wo weeks from now, most of the University of Massachusetts men's basketball players will be able to tell you something about the Parthenon, the Acropolis, the Oracle at Delphi and so forth.

But for now, pardon the cliche, it's all Greek to them.

Most of the Minutemen's knowledge of Greece is limited as they prepare to depart on a 10-day basketball trip, but the mystery has added to their anticipation.

"Not too many people can say they've been to Greece," senior Shannon Crooks said. "It's going to be an experience. Who knows when you might get the chance to get back there? It's a lot of history. A lot of statues and things like that. It's going to be different. I'm going to take a lot of pictures."

Fifth-year senior Ronell Blizzard said he didn't learn anything about Greek history or the mythology while he was in high school or college, but that he's looking forward to doing so first-hand.

"It's something that interests me," he said. "I have the opportunity to witness it first and then maybe do a little more later on."

While Raheim Lamb said he's been researching Greece on the Internet, Anthony Anderson talked with some Greek people in his home town of Lynn.

"They said Mykonos (an island off Greece) is the place to go and that Aug. 16-18 is the best time to go and that's when we're going to be there," Anderson said.

Anderson said this trip dwarfs any of his previous travel adventures.

"In AAU I went to Vegas and I thought I'd been everywhere when I went to Vegas," he said. "I've been to Canada, but that's not even out of the country compared to Greece."

As the son of a Greek immigrant, new coach Steve Lappas may have enough Greek knowledge for everyone. He hasn't been on vacation there since 1972.

"I have so many relatives there. I saw my mother this morning," Lappas said. "She gave me a gift to give to my uncle. I haven't seen my father's brother in 28 years. With my kids, we've always talked about Greece, so for us this is like a vacation of a lifetime, but there is basketball involved too."

Recognizing the cultural opportunity that the trip presents for his team, Lappas isn't going to hold practices while they're in Greece. The team's academic adviser, Matt Komer, is making the trip to supervise each player working on a three-credit independent study.

Lappas has tours and sightseeing lined up for each day of the trip, even during the four days with games, and it won't be all educational.

"We'll be at the beach in Mykonos. I'm going to take them one night out to the Greek nightclub scene. We're going to be doing a lot of sightseeing," he said. "They might be sightseeing all day and then playing a game at night, which doesn't bode well.

"I want this to be a fun experience for them," he continued. "I already have it in my head (that)I don't care how we play next week. We're going to practice hard this week and then go have some fun."

We're going to get enough out of this experience that we won't have to worry about playing good or whether we're winning."

Regardless of how much they learn about Greece, Lappas is hoping the players learn a lot about each other and the coaching staff.

"We're staying in three different places and we're changing roommates every time," Lappas said. "I definitely want to see what these guys are about. In a 10- to 12-day period you can't be on your best behavior all the time. The real you is going to come out. Both me and them."

While Lappas has made fun a priority, his players will have to live up to a standard on this and all other trips.

"They better be on time for everything. They have to act the right way all the time, whether it's in the airport or anywhere," Lappas said. "I don't want them wearing headphones until they're sitting in their airplane seat.

"There's going to be a lot of learning for them, like how I want to do things on the road," he said. "That'll save us maybe some aggravation in November and December."

Crooks thinks the experience will pay off in the regular season.

"I talked to Coach Lap," he said. "He said that's the big thing for us, to become a family early. It'll be a big plus going into the season."