Cavaliers bound for Cancun Challenge

By Whitelaw Reid

| 978-7250

You can go ahead and pack up your suntan lotion and tangerine Speedo. It’s official.

The Virginia men’s basketball team, as first reported by The Daily Progress, will be participating in the Cancun Challenge this November.

On Thursday, the field for the eight-school tournament was announced — and it’s a good one.

Virginia, Kentucky, Stanford and Cleveland State are the headliners. They will be joined by Florida A&M, Rider, Oral Roberts and Sam Houston State. 

According to the tournament’s web site, UVa will be hosting Rider on Nov. 19 and Oral Roberts on Nov. 21 at John Paul Jones Arena before traveling to Cancun.

In Mexico, the Cavaliers will play Stanford on Nov. 24. If they can get past the Cardinal, they would play the Kentucky-Cleveland State winner on Nov. 25.

Cleveland State made it to the NCAA tournament last year, while Kentucky will feature new coach John Calipari, formerly of Memphis, and freshman guard John Wall, considered by most to be the No. 1 recruit in the country.

Virginia might be seeing its fare share of Kentucky in the coming years. UVa is already committed to the Maui Invitational at Maui’s Lahaina Civic Center during Thanksgiving Week in 2010. That field includes Kentucky, Connecticut, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Washington, Wichita State and host Chaminade.

The last time Virginia played games outside of the country came last season when it participated in three exhibition games over Labor Day weekend in Montreal. UVa went 2-1 in the preseason games, which didn’t count toward its overall record. The Cavs beat St. Lawrence and Concordia before losing to McGill.