ONE SHOT

A week in the life of an SUU sports journalist

Chevy Blackburn had the opportunity to travel alongside the SUU women’s basketball team during their tournament season as a sports reporter — then one lucky shot took him to the program’s first-ever March Madness appearance, too. Everyone wants to do something they love so they don’t have to “work” a day in their life, which is why I chose to pursue a career in sports. Being a sports reporter is notorious for long hours, a lot of travel and little sleep — I learned this the hard way when Southern Utah University women’s basketball made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.

Over the course of one crazy week, I learned that reaching your goals takes work. For SUU women’s basketball, that was practicing hard every day and continuing to build on a foundation that prior athletes constructed. For me, it was managing schoolwork while traveling and working long nights to report on the team’s accomplishments.

Thursday, March 9

The next day, the SUU men’s basketball team faced off against in-state rivals Utah Tech University. While the game came down to the wire, SUU walked away with a one-point victory. Once it ended, I worked on the recap story until 3 a.m. and set my alarm to wake me in four hours so I could let our copy editors know the story was ready for editing.

Friday, March 10

Once the story was polished and posted, I rushed to shower and make it back to the Orleans Arena in time for the next women's game at 2 p.m. They cruised to the conference championship after beating Grand Canyon University by 13 points. The men played that same night against Utah Valley University, and it was a game for the ages. After trailing by as much as 23 points with 15 minutes left, Southern Utah senior Tevian Jones completed a four-point play to beat UVU 89-88.

This game was truly unbelievable and an adrenaline rush like no other. After the dramatic finish, other SUU media members and I walked around the casino to process what we just witnessed. After we settled down, I got right to work on the game recap.

As the sports editor and a reporter for SUU News, Friday was when my time started to get crunched. My goal was to post the women's recap in the two hours before the men's game, which left me little time to do much besides write the recap and alert the copy editors.

Wednesday, March 8

The long nights began at the Western Athletic Conference Tournament in Las Vegas. After a three-hour drive, the women’s basketball team started the tournament off with what should have been an impossible shot for graduate student Cherita Daugherty. With less than four seconds left, Daugherty received an inbound pass from junior Samantha Johnston and threw up a three-point heave that miraculously went in. The shot later went viral on SportsCenter and Sports Illustrated and made it on Scott Van Pelt's “Best Thing I Saw Today” segment.

“I was counting the time down in my head and knew I needed to get something up,” said Daugherty. “I wouldn’t even consider it a shot — I threw it up and prayed.”

Saturday, March 11

Unfortunately for the seniors on the men’s team, SUU fell to GCU and was sent from the NCAA Tournament to the College Basketball Invitational in Daytona, Florida, for their postseason. The program also lost head coach Todd Simon, who received and accepted an offer from Bowling Green University. Simon built a culture at SUU and left a huge impact on other media members and me. Assistant coach Flynn Clayman was left in charge for the CBI Tournament.

In their championship game, the women beat California Baptist University by a sizable margin. The team had to wait until Sunday to see who they would be going up against.

Sunday, March 12

Dealing with the men’s loss was a lot easier when I had Selection Sunday to look forward to. After another three-hour drive back to Cedar City, I went to campus to join the team in watching where the women would be playing their first-round matchup in the NCAA Tournament. They were selected to play No. 3 University of Notre Dame, one of the most prolific and historic women’s basketball teams in the country, in South Bend, Indiana. This was the first time in over 20 years that this much spotlight was on SUU and the town. As soon as it was announced, I knew I had to find a way to go with them.

Monday, March 13

Luckily, I was given the opportunity to travel and cover the team by professors Michele Fogg, Hayden Coombs and Matt Barton. I was beyond grateful, but I also knew this was the moment when I would truly experience the strenuous travel schedule that sports journalists endure. But before that, I needed to piece together a game preview article that had never been written before for SUU women’s basketball. I was overwhelmed with the trip’s logistics, but turning that anxiety into excitement helped.

Tuesday, March 14

Convincing Barton took time and planning. First, Coombs and I looked at the cost of flights, shuttles and hotels to make the pitch. After a rough estimate, I asked Fogg, my boss at SUU News, for clearance. Once I had the official go-ahead, I emailed my professors about missing class on Thursday and attempted to get ahead on my homework.

Wednesday, March 15

Correctly completing a travel request form through the communication department took me three attempts. Once done, I grabbed travel essentials from the store and went home to pack. A screw in my glasses came out, so I spent the rest of the day scrambling until I found a solution. I felt like Velma from the Scooby-Doo cartoons: “I can’t see without my glasses!”

Thursday, March 16

My trip to South Bend started with a Salt Lake Express shuttle that left at 4:55 a.m. Four hours later, I arrived at the Salt Lake City International Airport and had another six hours until I boarded my first flight. Once I landed at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, I only had 20 minutes to board my connecting flight in a completely different terminal. SLC and O’Hare are the sixth and seventh largest airports in America, which meant lots of cardio for me.

After traveling for a mostly sleepless 17 hours — the curse of having a middle seat — I arrived at South Bend International Airport and ordered an Uber to take me to Culver's. A sports reporter’s gotta eat!

Friday, March 17

Now that I was in the Eastern time zone, my internal clock was all out of whack. The team didn’t play Notre Dame until the afternoon, so I was luckily able to sleep in, but there were still articles to post on our website. I woke up for breakfast, posted one, took a nap, posted another, did a homework assignment and finally got in an Uber bound for the Purcell Pavilion.

Notre Dame’s campus felt like a different world because it is one of the few U.S. schools dating back to the mid-1800s. I could really feel the historic energy, from the iconic “Touchdown Jesus” mural to the banners hanging in the Purcell Pavilion. I took a step back and soaked it all in.

Unfortunately, Notre Dame lived up to its reputation and beat the Thunderbirds 82-56. I don’t think we should have played on St. Patrick's Day, because the Fighting Irish didn’t even need the luck. I wrote the recap story during the game, grabbed dinner from the commons area and took an Uber to get breakfast for the morning. Despite their loss, all of the travel was worth the unforgettable sight of SUU women’s basketball making history.

Editor’s notes

The Thunderbirds worked all season to meet one goal: make the national tournament. Their hard work all season made that achievement possible and sparked pride at SUU. But this did not come easily.

Experiences like these help me realize the importance of choosing a career I enjoy. Over that crazy week, I only had one night with more than five hours of sleep. Luckily, it was such an amazing experience that it never felt exhausting.

- Written by Chevy Blackburn

Saturday, March 18

My flight back home boarded at 6 a.m. and luckily had a longer layover at O’Hare this time. I got back to SLC five hours later and had to wait another six hours for the shuttle back to Cedar City, but that gave me time to work on the story you’re reading now. After a five-hour ride, I finally arrived in Cedar City and crashed on my bed after 18 hours of traveling.