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| International Ichabods The Washburn men’s basketball team has begun their 10-day trip to China from August 12-21. The Ichabods will play four games against two different colleges as they tour Shanghai, Hangzhou and Jinhua. On this page, there will be recaps and photos as well as journal entries from senior guard Kyle Fisher and assistant sports information director Jeremy Wangler. Kyle Fisher's journal will appear each day at www.cjonline.com/washburn and then repeated here later in the day. 'Bod Blog - Day 2 That is all we could say when we got off the plane and left the airport. The difference between Kansas and Shanghai is unbelievable in so many ways. It has been a long trip for all of us so far. We just finished about 26 straight hours of travel. Most of us slept for a majority of the way, others struggled to get comfortable in the cramped planes and bumpy bus rides. The first thing that caught my eye was the amount of people in the Dinner was great tonight. We all enjoyed a nice multi-course meal with great service. I tried some new foods and even attempted using chopsticks. 'Bod Blog - Day 3 After breakfast at the hotel we went to West Lake in Hangzhou. It was a After West Lake we headed to the Lingyin Buddhist Temple. There we saw During our stay at the farm we tried many different kinds of green tea. We also saw how it was made. Personally, I did not enjoy the ancient Chinese drink. It tasted like liquid grass. The food here is awesome. They always serve white rice and several types of meats and veggies to mix with it. I'm getting better at chopsticks but I still prefer a fork and a spoon. Now, the guys and I are resting. Eventually we will all get together and head out to find some Hangzhou nightlife. 'Bod Blog - Day 3
The Ichabod basketball team, along with a group from the Washburn Alumni Association, finished its third day in China Monday with a full day of sightseeing. After about 26 hours of travel from Saturday to
Sunday, the Ichabods spent Monday exploring attractions around The Ichabods started Monday with a boat ride on West Lake. After a 45-minute cruise on the busy lake where some of the people walking around mistook the players for NBA stars because of their size, the group members visited the Lingyin Buddhist Temple. The temples contained numerous statues, including the largest statue of a sitting Buddha in China. While the original temples in the area were built over 2,ooo years ago, most of the structures built there were from the last century. During the Communist Revolution many of the religious dwellings were destroyed.
The Ichabods then went to a green tea plantation where the farmers The day's sightseeing ended as they visited a pagoda built about 800
The Ichabods taste buds and pickyness have been put to the test on the
trip. A lot of the food items served would not be recognized in 'Bod Blog - Day 4 In a less than scheduled day here, the guys and I had a lot of fun. We started the day with our first practice here in China. We went to a local college's gym and had a light practice. The gym was the hottest I have ever played in and it made an easy practice seem hard.
After a quick practice a few of us took a cab over to all the shopping centers. The drivers are nuts in Hangzhou. They swerve from lane to lane trying to dodge people on bikes and people walking in the middle of the road. It's scary trying to cross the road. Andrew Meile saw his life flash before his eyes when he had to jump out of the way when a cab nearly ran him over. During our shopping, we found some ridicuously small prices in name brand clothing we would see in America. We all got a lot of clothes for very cheap. Now we are going to rest before dinner. I will probably go to bed early tonight to prepare for our first game halfway around the world. 'Bod Blog - Day 4
During breakfast Tuesday in Hangzhou, China, the team and everyone else heard for the first time from coach Bob Chipman that they were going to practice this morning. Chipman arranged to have a short workout at a local university. While the team practiced in an unairconditioned gym, the rest of the group visited the birthplace of famous Chinese writer Lu Xun in nearby Shaoxing. Driving though the busy streets of Hangzhou as our bus driver weaved in and out of traffic and manouvered his bus around cars, bikes and people, we took in the city life during the one hour drive. Though they said we were in a different city when we arrived at our destination, it did not seem like we ever left Hangzhou. There were houses and factories the entire way between the cities. As we got out of the bus in Shaoxing we were greeted by the usual throng of vendors trying to sell us items like Chinese fans. We made our way through the sticky heat and into the birthplace of Lu Xing. Most of us knew little about his writings, but we learned about his house and how they lived during the late 1800's.
