Wave Aloha: Bowl News and Notes
Dec 22, 2002 | Football
Dec. 21, 2002
Tulane in Hawai'i for the ConAgra Foods Hawai'i Bowl
DAILY NOTEBOOK
***The Tulane Green Wave spent an extremely busy day in Honolulu Saturday while taking part in its first full day of ConAgra Foods Hawai'i Bowl activities. Following a morning practice at St. Louis High School, the Wave attended lunch at a local restaurant and then caught buses to Pearl Harbor where they toured the Arizona Memorial. The 75-minute tour included a moving video presentation and a Navy boat trip across the Harbor to the Memorial itself. Get some of the players' takes on the day's activities at Tulane's "Answers from the Island" feature at www.TulaneGreenWave.com. Following the return across the Harbor, the Wave was bused to the USS Missouri, an Iowa class battleship moored in Pearl Harbor made famous as the site of the Japanese surrender to the United States that ended the War in the Pacific. There, groups of 25 players and coaches were led around the ship by the extremely knowledgeable tour guides before gathering with the University of Hawai'i team and VIPs for a special Welcome Dinner aboard the ship.
***Tulane practiced for approximately 90 minutes on the St. Louis High School practice field. The practice field is the same FieldTurf surface that is on the Green Wave's practice field at the Westfeldt Facility in New Orleans.
***A pair of players were taken off the field with injuries Saturday as freshman defensive back Jeremy Foreman, who is redshirting the 2002 season, suffered a sprained right ankle while linebacker Brandon Spincer, who is back practicing with the team, suffered a forearm contusion.
***Several Green Wave players are turning the tables on the media, sporting video cameras at the many team events, including Mewelde Moore, receiver Carl Davis, quarterback J.P. Losman and offensive linemen Derick Bugg and Chris McGee
***Sunday's schedule calls for another morning practice at St. Louis. After lunch, five Tulane players - Mewelde Moore, Adrian Mitchell, Jeff Sanchez, Brandon Rottmayer and Marlon Tickles - will bring gifts to children at Charity Hospital along with five University of Hawai'i players. In the evening, the players, coaches and support staff will be feted at a luau at the Royal Hawaiian hotel.
***Quotes from Tulane Head Coach Chris Scelfo following Saturday's practice:
On playing in the ConAgra Foods Hawai'i Bowl:
"Well it's great exposure for our university, obviously. The game is the reason that we're here. Our team had a good year and we're fortunate to come out here, but the exposure that we're going to gain as an academic institution across the country is special for us. We're going to get three and a half hours of uninterrupted national coverage."
On the team's schedule and mindset:
"When we got here (Friday), we got off the plane around seven am we came straight to practice, then gave the guys the rest of the day off. We came out here this morning and had a good practice. I think our kids are focused in on the game. There are a lot of distractions out here that they're having a lot of trouble dealing with. We've got to keep them focused, but everything's going good so far."
On what Tulane has to do to win:
"The big thing we're going to have to do is take care of the football on offense and create some turnovers on defense, but we're going to have to play extremely hard in all three phases to be successful. Our players understand the quality team Hawaii has. They're a Top 25 football team. We're going to have to play as well as we can play to have a chance."
On the Hawai'i team:
"They're quarterback is special. Defensively, I think they're much better than their publicity. Their defense is good. Their kicking game is strong. They have no weaknesses. You don't win 10 games with weaknesses and they don't have any."
