August 26, 2011

Tim Prister
IrishIllustrated.com Senior Editor

The food is a challenge at times and the overwhelming crowds may bring on a slight touch of claustrophobia. But add up the memories collected by Irish captain Tim Abromaitis as a member of the Team USA basketball squad that finished 7-1 at the World University Games in Shenzhen, China, and it was a winning proposition.

"It was a great experience to play with Team USA," said Abromaitis Thursday, still fighting jet lag (12 1/2-hour flight to the mainland) and the 12-hour time difference.

"Great teammates, great coaches. Unfortunately, we didn't win like we wanted to, but it was a great team and a great experience."

Abromaitis averaged 6.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game for Team USA, which lost to Lithuania in the quarterfinals. (Serbia defeated Canada for the gold medal.)

"It helps a lot knowing you can play with the best players and can beat a lot of great teams over there, too," Abromaitis said. "It definitely has me ready for the season. I'm in great shape now."

Purdue's Matt Painter, Butler's Brad Stevens, and Tennessee's Cuonzo Martin coached the squad. The Team USA coaching staff with Hoosier State connections asked Abromaitis to play a bit of an altered role from the one he's accustomed to with Mike Brey at Notre Dame.

"It was definitely different playing for Coach Painter," Abromaitis said. "On this team, I was playing a little bit more of a big man role. My job was getting rebounds, setting screens, doing some of the dirty work things. But you're playing basketball. It's all the same. I just tried to fit in and help the team win."

Abromaitis' role with the Irish might undergo a bit of a facelift in his final season at Notre Dame as well, so the World University Games were a valuable prelude to the 2011-12 campaign.

"Losing Ty (Nash) and Carleton (Scott), somebody is going to have to step up and work inside," Abromaitis. "We have big guys with Jack (Cooley), Mike (Broghammer) and Tom (Knight). We'll see what happens with my role this year, but I think it was a good experience and we'll see if I can carry it over."

While in China, Abromaitis roomed with a couple of familiar faces - Pittsburgh's Ashton Gibbs and Kentucky's Darius Miller - both of which played against the Irish in 2010-11.

"Darius was joking a couple of times about how they got us last year," said Abromaitis, referring to Kentucky's victory over Notre Dame in Louisville in December. "There was some trash talking, but we really got along well. Those are friends I'll continue to have for a while."

Despite the busy basketball schedule, Abromaitis was able to get a taste of the local life in Shenzhen. But it was always a tight fit. More than 7,000,000 people inhabit Hong Kong.

"The few opportunities we got to go around the city, it was a lot like an American city," Abromaitis said. "Shenzhen is one of the nicer cities in China. We were in Hong Kong and it's crazy how many people are in such a little area. Even in the village, there were 12 of us in four rooms side by side. Really tiny rooms."

Another adjustment came with the officiating, which some believe led to the brawl between the Georgetown basketball team and the China national team.

"That wasn't my experience at all," laughed Abromaitis when asked about the Georgetown incident. "Everyone we came across was really friendly and happy.

"The refereeing was sometimes different as to what would (be allowed) and what wouldn't. On the perimeter, if you even put your hand close to a guy, it was a foul. That was definitely a little bit of an adjustment. With some guys, a ball would go up and it was a wrestling match under there. Others wouldn't allow much contact.

"But no matter where you're playing, it's going to be a fight. It was good for me to get a taste of that."

Speaking of tastes, Abromaitis is eager to get another sample of Big East basketball.

"Both the Big East and (the games in China) are really physical," Abromaitis said. "It was a battle, especially inside. I can't wait for the games to begin here."