Kentucky Basketball could be joining a major holiday hoops event

When news broke on Wednesday that Kentucky Basketball and Gonzaga had canceled their regular-season series , some claimed the Wildcats were backing out due to their struggles in the series, including a 1-3 mark that culminated with last season’s 94-59 drubbing in Nashville. As it turns out, Kentucky could be joining a major holiday hoops event that may even include the Bulldogs. According to CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander , Kentucky is in discussions to join an eight-team pool-play event for what’s being called the Diamond Cup, which is set to debut in the 2027-28 hoops season.

It would take place at neutral-site locations and could feature games played across an entire month, not a one-week tournament-style event. Nothing is set in stone yet, but there’s hope everything could be ironed out in time for the event to begin in 2027. Norlander adds that the schools in discussions for the event are Arizona, UConn, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, and North Carolina.

Duke was in the running to be in the event, but the Blue Devils won’t participate because of their Amazon Prime deal . Some other key notes from this report: The 2027-28 season will likely be a two-game agreement, but in future seasons, each school could play four Diamond Cup games — three in the regular season and one high-profile exhibition game — in pool-play format from October through Thanksgiving Week. In the two-game scenario in 2027, schools would reportedly receive $2.

25 million each. The format for Years 2 and 3 could increase to $3. 75 million per school.