Report: ASU and Kentucky to begin multiyear series in basketball

The ASU basketball 2015-2016 non-conference schedule continues to get better. Since the hire of Bobby Hurley, the Sun Devils have announced games against UNLV, St.John's and Creighton. Those games on top of participating in the 2015 Legends Classic, played in the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn, already give ASU an impressive non-league schedule.

Now, according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, Arizona State will play Kentucky on December 12, with the two teams meeting in the Bahamas during the 2016-2017 season.

UK + Arizona St will begin a series with a game in the Bahamas coming in 16-17, sources told @CBSSports. Story: http://t.co/XmjKE5guuh #BBN

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 5, 2015

A few hours prior to Rothstein's story, Kentucky radio host Matt Jones tweeted that the two programs were in talks about playing next season at Rupp Arena.

According to my sources, Kentucky is close to signing a contract with Arizona State to come to Rupp this season on Dec 12

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) May 5, 2015

Part of the frustrations with the previous regime was their soft non-conference schedules that did not give ASU many quality victories before the start of conference play. In some cases, it may have cost the Sun Devils a birth in the NCAA Tournament.

Hurley has proven he is not afraid to schedule road or neutral site games against major programs, even if he cannot get a home game in return. Herb Sendek has noted to reporters in the past that he had a tough time getting major programs to come to Tempe.

Even though the Wildcats lose the bulk of their roster from this past season, when they began the year 38-0, Kentucky figures to be a top 10 team when the preseason polls come out. Kentucky returns Tyler Ulis, Marcus Lee and Alex Poythress and the Wildcats are also bringing in the top rated high school point guard (Isaiah Briscoe) and center (Skal Labissiere).