PULLMAN, Wash. | Washington State University men's basketball rising-senior, DaVonte Lacy, was chosen as one of 13 Pac-12 men's basketball student-athletes to participate in a four-game all-star tour of China this summer as part of the league's Globalization Initiative, the conference announced Friday.
The aim of the initiative is to help support Pac-12 member universities' international outreach efforts, build their brands in an important market, and provide quality educational and cultural exchange experiences for student-athletes.
The team will be coached by Utah head coach, Larry Krystkowiak and features student-athletes from 10 of the conference's 12 schools. The Pac-12 intended on having all 12 member universities represented on the team. However, the academic schedules of student-athletes from Oregon and UCLA conflicted with the tour dates.
Last year Lacy (Tacoma, Wash.) led WSU with 19.4 points per game and was one game away from being eligible for Pac-12 individual rankings, which would have put him second in the league in points per game. His 3.3 3-pointers made per game would have led the conference and his .390 (76-195) would have put him at 12th in the league rankings. He was named All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention and became the 34th Cougar to reach the 1,000 career point plateau.
The 10-day tour will commence Aug. 10 and will be the first men's basketball all-star tour for the Pac-12 since the conference sent both a men's and women's all-star team to Japan in 1996. The team will start with pre-tour practice at San Francisco, Aug. 7-9, and play games Aug. 13, 14, 16 and 18, before returning to the United States around Aug. 19.
Joining Lacy on the team are guards Andrew Andrews (Washington), Bo Barnes (Arizona State), Malcom Duvivier (Oregon State), Jacob Hazzard (Arizona) and Brandon Taylor (Utah); forwards Xavier Johnson (Colorado), Nikola Jovanovic (USC), Jordan Loveridge (Utah) and Roger Moute a Bidias (California); and centers Cheikh N'diaye (Oregon State), Jeremy Olsen (Utah) and Schuyler Rimmer (Stanford).
The Pac-12 All-Star team will face a Chinese university all-star team and play three games against teams from the Chinese Basketball Association, including the Shanghai Sharks. Eight-time NBA All-Star Yao Ming owns the Sharks. Max Zhang, a former CALIFORNIA student-athlete has been the center for the Sharks since his return to China in 2010. It will also play the Guangdong Southern Tigers, the 2013-14 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) regular season champion. The Tigers' leading Chinese scorer is Yi Jianlian, who played for the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks under Krystkowiak during the 2007-08 season before returning to the CBA in 2012.
In addition to the competition in China, the team will participate in various youth clinics, as well as take in the culture and history of China with visits to various landmarks and historical sites in the cities of Shanghai, Nantong and Shenzhen.
The Pac-12 is working with HUPU Sports Media Co.[/I] in arranging and promoting the tour, competitions and cultural activities. The Pac-12 is also continuing its partnership with Federation of University of Sports (FUSC), China's equivalent of NCAA in organizing the 3rd China-U.S. University Sports Week, an annual collaborative event between the Pac-12 and the FUSC that will feature a friendly game between the Pac-12 All-star Team and a Chinese University All-star Team and coaching clinics. In addition, the United States Consulate in Shanghai has agreed to support the tour and will have senior members of the Consulate participate a welcome reception for the Pac-12 delegation, a tour press conference and various activities of the tour in Shanghai and Nantong.
To support the Pac-12 Conference's on-going effort to build awareness of its' member universities and the Conference in China, the Pac-12 is working with its Chinese partners to organize an academic symposium in conjunction with the Pac-12 men's basketball all-star tour in August. The symposium will include a high-profile U.S.-China university leaders' forum and business meetings between the Pac-12 university delegates and senior dignitaries from the Chinese government and universities. Six of the Conference's member institutions will send a senior member to join this symposium.
Over the past two summers as part of the Conference's Globalization Initiative, the league has sent an all-star women's volleyball team, men's basketball teams from Arizona State and UCLA and women's basketball team from California to China.
(Via WSU Athletics Communications)
This post was edited on 5/23 11:17 AM by Britton Ransford
The aim of the initiative is to help support Pac-12 member universities' international outreach efforts, build their brands in an important market, and provide quality educational and cultural exchange experiences for student-athletes.
The team will be coached by Utah head coach, Larry Krystkowiak and features student-athletes from 10 of the conference's 12 schools. The Pac-12 intended on having all 12 member universities represented on the team. However, the academic schedules of student-athletes from Oregon and UCLA conflicted with the tour dates.
Last year Lacy (Tacoma, Wash.) led WSU with 19.4 points per game and was one game away from being eligible for Pac-12 individual rankings, which would have put him second in the league in points per game. His 3.3 3-pointers made per game would have led the conference and his .390 (76-195) would have put him at 12th in the league rankings. He was named All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention and became the 34th Cougar to reach the 1,000 career point plateau.
The 10-day tour will commence Aug. 10 and will be the first men's basketball all-star tour for the Pac-12 since the conference sent both a men's and women's all-star team to Japan in 1996. The team will start with pre-tour practice at San Francisco, Aug. 7-9, and play games Aug. 13, 14, 16 and 18, before returning to the United States around Aug. 19.
Joining Lacy on the team are guards Andrew Andrews (Washington), Bo Barnes (Arizona State), Malcom Duvivier (Oregon State), Jacob Hazzard (Arizona) and Brandon Taylor (Utah); forwards Xavier Johnson (Colorado), Nikola Jovanovic (USC), Jordan Loveridge (Utah) and Roger Moute a Bidias (California); and centers Cheikh N'diaye (Oregon State), Jeremy Olsen (Utah) and Schuyler Rimmer (Stanford).
The Pac-12 All-Star team will face a Chinese university all-star team and play three games against teams from the Chinese Basketball Association, including the Shanghai Sharks. Eight-time NBA All-Star Yao Ming owns the Sharks. Max Zhang, a former CALIFORNIA student-athlete has been the center for the Sharks since his return to China in 2010. It will also play the Guangdong Southern Tigers, the 2013-14 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) regular season champion. The Tigers' leading Chinese scorer is Yi Jianlian, who played for the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks under Krystkowiak during the 2007-08 season before returning to the CBA in 2012.
In addition to the competition in China, the team will participate in various youth clinics, as well as take in the culture and history of China with visits to various landmarks and historical sites in the cities of Shanghai, Nantong and Shenzhen.
The Pac-12 is working with HUPU Sports Media Co.[/I] in arranging and promoting the tour, competitions and cultural activities. The Pac-12 is also continuing its partnership with Federation of University of Sports (FUSC), China's equivalent of NCAA in organizing the 3rd China-U.S. University Sports Week, an annual collaborative event between the Pac-12 and the FUSC that will feature a friendly game between the Pac-12 All-star Team and a Chinese University All-star Team and coaching clinics. In addition, the United States Consulate in Shanghai has agreed to support the tour and will have senior members of the Consulate participate a welcome reception for the Pac-12 delegation, a tour press conference and various activities of the tour in Shanghai and Nantong.
To support the Pac-12 Conference's on-going effort to build awareness of its' member universities and the Conference in China, the Pac-12 is working with its Chinese partners to organize an academic symposium in conjunction with the Pac-12 men's basketball all-star tour in August. The symposium will include a high-profile U.S.-China university leaders' forum and business meetings between the Pac-12 university delegates and senior dignitaries from the Chinese government and universities. Six of the Conference's member institutions will send a senior member to join this symposium.
Over the past two summers as part of the Conference's Globalization Initiative, the league has sent an all-star women's volleyball team, men's basketball teams from Arizona State and UCLA and women's basketball team from California to China.
This post was edited on 5/23 11:17 AM by Britton Ransford
