#DawgsDownUnder: Tourist Day in Sydney on Day Eight
August 08, 2016 | Men's Basketball
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Live streaming links: Dandenong (Aug. 3, 1:30 a.m. PT) | Frankston (Aug, 4, 2 a.m. PT) | Mainland (Aug. 6, 11 p.m. PT) | Sydney University (Aug. 8, 2:30 a.m. PT) | Sydney (Aug. 10, 2 a.m. PT)
Recaps: Game 1 (L, 96-100ot) | Game 2 (W, 94-59) | Game 3 (W, 92-79) | Game 4 (W, 101-80) | Game 5 (L, 86-96)
SYDNEY, Australia – Day Eight
Following last night's 101-80 win over Sydney University, we are now 3-1 on our foreign tour and have just one game remaining. Yesterday was a tough challenge for the guys from both a physical and mental standpoint. After the long travel day and lack of sleep, they still had to be ready to go for a 7:30 p.m. tip off against a team comprised of both professional and collegiate players from Australia.
It was another sold-out arena – capacity was 1,500, but they squeezed in 300 more college kids, making the place loud and rowdy. There were also quite a few Washington Husky fans there which was awesome to see and hear (when we did good things). One of the best parts was the PA announcer/hype man they had on the mic throughout the game. Now for every other game on this tour, there has typically been music playing while the game is going. This game didn't have that but our boy on the mic provided enough entertainment to fill that gap.
He started calling our guys by their nicknames (he was seated right by our bench) and basically just gave this running commentary throughout the game. We were dying even when Greg Bowman, also known as G-Bow, got in the game and slammed home a dunk, the guy said G-BOWWW!!!!!! Definitely got a kick out of that.
We all crashed pretty hard as soon as we got back to the hotel, which is a beautiful place right in the heart of Sydney. Today there was the option of taking a guided tour of the Sydney Opera House this morning which 17 of us went on, even with the early wake up call. The guided tour is very different than what you would normally get if you just went there for the day. Our tour guide Colin was fantastic and it helped that he is a HUGE Brandon Roy fan, so I think he was equally excited we were his group as we were with him.
The iconic Sydney Opera House is an amazing piece of architecture and to hear about how it came to be was truly fascinating. The architect who designed actually was picked out of a world-wide contest that the Australia Government did to try and find the right designer. Out of the 220 that entered, No. 218, a Danish man by the name of Jorn Utzon was the winner. One of the things we did not know about the building is that it is actually two structures and was the only design out of the 220 that split the two concert halls into separate buildings.
Matisse Thybulle was especially excited to visit the Opera House having lived in Australia for four years when he was younger without ever stepping foot inside.
"The tour was really cool because I remember as a little kid we would run around the outside but I never saw what was really going on in the inside which is what makes it really special," said Thybulle. "They have the rooms where they do the opera and ballet and then we saw the concert hall which holds and organ which has over 10,000 different pipes which was awesome to see."
Utzon was inspired by the sails of the boats that would be coming in and out of the harbor for his design and you clearly see that when walking around. We first went into the Opera/Ballet hall which was being set up for an opera later this evening then headed over to the concert hall where we got a peak at the Sydney City Symphony warming up for their rehearsal.
"The architecture of the building was amazing," added Thybulle. "I was just looking through some of the photos I took and when our guide was talking about the architect and how he developed the whole thing, just being there and looking at it, you really can appreciate the beauty and work that went into create it."
It was such a treat to be able to go behind the scenes at this iconic venue and if you're ever in Sydney, look up the nights where they show movies in the concert hall with the symphony playing the soundtrack. Back to the Future is coming next month and I would give anything to be at that!!
Since today was an open day we decided to take one of the ferries over to Manly Beach, another one of the popular beaches here in the Sydney area. It was a little windy but the beach itself was beautiful and there were tons of shops and restaurants to peruse.
If that wasn't your cup of tea, you could also rent surfboards and head out into the water which is what nine of our 13 guys did and let me tell you, watching these 6-9, 6-10 basketball players surf was easily the highlight of the trip. Check out our Instagram and twitter for some videos.
Sam Timmins and Matisse Thybulle were the only two that were able to fully stand up on the board, but the rest of the guys gave it a good effort.
"Manly Beach was really fun," said Thybulle. "We all rented surfboards and wet suits and just tried our best to get up on the boards. I think Sam was the best, but I did get up once and it was just a good experience to do something different down here away from the court."
Following a team dinner at an excellent pizzeria, we are now all going to rest and prepare for our final game tomorrow against the Sydney Comets. This team should be the toughest we play on this trip and we are looking forward to leaving Australia with a 4-1 record.
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand/SYDNEY, Australia – Day Six and Seven
We've had a busy last few days that have been pretty amazing (outside of the travel, kind of over that at this point, but hey we only have two more flights left!). Let's start with Sunday here Down Under. We had a game in Christchurch against the Mainland Eagles, who were coached by Sam Timmins' former coach, Mark Dickel.
This was our first and only day game of the trip and since we hadn't played since Melbourne, we got to the arena a little early to get some shots up. This arena was a hoops junkie's dream. It looked like it was straight out of Hoosiers. Or that it was the first basketball court to ever be put together in Christchurch. It had this dark wood on the floor and just had an old school gymnasium feel. I absolutely loved it.
Once we got there, many of the 20+ members of the Sam Timmins fan club started showing up. It was the first time we had a game with a very loud Husky presence and we loved it. Prior to the start of the contest, we were treated to a traditional Haka by a group local to Christchurch. Following the dance, the elder brought our guys out to the court to receive a hongi from each of the Maori people there performing. The hongi is the Maori welcome expressed by rubbing or touching of noses, somewhat similar to greeting someone with a kiss on the cheek.
In terms of actual game action, it stayed fairly close until the fourth quarter when we used a 16-2 run to take a commanding lead. Following the win, it was once again time for autograph signing and picture taking, mainly with Timmins, who had a throng of people around him for a good 45 minutes after the game.
