They arrive at the hotel at about 8 p.m. Cell phones turned off and handed to the coaches, it’s time to watch film prepping for the game the next day. After game-film, the NIU basketball team heads to its rooms and either reads one of the Ernest Hemingway books coach Rob Judson disperses or watches NBA games on TV.

As usual, lights off for the midnight curfew because the team has a battle tomorrow, against Eastern Michigan.

The only thing different about this equation is the game is not a road game for the Huskies.

On Jan. 17, riding a three-game road winning streak, Judson decided to shake up the team and simulate the road atmosphere in DeKalb at the Baymont Inn and Suites.

Once the Huskies topped the Eagles 88-79, NIU senior guard Jay Bates figured staying in a hotel for home games would become a regular thing.

"When we won against Eastern, I knew we’d have to do it for the rest of the year," Bates said. "The coaches take our cell phones and try and make it like a road game. I know how to hang my phone up, but I guess it helps winning, so I don’t complain."

There isn’t much to complain about recently for the Huskies. Winning six of their last seven, the only fall was a double-overtime thriller to Akron at home. And, yes, the team stayed at a hotel for that game too, and their most recent thrashing of Ball State on Saturday.

For its next two games, NIU takes to the road, but that seems to be the place they feel most comfortable.

"It’s kind of weird this year. We’ve been a better road team this year than a home team," said forward Marcus Smallwood, whose Huskies are undefeated on the road in 2003. "Hopefully, that will change and we could be just as good as we are at home."

While Judson tries to avoid staying in the hotel as a superstitious move, he said it was to keep consistency in the player’s routines.

The only difference with home games is that in the morning, the players are still required to go to their regular class schedules and study halls.

"It’s something that we thought could help us relieve some distractions on campus and we thought that’d help us keep our focus good," Judson said. "The big thing is whether it’s routine, superstition, what you eat, or what you dream about, it’s about the effort that you play with on the court. These guys are playing with a lot of effort on the court."

While the players may have been irked by the decision when they first found out they couldn’t sleep in their own beds on game nights, they’ve seen the results.

After NIU lost its first two MAC games of the season, they went on a five-game winning streak, and now sit tied for first place in the MAC West.

"When we first did it, it was kind of weird, but it’s really good for us because it keeps us focused," Smallwood said. "If we are on a winning streak, it’s easy to lose perspective of what’s important, but that really keeps us in check and I think it’s been good for our team up to this point."

Basketball is starting to turn things around.

Football has turned it around.

Wrestling has really turned it around.

Not to take anything away from Rob Judson or Joe Novak, both have done wonders for their programs, but Dave Grant has turned a team that was on the verge of extinction into an NCAA powerhouse.

It is understood that Judson took over a 5-23 team his first year and transformed it into a 12-16 team. Good for him.

The basketball team currently is tied for second in the MAC this season, but it was unable to get out of the first round in the MAC Tourney as it lost 97-93 to Marshall last season.

Novak had an extremely rough start for the Huskies as he had a 3-30 record in his first three seasons, including the infamous 23-game losing streak.

In the past three seasons, this year’s MAC Coach of the Year led his team to back-to-back 6-5 campaigns before last year’s 8-4 season. The Huskies also repeated as the MAC West Division co-champion.

People think that NIU was snubbed out of a Bowl game this past season, but still, the highest that it was ranked was 35th in the country.

That is where Grant comes into effect.

Grant has something in common with Novak; he also won a MAC Coach of the Year award last year.

Last season, the wrestling team had the second-best record in school history with a 14-4 record under Grant. The year before, NIU had a 9-8-2 mark, good for its first winning season since the 1988-’89 season.

After having his team place second in the MAC behind Central Michigan (who NIU just handed its first conference loss since the 1997-’98 season), it finds itself with a 10-6 record and a 2-1 record in the conference.

Grant and the Huskies have taken down two Top 15 teams this season, one over the third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes and the other against the 14th-ranked Chippewas.

The closest that an NIU squad has come to taking down an opponent of that magnitude was when the women’s basketball team came up short against fourth-ranked Kansas State earlier this season, 63-58.

NIU now owns a spot nationally in the Top 25, and will surely move up after last Friday’s victory over CMU.

The highest it has been ranked this season was No. 21.

When was the last time football or basketball was ranked that high?

Actually, when was the last time that either of those teams were ranked at all?

Even though Judson and Novak receive more attention in the public eye, Grant keeps winning.

How many people could even name the head coach of the wrestling program before this article? Five dollars (and a penny, Mark Pickrel) to anyone who could prove this.

The fact of the matter is, we have a team that has basically been ranked the whole season and not a lot of people know about it.

The football team manhandled an overrated Bowling Green team that was ranked 16th, but even the crowd was chanting "overrated," so you know what was going on.

Point being, Grant and his men have gone to battle against six Top 20 teams, and have held their own against the nation’s elite. Hence, NIU now is being recognized as one of the nation’s elite itself.

Grant has something in common with the other coaches.

They all inherited a team that was at or near the bottom, the difference is Grant is seeing the results much faster.

Judson and Novak are getting all the credit for turning their programs around by both the community and the student body, Grant really hasn’t received any credit locally, but he has where it counts.

On the national level.

Scott Owen, in one of the most prolific tournaments in the country, came up short against Ohio State’s Keaton Anderson in front of a crowd of about 3,800.

At the Cape Cod Potato Chip/National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Classic in Newark, Del., Owen lost 5-2 in double overtime to Anderson.

"It was a great experience for Scott," assistant coach Jason Hayes said. "He knows what he needs to work on now to become the national champ. He has all the tools to stand up on that podium."

The All-Star Classic brings the top two wrestlers in each weight class to compete against each other.

Luke Becker of Minnesota, who Anderson defeated last Saturday, was the top ranked wrestler in the 157-pound weight class and declined the invitation, allowing the third-ranked Owen to attend.

Head coach Dave Grant, who flew to Delaware with his star senior, said that the Owen-Anderson match-up was one of the more exciting matches at the Classic.

Owen had the only take-down of the entire match in the first period.

"I think that if Owen finished his shots, it could have been different," Grant said. "Anderson never even got Scott onto the mat the whole match."

After Owen’s takedown, Anderson escaped and was awarded one point. To start the second period, Anderson opted to go in the down position and earned another point with an escape.

With the score tied at 2-2, the first overtime went scoreless, forcing the double overtime.

Owen won the coin flip and chose the down position. After nearly escaping twice, the third time was not a charm as Anderson caught him in a roll for a three-point near fall and the victory.

"We had some great opportunities to score," Grant said. "We just have to take the opportunities and score with them."