Although basketball season is not supposed to start in America until November, the Kansas State women’s basketball team will enjoy a trip to Europe from Aug. 2–13. The Wildcats will visit Italy, Switzerland and Austria for recreation and four basketball games.
The women’s basketball team is set to start its regular season Nov. 2, but the team is allowed to take foreign trips once every four years under NCAA Bylaw 30.7. Before they leave, the Wildcats are having 10 on-campus practices during the month of July in preparation.
Jeff Mittie, head coach of the K-State women’s basketball team, thinks foreign basketball trips are good for the players for a number of reasons.
“These trips are beneficial for a program in so many ways,” Mittie said to K-State Sports. “The educational experience of seeing other countries and cultures. The practice and preparation for playing games, especially for our freshmen, will be very valuable. An early look for our coaches to see our team’s strengths and identify our weaknesses in a game setting before we enter fall workouts will aid our program this season.”
The women’s basketball team previously went to the Czech Republic and Austria in the summer of 2008. The Wildcats also went to Italy five years later in the summer of 2013. The four games they are playing this year will be regulated under the rules of FIBA, the International Basketball Federation.
To begin their trip, the Wildcats will travel to Rome, Italy, on Aug. 2. While in Rome, they will play All Star Italy on Aug. 5 and TK Hannover of Germany on Aug. 6. The Wildcats will play their two games in one of Italy’s premier amateur basketball stadiums, the Palazzetto Stella Azzurra.
The Wildcats will then travel to Lucerne, Switzerland, on Aug. 7 to relax and sightsee before traveling to Vienna, Austria, on Aug. 10.
The Wildcats will play their last two games in Austria, where they will face off twice against BK Samorin from Slovakia on Aug. 10 and Aug. 12.
The women’s basketball team’s first exhibition game for the 2017–18 season will be against Emporia State University on Nov. 2.
