Category Archives: D-III overseas

Augie in China: Layover in Japan

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After two hours in O’Hare Airport and 12 and a half hours on a plane, Augustana has set foot in Japan! It was a long awaited arrival as the flight lasted half a day. Most of the guys were buried in their personal entertainment systems on the plane, and were either playing games or watching movies. To pass the time we would by play Battleship or Tetris on the plane’s system against one another.

All of the big guys were fortunate enough to get exit row seats so that we could stretch out in the extra room (thank you to Dr. Norm Moline and whomever else set that up).
 
Once landing in Japan, we made our way through security and settled down in a Japanese noodle restaurant to get our first taste of Japanese food. Our stay here isn’t very long (a 3-hour layover) and we are confined to staying within the terminal. But, everyone is excited to come back to Japan at the end of our trip when we get to spend a day in downtown Tokyo.
 
Our flight to Hong Kong leaves in an hour. See everyone then!
 
-Kyle Nelson

Heading to Europe: Trip of a lifetime

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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. The others are Anthony LoRusso of Ramapo; Sean Hughes of Rowan; Fran Brzyski of Susquehanna; Alex Raymond of Juniata; Otis Smith of Southern Maine and SUNY-Cobleskill’s Damon Franklin. The D-II players: Eric Brennan of Kutztown, Ricky Hudson of American International and Erv Ezell of Seminole State.

McDevitt’s first blog entry follows:

The past three years at Widener University have been the best three years of my life. Participating in Division III basketball has opened the door to many great opportunities, and this week will be one of them.

One of my teammates last year got the opportunity of a lifetime to travel abroad to Europe with other NCAA basketball players. Hearing about his, I realized I wanted to make this experience my own. Nine other Division II and Division III players and myself will be traveling through Europe for the next ten days which begins on Wednesday with our flight to Belgium.

At Widener I have been part of a great basketball tradition, including winning two conference championships in the last three years. Yet, nothing can compare to a trip of sightseeing, basketball, and experiencing life in countries outside of the United States.

The anticipation is building on the days leading up to the trip. I am excited to be able to meet fellow college basketball players from other areas of the United States, and build relationships with them on and off of the basketball court while in Europe. We have all been communicating through Facebook and a few texts to get ready for the next two weeks. Although we will not be able to have any practice sessions as a team before we leave, we are planning on a few upon our arrival. I cannot wait to see all of the talent that will come together as a unit and hopefully we can showcase our skills and personalities throughout the ten days.

We will be departing from Newark Airport on Wednesday, Aug. 4. When we arrive in Belgium we will be meeting with a tour guide for a tour of the city of Mechelen and practicing that night. We will be taking part in a ton of tours while in several different cities, which I will update daily while in Europe. Our games will all be played in the evening against a variety of teams from different European leagues.

The special part of this trip which the team values greatly is that each of us will be representing our college/university as well as our country. This is an amazing opportunity and we are all extremely excited to get this experience started!

Next time you hear from me we will have completed our trip over the pond and be in Belgium.

– Chris McDevitt
Widener University

Augie in China: Preparation underway

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Augustana senior Kyle Nelson and his teammates are getting ready to travel to China in early August. He will be blogging regularly on D3hoops.com about the team’s journey.

Nelson’s first installment follows:

For three years I have heard stories from teammates about their tour to China in 2007. Every single story they told, whether it was about a game they played against a Chinese Basketball Association team or if it was about going out at night and experiencing Chinese nightlife, left a great impression on me. When the team went in 2007, I was an incoming freshman and NCAA rules did not allow us to participate in any practices or the trip itself. I am very excited to finally be able to go, in my senior year, and experience all of the excitement that the last trip generated first hand. I know that this trip, shared with coaches, their families and teammates, is going to be a life changing and memorable experience for all of us. Aug. 3, our departure date from O’Hare, cannot get here soon enough.

