SOMEWHERE OVER THE PACIFIC - The beginning of the end of the Team Conference USA All-Stars' China journey began with a 4 a.m. Monday (local time) departure from the King's Palace Hotel in Huizhou and wound its way through Guangzhou, Japan, Detroit, Memphis and, for some of the travelling party, onto Tulsa, El Paso and Hattiesburg.

What began with a two-a-day practice on Saturday May 24 ended with a three-game sweep by Team China to cap off a trip that was less about basketball and more about experiencing all that international travel has to offer.

From discovering new foods (lychee nuts anyone?) to mastering new words ('Ni hao' and 'shia shia' became rallying cries), the 22-member traveling party enjoyed all the pleasures and some of the hassles that come with experiencing new lands, meeting new people and spreading good will.

Without further ado, the Best, Worst and Otherwise Most Memorable Moments of the C-USA All Stars China Trip 2008:

Best Game

Game No. 2 was probably the team's best chance at a win and John Calipari got the most balanced scoring of the three contests. Some phantom calls down the stretch helped seal the fate of Team C-USA, but any objective observer would tell you that C-USA won that contest.

Best Game Atmosphere (Tie)

The first and third games in Dongguan and Huizhou) had great feels to them with fans into each game and a lot of the accoutrements that US crowds are accustomed to as far as game presentation (cheerleaders, thunder sticks and loud, annoying PA dudes). The first game had more raw emotion as it was the earthquake benefit contest and videos of the victims, the devastation and the impact really brought home the message of how massive the catastrophe was.

Best Travelling Attire

Doneal Mack's Ralph Lauren pajamas. No one wears his jammies on cross-continental flights like DMack.

Most Peculiar Call

Assistant coach John Robic was whistled for a technical for making a fairly sublime hand gesture toward one of the refs in Game 2. After one of numerous awful calls, Robic simply gave the "get outta here" gesture and got T'ed up. Robes seemed disappointed post-game when he realized he travelled all this way and didn't even get his money's worth on his moment in the scorebook.

Best Hotel

The Good View at stop number one on Dongguan was a resort destination worth destinating to. The pool stretched for hundreds of yards and wound through tropical vegetation eventually ending up on the precipice of a large lake. The daily buffets were loaded with all sorts of good eats and for the adventurous types, there were plenty of tasty Asian choices. There was also a good selection of familiar Western staples, including melt-in-your mouth croissants and California rolls.

Worst Hotel

The Jianling at stop number two was barely more than a glorified motel. A funky stench dominated the place, the food was inedible (aside from the incredible dim sum at a restaurant located within the same building) and instead of adopting the motto of that famous US motel chain which promises to "Leave the light on" for you, the Jianling shut off the lights on a few occasions the first night of our stay, blaming the issue on our party initially and then on a rain storm.

Most Pleaseant Surprise (Part One)

Claude Britten, UTEP

Britten's first two games were a scary forewarning of what could be in store for C-USA opponents come league play. The sophomore-to-be was 13 of 15 for 27 points and had 17 rebounds in Games 1 and 2, after playing 31 minutes. "I hope there is carryover from this for Claude come next season," said Britten's coach, Tony Barbee. "I think he saw what can happen if he continues to work hard."

Most Pleasant Surprise (Part Two)

Ben Uzoh, Tulsa

Uzoh's numbers weren't astounding by any means and he never really was able to find great rhythm coming off the bench, but everything else he did on the trip was of all-star quality. He took coaching well from the entire staff, worked his rear off in practices/shoot-arounds and somehow, in the midst of all that, managed to author a tremendous blog for the Tulsa World (see link to upper right). Uzoh has two years remaining for Doug Wojcik at Tulsa and it's probably time for the league to start maximizing exposure for the young gentleman who exemplifies everything a student-athlete is supposed to be.

Worst Thing for U.S.-China Relations

If Claude Britten and Pierre Niles were to stay in China any longer, the country's fine citizens wouldn't have a seat to sit in. Flimsy metal folding chairs became scrap metal at each of the final two stops on the tour as both big men had to learn to sit gently upon returning to the C-USA bench. In fact, Uzoh had to spend the final two minutes of the last game on a Britten-squashed seat, as there were no more handy replacements available. The unofficial tally was five folding chairs folded permanently by the league's Bash Brothers.

Best of the Bad Fast Food (Tie)

KFC and McDonald's

Helping to overcome the lousy accommodations at Stop 2 was the discovery of two American icons - The Colonel and Ronald - each of whom made the players (and some coaches) quite happy with a taste of home.

Best Trip Tradition

The Morning Stroll with Cal

Whether it was because he couldn't sleep or because he wanted to get the flavor-flav of each of the cities, Calipari consistently walked a couple of miles every (early) morning with various members of the traveling party. The two highlights for us were the discovery of the Jurassic Worms at Stop 2 (Yangjiang) and the street vendor scallion pancakes purchase at Stop 1 (Dongguan).

Most Internationally Friendly Trainer

Chris Simmons

The Memphis trainer (and my outbound flight traveling compadre) became a cult figure at every stop of the tour and his southern drawl of "shia shia" never failed to get a chuckle from whomever the recipient was. Simmons did a little bit of everything on the trip and Calipari made it a point to thank and praise his trainer in the post-third-game locker room. Simmons has a great way with the players and was the glue guy on the trip, keeping things orderly and regular.

