Cal basketball to play Australia exhibition in August, Rice season opener on November 3

The super duper Cal hoops recruiting class of 2015 will begin their freshmen campaign down under. Get your tickets set for Australia, because the Bears are headed to meet the marsupials in August.

Cal will get 10 extra days of NCAA sanctioned practice before leaving for  Australia on August 14th. They will play a total of four basketball games versus professional teams and travel to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Cal went on an exhibition tour of Scandinavia in 2011-12, and that California team went onto have a very successful Pac-12 campaign, finishing second in the conference and earning an NCAA tournament bid. You have to hope that the extra practice time overseas will make a huge difference to the team's overall performance.

Cal's season opener and first game at Haas Pavilion will take place against the Rice Owls on November 3rd. Rice finished 12-20 last season, tied for 7th in Conference USA. It should be a fun opportunity to see the Cal super class in action.

Cal will also play in the Las Vegas Invitational against two of three of West Virginia, San Diego State and Richmond, and has scheduled a road date to play Virginia.

What are your thoughts on the schedule?