For the Idaho State women’s basketball players and coaches, this is the trip of a lifetime, a chance to fly to Paris to play three exhibition games and to see the sites at one of the most iconic cities on the planet.
So far the trip has been a win-win both on and off the court. The Bengals opened it up Friday afternoon (Friday night in Paris) with an 82-56 rout of a team filled with former professionals. This game on paper, was supposed to be the most difficult of the three scheduled contests for ISU.
Diabe Konate, a former All-Big Sky Conference player and two-time Big Sky champion, who played for the Bengals from 2019-2022 was even there to cheer them on. She now lives in Paris.
Idaho State head coach Seton Sobolewski said afterwards that the opponent was both “bigger and stronger” than the Bengals.
But that wasn’t the only adjustment his team had to make. With these games being in Europe, they’re played under international FIBA rules. One of the biggest differences was the use of a 24-second shot clock. A 30-second shot clock is what NCAA basketball games typically use.
“It was a tough adjustment for us,” Sobolewski said. “We had to play much faster.”
No official stats were kept for the game, but Sobolewski felt it was a good start to the trip.
“It was good to see some of the people who were out last season play and see some of the new players perform,” he said.
Getting the injured players back from last season is one of the keys to the upcoming year. The injury bug has gutted the program in recent memory. Last season was particularly painful with only eight players suiting up for the final 14 games for the Bengals. This led to multiple loss with them frequently running out of gas at the end of games.
Sobolewski is hoping things turn around on that front this year. The opportunity at three games, along with 10 practices should help with that and has been very beneficial to the newcomers in giving them a much-needed head start on the season.
The Bengals left for Paris on July 2. Thew flew from Salt Lake City to Chicago, Chicago to Toronto and Toronto across the Atlantic to Paris for a grand total of 5,426 miles upon their early-morning arrival on July 3.
Idaho State rested up for remainder of that day before having its first practice and going on a bicycle and river tour of Paris while the rest of U.S. was celebrating the 4th of July holiday. It then visited both the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysee before Friday’s win.
More activities are planned for the next several days. The team will be visiting the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral and the Louvre Museum. ISU will also be having a clinic for children before its next games on July 7-8.
The Bengals will return back to Pocatello on July 10.
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