ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Hello from behind the giant curtain on the stage at Boardwalk Hall, from where Lee Meriweather, Mary Ann Mobley, Bess Meyerson and Debi Turner won their crowns as Miss America and Bert Parks crooned.

 SLU is on the court for pregame warmups right now. All present and accounted for. The consensus is the team had some very good practices this week and just have to be able to put the past two games — past two horrid games — behind them.

The word out of Dayton is that Wright won’t play. He didn’t practice on Tuesday. But there are always surprises.

New athletics director Chris May is on hand, and there are some league meetings here tomorrow.

And not that anyone cares, but this season has been the flat-out worst ever for me in travel, worse than the previous years in the A-10. Yesterday from out my front door in St. Louis to into my hotel room in Atlantic City: 9 hours, 15 minutes. So long Tuesday.