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MORE THING H Alexis Mitchell has never played in the NCAA tournament, something that has her — and her teammates — motivated to end UW's drought BY MIKE LUCAS • UWBADGERS.COM ere's something you should know about Alexis Mitchell. Beyond be- ing a senior on the Wisconsin vol- leyball team, she's a huge fan of the Boston Celtics even though she was raised in Iowa. "Iowa doesn't have a professional basketball team, so I got a free choice to pick whoever I want- ed,'' Mitchell said. "I love their team, and coach (Doc Rivers) and how they play.'' Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo are her favorite players. Actually, you can understand her love for the sport since her dad, Barry Mitchell, a product of Norfolk State, is somewhat of a basketball lifer. "He's been living in Belgium for about 16 years, and he's still playing,'' she said. "He's 47 and try- ing to become the oldest player alive because he won't give it up.'' Here's something else you should know about Mitchell: she still hasn't forgotten her chance meeting with Misty May-Treanor, one of the Gold- en Girls, during spring break of her freshman year. "We were in Huntington Beach and she just hap- pened to be training there,'' she said of May-Tre- anor, who has teamed up with Kerri Walsh Jen- nings to win three gold medals in beach volleyball. "We were hanging out with her a little bit. She gave us some advice, and so did her dad. You would have never thought you were talking to someone who had just won another Olympic gold medal. "It was awesome. She was very chill — really easy-going and fun to talk to.'' Mitchell can be that way, too — chill — unless, of course, she's losing her cell phone (a habit that she's broken), singing in the shower (she only wishes that she was better) or dancing before matches. "It gets me loose — gets me going — and my teammates enjoy it,'' Mitchell said. Here's another thing you should know about Mitchell: she's planning on going out for the UW track team once her season is over. At the moment, she's thinking about competing as a heptathlete alongside the Badgers' Big Ten champions and All-Americans in the event, Dorcas Akinniyi and Jessica Flax. At Davenport (Iowa) Central High School, she was quite accomplished on the track. She won a state title in the long jump and ran a leg on some relay teams that set school records. "It's very difficult to do two sports here,'' she said. "There's a huge commitment to volleyball in the spring and I wanted to fulfill it. But this my last year, why not? You never know what could happen. "It could go great — it could go poorly. It's just something I want to do.'' One last thing you should know about Mitchell: she's hoping for an extended volleyball season. "I definitely want our season to go into Decem- ber this year,'' he said. "It's really important.''