KEENE, N.H. – Recently returning from a 10-day, five-game, trip to Europe, Keene State men’s basketball coach Rob Colbert said he was initially concerned how his team would gel on the court.

Traveling to Greece and Italy on a tour run by USA Athletes International, Colbert was comforted by having three of his former Owl players; Travon Little, Kevin Ritter and Matt Hickey on his nine-man squad. But with limited practice time, there was still the apprehension of not knowing how the KSC trio would work with the other six players who came from several New England Schools, including LEC rival Rhode Island College, Lasell College, and Mount Ida College.

Colbert’s anxiety lasted until the start of the first game in Greece when his team got together for a pre-game cheer. Before heading out on the court, the players got together and in unison yelled out “U-S-A.”

“When they put on that USA basketball jersey everything changed,” said Colbert. “You could see the look in their eyes. They were no longer from Keene State or Lasell; they were Americans representing their country.”

The team did America proud winning all-five games on their schedule against competitive club programs made up of lower tier national players. “They had some talented players, but we were a little bit deeper on the bench,” said Colbert.

For the most part, the American team adjusted well to the international game that included a deeper three-point line, a trapezoid lane, and an eight-second backcourt rule. However the different interpretation of the traveling violation and the time out rule took a little bit of getting used to.

“I think we got called for traveling about a 100 times,” said Colbert. “We had some problems with time outs (which can only be called on dead balls), but the officials were patient with me.”

Surprisingly, the communication between the players wasn’t much of an issue. Following the games, that took place in the evening due to the oppressive heat during the day, the players would get together for dinner and converse about the games, referred to as “friendly’s” because no championship was awarded.

“They fed us like kings,” said Hickey, who called the trip a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

“At one meal in Greece, we filled up on the first course, not knowing that it was the first of five courses,” said Ritter. “Maybe they were trying to fatting us for the next game.”

Instead of exchanging addresses and numbers, the players swamped jersey and permission to be on each others MySpace or Facebook pages.

There was also plenty of time to do some site-seeing. The players visited the Acropolis and took a gondola ride in Venice.

“When we walked into the facility, the people took our picture, wanted autographs, and even the jerseys off our backs,” said Colbert.

“It was an eye-opening experience,” he said. “With everything going on in the world the most surprising thing was how well we were received. It was neat for our kids to not only get an opportunity to play international games, but also learn about different cultures.”