Watch A Preview of the Brazil trip on youtube.com

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford College men’s basketball team arrived on campus Friday afternoon to begin preparations for a trip to Brazil. Head coach Mike Young and the squad will play five games in Brazil against a variety of teams.

After practicing on campus for a week, the team will depart for Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, August 21. The first game of the trip will be played in HSBC Arena, which will be the home of basketball and gymnastics for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Next, the squad will fly to Sao Carlos, where they will play four games before returning to campus on August 30.

“It is an opportunity for us to get the 2010-11 team together and begin to watch them develop,” said Coach Young. “A new NCAA rule allows us to take our freshmen, so we will have our entire team together. When Ian Chadwick and Bishop Ravenel were here we took a trip and talking to guys on that team the first thing we bring up is the trip to Europe and the experience that it was. This year’s team has meant so much to Wofford and the community of Spartanburg. I am thrilled we have the opportunity to do something nice for them and I know we will have a productive trip.”

This will mark the first overseas trip for the Wofford men’s basketball team since the 2000 season when they visited England and France. The NCAA allows an overseas trip once every four years for basketball.

Wofford enters the 2010-11 season as the defending Southern Conference Champions. Last year they reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. The season will begin on Friday, November 12 at Minnesota. A full schedule will be released in the coming weeks.