashley Hodge catches up with Jared Nuness on the state of Baylor basketball after the UCONN loss. Also, some notes and observations from the trip to Storrs, Connecticut.

I cover a lot of basketball ground in the podcast with Coach Nuness.  Here are some cliff notes:  

• Believes we can be a top 25 defensive team by the end of the year.  We have emphasized keeping teams out of the paint.  Done a decent job of that.  Need to get better at closing out on 3 point shooters and defensive rebounding as well as not fouling.  
• Offensively, we should continue to gel and be a top 5 team in offensive efficiency.  
• Have 3 players that are good on the ball in Roach, Wright and Edgecombe but definitely discussing getting Edgecombe downhill creating for others as well as putting pressure on defenses with his own scoring.  
• Believes Edgecombe and Nunn are guys that can get to the foul line more than what we have seen.  
• We knew the schedule was going to be a gauntlet, not discouraged by our progress we have made.  Getting Langston back is big for our upside.  

Boston

• Mentioning this if you ever have a sports trip... I met Wade Barrow (Roughneck), Donald Wright (malbear) and Sean Urich (bearclaw) there.  We stayed at the CitizenM hotel right next door to the TD Garden in Boston.  Great location and price ($129/night).  The rooms are small (think cruise ship small- around 150 square feet) but it’s perfect for one person.  European style hotel that seems to be taking off.  Good restaurant/bar, exercise room.  Clean and can’t beat the location.  
• We went to the Boston Celtics vs Miami Heat game on Monday night.  Boston won comfortably.  They shot like 55 threes like they do every game.  We had lower level across from the Celtics bench.  Paid around $220/each with all ticket fees.  
• Lunch on Monday at Carmelinas in the North End- I went with eggplant as an appetizer and lobster ravioli for the entree.  Tuesday, breakfast at Theo’s Cozy Corner Restaurant in the North End- outstanding, I did the steak omelette in honor of our great football turnaround.  
• Tuesday late morning, we ventured up to Bunker Hill (malbear and bearclaw) and did the Freedom Trail (2.5 miles).  For $10, you can download an app on your smart phone and get commentary each time you hit a spot along the way.  That was pretty cool, I had done the trail a few times but learned a lot with the app.  Lunch on Tuesday was at Boston Sail Loft- bowl of clam chowder and a hot lobster roll with butter and a loaded baked potato.  
• Tuesday night, we bought last minute tickets to Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings.  We were going to go with some lower level tickets for around $100 each but some tickets on the glass at center ice came available for less than $200 each including ticket fees.  Game was great!  Boston won in OT 3-2.  The only downside was we ended up next to a Texas Tech fan somehow!  But he beat malbear down with excessive chatter, so not our problem!  
• Wednesday, we ate lunch at Alcove next to the TD Garden.  The Prosciutto Melt on sourdough was the call. 

Storrs, Connecticut

• We found an Uber driver that had a Suburban who was willing to drive us to Storrs and back to Boston for $450 (we ended up paying him $600).  That was a cool experience.  He was great and malbear ended up not only buying dinner for us but treating him to the game (his first college basketball game).  
• We ate at Hops 44 near Gambel Pavillion before the game.  Kelly & Mackenzie Drew were there finishing their meal, we chatted with them a bit.  The place was great if you find yourself in Storrs for some reason.  Cuban sandwich was outstanding.  
• Gampel Pavilion is a lot like the Ferrell Center but they fill that place so it’s plenty tough to win there.  Dan Hurley mentioned so many times “we are really hard to beat at Gampel”.  You can tell he’s not happy that he has to play half his home games in Hartford!  
• Definitely a culture of fans wearing jerseys.  It was a white out but probably 20% of the fans had UCONN jerseys on, kind of cool.  Multiple references to “This is the Basketball Capital of the World”.  Hard to argue when you see the 17 national championship banners hanging in the rafters!  6 for the men (all since 1999) and 11 for the women (all since 1995).  A few schools have great history but no one has better history since 1995!  They seemed to have a great practice facility next door (just judging from the outside).  
• The game itself has been discussed a lot, the fans were very gracious that we interacted with.  Lots of respect for Baylor and Coach Drew.