The Nova Notebook: Cats in Spain

A Blog Chronicling Villanova Men's Basketball's August Visit to Spain

Part Three

Friday, Aug. 5

Barcelona

1:35 p.m.

Inside the locker room head coach Jay Wright has just finished sharing a few thoughts with his players in the wake of a convincing 89-49 victory over a Spanish Select Team. The unit was comprised of Division II professional players and Wright pronounces himself pleased with his squad's performance.

"It was a great start for us," he says.

The only moment that gave the coaching staff pause came in the third quarter when redshirt freshman guard Donte DiVincenzo went to the court in pain after getting his left ankle tangled up in a collision under the basket. He was helped off the court by head athletic trainer Jeff Pierce and did not return with what Wright called a sprained ankle after the game.

"It's a shame because Donte was playing so well," Wright states. "But we're relieved it isn't more serious."

DiVincenzo finished with six points and seven rebounds and he wasn't the only relative newcomer to shine. Sophomore Eric Paschall connected on all four of his field goal attempts, including the Wildcats' first five points of the day, on his way to a nine point, seven carom effort. And freshman forward Dylan Painter ended the afternoon with 14 points and six rebounds.

"Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins really provided great leadership today," adds Wright.

The Wildcats don't linger inside the arena on this day. It's back out to the team bus for the 30-minute ride from suburban Badalona back to the team hotel in downtown Barcelona.

Saturday, Aug. 6

Barcelona

9:15 a.m.

It's moving day for the Villanova traveling party as the Wildcats check out of their hotel for the journey to Madrid. After breakfast in the hotel, the luggage is loaded into two buses.

A drive from Barcelona, located on Spain's western edge near the Balearic Sea, west to Madrid lists as five hours and 34 minutes according to Google Maps. The preferred choice from many citizens is a high-speed rail line that takes only two hours and 45 minutes. The two team buses deposit the group at the Barcelona Train Station after a short ride from the hotel.

The unsung heroes of today's journey are graduate assistants Mike Clark, Nick DiPaola, and Henry Lowe along with the lone student manager on the trip, Art Quaranta. The foursome has the responsibility for seeing to it that all the luggage reaches makes it on to the train and then on to the bus in Madrid.

For Clark and DiPaola, this is familiar territory ââ'¬" the two served as student managers during their undergraduate days at Villanova. Lowe, of course, is transitioning to a new role after four years as a walk-on that culminated in the Wildcats' 2016 NCAA national championship last spring.

The Wildcats' group occupies most of one full car on the train. Out the window sits a fast-moving scene of open areas covered in bright sunshine. When the Wildcats train pulls into the Madrid station it is greeted by temperatures hovering near 100 degrees. The temperate seaside climate of Barcelona has been replaced by an inland stop that reminds one of inland California with low humidity and warm sunshine.

Instead of two buses to transport the group downtown, there is one. That ratchets up the degree of difficulty for Clark, Lowe, DiPaola, and Quaranta, whose task now is to fit all of that luggage underneath one bus. A bit of imagination ââ'¬" and engineering ââ'¬" gets the many bags below the bus and the ride downtown is made smoothly behind a police escort.

7:45 p.m.

Madrid

The Wildcats checked off one box on Thursday with a visit to one of this nation's premier football sides, FC Barcelona. This evening they get to take stock of the home digs of another of its foremost football clubs, Real Madrid. A private tour of Estadio Santiago Bernabeu is underway as the evening sun begins to fade.

The tour takes Villanova inside the stadium, locker rooms, and museum area before bringing the contingent on to the edge of the pitch. The Wildcat players are then urged to pose for a photograph in one of the bench areas.

"Nobody wants to go down to the bench," quips Wright.

The tour concludes and it's off to dinner before a trip back to the hotel. Game Two awaits on Sunday.

Up next: Exhibition Game No. 2