Cal basketball Australia schedule: August 13 to 24th, Melbourne to Sydney to Brisbane & more

Every four years a program can take an international tour and this year Cal Men's Basketball is jetting off to Australia to play in major cities like Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Head coach Cuonzo Martin cited a few reasons as to why they picked Australia, among them the fact he had never been there and that the skill level during the exhibition games should be high. (We got a chance to check out one of the early practice; read our Australia practice notebook if you haven't yet!)

Cal will eventually makes it's way to the Australian Center of Excellence which has produced big time talent like Andrew Bogut, St. Mary's star Patty Mills and Dante Exum. The Bears will wrap up their tour battling a National Basketball League opponent that will feature a few former NBA players.

Cal will be preparing to play under FIBA rules while visiting Australia, which means a shorter shot clock and four ten minute quarters rather than the NCAA standard thirty second clock, and two twenty minute halves.

The trip will last for nearly ten days as they venture across Australia, showcasing the Cal basketball brand and perhaps creating a few more global Bears fans as we get closer to the opening tip. Cuonzo Martin expressed his desire to educate his young team abroad and give them an opportunity to see another country that he never had the chance to do growing up in St. Louis. He went on to highlight the extra practices and four extra games as an advantage for his team as they head into the upcoming basketball season.

Let's take a quick look at a few of the highlights from his press conference below-

• Coaches are allowed 10 practice and 2 hours a week on the floor in prepping for Australia. For Cal hoops, the schedule has been 30 minutes and four days a week.
  
• Martin is especially impressed with the competitiveness, and see the Australia trip as a chance to grow and develop even further.
• Other than the freshmen Ivan Rabb, Roman Davis and Jaylen Brown, Kameron Rooks and Stephen Domingo are also getting their chances on the court for the first time under Cuonzo after sitting out last season.
• Regarding centers, Martin likes Okoroh defensively and Rooks offensively.
  
• Tyrone Wallace is hitting his free throws, the NBA really likes him, and is adjusting to being a point guard. Life is great!
• Jordan Mathews also commented on how awesome Jaylen Brown is and what he thinks of Wyking Jones.

.@JordanMathews22 on teammate @FCHWPO "he's a really great guy.. everybody's really drawn to him.. a supreme athlete, big time competitor"

— Cal Men's Basketball (@CalMensBBall) July 30, 2015

.@JordanMathews22 on new assistant coach Wyking Jones, "he demands the best out of us every time we step on the court... he has been great"

— Cal Men's Basketball (@CalMensBBall) July 30, 2015

The team will head out August 13th and kick things off in Melbourne. It should be an exciting opportunity to get an early glimpse of this team's potential.

More details here.

The Bears will spend Aug. 15 getting acclimated, before opening their four-game exhibition schedule on Aug. 16. Cal will face Victoria Select, an all-star team just outside of the city of Melbourne, at Frankston Basketball Stadium at 2 p.m. local time in Australia (9 p.m. PT on Aug. 15).

A day of exploring awaits the Bears on Aug. 17, before they return to Frankston Basketball Stadium to face the host Frankston Blues, a club team competing in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL). The Bears and Blues will tip off at 7 p.m. local time in Australia (2 a.m. PT on Aug. 18).

Cal will then travel to Sydney, where they will play two more exhibition games over a three-day span.

Following a tour of this historic city on Aug. 19, Cal will spend Aug. 20 in the town of Canberra on the campus of the Australia Centre of Excellence (CoE), formerly known as the Australia Institute of Sport (AIS). They will face a team fielded by CoE at 5 p.m. local time in Australia (12:00 a.m. PT on Aug. 20). Alums of the CoE program include the Golden State Warriors' Andrew Bogut, the San Antonio Spurs' Patty Mills and the Utah Jazz's Dante Exum among others.

The next day, the Bears will close the exhibition portion of their tour in the Gwynneville, New South Wales part of Australia. They will face the Illawarra Hawks, a team competing in the National Basketball League, in the WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong at 6 p.m. local time in Australia (11 p.m. PT on Aug. 20). The Hawks feature former Wisconsin standout Kirk Penney, who also played in the NBA during his professional basketball career. He was the NBL Most Valuable Player in 2009.

The Bears will conclude their Australian tour with three days in Brisbane before crossing back over the International Date Line and arriving back in the Bay Area on Aug. 24.

Cal will play under FIBA rules during their international trip, including four 10-minute quarters and a 24-second shot clock among other changes from the NCAA structure.

Anyone in our community going to follow the team in Australia? We'd love to hear from you! Go Bears!