Princeton departs for Spain tomorrow evening, where they'll be playing four games against top-tier Spanish opponents beginning Friday, while experiencing a fair bit of off-the-court culture during a 10 day oversea trip.
On the eve of their journey - the first such foray out of the country for more than one in their party - head coach Mitch Henderson opened practice to the media and answered 10 minutes of my questions afterwards.
I also had a chance to speak with returning Tigers Brendan Connolly, Clay Wilson and Ian Hummer, who each have varying degrees of experience with international travel not to mention comfort levels with speaking Spanish.
Robert Solomon joined me on this visit at Jadwin. His photos, plus a number of observations and the aforementioned interview audio, can all be found after the jump.
Coach Mitch Henderson interview:
Brendan Connolly, Clay Wilson & Ian Hummer interview:
Will Barrett was especially impressive at today's practice - not just his shooting, but also his passing and his rebounding in traffic.
"Cultural advisor" Pete Carril watches the action.
With T.J. Bray and Jimmy Sherburne both unavailable to practice, assistant coaches Brian Earl (checked here by Ian Hummer) and Marcus Jenkins (getting a step on Clay Wilson below) were both forced to suit up at guard.
Dan Geriot replaced Mack Darrow, who was also sidelined but is expected to play in Spain.
A hook shot from Bobby Garbade.
Chris Clement strips Denton Koon. If Princeton is shorthanded at guard in Spain, Clement's minutes should increase. It was Clement who received the majority of Henderson's individual comments during today's practice, as Clement formed a starting "black jersey" backcourt with Wilson when the action shifted to five-on-five.
While Bray did not participate in drills he did attempt a few layups during breaks in the action.
Hummer flicks one up over Daniel Edwards.
Koon with the ball. It will be interesting to see how much time Koon plays at guard in addition to his time at forward.
Clement is cut off by Coach Earl. It was a foursome of Clement, Barrett, Garbade and Edwards who won the "first group to 20" three point shooting drill that opened the day's practice.
The other two teams:
Wilson/Connolly/Garbade/Geriot
Jenkins/Earl/Hummer/Koon
A discussion among the coaching staff, including new Director of Basketball Operations Brett MacConnell.
Hummer fires a wing jumper. In both three-on-three and five-on-five action the Jadwin shot clock was set to 18 seconds, to help adjust the Tigers to the quicker European possessions.
Brendan Connolly got great low position but missed a layup as he was fouled, so he repeated the shot several-fold after making a slight adjustment at Coach Henderson's suggestion.
Mack Darrow, I have no idea what is going on here.
Clay Wilson with the ball.
Hummer defends a Connolly jumper.
Next stop, Spain! If you have any questions out of today's practice I can try to answer them in the comments.
