If you’ve never experienced a conference basketball tournament — which is the same situation I was in before this week — you haven’t lived.

Sure, it started out rough, but what was I expecting? To cake-walk through two weeks of class work and tests in one week? It wasn’t until late last week that I wondered if all of my preparations were going to be worth it.

I arrived at Des Moines International Airport for my flight to Dallas via Chicago on Monday, a little later than I would have liked, but everything turned out all right.

I had taken American Trans Air earlier this year when I returned to Ames after watching a streaker at the Colorado-Iowa State football game. Of course, there was a game as well and the Cyclones came close to knocking off the Buffaloes in Boulder.

If you’ve never taken the ATA connection between Des Moines and Chicago, it can be a little nerve-wracking — especially if you don’t have a frequent flyer card. All I’m going to say is be prepared to trip when you board the propeller-enhanced Saab. The thing is about as tight as a college student’s expense account.

The 39-seater was loud when it took off, and nearly as loud the rest of the way to the Windy City. I had thought I might get lucky and catch a nap as I had only gotten three hours of sleep the night before. I soon learned that was going to be as likely as using my arms to fly to Chicago.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I consider myself lucky to make this trip. I was prepared for the flight. If I hadn’t predicted the arrangement, it would be like ordering something you thought was prime rib and getting high school cafeteria meatloaf. I feel sorry for those who paid the extra couple bucks for filet mignon.

We landed safely, which is all you can really ask for these days.

You see all different types of people at these airports. The suitcoat guy, the sweatpants couple, the little man who is cleaning the bathroom. You also see the younger kids like the little guy who’s sitting next to me in the terminal watching me type this column on a loaned-out laptop.

I can’t figure out what he’s looking at, but it sure is cool. If he can read, he hasn’t called me on anything yet.

Maybe he’s fascinated with my 20-words-per-minute typing skills. Fascinated with something, that’s for sure. I would say “hi” or something, but I’m a little shy. And his parents aren’t speaking English.

I don’t want to make this sound like one of those MasterCard commercials, but I paid $23.80 for one of those disposable cameras. I’ll pay $24 to keep my car in the “economy” parking lot for six days (which, as long as we’re doing adding, equals a mile-long walk from the airport). The Daily is also dropping some serious cash at the place where I’m staying, but (and here we go) the experience has been priceless so far. And the basketball hasn’t even started.

Monday Evening:

The scariest moment of my trip came after we were already on the ground in Dallas. The woman sitting next to me, whom I had told I was a reporter from Iowa State, awoke from her slumbers and asked me if Dallas was home.

I told her no.

I should have lied.

She proceeded to tell me everything about Big D. And I mean everything. She mentioned that when I’m out at night and see the mosquitoes, I should catch them in a jar and take them back to Iowa. They’re this big, she said holding her thumb and forefinger about two inches apart.

“I was going to take some back to Illinois when I went, but I forgot,” she said.

“Bummer,” I said.

Eventually, I heard the welcome voice of the stewardess telling us it was OK to exit the plane.

Tuesday:

After the ISU women’s team throttled Kansas in their last meeting just six days earlier, I had thought this one would be a breather. I had hoped it would come down to the wire, though, as I had witnessed many men’s Big 12 tournament games go in past seasons.

I got what I asked for, as nothing was for certain until Iowa State’s inbounds pass with 2.5 seconds left was tipped away and the horn sounded. Iowa State was done far earlier than they had been in the past and much earlier than senior Lindsey Wilson would have liked.

After the game, they were about ready to dismiss the players and I asked Wilson if it had set in that her ISU career was over. Someone had to get the senior angle, I figured.

“It is now,” said Wilson before she slumped back in her seat and started tearing up.

I felt like such an ass. I had never made an interviewee cry before. I guess this place will be chock-full of new experiences for me. If you’re reading, Lindsey, I apologize.

And to sports editor Kyle Moss, who admitted last month he had a crush on Wilson — please don’t fire me.

Wednesday:

The American Airlines Center, where the men’s tournament is being held, is unbelievable for someone who’s used to Hilton Coliseum, like myself. Video boards circle the arena and it’s still sparkling new. It’s where the Mavericks play, so I should have expected it. I was still blown away.

“It’s a little bigger than Hilton,” freshman Adam Haluska said with a grin.

Jake Sullivan wasn’t moving too fast this morning as the team came on the court. He suffered after spraining his other ankle after stepping on walk-on Dave Braet’s foot. That’s on par for everything else that’s happened to the team this season, I thought.

The team held an informal shoot-around, but would have a “full” practice later, I was told.

We’ll see if they can get a big W in Big D today.

Jeff Raasch is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Odebolt. He is the assignment sports editor and senior sports writer of the Daily. He’s covering the Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments in Dallas this week.