Cougs spent summer in hoops training

Basketball is supposed to be a winter sport.

But for four Washington State Cougars, summer turned to winter and stayed that way for a couple of months.

Guards Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver, forward Thomas Abercrombie and center Aron Baynes left Pullman in early June with their Cougar teammates for a 10-day tour of Australia.

But that was only the start of the summer experience.

“Never been overseas – then twice in one summer, so that was pretty big deal for me,” Weaver said. “It was a blessing for me to have all those opportunities this summer. It definitely was a summer I’ll never forget.”

After the trip to Australia, Low and Weaver went through a two-week tryout in Pennsylvania and earned spots on the U.S. Pan American Games team. They were the only pair of players from the same school to make the 12-man squad. Following training camp and practice games, their U.S. team headed to Brazil, where it finished 3-2, placing fifth against mostly older players with professional experience.

“It was unbelievable,” Weaver said of putting on a USA jersey, “if I can use one word to describe the whole thing.”

The experience was one Weaver won’t trade, but he does believe he received a tradeoff that was worthwhile.

“It did give me a little bit of confidence, playing over the summer,” he said. “Even in Australia, that started it, before Brazil. Actually, being with my teammates, instead of a bunch of random guys – that definitely gave me a start to my leadership roles I’ll have to play into this season.”

If Australia expanded leadership expectations, the Brazil experience broadened his offensive repertoire.

“I was limited in what I could do in some things this summer,” said Weaver, explaining the size of the U.S. team kept him from the post area. “But at the same time I may have developed in some other areas as well. I think it helped me offensively.”

Baynes and Abercrombie never left the Southern Hemisphere – or Oceania for that matter.

Baynes headed to Sydney for a training camp, hooking up with Abercrombie again in Bangkok, Thailand, at the World University Games.

Abercrombie played for New Zealand while Baynes competed for Australia. The Aussies finished 17th and New Zealand 15th.

“It was good opportunity that I definitely tried to make the most of,” Baynes said.

A winter in Bangkok isn’t cold, and neither was the experience for Baynes, who averaged 18.1 points and nine rebounds in the tournament’s seven games. In some games the level of competition – read, height – wasn’t up to what Baynes sees in the Pac-10.

“It’s not too hard to (establish position) here, it’s they don’t flop here as much, I guess,” the 6-foot-10, 270-pound Baynes said. “They were flopping there a bit. I wasn’t used to that in the international game, because the other time I played international, it was a lot more physical and I could hit people a lot more harder and nothing’s called.”