'You will have good luck in your affairs'

When coach Kip Drown was sitting on the charter bus waiting for his players in preparation for their afternoon practice at the Dakota Dome on the University of South Dakota campus Thursday, he couldn't help but sound a little like Beavis and Butt-head.

Drown, who fancies himself an oldies and country music fan, used nearly every spare moment he could to purse his lips and let out an electric guitar sound to the tune of the ThunderWolves' trademark song, AC/DC's "Thunderstruck."  He wasn't doing it loudly - it was more under his breath, like a running soundtrack of the day. It was coach Drown's way of getting mentally ready for tomorrow night's showdown with South Dakota in the first round of the NCAA Division II National Tournament.

The weather in Vermillion is unseasonably warm, according to the locals, for a place that gets its first snow in November and never really sees the white stuff melt away until sometime in April.  The weather was welcoming to the ThunderWolves, yet another difference from the team's DII Tourney trip in 2006.

That year, the weather was miserable in Grand Forks, N.D., living up to the cold weather Canadian-style stereotype.  This time around, it's different.

"Don't stand outside too long - you'll get a sunburn!," Larry Wilske, the team's charter bus driver, joked to the players as they pulled up to the Dakota Dome, a large Minneapolis Metrodome-like structure that houses all the USD sports, including basketball.

The complex at USD was huge, and there was a bit of awe - but only a bit.  The task at hand, getting prepared to defeat South Dakota, knocked any awe of the huge complex completely out of the Pack players' minds. 

The basketball court in the Dakota Dome is dwarfed by the overall size of the structure, which normally houses the USD football team.  In the foreground of the court, there is a jumbotron and a who's who of South Dakota athletics emblazoned in the rafters.  It was certainly unlike the basketball-only facilities in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.  But again, the ThunderWolf players didn't seem to notice.  They had to get ready.

For an hour, the team ran up and down the court, hitting a good deal of their shots and getting themselves game ready.

"We had good energy out there today," Drown said.  "We worked on the things we needed to work on and I liked the way we ran up and down the floor."

From there, the team had a surreal experience at a Hy-Vee Supermarket, a staple in the midwest but something new to the largely Colorado contingent of ThunderWolf players.  Hy-Vee turns its deli area into an all-you-can-eat buffet, ranging from chicken strips to sesame chicken and fresh key lime pie.  The team, readying itself for the next stage of their trip, actually taking the floor for their game tomorrow, was relaxed.  Their infectious laughter caused the locals expecting to have a quiet lunch to do a double-take and smile wide at the youthful exuberance of a team on a mission.

"I love this time of the week," Drown said.  "Our final practice before game day is over, and all we have do is go out and play basketball."

AM-1350 The Zone play-by-play caller, J.J. Valentine, travelling with the team on this trip, opened up a fortune cookie as the lunch ended, asking the fortune cookie gods to shed some light on what would await the ThunderWolves in their game Friday.

Under the rare bright sunlight of the supposed South Dakota winter, it said "You will have good luck in your affairs."