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Details for Georgia Basketball trip to Italy announced

Palmber-Thombsby:Palmer Thombs•06/06/23•

palmerthombs

Georgia F Jabri Abdur-Rahim
Tony Walsh | Georgia Athletics

Georgia Basketball will be making a trip to Italy this summer. With the help of Revive by The VII Group, the Bulldogs will play three games against elite Italian professional teams and experience all that the country has to offer in Florence, Rome, Pompeii and Sorrento.

According to Chris Williams, founder of The VII Group – which also puts on the Holiday Hoopsgiving event at State Farm Arena in Atlanta that Georgia played in last year against Notre Dame – dates for the trip are set for July 20-29.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to get ahead a little bit,” Georgia head coach Mike White told reporters last week at SEC Spring Meetings. “The NCAA allows you 10 additional practices than you normally get in preparation for that trip. We’ll get three days over there at Rome, spend a day over there in Florence and then a couple of days to finish on the Amalfi Coast. Opportunity for guys to spend time with each other. Really everybody in our program to fast track some relationships, especially in today’s day and age in the portal and having nine new players. Excited about it. A great opportunity for us.”

Georgia is breaking in nine new players on its roster for 2023-24. The Bulldogs signed four newcomers from the high school ranks – a group that ranks 18th nationally and fourth in the SEC – plus five more from the transfer portal, coming in at No. 10 in the country there.

Of the nine newcomers, seven decided to come aboard since the season ended. After signing Dylan James and Mari Jordan last November in the Class of 2023.

The Bulldogs picked up RJ Melendez (Illinois), Jalen DeLoach (VCU), Russel Tchewa (South Florida), Noah Thomasson (Niagara) and RJ Sunahara (Nova Southeastern) out of the transfer portal. Sunahara seems to be the biggest addition from the portal as the reigning Division II Player of the Year, but don’t count out possible contributions from Melendez as a shooter, DeLoach and Tchewa as big men and Thomasson as a scorer.

Blue Cain and Silas Demary joined Georgia’s Class of 2023 this spring. Including James and Jordan three of the four rank in the top 100 according to the On3 Industry Ranking with all four having at least one of the major recruiting services ranking them within the top 100 including Cain, a consensus top-100 player.

That type of recruiting earned praise from Brooks during his presentation to the board. In pointing out the success sports had been having as of late at the UGA Athletics Association Board of Directors meeting late last month, Brooks brought up White’s attitude at season’s end and approach to the turnaround as a sign of men’s basketball headed in the right direction.

“What impressed me most about Mike is his attitude and when the season ended, we spoke immediately and he was ready to get after it,” Brooks said. “He said ‘We’re going to get this thing fixed. We’re going to get it right.’ It was never a moment of negativity, it was all positivity, how it was going to move forward.

“I think that translated into an active recruiting approach for both high school and transfers and I think that positive energy he displayed and the can-do-itness, it paid off,” Brooks continued. “I think he revamped the roster and I’m excited to see where it’s going to go and so excited, they’re going to get that opportunity to go to Italy, not just from competing but what a great experience for young men to be able to go to Italy and experience an opportunity that they may never have.”

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