FAYETTEVILLE -- Texas A&M's run to the SEC men's basketball championship last season began in Italy and Greece.
That's where the Aggies played their first games together in August during a 10-day exhibition tour the NCAA allows teams to go on every four years.
Texas A&M went 3-1 playing foreign teams while traveling to Rome, Latina, Sorrento and Pompeii in Italy and concluding the trip in Athens.
"It was a huge benefit that definitely helped us," Texas A&M Coach Billy Kennedy said Monday during the SEC coaches' summer teleconference. "We had four seniors, but also so many young guys, so we were able to get our team in situations where they had to spend a lot of time together and get to know each other in atmospheres that didn't have a lot of pressure.