Playing for Team in Belgium Tips Off Herdman : Basketball: Former UC Irvine standout returns from Europe more convinced than ever that he belongs in the pros.

Jeff Herdman knew his first foray into the world of Belgian professional basketball would be an adventure. He didn’t figure it would be a thriller that opened with a chase scene.

There had been few surprises in the first 15 hours of the trek. A delayed flight. A couple pieces of lost luggage. A two-hour wait in the airport for his “welcoming party.”

Then three men showed up: the owner of the team in Liege, Belgium, the coach and an interpreter.

“The only problem was that the interpreter guy didn’t speak any English,” Herdman said. “Then we got in this car and took off down the freeway at like 120 miles per hour, really. I was thinking, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ ”

The ride was just beginning. The former UC Irvine standout, admittedly naive about the ways of basketball in Belgium, was about to get a whirlwind indoctrination. And it wasn’t exactly high times in the Low Countries.

“They took me to a hotel that was so terrible I told them I wouldn’t stay in the place,” he said. “Then they informed me that I had to play that night. I got five hours’ rest. My legs were dead, but luckily I had a pretty good game, anyway.”

Herdman, who led the nation in three-point shooting much of his sophomore season at Irvine, later learned he had picked a good night to get hot. He saw other American and Russian players arrive--and then depart--after only one or two less-than-impressive performances.

It’s not difficult to understand why foreign players had troubles adjusting. You can’t even feel at home on the court.

“The floor is like concrete or asphalt,” said Herdman’s mother, Linda, who took a vacation to watch her son play pro ball. “It’s like an aircraft building with tin walls, and I think everybody in Europe smokes, so the whole building is filled with smoke.

“I mean the official scorer is sitting at that courtside table with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. It’s unbelievable. I don’t know how those boys play.”

Boys might not really be the best choice of words.

Two of Herdman’s teammates were teachers in their late 30s. One was a pharmacist. Luckily, another had a wife who had been an exchange student in the United States. She was one of the few people in the entire town who spoke English.

“Liege is a pretty town, but it’s very rural,” Herdman said. “For the first three weeks, I just sat in my tiny hotel room. There was one TV station and it was in French.

“I’ve never been homesick like that in my life. I spent $400 in phone calls.”

Herdman practiced one hour in the morning with the other foreigner-du-jour (teams are allowed only two foreign players and two Russians and three Americans rotated in and out during Herdman’s three-month tenure). Then he had the entire day to himself before the rest of the team got off from their day jobs and arrived for a full-squad, one-hour workout in the evening.

“I walked around town a little,” he said, “and I found one place called ‘American Sandwiches.’ That was the name of the place. So I ate sub sandwiches for every meal. Every other place the menu was in French and I had no idea what I was ordering.”

Deciding he might as well put some of this free time toward a constructive end, Herdman went in search of the local health club. Maybe an hour on the stair-climber could lift his spirits.

“I finally found a place,” he said. “They called it a ‘spa.’ They had a couple of those home weights, you know, filled with sand. At least I could work out a little.”

After three weeks, Herdman’s fiancee, Lisa Fadale, a former Irvine cheerleader, arrived and the quality of his off time increased dramatically.

Things were going pretty well at work as well. In about 30 games with the team, Herdman said he averaged more than 26 points and eight rebounds.

His financial situation was less stable, however.

Herdman had agreed to terms that included an apartment, use of a car and $3,500 a month. The team made good on the first part of the deal, but when it came to money, the Belgians began to waffle.

“I had this agent, whose name I won’t mention, and he set up the deal,” Herdman said. “Everything was supposed to be all taken care of, but I had to find the apartment myself. I eventually got the car, but they started by paying me only $500 a week.

“I came over with a one-way ticket and had never actually signed a contract, which was stupid. I just didn’t know any better. Whenever I asked them about the contract, they said it was being translated for the owner.”

After three months, the team owner told Herdman that he had lost a sponsor and couldn’t afford to pay him $3,500 a month. He did, however, give Herdman a check for about $5,000, making good on the original verbal agreement.

And then he brought in another Russian player at $1,200 a month to replace Herdman.

The big business of Belgian basketball has not tainted Herdman’s quest to play pro ball. He returned home from Europe this winter more convinced than ever that he’s good enough to play for money.

Maybe in Europe again. Or the CBA or USBL or maybe even the league with the acronym everyone recognizes: NBA.

“I’ve got a new agent, Fred Moore, a Newport Beach attorney, and I don’t intend to give up basketball at all,” said Herdman, who has been working out and coaching kids at the Eastbluff Boys Club in Newport Beach the past couple of months. “I’m staying in shape. There’s just too much money out there not to play.”

Herdman, 23, never was the quickest player or the best jumper on the court. He admits he has trouble selling himself as a complete player.

The 6-foot-6 1/2 swing player averaged 18.1 points during his senior season at Irvine (1990-91). He attempted 262 three-pointers, almost 100 more than any other player in the Big West Conference. He made 43% of them.

“At UCI, I was limited to being a jump shooter,” he said. “That’s what Coach (Bill) Mulligan wanted me to do. So I send out tapes, and all they see is me shooting 25-foot jump shots. They know I’ve got range, but they just assume I can’t do anything else.”

Herdman’s doing his darndest to dispel that notion. He says he works at least two hours every day on ballhandling to improve his ability to create his own shots. Then he devotes time to improving his defense and rebounding. He’s also lifting weights and has bulked up to 205 pounds.

He’s getting married to Fadale May 30 and he’s holding a summer camp for elementary-school age boys and girls at the Boys Club, but Herdman says nothing will distract him from his goal.

“Lisa has been very supportive,” he said. “It’s been hard for her because she’s had to put her career on hold because she knows she’ll be going with me wherever I go.”

And Herdman is sure he’ll be on the road again with basketball in hand soon.

“I’ve already had one offer to go to Holland, but I would have had to sign with another agent,” he said. “Next month, I’m going to training camp with the USBL team in Clearwater, Fla., and I think I’m going to play in the Loyola summer league on the Milwaukee Bucks’ team. Those games are loaded with scouts.

“I think I can play professionally somewhere for the next five or six years. There are guys making $70,000 a year in some divisions of the French League right now who I know I’m better than.”

He’s even pretty sure they’re getting paid.