The past two weekends and also this coming weekend, our team has gathered at the Carver Center to participate in the ten practice days that the NCAA grants to teams going on a foreign tour. The attitude in the gym has been positive and full of excitement. The practices have been very intense and it has been interesting to play with a few different rules that the international game has compared to the NCAA. For example, the ball that we are playing with is slightly smaller than what we are used to here, the lane is much wider, the ball can be hit off the rim when it is still bouncing and finally, maybe the difference that is taking the most adjustment, is that the shot clock is now 24 seconds instead of the usual 35. This has really forced us to work on playing faster and quicker decisions during the game. Playing under these new rules is something unique and these practices are helping us prepare as if it were the beginning of the season.

The most difficult thing thus far during these summer practices has been coping with how hot the Carver Center gets during practice. When were playing, it feels like it is 100 degrees in there and that took a while to get used to. We have had to switch baskets frequently because guys are sweating so much people are slipping everywhere. A few guys have even had to sit out a few drills to shake out some lightheadedness and exhaustion. Even though the heat is extreme, Coach G has insisted that this is great for us because it is just like how it will be in China. Hopefully the heat training pays off and helps against our competition in China and further on down the road.

Once overseas, we will be playing some talented opponents. After a scrimmage against Hong Kong Baptist University, the Vikings will be lining up against the defending CBA champions, the Guangdong Southern Tigers. After these games, we will play three more university teams and one more CBA team. The competition is some of the best that China has to offer and we are all excited to represent Augustana and the United States on the other side of the world.

Next time you hear from me we’ll be getting ready to enjoy a 13 hour flight to China!

— Kyle Nelson

Brandon Adair overseas

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Two-time D3hoops.com All-American Brandon Adair spent last season playing in Germany, which I was aware of. He blogged about it for a while last season, however, which I was unaware of.

Adair has started blogging again and so far it’s an eye-opening look at the life in Germany, playing and practicing, even some thoughts about personnel moves. Worth keeping an eye on.

And Brandon, best of luck.

Platteville ready to come home

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The UW-Platteville men’s and women’s basketball teams are overseas. They will check in with Division III basketball fans from time to time. Jeff Skemp is our correspondent.

Our final days spent in Ireland are starting to wear on everyone involved. The trip has been great, but many of us on the team can’t wait to get home to have a nice greasy McDonald’s burger, or a Mountain Dew. These things are a necessity to college students.

As far as the tours have gone, yesterday (Monday), we visited a beautiful Abbey at Kylemore. On our way there we traveled through many peat bogs and around mountains. The countryside of Ireland is as green as we heard about before coming, and is very beautiful. After visiting the Abbey we went to a Celtic (pronounced Keltic) crystal factory and looked at the amazing pieces on display, and then had the opportunity to watch a cutter work on cutting a candy dish. His quickness and precision was a site to see.

The athletes tried to get out of the last day of touring to walk the city of Galway and finish up any last souvenir shopping that needed to be done, but this idea was vetoed, and all ended up going out to see a city called Athenry, the only Medieval-walled town in Ireland with the walls still intact. Following this brief tour we were then able to spend the rest of the day free before coming together for our pregame meal.

The men and women both won their last games respectively, the men winning by a final score of 86-55 over the GMIT All-Stars. The opponent was probably the best team that the men saw, and the game was very physical. The Pioneers had great individual efforts from Curt Hanson with 26 points, Jeff Skemp with 20 points and Mike Shaw with 19. The lone senior on the trip, Berent “Bear” Froiland scored his only points of the trip with an and-one situation which brought the crowd to a standing ovation. The women beat the Maree Ladies 66-36, led by Lisa Grantman’s 18 points. The Pioneer men and women ended the trip with a combined 6-0 record.

The night ended with parents ordering pizza for the group and spending one last time socializing and taking group pictures. We depart from the hotel at 3:15 a.m. and will arrive back at Chicago O’Hare at about 12:30 p.m. Again, the trip was great except for the sickness that went around, and there will be many stories to share by all who were involved.