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Kentucky, UNC, Ohio State basketball heading to Bahamas in August

By Andrew Coppens

Apr 5, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari talks to guard Andrew Harrison (5) on the sideline against the Wisconsin Badgers in the first half during the semifinals of the Final Four in the 2014 NCAA Mens Division I Championship tournament at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 5, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari talks to guard Andrew Harrison (5) on the sideline against the Wisconsin Badgers in the first half during the semifinals of the Final Four in the 2014 NCAA Mens Division I Championship tournament at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /
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Beaches, sunshine and basketball will be on the menus for some of college basketball’s blue bloods this August. On Friday ESPN’s Andy Katz reported that six schools will make a trip to the Bahamas for an offseason series of games against teams from the country.

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Among those schools will be high-profile teams Kentucky, North Carolina and Ohio State. Joining them in the Bahamas will be Pitt, Cincinnati and Ole Miss.

NCAA rules allow for a basketball team to make a foreign trip once every four years, and last season such a trip paid dividends for many teams. Perhaps none bigger than the Wisconsin Badgers, who went on a Final Four run after playing against teams in Canada last August despite a completely revamped roster.

It’s that type of result a young Ohio State team is looking to replicate, according to head coach Thad Matta.

"“Our time to go is now, and I like it because we have a lot of new guys.”"

Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin echoed those sentiments, saying, “That’s exactly why we’re going. We’ve got a lot of new guys. We’ve been planning this for two years.”

For North Carolina this is a warm-up for its appearance in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in November. That tournament features two Final Four teams (Florida and Wisconsin) and two other teams that made the 2014 NCAA tournament (UCLA and Oklahoma).

What is perhaps the most vital part of these offseason trips may not be the outcomes of games themselves, but the fact that coaches will have 10 extra practices to help get this team ready for the upcoming season.