Back to School - 9/23/10

DENVER - Last week, Kyle Lewis was walking through the Ritchie Center, and I asked him what he was doing now that the Spain trip was over and official practices were nearly a month away.

"You know, I have a lot of free time right now," Lewis said. "Maybe too much. I'm not sure what to do with myself."

Due to NCAA rules, coaches are allowed to work with teams only two hours per week prior to October 15, and following the trip to Spain, DU's coaches postponed the start of those workouts until later this week.

So today I decided to talk to a few of the players about what they were doing with all this free time, expecting to hear about reuniting with old classmates they hadn't seen since the spring and maybe hitting a pizza place or movie.

As the only freshman, Chris Udofia seemed like a logical choice to talk to. Udofia took two classes over the summer and joined the team in Spain, but this is still the official start to his first academic year in college.

"The last couple of weeks have been a nice little transition, especially since being here in the summer helped me adjust more quickly," Udofia said. "It gave me more confidence and an identity. It helped me feel like I know what's going on, and I know the buildings and where I'm supposed to go. It's like a little head start compared to the rest of the freshmen."

So, how has Udofia spent all this free time, when he doesn't have to go to practice and has few obligations outside the classroom?

"We're lifting three days a week and playing pick-up five-on-five games in the afternoon," said Udofia, who along with transfer redshirt sophomore Trevor Noonan and redshirt freshman Blake Foeman are expected to see their first action with the Pioneers this season. "Then twice a week, some of the older guys come help me, Trevor and Blake get familiarized with the offense, since we're getting thrown in."

That's right. Lewis, along with teammates like Andrew Hooper, Brian Stafford and Chase Hallam, decided that while the coaches couldn't hold practices with the players, they could do it themselves.

"We've been holding our own practices so that we can run through the offense, because when we get started officially on October 15, we can jump right into it and not have to rework the things we put in this summer before Spain," said Lewis, who was named DU's captain last week. "We don't want to take any steps back as a team. We want to keep moving forward and making progress."

Udofia looked solid during games in Spain, but a newcomer in a complicated basketball system is liable to get overwhelmed at times.

"It helps out so much. I can see the progress over just the past couple of days," Udofia said. "I'm not going to lie, over the summer I was kind of going off instincts because I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, and it didn't always work out."

Lewis and company have developed these practice sessions primarily to help Udofia, since Noonan and Foeman practiced with the team last season, even though they did not play.

"We want Chris Udofia to be in shape to the point where he knows the offense," Lewis said. "We don't want things to click for him in January or February. We want him to be ready in October, so that he's ready to help us out in November. That's what we want. It's crucial to this team and the direction we're going."

It hasn't been all about basketball for these guys.

Udofia, like most other college freshmen, is enjoying the opportunity to learn about life on campus and meet new people, including roommate Justin Jones, who is a fellow Dallas native and a first year player on the hockey team.

"It's been cool hanging out with the different crowds and getting different perspectives of the DU lifestyle," Udofia said.

Lewis said that he is enjoying his free time, especially since three years of summer school now mean he only needs three classes per quarter in order to graduate on time in June.

"I get to relax and not get so stressed out, and I get to focus on basketball for my last go around," Lewis said. "I'm just enjoying the time with my teammates. We've been able to spend a lot of time together. On Mondays and Wednesdays, we don't have class until noon, so we come in here and hang out, get some shots up and be the guys that we are."

OK. Maybe it has been mostly about basketball.

Adiós España - 9/4/10

MADRID, Spain - After the game last night, forward Chase Hallam asked where we were playing tomorrow.

He was told it was in a town about 90 minutes away, and the incredulous look on his face told the story: This team has been on the bus A LOT this trip.

In fact, the Pioneers traveled 1,752 bus miles last season. That's the entire season combined.

By the time the team returns to campus on Sunday night, we will have surpassed that total during this two-week trip.

Of course, it's all been worth it, since Francisco the bus driver took us from Madrid to the Pyrenees to Barcelona to Andorra through France to San Sebastian and finally back to Madrid.

It was very nice to be in Madrid today with most of the early part of the day off. The players jumped on the subway and headed downtown. Most of them simply walked around exploring and shopping, but Blake Foeman and Alex Pickert ended up touring a castle.

