Photo Gallery

Game 1 Recap (Butler 84, Madrid All-Stars 80)  |  Game 2 Recap (Butler 85, Arcos Albacete Basketball 51)

Game 3 Recap (Butler 81, Valencia 68)  |  Game 4 Recap (Butler 80, Dax Gamarde Basketball Club 74)

Thursday, August 10

The Bulldogs will play their fourth and final game later today. The team arrived in Barcelona on Wednesday afternoon following a win in Tuesday's game in Valencia.
Barcelona is a magnificent city and the team enjoyed some time to walk around on Wednesday with a Flamenco show later in the evening. This is easily the busiest city that we have seen on the tour as tourists are abundant throughout the main city center. Barcelona is also along the Mediterranean Sea so there is an influx of Spaniards who have come to the beach area for their vacation. Spain has been in the midst of a heat wave, but a light drizzle cooled things down Wednesday night and the temperature here has been in the low 80s with a nice breeze off the water the last few days. Great weather for walking around and exploring the city.

Our last sight-seeing tour of Valencia included the bullfighting arena; Barcelona's bullfighting arena has been transformed into a shopping mall because the city has gone decades without a bullfight.

Our Thursday morning in Barcelona was spent on a bus tour of the city. We saw the boardwalk along the Mediterranean and took photos from one of the higher points of the city. The team also spent time at several of the venues that housed the 1992 Olympics. This week is the 25^th anniversary of the Dream Team winning the gold medal in those Olympics. The team went into the stadium that hosted both the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the track and field competition. The gymnastics venue, swimming venue, and the outdoor diving set-up were nearby.

Our first injury on the trip belongs to our tour guide Carmen, who rolled her ankle on a piece of loose pavement walking from the Olympic stadium to the bus. Coach Jordan convinced a concessionaire that he needed to buy a bag of ice and not a drink, while athletic trainer Ryan Galloy checked her out. She has made it on the bus as we drive about 50 miles from our hotel for tonight's game; she is listed as doubtful to play tonight.

We were told today by our local guide that Barcelona is home to 500,000 mopeds and motorcycles. That is a staggering number since the population of Barcelona and the surrounding area is just 3 million, but mopeds fly by you in just about every crosswalk you encounter.

Wednesday's drive to Barcelona included a stop for lunch in Cambrils, another beach city that is popular with tourists. The team had lunch at the restaurant owned by the family of Butler men's soccer freshman Usman Gil Ivern. His mother, Nuria, is a teacher who spent a year teaching in Oakland, California. They were tremendous hosts and serve a delicious rotisserie chicken. Usman's younger brother also waits tables in the restaurant, just as Usman did for a few weeks over the summer.   

Monday, August 7

We appreciate you following along (and hope that you are also reading up on the blog that Joey Brunk is doing for the Indianapolis Star). The Dawgs are essentially halfway through our Spanish excursion. There is a photo gallery that has been added at the top of this page to show you some of the visuals so far. Some of these have been on Twitter.

The team arrived in Valencia Sunday late afternoon, following the team's win in Albacete. The city is 2,200 years old and is on the Mediterranean Sea. It is the third-largest city in Spain. The University of Tennessee is also here, playing tonight against the team that we will face Tuesday evening. Tennessee's trip began in Barcelona and they will fly from Valencia to Paris, while we travel next to Barcelona to conclude our trip.

The city is known for its oranges and the city's official animal is the bat. Oranges are carved into the train station that was constructed in 1917 (it is across the street from the bullfighting arena) while a bat is part of the professional soccer team's logo.

Last night, the team had dinner along the harbor. Our restaurant included a good number of people Salsa dancing, and it sure didn't feel like a Sunday night along the boardwalk. Either people are on vacation or Monday will not be a very productive workday for many here.

The first four days of the itinerary were packed with travel, tours and two games, so the team eased into Monday with a later breakfast before venturing out for some sight-seeing in Valencia. Following a flood in the 1980s, the city re-routed a river and turned the riverbed into an eight-kilometer park. There are also five very modern structures that house an opera house, art museum, science museum, a garden/night club (yes, you read that correctly), and 3D movie theatre that is also a planetarium. There is also shallow water in the middle of the structures to "connect" them all and pay tribute to the river that once ran here. It has a similar feel to the canal in downtown Indianapolis near the NCAA headquarters. It's only about two feet deep.

