When the Radford University men’s basketball team visits Japan for the World University Basketball Series (WUBS) in August, they’ll have an indispensable tour guide in rising sophomore forward Ibu Yamazaki.
That is, after head coach Darris Nichols is satisfied that his players have had enough time to experience culture shock akin to what the 19-year-old Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, native felt during his freshman year in the United States.
“I’m looking forward to our guys trying to navigate and experience a different world without Ibu’s help,” Nichols told a virtual news conference on Thursday ahead of the Aug. 10-13 tournament at Yoyogi National Second Gymnasium in Tokyo. “When he came to America, he had to learn a whole bunch of new things. And he was doing it (in a place) where not a lot of people speak Japanese.
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