While we were waiting for the local celebrity to finish taking all of his photos, the rest of the squad had a nice meal with the Eagles and Markelle Fultz decided to sit and block shots on a shortened hoop taken by 7-8 year olds for a good 20 minutes. Hilarity ensued, please see the video on our Instagram or Twitter.
Knowing we had to get up at 3:45 a.m. local time, we headed out for an early dinner at a Benihana style restaurant in Christchurch, a Malik Dime suggestion. It was an amazing dinner and I'm pretty sure our crew ate them out of all of their fried rice.
We got up early and caught a 6:10 a.m. flight to Sydney which should have taken 2 hours and 50 minutes but due to a blown generator on the plane, we ended up being in the air for four hours (we were safe the whole time, just had to take a different route). Once we finally landed, we breezed through customs. We've been to this airport now three times in seven days, so we're basically pros at navigating it and I'm pretty sure some of the workers remembered us.
Another bus tour awaited us once we got through customs and this time it was a little more low key than the last two that we have done. I think the driver knew we were all operating on about three hours of sleep and kind of stayed off the microphone, which we all appreciated. Since we couldn't check into our hotel for a few hours, he took us to the famous Bondi Beach, which woke the guys up real quick.
The beach is the most famous in the Sydney area, even though it is not the biggest out of the almost 80 that are in the vicinity. It is picturesque in every way you can imagine. A white sand beach, shaped by stunning cliffs and crystal clear blue water. We stopped for about 30 minutes and those that were brave enough, because it is winter down here despite the sun, went down the water, took pictures and just enjoyed the nice weather (a few actually jumped in the water too, brave souls).
After one more stop at a lookout that gave us panoramic views of the entire Sydney area, we headed to the hotel so our crew could get some rest since we do have a game tonight. Sydney is a bustling metropolis, somewhat reminiscent of New York City in terms of just the amount of people walking around. The Australian census comes out tomorrow and per our bus driver, they are expecting Sydney to be announced at over five million people. Clearly smaller than NYC but you just feel the same kind of buzz from the hustle and bustle.
We face the Sydney University Lions tonight at 2:30 a.m. PT (7:30 p.m. Sydney time on Monday) in our second-to-last game on the tour. Tomorrow is an exploration day for the group. We will tour the Sydney Opera House along with giving the guys some time to go out and take in the city before our final game on Wednesday against the Sydney Comets.
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – Day Five
The second leg of our trip is officially underway as we landed in Christchurch, New Zealand late last night (Friday locally) and are now 19 hours ahead of the Washington. Friday was mainly a travel day outside of a few free hours in the morning where some guys went to the famous Queen Victoria Market and just walked around to take in Melbourne one last time.
Following a short flight to Sydney, a trip through customs and another flight to Christchurch, we finally got to New Zealand around 11 p.m. local time. It's exciting to get to another country and learn about another culture but for one person in our travel party, the arrival meant a little bit more.
Freshman Sam Timmins, who is from Dunedin, New Zealand, was equal parts nervous and excited as we were waiting to get through customs at the Christchurch airport as he knew what was going to be on the other side of the gate. Not having seen anyone in his family since December, Timmins has been looking forward to this trip for some time and when he walked through the door, mom, aunt, grandparents and other family members went running to see their guy (who looks quite different than he did in December thanks to Coach Shapiro's strength and conditioning program).
"I've been at the University of Washington since December, training getting ready for my first freshman season and haven't seen my family in nine months which has been really tough, but it's great to finally be here and see everyone," said Timmins. "I'm really excited to be back around all the people that were there when I first started playing basketball and really excited to introduce those people to the guys on the team and Coach Romar. I'm really thankful to UW for being able to make this happen and right now I'm just looking forward to spending some quality time with everyone."
Today's schedule was the first without travel or a game since we arrived Down Under so we took advantage and started the day with a bus tour of the city. Once again we had an amazing tour guide in our bus driver John, who offered 'bro hugs' for $1. Keep in mind John is probably 65-70 years old. John was hilarious and did a great job of keeping the commentary light and easy to follow.
He also was masterful in explaining the recent history of Christchurch, which was devastated by earthquakes from Sept. 2010-Februray 2011. The city is still in a massive rebuilding phase and driving around on the bus you would pass empty lots, lots of rubble and many buildings that are fenced off due to damage and haven't been repaired yet. You also see a lot of new buildings going up, so basically there is construction everywhere.
John made sure to keep such a sad history light though, first telling us not to worry, that being on the bus we'd be fine because we wouldn't be able to feel the earthquake. Then giving an example about how he was at a stoplight and a bicyclist was next to him one day when a small earthquake struck and he saw the bicyclist go 'a-- over turkey' and he just thought the guy was having some kind of epileptic seizure or something or was on drugs until he realized other things were shaking and it was actually an earthquake.
The devastation from the two big earthquakes is still so present, it was very eye opening. I honestly could write a whole paper on what I learned about the earthquakes and how the city has been rebuilding thanks to John's knowledge, and our guys were fully engaged and appreciative of it as well.
Along with rolling through the city in our massive bus, we stopped at the Canterbury Museum which was filled with tons of artifacts dating all the way back to the 1600s.
Next, John took us up the Port Hills Mountains, which are remnants of old volcanoes, to this lookout that gave us 360 views of all of Christchurch. You could see all the way to the Pacific Ocean, it was beautiful.
Christchurch is filled with tons of art sculptures and graffiti along with many little gardens that now lay where buildings use to be. One sculpture really stood out to our group. We drove over a bridge and coming out of the stream was this rusted structure. John informed us that it was actually part of the World Trade Center wreckage from 9/11 as many New Zealand firefighters volunteered to go help following the tragedy and brought that back to remember what happened on that day.
Following the tour, we had a short break to grab some food or sleep, whatever floated your boat at that time and then headed to watch a high school rugby playoff match with our rugby expert Mr. Sam Timmins. Without knowing, we chose the right side to sit on as that team's student section was right next to us, and that team went up 20-0 in the first 10 minutes. These kids had no chill, they were taunting and yelling and jumping up and down nonstop – to the point where following one of their cheers (which I can't type out), their administrator had to come over with a blowhorn and scold them for being inappropriate. Needless to say, we were all dying with laughter.
