8/14 - Day One Met With Travel Delays

8/14/2011 9:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Duke Sports Information

The Duke men's basketball team's trip to China and Dubai was met with a series of travel delays on Sunday. Technical difficulties on the plane delayed the trip for over six hours but could not dampen everyone's excitement for the 14-day adventure.

"It has been a long day but we are spending time as a team, playing games, watching movies and hanging with Coach K's grandchildren," said Ryan Kelly while dribbling the Duke mini-ball and clowning around with freshman Alex Murphy.

After getting through security at RDU, players ventured off to Gate D20 to wait to board the plane. While waiting for the flight crew to arrive and the plane to refuel, the Blue Devils found various ways to pass the time.

Freshman Austin Rivers and Michael Gbinije made a quick pit stop at Five Guys, while Josh Hairston, Quinn Cook and Tyler Thornton grabbed some sliders, french fries and crab cake sandwich.

Several Duke managers, Mason Plumlee and Coach K's grandchildren (Joey, Michael, Emmie & Carly Savarino) sat down for a rousing game of Down by the River that drew quite a crowd of observers.

Miles Plumlee and Marshall Plumlee passed time with episodes of South Park, while juniors Seth Curry, Kelly and Andre Dawkins played a little cards.

Thornton and Miles Plumlee were the most prepared for comfort on the plane with neck pillows and started a trend as several other members of the team and travel party rushed off to Hudson News to purchase comforting neck pillows of their own.

Cook took an early hit on the trip as his movies were locked in his dorm room before the trip. The Bowie, Md., native rallied to borrow Seasons 1 & 2 of HBO series Oz.

Power outlets were at premium in the airport terminal and players scattered throughout terminal D to charge iPads, iPhones and computers before the lengthy flight to Shanghai via a pit stop in Alaska. Todd Zafirovski tested out his videographer skills with some flip cam work in the terminal before settling in to watching movies and pizza from California Pizza Kitchen.

Coach K pulled the entire travel party together for a short talk about standards, pride and team work. His talk to the group of nearly 200 people lightened the mood of the crowd, while also covering the key standard and principles of team development.

The Peoples' Champ, Nolan Smith, continued to earn his moniker by stopping and talking to fans throughout the airport before finding a quiet corner to work the phone lines. He managed to do both all while bouncing a Duke mini-basketball throughout.

As the airport delay wore on Mason became restless and found a vacant iPad2 to play some Text Twist. The 2011 ACC All-Academic Team was excited to post several high scores on the game only to be disappointed when informed that he was the first to play the game on that particular iPad.

With restless and tired travelers milling throughout the terminal a airport employee received an enthusiastic ovation when announcing that the plane would board shortly.

With an eight-hour flight to Alaska ahead of the travel party everyone is prepared to settle in to the comfortable airplane seats and grab some sleep before the even longer flight to Shanghai.

That's it for now. The next blog be coming to you from China where I will try to recap how 13 Blue Devils spend 22+ hours on the way from Durham to Kunshan.

Just when things were looking good, a thunderstorm rolled into the area, adding to the delay. The delay led to an impromtu game of "Taps," and while Dawkins proclaimed himself the winner, the audience, not knowing what exactly the rules were, couldn't confirm his victory.