Sept. 2, 2005

Photo Gallery

Spc. Robert Adams
Desert Voice Assistant Editor

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait – Dave Odom, University of South Carolina head basketball coach, and seven other NCAA basketball coaches, flew over to Kuwait to coach in the Operation Hardwood basketball tournament Aug. 27 – 31.

Odom coached American troops from Camp Navistar, Kuwait. His team performed well in the tournament making it to the Final Four, but lost to Camp Doha in the semifinals.

“Let me tell you something … you ride a camel, you drive a tank … and you coach basketball all in the same day, you have had one hell of a day.” Dave Odom

In the first game of the tournament, Navistar won the game 44-42 on a last second three-pointer against Camp Buerhing, who was coached by Bobby Cremins, former Georgia Tech coach.

“Let me tell you something … you ride a camel, you drive a tank … and you coach basketball all in the same day, you have had one hell of a day,” Odom said after the tournament.

“It doesn’t get any better than that, particularly when you do it right here in the middle of Kuwait with the best people in the world.”

When Odom wasn’t coaching his team, he was out in the crowd signing autographs and taking pictures with troops. He was very thankful for being able to attend the event and meet with service members.

“When they played the national anthem and I looked at the American flag, the building was pretty much cold … it was unlike most of the buildings that we are in today,” Odom said. “You could have heard a mouse crawl across the floor … people standing at attention, their eyes were glued on that flag, and I knew we had arrived.”

The Operation Hardwood “hoops with the troops” tournament started with teams of service members from the eight Kuwait military camps. The double elimination tournament was won by the Camp Arifjan team, coached by Tom Izzo. Arifjan’s victory wrapped up the three-day tournament that showcased a double-overtime victory by Camp Doha over Camp Ali Al Salem to advance to the championship game, a last second basket for a Camp Navistar victory, as well as exciting dunk and three-point contests.

The other coaches were Tom Izzo, Michigan State Univerity, Mark Gottfried, University of Alabama, Kelvin Sampson, Oklahoma University, Bobby Lutz, North Carolina – Charlotte, Mike Jarvis, former St. Johns, Bobby Cremins, former Georgia Tech, and Jay Bilas, ESPN analyst.