June 6, 2007

MILWAUKEE -

By: Svetlana Kovalenko

I had a feeling today when we left the hotel at 7:45 a.m., that there was going to be an issue getting back in the United States because I was missing one measly little document. That one missing document could have caused me some much grande problemas. But thank god to our great MU staff and Dave (our Basketball Travelers rep) for what they did because I was allowed to leave Portugal. There wasn't any problems when we got to Newark, so it was smooth sailing back to the Al McGuire Center.

All in all, this trip was a blast. We all got to see many different cities, a lot of different people, the history of two very different countries, and taste many different foods even if it had its head and tail still attached. We were truly immersed in two extremely different cultures. Not only was this trip supposed to expose us to European culture, we also had a taste of European/International basketball. Even though we complain about our game officials in the U.S., the ones we got to play with in Spain and Portugal seemed to be a whole step above.

This trip was very important for our team and the seven returnees who want to continue the standard of excellence set. The seven of us shared the vast majority of playing time during the four games, and most importantly we learned how to play together. I am the only senior coming back next season and this trip was a good start for me to be a leader.

Overall, the playing here was definitely a good experience and will help us in the future tremendously. Throughout the four games we had different people step up. It was a huge confidence booster for all of us to see each of us do that. When we get to BIG EAST play, balanced teams and ones with a deep bench are ones that are successful. Hopefully these four games we played over there are a foreshadow of what is to come in exciting conference play.

Even though we lost a game, we know our team is capable of buckling down, making a comeback and never giving up.

Until next time...

V