Sam, who played rugby for a lot of his youth and comes from a strong rugby background (his dad is kind of a legend around these parts and was actually at the game withus) sat and answered all of our questions about what was happening and I think we all walked away a little more well-versed in the world of rugby. Our guys definitely have a newfound respect for the sport and its physicality as well.
Now it's time to watch some film, rest and get ready for our game against Mainland tomorrow at 7 p.m. PT (2 p.m. local time, Sunday).
MELBOURNE, Australia – Day Three
This day was marked on a lot of our calendars as soon as the itinerary came out because today was our visit to the Royal Melbourne Zoo. But first, let's quickly recap our game last night against the Dandenong Rangers which unfortunately resulted in a 100-96 overtime loss but was a great learning experience as it was our first time playing a real game all together.
The main reason teams do these trips is to get that real-game experience during the summer months that you wouldn't normally get until a preseason scrimmage in October. You also get to walk away with a lot of game film. Despite the loss, the Huskies had some great performances especially by freshman Markelle Fultz and sophomore David Crisp, who combined for 60 points.
Fultz also provided a block that would have likely made the No. 1 play on SportsCenter for the next month as he chased down a breakaway layup from the opposite 3-point line, stopped the shot and sent the awesome sold-out crowd of 3,000 to their feet.
So back to today, which is our last in Melbourne as we head to New Zealand tomorrow morning, we made our way to the Zoo around 10 a.m. this morning. The Royal Melbourne Zoo is Australia's oldest zoo and contains more than 320 different animal species, between Kangaroos, Koalas, and Lions and Tigers and Bears …. Sorry had to do that. I actually don't think there were any bears that we saw.
While our time was limited, the main animals we wanted to check out were the kangaroos because as Coach Romar says, "You can't come to Australia without seeing a kangaroo, even if it is asleep!" By the way, the kangaroos were asleep, lazy things. The gorillas were also a huge hit. The zoo had a family of three – mom, dad and baby. As you may or may not know, gorillas are insanely protective of their babies.
A few of our guys learned this first hand. When we got up to the glass the gorillas weren't doing anything and some of our group may or may not have made some noises trying to get their attention, well, they got mom's attention as she came charging at the glass and may or may not have scared the living you know what out of a few of our guys – lesson learned.
We also got to check out the giraffes, which even though you know giraffes are tall, you forget that until you see them up close. They were awesome (and are a personal favorite of the person writing this right now). We took a walk through the lemur garden, where these little guys were able to just walk right up to you, checked out the elphants and then finished by going through the reptile area so Noah could see a crocodile.
Fun fact about the Melbourne Zoo – it has two exits, which this writer had the unfortunate experience of learning and ended up having to take an uber back to the hotel. Oops, but on that ride, my driver provided some awesome historical information on Melbourne and how the culture here is really undergoing a resurgence with a lot of new businesses and people moving to the city. I told him I would be back, and I truly mean that. This city has been amazing, from the people to the architecture to the culture, everything has made these three days an awesome experience for our group.
We take on the Frankston Blues tonight at 2 a.m. PT and then head to the homeland of Sam Timmins tomorrow!
MELBOURNE, Australia – Day Two
Well, we now have one full day under our belt and are feeling a little more rested and closer to being adjusted as we head into the first of our five games on this foreign tour tonight against the Dandenong Rangers. The weather here has been very much like Seattle in late September, early October. High 50s with some random rain showers and wind here and there, so that hasn't taken any adjusting to and it is quite nice when the sun comes out.
Following our team dinner last night, BBQ by a guy from Texas of all places, we had a short film session and pretty much everyone was asleep by 9 or 10. Many of the guys and staff woke up early though, calling and asking if they could go down to breakfast early just because our bodies are still getting used to the time change. I'm always curious to see what kind of different foods are on a hotel breakfast buffet in another country and the one that stood out today was baked beans. Just felt kind of weird seeing them sitting there next to pancakes, just my opinion though.
With it being our first gameday with this squad we wanted to try and incorporate some similar routines that we do on a normal regular season game day but we also mixed in a cultural experience that was in conjunction with the anthropology class the team took before we left, I'll get to more on that in a second.
After breakfast, we hopped on the bus and headed to Victoria University (not where we will play today) to get in a quick shootaround and just have the squad moving around getting shots up. The facility was four courts and while we were going through our shootaround, there were games going on the other courts with a bunch of young Australians who all basically stopped and watched in awe as our tall group walked in and started dunking.
Right after that we headed to the Melbourne Museum to visit the 'First Peoples Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre' to experience the rich living culture of Victoria's First Peoples – the Aborigines. The guys - along with our women's team who is also coming down to Australia this month – took a class for two weeks prior to leaving for our trip which was taught by Washington Professor Holly Barker, who is also on the trip with us.
During the class the team learned about the aboriginal people and their history along with some different research methods, service learning components to give themselves a good base on the history of the country before coming down here.
The First Peoples exhibit is absolutely one of a kind. It includes hundreds of Indigenous artifacts ranging from 40-foot canoes to boomerangs to the clothing and the various tools the Aborigines used to cook and hunt and survive in the desert. Being able to connect what the team learned in Seattle with this first-person experience was something junior Greg Bowman really appreciated.
"I think what stood out the most was just seeing the faces of these people," said Bowman. "We didn't really have any pictures in the books we were reading in class so to see these current people in these videos talking about their history and the looks on their faces just after all that their culture has been through hit me the most."
Professor Barker added: "It's one thing to read textbooks academically in a classroom, which if we are learning about Aboriginal cultures in Seattle, we're limited in that we can only look at textbooks. For them to have the opportunity to do this study abroad, it means they can learn these issues with a human face on them so they have empathy and compassion and it becomes about real people in a way that you can only do when you experience something firsthand."