Worst Movie to Be Trapped By

"27 Dresses"

We got stuck with this schmatte of a flick on both monster legs of the trip (into Tokyo from LAX and out of Tokyo to Detroit) and we can safely say it was 25 dresses too long. Fifty-four dresses, therefore, was some sort of cruel punishment from Northwest Airlines, beyond the usual cruel punishment of being jammed into a two foot by two foot box and told not to stand in the aisles.

Noted Doug Wojcik during the first 15 minutes of "27's" start, "I want you to know this movie really stinks."

To re-cap, that's two thumbs down from "Scott and Wojcik (Trapped) at the Movies."

Best Movie to Be Trapped By

"The Great Debaters"

The feature film of the Guangzho to Tokyo leg of the journey, the Denzel Washington, Forrest Whittaker vehicle found favor with everyone in the group who was awake for it.

Best Bargainers (Tie)

Britten and Robic

Claude worked one of the Shenzen market vendors for a great deal on his Faux-lex watch while Robic did the near impossible: He started driving the over-aggressive vendors away from him by his own persistent nagging. It got to the point where Robic started haggling over prices for items he didn't even want. Hysterical stuff, really.

Best Grin

Rod Strickland

Upon being informed that he would be released early from his China Trip - he and Robic were originally scheduled to stay with Calipari through the fifth of June - the ex-NBAer and current Memphis staffer grinned from ear to ear. "I just about busted out in tears I was so happy to hear it," said Strickland, who actually really enjoyed his trip but, like most of us, was ready to get back to familiar turf - and food! (Strickland, to his credit, did try some of the dim sum and we even caught him enjoying a shumai or two.)

Best Recovery

C-USA Assistant Commissioner Chris Woolard came down with a nasty leg rash on Day One of the trip and became the butt of many jokes (most from aspiring stand-up comedian, Robic). But after a visit to the local hospital - an experience Woolard will surely remember for a lifetime - Woolard's condition dried up and so did the Robic ribbing.

Woolard also gets the honor for being the closest to creating an international incident as he was asked on two separate occasions to stop taking pictures (once by a Red Army officer and once by a McDonald's manager). To his credit, Woolard never abandoned his quest to catch the perfect shot and the latter third of the trip was picture-incident-free.

PACIFIC RIM SHOTS

• Calipari remained in China as the team traveled back to the states as he and Del Harris will conduct some clinics in Shenzen and Beijing. Before he left though, he announced that his final act as the Coach of the 2008 C-USA All-Stars would be to procure the team some Pizza Hut from the Huizhou Hut which Cal had spotted on his Sunday morning walk. After fulfilling the promise, Calipari and Harris headed off to Shenzen. Commercial Appeal correspondent Maggie Rauch reported via email on Tuesday that the clinics were going well and she was floored by the amount of knowledge the coaches were imparting to the Chinese youth and select Chinese coaches.

• The King's Palace - our final hotel of the trip - was an interesting compilation of rooming options. Some rooms had round beds, others had big bowl-shaped bath tubs and still others combined the toilet and the shower in one glass-enclosed cubicle. It rated Nos. 2 AND 3 of the three hotels. (The Jianling was a distant sixth behind the plane and the bus.)

• Stats for the final game were an abomination and therefore, accurate stats for the three games in total are not available. However, the overall scoring leaders were most likely Doneal Mack and Claude Britten. It's strictly a guess, but we'd say the three players who got the most out of the trip were Britten (he now knows exactly how good he can be); Antonio Anderson (his leadership is emerging and better yet, he knows it has to); and Shawn Taggart (he understands, in no uncertain terms, that Calipari expects big things from him).

• We'll also go out on a limb and say that if Tulsa's Jerome Jordan was on the trip - he was a Visa issue victim just before departure - Team C-USA would have taken one game definitely and two in all likelihood.

• It's not our decision, of course, but we'd envision the trip becoming some type of reward for either top teams or players in the league. While Calipari got the deal with the CBA done - it lasts four more years - the League is ultimately going to be able to benefit from the trip and the exposure. That being the case, there should be opportunities available for other league members to take part in the experience of playing in China.

The tour - like anything in its formative years - will need to be tweaked and there have already been preliminary discussions to try and overcome some of the snafus that were experienced in Year One. Overall, though - and this was consensus from coaches, players and administrators alike - the journey was incredible to be a part of and well worth continuing in future years.

• Lastly, time to get a bit serious with you. It would - in my eyes - defeat the purpose of going on a trip like this if I didn't offer some sort of charitable donation in return for the incredible life experience the people of China gave me over the last week. So, I am going to donate the equivalent of $150 to the China Earthquake Relief Efforts by offering a rubber orange bracelet with the message, "5.12.08," on it to the first 50 readers of this blog who forward me a Red Cross donation confirmation. The donation can be for any amount, just as long as it is directed to the China quake. Include your address with the Red Cross confirmation in an email to me at shots@bostonsportsmedia.com, and once the bracelets are made and delivered to me, I will send them to you via US Post.

