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Men’s basketball coach Joe Scott doesn’t use the word confidence when talking about his team’s 13-day trip to Spain in August and September, where the Pioneers finished 4-2 against six teams from four different Spanish pro-levels.
However, according to Scott, it is clear that if there was one tangible thing his players took away from the journey it would be experience.
“What we are looking for is continued improvement and learning from our experiences and if the guys can show they are doing that than that is a pretty strong trait to have,” said Scott.
Scott is familiar with trips to Europe and the success they can bring a program. When he coached at Princeton in the earlier 90s, the Tigers took a trip to play against pro-level teams in Italy.
After the trip, the team was ranked in the preseason top 10.
When he was the head coach at Air Force in 2003, Scott took the Falcons overseas to play in both Sweden and Denmark. The result: Air Force won the Mountain West Conference regular season crown and finished the year in the top 25.
“Both times I went (overseas) we had teams with a lot of experience coming back and we were trying to build the program, by working in some new players,” Scott said. “For us (DU), the real goal of the trip was to throw in new blood like (transfer) center Trevor Noonan and freshman Chris Udofia and see what kind of impact they can have on this team.”
As for returning players, junior Brian Stafford and sophomore Chase Hallam fill the void left by Nate Rohnert, who graduated in the spring. The duo will pair with senior Kyle Lewis to create an experienced backcourt that hopes to thrive this season.
“We are three different players who can all bring the ball and score in different ways, which will help us during the season” Stafford said.
Lewis, who was named team captain this past week, is among several players who Scott says will make a difference come the regular season.
“I thought Kyle was terrific on the trip,” Scott said. “He played with a tremendous sense of urgency, playing as if this was his last game and that is why he is our captain and why it was good for us to see him play like that.”
Besides gaining experience, the Pioneers were able to get a huge leg up on the competition by having 10 team practices at school before flying to Spain.
While overseas, the team played in six games over the course of 13 days and when they weren’t playing, they were sight-seeing.
“It was many of the guys’ first trip to Europe, so it was a new part of the world for us, which was really neat,” Stafford said.
The trip started in Madrid, but the team wasn’t there long. They traveled by bus to several Spanish cities, including Toledo, Seville, San Sebastian and the small country of Andorra.
“They were all awesome places,” Stafford said. “And while we were over there we really got to know the new guys better as well as guys who have been on the team before. Since coming back, I think we all have a sense of how tight of a group we really are.”