There's so much to see in this city, and while the organized tours have been great, everyone seemed to enjoy the opportunity to wander off and do his own thing.

Overall, as the trip comes to a close, the entire experience has been amazing with a perfect combination of touring Spain and playing basketball against teams of varying levels.

And, without question, the team has gotten better on the court, which was the primary purpose of this adventure. The players and coaches learned things that will help them better prepare for this season.

Everyone seems to be ready to head back to Denver, but everybody on this trip will carry memories of these two weeks in Spain for years.

But, the best part? The first official practice of the season is just 41 days away.

Cleanliness is next to what?: As you can probably imagine, a certain odor has morphed into an extraordinary funk during the past two weeks. Although the players have a few uniforms, which were washed in San Sebastian, playing six games and then stuffing your clothes in a bag takes its toll.

I don't want to be overdramatic, so I will say simply that the bus and team's hallway in the hotel have developed a smell that can only be described as a cross between a hockey locker room and tear gas.

At this point, everybody on the trip is searching for those last remaining pieces of clothing that are at least cleanish. Mitch Hyder, in fact, was caught rubbing deodorant directly onto the shirt he's wearing to tonight's game.

Warning to those waiting back home: Please make sure all washing machines are empty, ready and working.

Run for the Border: When guard Alex Pickert was asked if he was ready to be home. This was his answer: "I just want Taco Bell. If I could get a chalupa here, I think I could stay for a lot longer. And you can quote me on that." Hey Pick, guess where you're playing on Nov. 27. That's right, Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho.

Just Filling In: Someone asked the waiter tonight for a recommendation. His response was that he needed to ask the manager, which seemed odd.

When pushed further he replied, "Really, I'm just one of the security guys, but I'm the only one here who speaks English, so they asked me to take your order."

That, my friends, is customer service.

Special Thanks: I would like to send a personal thank you out to General Jim Head, who helped immensely in compiling unofficial statistics during the six games in Spain. The General is a friend of the coaching staff, who traveled with Joe Scott's teams at Air Force, and was a welcome addition to the travel party. The game recaps would have been considerably more difficult without General Head's assistance.

Estimated Statistics of the Tour of Spain*:
Miles by Air - 11,220

Miles by Bus - 1,752+

Number of Photos Taken by Andrew Hooper - 2,242

Number of Meals Chris Udofia has Eaten at McDonald's - 6

Number of Times Justin Coughlin Has Eaten Gelato - 7 (although he lost count)

Number of Bull Fighting Arenas DU Played In - 1

Number of Puns, such as "Spained Ankle" and "Basque-etball," that Mitch Hyder Made - 4,386

Rolls of Tape Used on Ankles - 50

Number of Side Items at Disco Burger in San Sebastian - 0

Number of Hand Driers that Actually Dried Hands - 0

* Estimates upon return to Denver

Illescas, Spain - 9/3/10

ILLESCAS, Spain - The Pioneers made the six-hour ride back to Madrid this morning. And it's safe to say that everyone is relieved to be done with long bus rides.

In all, we covered about 1,500 miles accounting for roughly 30 hours in the bus during the past 10 days.

The team rolled back into the same hotel as last week around 3 p.m. before heading over to the pregame meal a few minutes later. As you may have guessed after reading Kyle Lewis' blogs, we had chicken and pasta.

Kyle jokes about having the same pregame meal every time, but it's not an unusual choice. Trainer Pat Hoxsey has been with the Pioneers' basketball program for the past 14 years, and he estimates that the pregame meal during that time has varied less than five times. That means Hoxsey has eaten pasta and chicken roughly 425 times during his career.

The team is currently warming up for tonight's game against C.B. Illescas, which plays in Spain's third division. Nobody on the team is looking past these guys, but the opponents warming up definitely don't look like the beasts that have played on the First Division teams in the past two games.

Illescas is a town about 45 minutes south of Madrid, and the team plays in a decent sized gym that appears to hold about 4,000 spectators.

Denver will play its final game of the trip tomorrow night in Avila, which is about an hour and a half northwest of Madrid.

The Big 2-0: Here's wishing guard and all-around good guy Alex Pickert a very happy 20^th birthday today. Pick was taken aback a few days ago, when after lunch a waiter delivered an apple tort with candles (full candles that you might put in a candlestick) and started singing "Happy Birthday."

