It may only be July, but Texas A&M and new head basketball coach Billy Kennedy got a jump start on the 2011-12 season late Wednesday evening as preparations for the upcoming European Tour began with a two-hour workout inside the Cox-McFerrin Center.
Kennedy and the Aggies are allowed 10 practices in advance of the tour, which will take place Aug. 8-17 and will route A&M through Switzerland and France on a four-game schedule. The tour will not only be a great bonding experience, but will give Kennedy and his staff a great look at his team and a chance to begin implementing his system prior to the start of preseason workouts in October.
After just one workout, Kennedy–who is entering his 14th season as a head coach–liked what he saw out of the group.
“We had good energy,” Kennedy said. “It was a lot of fun to finally see these guys that you’ve heard so much about and see what kind of players they are. I liked our intensity, our effort. Our guys really had the right attitude team-wise tonight, being unselfish and being excited to play.”
An added benefit of the tour is the inclusion of freshmen, as Jamal Branch (Arlington), Jordan Green (Flower Mound) and Grant Jolly (Southlake) all went through their first full-squad workout in the maroon and white.
Practices will continue up until the team departs for Zurich on Monday, Aug. 8. Among the off-the-court highlights will be visits to some of Europe’s most scenic and famous landmarks, including Lake Lucerne, Mount Pilatus, the River Seine, the Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles. It will be the first foreign tour for the program since visiting Italy in 2003.
Fans can learn a bit more about the team through photos, videos and more–and follow the Aggies throughout their tour of Europe–on the Fast Break Blog at aggieathletics.com.
NOTES:
- Kennedy said Wednesday’s practice was more detail-oriented and more technical than one might see at the start of a normal preseason schedule, with such a small window of opportunity to get ready for Europe: “You’ve only got 10 practices, so today was a lot further advanced than it would be in the regular season,” Kennedy said. “There are some fundamentals, but we are doing a lot more ‘team’ stuff, things I’m more accustomed to later in the regular season. We’re just really trying to throw everything at them really quick and they’ve been very receptive so far.”
- The team is practicing as they will play in Europe … with games scheduled against foes such as the Swiss National Team, A&M is trying to get players used to the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) rules … some differences include a 24-second shot clock, wider lanes, a deeper 3-point arc, and perhaps most noticeably the basketballs … the lanes and 3-point line have been taped down on the practice court inside Cox-McFerrin for a while now, so the players can get used to the different distances.
- Junior Khris Middleton (North Charleston, S.C.) will depart for the USA Basketball World University Games Team Training Camp in Colorado Springs on Friday … should Middleton make the squad, he will depart for Shenzhen, China on Aug. 8 … should he not, he will still depart, but Eastbound this time, with the Aggies for Europe on the same date.
- Some jersey changes for A&M heading into the upcoming season: redshirt freshman Daniel Alexander will wear #20 (was #15) … junior Naji Hibbert will wear #2 (was #23) … sophomore Blake McDonald will wear #12 (was #00).
- Follow the Aggies’ preparation for Europe and the 10-day tour of Switzerland and France through the Aggie Basketball “Fast Break” Blog on aggieathletics.com … it will feature photos, videos, game updates and more … a video recap of Wednesday night’s workout will be available later this morning on the blog.
- Fans can follow Aggie hoops on Twitter at @AggieMensHoops and Coach Kennedy on Twitter at@Coach_Kennedy.