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Time for the European Tour + pre tour open scrimmage

the Blades

the Blades

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Jan 20, 2003
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Join or rejoin CBB's National Champion and then travel to far away places......come to Storrs, it' coming and up next heading to : " The Huskies will take a tour of Europe in August, practicing and playing against various teams in France and in Spain from Aug. 2-10 "

"For Dan Hurley, it provides his highly-touted, five-man recruiting class to get 10 extra practices, games and days to bond with their new teammates. "

 
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This is not the first time a defending UConn men's national championship team has toured Europe. Calhoun did the same thing with the team back in the summer of 2004:
www.nhregister.com

6/2/04 UConn to play in Europe

The dates have been set for a Thanksgiving week trip to London for the University of...
www.nhregister.com www.nhregister.com
The UConn women have also done European tours. I think they did a tour to Italy within the last 10 years.

The European ball has come a long, long way from what it once was. I remember when UConn played an exhibition game (in Storrs) against a touring club team from Croatia or Serbia back in 1998 (I think, I am guessing). UConn won the game by 80 points (I was in shock that Calhoun scheduled a team they would beat by 80). There was an avalanche of TOs and transition buckets by UConn and it got ugly for the visitors. The Eurodudes on that team were weak looking and totally overmatched. I think they were like the equivalent of what a Division 3 college basketball team is in talent. UConn will probably play much better teams on this tour and may lose some games, which would be a good learning experience if that happens.
 
" The 2023-24 version of the UConn men's basketball team will get a head start on the upcoming season as the team travels across the ocean for the program's first foreign tour in nearly 20 years......The Huskies will begin their journey on Wednesday, Aug. 2, flying directly to Nice, France, and then busing to Monaco......the Huskies will spend time in Monte Carlo, Monaco and Barcelona, Spain, not only practicing and playing three games against formidable competition, but receiving the educational and cultural experience of a lifetime.....All three games will be open to the public and free of charge. "

uconnhuskies.com

UConn MBB Plans Foreign Tour To Monaco, Spain - University of Connecticut Athletics

UConn Athletic Communications / June 30, 2023
uconnhuskies.com uconnhuskies.com

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Should be a nice send off to Europe (Aug. 2-10) for the 2023-24 squad. I'll be heading over to Jim Calhoun's post Uconn stomping grounds to check out the guys.


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After some drills, the team played three 10 minute periods, real game rules with 3 refs. But did last minute game situations at the end of each. White team was Samson, Romo, Castle, Dirara and Ball.....Singare played a couple minutes each session for Clingan or Samson. Jaylin Stewart was on the sidelines and on the exercise bike, but did not play. Players swap sides each session though for different match-ups. But only 11 played total .
 
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2 guys who are ready to have a big impact besides the "new Big 3" are Samson (looks stronger def 20lbs + since his FR year) and Spencer who could be the leading scorer. Samson real active on both ends and gave DC a run for his money on the block and rebounding. (and hit 1-2 on 3pts)

Cam can just score the ball at different spots and has good vision besides deadly shooting. Newton took over the scoring for a decent stretch in the 2nd session. AK and Donovan were effective doing what they do.
 
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Steph was real involved off the dribble/scoring and on D, Solo real active/bouncy too. Ross made some nice plays and fit in nicely. Also Diarra shot better ( hit a coulple 3's if IRRC) and was his active self on D. Romo is a great shooter in drills, during game not to active (maybe 1-3 on 3's) seems more out on the perimeter in sets ( by design ?)
 
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Also a couple of scares, but they looked OK and were walking around. Samson in a early session but played fine after shaking off for the rest of the scrimmage. And Newton got banged up and knocked over on an inbound late game situation in the last 30secs of the scrimmage, which had Hurley saying that it's (end it/enough) as Newton was limping off, but looked something minor.
 
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Clingan on Samson.... CT Insider out with a practice review...

"To call the UConn men's basketball team's open practice on Saturday that "Cam and Sam Show" would be a bit too simplistic. ... Alex Karaban was as smooth as ever, darting pretty halfcourt bounce passes for layups and draining 3's. The "Fab Five" freshmen all had their moments, specifically Stephon Castle. Tristen Newton overcame a sluggish start and really poured it on in the final of three, 10-minute intrasquad games. But without question, the two most impressive players on the floor at the University of Saint Joseph's James A. Calhoun Gymnasium were Cam Spencer and Samson Johnson. Both new players, in a way. "


 
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the Blades said:
Jaylin Stewart was on the sidelines and on the exercise bike, but did not play.
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Stewart, a national top-75 recruit who arrived late for summer sessions because his Seattle high school didn't get out until late, was nursing a groin injury and riding on the stationary bike through much of practice. At 6-7, 205, Stewart has lost a significant amount of weight from last summer.
 
