Posted by Mechelle Voepel
The Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Cancun, Hawaii, Miami … Milwaukee?
The first five are places you'd expect to be the site of a Thanksgiving hoops event, as teams hope to add some warm weather and R&R to the actual basketball over the holiday weekend.
But Marquette?
"You're saying 40 degrees isn't warm?" Golden Eagles coach Terri Mitchell joked about what's expected to be the high temperature in Milwaukee for the next several days.
So what made No. 15 Virginia, Utah and Gonzaga decide to come to Marquette for the WBCA Classic?
"I guess they probably viewed it like we did: a good testing ground," Mitchell said. "It doesn't matter if it's cold or hot outside, if you're trying to prepare for your conference, this is a pretty good taste for what we're going to face.
"It's teams with different strengths and a variety of play, and you're getting it back-to-back-to-back. I think that's a pretty good deal."
The set-up is just that: three days of round-robin play, so every team will face the other three.
Virginia -- coming off the high of upsetting Tennessee, followed by losing to in-state rival Old Dominion, then bouncing back against Colorado -- is doing all it can to be ready for ACC play. Utah, picked to finish first in the Mountain West, has no doubt learned a lot in its recent losses, to South Dakota State and Louisville. And Gonzaga, which was picked to repeat as West Coast Conference regular-season champion, is off to the best start in program history at 5-0.
Meanwhile, Marquette, 4-0, is coming of a title last spring in the WNIT. To have that postseason success, even if it wasn't in the NCAA tournament, was very helpful to the Big East's Golden Eagles, who spent most of last year finding themselves.
After a 2006-07 season in which Marquette pushed UConn in their regular-season meeting and made it to the NCAA tournament's second round (falling to Oklahoma), Mitchell lost a core group of seniors and had to do some rebuilding in 2007-08.
"Last year, we were trying to figure out leadership and how to compete at a high level," she said. "We really benefited from winning the WNIT championship. I can't say enough how that just instilled confidence and a work ethic for our players going into the summer. They were hungry to prove this team was ready to come back and compete.
"And what I've seen that's different from last year is they really know how to work this year, and they're very focused. They're really unselfish. They're willing to share the ball and do whatever they can for one another."
Krystal Ellis, a senior who was one of ESPN.com's preseason top five shooting guards, is leading the team at 13.5 points per game. But Mitchell said Ellis -- who shares the starting backcourt with Angel Robinson -- is working more than ever before at versatility beyond point production. Ellis also is averaging a team-high 6.3 assists (she averaged 3.5 over 31 games last season).
"She has distributed the ball a lot," Mitchell said of Ellis. "She can score, of course, but she's trying to play the complete game on both ends of the court. Not just being the player who gets set up, but setting other people up.
"Really, she wants to take the program where we haven't gone. We've gotten to the second round (of the NCAA tournament) and lost. So that's a very tangible thing in front of her: 'Let's take this program further.' "
Marquette's second-leading scorer, at 11.5 ppg, is guard Lauren Thomas-Johnson, a junior-college transfer who is a rarity among foreign-born players in women's Division I hoops. She's British, hailing from Manchester, England. She completed her high school career in Virginia. Then, along with current Marquette teammate Breann Hill, she helped Kirkwood Community College in Iowa win two juco national championships.
"She's a terrific, solid player who's really added another dimension to our team," Mitchell said. "Her parents have come over here from England to stay for three weeks and see some games."
And they'll get to watch a lot this weekend: Marquette plays Gonzaga on Friday, Virginia on Saturday and Utah on Sunday.
So, no, there won't be any scuba diving or beach strolling or parasailing. There won't even be a big four-team banquet. Each squad will just do its own thing on the holiday. Then they'll get together for three days of what should be some very competitive basketball. That's what this tournament is all about.
Women's Basketball
