SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- The Notre Dame basketball team left Tuesday for a 13-day, six-game trip to Ireland with a mission of getting younger players playing time, letting older players work on their skills and making sure everyone has fun.
Eleven of the 13 players making the trip have never been overseas before. So coach Mike Brey is hoping the trip will be educational and fun, as well as good for the team.
"It gives us a chance to play some different lineups, play some different guys, evaluate some things and experiment with some things," Brey said as the team began its last practice before departing.
The Irish, who return everyone except forward Rob Kurz, are expecting big things this season after going 25-8 last season -- the third-most wins in school history. The Irish were 20th in the nation in scoring last season at 79 points a game. Brey figures the international game, with its 24-second shot clock, could help the Irish speed up their offense even more.
He's already seen an improvement while practicing for the trip. When the shot clock winds down to 6 seconds or so players tend to rush things. But with a 24-second clock the clock frequently gets down that low.
"I think they're understanding that 5 seconds and 4 seconds in a half court is a lot of time to still get something good," he said.
The trip also could help the Irish improve defensively, which isn't usually a strong point for Notre Dame, which gave up an average of 69.6 points a game last season.
Luke Harangody, a second-team All America last season who led the Irish with 20.4 points and 10.6 rebounds a game, said he thinks the trip will help the team during the regular season.
"We're so far ahead right now. We feel like we're in season now," said Harangody, who plans to work on some new moves and some things with his left hand.
Kyle McAlarney, who averaged 15.2 points a game as a first-team All-Big East selection along with Harangody, believes the trip will help the team to bond.
"Just really play together and get some games under our belt. I think that's important," he said.
The basketball team began practicing Aug. 4, four days before football practice started. The Irish open with an exhibition game against the Ireland national team in Limerick on Friday. They will play another exhibition game against an all-star team in Belfast on Sunday. In the Emerald Hoops tournament in Dublin they will play Ireland on Aug. 21, Poland on Aug. 22 and Iceland on Aug. 23.
The thing guard Tory Jackson is looking forward to most was putting together a video documentary of the trip.
"It's going to be a lot of joke playing," he said.
McAlarney is looking forward to visiting the home of his ancestors.
"My dad's got some distant family over there. I'm going to see if I can look them up," he said. "For me it is pretty special to go back and see the motherland. It's a trip I wouldn't get an opportunity to do right now financially with my family. So to be over there all-expenses paid just to enjoy it, it's going to be fun."
