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This is Kipp Hanley from the Potomac News & Manassas Journal Messenger giving you’ll a shout out before I leave for basketball paradise on Thursday.

Just gearing up for 6:30 a.m. flight that will take eight hours because of a layover in Atlanta (Thank you, Air Tran).

Looking forward to see what Indy has to offer after an eight-year absence from my quasi-Midwestern roots. I will throw up a topic when I get into town Thursday evening and we can chat some Patriots hoops this weekend. And to think I thought I would be starting my baseball coverage this week instead of covering the Final Four.

Peace.

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I usually don’t go to bed until 3 a.m., and, from past experience, I can say that working on less than three hours’ sleep is not conducive to a productive day. So that’s going to be interesting. Hopefully Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where we have a four-hour layover, has some comfy nap areas.

The Patriots themselves probably don’t have to worry if they have everything they need; they’ll have managers and such to take care of uniforms and equipment and all of that. I’ll need to be more vigilant. There’s items on this desk that are begging to be forgotten; and trying to track down those items in Atlanta or Indianapolis is a headache I just don’t need.

Enough of the negative (and I mean it this time). This will be one cool assignment to cover, the single biggest thing I’ve covered in close to 10 years in journalism. It’s also a first, as I’ve never had to fly somewhere to complete an assignment. Most of the time, our high school teams in Prince William County aren’t taking chartered jets to get to a competition, so we don’t need to fly either.

For our more well-known colleagues at larger papers, flying is part of the job. Covering the Redskins as a full-time beat means never being home on Sundays in the fall and, half the time, being somewhere other than your home on Saturday nights. NASCAR writers, if they’re from a paper near where a race is run, have two “home games” per season. NBA and NHL beats are just as rigorous, and baseball, by all accounts, is the toughest.

Nice job, stupid. No one cares about how the sausage is made—we went over that already.

I keep coming back to my job because it’s what I know. Our Web boss, Nicole McMullin, told us these blogs are an open-ended deal. And that runs counter to everything I’ve ever done: There’s a game, write about the game. There’s news, write about what happened. There’s an angle, delve into it and see where it goes.

A blog? Write whatever.

“If you think this idea sucks,” she told us Tuesday, “then write it: This blog sucks.”

It doesn’t suck, it’s just, well, different. And in the land of the different, if at all possible, stick to what you know.

Enough about the sausage. I’m going home for a nap.

It’ll come in handy in 12 hours.

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Six Washington alumni, all currently in the D.C. area, greeted the team as it filed out of the terminal. They all wore the Huskies’ gold and purple colors, and each paired off to hold up a Washington banner. The team showed their appreciation by shaking hands and exchanging high-fives - a sentiment they reiterated on Thursday.

“I’m thinking, we’re in Washington, D.C., our parents are coming, and none of them are here yet. When we got off the plane, we seen a lot of people out there with signs, cheering, and we’re shaking their hands. That was pretty cool,” said Washington guard Brandon Roy, the Pac 10 Player of the Year and a first-team All-American by the United States Basketball Writers Association. “Even walking around D.C. and doing some sightseeing, people were like, ‘Hey, Washington Huskies! We like you guys!’ It just makes us feel better about being in Washington, D.C., being so far away from home.”

“I was pleasantly surprised this far away from the West Coast we had someone greeting us, but it was a nice touch,” said Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar.

The six in attendance at National included three from UW’s DC Alumni Club Cabinet, but the plan was hatched by former Husky swimmer Ken Van Pool.

“Being a former athlete, you’ve got to come out for your boys,” said Van Pool, a second-team pick on the Pac 10 All-Academic team in 1998 who now works for Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.).
“We had people come out when we swam in the Pac 10 meet in Long Beach [Calif.]. It was just former swimmers that came out, but it was kind of nice to have some old people there. So it’s just returning the favor more than anything else.”

“[Van Pool] mentioned that if they make it to D.C., we should try to go to the airport, and I thought that was a pretty cool idea,” said Rick Melrose, a Kent, Wash. native who now works for the federal government. “I talked it over with Alexis [Babcock, the Cabinet chair] ... checked with the athletic department to make sure they wouldn’t object to us meeting the team at the airport, got all the information [and] sent out the e-mail to everybody.”

• HUSKY CONNECTION: Despite the distance between them, both Husky teams at the Washington regional have something in common: Washington guard Harvey Perry and Connecticut forward Jeff Adrien both played at Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H.

Perry has not played in a game for Washington this season. He was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his lower back in late November. Adrien has played in all but one game for UConn with one start. He’s averaging 6.4 points and 4.1 rebounds.

• GAY, BOONE COME HOME: Connecticut standouts Rudy Gay and Josh Boone spend most of their time in Storrs, Conn., but the trip to D.C. is as close as they get to being home.

Gay, a Baltimore native, was one of the top high school players in the country as a senior. Boone is from Mt. Airy, Md., 10 miles east of Frederick and was a second-team All-Big East selection this year.

Despite the familiar surroundings, Gay said this is a business trip.

“Of course I’m home, and I go to Connecticut which is far away from my house, but it’s all about business,” Gay said. “We’re coming here hoping to advance further in the tournament and right now that’s the only thing that’s on my mind.”

• EXPERIENCE HELPS: Wichita State may get the same label as George Mason - mid-major - but the Shockers have one player who has played with an unquestioned major.

Junior forward Kyle Wilson spent his freshman season at Illinois, where he played in 18 games and averaged 2.6 points and 1.6 rebounds. But after that season, he decided to transfer to Wichita State.

“It was an unknown for me,” Wilson said. “I had some good conversations with Coach [Mark] Turgeon and he assured me that the program was going in the right direction and I would be a key part in helping the program keep moving in the right direction.

“But at the same time, I didn’t know. You know, right now, sitting here in the Sweet 16 it kind of makes me feel really good about this decision. I always felt very comfortable with Wichita and being part of the program but it’s even more of a plus now that we’re here.”

The Illini were the No. 4 seed in the Washington region, but were knocked out in the second round by Washington.

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