Much of the city center is inside 12 historic gates that led into Valencia in medieval times. Due to pirates often arriving in the city, large walls were built around the city with the 12 gates that were guarded. Much of the walls have been torn down as the city grew (and the threat of pirates subsided), but the gates remain. The Bulldogs did a quick walking tour of a tourist area that included many small shops and cafes. There is a main thoroughfare named after Christopher Columbus that houses a larger commercial area (including the first Apple store that was opened in Spain). We drove through that area, but did not stop there today. The area we were in today also included the city's historic Cathedral. A tall circular staircase led to the top. For two euros, you could climb 206 stairs. Four of us decided to make the climb. The two euros and burning quads were worth it for the panoramic views of the city.

It's 4 p.m. local time and the team has returned to the hotel for a siesta. Most of the players will spend a few hours at the beach before dinner. The team has a meal planned along the water tonight. Several types of paella are on the menu.

Sunday, August 6 (Morning Update)

The Bulldogs are set to play in about two hours (6 a.m. Eastern) against a second-division club team from Albacete. The team arrived in the city about dinner time Saturday (I say dinner time as in when Americans typically eat; we were told that no restaurants open until about 8 p.m. here in Albacete). The team had a late dinner and a brief video session at the hotel following before turning in for the night.

Earlier on Saturday, the team made the trip from Madrid to Albacete. That is about 250 kilometers and runs alongside the largest collection of vineyards in the world. We would go miles and miles (or kilometers and kilometers) without seeing anything other than vineyards. To break up the trip, the team stopped in Toledo for some sight-seeing in the city that was Spain's capital until 1561 (prior to Madrid). Toledo is also the hometown of our tour manager for this trip, Carmen. She actually showed us her apartment as part of the tour. It's a traditional set-up where she has one of four apartments in a building that has an open courtyard in the middle of the building shared by all four apartments.

Toledo is a beautiful city set alongside a river. There are 85,000 people who live in the city, but a small percentage of that live within the city's historic walls. Much of our time in the city was spent in the cathedral. Construction began in 1223 and took almost 300 years to build. It is the second-largest cathedral in Spain. It is larger than a football field and houses more than 700 stained glass windows. Simply amazing. 

Our first stop in the city was at a small shop that makes swords by hand. In earlier times, making swords was a large part of the city's industry. Now that people don't utilize swords to fight as much as they did previously, many of the swords are made for movies or your favorite television series. 

Following today's game (which is a noon start locally), the team will drive to Valencia. Twitter updates from today's game, as well as a recap, will be available on our web site later today.  

Friday, August 4 (Morning Update)

The team arrived in Madrid on Thursday at about 8 a.m. local time, but that felt like 2 a.m. to our bodies. Hoping to acclimate to the time zone here, most everyone on the trip allowed themselves only a 30-minute nap throughout the day Thursday. It seems as though that worked for most everyone as the team looks refreshed on Friday morning.

We did a bus tour of Madrid immediately after we passed through customs at the airport Thursday morning. Madrid is the capital of Spain and the third largest city in all of Europe, but almost 40 percent of the city is dedicated to greenspace and that is noticeable. We stopped several times for photos, beginning with the city's bullfighting arena, and other scenic spots including the palace, Real Madrid's stadium, and a park that overlooked much of the city.

**The team returned on Friday morning to Real Madrid's stadium to do a tour. In addition to the 85,000-seat stadium, the team also has a tour/museum that showcases the team's history as well as allowing fans to visit the locker room. It's an amazing combination of history that displays all of the team's trophies from the last 100 years set alongside 3D videos of the team's current roster and interactive displays. Even if you are not a diehard soccer fan, it is well worth the 15 Euros and 90 minutes if you ever find yourself in Madrid.

Back to Thursday… The team had some free time during the afternoon to explore portions of the city. Our hotel is near the two major city squares/plazas and every street is lined with cafes and restaurants that feature tapas.

Prior to dinner, our tour manager Carmen led us on a walking tour of the area. She has told us that due to the heat in the summer, some of the city's 3 million residents will make the 4.5-hour drive to the beach. It certainly doesn't feel like 3 million people live here as you walk around in the heart of the city during the day. The number of restaurants is staggering, and the fact that I have yet to see a grocery store must keep all of them in business. One of the two city plazas is lined with stores. It has a smaller Times Square feel to it, down to the fact that you can have your picture taken with Mickey and Minnie or a portly gentleman wearing a Spiderman costume…as long as you give them a tip after the photo.

