Thanksgiving in Florida update

As I reported about three months ago, the Cardinal will spend the weekend after Thanksgiving in Southwest Florida as part of the third annual Gulf Coast Showcase. More information is available now.

The women's tournament will be held from Nov. 27-29 at Germain Arena in Estero, Florida. The Cardinal will be joined at the event by:

The Dayton Flyers
The Louisville Cardinals
The LSU Tigers
The Maine Black Bears
The Marist Red Foxes
The Missouri State Lady Bears
The Purdue Boilermakers

The tournament format is an eight-team playoff, with winners playing winners and losers playing losers in the second and third rounds, to determine places one through eight.

Stanford will begin the tournament with a game against Missouri State at 11:30 am Pacific Time. Click here for the bracket, which shows first round pairings and all game times.

You can now buy tickets or buy a travel package. The travel package provides these options: three or four nights at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort & Spa (the official host resort for each of the participating teams), game tickets, transfers between the hotel and games, a Thanksgiving buffet dinner that includes a Q&A with the head coaches of the tournament.

How do you get there? Estero is a suburb of Fort Myers, about 10 miles south of the nearest major airport – Southwest Florida International Airport. Here is a map that shows the airport, the arena, and the team hotel.

If you prefer to make your own travel arrangements, here is a map that shows the hotels near Germain Arena.