Today In College Hoops Weirdness: Stanford Found Out Mid-Flight It Couldn't Play On Campus So An Announcer Helped Them Book A Game In Carolina

[The Athletic] - One major problem, though. Stanford didn’t know that order was coming down upon boarding the flight to the Maui of the East. The team got the news when the plane touched down for a layover in Amarillo, Texas.

There’s one other major element to this ordeal. After all, it’s the reason Stanford is going through all this trouble in the first place: to continue playing basketball.

And luckily, it has. Practically every coach and staffer started working the phones upon arrival in Chapel Hill, trying to find potential opponents in the region. And through a connection with one of North Carolina A&T’s play-by-play announcers, the Cardinal was able to schedule a game in Greensboro. That was a milestone from both programs: the first time Stanford had played at an HBCU, and the first time A&T had hosted a high-major opponent.

This is an exact story that I'll reference when guys like Coach K talk about being 'worried' about his team's mental and physical health. Not one person on Duke spoke out about that besides K. Capel tried bringing it up at Pitt. When they beat Northwestern last night, they were celebrating like crazy. Sure didn't look like a team ready to stop playing this season. What about Georgia Tech? Pastner is bringing in a damn coronavirus piñata. They don't look like they want to stop playing. Maybe, just MAYBE, we focus on the players and what they want and focus on stories like this. Shit, don't believe me? Here's this quote by Oscar da Silva, the starting big for Stanford. 

“Basketball was the stabilizer,” da Silva says, “because when you’re on the court and when you worry about games, stuff like that, you tend to not worry about too many other things.”

Now last time I checked, people who go to Stanford are smart. da Silva is a published author and works within the stem cell research lab. Again, maybe we ask the players what they are thinking about playing games vs not. Just a thought.

Anywho, back to Stanford. I love how they just stayed in North Carolina. It made sense. They were already in Asheville. Jerod Haase was an assistant at UNC so he knows the area. There are plenty of schools in the region to where they could bus somewhere and back to the hotel. And we got a little bit of history out of it. They played at North Carolina A&T, an HBCU that typically has to travel across the country to get their ass kicked by high-majors to collect money. They'd never draw a team like Stanford at home. 

Gotta admit, if you can't live a normal college life hanging out at a sweet hotel isn't the worst deal. Toss on one of those robes, have people make your bed for you if you want, always just feel like you're on vacation. It was right off Franklin Street too. Not sure what's all open there but Franklin Street is dope. Walk, grab some food with your teammates, go hoop. It's legit turning into 5-star camp. 

Also love that they booked a game because of an announcer. I'm addicted to the weird ass scheduling quirks this year. I've talked to a guy on staff for a top-40 team, who has to schedule games for them. It's a shit show. He's up all hours of the night trying to find a game. You gotta look for a team that's got an open date, close enough to bus in and out with all other caveats. So if an announcer is the reason you get there? So be it. It's awesome either way. Give me any and all games.