‘It’s so good for teams.’ Could UK basketball take a foreign trip this summer?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- During his radio show, Mark Pope talked about a potential summer trip for UK basketball.
- Pope said that Kentucky is discussing taking a foreign trip ahead of the 2026-27 season.
- UK last took an offseason foreign trip in 2023 under former coach John Calipari.
A foreign trip this summer is on the table for the Kentucky men’s basketball program.
During his weekly radio show Wednesday night, UK head coach Mark Pope said the Wildcats are in talks to take a trip outside the country during the offseason as part of their preparations for the 2026-27 season.
“We do have something in the works. We have a group that’s come to us and has invited us on — what I think would be — an epic foreign tour,” Pope said in response to a listener question. “We’re in the works of trying to see if that could become a reality.”
Kentucky last ventured outside the United States for an offseason trip in July 2023. John Calipari’s final Kentucky squad won the “GLOBL JAM” event in Toronto.
Pope didn’t specify the possible summer destination for this summer’s Cats, but he teased some elements of the potential locale.
“It’s somewhere that I’ve never been that I would absolutely love to go visit and spend some time,” Pope said.
That’s no small comment from Pope. He’s already traveled to the likes of Argentina and Turkey while recruiting for Kentucky in recent years.
During Calipari’s 15-season run as the Kentucky coach, the Wildcats took part in five summer exhibition series. UK took two trips to Canada — one to Windsor in addition to the GLOBL JAM — and three to The Bahamas.
In 1995, Rick Pitino took Kentucky’s eventual NCAA championship team to Italy. Pope was a co-captain on that team. Way back in 1986, the Cats visited Hong Kong and Japan. UK also hit Tokyo for a seven-game tour in 1978.
Pope praised the value of taking an offseason foreign trip.
“It’s so good for teams,” Pope said. “It’s an unbelievable experience for these young people. It helps bind your team together. We’re excited about it. We haven’t quite got it across the finish line.”
During his weekly press conference Thursday afternoon, the Herald-Leader asked Pope to expand upon his experience on that 1995 trip to Italy.
“That trip was absolute misery. It was the worst experience of my life. It actually was really hard, on purpose. Coach (Pitino) made it that way,” Pope said. “And we came and hung a banner and got a ring.”
Pope, who took his BYU team to Italy and Croatia in 2023, said foreign trips are incredible opportunities for teams to bond.
“We work really hard to find ways where we have the opportunity to take a trip like that to bond,” Pope said. “But it’s just different. It’s different when you spend that much condensed time together in the summer, where there is some intensity to it, but there’s also just a lot of being together and doing it in an environment that nobody is familiar with. I think they’re really special. I think guys remember them forever.”
The concept of a foreign tour that serves as both a bonding experience and developmental opportunity holds particular appeal for what would be Pope’s third UK team.
The Wildcats are guaranteed to lose at least two starters from this season’s squad. Senior guards Denzel Aberdeen and Otega Oweh are both out of NCAA eligibility after the 2025-26 campaign. Aberdeen and Oweh rank in the top two in assists, field goals made, minutes played and points for the Wildcats this season.
Kentucky is also expected to lose sophomore forward Jayden Quaintance this offseason to the NBA draft.
“You’re trying to build these relationships so that when you’re in the moments of doubt, you at least can lean on each other a little bit,” Pope said. “That’s important. It’s really important, especially here, with all the ways they get to be challenged here, our guys learn really fast that they need to lean on each other. So every experience like that where you put some capital in the bank, some relationship capital, is important.”
NCAA rules surrounding offseason foreign tours could soon change. Currently, schools are limited to just one foreign tour every four years. In January, the Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Oversight Committees proposed a legislative package that would change this restriction to allow for one foreign tour each year.
This proposed rule change must be approved by the NCAA Division I Cabinet which is expected to discuss the proposal in April.
Also included in the proposal is a potential rule change that would allow programs to play up to three exhibition games against other four-year schools during the offseason. Teams are currently allowed to play only two such exhibitions as part of their preseason prep.
This story was originally published February 25, 2026 at 8:16 PM.
