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Yesterday, most hosts acted like dedicated supporters for their teams.
Sharon Conover predicted that her adopted Texas A&M team would impress onlookers.
Temple host, Allentown High boys basketball coach Craig Parker, watched the Owls lose against upstart Hartford.
Bannon is no stranger to the hardwood, having coached teams at The College of New Jersey, Rider and Rutgers.
Now he’s a park commissioner for Mercer County and jumped at the chance to play host to a team, he said.
Bannon was assigned to watch after the Bulldogs of Georgia while they took up temporary residence in the Trenton area, and the former coach said they definitely needed someone to show them the fundamentals.
"Pretty much 90-percent of their travel party has never been to New Jersey," Bannon said. "So it’s kind of fun to sort of help out a little bit."
He said one girl on the team is from White Plains, N.Y. but the rest are primarily from the South, lending an air of culture shock to the tournament.
"It’s a cultural trip as well as trying to win a couple of basketball games," he said.
He said the team’s main understanding of the Garden State has been from what they see on television.
"Some of them said the only thing they knew about it was the ‘Sopranos’," he said.
Along with helping make the team’s arrangements, Bannon said, he also tries to let the girls know there’s more to New Jersey than mobsters and pork sandwiches.
"You take pride in the city and the county and Jersey as a whole," he said. "You tell them how close we are to beaches and mountains and what a great area we’re so fortunate to live in."
Bannon said he’s trying to make their experience an enjoyable one and said the team itself has made it easy to do.
"They’re really a nice group of people," he said. "It’ll just be really fun."
The Hawks from the University of Hartford have also been fortunate in drawing a knowledgeable host, both in the ways of the area and in basketball.
Linda Weise, the girls’ basketball coach at Allentown High School, stepped in to help them get around.
Weise said people she knew at Rider University contacted her about being a host, and said they wanted people who knew basketball to serve in the role.
Weise certainly fits that profile.
Along with her current coaching slot, Weise herself played in college and comes from an impressive basketball pedigree.
She said her brother-in-law is currently the head coach at St. Francis College in New York and her father-in-law was the coach and athletic director at St. Bonaventure, when Bob Lanier took that team to the Final Four.
And unlike Bannon, Weise’s job may be a little easier in that the team, and most of its players are East Coast kids, so the culture shock is not as pronounced.
-- L.A. Parker contributed to this story.
She said Hartford even has a few players fairly local to the area, making her job easier as some of the local parents have been able to offer ideas on where to go to eat.
And food seems to be a big part of the host’s job.
She said so far she’s been charged with everything from picking up sandwiches and making dinner reservations to giving directions and getting the shot clock to work during the practice session.
"Whatever they need me to do, I try and do," she said.
She said she’s happy to act as tour guide for the team during their stay and is looking forward to today’s round of games.
"It’s all about basketball," she said. "We’re bringing the whole family here tomorrow."
