• Gary Waters on CSU's Trip To Europe

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland State men's basketball team is getting an early start to the 2013-14 season with a foreign tour that will see the Vikings travel to The Netherlands, Belgium and France, while playing five games from Aug. 14-24.

When not playing games, the Vikings will spend time enjoying the sites and culture of the countries.

Under NCAA rules, each Division I school is allowed to make a foreign tour once every four years.  This will be the second time CSU will take a foreign tour under head coach Gary Waters. The Vikings travelled to Spain prior to the 2008-09 season and would go on to win the Horizon League Championship and the Horizon League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament that season.

The 13th-seeded Vikings defeated fourth-seeded Wake Forest in the opening round of the NCAA tournament before falling to Arizona in the second round in Miami.

After preparing for the tour with the NCAA permitted 10 practices, the Vikings will depart for The Netherlands on Aug. 14. While in Amsterdam (Aug. 15-17), the Vikings will play their first game on Aug. 17.

The tour moves to Ghent, Belgium on Aug. 18 where the Vikings will spend three days, including games on Aug. 18 against the Ghent Dragons and Aug. 19 versus St. Jan Antwerp.

The tour concludes in Paris, France from Aug. 21-24 and includes contests versus Rueil (Aug. 21) and Jussy (Aug. 22) before CSU returns home on Aug. 24 in time for the first day of class two days later.

While in each country, the Vikings will take guided tours and have the opportunity to visit destinations such as the Anne Frank House, the Vincent Van Gogh-Art Museum, Gravensteen Castle, Notre Dame, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.