Team 103

Michigan announces foreign tour to Spain

The University of Michigan announced today that the basketball program will be taking a foreign trip to Spain. The Wolverines will have stops in Madrid and Barcelona and will play three exhibition games overseas between August 17th and 26th.

Here’s the formal announcement.

University of Michigan David and Meredith Kaplan men’s basketball head coach John Beilein announced today (Tuesday, June 26) his 2018-19 Wolverine squad will participate in a foreign tour of Spain, Aug. 17-26, with stops in Madrid and Barcelona. While on the trip the Wolverines are scheduled to play three exhibition games.

“Having the opportunity to take a trip like this is going to make for a lasting memory for our players,” said Beilein. “We are allowed to make these trips once every four years, so this will be our third trip in my time at Michigan. Each trip has proven to be a wonderful educational experience for our student-athletes. This will be a great opportunity to learn about the Spanish culture, as well as bond and grow together as a team. It will also assist us in our preparation for a very challenging 2018-19 schedule. We are very excited for Team 103; this is a fantastic way to start the upcoming season.”

Funded by private supporters through the U-M Athletic Development department, the foreign tour is the third for the Maize and Blue under Beilein, following trips to Belgium in 2010 and Italy in 2014. The NCAA allows programs to take a foreign tour every four years, and teams are granted 10 extra practices in the summer to prepare.

Further details will be released when available. Wolverine fans will be able to follow U-M’s trip to Spain via MGoBlue.com, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Notable Replies

  1. umhoops

    Beilein had confirmed trip was to Spain, but now we have the official dates (August 17th through 26th) and cities (Madrid and Barcelona).

  2. sethbu

    Can recruits visit on such tours under NCAA rules? Usually that wouldn’t be a particularly relevant question, but I’m just thinking that it would be a much shorter trip for a certain younger brother who lives in Germany…

  3. umhoops

    I don’t think there would be anything to stop them from showing up for a game, but you couldn’t setup an official (paid for by University) visit in Spain :slight_smile: Not sure that it would really make sense for Franz to pay his own way to watch an exhibition game in Spain.

  4. KnBlue

    I wonder what kind of teams we are going to face. The last two trips, we faced lower tier teams (but both those years were transition years for us with high roster turnover). Since there seems to be higher expectations this year than the other years we took trips, maybe we face some of the upper echelon Spanish teams.

  5. umhoops

    If I remember correctly, the trip to Belgium they lost a couple of games. The games in Italy were a joke for all intents and purposes.

    They want competitive games, but it can be tough because it is basically the preseason for all Euro leagues. That means a lot of clubs A) haven’t even signed their American stars for the upcoming year and B) players aren’t even all there for the season yet.

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