Jaspers to make, learn history on Ireland trip

It started with a phone call and quickly evolved into what Manhattan College head basketball coach Steve Masiello thinks will be an experience of a lifetime.

The Jaspers are one of four teams selected to participate in the inaugural Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic, a two-day tournament on the weekend of Dec. 1. Taking place at the SSE Arena in Northern Ireland’s capital, the tournament is held in conjunction with the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Sport Changes Life, the Rory McIlroy Foundation and the SSE Arena.

“We got a phone call from our commissioner asking if we’d be interested in taking Manhattan to Ireland,” Masiello said. “I said, ‘Absolutely. It sounds like a great experience. Give me the details.’”

Going to Ireland is exciting enough. But learning about the other teams participating made it something Masiello really couldn’t wait for — Holy Cross, LaSalle University and Towson University. 

“Then the Hall of Fame got involved as did (pro golfer) Rory McIlroy. So it just kept growing and taking on a life of its own,” Masiello said. 

“But we’re honored to be going, especially because it’s in its inaugural year. We are really excited about this trip.”

Masiello even received a bonus invitation  to play in the Irish Open next weekend, but he has to pass on that event.

Ireland really never has been confused with being a basketball hotbed, yet there’s something about playing in a first-of-its-kind tournament that holds a lot of appeal for Masiello and his Jaspers. 

“What I find interesting is this year is going to be the first time American Division I teams have played in Europe,” Masiello said. “American teams have gone over and played some of the other (European) national teams over there, but no American teams from the NCAA have played each other before. So I think that’s fascinating. I think it’s a whole new kind of trend..”

Manhattan will open its trip with a game against Holy Cross on Dec. 1, and then take on either LaSalle or Towson in the championship or consolation game on Dec. 2. But basketball is not going to be all the Jaspers experience on the Emerald Isle.

“We’re going to try to expose our kids to as much as we can when we’re over there,” Masiello said. “How many times does a kid from Brooklyn get a chance to go to Belfast, Ireland? How many times does a kid from Jamaica get to go to Belfast? We’re really going to try to make it that these guys have a lifetime experience over there from a cultural standpoint. Really taking in the community, the environment and the history. 

“We’re going to plan some pretty cool things and also hopefully play some pretty good basketball, too.”

Belfast long has been synonymous with the long-standing conflict between Catholics and Protestants. Anyone who has ever visited the city has surely witnessed the walled-off neighborhoods that separate the two religious groups. Irish neighborhoods are the ones flying the Irish Republic flag while Protestant enclaves fly the British union jack. 

So will the Jaspers get a history lesson on “The Troubles” as they are called in Ireland?

“We’re definitely going to give them a tutorial on the environment and what’s been going on and what has gone on there so that our guys have a feel for it,” Masiello said. “It’s going to be a new experience for them and me as well. We’re going to try and expose them to as many things as we can so that they understand the things we take for granted on a daily basis here, there are other countries still dealing with or fighting for those things. 

“We want them to see what that looks like.”

When the Jaspers land in Belfast, they’ll be the only team wearing a color that likely brings everyone in Ireland together: green. Will that make Manhattan the crowd favorite from the start?

“Yeah, I think so,” Masiello said with a laugh. “You got to have a little luck of the Irish.”