Kentucky planning to play in the Bahamas this summer

The Kentucky Wildcats will return to paradise to play in a few exhibition games this summer.

On his radio show Monday evening, John Calipari announced that he is planning on taking next year’s team to the Bahamas for the first time since the 2018-19 season.

“My belief is I think this summer we will play in the Bahamas. How many of you went to the Bahamas with us?. It was a great trip,” Calipari said Monday. “I mean, we had 2-3,000 people follow us to the Bahamas.

“It was crazy. It was on national television in August. So that’s another thing that is in the works we’ve been discussing to see how we do it.”

Many probably remember the last trip for the Cats as they went 4-0 on their trip. They picked up wins over the Bahamas Select team 85-61, and a 91-68 victory over San Lorenzo which is an Argentinian professional team. Then they followed those wins up with a 100-64 win over a professional Serbian team in Mega Bemax, and finished off the trip with a win over Team Toronto 93-60.

If the Cats do return, it will be the third time they have played an exhibition schedule in the Bahamas, as the 2014-2015 team played six games in Nassau.

With this news it brings light that the offseason is closer than many think. With several different NBA Draft decisions to be made in several months, as well as recruiting in the transfer portal, it sets up even more time next year’s squad to build even more chemistry. I’m sure it can't hurt in recruiting some people to join or stay on next year's squad either.

The last two teams to play in the Bahamas have been special. We can only hope the next team turns out just as well.