By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, AUG. 11, 2014 – USF men's basketball coach Orlando Antigua spent last week getting his other team ready for world competition at the Muma Center.
Antigua is in the second year as head coach of the Dominican Republic men's national team and the squad was on campus preparing for the upcoming World Cup of Basketball that begins with group play on Saturday, Aug. 30 in Spain.
“You have the 24 best teams in the world competing for a world championship. We're fortunate and blessed to have an opportunity to be in this kind of a tournament,” Antigua said. “It's something that the Dominican Republic hasn't had an opportunity to do in over 40 years, never with new rules and the way the tournament format is set up.”
Antigua's group is in the Bahamas this week for four exhibition games, including two against the University of Kentucky, where Antigua served as an assistant under John Calipari the past six seasons. The Dominican Republic will be in New York for an exhibition game against the United States on Aug. 20 before it tunes up for the tournament against Senegal, the Philippines and Egypt Aug. 23-26 in Madrid.
“We'll be globetrotting the world,” Antigua said.
The Dominican Republic will then enter group play at the World Cup of Basketball against Ukraine, New Zealand, Finland, the U.S. and Turkey.
“For us it's been a long waiting experience. We think we're going to do great as long as we play as a team,” said guard Ronald Ramon, who played at Pitt from 2004-08 while Antigua was an assistant for the Panthers.
Ramon said he enjoyed spending a week on campus at USF and Antigua said the entire team took advantage of the state-of-the-art Muma Center to get better each day.
“The guys really love the facility,” Antigua said. “They were impressed by the entire Muma Center, from the weight room, to the training rooms, to the courts.”
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC'S SCHEDULE
Bahamas
Aug. 13, 5 PM, vs. Chalons-Reims
Aug. 14, 3 PM, vs. Puerto Rico
Aug. 15, 1 PM, vs. University of Kentucky
Aug. 17, 1 PM, vs. University of Kentucky
New York
Aug. 20, 7 PM, vs. USA
Madrid, Spain (Exhibitions)
Aug. 23 vs. Senegal
Aug. 24 vs. Philippines
Aug. 26 vs. Egypt
Bilbao, Spain-World Games
Aug. 30, 12:30 PM, vs. Ukraine
Aug 31, 12:30 PM, vs. New Zealand
Sept. 2, 9:30 PM, vs. Finland
Sept. 3, 9:30 PM, vs. USA
Sept. 4, 9:30 PM, vs. Turkey
Sept. 6-7 TBD