The group reunited with the team in a silk factory in Hangzhou were silk quilts, pillows, ties and clothes could be bought. I am learning some of the more important Chinese words but it is still very difficult to communicate with the vendors. Most of them only know a few English words like hello, yes and no. We were told that all of the schoolchildren learn English for nine years, but the older generation still mostly just speaks its native tounge. While many of the group members had the traditional Chinese meals for lunch and dinner, some ventured off and found KFC or McDonalds as they hungered for something more American. Wednesday the team will travel to Jinhua for its first of two games against Zhejiang Normal University, starting at 7 p.m. (6 a.m. Central). 'Bod Blog - Day 5 After another early wake up call we packed up and headed from Hangzhou We arrived in Jinhua and had a lunch that wasn't very good. We are all starting to get sick of Chinese food. We fought over the rice because that was the only thing we could stomach. The squid, spinach, cabbage and unidentifiable meats they served just weren't doing it for us. After lunch a few of us had a ping pong tournament. Brady Sisk put on a show in front of us, sweeping the tournament with four wins. After that we headed to our pre-game meal, KFC!! Finally some greasy American food. KFC isn't exactly the ideal pre-game meal, but it was more than satisfying. We enjoyed some chicken then headed to out first game. We arrived an hour before tip and there were already people there. They snapped pictures and starred at us like we were celebrities. As the game time approached the gym was really full. All the people were very nice and courteous. The game was interesting. We had no idea what to expect from the Chinese players. It's known that international basketball is not physical. We did not find that to be the case. They hacked and fouled a lot, but so did we and the refs let it go. Again, the gym was incredibly hot. The heat took a toll on our legs but we were able to find enough energy to get our first international win. It was an incredible experience. I'm looking forward to getting an eight-dollar full-body massage for an hour at the hotel. Tomorrow we will sleep in for the first time and hopefully get a second win here in China. 'Bod Blog - Day 5
JINHUA, China - After three days exploring a quickly modernizing China,
the Ichabods finally got a chance to display their skills to the locals
as they defeated Zhejiang University 93-55 Wednesday evening. In front
of a crowd of about 1,500 ZU fans and 50 Washburn fans that came on the Frank Phifer, with the help of a team-leading 12 rebounds, was able to also lead the team in scoring with 17 points off 7-of-19 shooting. Brady Sisk had 15 points and 11 rebounds and Paul Byers, Kyle Fisher and Kyle Snyder each had 12. Dylan Channel put in 10. Moriba DeCoteau, who also led the team with 12 boards, had seven points. Four of his points came in a pair of crowd-pleasing dunks as the Ichabods doubled the score of the opponents.
While ZU gave the crowd a few things to cheer about with steals, fast breaks and a few 3-pointers late in the game, the local crowd graciously cheered for the Ichabods as they were able to outplay ZU with their size Byers scored the first points in China for the Ichabods as he hit a jumper in the opening seconds. Zhejiang then hit a free throw and a two-point basket to take its only lead of the game at 3-2. Byers then connected again and WU went on a run, quickly building the lead to 10 points. With international rules, the teams played four 10-minute quarters. After the first quarter the Ichabods had a 23-16 lead. They held their opponents to just nine second-quarter points as they built the lead to 44-25 at halftime.
The Ichabods came out strong in the second half, shooting 56 percent and After one more game in Jinhua, the Ichabods and the travel group will head to Shanghai for three nights with two more basketball games scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. 'Bod Blog - Day 6
JINHUA, China - The Ichabods rolled to another victory in China as they defeated Zhejiang Normal University 109-54 Thursday night on the campus of ZNU, the host school for Washburn's two games in Jinhua and a sister school to WU. Kyle Snyder shot 9-of-11 for 18 points and Dylan Channel also put in 18 points as once again the Ichabods had six players reach double figures.
Frank Phifer, with another strong day, had 13 rebounds, 17 points and four blocks. Paul Byers, Andrew Meile and Moriba DeCoteau each had 11 points. Snyder also had 13 boards and DeCoteau pulled in 10. As the final seconds in the first quarter ticked away, ZNU pushed the ball upcourt looking for a last second basket to cut the WU lead to under 10. Instead Adam Head picked off a pass near ZNU's free throw line. As he skidded forward and the final second ticked away, he turned and tossed up an underhand shot that flew the distance of the court and swished through the basket for a 3-pointer (video link).
