Men's basketball teams from Cal, Stanford, San Jose State and Santa Clara set for foreign tours

Four Bay Area college basketball teams will show their stuff on foreign soil this month and next, all hoping the experience will benefit them this season and enrich them forever.

College teams are allowed to take summer foreign tours every four years, and Cal, Stanford, San Jose State and Santa Clara are packing their bags.

Cal, headed to northern Europe, and San Jose State, bound for Italy, leave Saturday. Stanford treks to Spain starting Sept. 3, and Santa Clara visits Vancouver, British Columbia, a few days later.

"There are so many elements to these things," San Jose State coach George Nessman said. "There are the (10 extra) practices -- gosh, it's a big advantage. The competition is hit and miss, but just the experience of the travel, the bonding, seeing new things -- all those things are so good."

Cal: The Golden Bears will play in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, including matchups against national teams from the latter two. Coach Mike Montgomery plans to utilize his entire roster, experimenting with players at new positions.

Junior forward Bak Bak returned to Berkeley on Monday from a long stretch at home in Kenya, where he got his passport renewed, but won't travel with the team. "We were concerned," Montgomery said. "Who knows if we still have passport issues. We don't want to risk that."

Allen Crabbe, the reigning Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, is fine after surgery this summer
to repair the nose he broke in two places at the USA under-19 national team tryout. He will wear a protective mask while playing in Europe.

Cal hopes to have sophomore Emerson Murray (foot) and redshirt freshman Alex Rossi (abdominal injury) available, but neither is 100 percent. Montgomery will get the chance to see transfer guard Justin Cobbs and freshmen David Kravish and Christian Behrens in game settings for the first time.

Stanford: The Cardinal has lined up fierce competition in Spain, where it will face 30-time Spanish pro league champion Real Madrid along with FC Barcelona, which last October beat the Los Angeles Lakers.

"Being involved with USA Basketball for a number of years and seeing those teams play, they're terrific," Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. "We want to be challenged and kind of gauge where we are."

Forward Andy Brown, recovering from his third anterior cruciate ligament knee injury, won't be available, but highly touted freshman guard Chasson Randle will make his debut. "This will give him a chance to see the adjustments he has to make at this level," Dawkins said.

San Jose State: Nessman said visits to the Colosseum in Rome and the Vatican will highlight the Spartans' trip, but he's also eager to see how his club adapts without departed guards Adrian Oliver and Justin Graham, who combined to score more than 38 points per game.

"I think we're going to be pretty good," said Nessman, who has three starters returning from the program's first winning season since 1993-94. "The kids now look at things a little differently. They definitely see themselves with higher expectations."

Absent from the trip will be junior college transfer Jay Kinney, who is expected to play a major role but is attending summer classes.

Santa Clara: The Broncos are visiting British Columbia, home of senior forward Marc Trasolini and the program's most famous alum -- two-time NBA most valuable player Steve Nash.

"We're trying to reach out to Steve, hoping that with the (NBA) lockout he'd be able to come back to his hometown," Santa Clara coach Kerry Keating said. "We just want our guys to be able to say they've met him."

The Broncos feature three returning starters, including junior guard Kevin Foster, who averaged 20.2 points per game last season. They will travel without incoming JC transfer Chris Caird, a native of England who is in Iceland with his fiancee after the birth this week of their first son.