We'd encourage you to share this (limited time, first 50 only) offer with friends and fellow C-USA basketball fans. Thanks for joining us on the journey and get ready for another incredible season of C-USA hoops in 2008-09. Best wishes, David Scott.

HUIZHOU, CHINA - Memphis' Shawn Taggart led Team Conference USA with 12 points, but it was not enough as the Chinese National Team posted a 91-68 victory in the final game of the exhibition tour before a crowd of over 3,500 on Sunday.

Ben Uzoh with some groupies. For more photos visit the photo gallery for this day. and be sure to visit the photo galleries link on the right.

"I'd like to thank the CBA and the people of China who have overwhelmed us with their kindness and openness. I hope everyone knows that our hearts and prayers go out to all the earthquake victims and their families, and I hope that we were able to bring a little enjoyment into their lives and offer a temporary diversion. We are thinking of all of those affected and hope that better days lie ahead for everyone. This was a goodwill trip for all of us."

Team China held a narrow lead in the opening quarter at 17-12 with 1:21 left. However, the home squad broke the game open midway through the second quarter, and held a 41-25 lead. From that point, Team China never looked back, as Team C-USA would only get as close as 14 points the rest of the way.

At halftime of the game, University of Memphis Chinese intern coach Cui Wanjun was presented his 2008 NCAA Final Four ring. Wanjun, who was on the Tigers' staff throughout the 2007-08 campaign, commented that it was "a most precious gift" upon receiving the ring.

Former Team China coach and NBA veteran coach Del Harris was at the game and sat closest to the China bench, wearing a Team China golf shirt. He and Calipari are scheduled to conduct clinics in China for the next few days.

Due to technical difficulties of computer equipment at the game, a boxscore was unavailable.

HUIZHOU, CHINA - Team Conference USA took a 5-plus hour bus ride to the southern China city of Huizhou but before unloading at the hotel, the travelling party spent a few hours shopping in the city of Shenzen, just south of Huizhou on the shores of the South China Sea in the Guangdong province.

Jimmy the Shoe Salesman. For more photos visit the photo gallery for this day. and be sure to visit the photo galleries link on the right.

The team arrived at the final hotel of the trek, the King's Palace in Huizhou, shortly before 8 a.m. and was able to get a preliminary feel for the city.

The third and final game of the China journey will be played Sunday at 7:30 p.m. local time at the Huizhou Jiangbei Arena.

PACIFIC RIM SHOTS

• Saturday morning's Stroll with Cal took us back through the walking trail and park near the hotel under a light mist that followed a heavy rain which brought out the worms in full force onto the pavement. These suckers were about a foot long each and the width of a cigarette, prompting Paleontology Cal to call them "Jurassic Worms."

The walk also took us into some uncharted territory as Coach Calipari has an insatiable desire to see where the Chinese people - especially the ones with some of the more ornate homes. On this day, that meant trying to get into a gated area that was guarded by a security man who apparently was a bit sleepy at the 6:30 a.m. hour. With the stealth skills of a bat, Calipari led our entrance into the barbed-wire protected housing area. Which was fine, until the point when we had to exit through the same Sleepy Guard's gate. Sleeping Beauty had just awoken form his nap and much to his surprise saw two Westerners exiting his premises. For safety reasons, I walked behind Calipari as we slunk out of the gated community. Security Sleepy Guy eyed us the whole way back to the main walking path and probably is still watching after us.

• Our bus driver for Saturday's new China freeway journey was horn happy which had a way of interrupting any chance at sleep, but considering the alternative was often being run off the freeway, we weren't mad at the dude.

• Calipari and Memphis Athletic Director R.C. Johnson spent a considerable time on the bus discussing scheduling options for the 2008-09 season. The Tigers have not yet finalized their schedule but rest assured some intriguing possibilities still exist for the reigning C-USA champions.

• It's been brought to our attention that we may have neglected to offer proper appreciation for one of the key organizers of the trip, Memphis assistant John Robic, and we aim to rectify that perceived oversight with this very entry. Robic had the unenviable task of - among other duties - procuring passes and visas for members of the travelling party. He was also the lunch-time hero that procured Friday's much-appreciated McDonald's meal and the Man of the People (of China) has also been the constant source of entertainment and humorous anecdotes.

Safe to say, without Robic, the trip never would have happened and even if we don't always say it, his efforts do not go unnoticed nor under-appreciated. Yes, we are angling to get out of any possible middle seats on the return journey, but we are also being earnest in our praise of the long-time Calipari assistant and former Youngstown State head coach.

• Hard to believe, but there's just one more day of this incredible journey. We'll plan on having one final game re-cap following the Sunday night contest and then we'll offer a "Best Of" retrospective once we return back to the states and overcome the huge case of jet lag that we are fully expecting to battle.

YANGJIANG, CHINA - Despite another impressive effort from UTEP's Claude Britten, Team Conference USA dropped Game 2 of its three-game China Tour 92-88 at the Yangjiang Arena on Friday. Britten and Memphis' Doneal Mack tied for game-high scoring honors with 17 points each.

Playing again in a game that sometimes felt as if it were 8 on 5, Team C-USA led at the end of each of the first three quarters, but phantom calls and good old home-cooking spelled defeat for John Calipari's squad once again.