Anthony Travel, which organized the tour for us, hosted us for a Welcome Dinner Thursday night. We sat outdoors, just 50 yards from the front door of our hotel. The pace of service is much slower here, which aids greatly in getting to spend time together in conversation. It is not so great for having your beverage refilled. The meal was tremendous. The appetizers included fresh tomatoes, asparagus, a meat and cheese tray, and the traditional Spanish omelet. About half of our group selected salmon as the entrée, while the rest of us chose a steak option where you were brought a plate of sliced beef as well as a piping hot cast iron dish about the size of a typical dinner plate. You would sear your own steak to your liking, which is something I had not seen in a restaurant before. (I also think the chef at this restaurant might have the easiest gig in the city.) Our meal concluded with dessert as we serenaded Kelan Martin for his 22^nd birthday and had a piece of cake alongside ice cream or cream Brule. Most of us might were awake for at least 23 of the 24 hours of Kelan's birthday.

Today is gameday! It sounds like the tip of our game has been pushed back to 8 p.m. Madrid (2 p.m. Eastern). The team has not touched a basketball since Tuesday's practice. The Dawgs will gather at 3:30 p.m. for a short video session followed by the pregame meal at the hotel at 4 p.m. The gymnasium is about a 40-minute drive from our hotel. We expect in-game updates through the @ButlerMBB Twitter account and then we'll have a recap following the game.


Wednesday, August 2 into Thursday, August 3 (Travel Day)
(First update courtesy of John Dedman, Associate AD / one of the few members of the travel party awake at this hour. He also has his laptop on and sprung for the in-flight WiFi.)

Editor's Note: I do anticipate most of these updates being more informative and entertaining than this update that focuses exclusively on our time in the airport and on the plane.

The Bulldogs departed Hinkle at 11 a.m. on Wednesday. The travel company had us to the airport well in advance of our connecting flight to Atlanta, so I joined the coaching staff at Harry & Izzy's near the gate for lunch. The conversation veered toward past foreign trips that members of the staff had experienced, and the impact they can have on a season. Coach LaVall Jordan was part of one prior to his senior season at Butler, in addition to several as an assistant coach over the years. The conversation was halted a few times by recruiting calls. Since I have neither been on a previous foreign trip nor does our compliance office allow me to make recruiting calls, I was able to focus on devouring a sandwich in near record time while listening in on the conversation.

During the course of the meal, we also realized that today (or Wednesday depending on when or where you are reading this) marks Day #50 since LaVall's introductory press conference. In addition to selling a home, buying a home and moving his family back to Indianapolis, we rattled off the number of days spent on the road recruiting and the number of practices and workouts. He couldn't remember which night it was, but he does recall allowing himself to sleep in a bit one morning, which he thought was just more than six hours of sleep.

Joey Brunk spent part of our time at the gate waiting on the connecting flight to Atlanta chatting with a local fan. Chatting with an Indy-based fan is not a rare occurrence for the local celebrity. Joey later informed me that he has brought three books on the trip and that a Travis Tritt greatest hits album will probably be the first thing he listens to while traveling. He ranks Tritt's cover of "Take It Easy" as the second-best rendition behind Glenn Frye's. Joey is going to do a blog of sorts for the Indy Star over the next 10 days; I hope I didn't steal most of his material for the first entry with that fun fact.

Kelan Martin's birthday is Thursday, so depending on the time zone and the tail wind, he turned 22 at some point over the Atlantic Ocean.

The flight to Madrid was a spacious 767 and not every seat was utilized. Brandon Crone and I lucked out the seat between us was empty. (Our post players were offered exit row seats that were not filled for the flight, so most everyone is as comfortable as can be expected on an eight-hour flight.) As I'm typing this at 36,000 feet with an estimated 2:21 left on the flight, BC is still awake. I would have lost that bet since he has a newborn daughter and 2-year-old at home; I thought he would be asleep as we taxied away from the gate at 6 p.m. (Probably a good time to mention that we are one member light as Emerson Kampen stayed in Indy as he and his wife, Kylie, are expecting the arrival of a baby girl any day now.)

Anticipated arrival in Madrid will be around 2 a.m. Eastern, which is 8 a.m. in Spain. Once we get through customs, we'll start the day with some sight-seeing in Madrid.

We'll continue to provide updates throughout the trip. For the four games, we will push out as many updates and information as possible during the games, and then follow up with some interviews and recaps. However, most of the teams in Spain are not in season, which means that they are not utilizing their normal gameday set-up (or even the normal gameday gym in some cases). Because of that, we won't be able to stream the games, but hope you'll follow along.