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AUSTIN — Ask Mohamed Bamba the number of shark attacks in Australia and he could most likely answer you without many issues. Ask Andrew Jones about the most popular sayings down under and we bet he could give you them as well. Even ask about the country’s gun control laws.

In the last two months, the Longhorns went through full crash course, or “Australia class” as they call it, of the land down under, given by professor Rhonda Evans. Early Saturday afternoon, Texas embarks for its 12-day excursion to Australia as a part of the Longhorns’ summer foreign tour.

"We're all really, really excited about it," Smart said this week. "Nobody in our program has been there, that's one of the reasons why we chose Australia. We've been practicing all summer, the guys put a lot of work in in Cooley. Now we get a chance to take this trip and build on what we've done this summer.”

(RELATED: Full schedule, itinerary for Texas' 12-day excursion in Australia)

When Smart first arrived in Austin, he targeted year three as his chance to take an overseas trip, Texas' first such adventure since 1996 when Tom Penders also took his team to Australia. Smart felt he would have a more experienced roster, been settled in Austin and have a strong group of newcomers arriving at this point. He was right and, on top of that, the Longhorns are looking for a reboot after one of their worst seasons in program history.

Australia provided the “stiff” competition the team would be looking for. So Smart decided to go all in.

The Longhorns set up the summer course with Dr. Evans, the director of Edward A. Clark Center for Australian and New Zealand studies, which focuses on the history and traditions around Australia and the United States. It was designed, based off past templates and classes, do to exactly what you would expect: teach the players briefly some of the most important aspects of the continent.

The team met with Dr. Evans, who has traveled to Australia a dozen times, in about five seminars for a few hours each to discuss everything from local cuisine and culture to politics and wildlife. Evans broke down the class to give all athletes a history and experience of Australia, but also how to relates to their everyday life in Texas.

“[I] put something together to try to give the players a perspective that probably most tourists don't bring when they travel anywhere,” Dr. Evans said. “And also to get them to think of international travel as more than tourism, to try and think as it as cultural experience, a way to learn about another place, way to see how that changes the way you look at where you are from.”

They learned about the Great Barrier Reef, which they will visit. They learned Melbourne is pronounced “Mel-bin” not “Mel-born.” They learned Australia isn't as littered with shark attacks as most people think and they learned about the history of the country’s indigenous people.

Smart even believes his team saw a video of a kangaroo punching a man, but he couldn't confirm.

The Longhorns took to it “enthusiastically.” They asked questions, took notes and they even corrected the coaches on a several occasions when they pronounced Melbourne wrong.

“They were just captivated so I was really impressed,” Dr. Evans said.

“[Dr. Evans] did an unbelievable job, really, really good job with our guys,” Smart said. “It only worked I think so well because of her. She did a super job and just engaging the guys and getting those guys excited about what they're going over there to experience.”

While overseas Texas will see the Queen Victoria Market, Eureka Tower, Kurandi Village and several other sights. They’ll also spent time doing several team-bonding activities as Smart looks forward to getting his team closer.

Evans will meet back with the team in Melbourne and the group will finish the one-credit course with a final project: a travel diary of their experiences overseas and a personal essay.

“I think if we hadn't had that that course they would be going over there really only thinking about the basketball. But with the course there's a real understanding of ‘hey, I’m literally going to another continent in another part of the world with a whole different culture and get a chance to learn about other people.’ I think that would be a great part of the trip."

“Stiff” competition

Smart remembers the last foreign tour he took with a team was five years ago, while he was still at VCU, to Italy. The least memorable part of the trip for the group: the basketball.

He quickly admits the basketball talent he faced just wasn’t all that good (Kansas is actually currently over playing in Italy at the moment). He shouldn’t have that problem this time around.

The Longhorns have four exhibition games lined up, three of which are against National Basketball League (NBL) teams, the highest level of professional basketball in the country. The other is against a team from the Australia State League, one level below the NBL.

To prepare for their Australian counterparts, the Longhorns slightly transformed Cooley Pavilion. The 3-point line got pushed back, the lane widened, all adjustments to prepare for the rules of international basketball.

“We’re on their soil, we’re on their home court, so we're going to play with their rules,” Smart said, cautioning he didn’t want to practice too much with these new features.

Instead, it was the competition Texas has the most to get ready for when it lands in Melbourne on Monday. Of the teams Texas will face, a few hold former NBA players and one —Melbourne United — was invited to travel to America this fall and compete against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

If Smart is being honest, he wouldn't be surprised by a loss or two.

“If they’re at full strength some of those teams should probably beat us, if you look at the rosters of who they have,” Smart said. “A couple of those teams, at any given time have three, four, five guys with extensive NBA experience and guys that have played for a long time professionally, so I'm not too caught up in that. It’s more about how we play and different combinations.”

Smart added: “Our guys want to play in the NBA and think they're going to play in the NBA so if you're going to play in the NBA or if you're good enough to play in the NBA right now, you got a chance to measure yourself against guys in the league that's probably one of the top 10 professional leagues in the world.”

But there’s still plenty to learn on this trip for Smart. He'll use it as a feel for what he has on his roster, how his team plays together in a real setting and he’ll get a chance to look at his six newcomers — five freshmen and transfer Dylan Osetkowski, who hasn’t appeared in a game yet. Transfer Elijah Long will make the trip but won't play as he recovers from a right hand injury.

With new lineups and new looks, Smart has a lot to experiment with. When he gets back to Austin, he’ll have checklist of everything he was watching.

“Well, we've been working on pressing a lot so that's something that will do now and again when you play a really good, skilled team with older guys,” Smart said on what he’ll be paying the most attention to. “We will see how it goes, we're not great at it yet, but we like to do that more you know this year than we have in the past. We have more depth than we had last year, so that's one thing that will definitely take a look at and see how we did.

“Then just offensively our ability to share the ball make the right play execute different things. I'm hopeful that this is a team, again, because of Dylan and Mo and some of the skill guys we have with size, they can do a little bit more offensively.”

Former Longhorn Cameron Ridley fights for a ball during Texas' matchup vs. Washington in China in Nov. 2015

Different than China

While the Longhorns haven’t taken an overseas summer trip since the 1990s, they made the 7,500-mile trip to China just a few years ago for a regular season game against Washington. In fact, Smart’s first game as the Texas head coach in Nov. 2015

But don't compare those travels to now. One, neither Smart, president Greg Fenves or athletic director Mike Perrin or involved in the initially planning of the excursion. By the time they arrived in their roles, all within a year of each other, many of the guidelines were already in place.

Smart originated with this trip idea himself, handpicked the location with his staff and helped gather many of the details. Plus, there are far less “stressors” going down under this summer.

“The trip to China was just so different in that it was during the season, so some of the things that you aim for on a foreign tour we really weren't able to do during that time,” Smart said. “During the semester we had study hall every day. You know, we're preparing for a regular season game.”

While they still took several trips and experienced the sights, Texas focused more on the basketball in China, taking a far different approach than Washington ended up planning.

This time around, the four exhibition games Texas will play won’t count on any records. There’s the one-credit course the Longhorns will complete, but outside of that there’s no study halls or textbooks to lug around.

Texas is heading down under with a new plan in mind: build and experiment.

“[Now] you get to 10 days to practice then you get on a plane and the games are very, very important, but they don't count on your record so you can experiment with some things and you can play different lineups, and maybe play some young guys more than than you would if they were you no games account on your record, and then a team-building aspect of it will be really, really good.”