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the Blades said:
Stewart, a national top-75 recruit who arrived late for summer sessions because his Seattle high school didn't get out until late, was nursing a groin injury and riding on the stationary bike through much of practice. At 6-7, 205, Stewart has lost a significant amount of weight from last summer.
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Interesting...."Too much weight, in a way," Hurley noted. "Unbelievable effort by him before he got here, that tells you about the kid. Now, we've got to kind of build his body back up with the muscle, get him stronger. He's that 3/4, 4/3 type of guy that's got to play in, play out, get on the backboard. So, we've got to build his body back up."
 
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That isn't print friendly and can't open the link without paying. Does Borges discuss how many games they will play, whether the teams they will play are any good, and whether the Huskies will take some losses? I am sure these European pros have been told that the Huskies are the US college champions, are a top rated college team and they will be anxious to teach these kids some lessons about pro Euroball.

On a related note I was reading an article today about how NIL has opened the floodgates for Euroballing U-18 kids to come to American colleges. Arizona signed a bunch of Eurokids and Kentucky signed some 7'2" kid for next season who is supposed to be great.
 
KhalidShockedTheWorld said:
I wonder if they will lose a game or two? How good are these teams they are playing?
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I think it's weird you can't read those CT Insider articles, since I can read them all and have never signed up for anything to do with that site or anything like it....but here's some clips in the story above:

" They will play three games in the ensuing 10 days against a French team and a pair of Spanish select teams..... UConn will play a French team called Le Cannet Basket on Saturday, Aug. 5 in Le Cannet, France. On Aug. 7, the Huskies will face a Spanish select team, comprised by players put together solely for summer competition, at Pavellon Olimpica in Barcelona. The following day, they'll face another Spanish select team in the same arena. All three games are open to the public, free of charge...... The competition likely won't be world-beating. It's not like the Huskies will be going up against the likes of Victor Wembanyama. But that's not entirely the point. "

UConn was also allowed 10 extra practices in preparation for the trip. In typical Hurley fashion, that's been as important as anything. "We squeeze every second that the NCAA allows us to use, and we wish we had more time," the coach said. "We love the work, we're all about the work. The work has put us in this position to be winners."
 
PS....Many other college programs are making foreign trips this summer, including Big East rivals Providence (Spain), Marquette (Italy), Creighton and Xavier (Bahamas).

This is the UConn men's team's first foreign tour since 2004, when it visited London during Thanksgiving week. Prior to that, the Huskies embarked on a 17-day journey through England and Israel in August, 1998. UConn was slated for a trip to Italy a couple of years ago, but that got cancelled due to the pandemic. Programs are allowed one foreign trip every four years.
 
Thanks for posting those clips. I can't read those CT Insider clips on either my phone or laptop. I tapped out my free article limit, and they want my money. And I am not giving it to them.

I will be interested to see what happens in these games. More important than winning or losing will be getting the experience and seeing what the freshman can do and where they fit in. These will be the first competitive games, and last against outside competition for 3 months, but it could give Hurley and staff an early look at what things will need to be worked on in practice.
 
KhalidShockedTheWorld said:
Thanks for posting those clips. I can't read those CT Insider clips on either my phone or laptop. I tapped out my free article limit, and they want my money. And I am not giving it to them.
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For some reason my money isn't good enough for them, so I guess I'll have to keep reading them for free, LOL!
 
Looks like alot of grown men-----

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the Blades said:
For some reason my money isn't good enough for them, so I guess I'll have to keep reading them for free, LOL!
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Methinks you hacked them wittingly or unwittingly. Because they are out for money. It's not a Cookies thing it's a VPN thing. They know my Internet address but you are probably using a VPN and they don't know you are breaking in through their pay wall. But good for you if you able to.
 
the Blades said:
and Spencer who could be the leading scorer. Cam can just score the ball at different spots and has good vision besides deadly shooting.
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just caught this short clip on Cam from Dauster, he says Spencer is a better BB player than Timberlake and it worked out for the best for Uconn......from what I've seen so far !

 
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