While in the exhibit, the guys were back in class mode as they were tasked with snapping pictures of things that related to the research projects they will complete when they get back but overall, it was a really engaging experience.
"These students have been fabulous in the classroom," said Barker. "They put in all of their work before they came here, studying theory, studying research methods and research ethics and now being on this trip they are able to conduct original research that they could not do in Seattle, which is pretty special."
Washington and Coach Romar do such a good job in making sure the student part goes into student-athlete especially when it comes to trips like these which I think is really unique. Even last year, when we went to China, we took a two week course to learn Mandarin and about some of the places we would see.
"Personally, I like adding these educational courses to our trips," said Bowman. For one it's a good way to get some credits but it also just makes it a cultural experience. If we weren't doing the class then we probably wouldn't be in here at this exhibit doing this stuff. Also it's just nice to learn something about where you are at, learn the history, the people who were first here, it's just really interesting."
Once we wrapped up class, it was back to the bus to head the hotel for pregame meal before we go to the arena here in a few hours.
We'll be posting a full recap of tonight's game later, but hey for you nightowls, you can watch a live stream starting at 1:30 a.m. PT on a link that will be posted to the @UW_MBB twitter page close to gametime.
MELBOURNE, Australia – Day One
We left Seattle around 3:30 p.m. PT on Sunday, July 31 before landing in San Francisco at 5:45 p.m. Up next was our nearly six-hour layover at SFO, which was exciting for freshman Carlos Johnson who was lucky enough to have his family come visit him and bring his favorite homecooked meal.
"It was so great seeing my family at the airport," said Johnson. "I haven't seen them in a while and just getting a chance to chill and hang out before heading on this tour was great. My mom brought me my favorite meal – homemade chicken and shrimp alfredo – and we all sat there, ate and caught up."
Following that extended time in the terminal watching movies and trying to stay awake, it was finally time to get on the massive 75-row (10 seats across) double-decker Qantas flight that would get our squad to Sydney in just under 14 hours. Thankfully, it was not a full flight and the group was able to spread out and get some quality rest before arriving in Sydney at 6:10 a.m.
First observation? The Australian culture and people here have been a huge hit with our crew.
"The people here are so welcoming and friendly," Johnson said. "They are very nice and you get a really good vibe just out and about walking around interacting with everyone."
Green chimed in: "There's just a different feel here. You kind of feel like you could be in America but its different and everyone has just been really cool and friendly."
We moved through customs then checked into our flight to Melbourne, finally finishing our travel at 11 a.m. Tuesday morning (6 p.m. Monday in Seattle) in the city where we will spend the next four days. Due to passing the International Date Line, UW completely skipped Monday, Aug. 1, not that anyone was complaining.
"The travel was pretty different compared to our trip to China last year, mainly because we had so many flights and layovers on this one which made it take a lot longer," said sophomore Dominic Green. "Thankfully everything went smooth and we're excited to finally be here and get going."
Upon arrival, we got on our bus and immediately set off on a tour of Melbourne. Our driver was hilarious and very informative with his knowledge of the city. Even though he spent most of the ride trying to get us to be fans of his Australian Football League squad (while also telling us who not to root for), along with commentating on the various drivers and pedestrians in the city, he really provided some unique information on various historical and current aspects of Melbourne.
This is a truly beautiful town that houses over four million people. The architecture was something to really be admired with an amazing combination of Victorian buildings intermixed with modern structures. We were able to see their sporting village, featuring the 100,000 seat Melbourne Cricket Ground, home of Aussie cricket and the Australian Football League along with the Rod Laver Arena, home of the Australian Open tennis grand slam.
"It's really a beautiful city and even though it may feel somewhat familiar to an American city, there are definite differences in the buildings and the people and just the feel of it," said Green.
Johnson, who is on his first trip out of the United States, added: "It is a place that I'd want to bring my family to sometime. I know I just need to take in everything outside of the basketball aspect, and really appreciate it because it's beautiful."
One of the main goals on our first day here was to make sure we started to get adjusted to the 17-hour time change. So it was important that we stayed awake, which led to an eventful trip up to the Eureka Tower SkyDeck. Please look this up, it is unique.
Imagine getting in an elevator, flying up 285 metres (yes, metres, we are in Australia) in 33 seconds – ears popping for everyone - then getting in a glass box that projects out from the 88th floor and suspends you from almost 300 metres high above the city with fogged windows that turn clear once you are fully over Melbourne.
We did that. Terrifying/awesome. But the experience of the SkyDeck, including the 360 view of the entire city was a great way to welcome us to our home for the next four days. Once everyone who wanted to got their adrenaline fix in, we checked into our hotel, took another walk around the city before heading to team dinner.
Sleep is definitely going to be a priority as we start the first of our five games on this tour on Wednesday, taking on the Dandenong Rangers at 1:30 a.m. PT, Aug. 3 (6:30 p.m. local time in Melbourne).
"I'm very excited to start playing," said Green. "It's going to be a good experience facing competition other than ourselves this time of the year and I think we're really going to learn a lot."
Johnson added: "This will be my first time playing with the guys officially outside of a practice setting and I'm just really excited to get out there and show what I'm capable of and help our team be successful."
Prior to our game Wednesday, we will tour the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Center. Our next game will be Thursday against the Frankston Blues, following a trip to the Royal Melbourne Zoo.
Stayed tuned to GoHuskies.com for more updates, videos and photos. Also be sure to follow us on SnapChat at UW_MBB as different players and staff members will be taking over throught the trip.
Nine of the 13 Husky Men's Basketball team members taking the trip to Australia and New Zealand this week also made the trek to China less than a year ago and spent 15 hours flying across the Pacific Ocean to face Texas in regular season opener.
But even that didn't prepare them for the 30 hours they would spend - along with four of their new teammates - travelling Down Under for a foreign tour that will feature five games against professional teams in Melbourne, Christchurch (New Zealand) and Sydney. The lengthy travel experience was worth it though as the Dawgs now get to take on real competition at a unique time of the year. We'll be sharing experiences throughtout the whole trip here on GoHuskies so stay tuned!
