(02-09-2018 09:59 PM)Tribe21 Wrote:  

(02-09-2018 11:04 AM)tribeinexile Wrote:  

(02-08-2018 04:41 PM)BigTribe3 Wrote:  Team received, I hope, big boost by flying chartered plane to Charleston yesterday...eliminated two long bus rides.

I didn't want this item to get lost in our discussions of the game itself. Am I correct in assuming this is a big deal?

1) I assume we have not done this in the past.
2) Normally we play CofC and UNC-W in a two-game road swing so a bus trip makes sense. In this case, an eight-hour bus trip down followed by an eight-hour bus trip back before a Saturday 2:00 PM would have been an incredible burden on the team.
3) I noticed we didn't have a couple of the walk-ons on the bench last night. Was that a question of plane capacity or have they left the team?
4) Did the Athletic Department spring for this flight? Did they allow generous supporters to fund the flight? In either case I think it is a tremendous step for the program.
5) How do we institutionalize this kind of travel support in the future?

Or am I mistaken and this is same-old, same-old, modus operandi?

I would say that yes, this is a big deal. I'll take a guess at some of your questions. 1) I think we did charter a flight 2 years ago to Northeastern, a game that was 2 days before the Gold Rush game against Delaware. Not sure about other instances. When flying, they typically fly commercial. I believe that is how they are getting to the Northeastern/Hofstra road trip coming up. 2) The team arrived back on campus last night at 12:15. A lot better than a commercial flight and certainly better than taking a bus all night and arriving this morning. 3) I don't believe the walk ons, other than Omar, have traveled this year. 4) I assume that part of the travel cost was in the budget. But yes, several generous donors helped cover the difference. 5) Not sure. But I'm sure the basketball program would love to have enough donations to make a private charter a regular event as needed. But as we know, there are plenty of other financial needs for this program.

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Keatts made it a priority to have donors focus on flights vs. bus rides while he was at UNCW. It made a big difference.