Multiple sources have relayed to KSR the University of Kentucky has been picked as a Mamba Program ahead of the upcoming 2023-24 basketball season.
Kobe’s widow-Vanessa Bryant- hand selected the Wildcats to be the flagship Mamba school, culminating a process that was over a year in the making. A multi-year rollout is expected to bring multiple programs into the fold.
This coming season Kentucky will be outfitted in Team-exclusive Kobe kicks and Mamba branded units could be a possibility in the future.
Mrs. Bryant and the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundational gifted the UK hoops team “Mambacita” Kobe IVs before the team’s July trip to Toronto for GLOBL JAM. Coach Cal received his own personal care package from the Bryant family– his own pair of “Mambacita” Kobe IV Protros , a Gigi Bryant jersey and Kobe’s book, The Mamba Mentality: How I Play.
Last October Kentucky hosted Natalia Bryant and the family organization for the Mamba Skills Academy. The camp was free of charge to less fortunate youth in the area and players and coaches from the men’s and women’s team helped run the camp.
“This is the first partnership with any university. Coach Calipari and Kobe Bryant had a very special relationship, so anything we can do with the foundation that continues to tell the stories of Kobe and Gianna Bryant, we are all game for it with the foundation.”
Through their partnership as a Mamba Program those stories will get to be told.
