Minnesota coach Richard Pitino has said several times that what his young players need most is live-game reps.
It looks like next summer, they'll be getting a few more.
Pitino said on Monday's Big Ten coaches teleconference that the Gophers will be doing a foreign tour in Spain this August, ahead of the 2015-16 season.
No specific dates or matchups have been set yet, spokesman Dan Reisig said.
NCAA teams are allowed to take one overseas trip every four years if they so choose, so Minnesota had the opportunity to do so last season, but Pitino said he wanted to maximize the effect of such an excursion.
"It wouldn't have made a whole lot of sense to do it this year," he said. "I look at next year, we're truly going to be able to build it with young guys and give them reps. As opposed to the first two years, we had some pieces back and we kind of had to build around those guys.
"Well next year we're going to get a lot younger. And that's not necessarily a bad thing because now we can truly be able to play those guys and give them all types of experience that they need to get, much like Northwestern [which is playing a lot of youth] is going through this year."
Currently, the Gophers have four freshman pegged to join Minnesota after the season, but Pitino and his staff have three other scholarships to play with. The coach is also hoping to get more experience for current raw freshmen Bakary Konate and Gaston Diehdiou, as well as freshman Nate Mason, JUCO transfer Carlos Morris and redshirt sophomore Charles Buggs. Minnesota will have just two seniors next year -- Joey King and Morris -- both of whom aren't expected to hold major roles.
