The Bahamas has become a favorite destination for college men’s basketball programs, which are allowed by the NCAA to take a foreign summer tour every four years.
This August, the island will host pre-season No. 1 Kentucky, ACC contender North Carolina and 2014 NCAA tournament teams Ohio State, Pitt and Cincinnati, Eight other teams– including possible NCAA team Ole Miss, play staggered exhibition games on the island from Aug. 2 to Aug. 25.
Teams are allowed to practice a maximum of 10 times prior to leaving on the trip before playing a series of exhibitions against international competition.
Kentucky, which reached the national championship game last year and has nine McDonald’s All Americans on its roster, is calling its event, which will run from Aug 10 to 17, Big Blue Bahamas and will play six games against Dominican Republic national team, the Puerto Rico national team and champagne-Chaldon Reims Basket, a French pro club that was just promoted to the Pro A division of the LNB.
North Carolina will be making its second trip to the Bahamas later in the fall when the Tar Heels play in a Battle 4 Atlantis field from Nov. 26-28– easily the best pre-season tournament in the country– with 2014 Final Four teams Florida and Wisconsin as well as NCAA tournament teams UCLA, Oklahoma and marquis programs Georgetown and Butler. UAB fills out the field. The Battle 4 Atlantis will be played at Paradise Island in the ballroom of the Atlantis resort. The field was put together by and promoter Lea Miller, a innovative star in the business.
The games in August are tentatively scheduled to be played for all the NCAA teams at Sir Kendall Isaac’s Gym.
The other Division I teams competing in the Bahamas are Morehead State, UT-Chattanooga, Northern Arizona, Alabama State, Samford, Louisiana Tech and Portland State.
