Fastbreak: Ducks Head on Foreign Tour to Italy
Friday, Aug. 18, 5:45 p.m.

The University of Oregon men’s basketball team will start off its 2011-12 campaign on a 10-day foreign tour of Italy. The Ducks will play a total of five games facing Italian professional teams.

Oregon returns six players from last year’s squad which went 21-18 overall and 7-11 in conference play. It was just the 12th time in school history the men’s basketball program tallied 20-plus victories. Returners include: senior guard Garrett Sim, senior forwards Jeremy Jacob and Tyrone Nared, junior forward E.J. Singler and sophomore guards Johnathan Loyd and Nicholas Lucenti.

UO has nine newcomers, adding five transfers and four prep standouts. Transfers include: senior forward Olu Ashaolu (Louisiana Tech), senior guard Devoe Joseph (Minnesota/tranferred to UO last December), junior centers Tony Woods (Wake Forest) and Chris Larson (Black Hawk CC) and junior forward Carlos Emory (Howard College). The freshmen class includes: guards Bruce Barron (Carbondale, Ill.), Jabari Brown (Oakland, Calif.) and Brett Kingma (Mill Creek, Wash.) and center Austin Kuemper (Portland, Ore.).

COACH DANA ALTMAN'S THOUGHTS ON THE TEAM AND THE UPCOMING TRIP




SENIOR GUARD GARRETT SIM ON THE 10-DAY PRESEASON TRIP




SENIOR FORWARD JEREMY JACOB TALKS ITALY ON DUCKS INSIDER (1:21:00 MARK)




FRESHMAN GUARD JABARI BROWN'S THOUGHTS ON THE UPCOMING SEASON




ITALY FOREIGN TOUR SPECIFICS

Departure date: Monday, Aug. 22
Return date: Friday, Sept. 2


Foreign Tour Game Schedule

Date Opponent Game time (Italian)
Aug. 24 ... Latina Basket, 6:30 pm
Aug. 26 ... Scafati, 6:30 pm
Aug. 30 ... Varese, 8:30 pm
Aug. 31 ... Tezeris Verona, 7:00 pm
Sep. 1 ... Casale Monferrato, 8:30 pm

Sightseeing Opportunities

Date Activities
Aug. 23 ...  Visit the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Rome City Center
Aug. 25 ... Sightseeing tour of Coliseum and Roman Forum
Aug. 28 ... Sightseeing of the Accademia Museum, home of Michelangelo’s renowned statue of David
Aug. 30 ... Sightseeing at Lake Como
Aug. 31 ... Sightseeing Verona
Sept. 1 ... Sightseeing in Milan