Alabama basketball set for foreign tour in Spain and France this summer
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Alabama basketball is going traveling this summer.
The program announced Thursday that it will be taking a foreign tour to Barcelona, Spain and Paris, France. It will be the first trip of its kind under Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats who is entering his fourth season at UA.
The trip will last 10 days with two games and four days total in Barcelona then four days and one game in Paris.
The Spain games are set to be held on Aug. 8 and Aug. 9. Then, the France game will be played on Aug. 12.
NCAA rules allow Alabama to hold 10 days of practice before the trip, which is valuable practice time.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to come together as a team before the season begins through the extra practices we'll have, the educational and cultural experiences that we'll encounter and the high-level competition that we plan on facing," Oats said in a statement. "It will be an experience that will remain with us all."
Oats is already making plans for how to make the most of the time on the trip. He appeared on The Basketball Podcast on Wednesday teasing an upcoming foreign tour.
“We struggled a little bit off the board and out of timeouts last year, so we’re gonna start quizzing them right out of the gate with the practices we’ve got with the foreign tour this summer," Oats said.
The fourth-year coach said the team needs to clean up terminology and keep everything updated every few years.
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The Crimson Tide reached the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season under Oats in 2021-22. Alabama had a quick exit, though, with a first-round loss to Notre Dame.
Alabama will have a vastly different roster in 2022-23 as guards such as Jaden Shackelford, Keon Ellis and JD Davison depart. The Crimson Tide meanwhile added a signing class of five, ranked No. 3 by the 247Sports Composite. Alabama also has incoming transfer Mark Sears from Ohio joining the squad.
Nick Kelly covers Alabama football and men's basketball for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter: @_NickKelly
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama basketball: Foreign tour set for Spain and France
