LOUDONVILLE, NY (NEWS10) – The Siena College men’s basketball team is ready for the experience of a lifetime. The Saints will travel to Italy for a 10-day, three-game foreign tour from August 18-28.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to be able to develop our collective unity in the face of international competition,” said the head coach. Carmen Maciariello. “We are grateful to everyone who helped make this trip possible.”
The NCAA allows teams to take an overseas trip once every four college years. Siena’s men’s basketball program last traveled overseas in the summer of 2017, when it made the short trip just north of the border to nearby Montreal. The Saints have already completed a foreign tour of Italy ahead of their first of three consecutive MAAC Championship seasons in the summer of 2008, and have also traveled once more to Montreal (2013), as well as Mexico (2003) and England (1994), in the modern era of the program.
The Siena 2022 Italian basketball tour will include visits to the capital Rome, the independent Vatican city-state, Assisi, the namesake of Siena College, San Gimignano, Florence and Como. During this unique experience, the saints will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the local culture, while taking guided tours of remarkable sites in the “Bel Paese”, including the Colosseum, the Sistine Chapel, the Trevi Fountain. and the Spanish Steps, and Lake Como, among others.
Siena is expected to play three games against international competition from Italy’s Serie A2 and Serie B leagues:
Game #1 – Stella Azzurra (B)
Saturday, August 20 – 6:30 p.m. local time (12:30 p.m. ET)
Rome – Arena Altero Felici
Game #2 – Pallacanestro Crema (B)
Friday, August 26 – 6 p.m. (12 p.m. ET)
Cream – PalaCremonesi
Game #3 – UCC Assigeco Piacenza (A2)
Saturday, August 27 – 6 p.m. (12 p.m. ET)
Plaisance – PalaBanca
Along with their three exhibition games, the Saints are also allowed up to 10 additional pre-departure training sessions as part of their overseas tour experience, which will provide the team with an additional golden opportunity. to gel and shape this year’s team. Siena enters its 2022-23 season ready to onboard seven newcomers — including six true freshmen — to a program aimed at getting a head start on building four consecutive top-three MAAC rankings.
Fans can follow the Saints throughout their tour of Italy via the team’s social media pages, as well as the team’s website at sienasaints.com. Fans are encouraged to follow the Siena men’s basketball team twitter (@SienaMBB), Instagram (@sienambb) and Facebook (@SienaBasketball) for regular updates throughout the journey, including photos, videos and live match coverage posts. Additionally, various Saints members will perform daily Instagram Story takeovers of the team, beginning with the team departing for Newark Liberty International Airport on Thursday, August 18.
“This overseas tour provides an incredible opportunity for our young men to be able to form bonds that will last a lifetime as they experience another way of life and another culture, while representing Siena College,” added Maciariello. “At Siena, we talk about ‘education for a lifetime’ which is committed to being student-centered and transformative, and it really is that.”