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SALT LAKE CITY — Members of the Lone Peak basketball team are packing their bags for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“When we first heard about it, it was like, alright someone’s pulling our leg,” said senior forward Nick Curtis.
The team received an all-expenses paid trip to Dubai to play in the MPAC Elite International Tournament.
“Our former players are like ‘What, you guys are going to Dubai? Geez, we’re getting ripped off. We won the national championship and we don’t get to go to Dubai," said Lone Peak head coach Quincy Lewis.
The invitation was extended in the summer of 2013 after Lone Peak was named national champions by MaxPreps. The players will be making the trip as a club team called Utah Reign and it is one of just four teams in the United States invited to participate.
The others include Simeon (Chicago), the school that produced Derrick Rose and Jabari Parker; Huntington Prep (West Virginia) that produced Andrew Wiggins and O.J. Mayo; and Montverde Academy (Florida) that has recently won national championships.
“We’re going to find out exactly where we’re at and that’s good," Lewis said. "We need to play the best."
Four other teams from North Africa and the Middle East will also participate in the tournament that will run from June 16-23.
Our former players are like 'What, you guys are going to Dubai? Geez, we're getting ripped off. We won the national championship and we don't get to go to Dubai.
–Quincy Lewis
“We are just one lucky bunch,” said Curtis. “We’re just these kids from Utah. No one ever expected that. To be able to get these opportunities, I don’t know, we’re blessed.”
This will be a serious challenge for a group of players that return just two starters from last year’s state championship team at Lone Peak. One of those starters is junior point guard Frank Jackson who is committed to BYU, but the Reign will be big underdogs on paper.
Jackson and his teammates hope to surprise people at the tournament, but if they can’t knock off the big-name programs they still hope to learn and grow in preparation for next season: “If we go out and beat some good teams it’s going to boost our confidence,” Jackson said.
The focus will be on basketball, but the team will also get to enjoy the Dubai experience — something that has them very excited.
“I think we’re going on a safari,” Jackson said. “We’re just going to look around, I mean, it’s not every day you’re in Dubai.”
“Oh, we’re going to be partying it up,” Curtis said. “To the point where we can with the rules.”
