COLUMBIA. S.C. - While riding on the bus to the hotel from the airport in Columbia, S.C., head coach Tim Buckley leaned over and said jokingly, "I feel like I've been more places this week than I have my whole life."
In less than a week, Ball State has traveled from Muncie to Philadelphia and back to Muncie.
Its next stop was Baton Rouge, La., and now to Columbia, awaiting third-round action in the National Invitation Tournament.
All of the traveling, all of the shuffling and all of the unknown is starting to catch up and frustrate some members of the team.
"Coach has been talking about how they've given us the run-around," senior Petie Jackson said.
"One minute they say we might get to host one, and then they have us going somewhere else.
"It's kind of tough just thinking about all the work we are missing and how it's going to be when we get back to school."
With the frustration of having to travel everywhere but to Worthen Arena, the team has tried to turn the negative into a positive and use it as motivation.
"It's one of those things the guys have looked at as a challenge," Buckley said. "They have wanted to perform well and they have. Our focus has been terrific and the leadership from our seniors and captains has been outstanding."
Jackson said, "It's huge motivation for us. Unfortunately they aren't wanting to give us credit or any props for winning anything. They want us out of the tournament, basically. It's all about the money.
"They want the people who they think will follow to New York, not people like Ball State."
To some extent, Buckley spoke along the same lines as Jackson when it comes to which games NIT organizers might think would be more fan-friendly.
"I don't know if I would look at it as much as a respect issue as it's an opportunity for them to put maybe more people in the seats," Buckley said. "They feel there is a bigger following in the SEC, so that was kind of the course we had to take with the bracketing."
On the same token, Buckley mentioned with a smile that if the team makes it to New York for the semifinal and final games of the NIT, he thinks the Ball State crowd will grow and hopefully hold some surprises.
"I think if we have the opportunity to go to New York we will have a strong contingent of people go out there and enjoy the festivities with us," Buckley said.
"Maybe one of our more famous alumnus might come and watch," he said with a smile.
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