This is PC assistant coach Kevin Kurbec's final diary from Italy. His attention to detail and writing skills have me hoping he doesn;t steal my job one day soon.
It is Sunday and we are back in Rome, ready to enjoy one last day of sights and camaraderie before returning back to Providence on Monday. It has been quite an experience for all of us, one that will hopefully be a huge building block towards a successful winter. When you take one of these trips, wins and losses do not always tell the story as to the overall success of the trip. Unfortunately, we dropped our final game since we last checked in, falling to a very good Serie-A foe, Teramo, 92-63 in our game Saturday night. The loss put us at an even 3-3 on the trip. A number of factors contributed to the loss, starting with the exceptional play of our opponent, Teramo. They were lead by former Illinois star Roger Powell, a starting forward on their National Runner-up team of 2005 as well as a member of the squad that we defeated in the Jimmy V Classic during the 2003-2004 season.
Teramo came flying out of the gate, as their fans were excited to see the home team for the first time this season. They jumped out to a 22-10 lead after the first quarter, and we never were able to make a large enough run to get the lead under single digits. It was one of those games where everything seemed to work for them and nothing seemed to go right for us. Even when we would have a good defensive stand, it seemed like they would throw up one of those wild 25-footers as the shot clock went off that would somehow find its way into the basket.
It appeared that fatigue also may have played a factor for us, as we didn’t seem to have the legs to build any momentum, as it was our sixth game in 9 days. There were some positives from the game as well, starting with Jon Kale who continued his terrific play. Jon finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds, and it seemed as though he was in the mix on just about every play. Though he did struggle from the floor (4-14) and the free throw line (4-12 as well), he has continued to develop into an inside scoring threat that can hopefully help us to off-set the loss of Herbert Hill. Sharaud Curry had another solid performance as well, throwing in 18 points on 6-11 shooting from the field. Though their lines in the box score may not indicate it, both Ray Hall and Randall Hanke played some of their best basketball of the trip. Ray was very aggressive and physical on the interior, grabbing 7 rebounds in just 13 minutes and playing with a ton of energy. He is a guy that can really help us this winter if he plays like he did against Teramo all season. Randall, though only scoring 2 points as well, turned in his best defensive game of the trip, blocking 3 shots in the paint and changing many others. If Ray and Randall can play solid defense in the interior and be factors on the defensive glass, they will be huge keys to us this year.
We once again struggled from the free throw line, shooting below 50% (15-31), and we also were very careless in committing 20 turnovers, though a handful were once again attributable to the differences in rules between FIBA and the US college game.
As I mentioned earlier, the success of a trip like this one cannot be measured in wins and losses. We played very good basketball at times, and other times we didn’t play as well. We tried to mix and match many different line-ups, and we also were excited to integrate some familiar faces, like Randall Hanke and Charles Burch back into the mix. We were hoping to get a longer look at Jeff Xavier as well, but unfortunately his injury in the first quarter of Game 2 ended his basketball playing portion of the trip early. He has been improving each day, and we hope to see him out there again soon. Jeff is a tough kid who has overcome a lot of obstacles to get where he is today, and we are confident that he will recover quickly and contribute in the near future.
As much as we learned from the on-court activities, we probably gained just as much if not more from the off-court experience. The trip was a tremendous bonding opportunity for an already tight-knit group, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience for these young men. We had some very enjoyable times together, whether it was at one of our many incredible feasts, sight-seeing at some of the most famous landmarks in the world, or just making small-talk and joking around on some of the long bus rides that we endured. We made it a point to switch around our roommate combinations each stop along the way, and it resulted with each player staying with 5 different teammates over the 11 nights here in Italy.
There was also quite a bit of culture that we picked up along the way. First off, the Italian people are very helpful and friendly, for the most part (unless they are working behind the counter at the Auto Grill). One night, coming back late after a game on the bus, we found the street in Porto San Giorgio blocked off because of a street fair. Since Porto San Giorgio is a very small town, many streets were not passable for our bus. We walked into a Pizzeria and asked for directions, and the owner actually closed his store down for the night, hopped in his car, and had the bus follow him via a detour to the hotel. I cannot think of any situation where that would happen in America.
Another thing that we learned was that the fans are very appreciative of good play and very positive on the whole. We were always welcomed with applause whenever we were introduced, and whenever we made a good play fans would applaud our players right in the middle of cheering for their own team. One situation in particular stood out to me in our final game vs. Teramo. Roger Powell went to the free throw line with the score tied 2-2 early on and he missed both of his 2 free throws very badly. After we had a possession, Teramo came down the floor and we once again fouled Powell, sending him to the line for 2 more shots. He actually air-balled his first shot this time, making him 0-3 at this point. Now, if this was the winter and we were at the DUNK, and Geoff McDermott was 0-3 including an airball, there would be audible groans and rumbles raining down from the stands. In Italy, the fans actually started an ovation prior to Roger’s 4th shot, just to be positive and try to help with his confidence. Not coincidentally, Roger made the next free throw after missing badly on his first 3, and went on to have a solid game. It may be a small thing, but it I something that stood out to me n and says a lot about the Italian fans.
Tomorrow (Monday) we will fly back to Providence and hit the ground running as classes start first thing Tuesday morning. We are excited about the group that will be flying back with us, and we are also looking forward to welcoming incoming freshmen Alex Kellogg, Marshon Brooks and Greedy Peterson into the fold upon our return. For all, this was an incredible experience, one that will not soon be forgotten. We have a tremendous group of young men here who are ready to do something special this season, and I believe that this 12-day journey that we are just completing will be a big part of our success this coming season. Ciao for the last time and we look forward to seeing everyone upon our return.
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I live near Teramo in the small town of Valle San Giovanni (http://vallesangiovanni.com) and several people from my village were able to witness this exciting event.
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