8:15 a.m., Ballantyne Hotel lobby, Charlotte, North Carolina
Ben Howland asked the bellhop for a copy of the USA Today as soon as he got down to the lobby from his room. He had a few minutes to spare before taking a shuttle to ESPN’s studios down the street and wanted to get in as much of his morning ritual as he could before going through the marathon that is SEC basketball media day.
Reading the paper is part of that, but not just the sports section. In fact, that morning, it wasn’t the sports section at all, but the money section.