Shootout visitors put Web to work for followers

Seniors from Cincinnati and Western Carolina are keeping blogs during the Shootout and coaches from both schools also have sporadically updated Twitter accounts to follow.

Coastal Carolina has posted on its Web site a video of two players talking about their Alaska experience.

Western Carolina senior forward Kristen Feemster's blog entry begins, "We're in Alaska!!! The place where the high temperature is in the 20s and the low is in the teens! The place where the sun doesn't rise until 9:30am and usually sets before 5pm during the winter months. I had no idea what to expect but I'm excited to go somewhere few have the opportunity to go to."

Feemster expounds on the team's trip on Monday to Portage Glacier and about going dog-sledding, but the highlight of the day appears to be an "intense" snowball fight in which head coach "Karen [Middleton] kept sneaking up on people and tackling them into the snow."

The blog also as a link to a gallery of photos of the team along Turnagain Arm and dog-sledding.

Feemster's blog and coach Middleton's twitter account, which was most recently updated before the team left for Alaska, can be found at www.catamountsports.com.

Middleton's twitter account has been updated more recently than Cincinnati head coach Jamelle Elliott, who hasn't tweeted since Nov. 7. A previous tweet at www.twitter.com/jamelleelliott does show the perks of being a coach at Cincinnati, however:

"Met and chatted with Oscar Robertson today. I had been looking forward to meeting him. I can't wait to tell my Dad. He loves The Big 'O' "

Cincinnati senior guard Shelly Bellman is updating "The Great Alaska Trip Blog" on a daily basis.

Her Day 1 blog begins, "ALASKA!!! Not many people have the opportunity to travel to Alaska, and we do! The Great Alaska Shootout is a famous tournament, and we are excited to be a part of it this year.

"We all got a big warm winter coats, UC beanie hats, and we packed lots of clothes for layers. Before we left, we heard last week the average temperature was around ZERO degrees."

On Day 2, Bellman describes looking out of the team's ninth-floor hotel room window, "I looked straight out, and saw the bay, and then I looked to the right and saw big and beautiful snowcapped mountains! I couldn't believe it. I have never seen mountains like that. I looked out our window last night when we got to our hotel, but it was too dark to see anything. I had no idea we had that kind of view...and I LOVE it!"

Snowball shenanigans featuring the team's trainer and the team's strength coach were also a highlight of the day, according to Bellman, whose blog can be found at www.gobearcats.com.

Coastal Carolina doesn't have anyone blogging, but the schools athletic Web site, www.goccusports.com has video of junior forward Jessica Noll and senior forward Elizabeth Weaver at Portage Glacier.