Men's Basketball heads to the Dominican Republic
| Published: 08/24/2010 |
|
|
|---|
Before returning to campus, the MSOE men's basketball team hits the hardwood early and a long way from home. Approximately 2000 miles away from the comfort of the Kern Center Arena, the Raiders will be in the Dominican Republic Aug. 25-30 to play a series of exhibition games in preparation for the 2010-2011 season.
Off the court, the Raiders will be holding a basketball clinic for children of this impoverished nation. Raiders head coach Brian Miller looks as this trip not only as a playing opportunity but also an opportunity to help others and promote the sport of basketball.
"At the clinic, there will be kids who won't even have shoes or shirts on their backs," Miller said. "We're also bringing them some gear and 50 basketballs."
From a basketball perspective, Miller has some other goals in mind.
"The whole idea is to serve as a gelling thing, a little team building activity and then to work out some things on the court now that we don't have to maybe work out later," Miller said.
The Raiders are led by senior forward Austin Meier (Oshkosh, Wis./Oshkosh West) who was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division III All-District Second Team for the Midwest Region as well as the First Team All-Northern Athletics Conference (NAC). Also, Meier was named to ESPN the Magazine's Academic All-America First Team. MSOE also returns senior guard Bennett Deacon (Burlington, Wis./Catholic Central) and junior guards Austin Kearns (Slinger, Wis./Slinger) and Rob Linzmeier (Valders, Wis./Valders) and junior forward Mike Ricciardi (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove).
"We're going to be a different team than we were in the past," Miller said. "We're going to try some things. I would rather see them work out the kinks now than try and do that when you're in the regular season."
The team raised money through a number of different ventures over the past few years to be able to take this trip to the Dominican Republic. MSOE begins their regular season by hosting the All-Engineers Classic Nov. 20-21 at the Kern Center. The tournament features Carnegie Mellon, the Merchant Marine Academy and Caltech. The Raiders finished last season with a record of 17-10 overall and 10-6 in NAC action.
Meier will be posting a daily blog about the Dominican Republic trip and can be found online at D3Hoops.com and on the MSOE Athletics website.
