Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Basketball Foreign Tour -- Day 1/2
August 09, 2012 | Cowboy Basketball
Aug. 9, 2012
Oklahoma State's Cowboy Basketball squad left Stillwater bright and early Wednesday morning, departing via charter bus to Will Rogers World Airport at 6:30 am. The trip was relatively uneventful, other than the scare once the team was in Barcelona and Phil Forte couldn't find his luggage. Turns out, his tag had been ripped off his bag and one of the managers had grabbed it, thinking it was an equipment bag.
It had been a 20-hour trip by the time they stepped foot in Spain, and most of them hadn't slept much on the eight-hour flight from Atlanta to Paris. Once in France, there was an hour layover before the final leg of the trip, and most of the players were delirious but excited. It was also early Thursday morning as they waited for the flight to board, so it was basically a new day.
Once in Barcelona, the team got on a bus and went to the hotel, the Eurostar Cristal Palace in the middle of downtown. After check-in and a quick shower, the Cowboys walked about six blocks south to the Hard Rock Cafe Barcelona for lunch. As busy as the city center was, it was obvious that the much-taller players were going to get lots of stares.
After lunch, most everyone returned to the hotel and took a nap. There wasn't anything scheduled other than meals the first day as the team tried to adjust to the time change. Around 8 o'clock (1 pm Oklahoma time with the seven-hour difference), the team set off on foot once again for El Asado de Aranda for a unique Catalonia dining experience. While waiting for dinner, Coach Ford posed a question to all of the players ... who is the best player you have ever played against? Not a pickup game, in an actual game, either high school, AAU or college. Here are their answers ...
Jean-Paul Olukemi -- DeMar DeRozan, former USC Trojan and current Toronto Raptor.
Markel Brown -- Austin Rivers, former Duke Blue Devil and New Orleans Hornets draft pick.
Brian Williams and Cezar Guerrero -- Brandon Jennings, 2009 draft pick of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Michael Cobbins -- Thomas Robinson, former Kansas Jayhawk and Sacramento Kings draft pick.
LeBryan Nash -- Anthony Davis, former Kentucky Wildcat and current member of Team USA.
Marek Soucek -- Jen Vesely, former player in the Czech Republic and current member of the Washington Wizards.
Marcus Smart -- Andre Drummond, former UConn Huskie and draft pick of the Detroit Pistons.
Kamari Murphy -- Tobias Harris, former Tennessee Volunteer and current member of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Phil Forte -- mentioned a player who is currently a high school recruitable athlete, so he shall remain nameless.
Dinner consisted of roasted pig, leg of lamb, and beef that the players and staff actually cooked themselves at their table. When dinner was complete, the restaurant staff sang happy birthday to Michael Cobbins, who celebrated his 20th birthday on Thursday.
That's the extent of the trip so far. The guys seem to really be enjoying the camraderie and checking out a new city together. Due to the semifinals of the Olympic men's basketball tournament, Friday's game against CB Sant Nicholas has been moved up to 4 pm local time, or 9 am Oklahoma time. A recap of the exhibition will be posted here at okstate.com.
