Pun City: A Prized Blog

Here's the update from Wednesday's contest. (Helps to read this first).

First off, this blog headed down to the US Cellular Arena with 4 friends (including this blog).

UWM's Head of Corporate Sponsorships (or something like that) greeted Pun City's group at the gate as this blog entered, this was cool, and he provided another quick rundown of the rules.

After getting some pretty solid seats, this blog watched UWM dominate the first half of the game over UIC, leading 48-25 at the half, which was their best half of the season.

This blog headed down to courtside right before the half, chatting with the aforementioned athletic department member about college hoops in general, UWM, Wisconsin, and Washington State in particular.

Pun City was first on the agenda for the halftime competitions, and got to walk out on the floor soon after the teams exited. The first thing this site noticed is that when you stand on the block and look up at the hoop, there are a bank of lights glaring back at you. The Cell has its lights configured to illuminate the court, which looks good for fans, but doesn't make for the easiest view of the goal.

This blog was more relaxed than earlier in the day, having done alright, but not great, in practice the night before. (This blog was able to get in an empty gym and simulate the contest). This blog's goal was to at least attempt the half-court shot (meaning a layup, free throw, and 3-pointer would need to be converted with time remaining). The keys to reaching this goal would be as follows:

1. Hit the layup. Pretty hard to screw this up. Ideally hit the first attempt, but given the proximity to where the rebound would end up, there wouldn't be too great of a penalty if one missed this shot. Mainly just embarrassing if you miss the layup.

2. Don't miss more than 2 free throws. There's still a reasonable shot that you can hit the 3 on the first attempt and have time for the half-courter if you hit your free throw in the first 3 tries.

3. Don't miss more than 1 three-pointer. Getting a rebound and returning behind the line would be a major time-consumer, so you don't want to be doing that.

4. Numbers 2 and 3 cannot be combined. You might be able to get away with missing a free throw and a 3-pointer, but 3 misses and you're screwed.

Getting back to the US Cellular Arena floor, let's find out how Pun City did.

Well obviously Pun City hit the layup on the first attempt, you knew this site wasn't going to stand for any missed layups.

Moving along quickly, this blog went back to the free throw line. Despite never having dribbled the ball in practice, for some reason this blog decided to take a dribble prior to shooting the free throw. Not sure what that was all about...Well it didn't matter anyway, the first free throw rimmed in.

Picked up the rebound, strode back to the three point line. Splash. First shot, nothing but net. That even surprised Pun City, this blog wasn't expecting such a quick ascension to the half-courter. This blog ended up having about 8 or 9 seconds left to shoot the half-courter. So, Pun City got back to the midcourt line, lined up the shot, took a couple steps in and....

Foot and a half short. The shot was right on line, perfect angle, never a doubt on the angle. Alas, just a little shy of the goal. Still good, this blog was happy.

After walking off the court, this blog was greeted by the guy from the athletic department. His comment was along the lines of "Wow, great shooting (Pun City), that was awesome. You scared the crap out of the car dealer!" That was about all this blog could have asked for, so after the prizes were procured from the trunk of the contest car, this blog headed back to the seats and watched the Panthers finish off the win. A pretty solid night.