This spring, the NCAA passed a rule that allows men’s and women’s college basketball programs to participate in an international summer trip every year, rather than just one every four years.

These trips are important as they most importantly allow teams to have extra practice time, but they also allow teams to face true competition and aid in team bonding. For the fans, the trips allow the unique experience to travel with the team or watch them on TV, building excitement for the upcoming season.

In his first press conference of the summer, Mark Pope talked about his hope for an additional rule change to summer trips, allowing them to be done in the states.

“There is one of the things that we’re excited about, potentially coming down the pipeline that we’ve been pushing for, is now we’re allowed to take international trips every single year. We’d like to actually make that something that could be done domestically,” Pope said on Friday

Pope argues that this is a way to bring more attention to college basketball in the summer.

“We’re always trying to take up windows of time with college basketball, in terms of the way we are in the public sphere, and I hope that that change goes through,” he said. “The opportunities that we’re exploring right now with that would be game-changing. I’m hopeful.”

There is also a financial aspect to this.

Foreign trips cost money for the program and the fans. Typically, a program works with the resort or tour operator at a discounted rate, as they aim to make more money from fans’ travel. Yet, there is still a cost, and in a college landscape where money is at a premium and needed to be competitive, every dollar counts. Cost was even something mentioned when Mark Pope was asked about why Kentucky did not take a summer trip this offseason.

Whereas, if a summer trip can be done domestically, that first reduces the cost for the program, and second, eases the barrier of entry for fans.

Let’s say Kentucky is able to organize or join a multi-team event in Indianapolis. This is close enough for many Kentucky fans to travel at a lower cost than, let’s say, the Bahamas, increasing ticket sales. There is also potential for TV deals. In short, increased revenue and reduced costs.

At the end of the day, Pope is just asking for more freedom for summer trips. In turn, that would mean more accessible summer college basketball.

“If you talk to the guys on our team, they would like more time on the court together and with us. They like more opportunities to play more games,” Pope said. “Our staff feels the same way. I think that’s probably a common theme throughout college basketball. So the more freedom we have to actually get work done, I think the better.”

Also posted on A Sea of Blue.

On Monday, July 20, La Familia traveled to Louisville, KY to take on The Ville in the historic Freedom Hall. With a 1-0 series lead, the Kentucky alumni had a game to give before returning home. Unfortunately for them, they fell by a score of 82-62 in a dominant showing from the Cardinals.

Heading into this matchup, there was yet again some drama with the injury report, as Willie Cauley-Stein was listed as questionable, Marcus Lee was listed as out and Archie Goodwin was marked to make his debut on Monday for the Wildcats.

However, as the day went on, TBT officially announced that Cauley-Stein will play but that Goodwin will not, sending Big Blue Nation into another frenzy of question marks. Nonetheless, no matter if it’s a Marquette alum balling out for you or if it’s the Wildcats’ own, the show must go on.

The majority of the first quarter showed a competitive ballgame, with La Familia holding an 11-9 lead at the media break. James Mainor-Bell banged in two threes to start the game, with Andrew Harrison joining in on the three party after an ankle breaker. The Ville was doing their best to play bully ball with Montrezl Harrell, but the Wildcats held him to only two points in his first quarter of action.

Harrell scored five straight for the Cardinals to start the second quarter, giving them their first lead of the game at the seven-minute mark. From then on, it would be complete and utter domination from the star forward, dropping 16 points in the quarter alone on perfect shooting.

Harrison, Chris Coffey and others did their best to stop the bleeding, but words cannot describe how quickly The Ville took control and did whatever they wanted on the court. La Familia only shot 8/30 from the field in the first half and nothing could go their way.

At the break, the alumni from the bluegrass trailed 36-22.

From poster dunks, lobs and threes, there was no idea of a comeback in any Kentucky fans’ heart, with The Ville having fun while they could in front of their fanbase.

Harrison and Coffey would combined for 34 points, but in response, Harrell finished the night with 35 points and eight rebounds to tie up the three-game series.

Up next, La Familia will host The Ville on Wednesday, July 22 for the third and final game of the series. The winner will take home the bragging rights and send their in-state rival on a one-way exit out of the TBT tournament. Tip is set for 6:00 p.m. ET and will air live on FS1.

*UPDATE (1:10 p.m. ET): Willie Cauley-Stein is ACTIVE but Archie Goodwin has been downgraded to UNACTIVE per TBT Stats & Info. A reason has not been revealed publicly.

There’s nothing like some evening basketball in the middle of the summer, and that’s exactly what we’re getting later tonight with La Familia’s matchup with The Ville. Tipoff for game two is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET inside of Freedom Hall, with the Kentucky alumni looking to take care of business on the road.

Doing so, will be difficult. We all saw what playing in enemy territory can do to a team – Louisville experienced it on Saturday and went down by as much as 15 points in the third quarter. Given the away atmosphere, the desperation from the Cardinals and unfortunately, some injury news, we’re in for an interesting one.

Game two’s official injury report has Marcus Lee, who missed game one with the team, listed as OUT for tonight’s matchup. He was originally believed to make his debut on Monday, but it seems it may be the next series where Lee will make an appearance. Willie Cauley-Stein, after tweaking his ankle in La Familia’s first game, is listed as questionable, making Kentucky’s size a thing to question.

Don’t worry though Big Blue Nation, because KY Insider brings good news with the bad. Archie Goodwin, who was a major part of the team’s scoring last summer, will be making his debut on July 20. Sources confirmed that he was attending a wedding on Saturday and couldn’t make the season opener.

The Ville will also be without two key players who missed game one, Ray Spalding and Angel Nunez. The full injury report can be seen below.

La Familia

• Archie Goodwin – AVAILABLE
• Willie Cauley-Stein – QUESTIONABLE
• Marcus Lee – OUT

The Ville

• Ray Spalding – OUT
• Angel Nunez – OUT