Kentucky Basketball wore matching Chin Coleman shirts for the flight to the Bahamas

Kentucky Basketball departed for the Bahamas this morning for seven days of fun in the sun around the team’s four preseason exhibition games. When the players boarded the plane, they wore matching t-shirts featuring the recent photo of Chin Coleman at UK’s aquatic center.

First, the original photo of Coleman in his goggles and swim cap:

Now, the t-shirts the photo inspired for the team flight:

One thing about this team: they’re going to have fun 😂 pic.twitter.com/06VXJwH4Gj

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) August 8, 2022

Looks like the boys are ready to have some fun this week at Baha Mar.

Team swimming lessons

Leading up to the trip, the players frequented the university’s aquatic center for a couple of weeks to polish up their swimming skills for the Bahamas, hence the photo of Coleman in the pool. This morning, Ben Roberts over at the Herald-Leader wrote a lengthy story about the team’s morning swims, which were set up by our old pal TJ Beisner once he learned two of the players couldn’t swim, or even tread water.

“These guys have to know how to swim,” Beisner thought.

In Roberts’ story, he reveals Sahvir Wheeler and Daimion Collins, the two Texans on the team, were the players who were unable to get into the water until team training. The swims started with small numbers, but teammates joined in to support Wheeler and Collins in their pool journey.

Beisner said he told the guys, “You should be proud. The fact that you asked for help. Where you are — as athletes and young people — you’re at an elite level. And you put your pride aside and had enough humility to ask for help with something. That’s big-time.”

Read more about the pre-Bahamas swimming over at the Herald-Leader.