The Sun Devils took a trip to Europe this summer. They were able to play some basketball, but that wasn’t what was most important. Most importantly, this trip allowed a team of many new faces to bond and tighten. Bobby Hurley believes that this team is tighter than ever.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“We have good energy today.” Coach Hurley said, “As you would expect from the first day, but we’ve had a pretty long summer, and I think it’s been extremely helpful with, you know, nine new players to do the foreign trip. That was a real positive. We got the extra practice time. So I think we’re far ahead of where we normally would be this time of year.”
Junior Jamiya Neal feels they are tighter, more prepared, and further along than last year.
“I think we know each other a little more than last year.” Neal said, “We’re a little more advanced just because we got that time to spend with each other off to court, and we got time to practice and play on the court. So I think we are a little more ahead than last year.”
Coach Hurley, Junior Frankie Collins, and Junior Jamiya Neal agreed that Mykonos’ beaches were their favorite part of the trip because there was no basketball, and the players could relax and bond.
Perfect Way to Spend the Final Day 👌@SunDevilHoops wrapped up the Ellie Ziegler Foreign Tour with a trip to the beach on Mykonos ☀️😈 pic.twitter.com/yojKJB0tCX
— Sun Devil MBB (@SunDevilHoops) August 3, 2023
“My favorite part might have been Mykonos.” Collins said, “The beach is beautiful, just everything about it was just beautiful, the scenery, and just being there with your teammates and just getting to know each other and having the most fun. So probably the beach.”
When you have a team with “nine new players,” building a winning team is hard. You need a little foundation and knowledge of each other. However, that isn’t the case for this ASU squad. They feel as confident and tight-knit as ever going into this season. That’s because of the time they spent in Europe.
