Trying to add a payment method? You can do this on the 
QuickTake:
UO women's basketball coach takes his team on some epic road trips — and not just for hoops. There’s sightseeing too.
Shortly before the Oregon women’s basketball team embarked on its inaugural Big Ten road trip in December 2024, Ducks coach Kelly Graves had a realization: He’d coached games all over America, in dozens of states, even Alaska and Hawaii.
“I’m a big atlas guy, a big map guy,” said Graves, now in his 40th year of coaching, and his 13th season with the Ducks. “I got a big map, put it in my office and started putting pins in every place I’ve coached: Blue pins for Gonzaga, red for Saint Mary’s and green for Oregon. With the Big Ten, I was going to knock out Nebraska and Minnesota, and I realized, shoot, I’ll have coached in 40-something states.”
Graves has taken teams to play in the Badlands (South Dakota State) and the Louisiana bayou (Southern University). He’s won in Frisco, Texas (against Old Dominion), and in San Francisco (against USF). In New Mexico years ago, he took his team to eat rattlesnake, a local delicacy. Seriously.
But could he coach games in all 50 states?
“I mean, you’ve got to play somebody,” Graves said. “We charter pretty much everywhere, so the travel is a lot easier than it used to be.”
And that’s why Friday night, the Oregon women play at the University of Maine, the easternmost state, 3,447 miles from Eugene.
Ehis Etute, a junior from Dudelange, Luxembourg, who is seeing more of America than she ever anticipated, wryly summed it up as such: “Interestingly, I don’t actually see a whole lot — really just the gym and the hotel.”
The Maine game concludes a three-game road trip for the Ducks. They lost Monday at Grand Canyon 81-74, then took an overnight charter flight to Vermont. Led by Etute’s 26 points and 10 rebounds, they thumped the Catamounts 81-56 on Wednesday.
After playing games in Maine and Vermont, Graves has just five states left on his coaching bucket list: Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Virginia and West Virginia.
“My reaction at first was, ‘Kelly, what are you talking about, you can visit these states in your offseason,’” said Katie Fiso, a junior guard from Seattle who scored 18, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out four assists in Wednesday’s win at Vermont. “But I go where I’m told.”
To be clear: Graves has visited all 50 states already. But now he’s aiming to do it on work time.
‘So much bonding’
Before Oregon caught a commercial flight to Phoenix last weekend, Graves talked with his team about how much he likes taking early season road trips.
“There’s so much bonding,” he said. “You really get to know each other. Sometimes you don’t like the outcome — like Monday — but it’ll make us better. Some teams play 11 or 12 nonconference games at home and won’t have a true road game until January. That doesn’t work in the Big Ten, where so many teams have great home court advantages.”
Getting in some early cross-country flights is good practice, too. Oregon will play its first Big Ten road games at the end of December, when the Ducks travel to Ohio State and Penn State.
“This definitely does give us a glimpse of what Big Ten travel is like, especially for the freshmen and newcomers,” said Fiso, who enjoyed some famed Vermont maple syrup and pancakes Wednesday morning. “It’s great prep, it gets our bodies used to the road routine.”
Graves, who helped turn the Gonzaga women into a midmajor power when he coached there from 2000 to 2014, also takes pride in scheduling — and being willing to travel — to non-Power Four schools, many of which have long histories of success. Vermont has been to three of the last four NCAA Tournaments, and Maine went in 2024. Both are members of the American East Conference.
Scheduling games in some states is easier than in others. California and Texas, for example, have 26 and 25 Division I schools, respectively. Wyoming has one.
“I think it’s good for these kids to play in different places, to see new things,” Graves said. “There’s a safe bet none of these kids will ever come to Maine or Vermont again in their lives. And I’m old school, I’ll play anyone. I remember what it’s like to be at a midmajor and no one will play you. I think it’s important we play these schools.”
He and his staff try to add sightseeing or an educational component to the itinerary whenever possible.
Last year when the Ducks went to Maryland, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden escorted them around the Capitol. In 2023, when Oregon traveled to Southern University, a historically Black university in Baton Rouge, Southern’s president gave them a campus tour, and the teams dined together afterward, feasting on traditional Southern food like ribs and mac ’n’ cheese.
It was Etute’s first time eating collard greens. “It was … not what I’m used to,” she said kindly.
When Gonzaga traveled to Philadelphia in January 2008, Graves made sure they visited the Liberty Bell. In 2012, when the Zags went to Rhode Island for the NCAA Tournament, they all dipped their toes in the Atlantic Ocean.
Graves’ favorite stop might have come in November 2017, when Oregon played at Louisville, and the team visited the Muhammad Ali Museum. Then-freshman Satou Sabally — now a WNBA All-Star — was so fascinated, Graves said, she didn’t want to leave.
Of course, there have been mistakes, too. The season before, in March 2017, Oregon earned a 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament and got shipped to Bridgeport, Connecticut, for the Sweet 16. Led by Sabrina Ionescu, who would go on to be the best player in program history, the Ducks made a surprising run to the Elite Eight.
After stunning third-seeded Maryland in the regional semifinal, Oregon was set to match up with top-seeded UConn.
“On our off day, we drove to New York City and saw the sites,” Graves said. “We had a bunch of kids who’d never been to New York before. Well, the next day they beat us by about 40.”
It was actually 38, but who’s counting?
Players ‘always want to see new places’
Along with states, Graves likes to tour college campuses, too. His pregame ritual, home or away, is to walk around campus for 30 to 45 minutes blasting music — typically ’80s pop or ’70s classic rock — clearing his head. He was surprised at how much he enjoyed Purdue’s campus last year and is always happy to take a trek around Pepperdine in Malibu.
Graves has no plans to stop coaching once he hits his 50-state goal. At 63, he said he’s “really liking my team right now.” He’s already piled up 651 career wins. At this point, he says, “I’m doing it because I really love it.”
As for souvenirs, he used to collect a coffee mug from every campus, but quickly realized he was going to run out of shelf space. Now it’s about giving his players experiences.
And though they love to give Graves a hard time about adding to an already intense travel schedule, the players love it.
“My family definitely thinks it’s cool we go everywhere,” Fiso said. “And I’m embracing it. Not a lot of people are in this position, so it is a cool opportunity. I always want to see new places.”
Etute has her eye on one particular place.
“You know I’d never been to the States before (college) and now, they take me all around, and I still don’t know where I am,” she deadpanned. “But I used to watch that show ‘Friends’ all the time when I was in Europe, so I really want to go to New York City.”
She’s in luck. Next year, Oregon should play at Rutgers, just about an hour outside of Manhattan.
