Second thoughts

Team makes most of really long bus ride

The bus carrying the Duquesne men’s basketball team (right) is shown stuck in the snow on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Somerset, Pa., on Saturday.
The bus carrying the Duquesne men’s basketball team (right) is shown stuck in the snow on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Somerset, Pa., on Saturday.

The storm that dropped several inches of snow on Arkansas on Thursday night had a much larger impact to the northeast as it dumped several feet of snow along the East Coast.

It also turned what should have a five-hour bus ride into a 30-hour road trip for the Duquesne University men's basketball team.

After defeating George Mason 86-75 in a game that began at 2 p.m. Friday afternoon in Fairfax, Va., the team boarded a bus to head back to Pittsburgh.

At 9:15 p.m. Friday night, about five hours into the Dukes' trip home, the bus came to a dead stop. And it stayed put for nearly 24 hours in what Coach Jim Ferry termed "a big stretch of nothing. No other exits. No gas stations."

All told, the team spent 30 hours, 24 minutes on the bus, most of it stranded on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, according to its official Twitter account.

The team didn't lose its sense of humor -- at least early on.

• 9:28 p.m.: "#DUQMBB stuck in traffic on the PA Turnpike. Manager Alex Kwong keeping the Dukes entertained with charades."

• 9:34 p.m. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. #DUQMBB must vote someone off the bus. Who should it be? #DUQSurvivor"

Things got a little more serious Saturday morning. According to USA Today's Nicole Auerbach, when the coaches and staff woke up at first light, the scene was cringeworthy, with deep snow and stranded vehicles as far as the eye could see.

""It's like a scene in a movie where everything's abandoned," assistant coach Rich Glesmann said. "All the trucks were abandoned. It looked like we weren't getting out for a while."

The mood on the bus remained light, according to the Twitter feed.

• 7:13 a.m.: "#DUQMBB vs basketball teams: 13-7; #DUQMBB vs snowstorms: 0-1."

• 7:33 a.m.: "We're not in this alone! Dukes hanging out with middle schoolers from Iowa on the bus stuck next to us."

The Dukes basketball team wasn't the only college team stuck on the turnpike. The Temple women's gymnastics team was also stuck on the road, a little closer to home. They passed the time playing cards and watching Disney movies.

With food and beverages rapidly dwindling and local pizza delivery places unable to reach them, the Dukes made a plan. Ferry told College GameDay during a phone interview that his assistants "trudged through all this snow and basically hitchhiked a ride with some security people" to bring back food after the team's supply ran out.

Ferry texted ESPN's Jeff Goodman: "We have eaten one meal. Some chicken n sandwiches. Got some snacks also. Rationed it n gave some food to the middle school kids next to us. Still here n haven't moved."

• 12:20 p.m.: "It is becoming increasingly unlikely that #DUQMBB will be able to leave the Turnpike tonight. Preparing for another night on the bus."

"I think we're past the amusement part of it, that's for sure," Ferry told GameDay. "Everybody's OK, everybody's doing all right. We've got a special group of guys here. ... We always talk about focus on the things you can control."

Not long after, things started to happen.

• 4:13 p.m.: "Slow movement is beginning in the far right lane!"

The Dukes didn't exactly sit idle the entire time. According to reports, they used pizza boxes and borrowed garbage cans from other buses as shovels, and players, coaches, and support staff members had to push the bus through the snow.

• 4:41 p.m.: "Forward progress has been made. Stopped from 9:15pm last night to 7:29pm tonight. Still work to be done to get out."

• 4:48 p.m.: "#DUQMBB IS ON THE MOVE"

The Temple gymnasts heard the good news and got excited.

• 5:48 p.m: "#TUWG is on the move after more than 24 hours! *tears of joy."

After the ordeal, according to ESPN's Andy Katz, Ferry texted one word. It was all he needed to say: "Home."

Sports quiz

How many times has Duquesne's men's basketball team made it to the NCAA Tournament's Final Four?

Answer

Once, in 1940

Sports on 01/25/2016

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