Category Archives: D-III overseas

In Europe: Brussels and basketball

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Chris McDevitt is part of a group of Division III players (and three Division II players) traveling to Europe as an All-Star team this month. His latest blog entry follows:

Our first night in Mechelen we went out as a team. It was a blast. We made a few friends along the way. Once we awoke on Friday morning we realized we had a full day of sightseeing and a game in the evening. Our sightseeing for the day took place in Brugge, Belgium. Brugge was a much larger city than Mechelen. We began to walk around and noticed a few stores and restaurants we noticed from the United States. There was a Subway shop and also a Foot Locker which was very cool. A few of the guys purchased some clothes and accessories while others grabbed a few postcards to send home.

D-III players in front of Belgian White House
The D-III and D-II players pose in front of the White House in Belgium.

The highlight of the day for me was renting bikes to tour the city. We have noticed that riding bikes is an extremely popular way of getting around in Belgium. Our bikes allowed us to see other parts of the city that we would miss walking. My friend Fran and I shared a double bike which was pretty amusing to the people of Belgium.

We also grabbed lunch in Brugge which was interesting in itself. I ordered an item off a menu that I had no clue what it was. The meal ended up being a type of vegetable wrapped in ham in a cheese sauce. This ended up not being too bad. I think it is important that we try new things while over in Belgium because we may never have the chance to be back.

After the day in Brugge we set off in the bus to our first game. When we entered the arena we did not know what to expect. The gym ended up being bigger than most of us expected. The first team we played was interesting as well. There were many players on the team older than 30 but also a few very young players.

The game started off a bit rough as we struggled to score in the first five minutes. Once we got in a groove we played well for our first game over the pond. We ended up winning by 25 and had a great time doing so.

Immediately after the game we enjoyed a spaghetti meal at the gym’s cafe. Most of the gyms in Europe have cafes attached to the court for conversation after the games.

The next day was very busy, starting off by interacting with the Belgian community. Coach Chris Carideo was scheduled to talk about press defense at a Belgium Coaches Association Clinic. Coach asked us to participate to demonstrate several drills and teaching points for his press/pressure defense. This was important for us because it helped all of our players understand the way we will be playing the rest of the week here in Europe, This also helped show the Belgium coaches what our press actually looks like.

After Coach Carideo’s demonstration we helped Coach Blumenthal with his offensive drills and techniques. Then we headed to Brussels for the afternoon for some more sightseeing. Brussels was more of an up-to-date “big city,” similar to Philadelphia back in the states. During the sightseeing the coaches gave us a scavenger hunt to complete. This was made up of several tasks that involved us trying to break the language barrier and interact with many different people.

At the end of our scavenger hunt, as a team, we did a re-make of an Iceland Soccer Club celebration. If you haven’t seen this before let me explain. An Iceland soccer player scored a big goal late in the match and they celebrated by using one of their players as a fisherman, and one of the players as the actual fish. Eric Brennan cast the fishing line out and caught Alex Raymond. While Eric was reeling him in, Alex was flopping on the ground towards him like a fish. Then some of the team members lifted Alex up, displaying him as a “prize catch” while Otis Smith took several fake pictures. This was by far the highlight of the day. We did this in the middle of the city and let’s just say, we had some interesting responses from the people.

After our adventure in Brussels we headed back for our game that night against the Pitzemburg basketball team in Mechelen. This game was a bit different than our first. The Mechelen team had a few very good players and played great as a team. We ended up losing the game as we struggled with adapting to the game and how it is officiated. We played hard but we were on the losing end. We will use this game as sort of a wake-up call and I have faith we will bounce back strong in our next game in Germany.

Next post I will be writing from Dusseldorf. Keep up. USA!

Augie in China: Vikings 82, Snow Wolves 66

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Yesterday we said goodbye to the region of Hong Kong and hello to our first day in The People’s Republic of China. We boarded a train at 9:30 am and traveled through multiple cities in the Hong Kong region before crossing into China. As we crossed into China we were able to see the barbed wire fence and guards patrolling the border as we passed by. The train took us to the city of Dongguan, located in Southern China. After passing through customs we met our tour guide, hopped on another bus and headed to pregame meal. Dongguan seemed even hotter than Hong Kong when we stepped off the bus, but we were too excited to finally play a Chinese team that we didn’t seem to notice.

Chris Anderson vs. Dongguan Snow Wolves
Chris Anderson scored 12 points in Augustana’s win against the Dongguan Snow Wolves.
 
Our pregame meal was a buffet style service in a five-star hotel in downtown Dongguan. We ate from a selection of sushi, tuna, salmon, octopus, barbecued crab, duck, goose, vegetables and more. Not your typical pregame meal but we were happy to try everything they had to offer. Once the meal was done it was an hour trip by bus to get our first taste of Chinese professional basketball competition. The team we matched up against was the Dongguan Snow Wolves of the NBDL (National Basketball Developmental League), essentially a feeder system for the CBA (Chinese Basketball Association). The game was located in their gym which was attached to a very nice hotel in the downtown.
 
