March 19, 2003

Throughout the 2002-03 season, senior forward Jennifer Thomas will provide TarHeelBlue.com readers with an inside look at the Carolina women's basketball program. This installment is her 11th of the season.

Tourney time!!

Hey Tar Heel fans. I hope you guys haven't missed me too much, but things have been super crazy since the ACC Tourney. We've all been working with our teachers so that the days of class we'll miss for the NCAA Tournament won't severely hamper our grades. I swear this is the most class I've missed since I've been in college, but I guess that's one of the challenges of being a student-athlete:).

However, there is a bright side to all this work. I found out recently that I've been selected to receive the Robin Roberts/WBCA Sports Communication Scholarship Award, which really caught me off guard. I guess that was the big highlight of my week. Oh, and the great dinner I had at Outback with Candace and Liz!

Along with getting our academics taken care of, we have been preparing to leave for Colorado, where we'll play Austin Peay on Saturday to open the NCAA Tournament. I hear that it's really hard to breathe up in the mountains, but I'm still really excited because I also hear that Colorado is beautiful.

But, enough about me ... The team is doing really well. We've had an amazing week of practice, considering that everyone has been stressed about school. I think we have finally realized that we are a Final Four team and we're really excited about the tournament. Personally, I cannot wait to play.

We're on the plane to Colorado right now and we're starting to experience a little bit of turbulence, so I'm going to cut this short. I'll check in with more news soon ...

Jennifer #10