BLOG: Terps In Italy

The Terps have officially arrived home landing back at Dulles International Airport at around 5 PM. It was a wonderful trip, but safe to say the entire travel party is excited to be back home.

Following Game Three of the tour, the travel party continued to Lake Como for the final few days of the trip. On Tuesday, the team enjoyed a boat tour of the lake followed by a lunch stop in Bellagio. The views were stunning from both the lake and the mountain sides. The final day, Wednesday, was a free day for everyone and several of the staff, family members, and players took advantage of the rooftop pool at the hotel as well as venturing into Lake Como for a swim. The trip was finished off with one last team dinner in the town before an early bed time with a 5 AM wake up call for the flight back to the States which left from Milan before stopping over in Paris for a few hours.

Monday saw Maryland depart Venice with a stop in Verona for pregame meal before continuing on for its third game of the tour. The Terps closed out the competition portion of the trip with a 105-40 win over the Bassano ProCamp All-Stars. The full recap can be found here.

Sunday's stop focused on Venice with guided tours of the city in the morning and a glass blowing demonstration followed by gondola rides in the afternoon for the team. In the evening, the travel party was free to explore more of the city on their own before departing the next morning for Verona (lunch), Mazzano (Game 3 on Monday), and then finally to Lake Como. 

Saturday marked the fifth day of the tour with the Terps continuing to head northeast to Venice. Along the way, Maryland stopped in Bologna for lunch and some sight seeing to break up the four-hour bus trip. When arriving in Venice later that afternoon, the team had its luggage and gear loaded onto a barge that transported it to the hotel, while the travel party had a water taxi. In the evening, the team enjoyed a tremendous welcome dinner at a local restaurant to close out the day.

Day four in Florence featured guided tours of the city in the morning followed by some down time to prep for that night's game. The team travelled about an hour north of the city to play in a small YMCA-type gym in the neighborhood of Prato. Around 100 local fans and Terps supporters were there with many of the children in attendance giving loud cheers during an impromptu pre-game dunk contest. Though the game was supposed to originally against a team of Florence All-Stars, the Terps took on the same group they played against in Rome. That proved a good second test as both teams were a bit more familiar with each other. You can read the full recap here.

Thursday saw the Terps have a light day with a short walking trip to the Spanish Steps before departing Rome for Florence. The team took a high-speed train for 90 minutes after having lunch in the main terminal station. Much of the trip was passed with games of high-stakes UNO and debates on physics.

The travel party had a free evening in Florence to explore the many culture sights of the city. Many ventured to see the famous Piazza del Duomo, the many markets and shops, and also the Ponte Vecchio a Firenze.

Day two in Rome was packed after the long travel the day before. The Terps started the morning with tours of the Vatican including the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. While at the Vatican, the players ran into a familiar face as women's basketball head coach Brenda Frese was also there as part of her summer vacation.

The afternoon felt much the same as a traditional game day with pregame meal and the players getting taped at the hotel. A 40-minute bus ride had us outside the main city area. Even in Italy, Maryland had a strong following about 50 fans in attendance cheering on their Terps. A balanced effort gave Maryland a 92-52 win over the Rome All-Stars highlighted by a strong defensive effort in the second half allowing just 17 points. You can read the full recap here.

Day one of the Maryland men's basketball Italy Summer Tour started in Rome after an overnight flight from Dulles. Despite the Terps being a bit jet lagged, though a sweet 146 mile per hour tail wind shaved an hour off the flight time, Maryland hit the ground running in Rome to start the 10-day adventure.

The first stop of the day was the Piazza Navona and the Pantheon with the team checking out the sites and the grabbing some of the local cuisine.

From there, the Terps went to the Roman Colosseum for a guided tour and then explored some of the other areas of Ancient Rome. After nearly five hours of sight seeing, the Terps headed to the hotel for some relaxation before having their official welcome dinner. Day two will feature some early morning events before prepping for the first of three games on Wednesday evening.