Conference USA Players vie for a rebound against Team China. For more photos visit the photo gallery for this game. and be sure to visit the photo galleries link on the right.

Even so, Calipari's crew - made up of seven Memphis Tigers and five players from three other C-USA teams - showed remarkable moxie in the face of decided disadvantages. Players like Britten (17 points, 8 rebounds and three dunks in 17 minutes) and Mack (17 points, including 4 of 8 from 3-point land) spearheaded the Team C-USA attack.

Memphis' Antonio Anderson added 16 points and fellow Tiger Robert Dozier had 15 and a game-high nine rebounds. As a team, the C-USA All Stars had more offensive rebounds (30) than Team China had total rebounds (29), and out-rebounded the hosts by 20 (49-29).

"They made the big plays at the end to come out on top," said Mack, pointing out that the game was tied 75-75 with just under five minutes left. "There are a couple of key things that we need to key in on that we didn't get done at the end.

"It's been an honor to be playing in these games against Team China," said Mack, who has now scored 29 points in the two contests to lead Team C-USA. "This experience of playing against Olympians will make all of us better in the long run."

Calipari added, "We were better defensively tonight, we posted the ball better and shot well. I thought we had them down to where we could win it but they made every play they had to."

Memphis' Jeff Robinson had nine points and four rebounds in 10 minutes, and Team C-USA shot 30-of-74 from the field (6-of-19 from 3-point land). Team China shot 22-of-40 from the field (7-of-24) and once again was called for far fewer fouls (32-23) after being whistled for 10 fewer fouls on Wednesday. The Chinese shot nine more free throws in total (27-of-38 to 22-of-29) and forced 20 Team C-USA turnovers.

The third and final game of the China journey will be played Sunday at 7:30 p.m. local time (6:30 a.m. CT) in Huizhou at the Huizhou Jiangbei Arena. The team will bus to Huizhou early Saturday morning in a trip expected to take about five hours.

Abbreviated Box:

*Starter

MISC:

Britten is now 13 of 14 from the field in two games with 17 rebounds in 31 minutes of play

Team China had 12 offensive rebounds and 17 defensive; Team C-USA had 30 and 19

PACIFIC RIM SHOTS

• Many of the players were swarmed both before and after Friday's game for autographs and pictures by young Chinese fans. UTEP's Claude Britten was seen perfecting his swooping CLAUDE signature on the shirts of several of the youngsters who had followed the team bus back to the hotel. Said Tulsa's Ben Uzoh: "It makes you feel good and it makes us feel like we're celebs or something. I think maybe they think we're in the NBA and even when we just walk around they seem amazed by the height differential between us and them. It really does feel good."

• Fans in the arena banged together red "thunder sticks" and a cheerleading squad used two different costumes and several choreographed routines to entertain the fans during down times.

• This was probably lost in translation a bit - because the assembled Chinese media corps didn't laugh when he said it - but Calipari's response to the first question of "What did you think of the referees?" was, "I think they're Chinese!"

• After living in the lap of luxury for the first three nights of the trip, Stop Number Two has been a bit of a radical change as the Jinghu Hotel is not exactly the Good View. In fact, if we were the cynical type, we might even call it the Bad View. Fortunately the entire travelling party has kept a good sense of humor about things and the players have been appreciative of every opportunity the journey has afforded them. So, after a fairly sketchy breakfast option, Memphis assistant coaches John Robic and Rod Strickland spearheaded an effort to score some McDonald's for the troops from the city's lone Golden Arches location.

The result was four box-loads of Mickey Dee's and friends, we're not over-exaggerating when we say the Big Mac never tasted so good. Players were overjoyed, coaches were giddy and Memphis Athletic Director R.C. Johnson and his wife just about did carthwheels as the familiar smells wafted through the ninth floor of the Bad View, errr, the Jinghu. The taste and composition of the burgers and fries was very similar to the American versions and prices were a bit cheaper. Sadly, Coach Robic would not allow your diligent blogger to get a happy meal. My in-restaurant temper tantrum may have been a bit childish, but I really wanted the toy surprise.

• Friday's edition of the "Morning Stroll With Cal" kicked of at 6:30 a.m. and included a brisk walk through a nearby park situated picturesquely on the water's edge. Several dozen Chinese citizens walked the perimeter and a few groups of elders took part in morning exercise. One women's group in particular had an enormous amount of pep - much more than either of the Americans who were adjusting to thick and heavy air. Calipari continued his unsuccessful quest in this city for a Diet Coke, which has taken to calling "Coke Light" in hopes of the locals understanding him better. It's not working and there's not a drop of the diet stuff to be found.

• C-USA Assistant Commissioner Chris Woolard continued his undying quest to wind up in a Chinese prison when he began snapping photos inside the McDonald's, which is apparently frowned upon. Woolard had run into Johnny Law on Thursday afternoon when he snapped a photo of a Red Army officer who was riding in a motorized rickshaw. The officer was none to pleased (the resulting image is in the Day 2 images link) and Woolard was reprimanded by an officer as he positioned himself for a photo of a Chinese street pharmacy.

