Kentucky's Bahamas trip came at hefty cost (Cal had $1,550/night suite)

per the Courier Journal:

Last spring, the University of Kentucky men's basketball team began aggressively seeking a destination for a foreign exhibition tour. The Wildcats were coming off a national title game appearance, and there was urgency to get their NBA-ready roster prepared for a potentially historic season. The coaches and administrators knew this group needed to be tested.

So UK arranged an eight-night August trip to the Bahamas that included multiple games against the national teams of the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, and the French pro club, Champagne Chalons-Reims Basket.

In the same month that 12 other Division I schools quietly faced lower-level competition in the Bahamas, UK's more prestigious contests at the posh Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island were shown live on ESPNU and the SEC Network.

But the trip—and the competition—came at a steep cost. Expense reports acquired through a Courier-Journal open-records request show that in addition to its own travel, UK paid for the flights, meals and lodging for all three teams it faced. It is believed to be the first time a college basketball program has ever gone to such lengths for an exhibition series.

UK's own team expenses were eye-opening, too, from coach John Calipari's $1,550-per night Atlantis hotel suite to a $23,855.50 reception dinner that included a band and an open bar.

The total cost of the trip was $792,845.68. By comparison, an expense report acquired in an open records request showed that North Carolina's Bahamas trip last summer cost $154,825.91. Portland State, meanwhile, paid a total of $37,714 for its seven-night stay.

http://www.courier-journal.com/stor...dollars-face-national-teams-bahamas/21806935/

Go Gophers!!

I hate what Kentucky/Calipari have done to college buckets. It has a Lebron James, Miami Heat feel to it, a mini NBA operation. I was looking at the ESPN top 100 for 2015 the other day. Probably 85% are committed and signed somewhere. The void of signees is almost all in the top 20. Out of the first 20 there was something like 10 unsigned guys and all but one have Kentucky on their list of offers. So they all just sit there and wait to see if Kentucky has openings in the spring due to defections. What a sham. Yes- I wish it were the Gophers.

$800k is nothing if Kentucky wins another National Championship this year...their boosters will keep dumping money into the program. They live, practice and play in a basketball palace and they are treated like Princes. And with all that, Kentucky BB makes a $7 million per year profit for UK to fund its athletics teams on $24 mil in revenue. And honestly if you live in Kentucky...its what you have.

Someone actually bothered to write an article about this? What a waste of time this was.

Kentucky cheated for years with illegal benefits, then started the arms race of living quarters and other facilities before most other programs, so this is nothing new.

The dollar amount is quite minor relative to the economic impact of UK basketball in that state and beyond. The cost of the JC hotel suite is especially trivial.

Rupp Arena is a basketball "palace"? Not the phrase I would use from what I saw when visiting there. A large arena with the crowd spaced out (as opposed to being right on top of the action like they are at some gyms), concourse is always crowded due to being too small for the number of fans that attend the games, no center scoreboard and instead a cluster of horns. Rupp is definitely overdue to be replaced or drastically changed given the fact that KY fans want to have the best of everything & it just isn't that.

oak_street1981 said:

Someone actually bothered to write an article about this? What a waste of time this was.

Kentucky cheated for years with illegal benefits, then started the arms race of living quarters and other facilities before most other programs, so this is nothing new.

The dollar amount is quite minor relative to the economic impact of UK basketball in that state and beyond. The cost of the JC hotel suite is especially trivial.

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I should hope someone bothered to write an article about this. I realize this is like spitting into a hurricane, but there should be a constant spotlight on this corrupt and totally out of perspective program.

State school--supposedly a university--career cheat for a coach--obscene money--etc, etc. Sorry, beej, I don't wish it was the Gophers. My self-worth isn't that tied to a basketball team that is newly bought every year.

Envy and jealousy. Missing in the thread: Think of all the poor kids that kind of money could have fed.
Nobody likes Calapari. He is successful. Did he arrange for somebody to take Derek Rose's college entrance test?
Then he is a cheater. Did he arrange for the agent to give Camby money, drugs and women? Then he is a cheater.
But it hasn't been proven or even hardly suggested he did that. It's part of dealing with super elite players. Comes with the territory. I think he cares about his players and wants the best for them.
He is unlike anyone else but I don't think he's Bruce Pearl for instance. Calipari has no violations.

Also for perspective: The Courier Journal is in Louisville. No more bitter rival to be found for Louisville than U Kentucky in Lexington.

Envy and jealousy? Perhaps regarding their wins, but I doubt success would do this to many programs. Most universities would find this embarrassing.

Moonlight said:

Envy and jealousy? Perhaps regarding their wins, but I doubt success would do this to many programs. Most universities would find this embarrassing.

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+1. Cal is pure sleaze. Did he cheat for Marcus Camby? Nah, coincidence. Did he cheat for Derek Rose? Nah coincidence. Sure. If you really believe that, I have some land to sell you.

OSUfan said:

Rupp Arena is a basketball "palace"? Not the phrase I would use from what I saw when visiting there. A large arena with the crowd spaced out (as opposed to being right on top of the action like they are at some gyms), concourse is always crowded due to being too small for the number of fans that attend the games, no center scoreboard and instead a cluster of horns. Rupp is definitely overdue to be replaced or drastically changed given the fact that KY fans want to have the best of everything & it just isn't that.

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Sorry, they live, eat and practice in a freaking palace, they play in one of the most storied buildings in all of college basketball...like the Gophers only we don't have any of the palace yet, just the old storied building.

bga1 said:

I hate what Kentucky/Calipari have done to college buckets. )

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THIS. Time 1,000,000. That's all.

howeda7 said:

+1. Cal is pure sleaze. Did he cheat for Marcus Camby? Nah, coincidence. Did he cheat for Derek Rose? Nah coincidence. Sure. If you really believe that, I have some land to sell you.

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I went to a coaches camp in Chicago in 2008 and heard a few prominent coaches speak. One coach said-paraphrasing-"if you want to coach college athletics at the highest level, you also have to sell part of your soul to the devil."

I think Cal is an outstanding coach but he has sold more than part of his soul to the devil

The total cost of the trip was $792,845.68.

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Yesterday on espn1500, one of Souchery's dumb sidekicks kept saying ky spent 792 Million on the trip. The others were saying no way, how could they, are you sure?, etc.

Finally one of them said read the numbers. Okay he said......dollar sign, seven, nine, two, comma, eigtht, four, five,decimal point, six, eight. That's seven hundred ninety two thousand you moron was the reply. "Oh yeah maybe you are right" the moron replied.

Dumb, dumb dumb.