Follow along as the Concordia women's basketball team hits the road for the 2009 NCAA Tournament. The Cobbers are competing in their 16th NCAA Tournament and will play their regional games at UW-Stevens Point.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2009

6:02 p.m.

The bus pulls out from Concordia - another trip to the NCAA Tournament, another NCAA trip journal. I started writing the journal to make the players and coaches feel special and proud about the accomplishment they had achieved in making the national playoffs. I coached a team that went to the NCAA Tournament in 2006. No administrator or support personnel made the trip with the team or helped me decipher all the ins and outs of participating in the national playoffs. The experience was just like another trip to play a conference game or a preseason tournament in Wisconsin - we even drove vans to the tournament to save some money for the department. I have always felt empty about the experience and the reason I took my current job is so that no coach, team or player will ever have to feel that way again. I wanted to make each player and coach feel like they were special and had someone in the department who was always "had their back." Someone who would let them know that what they were doing mattered and was an integral part of the college.

The journal was also a way for the individual players and teams to have a way to remember their trip to the national tournament and their greatest accomplishment in college athletics.

I also started writing these journals for fans and family members to have the chance to go behind the scenes of the players and teams they watch and cheer for game in and game out. To me it was more interesting to see how the players and coaches interacted away from the court than they did on the court. I started with the women's volleyball team in 2003 and have continued doing one for every team's trip to the national playoffs.

I enjoy writing the journal and getting to know the individual teams, players and coaches. It helps me stay connected with the Concordia student/athlete and renews my conviction on why I do what I do. I have written about the volleyball team on their six trips to the NCAA playoffs, the football team's trip to the NCAA playoffs in 2005, the Cobber women's soccer team in 2007 and the women's basketball team when they last went to the playoffs in 2006. Each team is different, unique and incredibly entertaining to be around.

My one wish before I move on to something else is that I get a chance to cover another men's trip to the NCAA Tournament. Concordia has turned out several top MIAC women's teams and has turned into one of the premiere women's athletic departments in the conference. I hope that the men's teams will continue to progress and get to the level that their women's counterparts have achieved. The basic parts are in place with coaches and players and I believe that in a couple of years the men's teams will be participating in the national playoffs on a regular basis. Who knows, it might even happen this spring with the baseball team!

6:05 p.m.

The bus rolls turns onto 94 and starts down the highway headed for the Cities and the first stop on the way to Stevens Point. Right away I can tell that this team is a little different than the others. As the team gets on the bus they are greeted by assistant Steph Mayclin who gives them their dinner order from Erbert's and Gerbert's.

They had placed their order earlier in the week and Steph made sure that everyone had their order. Like any other team, several players needed special things with their dinner. One didn't want any tomatoes, another no mayo still one had all the ingredients put in the bag separately. An assistant coach has to be able to take care of all the little details and make sure everyone is taken care of. From favorite meals to snacks to preparing scouting reports to arranging for movies on the bus. The Cobber women's basketball team has two of the best assistant coaches around. Steph and head assistant Rachel Burgau are the glue behind all the different aspects of the program. They make sure that head coach Jessica Rahman can concentrate on coaching them team and taking care of how the Cobbers perform on and off the court.

I have told Rachel that if I ever get back into coaching, my first hire would be to take her away from the women's basketball team. Even though she knows nothing about soccer she would be the perfect assistant because she handles all the little things perfectly and allows the head coach to concentrate on coaching. She is extremely organized and knows exactly what needs to get done. Of course it doesn't hurt that she grew up with a head coach for a father and knows more about the coaching game than people twice her age.

Jessica is very lucky to have Rachel and Steph and any awards or honors that she receives are a reflection on the staff as well.

The first movie for the trip will be "27 Dresses". It is finally chosen after a debate. The movie "Stepbrothers" was voted down by Rachel as it turns out that she isn't extremely fond of the high class humor!

6:15 p.m.

One of the biggest surprises of the trip so far is that every player got a pickle with their dinner. I'm not talking about the little spear that you get on the side of a dinner plate at the Village Inn but a big deli style pickle that you find in one of the jars on the counter of a convenience store. It seems that they get pickles on every trip that they get Erbert's and Gerbert's. It was definitely a surprise and the pickles were very good. Could be a good sign for the trip as pleasant surprises could be around every corner!

7:35 p.m.

The coaching staff is joined at the front of the bus by senior Jenna Freudenberg. Jenna has been the driving force behind the team's trip to the top of the MIAC and into the national playoffs. She is the only member of the team that played in the NCAA Tournament in 2006. I have never seen a player on any team held in such high regard by her teammates. Every player on the team thinks Jenna is the second coming of Sheryl Swoopes and that she can single-handedly carry the team to victory.

One of the lasting memories I will carry from the athletic calendar year or from any season is Jenna's face as it went through 30 seconds from the deepest point of despair to the unbridled joy of watching her team being announced as part of the NCAA Tournament. On Monday the team gathered in Rachel's office to watch the selection show. I was watching in my office and knew that the show was not live but rather taped and then played over the internet. I was able to fast forward the video and get to Concordia's regional selection. I knew that if they were going to get selected it was probably going to be against UW-Stevens Point at UW-SP. The selection show unfolded so that UW-Stevens Point was placed on the screen and then Maryville (Mo.) was shown as their opponent. Right then I thought Concordia had been passed over and they weren't going to the tournament. The shock didn't last too long as the very next team on the screen was Concordia-Moorhead. I jumped up and let out a yell and then ran down to Rachel's office to see the reaction on the faces of the team.

They were watching it as if it were live and were only halfway through the show. You could feel the tension in the room and everyone was nervous and very impatient as they announced all the other regionals. Finally they announced the UW-Stevens Point regional. I watched Jenna as she was sitting right in front of the screen at Rachel's desk. Like me, Jenna knew that if the Cobbers were to be selected it would be against UW-Stevens Point. When UW-SP was announced against Maryville, Jenna's face went white and she let her head go down and hit the desk. You could see her dreams about to be shattered. When the Cobbers were announced next, she looked up at Rachel and stared in disbelief as she jumped out and screamed "we're in." Jenna then put her head down on the desk again - this time in utter joy and shedding tears as her one goal for the season came true.

The rest of the team was jumping up and down and screaming for joy. It was a scene that was worth every long night posting scores, recaps and stats. It was something that will not soon be forgotten and reinforces the reason of why being an SID has rewards way beyond money.

8:15 p.m.

The bus is rolling towards St. Cloud and the second movie of the trip is about to be played. "Panic Room" gets put in the DVD player and the mood goes from romantic comedy to tense drama.

Head coach Jessica Rahman is not with the team on this leg of the trip. She guided the team through practice and then left to watch her son play in the section championship hockey game in Thief River Falls. She went through a tough decision process as her two families had schedules that conflicted and she was worried about not being able to be with both of them. Having two tremendous assistant coaches made the decision easier as she was able to put the basketball family in their hands as she left to watch Braden in his state qualifying game. Jessica will hook up with the team before they leave for the second leg of the trip to Stevens Point in the morning.

9:35 p.m.

The bus pulls into the hotel parking lot and Rachel heads off the bus to get the rooms and organize the players for the night. Everyone files off the bus and is still full of excitement from the start of the journey. They will head to their rooms and lights out will be at 10:30 p.m. as they will leave at 9 a.m. for Stevens Point. It is always a time with endless possibilities as all 63 teams that go to sleep tonight will dream the Hoosiers dream where they catch fire in the playoffs and go on an unbelievable ride that takes them aal the way to a championship.

Who knows, even the Cobbers could be Hoosiers!