The game was very fast paced and it was good to play against an organized team for the first time since last season. Something that we had to get used to quickly was the ambiguity of the calls. Many times the official would blow his whistle for a call and we would not understand why, but it was a good learning lesson to play through the adversity of the situation and adjust to whatever was happening. There was no doubt that our level of energy throughout the game was very high and it was a balanced team effort for a pretty comfortable win in the end.
 
After the game it was back on the bus for a two hour ride into the Guangzhou, a city of 11 million people. This region is often referred to as the “factory of the world” because it is responsible for a large portion of production of goods that get shipped to all corners of the globe. This was very evident as we drove through because we could see a lot of farmers as well as many factories. Dr. Moline described this place as the “engine that drives China’s world development.” It was definitely eye opening to see a place that is so important to the productivity of the world, but is just an afterthought in most people’s minds.
 
In Guangzhou we settled into Landmark Hotel, in downtown Guangzhou. A massive thunderstorm prevented us from going out to see the city at night, so we were resigned to the hotel until the morning.
 
A 10:00 flight to Wuhan waits this morning. We will be there for three days of sightseeing as well as another game.
 
– Kyle Nelson

The game story follows:

DONGGUAN, China – In the first official game of the 2010 “China Tour”, the Augustana Vikings pulled off an impressive 82-66 victory over the Dongguan Snow Wolves. The Snow Wolves are an NDBL (National Developmental Basketball League) in the Chinese professional system. Three years ago Augustana defeated a 17-under team from the same “club.” This time around, however, the Snow Wolves were beefed up a bit and employed a roster stocked with college-age players.

As has been the Viking trademark since Grey Giovanine took over as head coach prior to the 1999-00 season, balanced scoring was the answer in today’s victory. Senior Kyle Nelson (Deerfield HS, Deerfield, Ill.), who is handling a blog for the Augustana website on this trip, led the team in scoring with 13 points. Junior Chris Anderson (Mt. Carroll HS, Mt. Carroll, Ill.) and senior Bryant Voiles (Byron HS, Byron, Ill.) each dropped in 12 points. Sophomore Kameron Norton (Downers Grove North HS, Downers Grove, Ill.) scored nine points on four of five from the field.

The Vikings pounded the Snow Wolves on the boards, holding a plus 11 margin despite the fact that Dongguan’s starting center was 6’ 10” and weighed 270. Augustana also managed to grab 10 offensive rebounds in the game. George Dexter (Bettendorf HS, Bettendorf, Iowa), Brandon Kunz (Lake Zurich HS, Lake Zurich, Ill.) and Nelson tied for the rebounding lead with five apiece. Junior point guard Brian DeSimone (Buffalo Grove HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) had six assists and just one turnover and the Vikings had 18 assists as a team.

Unlike the collegiate game, this international contest was played in four quarters. Augustana led 25-21 at the end of the first 10 minute session and were up 42-31 at halftime. The Snow Wolves made 10 of 26 three point attempts to stay in the game.

Giovanine’s team left the Quad Cities on Tuesday morning, August 3 and this game was the first of five games over the next nine days. The Vikings, who traveled by train this morning from Hong Kong in order to play the game, which had a 4:00 p.m. start, played a scrimmage two days ago against Hong Kong Baptist University.

“This was a good starting point for us in terms of the competitive part of our journey,” said Giovanine who is taking his fourth Augustana team on an international sojourn. He led the Vikings to Belgium and France in 2001, Ireland in 2004 and China in 2007. “We will play five games over the next nine days and will be traveling and getting an education at the same time. Dr. Norm Moline, our guide and educational liaison from the Augustana geography department, has done a wonderful job of making sure that our entire party is getting a tremendous dose of Chinese culture. He was tremendous at that three years ago and has once again outdone himself. We are very fortunate to have him with us as we combine basketball with history and culture in a country as vast and unique as China.”

Augie in China: Last day in Hong Kong

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A day after our scrimmage game in Hong Kong against Hong Kong Baptist University, we got a whole day to do some sightseeing. As a group, we went on a boat tour through Hong Kong harbor. This harbor goes right through the middle of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.

Augustana with Hong Kong Baptist University players.
Augustana captains Kyle Nelson (left) and Bryant Voiles on a boat cruise in the Hong Kong harbor.

The tour took us up and down the harbor and we were able to see the skyscrapers and other buildings that made up the business district of Hong Kong. The boat also sailed into the shipping container district. This was a massive area of large ships dropping off and collecting containers to take to all parts of the world. This was something unique to see since this is one of the world’s largest and most productive shipping yards that caters to the entire world.
 
