Kentucky basketball hand-picked as first Mamba program by Kobe Bryant's widow

Kentucky has taken advantage of its sponsorship as a Nike program for some time now. However, that was just taken to a whole new level due to an honor bestowed on them by Vanessa Bryant, the widow of the late great Kobe Bryant.

Per Jack Pilgrim of Kentucky Sports Radio, Bryant has selected Kentucky as the inaugural ‘Mamba Program’. The partnership will include unique and exclusive gear for the Wildcats under Bryant’s brand over the next few years.

“The Wildcats will wear exclusive Kentucky-themed Kobe sneakers and apparel this season, sources tell KSR,” wrote Pilgrim. “Special uniforms featuring the Mamba logo are also possible in the future.”

Pilgrim added that Kentucky is just the first for this collaboration. Others will eventually join in “over the course of the multi-year rollout”.

This isn’t the first time that these two sides have crossed paths. A year ago in October, John Calipari hosted a Mamba Skills Academy at Memorial Coliseum on UK’s campus with Natalia Bryant, Kobe’s oldest child, in attendance. They held the camp for free for underserved children in the area.

“This is the first partnership with any university,” Kat Conlon, executive director of the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation, told media in attendance. “Coach Calipari and Kobe Bryant had a very special relationship. Anything we can do with the foundation that continues to tell the stories of Kobe and Gianna Bryant? We are all game for it with the foundation.”

Then, earlier this summer, the Bryant family sent Kentucky several pairs of the new Mambacita Kobe 4s for their trip to Toronto to play in the GLOBL Jam, an event that they swept and won gold in last month. They announced that gift on Twitter in a video with Calipari himself.

Bryant is one of the most greatest and popular basketball players of all time. That kind of affiliation should only be more generative for Kentucky’s brand as the partnership continues into the future.

CBS Sports Classic announces Ohio State-UCLA, UNC-Kentucky

A couple of huge out-of-conference college basketball games that will be played as a doubleheader were announced on Tuesday. CBS revealed that they will hold the 10th annual CBS Sports Classic at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Saturday, Dec. 16.

Matchups that will take place are Ohio State vs. UCLA and North Carolina vs. Kentucky. They will televise the games on CBS and Paramount+.

This isn’t the first time these teams have faced off in the CBS Sports Classic. In 2020, Ohio State defeated UCLA 77-70, while North Carolina beat Kentucky 75-63.

While these matchups have taken place before, this is the first time the CBS Sports Classic will be played in Atlanta. State Farm Arena marks the seventh different venue to host the CBS Sports Classic. The event has previously featured college basketball matchups in Chicago, Brooklyn, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Cleveland and New York.