Sioux Falls: Sue Gets Up (Front)

She's talked at a record pace for 17 years in the business, but on this day a TV crew in South Dakota was all ears...because Susan Pierce for the first time was calling the shots.

Sue spent years as an accomplished associate producer and associate director, so it would be hard to picture her being lost in her producing debut. Certainly not as lost as she would be without her GPS, and you all know what I'm talking about.

She was in charge of the 4 PM ET Summit League Women's Championship, and believe me she had to jump through some hoops (so to speak).

First she was in at 7 AM and still had to do all the prep work for the Summit Men's Championship later that evening as the AD on my game.

Then the open she'd slaved over got scrapped because the game in front of them went to OT. Happens to all of us. Nothing like a joined-in-progress tap dance in your first game.

Then the game itself went to overtime. So some bonus reps for the resume' reel.

The bottom line is it was a terrific game. The "home team" South Dakota State Lady Jackrabbits defeated Oral Roberts in dramatic fashion in front of a great crowd of 5,400. Much more drama, and a much better atmosphere than I had later with Oakland handling IUPUI for a ticket to the Big Dance.

But the highlight for me was veteran director Scott Hecht calling the 30-something year-old mother-of-two "kiddo" throughout the broadcast. That and the stopwatch that was still glued in her hand.

Some habits are hard to break. We'd all be lost without our favorite backtimer.