Earlier this week, Ian Inman joked the longest flight he\u2019s ever taken was for a trip to Mexico.<\/p>\n
Considering Inman is from the Houston area, his longest journey wasn\u2019t terribly long. And it\u2019s one that will be dwarfed by the 19-hour trip on deck for a Colorado men\u2019s basketball team departing on Wednesday for a four-game exhibition tour of Australia.<\/p>\n
Plenty of shows, movies, tunes and podcasts surely will be downloaded to pass the time. However, for the newest of the Buffaloes\u2019 many newcomers, Leonardo Van Elswyk, CU\u2019s time zone-hopping expedition will be just another routine commute in his basketball journey.<\/p>\n
Signed last month out of Italy, the oft-traveled Van Elswyk spent the bulk of his childhood moving with his family from one home to another. Certainly that\u2019s not without precedence, particularly for military families. But in Van Elswyk\u2019s case, it wasn\u2019t a matter of moving from town to town, but from continent to continent.<\/p>\n
The 7-foot-1 freshman center has citizenship in four countries \u2014 Italy, Canada, England and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m definitely used to change, used to new environments,\u201d Van Elswyk said. \u201cIt\u2019s not my first time being away from my family. When I was in (Italy) I was in a house with my teammates. It\u2019s not totally new for me. But it\u2019s new because it\u2019s America.\u201d<\/p>\n
America is one of the few places Van Elswyk hadn\u2019t called home before arriving in Boulder earlier this month.<\/p>\n
Van Elswyk was born in England where his father, Peter \u2014 a former national team player in his native Canada \u2014 was playing professionally, but he spent his first four years in Italy, his mother\u2019s native country.<\/p>\n
The family then moved to Peter\u2019s home country in Toronto, and 10 years later Leonardo moved to Spain to pursue a club opportunity near Barcelona. Van Elswyk spent three years in Spain, then the past two years in Milan, competing for Italy\u2019s U16 team at the FIBA EuroBasket tournament in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely in the last couple years it became more of a goal,\u201d Van Elswyk said about playing college basketball in America. \u201cAlways growing up I wanted to make that next step. I think college ball will help me make that next step in being a professional player.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Van Elswyk, the Buffs landed a potential low-risk, high-ceiling frontcourt prospect. If he\u2019s ready to play immediately, the 245-pound Van Elswyk gives the Buffs another big body up front to utilize in the rugged interior battles of the Big 12. If not, Van Elswyk becomes a potential redshirt candidate while sixth-year senior Elijah Malone and freshman Tacko Ifaola hold down the five-spot.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood touch, good feel,\u201d CU head coach Tad Boyle said regarding the freshman center. \u201cSome guys are better in drills and not as good at five-on-five. Some guys are good at five-on-five and not as good in drills. He\u2019s probably the latter right now. But when you start going up-and-down and guys get tired, you get more open shots. When you\u2019re stripped of things and doing drills, it\u2019s a little more difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think understanding he has to stay in a stance (is key). Most 7-1 guys aren\u2019t used to doing that. Physically, I think he\u2019ll be all right. He\u2019s got to learn how to use his size, that\u2019s the biggest thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Buffs depart for Australia on Wednesday, and although Van Elswyk was a late addition to the mix, the four-game trip will offer an opportunity for the newcomer to impress. CU will be without forward Bangot Dak as he continues to spend his summer recovering from an injury. And Ifaola, who was listed at 6-foot-11 when he signed but is listed at 7-foot by CU, won\u2019t make the trip due to his student visa status.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the guys here. I love all my teammates. They\u2019re supporting me and helping me get better every day,\u201d Van Elswyk said. \u201cI\u2019ve just done a couple practices so far, but I\u2019m really enjoying myself and having fun out there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier this week, Ian Inman joked the longest flight he\u2019s ever taken was for a trip to Mexico.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,18881,18882,18883,4044,2662,25236,3832,4142,2558,398,400,401,99],"class_list":["post-29855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-boulder","tag-boulder-county","tag-buffzone","tag-college-basketball","tag-college-sports","tag-college-menu2019s-basketball","tag-colorado","tag-front-range","tag-latest-headlines","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaabasketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}