You might need a GPS to track down Tyler Griffey.

France. Senegal. Mali. Los Angeles. Those are four of his stops in the last three weeks.

But there's one place, closer to his home in the St. Louis-area, where the Illinois recruit would rather be at the moment.

"I just bought a new car and now I need money for gas," Griffey said Friday. "So I'm hoping to get back to work for a few days."

And where's his job?

"The car wash," he said with a laugh. "It's called Auto Spa. You take in your car, drop it off, usually takes about five to 10 minutes. Then we'll pull it off the line and dry it off and do anything else you need."

Good gig if he can find time to get it. And most important for Griffey, the Carmen Sandiego of Illinois recruits, it's close to home, a rare destination for him this summer. A 6-foot-8 forward from Wildwood, Mo., Griffey recently returned from a basketball excursion in Africa and Europe. While other prep standouts were playing in front of college coaches, Griffey was playing in front of the prime minister of Mali.

"Then we had dinner with the prime minister of Mali," he said.

A tournament there was followed by a tournament in Paris. It's all part of adidas Nations, a unique program that unites American basketball standouts with international peers – in the name of basketball. Griffey has played with adidas Nations for almost two years, and he loves it: "It's been the greatest experience of my life." He's already accepted an invitation to return to France with adidas Nations next summer, after he arrives at Illinois in June.

"It's something I feel very fortunate to be involved with," Griffey said. "I wouldn't say it was what I expected, going to Africa and Paris. It was better."

As is the case with most overseas basketball tours, this one included lessons in dealing with adversity. Basketballwise, that meant playing out of position, when the power forward was moved to shooting guard and small forward because the American roster in France had only two guards. (One of them was Arizona's Nic Wise, who famously called for a timeout against Illinois last season at the United Center, even though Arizona was out of timeouts. A timeout wasn't granted, and a technical foul was avoided.)

"We just had some great guys on the team," said Griffey, whose squad was coached by Ed Schilling, a former New Jersey Nets assistant. "A lot of talented guys who were fun to play with."

It's been a trip for Griffey. Now he'd just like to get back to work.

"Hopefully I can make some money now."