Live streaming links: Dandenong (Aug. 3, 1:30 a.m. PT) | Frankston (Aug, 4, 2 a.m. PT) | Mainland (Aug. 6, 11 p.m. PT) | Sydney University (Aug. 8, 2:30 a.m. PT) | Sydney (Aug. 10, 2 a.m. PT)
Recaps: Game 1 (L, 96-100ot) | Game 2 (W, 94-59) | Game 3 (W, 92-79) | Game 4 (W, 101-80) | Game 5 (L, 86-96)
SYDNEY, Australia – Day Eight
Following last night's 101-80 win over Sydney University, we are now 3-1 on our foreign tour and have just one game remaining. Yesterday was a tough challenge for the guys from both a physical and mental standpoint. After the long travel day and lack of sleep, they still had to be ready to go for a 7:30 p.m. tip off against a team comprised of both professional and collegiate players from Australia.
It was another sold-out arena – capacity was 1,500, but they squeezed in 300 more college kids, making the place loud and rowdy. There were also quite a few Washington Husky fans there which was awesome to see and hear (when we did good things). One of the best parts was the PA announcer/hype man they had on the mic throughout the game. Now for every other game on this tour, there has typically been music playing while the game is going. This game didn't have that but our boy on the mic provided enough entertainment to fill that gap.
He started calling our guys by their nicknames (he was seated right by our bench) and basically just gave this running commentary throughout the game. We were dying even when Greg Bowman, also known as G-Bow, got in the game and slammed home a dunk, the guy said G-BOWWW!!!!!! Definitely got a kick out of that.
We all crashed pretty hard as soon as we got back to the hotel, which is a beautiful place right in the heart of Sydney. Today there was the option of taking a guided tour of the Sydney Opera House this morning which 17 of us went on, even with the early wake up call. The guided tour is very different than what you would normally get if you just went there for the day. Our tour guide Colin was fantastic and it helped that he is a HUGE Brandon Roy fan, so I think he was equally excited we were his group as we were with him.
The iconic Sydney Opera House is an amazing piece of architecture and to hear about how it came to be was truly fascinating. The architect who designed actually was picked out of a world-wide contest that the Australia Government did to try and find the right designer. Out of the 220 that entered, No. 218, a Danish man by the name of Jorn Utzon was the winner. One of the things we did not know about the building is that it is actually two structures and was the only design out of the 220 that split the two concert halls into separate buildings.
Matisse Thybulle was especially excited to visit the Opera House having lived in Australia for four years when he was younger without ever stepping foot inside.
"The tour was really cool because I remember as a little kid we would run around the outside but I never saw what was really going on in the inside which is what makes it really special," said Thybulle. "They have the rooms where they do the opera and ballet and then we saw the concert hall which holds and organ which has over 10,000 different pipes which was awesome to see."
Utzon was inspired by the sails of the boats that would be coming in and out of the harbor for his design and you clearly see that when walking around. We first went into the Opera/Ballet hall which was being set up for an opera later this evening then headed over to the concert hall where we got a peak at the Sydney City Symphony warming up for their rehearsal.
"The architecture of the building was amazing," added Thybulle. "I was just looking through some of the photos I took and when our guide was talking about the architect and how he developed the whole thing, just being there and looking at it, you really can appreciate the beauty and work that went into create it."
It was such a treat to be able to go behind the scenes at this iconic venue and if you're ever in Sydney, look up the nights where they show movies in the concert hall with the symphony playing the soundtrack. Back to the Future is coming next month and I would give anything to be at that!!
Since today was an open day we decided to take one of the ferries over to Manly Beach, another one of the popular beaches here in the Sydney area. It was a little windy but the beach itself was beautiful and there were tons of shops and restaurants to peruse.
If that wasn't your cup of tea, you could also rent surfboards and head out into the water which is what nine of our 13 guys did and let me tell you, watching these 6-9, 6-10 basketball players surf was easily the highlight of the trip. Check out our Instagram and twitter for some videos.
Sam Timmins and Matisse Thybulle were the only two that were able to fully stand up on the board, but the rest of the guys gave it a good effort.
"Manly Beach was really fun," said Thybulle. "We all rented surfboards and wet suits and just tried our best to get up on the boards. I think Sam was the best, but I did get up once and it was just a good experience to do something different down here away from the court."
Following a team dinner at an excellent pizzeria, we are now all going to rest and prepare for our final game tomorrow against the Sydney Comets. This team should be the toughest we play on this trip and we are looking forward to leaving Australia with a 4-1 record.
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand/SYDNEY, Australia – Day Six and Seven
We've had a busy last few days that have been pretty amazing (outside of the travel, kind of over that at this point, but hey we only have two more flights left!). Let's start with Sunday here Down Under. We had a game in Christchurch against the Mainland Eagles, who were coached by Sam Timmins' former coach, Mark Dickel.
This was our first and only day game of the trip and since we hadn't played since Melbourne, we got to the arena a little early to get some shots up. This arena was a hoops junkie's dream. It looked like it was straight out of Hoosiers. Or that it was the first basketball court to ever be put together in Christchurch. It had this dark wood on the floor and just had an old school gymnasium feel. I absolutely loved it.
Once we got there, many of the 20+ members of the Sam Timmins fan club started showing up. It was the first time we had a game with a very loud Husky presence and we loved it. Prior to the start of the contest, we were treated to a traditional Haka by a group local to Christchurch. Following the dance, the elder brought our guys out to the court to receive a hongi from each of the Maori people there performing. The hongi is the Maori welcome expressed by rubbing or touching of noses, somewhat similar to greeting someone with a kiss on the cheek.
In terms of actual game action, it stayed fairly close until the fourth quarter when we used a 16-2 run to take a commanding lead. Following the win, it was once again time for autograph signing and picture taking, mainly with Timmins, who had a throng of people around him for a good 45 minutes after the game.
