Wisconsin Badgers will play in France in August

The Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team will need to take a quick crash course in French and make sure passports are all set as the team will be flying across the Atlantic Ocean next month to play in France. The team will travel overseas for the first time since 2017.

The Badgers program announced last week that the team will be taking part in the overseas trip competing in four games throughout France over the course of 10 days. College teams are allowed to travel overseas once every four years, and the trip to France from Aug. 7-17 will mark the first such occasion for Wisconsin since the program visited Australia and New Zealand in 2017.

The trip includes cultural and team-bonding activities in addition to the four games and 10-practices. Among the off-the-court itinerary excursions includes ascending the Eiffel Tower, a full-day trip to Normandy, exploring Old Town Lyon, visiting the medieval village of Perouges, a guided tour of Monte Carlo, and beach time on the French Riviera.

Having visited Normandy myself as part of a college study abroad trip, a single day does it little justice but will still be a moving experience. A visit to the American Cemetery at Normandy will also offer the opportunity to visit the most recent gravesite added as the remains of U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. William J. McGowan were laid to rest after his body was recently identified.

As for the hoops action, the schedule (in central time) for games is:

• Aug. 7-10 | Paris
  Game 1* - Aug. 10 (noon CT)
• Aug. 11-13 | Lyon
  Game 2* - Aug. 12 (noon CT)
  Game 3* - Aug. 13 (noon CT)
• Aug. 14-17 | South of France
  Game 4* - Aug. 15 (10 a.m. CT)

Wisconsin will be using the opportunity to integrate freshmen Connor Essegian (Fort Wayne, Ind.), Ross Candelino (Jacksonville, Fla.), Isaac Gard (Oregon, Wis.), and Luke Haertle (Hartland, Wis.), as well as transfers Kamari McGee (Green Bay) and Max Klesmit (Wofford) into the program.

Information on how to follow the team on its travels abroad will be released in the coming weeks ahead of the trip. Similar to Nebraska’s trip to Italy in 2019, the Big Ten Network will also send along a crew to make a documentary series about the trip to be released at a later date.