No your calendar isn't wrong - the college basketball season season starts this month.

Sort of.

The South Dakota State men's basketball team is getting an early start to the 2014-15 season with four games in Brazil.

The Jackrabbits depart for South America Sunday, playing their first game Monday night against Pinheiros Clube in São Paulo.

Pinheiros Clube plays in the A1 league, the top league in Brazil, and won its' first international title in 2013, when they captured the FIBA Americas League title.

The Jackrabbits face a U22 team on Tuesday in he second game of the trip in Campinas, Brazil, about 60 miles northwest of São Paulo.

Wednesday, the Jacks play an A2 team in Jacarei, Brazil, about 50 miles east of São Paulo, near the East Coast of Brazil.

From there, the Jackrabbits travel to Rio de Janerio for the final six days for the trip, including the final game in the trip, Saturday, August 9th, against Botafogo, another team from the Brazilian A1 league.

In a school press release, SDSU head coach Scott Nagy said:

We’re a young basketball team, so we’ve got a lot to figure out before the season starts, and these four games really give us a head start to the season. We’re going to focus on fundamentals and give the players an idea of what we expect out of them when the season starts.

The Jackrabbits traditional slate of games starts October 30th, when they host South Dakota Tech for an exhibition game in Brookings.

 

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