While we were waiting for the local celebrity to finish taking all of his photos, the rest of the squad had a nice meal with the Eagles and Markelle Fultz decided to sit and block shots on a shortened hoop taken by 7-8 year olds for a good 20 minutes. Hilarity ensued, please see the video on our Instagram or Twitter.
Knowing we had to get up at 3:45 a.m. local time, we headed out for an early dinner at a Benihana style restaurant in Christchurch, a Malik Dime suggestion. It was an amazing dinner and I'm pretty sure our crew ate them out of all of their fried rice.
We got up early and caught a 6:10 a.m. flight to Sydney which should have taken 2 hours and 50 minutes but due to a blown generator on the plane, we ended up being in the air for four hours (we were safe the whole time, just had to take a different route). Once we finally landed, we breezed through customs. We've been to this airport now three times in seven days, so we're basically pros at navigating it and I'm pretty sure some of the workers remembered us.
Another bus tour awaited us once we got through customs and this time it was a little more low key than the last two that we have done. I think the driver knew we were all operating on about three hours of sleep and kind of stayed off the microphone, which we all appreciated. Since we couldn't check into our hotel for a few hours, he took us to the famous Bondi Beach, which woke the guys up real quick.
The beach is the most famous in the Sydney area, even though it is not the biggest out of the almost 80 that are in the vicinity. It is picturesque in every way you can imagine. A white sand beach, shaped by stunning cliffs and crystal clear blue water. We stopped for about 30 minutes and those that were brave enough, because it is winter down here despite the sun, went down the water, took pictures and just enjoyed the nice weather (a few actually jumped in the water too, brave souls).
After one more stop at a lookout that gave us panoramic views of the entire Sydney area, we headed to the hotel so our crew could get some rest since we do have a game tonight. Sydney is a bustling metropolis, somewhat reminiscent of New York City in terms of just the amount of people walking around. The Australian census comes out tomorrow and per our bus driver, they are expecting Sydney to be announced at over five million people. Clearly smaller than NYC but you just feel the same kind of buzz from the hustle and bustle.
We face the Sydney University Lions tonight at 2:30 a.m. PT (7:30 p.m. Sydney time on Monday) in our second-to-last game on the tour. Tomorrow is an exploration day for the group. We will tour the Sydney Opera House along with giving the guys some time to go out and take in the city before our final game on Wednesday against the Sydney Comets.
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – Day Five
The second leg of our trip is officially underway as we landed in Christchurch, New Zealand late last night (Friday locally) and are now 19 hours ahead of the Washington. Friday was mainly a travel day outside of a few free hours in the morning where some guys went to the famous Queen Victoria Market and just walked around to take in Melbourne one last time.
Following a short flight to Sydney, a trip through customs and another flight to Christchurch, we finally got to New Zealand around 11 p.m. local time. It's exciting to get to another country and learn about another culture but for one person in our travel party, the arrival meant a little bit more.
Freshman Sam Timmins, who is from Dunedin, New Zealand, was equal parts nervous and excited as we were waiting to get through customs at the Christchurch airport as he knew what was going to be on the other side of the gate. Not having seen anyone in his family since December, Timmins has been looking forward to this trip for some time and when he walked through the door, mom, aunt, grandparents and other family members went running to see their guy (who looks quite different than he did in December thanks to Coach Shapiro's strength and conditioning program).
"I've been at the University of Washington since December, training getting ready for my first freshman season and haven't seen my family in nine months which has been really tough, but it's great to finally be here and see everyone," said Timmins. "I'm really excited to be back around all the people that were there when I first started playing basketball and really excited to introduce those people to the guys on the team and Coach Romar. I'm really thankful to UW for being able to make this happen and right now I'm just looking forward to spending some quality time with everyone."
Today's schedule was the first without travel or a game since we arrived Down Under so we took advantage and started the day with a bus tour of the city. Once again we had an amazing tour guide in our bus driver John, who offered 'bro hugs' for $1. Keep in mind John is probably 65-70 years old. John was hilarious and did a great job of keeping the commentary light and easy to follow.
He also was masterful in explaining the recent history of Christchurch, which was devastated by earthquakes from Sept. 2010-Februray 2011. The city is still in a massive rebuilding phase and driving around on the bus you would pass empty lots, lots of rubble and many buildings that are fenced off due to damage and haven't been repaired yet. You also see a lot of new buildings going up, so basically there is construction everywhere.
John made sure to keep such a sad history light though, first telling us not to worry, that being on the bus we'd be fine because we wouldn't be able to feel the earthquake. Then giving an example about how he was at a stoplight and a bicyclist was next to him one day when a small earthquake struck and he saw the bicyclist go 'a-- over turkey' and he just thought the guy was having some kind of epileptic seizure or something or was on drugs until he realized other things were shaking and it was actually an earthquake.
The devastation from the two big earthquakes is still so present, it was very eye opening. I honestly could write a whole paper on what I learned about the earthquakes and how the city has been rebuilding thanks to John's knowledge, and our guys were fully engaged and appreciative of it as well.
Along with rolling through the city in our massive bus, we stopped at the Canterbury Museum which was filled with tons of artifacts dating all the way back to the 1600s.
Next, John took us up the Port Hills Mountains, which are remnants of old volcanoes, to this lookout that gave us 360 views of all of Christchurch. You could see all the way to the Pacific Ocean, it was beautiful.
Christchurch is filled with tons of art sculptures and graffiti along with many little gardens that now lay where buildings use to be. One sculpture really stood out to our group. We drove over a bridge and coming out of the stream was this rusted structure. John informed us that it was actually part of the World Trade Center wreckage from 9/11 as many New Zealand firefighters volunteered to go help following the tragedy and brought that back to remember what happened on that day.
Following the tour, we had a short break to grab some food or sleep, whatever floated your boat at that time and then headed to watch a high school rugby playoff match with our rugby expert Mr. Sam Timmins. Without knowing, we chose the right side to sit on as that team's student section was right next to us, and that team went up 20-0 in the first 10 minutes. These kids had no chill, they were taunting and yelling and jumping up and down nonstop – to the point where following one of their cheers (which I can't type out), their administrator had to come over with a blowhorn and scold them for being inappropriate. Needless to say, we were all dying with laughter.