You've got to a love a photographer so dedicated to his craft that he's willing to risk imprisonment, deportation or enrollment in the Red Army. Robic, it should be noted, was also quite picture happy on Thursday, but when the officer approached the duo, Robic quickly threw his league's assistant commissioner under the bus. Or motorized rickshaw, as it were.

• A few of us weaseled our way into the hotel restaurant where Dim Sum was being served and we sampled the myriad choices of the dim sum menu. Calipari chastised me for getting to adventurous with an order of what I thought was mushrooms but turned out to be, well, it turned out to not be mushrooms. But we did enjoy some out-of-this-world dumplings and I thoroughly savored a flat noodle dish.

• The team will leave early Saturday morning to bus to the third and final stop on the tour in Huizhou for a Sunday game (7:30 p.m. local time) at the Huizhou Jiangbei Arena. There will be some time for shopping in nearby Shenzen - a city known for its outdoor markets - and also the possibility of a quick trip into Hong Kong, time permitting.

YANGJIANG, CHINA - Team Conference USA arrived at the second stop of its three-city tour in the early afternoon on Thursday local time, grabbed a quick lunch and then went to the Yangjiang Arena for a practice at 6 p.m. local time (that is 5 a.m. in Memphis, Tulsa and Hattiesburg and 4 a.m. in El Paso).

Head coach John Calipari was still assessing his team's performance from Wednesday night and found a lot of positives in the loss, especially the play of UTEP's Claude Britten (10 points and nine rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench). But Calipari was perhaps most impressed with the attention the game received from the Chinese media. More than one hundred reporters and photographers were credentialed for the event, according to organizers. Even more impressive was the fact that the game (and the two ensuing contests) will be shown nationwide on CCTV.

"Think about this," said Calipari, "our game with Tennessee that was on ESPN in February was their most watched regular season college game ever - it had something like five million viewers. The people here tell me that these games (two of which are on tape delay and one that will be live) will have something like 15-20 million people watching. That's unbelievable. That kind of exposure for the school, the league and the NCAA? There's nothing like that."

Calipari also relayed a story he had shared with some national writers prior to leaving on the trip.

"The Big Ten sent a team over here recently and I got a text form one of the coaches on the trip that said, 'Everywhere we go, everyone is asking, 'Are you Memphis?," said Calipari. "Now, we haven't even been through a full year of this arrangement with the Chinese Basketball Association and already we're being identified like that. It's incredible."

The two teams will meet again in Game 2 of the three game series on Friday in Yangjiang at 8 p.m. local time. Team C-USA will then head to Huizhou immediately after the game for Sunday's series finale. The team heads back to the states early Monday morning.

PACIFIC RIM SHOTS

• Players and coaches alike have been raving about the Nike-supplied gear that the C-USA All-Stars are wearing on the trip. Each player was supplied with a full duffle bag of t-shirts, shorts, practice gear, game gear, sneakers, slides and miscellaneous items. Coaches were also supplied with Nike-emblazoned gear.

"They really stepped up with some tremendous quality apparel," said Calipari. "With how big Nike is over here in China, it was a slam dunk that the Conference was able to arrange for Nike to supply us with gear and the kids are really enjoying wearing it."

"I think it's fantastic that Nike jumped on board with us and supplied some high quality, unique gear," said Wojcik.

For the record, there was no supply of blogger gear, which we find to be a terribly underdeveloped area of Nike's global marketing machine. I sure would blog better in some DryFit Swoosh apparel.

• Speaking of blogging, be sure to check out Ben Uzoh's tremendous effort for the Tulsa World. On second thought, don't do that. Kid's going to put me out of a job - he can turn a phrase with the same skill level he drives to the hoop.

• The team practiced at the arena for about 75 minutes on Thursday. The facility is older than the first one, dome-shaped and seats about the same capacity of 4,000.

• The final regularly scheduled early morning China Walk with Cal on Stop One of the tour was highlighted on Thursday by our first purchase of street vendor food. We sampled two types of scallion pancakes - one with more of an egg base the other with more of a doughy texture - and also indulged in sweet sesame rolls. Calipari gave the purchase four stars on the Cal Dining Scale - as did the elderly gentleman a few blocks away who benefitted from Cal's donation of the leftovers.

• The bus (sadly) departed the luxurious Good View hotel at 9:20 a.m. and pulled into the Jinghu hotel at 1:20 p.m. The Jinghu is a far cry from the Good View resort, but not many spots are going to match the Good View's greatness.

• In the interest of fairness, we are now about to makes amends for some comments made earlier in the week regarding our esteemed C-USA representative, Assistant Commissioner Chris Woolard: First, we are now able to confirm that Woolard did not go with colored nail polish after his night of beauty at the Good View hotel spa. Second, it is worth pointing out that not only did Woolard save the day with his camera's memory card - thus allowing the spectacular photos now present in the photo gallery - but he also proves to have a quite a bit of Annie Leibowitz in him, as his photo-taking skills are museum quality. Your humble C-USA China blogger regrets any prior suggestions that Woolard likes his toes colored or that he can't use a camera.

