Here is the first of several installments of news from PC's trip to Italy. The first comes courtesy of assistant coach Kevin Kurbec
Buongiorno from Italy! Though we left Providence less than 4 days ago, we already have had quite an experience. We experienced a bit of anxiety before we arrived as our plane from Providence to Philadelphia left 90 minutes late, causing us to land in Philadelphia at exactly the same time that our flight to Rome was scheduled to leave. A two terminal sprint combined with a little help from the people at US Air and we were able to make our connection with no time to spare. After an 8-hour flight across the Atlantic, we finally arrived in Rome just before 10:00am Thursday morning.
Day 1 was mostly a day of rest as the overnight flight took its toll on all of us. We also used the day to get acclimated to the time change and our surroundings here in Rome. After resting up on Thursday, Friday was time to get back to our normal routine and prepare for our first game. We bussed to a mountain town called Veroli, about 90 minutes south of Rome and matched up with the hometown squad. Our guys came out of the gate flying, and we cruised to a 128-68 victory.
Though the game was never in doubt, there were a ton of positives that we took from this opening match-up. First, we proved that we have a ton of different offensive options coming into the season. Sharaud Curry, our leading returning scorer from last year, only attempted 1 shot from the field, but had a tremendous game overall, dishing out 13 assists in 23 minutes. Though Sharaud only scored 3 points, we were still able to rack up a whopping 128 points on the night. One of the great opportunities that this trip provides for us is to have a chance to get guys like Jeff Xavier, Randall Hanke and Chuck Burch into the mix. As everyone knows, Jeff and Randall both red-shirted last season, and Chuck missed the final 16 games with a back injury. Randall picked up right where he left off at the end of the 2006 season, as he made 12 of 16 shots from the floor en-route to a 24 point, 8 rebound performance. Dwain Williams also looked to be in mid-season form, as he continued his hot shooting from the last 2 games of this past season and finished with 18 points. Jon Kale and Ray Hall were also dominant, racking up 17 and 13 points respectively.
Saturday night brought us to our 2nd game of the trip and another 2 hour bus ride, this time to a small town called Atina. We matched up with the Pepsi Caserta team, a much better squad than our opponents the previous evening. We arrived to the game a little later than planned due to an RV rollover on the Autostrade, which included everyone in front of us getting out of their cars and having a smoke right in the middle of the highway. Once the game began, Caserta took us out of our rythmn on the offensive end while also executing perfectly when they had the ball. They ran out to a 6-point lead after one quarter and were up 16 at the half. Though we were down 22 after 3 quarters, we finally put it together in the 4th quarter and ended up losing by 10 points. We are continuing to look at many different line-up combinations on this trip, and we will continue to mix and match guys over the next 4 games. Though the result of this game was totally different from our first game, there still were some bright spots. Jon Kale played another terrific game, finishing with 22 points and 11 rebounds in 30 minutes of action. Jon has worked extremely hard since the end of last season and looks to really be a force for us this winter. Though he only scored 6 points, Geoff McDermott also played very well, dishing out 4 assists and collecting 5 steals in 18 minutes of action. He was one of the major keys in our 4th quarter comeback, when our defense became very aggressive and really bothered Caserta.
There are many differences between the European game, which is governed by FIBA rules, and our American college game. Besides the Trapezoid key area and the deeper 3-point line, we are also getting used to a 24-second shot clock. Though it has not been a major issue, we have had a few shot clock violations that probably would not have occurred in America. We also have been trying to get used to the officiating over here, which can best be described as “iffy”. We had one out of bounds play where the official handed us the ball, Charles Burch scored a lay-up, then the official blew the whistle and waived off the basket because a player on the other team was not ready. The official explained to us that it was “better for us” to re-do the play, even though 2 points came off the board.
We have also enjoyed a great deal of culture in our 3 days here in Rome. First and foremost, and anyone who has ever been to Italy can attest to this, the food is both plentiful and delicious. Each night we go out to dinner and we are fed like kings. Platters and platters of food are dropped on the table, and nobody walks away hungry. We also spent today (Sunday) on a guided tour of Rome. The highlight of the tour was our time spent at the Roman Coliseum, where we were given a detailed description of the Roman Gladiator culture and the history of the Coliseum itself. We also spent time at the Roman Forum and enjoyed lunch on a hill overlooking the city. This trip is providing with a tremendous opportunity both on and off of the court, and we plan to make the most out of every second that we have here.
Tomorrow morning it is off to Florence. We play again Tuesday evening against Pistoia. We will check-in with everyone again in a couple of days. Ciao!
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Hi.
I want to answer to the article "Friars coach reports from Italy".
My name is Alessandro Martolini and I was the 1st referee in the game between Caserta and Providence University.
In this article the man who writes says this, at a certain point:
"We had one out of bounds play where the official handed us the ball, Charles Burch scored a lay-up, then the official blew the whistle and waived off the basket because a player on the other team was not ready. The official explained to us that it was “better for us” to re-do the play, even though 2 points came off the board".
I perfectly remember this fact and I want to explain what it really happened and the reasons why I had to delete the basket.
During an action, the ball ended out and there was a throwing-in for Providence University.
I was in charge to deliver the ball for the throw-in on the end-line.
The guard of Caserta, named La Bella, asked me for cleaning the field, because it
was wet. I didn't hear him and I delivered the ball to Providence team, so
that they passed the ball to a player and they scored an easy basket,
without any player of Caserta defending on them, because they were expecting
to clean the field, considering that they heard La Bella's request.
I perfectly know that in all rules (Fiba, Nba, Ncaa) when the referee
delivers the ball, the players can play, because we say the ball is "live".
But this is not the point: the matter is different.
We have to distinguish when we are playing an official game and when we're
playing a friendly game, without any limit of fouls for each player or with 2 (official, in our case) referees without any uniforms.
What kind of sense can have to score a basket when the other team is waiting
for cleaning the field and You're free to do whatever You want.
Just immagine what it could be happened if the Providence player who scored
2 points, after the throw-in, would have been slid, because of the wet
field??!!!
Dear friends, I think You were playing a friendly game, and we have to use
the right common sense to think that it was unfair to score a point in a
friendly game when the other team doesn't defend to wait for cleaning the
field!
And this even more in a friendly game, where no body is playing to win
anything or to be qualified for a final, but the spirit of the game was just
to play basketball and to be trained for the next season.
Regards
Alessandro Martolini
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