Sam, who played rugby for a lot of his youth and comes from a strong rugby background (his dad is kind of a legend around these parts and was actually at the game withus) sat and answered all of our questions about what was happening and I think we all walked away a little more well-versed in the world of rugby. Our guys definitely have a newfound respect for the sport and its physicality as well.
Now it's time to watch some film, rest and get ready for our game against Mainland tomorrow at 7 p.m. PT (2 p.m. local time, Sunday).
MELBOURNE, Australia – Day Three
This day was marked on a lot of our calendars as soon as the itinerary came out because today was our visit to the Royal Melbourne Zoo. But first, let's quickly recap our game last night against the Dandenong Rangers which unfortunately resulted in a 100-96 overtime loss but was a great learning experience as it was our first time playing a real game all together.
The main reason teams do these trips is to get that real-game experience during the summer months that you wouldn't normally get until a preseason scrimmage in October. You also get to walk away with a lot of game film. Despite the loss, the Huskies had some great performances especially by freshman Markelle Fultz and sophomore David Crisp, who combined for 60 points.
Fultz also provided a block that would have likely made the No. 1 play on SportsCenter for the next month as he chased down a breakaway layup from the opposite 3-point line, stopped the shot and sent the awesome sold-out crowd of 3,000 to their feet.
So back to today, which is our last in Melbourne as we head to New Zealand tomorrow morning, we made our way to the Zoo around 10 a.m. this morning. The Royal Melbourne Zoo is Australia's oldest zoo and contains more than 320 different animal species, between Kangaroos, Koalas, and Lions and Tigers and Bears …. Sorry had to do that. I actually don't think there were any bears that we saw.
While our time was limited, the main animals we wanted to check out were the kangaroos because as Coach Romar says, "You can't come to Australia without seeing a kangaroo, even if it is asleep!" By the way, the kangaroos were asleep, lazy things. The gorillas were also a huge hit. The zoo had a family of three – mom, dad and baby. As you may or may not know, gorillas are insanely protective of their babies.
A few of our guys learned this first hand. When we got up to the glass the gorillas weren't doing anything and some of our group may or may not have made some noises trying to get their attention, well, they got mom's attention as she came charging at the glass and may or may not have scared the living you know what out of a few of our guys – lesson learned.
We also got to check out the giraffes, which even though you know giraffes are tall, you forget that until you see them up close. They were awesome (and are a personal favorite of the person writing this right now). We took a walk through the lemur garden, where these little guys were able to just walk right up to you, checked out the elphants and then finished by going through the reptile area so Noah could see a crocodile.
Fun fact about the Melbourne Zoo – it has two exits, which this writer had the unfortunate experience of learning and ended up having to take an uber back to the hotel. Oops, but on that ride, my driver provided some awesome historical information on Melbourne and how the culture here is really undergoing a resurgence with a lot of new businesses and people moving to the city. I told him I would be back, and I truly mean that. This city has been amazing, from the people to the architecture to the culture, everything has made these three days an awesome experience for our group.
We take on the Frankston Blues tonight at 2 a.m. PT and then head to the homeland of Sam Timmins tomorrow!
MELBOURNE, Australia – Day Two
Well, we now have one full day under our belt and are feeling a little more rested and closer to being adjusted as we head into the first of our five games on this foreign tour tonight against the Dandenong Rangers. The weather here has been very much like Seattle in late September, early October. High 50s with some random rain showers and wind here and there, so that hasn't taken any adjusting to and it is quite nice when the sun comes out.
Following our team dinner last night, BBQ by a guy from Texas of all places, we had a short film session and pretty much everyone was asleep by 9 or 10. Many of the guys and staff woke up early though, calling and asking if they could go down to breakfast early just because our bodies are still getting used to the time change. I'm always curious to see what kind of different foods are on a hotel breakfast buffet in another country and the one that stood out today was baked beans. Just felt kind of weird seeing them sitting there next to pancakes, just my opinion though.
With it being our first gameday with this squad we wanted to try and incorporate some similar routines that we do on a normal regular season game day but we also mixed in a cultural experience that was in conjunction with the anthropology class the team took before we left, I'll get to more on that in a second.
After breakfast, we hopped on the bus and headed to Victoria University (not where we will play today) to get in a quick shootaround and just have the squad moving around getting shots up. The facility was four courts and while we were going through our shootaround, there were games going on the other courts with a bunch of young Australians who all basically stopped and watched in awe as our tall group walked in and started dunking.
Right after that we headed to the Melbourne Museum to visit the 'First Peoples Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre' to experience the rich living culture of Victoria's First Peoples – the Aborigines. The guys - along with our women's team who is also coming down to Australia this month – took a class for two weeks prior to leaving for our trip which was taught by Washington Professor Holly Barker, who is also on the trip with us.
During the class the team learned about the aboriginal people and their history along with some different research methods, service learning components to give themselves a good base on the history of the country before coming down here.
The First Peoples exhibit is absolutely one of a kind. It includes hundreds of Indigenous artifacts ranging from 40-foot canoes to boomerangs to the clothing and the various tools the Aborigines used to cook and hunt and survive in the desert. Being able to connect what the team learned in Seattle with this first-person experience was something junior Greg Bowman really appreciated.
"I think what stood out the most was just seeing the faces of these people," said Bowman. "We didn't really have any pictures in the books we were reading in class so to see these current people in these videos talking about their history and the looks on their faces just after all that their culture has been through hit me the most."
Professor Barker added: "It's one thing to read textbooks academically in a classroom, which if we are learning about Aboriginal cultures in Seattle, we're limited in that we can only look at textbooks. For them to have the opportunity to do this study abroad, it means they can learn these issues with a human face on them so they have empathy and compassion and it becomes about real people in a way that you can only do when you experience something firsthand."
While in the exhibit, the guys were back in class mode as they were tasked with snapping pictures of things that related to the research projects they will complete when they get back but overall, it was a really engaging experience.
