For Jerome Allen, one of the best parts about being a professional basketball player in Europe was getting the chance to see and do things he otherwise probably wouldn’t have been able to -- like taking his family on a gondola ride in Venice or visiting the ruins of Pompeii.
Now the head basketball coach at Penn, Allen is going back overseas. And this time, he’s taking some friends with him.
On Wednesday, Allen and the Penn basketball team departed for Italy, where the Quakers will sightsee and play exhibition games against Italian clubs. The team will start out in Venice, go to Florence and then conclude the nine-day trip in Rome, before returning to the U.S. next Friday.
Interestingly enough, two other Big 5 programs -- Temple and St. Joe’s -- will also be in Italy around the same time, but the teams are not expected to cross paths.
“I just think this is a life-changing experience,” Allen said. “If they come in with the right mindset.”
When asked what kind of mindset that is, Allen said he hoped his players would try to immerse themselves in the Italian culture, observe what kind of emphasis other societies put on family, and appreciate all of the history and the architecture, from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling to the Colosseum.
After a 13-year professional career in Europe -- where he played in France, Turkey, Italy, Spain an Greece -- Allen knows firsthand that learning about other cultures can also help you learn about yourself.
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“All of that stuff is humbling,” Allen said. “If they can apply this in their everyday lives as they go forward, I think they’ll be better people because of it.”
In what is the program’s first foreign trip in 10 years, the Quakers will also try to test themselves against professional teams. The tentative game schedule has the Quakers matching up with Tezenis Verona on Aug. 16, Giorgio Tesi on Aug. 18, Prima Napoli on Aug. 20, and FMC Ferentino on Aug. 21.
Allen will be interested to see how his team performs in a European basketball setting, where the style of play is different, as are some basic rules.
“I don’t want guys to adjust how they approach the game for a three- or four-game window,” Allen said. “It’s more about having another opportunity to compete, to work on our stuff and see how we can adjust on the fly.”
In preparation for the trip, the Quakers were able to hold five official practices, which is a luxury that Ivy League teams don’t usually have in the summer. Penn’s upperclassmen have been trying to take advantage of those extra sessions by working with and talking to the younger players. (The team’s incoming freshmen, however, are not allowed to practice or go to Italy.)
Last year, the Quakers didn’t have any seniors, which was one reason why they stumbled to a 9-22 overall record and a 6-8 mark in the Ivy League. This year, they’ll have five: Miles Cartwright, Fran Dougherty, Steve Rennard, Dau Jok and Cameron Gunter.
“We really tried to talk as a class about bringing everyone together collectively,” said Rennard, who won’t play in any games in Italy because of a hand injury. “Last year, we were lacking senior leadership. This year, we don’t want that to be the case at all. We’re trying to bring everybody under our wing -- the freshmen especially -- and let them know what Penn basketball is all about and what we’re trying to do this year.”
The two biggest pieces of the senior class are Cartwright and Dougherty, who will likely be joined in the starting lineup this year by sophomores and rising stars Tony Hicks and Darien Nelson-Henry.
And not only will Cartwright and Dougherty be leaders once the college basketball season begins in November, they’ll also be leaders on this trip, given that they both went to Europe on a basketball tour last summer and know what to expect.
“I think one of the main things about it is we’re going to get closer together,” said Dougherty, who missed a good chunk of the 2012-13 season because of mono and a dislocated elbow. “We’re going to spend nine straight days in a different country, getting to really know each other, playing a totally different style of basketball. I think it’s going to be a good learning experience for everyone and I think it will really connect us on the court.”
For Cartwright, taking a trip like this will not only be a fun vacation and an eye-opening cultural experience -- but also something that could help Penn win its first Ivy League title since 2007 come March.
“We might not be playing for something right now, but we’re treating it as if we’re getting ready for an Ivy League championship game at Princeton,” Cartwright said. “The practices have been pretty intense.
“Us coming together as a team now, I think it’s essential to us being champions next year.”