The Ichabods played a strong first half, shooting 54 percent and holding ZNU to 32 percent shooting. Their second half was even better as they were 26-40 from the field for 65 percent and they held their opponent to 27 percent shooting. Overall, the 'Bods shot 59 percent and outrebounded ZNU 66-24. Washburn will spend Friday traveling back to Shanghai and then will play two games at Shanghai Normal University with the first one Saturday at 7 p.m. (6 a.m. Central). The Ichabods will play one more game Sunday before heading home Monday. 'Bod Blog - Day 6 I finally got to sleep late Thursday morning as Coach (Bob Chipman) let us get some much needed recovery sleep. A 2:30 p.m. start for the game against Zhejiang came very quickly after our win (Wednesday) night. Once again, we had our pregame meal at KFC. It tasted great compared to the Chinese food but it hurt during the game. The heat in the gym was unbearable and I sweat through my entire uniform again, but we were able to get another win, 109-54. The gym was packed again and the crowd was going crazy over our every move.The highlight of the game was when Adam Head made an underhand, three-quarter court-length shot at the end of the first quarter. After the game, we had a reception with the administrations of Washburn and Zhejiang Normal University. We all had a great time, even though we weren't too excited about another Chinese meal. We toasted with the coach and president of Zhejiang and WU president Jerry Farley. It is a Chinese tradition that everyone enjoyed. Time for another cheap massage at the hotel before bed. On Friday, we leave Jinhua for Shanghai where we play two more games and finish our trip. 'Bod Blog - Day 7
We left Jinhua first thing Friday morning and drove for five hours to Shanghai. Coach Chipman had the bus carrying the team go straight to Shanghai while the rest of the tour group stopped at a few tourists destinations along the way. The team needed as much free time after playing two straight days in a hot gym with two more games coming up Saturday and Sunday. As we arrived in Shanghai we could tell right away that it is a lot different than the last two cities we saw. This modern and highly developed city is packed with people, cars and apartment complexes. Our tour guide said it has 10 million people but I've seen estimates of over 17 million. The main roads seemed to be laid out a bit differently, catering more to cars than bikes and pedestrians. While none of the skyscrapers seemed to be as big as the ones I have seen in Chicago, they were numerous and impressively designed.
After checking into the hotel the bus drove us about a block away from a McDonalds and dropped us off. The players all wanted something different and, though I have really enjoyed the different Chinese dishes we have tried so far, I didn't mind the American food. The McDonalds was pretty much exactly like an American one. There were only a few differences. A Big Mac value meal cost about $2 U.S. dollars and you could Supersize it for about 25 cents. Also, there seem to be no free refills, there and at most of the restraunts we've eaten at. I can't wait to get back home and have an ice cold fountain drink. After our meal we were all on our own to get back. The bus couldn't park anywhere in the busy shopping district and most of the guys wanted to look around the area. I took off down the busy street with equipment manager Ron Wessel and trainer Eric Patch. We decided to walk around for a while and then make our way back to the hotel by foot. As we walked down the extremely busy street we saw tons of shops with expensive clothing and other items. Not having any urgent desires to buy anything and not wanting to lug it halfway around the world, we didn't go into any stores.