"These students have been fabulous in the classroom," said Barker. "They put in all of their work before they came here, studying theory, studying research methods and research ethics and now being on this trip they are able to conduct original research that they could not do in Seattle, which is pretty special."
Washington and Coach Romar do such a good job in making sure the student part goes into student-athlete especially when it comes to trips like these which I think is really unique. Even last year, when we went to China, we took a two week course to learn Mandarin and about some of the places we would see.
"Personally, I like adding these educational courses to our trips," said Bowman. For one it's a good way to get some credits but it also just makes it a cultural experience. If we weren't doing the class then we probably wouldn't be in here at this exhibit doing this stuff. Also it's just nice to learn something about where you are at, learn the history, the people who were first here, it's just really interesting."
Once we wrapped up class, it was back to the bus to head the hotel for pregame meal before we go to the arena here in a few hours.
We'll be posting a full recap of tonight's game later, but hey for you nightowls, you can watch a live stream starting at 1:30 a.m. PT on a link that will be posted to the @UW_MBB twitter page close to gametime.
MELBOURNE, Australia – Day One
We left Seattle around 3:30 p.m. PT on Sunday, July 31 before landing in San Francisco at 5:45 p.m. Up next was our nearly six-hour layover at SFO, which was exciting for freshman Carlos Johnson who was lucky enough to have his family come visit him and bring his favorite homecooked meal.
"It was so great seeing my family at the airport," said Johnson. "I haven't seen them in a while and just getting a chance to chill and hang out before heading on this tour was great. My mom brought me my favorite meal – homemade chicken and shrimp alfredo – and we all sat there, ate and caught up."
Following that extended time in the terminal watching movies and trying to stay awake, it was finally time to get on the massive 75-row (10 seats across) double-decker Qantas flight that would get our squad to Sydney in just under 14 hours. Thankfully, it was not a full flight and the group was able to spread out and get some quality rest before arriving in Sydney at 6:10 a.m.
First observation? The Australian culture and people here have been a huge hit with our crew.
"The people here are so welcoming and friendly," Johnson said. "They are very nice and you get a really good vibe just out and about walking around interacting with everyone."
Green chimed in: "There's just a different feel here. You kind of feel like you could be in America but its different and everyone has just been really cool and friendly."
We moved through customs then checked into our flight to Melbourne, finally finishing our travel at 11 a.m. Tuesday morning (6 p.m. Monday in Seattle) in the city where we will spend the next four days. Due to passing the International Date Line, UW completely skipped Monday, Aug. 1, not that anyone was complaining.
"The travel was pretty different compared to our trip to China last year, mainly because we had so many flights and layovers on this one which made it take a lot longer," said sophomore Dominic Green. "Thankfully everything went smooth and we're excited to finally be here and get going."
Upon arrival, we got on our bus and immediately set off on a tour of Melbourne. Our driver was hilarious and very informative with his knowledge of the city. Even though he spent most of the ride trying to get us to be fans of his Australian Football League squad (while also telling us who not to root for), along with commentating on the various drivers and pedestrians in the city, he really provided some unique information on various historical and current aspects of Melbourne.
This is a truly beautiful town that houses over four million people. The architecture was something to really be admired with an amazing combination of Victorian buildings intermixed with modern structures. We were able to see their sporting village, featuring the 100,000 seat Melbourne Cricket Ground, home of Aussie cricket and the Australian Football League along with the Rod Laver Arena, home of the Australian Open tennis grand slam.
"It's really a beautiful city and even though it may feel somewhat familiar to an American city, there are definite differences in the buildings and the people and just the feel of it," said Green.
Johnson, who is on his first trip out of the United States, added: "It is a place that I'd want to bring my family to sometime. I know I just need to take in everything outside of the basketball aspect, and really appreciate it because it's beautiful."
One of the main goals on our first day here was to make sure we started to get adjusted to the 17-hour time change. So it was important that we stayed awake, which led to an eventful trip up to the Eureka Tower SkyDeck. Please look this up, it is unique.
Imagine getting in an elevator, flying up 285 metres (yes, metres, we are in Australia) in 33 seconds – ears popping for everyone - then getting in a glass box that projects out from the 88th floor and suspends you from almost 300 metres high above the city with fogged windows that turn clear once you are fully over Melbourne.
We did that. Terrifying/awesome. But the experience of the SkyDeck, including the 360 view of the entire city was a great way to welcome us to our home for the next four days. Once everyone who wanted to got their adrenaline fix in, we checked into our hotel, took another walk around the city before heading to team dinner.
Sleep is definitely going to be a priority as we start the first of our five games on this tour on Wednesday, taking on the Dandenong Rangers at 1:30 a.m. PT, Aug. 3 (6:30 p.m. local time in Melbourne).
"I'm very excited to start playing," said Green. "It's going to be a good experience facing competition other than ourselves this time of the year and I think we're really going to learn a lot."
Johnson added: "This will be my first time playing with the guys officially outside of a practice setting and I'm just really excited to get out there and show what I'm capable of and help our team be successful."
Prior to our game Wednesday, we will tour the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Center. Our next game will be Thursday against the Frankston Blues, following a trip to the Royal Melbourne Zoo.
Stayed tuned to GoHuskies.com for more updates, videos and photos. Also be sure to follow us on SnapChat at UW_MBB as different players and staff members will be taking over throught the trip.
Nine of the 13 Husky Men's Basketball team members taking the trip to Australia and New Zealand this week also made the trek to China less than a year ago and spent 15 hours flying across the Pacific Ocean to face Texas in regular season opener.
But even that didn't prepare them for the 30 hours they would spend - along with four of their new teammates - travelling Down Under for a foreign tour that will feature five games against professional teams in Melbourne, Christchurch (New Zealand) and Sydney. The lengthy travel experience was worth it though as the Dawgs now get to take on real competition at a unique time of the year. We'll be sharing experiences throughtout the whole trip here on GoHuskies so stay tuned!
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