Thanksgiving Tourneys A Way Of Life

For women's basketball players, there is no home for the holidays

Nov. 21, 2007

By Lara Boyko

Special to CSTV.com

	Lara Boyko Lara Boyko covers a variety of sports for CSTV.com. E-mail here!

        ---   Column Archive   --- BASKETBALL 1/16: Horsing Around 1/09: All Is Forgiven 1/02: Star Power 12/26: The Women's Basketball Holiday Song 12/19: Tennzaga 12/12: Scrubbing-in 12/05: Aussie Posse 11/28: Big-Name Buffs 11/21: Turkey Tourneys A Way Of Life 11/14: Summer Touring 10/30: Sophomore Jinx? 10/22: Texas A&M Locked And Loaded 10/18: Cardinal Law In Pac-10 10/18: Superwoman Ready To Fly Once More 4/3: Parker Leads All-Tournament Team 3/31: Changing It Up 3/28: LSU Surviving Whatever Comes Its Way 3/22: Playing With Heart 3/21: How Sweet It Is! 3/14: It's Showtime in L.A. 3/7: Viva Las Vegas and the MWC 2/28: Running Down A Dream In San Jose 2/21: Thanks For the Memories 2/14: And The Award Goes To… 2/7: A Long Day 01/31: Mrs. College Basketball 01/27: Putting In Overtime 01/26: ASU Comes Up Smelling Like A Rose 01/23: Traditional Values 01/17: When Things Go Bump In The Night 01/10: It's A Family Affair 01/03: Go West, Young Woman 12/31: UCLA Lights Up Firecrackers to End 2006 11/2: Wiggins Is Hungry For A National Championship SOFTBALL 5/20: Hawai'i Says 'Aloha!' To Their First Super Regional Trip 5/19: LMU Upsets Balance of L.A. Regional 5/18: Hawai'i, UCLA Win With A Little Drama 4/17: Arizona: College Softball's Hotbed State 2/16: Opposites Attract At ASU VOLLEYBALL 12/8: Powerhouse Regional Final Matchup Shaping Up 12/8: Big Ten Comes West 12/8: Getting Back to Omaha 12/8: L.A. Showdown In Hawai'i Looming 12/2: UCLA Has Edge To Get To Hawai'i 12/1: Staying Focused in Crunch Time 12/1: Experience Tops Emotion 11/30: Women of Troy Come To Play 11/30: BYU Libero Serves Up a Shift 11/30: Finding Her Voice 11/7: Handle With Care 11/2: Playing With A Purpose 10/26: Back to Basics in Albuquerque 10/21: USC Re-Closes Chapter in History 10/12: Stanford Crashes the Party 10/6: Packing Again? Not Yet at Least 9/29: Striking A Pose 9/29: Game Notebook: Washington at UCLA 8/21: Nittany Jackpot 8/16: Huskies Are Still Hungry WOMEN'S WATER POLO 5/13: Stanford Advances to Championship Game 5/13: USC Runs Out of Time and UCLA Moves On 5/12: LMU Is Livin' The Dream With Win 5/11: Bruins Drown Sagehens 5/12: USC Swims Into Winner's Bracket 5/12: Stanford Advances, But Wagner Surprises 5/12: Aztecs Use Confidence To Move On

It's supposed to start snowing in Pullman, Wash., any day now and turning the Palouse into a winter wonderland that makes most want to bundle up inside with a steaming cup of hot chocolate while sitting in front of either the fireplace or a TV with a sporting event on.

Instead of heading home to the comforts and warmth that only a home-cooked meal by mom and dad can bring, junior guard Katie Appleton and her teammates on the Washington State women's basketball team have other plans in mind.

"I am going to have to dig in the closet and get some shorts out," said Appleton. "It will be a nice change."

Along with the shorts, Appleton will have to also look for her flip-flops as the Cougars head to a warmer location on Grand Bahama Island for the Thanksgiving Day weekend as participants in the Lucaya Division of the 2007 Junkanoo Jam.

"Because I've coached for 24 years, you rarely get to spend Thanksgiving at home because you are usually in a tournament somewhere," said Washington State coach June Daugherty. "That's just how the scheduling works in Division I women's basketball.

"It does come up in the recruiting process, especially with the moms. The parents will ask if their daughter gets to come home during the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. You have to be gentle with the moms because they are going through separation issues already, even though their daughter is still a senior in high school and living at home. They are worried about it, of course, but most of the time the families will plan to go to the Bahamas so they can see the island, the games and enjoy Thanksgiving with their daughter. This is such an awesome opportunity for everyone to go to the Bahamas and enjoy this Thanksgiving and this prestigious tournament."

Since 2000, the Paradise Jam has a rich history of including teams - from a minimum of three to a maximum of seven - that have played in the following NCAA Tournament. The Junaknoo Jam also boasts a solid track record that includes MVPs of Shay Doron (Maryland) and Angela Tisdale (Baylor) in 2006 and Cappie Pondexter (Rutgers) and Tiffany Jackson (Texas) in 2005.