This area was not the China we thought we would see, instead, this was more like walking down 5th Avenue in New York or Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Though the shops all seemed to sell top-dollar merchandise, we still were bombarded by peddlers on the street trying to sell cheap "Rolex" watches, DVDs, shoes and other knocked-off stuff. We could only stand so much smiling back at them and saying "no" or "bu," a Chinese word we all learned quickly, so we decided to turn around and head back. On the way back we walked along a river with a great view of the skyline across the way. Another difference about Shanghai was that there were a lot more tourists. Our first two destinations were not common stops for visitors, but here we weren't the only ones with cameras around our necks. The walk back to the hotel took us through some streets that looked more like the ones I pictured China to have. Small shops lined the streets with vendors spilling out onto the sidewalk trying to sell there wares and foods and the buildings were much more run down. I just wonder how long it will be until they are torn down to make way for more modernization. After making a few wrong turns we found our way back to our hotel. With the late lunch at McD's and the first soft bed awaiting me, I decided to skip dinner. I just hope everyone else found their way back to the hotel. Tomorrow we play Shanghai Normal University at 7 p.m. (6 a.m. Central). I hope the crowd is as big and gracious as in Jinhua. 'Bod Blog - Day 8
Our first full day in Shanghai was great. We started with a tour of the
Jade Buddha Temple in Shanghai. It was very similiar to the temples we After the temple we headed to South China Sea Pearl. They showed us how and where they find and harvest pearls. All the guys on the team spent a
lot of money at the huge gift store that had tons of pearls. We got gifts for all the moms, sisters and girlfriends here. Once we bought all
This afternoon we got some rest for tonight's game, which was another
fun one. The fans were nice and it's always great to get the chance to
play. This team was not really able to compete but everyone got a chance After the game we went to a busy downtown Shanghai area and got some
pizzas from Pizza Hut. Downtown is full of people begging and selling
knockoffs of shoes, watches and clothes. These people hound us Americans Tomorrow we have our final game. Hopefully it's another good one and we 'Bod Blog - Day 8
SHANGHAI, China - In the most populated city in the most populated
country in the world, the Ichabods rolled to an easy 115-48 victory over Everyone who was available to play, including transfers and freshmen who
are now official WU students with classes starting Saturday, got into Grant Hargett, a junior out of Kirkwood Community College (Iowa), led
the Ichabods with 22 points off 9-of-13 shooting. Dylan Channel was
The Ichabods showed a strong advantage over SNU with 80 points in the paint, including 30 off fast breaks. With 59 bench points, the Ichabods were able to get more than half of the production from off the bench. Hargett made his presence known soon after he entered the game. At the 6:05 mark of the first quarter he hit a 3-pointer and then answered that with a jumper 20 seconds later. He led the team with seven steals before fouling out in the final seconds. The 'Bods closed out the first quarter with a 31-13 lead and the highest point total they allowed SNU was 17 in the third. They outscored SNU 25-7 in the fourth quarter. Washburn will play Shanghai Normal one more time Sunday at 3 p.m. (2 a.m. Central) before heading back to the United States on Monday. The group is scheduled to return to campus at 11:35 p.m. Saturday. 'Bod Blog - Day 9
Today we played our last game here in China. Before the game we returned to our favorite restraunt, the Mongolian BBQ. It was just as good as the last time. From there we returned to the hotel to get ready for the game. When we arrived we learned that some guys would be playing against us
who didn't play last night. They looked a little bigger and we thought Tonight we will have our final team dinner in Shanghai. It will be our
last chance to mix and mingle with the 60 other fans, family and
Washburn alumni who came on the trip. We are looking forward to showing After dinner some of us will go to a Shanghai hot spot we found to celebrate our undefeated trip to China. Thank you all for following us during our stay in China. I hope everyone back home is able to experience the culture of China at some point in their life. It's very interesting how they mix the modern lifestyle with the older culture. I am looking forward to returning to the states and hopefully I will see 'Bod Blog - Day 9
SHANGHAI, China - The Ichabods finished their four-game tour of China
with another big win as they defeated Shanghai Normal University 110-71 Dylan Channel, the leading scorer on the trip with 16.8 points per game,
led all scorers with 19 points. He was 8-for-11 from the field with The Ichabods held SNU without a field goal until the 5:38 mark of the first quarter and they kept them to 21 percent shooting in the first half. The Ichabods shot 57 percent in the first half and went 8-for-15 from beyond the 3-point line. WU went into the half with a 60-20 lead. The second half was played much closer. SNU shot 44 percent, hit eight
3-pointers and outscored the 'Bods 51-50. Washburn finished up shooting The Ichabods passed the century mark in three of four games and averaged The Ichabods will hope their extra time spent together overseas will give them an advantage when the 2006-07 season kicks off in November.
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We're not in Kansas anymore.
