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Oct

7

NBA Europe Live Tour Brings Back Some Old Names & Faces

Filed Under On This Day . . ., Loose Balls

Basketball as a global game was even more apparent this weekend as the NBA Europe Live Tour continued with the Toronto Raptors holding off in a 93-87 preseason victory in Rome.

The Virtus Lottomatica Roma squad featured a lot of players that college basketball fans would be familiar with, including:

• Allan Ray – the former Villanova shooting guard who played with the Boston Celtics last season and helped the Wildcats the year before earn a number-one seed in the 2006 NCAA Tournament along with the rock-steadiness of point guard Randy Foye and the heart-and-soul of Kyle Lowry;

• Christian Drejer, a former University of Florida player who was a can’t-miss NBA prospect while entering the school but eventually left the school to go overseas following two disappointing years on the college hardwood;

• Erazem Lorbek, another college basketball import who made the foolish decision of leaving Michigan State University and its brilliant Head Coach Tom Izzo after his freshman season in which the Spartans surprisingly reached the Elite Eight of the 2003 NCAA Tournament; and

• Erik Daniels, a former University of Kentucky player who did not play on Sunday because of an injury and was a starting forward on a Wildcats team that was a prohibited favorite to win the 2003 NCAA Tournament before getting embarrassed by Dwyane Wade and the Marquette Golden Eagles in the Elite Eight; and

• David Hawkins, a former Temple standout who was suspended for the game due to marijuana use.

It’s always funny to watch these types of games matching NBA players or teams versus international squads as they typically bring up names from the past — Dreijer, Lorbek and Daniels, especially — that have drifted out of consciousness with the passage of time.