• A sampling of the coaches reading choices on the bus ride:

Calipari - "The Success Principles," by Jack Canfield


Doug Wojcik - "First Patient," by Michael Palmer


Rod Strickland - "$40 Million Slaves," by William Rhoden


John Robic - "Street Dreams," by Faye Kellerman


Memphis AD R.C. Johnson - A Brad Thorr book in paperback


There was also some pass-around reading material that found popularity on the bus ride, including a map of China and the National Geographic magazine special issue on China, which is just an incredible compilation of photos, stories and statistics on the country.

• We're expecting to have some difficulty filing an immediate post-game story on Friday because of our travel plans, but we will surely get you a re-cap and highlights just as soon as possible.

GUANGDONG, CHINA - In the mother of all road games, Team Conference USA couldn't overcome the homecooking of Team China, as the hosts took an 87-80 win in the first of three games in the Sino-American Basketball Classic on Wednesday night at a near-capacity (4,000) Dongguan Tangxia Arena.

The C-USA all-star team - made up of seven Memphis players and five players from three other league schools (UTEP, Tulsa and Southern Miss) - led 40-37 at halftime despite being whistled for 12 more first-half fouls than Team China (18-6). But the free throw discrepancy was too much to overcome as the homestanding national team shot 25 of 39 from the charity stripe to just 12 of 18 for Team C-USA. Southern Miss's Jeremy Wise and Memphis's Robert Dozier led Team C-USA with 13 points each, Memphis's Doneal Mack added 12 and UTEP's Claude Britten had 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds. The Chinese were led by Kai Zhang's 20 points on 9-of-11 from the field.

"There was a lot of body to body contact today," said Team C-USA head coach John Calipari. "Our foul trouble was mostly based on our conditioning as much as anything. We've only had three practices together, but I thought we played well and I'm happy we were able to out-rebound them (43-40).

"We really enjoyed being a part of this charity event to support the earthquake victims and means a lot to our team, our university and our conference to be involved in this tour and to be able to help our Chinese friends in any way we can," said Calipari. "Team China is a terrific team with a terrific coach (Jonas Kazlauskas)."

Team China was able to connect on 8 of its 24 3-point attempts as Team C-USA hit 6 of 20. Memphis's Shawn Taggart grabbed eight rebounds to go with his eight points and Dozier snagged seven boards. Zhang led all rebounders with 10.

"I'm proud to be part of this team and I thought we played pretty well," said Wise, who scored nine of his 13 from beyond the arc (3-of-4). "I didn't expect any of this when I found out we were coming over here and it's just been an incredible experience. I've gotten to know all the guys and my coaches and I feel like we've all come together really quickly."

The two teams will meet in Game 2 of the three game series on Friday in Yangjiang at 8 p.m. local time. Team C-USA will depart for that city on Thursday morning at 9 a.m. for a four-hour bus ride to the next stop.

Abbreviated Box:

*Starter

MISC:
Team C-USA shot 31 of 75 from the field (6 of 20 from 3-pt.)
Team China shot 27 of 66 (8 of 24)

Game was tied 78-78 with 2:20 left.

C-USA out-rebounded team China 43-30

The stats program in China keeps track of Fouls Received per individual - Player No. 8 for Team China was fouled the most - eight times.

PACIFIC RIM SHOTS

• Calipari, UTEP coach Tony Barbee and your humble reporter did another walk into the heart of Tangxia on Wednesday morning. It was about 7 a.m. and it seemed to be rush hour for many of the factory workers, many of whom were wearing work shirts with the company name "Everlite" on the left breast pocket. Come to find out, Everlite makes gloves, which in this subtropic region of China are probably not needed very much.
• You didn't hear it from us, but a certain few members of the coaching and support staff pampered themselves with manicures, pedicures and massages on Tuesday evening at the spectacular Good View hotel where the travel party is staying until Thursday. We've been assured that none of the prima donnas went with colored nail polish but we still haven't seen the toes of Conference USA's Chris Woolard so we can neither confirm nor deny.
• The scoreboard in the arena used dots next to each players name to indicate player fouls. Just before the start of the second half, Calipari went over to the officials and jokingly asked, "What do all those dots mean next to my guys' names?"
• Calipari took great joy in being able to call out specific plays throughout the game: "They have no idea what I'm saying."
• An interesting development worth following back in the states is the news that China Central Television (CCTV), the state-run TV network, has cancelled its coverage of the NBA playoffs due to the earthquake. From what we are being told, the Chinese government was none-too-pleased that the NBA insisted on televising a playoff game during the nation's week of mourning and Jiang Heping, the director CCTV's Olympic Channel told reporters on Sunday that the coverage is not in step with the atmosphere of quake rescue, according to Tuesday's China Daily newspaper.
• Today's Conference USA Chinese Word/Term of the Day is: "Wo ting bu dong." which means, "I don't understand." As you can imagine, this is very helpful when the only Chinese term we know is "Ni hao," which you will remember means, "Hello."
• The team travels on Thursday to Yangjiang, the second city on the 3-city tour of the Guangdong province. The team will play Team China at the Yangjiang Arena on Friday at 8 p.m. local time. Plans are currently in the works for the team to make a stop in hong Kong on Saturday, before the final stop in Huizhou.

