As I mentioned in Friday’s Playlist, last week was a very odd one in our house.
Monday was a school holiday. Tuesday the girls got up and went to school, then C called me as soon as they arrived saying she had thrown up in the parking lot. So back home she came. She puked again that night, so she was home again on Wednesday.
Wednesday was also L’s surgery day. We left the house at 7:35 and were back home around noon to begin the process of managing pain. No real issues there; she’s pretty tough and doesn’t complain much. She’s been keeping her foot elevated and wiggling her toes, as instructed. Two weeks from today she’ll switch from a splint to a cast.
Thursday is S’s day off, so she was home to help with L. C finally went back to school.
Friday was an eLearning day to prepare the CHS campus for the big annual fundraiser Saturday. L was doing just fine in the morning and we were discussing whether we would drive down to the semi-state game Saturday morning. After lunch and her round of meds, she started feeling bad. Eventually she spent about two hours throwing up. Curses! I have to tell you, I was impressed with how she was able to keep her leg elevated and still puke into a bowl. By the evening she stopped vomiting but still felt terrible. I told her we would just watch the game from home as she did not want to start feeling bad two hours from home and be stuck in the back of the car another two hours if we had to turn around.
Saturday morning we watched the game – more on that in a bit – and shortly after she had another round of throwing up. Some of her travel teammates planned on visiting but postponed for obvious reasons. She felt better in the afternoon so had her first shower on her new shower stool while wearing her waterproof cast cover. I assume that went well; I was not involved.
Finally Sunday she felt better and kept food down. Her travel coach and his daughter stopped in briefly. I told her it was lucky it took her two days to process whatever C had given her. I was super worried she would wake up sick Wednesday, we would have to postpone surgery, and that would mess our timeline up.
This morning both girls felt 100%, at least in their stomachs. L’s foot pain is manageable. Her doctor told her she didn’t have to rush back to school, but she’s too tightly wound to miss any more class. I think the getting around is going to be a big pain, as unlike when she was in a boot in December, she can’t put any weight on her left foot. We insisted she take her scooter, which she kind of hates, to give her more support and safety, especially in the hallways between classes.
Oh, and C leaves on her senior retreat tomorrow and will be gone until Friday afternoon. So I’ll be carting L to-and-from school.
Maybe we’ll have a full, normal week of classes for both girls next week.
End of the Road
Semi-state did not go as we hoped. CHS fell behind Roncalli early, climbed out of a couple holes, and tied the game at 21 early in the second quarter with a 9–0 run. Next thing you knew, RHS had ripped off 15 straight points and the game was basically over. I believe we got as close as 8 or 9 once, and they pushed it out as high as 21 points. The final was 72–54. Ouch.
Biggest factor in the game was RHS hitting their first seven 3s. That will win you a lot of games. Twice we hit 3’s and they immediately answered. They shoot a lot of 3’s normally, but pretty sure they hadn’t hit seven-straight before Saturday. We didn’t help ourselves in that 15–0 run by missing three layups and four free throws. But, still, RHS was the better team so not sure that made a difference.
It was hard to gauge things by streaming the game but the officiating didn’t help, either. The fouls in the first quarter were 6–0 against us. Which seems kind of dumb as RHS was playing more physical than we were. One of our starters was called for a touch foul 20 seconds into the game. Naturally, if you know her, she committed a clear and very dumb foul 30 seconds later and had to sit until the third quarter. Our best inside player had a similar experience. She got called for a touch foul in the first two minutes, then crashed into a girl a minute later and had to sit. Poor officiating + bad IQ = trouble.
As if to even things out, the refs called the first four fouls of the second quarter on RHS. That’s when we made our run to tie it. After that the fouls didn’t matter since RHS couldn’t miss and we couldn’t hit.
We heard one of our parents got ejected at halftime for being all over the refs, but as I wasn’t there and only got tidbits of the story, can’t really share details. Not surprised this parent got tossed, though. They have a history.
As happens this time of year to every team but the eventual champion, it was a very disappointing end to a fun couple weeks. We were double City champions (JV and varsity), beat our arch rivals twice in three weeks, and then won our first sectional in 20 years, followed by the first regional in 24 years. Adding a semi-state would have been tough; Roncalli lost to the #1 team in 3A by 13 in the semi-state championship game Saturday night. It would have been fun to have had that opportunity, though.
If you’ve paid attention to these posts, you know I’ve quoted the computer rankings often. Those rankings were locked after sectionals two weeks ago. The four state championship games this Saturday are, according to the computer, #3 vs #5 in 4A, #1 vs #3 in 3A, #1 vs #4 in 2A, and #1 vs #2 in 1A. Seems like the computer is pretty accurate.
We played two of the remaining eight teams, losing to one of the 3A contenders and beating the #1 1A team.
Jayhawk Talk
A nice bounce-back win vs Oklahoma State Saturday. The Jayhawks became the first team, I didn’t track if it was P4 only or any D1 school, to lose a game by 30+ and then win by 30+ in their next outing. At least they’re making history, I guess! Funny how much better the team looks when they can knock down outside shots.
Two very good things from Saturday. Flory Bidunga had 16 rebounds in 21 minutes. I remain on record that he will be the best rebounder of the Bill Self era if he returns for another year.
Second, Diggy Coit got going, hitting three straight 3’s to blow the game open in the first half. I think most people forget he was a very late signing and did not go through summer as part of the program. Throw in his size and Self’s traditional reluctance to give transfers much leeway, and he started waaaay behind everyone else. It seems like he’s finally getting comfortable with his role. The CBS guys claimed Self said Diggy is the most vocal leader on the team. Which is kind of concerning since our team is mostly 4th, 5th, and 6th year guys. But it bodes well for next year. I’m sure Diggy will start some games, but he seems like an ideal 6th man who can come off the bench, hit some 3’s and steady the team in minutes when Darryn Peterson, Elmarko Jackson, or whoever else fills one of the starting backcourt slots needs to sit.
Tonight we get to experience one of the true joys of the far-flung conference: an 11:00 PM Eastern tip in Boulder. I am NOT staying up to watch this game. Hope it works out better than when I went to bed instead of watching the BYU game last week.
College Girl
M spent the weekend in Toronto, Canada. I guess it’s a thing for fraternities at schools east of here to go to the Toronto area for their formals. I believe the key is the lower drinking age. That was the plan for her boyfriend’s frat. So they got on a bus at 8AM Friday and spent 12 hours driving north. Then 12 hours returning yesterday. That sure sounds awful to me. I remember going on a date party where we got on a bus in Columbia and headed to St. Louis, less than two hours away. That was both a very fun bus ride and a terrible one. College kids + lots of drinking = well, you know.
My comment to S was that you better not break up with your partner halfway through the bus ride. Or if you’re just going as friends, as a couple of M’s sorority sisters did, not realize three hours into the ride north that the dude you’re going with is kind of a douche.
I guess the formal was fun, and M said Toronto was very cool.
She has been struggling to find a summer internship, sending resumes out since the fall with no bites. She finally had one for a job in Cincinnati last week, then drove to Dayton for another. And this week she has a phone interview with an advertising firm here in Indy. It is run by a CHS grad, and a former neighbor of ours is rather high up there. I think she wants to stay in Cincy for the summer, but would be perfectly fine with the Indy one. If both those fall through, or nothing else pops up, she’ll take the Dayton one if she has to. I just hope she gets an offer.