Trips to tournaments such as these two fall under the same category as overseas trips that teams take in the summer - can only be taken once every four years. In addition, this type of tournament is either considered an `Exemption Tournament' or a `Counter Tournament' as far as the NCAA is concerned. An Exemption Tournament means that teams participate without having it count against the total number of games they can play during a season (27). A Counter Tournament means that the games do count as part of your maximum game count, are considered to take the place of `Qualifying Season Multiple Team Event' (tournament) and then teams are not able to participate in another type of tournament like this during the season. Conference tournaments at the end of the regular season to determine a conference tournament champion for the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament do not fall under the Qualifying Season Multiple Team Event definition.

"To play big-time teams on neutral sites is the key if certain teams won't play you in a home-and-home situation," said Texas A&M coach Gary Blair, who signed-up his team for the Paradise Jam four years ago. "You get that chance to be able to play on neutral sites with neutral referees, there are a whole lot of upsets that way."

Participating in tournaments over the Thanksgiving Day weekend is done with the same strategy as scheduling non-conference opponents.

"I opted to play the side that had Indiana, Wichita State and Wake Forest," said Blair. "I could have went into the other side, but didn't need any more computer points because our conference is so tough. I wouldn't mind playing those people, but I wanted to use this trip as a recruiting trip and the teams we are facing are good as it is. I didn't want to go over there and play Connecticut, Stanford and Duke in three straight games and then come back and play Michigan, Auburn and Florida State right afterwards, which is who we have coming back. If I played that schedule, we might be looking for a new coach by Christmas and I've got to be smarter than that."

To help make a trip to the Bahamas and U.S. Virgin Islands run as smooth as an under control breakaway lay-up, teams work with Basketball Travelers, the organizers of the Junkanoo Jam and Paradise Jam tournaments.

In the Junkanoo Jam, there are two separate brackets - the Freeport Division and the Lucaya Division -- comprised of four teams each. Teams participating in the Freeport Division include USC, Virginia Tech, Prairie View A&M and Georgia. Participating teams in the in the Lucaya Division include Alabama, Eastern Michigan, North Carolina State and Washington State.

In the 2007 U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam there are two divisions as well - the St. Thomas Division and the St. John Division - also comprised of four teams each. The St. Thomas Division is probably the most stacked of all the divisions as Purdue, Duke, Stanford and Connecticut will battle it out on the hard court. Meanwhile in the St. John Division, Wake Forest, Wichita State, Indiana and Texas A&M will face-off against each other.

"They do a great job and they will put you in great situations like this tournament in the Bahamas where you are going to get great competition and the kids will have an experience of a lifetime," said Daugherty.

Each team will play a guaranteed two games and will have time to enjoy some sun, surf and stuffing.  With teams traveling during this holiday, coaches open up the trip to the family members of their players and staff at their own expense.

"I don't have any problem getting used to something like this," said Appleton. "This year my family won't be there, which will be different, but my basketball family will be there which makes it all worthwhile if you get to spend time with your teammates.

Playing in these tournaments is still a business trip. Coaches know that their players are going to want some time to not just pass the basketball, but also the bottle of sunscreen.

"We are going to do a catamaran ride, a big party for all of the teams that are over there and there won't be as much sightseeing, but we'll take our kids snorkeling," said Blair.

No matter how far a team may travel this weekend, some players know that the fixings of a Thanksgiving meal will be waiting for them on their return home.

"My daddy makes chitterlings and everything you can think of," said Texas A&M junior guard Danielle Gant. "I have asked one of my friends to bring me a plate of food from his house."

While some teams will travel to a tournament site this weekend, others have the luxury of staying at home as a tournament host.

"I don't see it as an advantage, but I see it nice to be able to play tournaments at home and we are fortunate to have one over the Thanksgiving weekend that has been a tradition over the last 15 years," said UNLV coach Regina Miller. "The nice thing about Las Vegas is that it's an easy place to get to and people like to travel here so they use a tournament in Las Vegas as a highlight in their schedule for a lot of the teams. I am not sure if it is an advantage for us because a lot of teams like to come out here and will bring their own fans to create an environment for themselves."

Just like the tournaments in tropical locations, tournaments like the four-team, two-game Lady Rebel Shootout hosted by UNLV in the continental 48 states try to achieve balance in the teams they invite.

"There is so much interest in our tournament because we are in Las Vegas, that I have to turn people down," said Miller. "I do try to alternate it and give teams from the east an opportunity to travel out west, to have teams from the Big East, SEC, Big 12, a conference in the south and then have a team from California to balance things out."

While there will not be any snorkeling or catamaran trips for the teams headed to UNLV this weekend, celebrating the traditions of Thanksgiving with the team is always part of the itinerary.

"Typically we don't ask teams to get together with us on Thanksgiving Day, but most of the teams plan their own meal," said Miller. "With so many good restaurants here, you can get any type of food you want and the hotels here always plan for Thanksgiving dinner, so teams come out and end up having Thanksgiving dinner as a team."

These tournaments are good ways for teams to get in valuable playing experiences and work off that second helping, but with competition and excitement high, it's also a way for fans either watching while in-person or via TV in their home to counter the effects of tryptophan.