GUANGDONG, CHINA - Members of the Memphis team seemed to show more of the effects of the long trip to China than the five players representing Conference USA's three other teams at Tuesday's 90-plus minute practice at the Dongguan Tangxia Arena.

The sometimes sloppy display by the seven Memphis players prompted head coach John Calipari to stop practice at one point and ask, "Did these five guys have different travel plans than you guys?"

Tulsa's Ben Uzoh looked spectacular at times, as did Southern Miss's Jeremy Wise. In the scrimmage portion of the practice the C-USA Five, dressed in white practice jerseys with the mandarin spelling of "MEMPHIS" across their chests, was consistently more fluid, more organized and less sloppy than the Memphis Seven, dressed in blue practice jerseys with the same lettering.

Calipari took it all in stride, understanding the team's fatigue factor and the fact that his team hasn't practiced together since the end of the season. Still, the coach was especially frustrated at his seven's lack of execution and had to stop the practice several times to preach about consistency and accepting responsibility for mistakes.

Several of the players commented on how warm it was in the arena - despite the air conditioning being on - and the heat and humidity could be a factor for the travel-weary team in Wednesday's first exhibition game against Team China, when a full house should make things steamy.

PACIFIC RIM SHOTS
• We're still efforting to get a USB cable for our camera and our man, Jimmy the Hotel Manager has now taken up the cause. For now though, you'll just have to imagine the pictures we have of Coach Calipari walking through a local market place that sold everything from knock-off Nikes to brooms. We apologize for making you use your imagination, but of all the overpacking we did for this trip, it seems we neglected one major item - the new Coolpix's USB cable. Wonder if Ashton Kutcher has these problems with his nifty little camera? Probably not.

• Going to practice, players wore white t-shirts with a red and pink heart on the front and the Chinese message of "We are Together" across the front, just below the name of the region where the 8.0 earthquake hit on May 12. China Daily, the national English language newspaper, reported on Tuesday that the death toll was at 65,080 as of Monday, with 360,058 injured and 23,150 still unaccounted for, according to the Chinese Information Office of the State Council.

• The arena was festooned with yellow ribbons to honor the dead, injured and missing and all proceeds from Wednesday's game will benefit the earthquake victims.

• Calipari took two separate walks into the business district of Tangxia - one at 5:30 a.m. with assistant coach John Robic and one around noon-time with UTEP head coach Tony Barbee, C-USA's Chris Woolard and your intrepid reporter. The area is just a mile from the Good View hotel and contains some industrial factories and also various markets and street vendors. There's also a large meat market with enough sights to turn meat and potatoes people into vegans real quick.

• For those wondering, Calipari says he still has not watched the National Championship game that his Tigers lost in overtime to Kansas. "Maybe by 2012 or so," he joked.

• Calipari did a few different media interviews with both print and electronic media and Memphis assistant Rod Strickland was also asked to partake in one interview for a Chinese sports network. Organizers expect a huge media contingent for Wednesday night's game and a full house of about 5,000 people.

• Check out the game jerseys and practice gear provided by Nike that the C-USA All-Stars will wear during their China tour.

Game Jerseys

Practice Jerseys

GUANGDONG, CHINA - Shortly after 2 a.m. local time on Tuesday, after what amounted to a full day of travel, the Conference USA China Trip All-Stars arrived here in Tangxia, Dongguan at the Good View hotel.

The travelling party was greeted by hotel staff and immediately shown to their rooms in this 4-star hotel, located conveniently near the Donnguan Tangxia Arena where the team will play the first of three games in what is being billed by the locals as the "Sino-American Basketball Challenge" between Team China and the C-USA team.

It has been announced by the Infront Sports & Media organizers that the first game, on May 28 will be conducted as a charity game to benefit the victims of China's devastating earthquake that on May 12 at 2:28 p.m. local time. All revenues generated through ticket sales and the money raised by commercial partners will be directed to support children and their families affected by the earthquake. (A front page ad on the local paper touts the game and includes the soon-to-be familiar logo of a red heart with a yellow outline and an orange map of China, with earthquake waves emanating from it.)

"It means so much to all of us that we can do a little part to help the people affected by this unthinkable tragedy," said Memphis coach John Calipari. "Anything that we can do to help, we'll do and I hope all our Conference USA fans will also get behind the effort."

The team will have half of the day on Tuesday to adjust to the time change as practice is not scheduled until 4 p.m. at the nearby arena. We'll plan on having an update from practice.

PACIFIC RIM SHOTS
• Tulsa head coach Doug Wojcik joined the travelling party at its connection in Tokyo. Wojcik had been celebrating his anniversary with his wife and two children in Hawaii. The coach was looking well-rested, tanned and is sporting a goatee. He said he couldn't turn down the opportunity to be part of this adventure with Calipari. "Just to be around John and see all that he is doing as part of this exchange is well-worth the travel and the tim e away. Tulsa's Ben Uzoh is part of the team and was originally scheduled to be joined by teammate Jerome Jordan but some travel document hang-ups didn't allow for Jordan to make the trip. "It would have been great for him," said Wojcik. "He was disappointed that he couldn't come and it would have been nice to have him." Calipari echoed those sentiments, as he hoped to get the chance to coach a player that many are already comparing to one of Calipari's all-time greats, Marcus Camby.

