Italy Tour 35
		FINAL ITALY TOUR STATISTICS					|4-1|				
Player	FG-A	Pet.	3P-A	Pet. FT-A	Pet.	Reb-Avg	A	TO	B	s	Pts-Avg
Delk	45-99	45.5	16-40		66.7	34-6.8	11	10	0	16	124-24.8
Walker	39-76	51.3	12-24		66.7	39-7.8	6	20	1	19	104-20.8
McCarty	25'52	48.1	2-14	14.3 15-27	55.6	42-8.4		19			67-13.4
Sheppard	23-42	54.8	3-8	37.5 16-19	84.2	15-3.0	9	10	n	15	65-13.0
Edwards	21-42	50.0	3-11	27.3 15-23	65.2	21-4.2	11	10	i	14	60-12.0
Pope	16-31	51.6	3-11	27.3 24-29	82.8	37-7.4	1	10	2		59-11.8
Epps	12-35	34.3	1-14	7.1 15-20	75.0	11-2.2	18	11	o		40-8.0
Padgett	12-23	52.2	8-14	57.1 6-7	85.7	24-4.8	3	11	0	i	38-7.6
Ptickett	9-21	42.9	1-4	25.0 2-3	66.7	15-3.0	1	6	0	5	21-4.2
Mills	2-2	100.0	0-0	0 0-1	0	2-1.0	0	0	0	1	4-2.0
Team						16					
uk	204-423	48.2	49-140	35.0 125-177	70.6	256-51.2	63	107	4	99 582-116.4	
OpP	155-315	49.2	39-90	43.3 133-201	66.2	206-41.2	67	142	11	88	482-96.4
When in Rome, look like the Romans! Mark Pope models his latest purchase in front of the ancient Colosseum.
At this point, most of the players were speaking mucho Italiano  hello, good-bye, thank you, you're welcome  the real tough stuff. But Epps was a master. He figured out quickly it wasn't how many of the words one knew, it was the pitch of the voice that made it effective. So effective that nearly everyone in the group was ready to shove him into the Grand Canal.
The crowded walkways of Venice were filled with numerous children, nearly all of whom could recognize the UK athletes as basketball players.
"Basket, basket?" asked one child, making the shooting motion with his right hand.
"Si," Walker replied, a little surprised by the recognition.
"NBA, NBA," the kid then shouted, as the other children looked on in amazement at the 6-8 forward. Walker smiled, patted a few heads and kept on walking.
While in Venice, the team extended its tour record to 3-0 by beating the local pro team as well as a team of professionals from Russia.
By the time the Cats arrived in Florence, they were ready to drop. Tours every day and games the past two nights, followed by a four-hour bus ride, had left the Cats in little condition to play basketball, much less watch their coach get thrown out of the contest against Montecatini after two technical fouls. Surprisingly, the intensity was so high many would have thought March Madness was in full gear. But following the 123-115 defeat, the Wildcats could only feel as if they were ambushed, victims of a local conspiracy headed by two hometown referees. The first, and only, loss was inevitable.
The next day, it was get-lost-Shep day. The team toured Florence  where Michelangelo's statue of David was the highlight  and shopped all afternoon. Coach Pitino had told them to save their money until they arrived in Florence, that leather and gold were great buys.
After seeing the city in the morning, the team broke up to shop. Late that afternoon, most were back in their hotel rooms. Except for one. Sheppard, who had entered the Academia to see the famous statue, had gotten separated from the
group. While he studied the artwork, the tour had departed. About four hours later, as Pope was headed out of the hotel, Sheppard was finally returning.
"He looked bewildered," chuckled the big center. "He was obviously worn out from trying to find his way back."
Rested and accounted for, the tour headed to Rome the next day, most with leather a ui purchases in tow.
Upon arrival to the Eternal City, it was off to see Imperial Rome, including the ancient Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, ruins from three and four centuries before Christ and the track where the chariot races were once held and Ben Hur was filmed.
The Colosseum was the team's favorite site, with its 50,000 seats. The catacombs under the structure's floor were evident, and the players stood silent, transfixed as they were shown the holding areas where the lions and Christians were kept.
That night, the team was left to eat on its own, and it wasn't long until the group found a McDonald's. Ahh, beautiful Rome! Complete with its extra value meals  for aboui six
bucks  this Mickey D's was one of the largest many had seen. Fifteen cash registers and a separate salad and ice cream counter gave new meaning to Big Mac attack. The American food was popular, and with only lour o( these fast food restaurants in a city of four million Romans, the place was crowded at all hours.
On the final day in Italy, the team conducted a practice for the Italian Basketball Federation before touring Vatican City. That night, the team bussed two-and-a-hali hours to Scauri, a beach resort town on the Tyrrhenian Sea. Against Siena, the Cats rolled to their fourth tour victory. The celebration was on. The team, dancing at midcourt, was joined by what seemed to be hundreds of vacationing Italians, who had stopped in to see the Wildcats in action.
The players knew die tour was aboul to end. They were returning home the next day  back to bigger beds, 12-ounce soft drinks and hamburger joints at every corner.
But first, there was Italian pizza being served up the street. A .ureal, bul predk table finish In ;i once-in-a-lifetime trip.
Coach Rick Pitino shares a laugh with his four seniors  Walter McCarty, jared Prickett, Tony Delk and Mark Pope  while visiting die Trcvi Fountain in Rome.