Once we got back to land it was a quick lunch and the team was off to explore Hong Kong Island. Up until this point we had spent all of our time on mainland Kowloon. We boarded the Star Ferry to take us across the harbor to the port on the island. Once on the island we walked around the business district looking at all of financial and other business buildings. It was amazing how many people were walking around, as every sidewalk was packed. We then boarded a bus to take us to Stanley market so we could do some shopping. The bus took us up through the mountains of HK Island and past all of the expensive houses and ritzy clubs that were in the area.
 
After spending a few hours at the market, we got back on the bus and made our way back to the main area of the harbor. The team split up into two groups at this point. One group took the ferry across the harbor again to see the light show that the buildings on HK Island sponsored. At 8:00 p.m. every night, the buildings have a choreographed light show to music that you watch from the other side of the water. The second group took the subway underneath the harbor back to mainland Kowloon to our hotel.
 
Just outside of the hotel at 11:00 p.m. at night there was a game for some outdoor basketball league taking place. The players had jerseys, officials and a clock and we watched a couple minutes of the game.
 
We are headed to board a train to take us to mainland China, specifically to Dongguan. We play our first game in China against the best team from the NBL (the National Basketball League), essentially China’s equivalent to America’s NBA Developmental League. We are then on the Guangzhou for one night to prepare for a stretch of five games in nine days.
 
Off to China!
 
– Kyle Nelson

D3 stars in Europe: Landing in Belgium

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Our first full day in Europe was spent in Mechelen. Our flight landed around 730 a.m. Belgium time, which was around 130 a.m. in the U.S. Most of us on the team were very tired due to the struggle for sleep and the time changes.

Players in Belgium.

Once we arrived in Mechelen we went on a quick tour of the city. The city was a fairly small town with an interesting underground parking lot. The main part of Mechelen had an incredible cathedral with many restaurants and shops surrounding it. The first unusual sight we saw was a crew digging up human remains to make room for a new underground parking lot. That was definitely an interesting sight.

After that experience we all went our separate ways to get lunch. I ordered spaghetti carbonera. My decision was quickly criticized by my coaching staff because it was not a cultural meal. Anyways, it was very good and we had a great lunch.

After lunch we were able to rest in the hotel for a few hours and catch up on some sleep. When we woke we headed to a local recreation center for a quick practice. We went over a few sets and basically just talked about the style we will be playing and how to adapt to the game in Europe. Shortly following our practice and a quick meal we made our way back to the hotel to prepare for a “night on the town”.

Tomorrow we play our first game. We will be in Bruges.

On my next post I will summarize our first night in Europe and the sights we saw the following day in Belgium.

Chris McDevitt

Augie in China: First day in Hong Kong

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After another 4-hour flight from Tokyo, Japan to Hong Kong International airport, a flight that no one wanted to get on after 12 hours in the air, we finally touched down in Hong Kong. We went through customs and boarded a bus to take us to the YWCA Guest House in the middle of Kowloon in Hong Kong. Along the way, Dr. Moline gave us a brief tour as we headed to the hotel for the night. A bed looked like the greatest thing after being up for around 36 hours.
 
It was an early morning for everyone, 7:30, so that we could head to Hong Kong Baptist University to have our first practice on foreign soil. We took a nice coach bus over to the university which was about fifteen minutes from where we were staying. Once on the court we had a spirited two-hour practice before a friendly scrimmage game with the Hong Kong Baptist team. HKBU played us pretty tough, but in the end we pulled away for a sizable lead. There was some confusion at what we thought was the end of the game, but really was just halftime. In China, the college and pro teams play quarters opposed to the halves we are used to in the States.

Augustana with Hong Kong Baptist University players.
 
After the scrimmage, Coach G led a brief defensive clinic with the HKBU players to show them how we do it on the defensive end. There was only one player on their team who spoke English, but we were all pretty astounded at how quickly their players picked up what he was saying even though it was in a foreign language. The language of basketball must be pretty universal.
 
We returned to the hotel by grabbing a city bus and it was a quick shower and out on the streets for our traveling group. Dr. Moline took us to a local favorite of his for our first authentic Chinese meal. It was served communally and we all sat at round tables and shared all of the dishes that were brought out. Learning to use chop sticks was not easy and pretty much everyone gave up after a while and used their forks.
 
After the meal, we were allowed to go experience what Hong Kong offered. We cashed traveler’s checks and headed to one of the local markets to go shopping. We were able to interact with street vendors by bartering for what they were selling. Popular things that people bought were soccer jerseys, watches and some electronics. Shopping took up most of the day and we all headed down in groups to the river front to watch a light show that was on the buildings across the river on Hong Kong Island. Unfortunately, it started to rain so the light show was canceled. We had to grab cabs and city buses to find our way back to the hotel.
 
One of the most noticeable things is the language barrier. Most people we interact with only know a few English phrases, so it takes a while and we are learning requires a lot of patience to get the information that we need. However, this is just part of the Hong Kong experience and it was a successful day one.
 
Another day in Hong Kong awaits today.
 
— Kyle Nelson