#BOKNOWSCHINA - Barnes Going Back To China With Pac-12

Bo Barnes went to China last August with the Sun Devil basketball team, earned his Bachelor of Arts in Business Communication this May and now will head to China this summer as a part of the Pac-12’s all-star team. The team will be coached by Utah’s Larry Krystkowiak and will compete in four games and take part in various youth clinics this August.

The trip is a part of the league’s Globalization Initiative which is aimed to help support Pac-12 member universities’ international outreach efforts, build their brands in an important market and provide quality educational and cultural exchange experiences for student-athletes.

Barnes will be on a squad that will face a Chinese university all-star team and play three games against teams from the Chinese Basketball Association, including the Shanghai Sharks. Eight-time NBA All-Star Yao Ming owns the Sharks. Max Zhang, a former CALIFORNIA student-athlete has been the center for the Sharks since his return to China in 2010.

Barnes, who has switched to No. 33, has played in 85 games in his three-year career, with 53 at Arizona State and 32 in his freshman year at Hawaii when he knocked down 57 three-pointers (2010-11), a school freshman record. His stats from last year don't show the whole value, as his 8.7 minutes and 4.5 points per game can be misleading. In the final 16 games, Barnes averaged 19.6 minutes, shot .466 (34-of-73) from the floor and was 20-of-48 (.417) from the three-point stripe. He chipped in with 6.7 points per game, and had four double-figure scoring games on the year.

The Pac-12 all-star team will also play the Guangdong Southern Tigers, the 2013-14 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) regular season champion. The Tigers' leading Chinese scorer is Yi Jianlian, who played for the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks under Krystkowiak during the 2007-08 season before returning to the CBA in 2012.

The Pac-12 intended on having all 12 member universities represented on the team. However, the academic schedules of student-athletes from Oregon and UCLA conflicted with the tour dates.

In addition to the competition in China, the team will participate in various youth clinics, as well as take in the culture and history of China with visits to various landmarks and historical sites in the cities of Shanghai, Nantong and Shenzhen.

The Pac-12 is working with HUPU Sports Media Co. in arranging and promoting the tour, competitions and cultural activities. The Pac-12 is also continuing its partnership with Federation of University of Sports (FUSC), China’s equivalent of NCAA in organizing the 3rd China-U.S. University Sports Week, an annual collaborative event between the Pac-12 and the FUSC that will feature a friendly game between the Pac-12 All-star Team and a Chinese University All-star Team and coaching clinics. In addition, the United States Consulate in Shanghai has agreed to support the tour and will have senior members of the Consulate participate a welcome reception for the Pac-12 delegation, a tour press conference and various activities of the tour in Shanghai and Nantong.

To support the Pac-12 Conference’s on-going effort to build awareness of its’ member universities and the Conference in China, the Pac-12 is working with its Chinese partners to organize an academic symposium in conjunction with the Pac-12 men’s basketball all-star tour in August. The symposium will include a high-profile U.S.-China university leaders’ forum and business meetings between the Pac-12 university delegates and senior dignitaries from the Chinese government and universities. Six of the Conference's member institutions will send a senior member to join this symposium.

Over the past two summers as part of the Conference’s Globalization Initiative, the league has sent an all-star women’s volleyball team, men’s basketball teams from Arizona State and UCLA and women’s basketball team from California to China.

The 10-day tour will commence August 10 and will be the first men’s basketball all-star tour for the Pac-12 since the Conference sent both a men’s and women’s all-star team to Japan in 1996.

2014 Pac-12 Men’s Basketball China Tour Roster
Andrew Andrews, Washington
Bo Barnes, Arizona State
Malcolm Duvivier, Oregon State
Jacob Hazzard, Arizona
Xavier Johnson, Colorado
Nikola Jovanovic, USC
DaVonté Lacy, WSU
Jordan Loveridge, Utah
Roger Moute a Bidias, California
Cheikh N’diaye, Oregon State
Jeremy Olsen, Utah
Schuyler Rimmer, Stanford
Brandon Taylor, Utah

Tentative Tour Itinerary
Aug. 7-9: Pre-tour practice at San Francisco site to be determined
Aug. 10: Depart for Shanghai, China
Aug. 11: Arrive Shanghai, China
Aug. 13: Game 1 vs. Chinese University All-Stars (Shanghai)
Aug. 14: Game 2 vs. Jiangsu Dragons or Shanghai Sharks (Nantong)
Aug. 15: Pac-12 Academic Symposium
Aug. 16: Game 3 vs. Shanghai Sharks (Shanghai)
Aug. 17: Youth clinic at the Yi Jianlian Basketball Camp
Aug. 18: Game 4 vs. Guangdong Southern Tigers (Shenzhen)
Aug. 19 or 20: Depart for United States