Although it was three days early, it was a nice sentiment, and nobody has confessed to tipping off the waiter.

Hoop It Up: If you haven't noticed, forward Andrew Hooper has been busy taking photographs of just about every inch of Spain. You can see a selected number of his photos in the "Hooper's World" photo galleries.

In case you're wondering, those galleries contain somewhere between 3-5 percent of the pictures that Hoop has taken.

San Sebastian, Part 2 - 9/2/10

SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain - Today was an off day for the Pioneers, and it was much needed.

Now, nobody is looking for sympathy, but when you put 30-some people together for two weeks and place them in a very enclosed space, like a bus (more than 1,050 miles at an average of roughly 50 miles per hour so far), for much of that time, it's good to have the option to just hang out and relax every once in a while.

Everyone was given options for activities today, but most people, including all of the players, opted to return to downtown instead of driving a few hours to a museum.

There has been one major difference in San Sebastian than any other town we visited. From the first night we arrived, when the players walked through town, people would turn and just stare at them.

It's safe to say that the players may be a little tapa'ed out, so most of them went to a burger place downtown for lunch today. In fact, they liked it so much that they went back for dinner.

One problem: the restaurant offered no side items. Including fries. So, knowing they couldn't eat a burger without fries, the players used their problem-solving skills by walking to McDonald's and ordering fries to take back to Disco Burgers.

It seems the restaurant's proprietors were less than thrilled with the players' solution, so everyone went from dining in to taking out in a matter of minutes.

The good news was that the burgers still tasted just fine.

Lost in Translation: Not surprisingly, without anyone in the travel party that speaks Spanish fluently, there have been some comical moments with communication. They generally involve creative charades.

Trainer Pat Hoxsey went into a pharmacy and asked for hydrocortisone cream for one of the players. The conversation went something like this:

Pat: Do you have any hydrocortisone cream?

Pharmacist: Crema? To shave?

Pat: No. Hydrocortisone cream for a rash (while acting like he was rubbing lotion on his forearm).

Pharmacist: Um. For arm?

Pat: No. For a rash.

Finally, Pat grabbed a pen and wrote it down.

Pharmacist: Oh, hee-dro-quart-ee-so-na.

Pat: Sí.

We also enjoyed watching Blake Foeman try to order whipped cream for his cappuccino today. Somehow he acted out "whipped cream" with very little trouble.

Scoop Shot: Barcelona and San Sebastian have an extraordinary number of gelato places, all of which seem to be busy all the time.

That could be because the Pioneers are in town, as most everybody in the travel party has enjoyed his fair share.

There seems to be an unofficial contest to see who can eat the most. The frontrunners at this point appear to be Justin Coughlin and A.J. Kuhle. Allegedly, neither has been seen in Spain without a gelato cone in his hand.  

San Sabastian - 9/1/10

SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain - As Kyle Lewis said in his blog yesterday, it was a long trip from Andorra to San Sebastian. The ride was eight hours long and covered three countries with the majority coming in France. The team headed to the beach this morning for a couple of hours, and now they're getting ready for tonight's game against Lagun Aro GBC, another squad in the ACB, which is Spain's highest division.

The Pioneers will be playing in Illumbre Arena, which is actually the city's bull fighting venue. Denver has played a number of games in arenas that have a configuration conducive to rodeo - Wyoming and Louisiana-Monroe come to mind - but it's safe to say that this is the first time the team has walked under mounted bulls' heads as they headed to their locker room.

The arena is hot, but it's very nice with a retractable roof that is obviously closed for tonight's game. However, the roof is frosted glass which allows plenty of natural light to shine down.

Kyle's Chronicles Update: Kyle's blog yesterday should have included the fact that the team had Coach Scott's traditional Chicken and Pasta before the game in Andorra. An editorial error was the cause of the omission.

Also, in relation to the story about the team messing with Rob Lewis by putting mayonnaise around and in his mouth as he slept in the bus, a few more details should be added.

When asked why he had a packet of mayonnaise, Andrew Hooper replied, "I don't know. I just found it in the luggage compartment above the seats."

So that should make us feel better.