Hi everyone! Wow, it sure has been a while. We’ve been pretty busy around here in the post-season, and it’s hard to believe that our players will be done with school after next week. They have been working really hard and getting in the gym as much as possible. I think with the way our season ended, they saw that we have a great opportunity ahead of us next season with all five of our starters returning and a tough group of newcomers joining them. Whenever they’ve been in Gates, they’ve been working extremely hard whether it’s shooting, workouts, or lifting. Both our anticipation and expectations are high for next season.

As coaches, we’ve been doing a lot of work on recruiting since the season ended. We’ve had a lot of campus visits and are really getting to know the 2010 class that we are recruiting. As of April 9, we were able to make our first phone call so that’s been fun to finally be able to talk to recruits and get to know them better! During the weekend of April 17-19, all of us were able to get out and see some AAU tournaments to give us a little teaser of what’s to come in July. I was in Raleigh, NC for the Deep South Classic, and I thoroughly enjoyed the 80 degree weather!! It was awesome to see good, competitive basketball, and I strongly believe the athletic ability and talent just keeps getting better and better in women’s basketball.

Other than campus visits, May and June are pretty low key months for us. We’ve been trying to take advantage of that by getting our vacations in and spending some extra time with family. Coach Mann took a trip right after season to Denver to go skiing with her family, Coach Paul took his whole family to Disneyland a couple of weeks ago, and Coach O’Connell just came back from a trip to Florida to see her sister and her new niece! My vacation is coming up on Memorial Day weekend, and I can’t wait! I’m going to Las Vegas with six of my teammates from college and really looking forward to relaxing and warm weather.

I actually had a pretty action-packed weekend, too. On Saturday, I bought myself a car – a 2007 black Chevy Trailblazer that I LOVE!! Then yesterday, I went to Game 4 of the Bulls/Celtics series and I must say that is was one of the best games I’ve ever seen. It was a double OT game that stayed close throughout, but the Bulls ended up pulling it off with a 121-118 victory. I am continually more and more impressed with Derrick Rose and how he carries himself on and off the court. Ben Gordon stepped up and had some big shots, and the un-sung hero for that team is Kirk Hinrich. He works so hard on every play and does all the little things. Now they just have to get one in Boston, and you never know what can happen!! It’s so good to see exciting playoff basketball again in Chicago!

Well, we have a visit coming today so I have to get going to get prepared. Hope you are doing well, and we’ll be doing weekly postings from now on so check back in soon!!