Point guard Special Jennings passed the ball and darted through the thicket of Xavier players in the lane during a three-on-three drill Saturday, getting ready for their NCAA tournament opener.
First, she had to maneuver around 6-foot-5 Amber Harris, the two-time Atlantic 10 player of the year. Then, she doubled back and bumped into 6-6 Ta'Shia Phillips, the nation's second-leading rebounder.
''You know, I'm tired of beating them up in practice,'' Jennings said. ''I think we are ready.''
Ready for one more go-around.
Second-seeded Xavier (28-2) opens the tournament on its home court for the second year in a row. This time, the Musketeers have a higher seed and a different mindset. They lost to Stanford in the Elite Eight last season and returned four senior starters, including Jennings, Harris and Phillips.
The Musketeers have won 18 in a row heading into their opener Sunday against South Dakota State (19-13).
''It's different because we're seniors, so there is no, 'You know, what if we come out and don't play as well as we should? OK, we will come back and get it next year,''' Jennings said.
Everything that Xavier did this season has been aimed at getting ready for tournament time. The Musketeers' two losses came on the road, in back-to-back games at Duke and Stanford when Jennings had a broken finger and Harris was limited by a concussion.
Last year, Xavier ended a streak of four straight first-round losses by beating East Tennessee State and Vanderbilt at home, where it has won 23 straight. The second Elite Eight appearance in school history raised expectations.
It usually comes down to how teams handle Harris and Phillips, who form one of the top front-line duos in the country. South Dakota State, making its third straight appearance as Summit League champs, is going to have to try a little bit of everything to slow them down.
''They're just so good around the basket,'' coach Aaron Johnston said. ''A lot of teams would be just tickled to have one player of either of their caliber on their team, and now we go against two of them at the same time.''