• Players - and support staff - were a bit discouraged to discover that after landing in China there was still a 90 minute bus ride to the hotel. Most of them got over it quickly as they dozed off and were deprived of the opportunity to see the 18 wheeler full of live pigs that pulled next to the team bus at one of the toll booths. We attempted to get a photo, but none of the swine would smile.

• Local organizers provided a bus snack that didn't quite enthrall the players - smoked turkey and ham sandwiches as well as fresh lychee nuts that no one tried. Memphis Athletic Director R.C. Johnson was intrigued by the lychee but put off any experimentation with the local cuisine unt il at least breakfast.

• We hope to have some photos up later on today (local time) but this writer-turned-photogrpaher mistakenly brought the wrong cord to download the pictures. We're banking on C-USA's Chris Woolard to save the day with a USB cable - although we are reminded of Woolard's statement on Saturday that, "I've got a camera but I don't know what to do with it."

Stay tuned for more developments on that.

• Your C-USA Chinese Word for the Day - and one that Calipari poignantly teaches the players to pronounce by pointing to his knee, is "Ni hao." It means "Hello." (Hey, you've got to start somewhere.) If you want to get real fancy, you can go with "Ni hao ma?," which means "How are you?"

EN ROUTE TO CHINA - The Conference USA China Trip All-Stars departed Memphis on Sunday morning for a day-long journey that will take them from the Home of the Tigers to the Land of the Rising Sun.

Just after 7 a.m. (CT) on Sunday the 12 players (seven from Memphis and five from the rosters of UTEP, Tulsa and Southern Miss, see list below), coaching staff, trainer, the Memphis Athletic Director and his wife and Conference USA's Chris Woolard arrived at the Memphis airport for the first leg of the journey that will take the team to Seattle. From there, it's on to Tokyo and finally to the Guangzhou province for an 11 p.m. local time arrival.

"This is going to be an interesting trip," said Memphis head coach John Calipari. "Basically, it's two or three different teams, one day of practice, three games in six days and the flight over is probably 20 hours. It's a neat trip, and we are playing the (Chinese) national team.

"The people over in that region of China are anxious for us to get over there, and it's going to be fun."

The team was able to fit in two practices on Saturday and Calipari was happy with the integration of the other schools' players but did acknowledge that it showed that most of the players hadn't played competitively for the better part of two months. Calipari also pointed out the obvious when he said, "We're not as good as we were with Derrick (Rose) and Chris (Douglas-Roberts)."

With those two players (and Joey Dorsey), Memphis made it to the finals of the NCAA Tournament. Rose is expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft, while Douglas-Roberts is a projected first-round pick. Dorsey, too, will likely hear his name called on draft night.

But the China trip is the kick off to life without that Big Three and Calipari hopes the journey will go a long way to establishing the Tigers for a return trip to the Final Four.

Joining Calipari on staff for the trip are Tiger assistant John Robic and operations staffer Rod Strickland. UTEP head coach Tony Barbee and Tulsa head coach Doug Wojcik are also assisting Calipari on the trip. Memphis trainer Chris Simmons is on the trip as well.

The squad's first game is scheduled for May 28 at 7:30 pm local time (6:30 a.m. Memphis time; 13-hour difference). The second game is May 30 at 7:30 p.m. local time (6:30 a.m. CT), while the final contest is the same time on June 1.

After the exhibition games, the team returns to the United States, while Calipari and his Memphis staff stay another week in China to conduct basketball clinics.

The games are a part of the Memphis initiative with the Chinese Basketball Association for the next five years. The agreement started in the fall of 2007 when Calipari invited a group of 15 Chinese coaches to observe preseason practices at the Larry O. Finch Center on the University of Memphis campus. One coach - Cui Wanjun - remained with the Tigers throughout the entire 2007-08 campaign.

PACIFIC RIM SHOTS
• The team will be wearing Conference USA uniforms and has been outfitted with Nike gear for the trip. Most of the players wore their new warm-up suits for the extended plane rides. Antonio Anderson carried a favorite pillow and Doneal Mack was wearing his Ralph Lauren pajamas.

• The players enjoyed a cookout at Calipari's house on Saturday night before the coaching staff got after some of Gus's World Famous Chicken on Front Street in Memphis.

• Barbee said that one of his players, Julyan Stone, has been diligently researching China and the region the team will be visiting ever since he was informed of trip.

• We'll be back with you next from China - technology permitting - and look forward to chronicling the team's journey throughout the week here at conferenceusa.com.

Memphis/Conference USA Team Exhibition Schedule
May 28 - 7:30 pm local (6:30 am CT)/Dongguan Tangxia (gym) in Dongguan
May 30 -- 7:30 pm local (6:30 am CT)/Yangjiang (gym) in Yangjiang
June 1 -- 7:30 pm local (6:30 am CT)/Huizhou Jiangbei (gym) in Huizhou

Players

Memphis
Antonio Anderson
Robert Dozier
Willie Kemp
Doneal Mack
Pierre Niles
Jeff Robinson
Shawn Taggart

Southern Miss
Andre Stephens
Jeremy Wise

Tulsa
Ben Uzoh

UTEP
Claude Britten
Julyan Stone