When I first began travelling to China in hopes of introducing our great game of college basketball to the Chinese people AND sharing coaching techniques and strategies, I was greeted by the kind Chinese officials in a very formally manner.

Now, after several trips and a continued exchange of ideas and culture, I'm greeted with hugs. I know that is a great sign of progress.

That's part of the reason I am so excited to be making another trip to China this coming Saturday. I'll be there for a variety of reasons but chiefly I'm continuing to build relationships as we try to further expand Big Blue Nation internationally.

In addition to doing a coaches clinic for the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) outside of Beijing, I will be able to share in the dinner when the CBA honors my dear friend Del Harris. I've also got to make it a point to get to the Great Wall. Previous trips have been so jam-packed I wasn't able to work in a trip to the Wall. I plan on getting there during this trip and sharing some pictures of my journey.

Some have asked, 'Why are you doing all that travelling, Coach?'

Quite simply, we want UK basketball to be followed by all the fantastic basketball fans in China. Eventually, we want this website and UK's presence to be as big in China as it is in the U.S. Or even bigger!

In China it’s all about relationships and I've worked hard to build these bonds and trusts and my hope is that it will benefit our university in the months and years to come.

The University is already working to recruit graduate and undergraduate students from China to Lexington. I want to help make that happen. In time, I want to see hundreds of Chinese students studying and living alongside our UK students. If we can have students building relationships with future business partners from China, we will be helping to prepare all our gifted students to truly be world citizens.

Oh, and in case you haven't heard, I'd also like to find a 7-foot point guard in China!

But seriously, it's such an incredible and unique opportunity that we have to share our great university and the entire Commonwealth with the people of China. I look forward to keeping you updated during my trip as I try to expand the gargantuan Wildcat footprint in China.

-CC-