Casey Alexander was calling from the opulent confines of the Holiday Inn Express in Richmond, Ky.—your classic, just-off-the-interstate, next-to-the-chain-restaurant lodging that comes with the Ohio Valley Conference territory. This is a bus-ride league, the basketball season built on two-game road swings through mid-sized towns in five states.
The road trips can be fun. But they aren’t easy or glamorous.
Alexander’s Belmont Bruins were between games last Friday—Eastern Kentucky the night before, Morehead State the following night—and they were hurting after an 81–67 defeat at the hands of the Colonels. It was their first loss since Dec. 5, snapping a 21-game winning streak.