Mark Pope said Tuesday that having former players back playing in Rupp Arena next month is special for UK basketball. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky alumni team La Familia will find out today at 10 a.m. who it will be hosting/playing in TBT (The Basketball Tournament) Regional at Rupp Arena in July.
Teams will be competing for the $1 million top prize and new Kentucky coach Mark Pope is thrilled that NCAA regulations now allow former players to “come be on the court with our current players” and interact.
“These guys are preparing for a tournament where they have a chance to represent Kentucky and themselves in a brilliant way this summer,” Pope said. “And we’re trying to prepare for a huge season. We’re going to try and do that together a little bit.”
Pope would not reveal any more information on what they might do together even though speculation continues that Pope’s team might scrimmage against the UK alumni team before TBT play starts July 19.
Pope knows having TBT in Rupp Arena is a “huge deal” for Kentucky basketball.
“We’re going to take every opportunity to support these greats. We have three national champions that are coming back to be a part of this team and a bunch of guys that went far in the NCAA Tournament and served Kentucky really, really well and a bunch of draft picks, guys that had good careers in the league,” Pope said.
“So to have those former players back is really special. And, we’re incredibly excited about taking full advantage of that.”
LaFamilia announced Tuesday that former UK players Sean Woods, Darius Miller and Jon Hood would be part of Tyler Ulis’ coaching staff for this event.
The roster now has Nate Sestina, James Young, Andrew Harrison, Daniel Orton, Kellan Grady, Marquis Teague, Willie Cauley-Stein, Eric Bledsoe, Doron Lamb, and Reid Travis.
The staff also includes professional basketball player Jazzmarr “Jazz” Ferguson, and Shanndale Walton.
Seven teams will join LaFamilia in the Lexington Regional. Tickets are now on sale at this link.
For more information on this year’s TBT or La Familia, visit TheTournament.com.
2 Responses
Sheppard was not good enough to start on a Kentucky team that lost 10 games and lost in the first rounds of both the SEC and NCAA tourneys, yet he is the 3rd pick in the NBA draft. If Calipari had been playing his better players instead of his pets, he might still be coaching here instead of running off to Arkansas. Bullshit becomes pigshit! Go CATS!!!
This year’s team is going to be special. Remember I said Andrew Carr will lead us in scoring. Oweh will be another dominant guy. With Butler at the point. I think we win at least 25 games that’s the bottom. Carr is such a fantastic player. His motions are so smooth. We will have a bunch of double figure scorers this year. Carr Jackson Oweh Kriisa and Brea will all be double figure scorers with Butler Williams and Garrison flirting with double figures. Maybe Garrison averages 10?! Butler is going to be a great facilitator and a shut down defender. Williams will also be surprisingly good. Carr and Williams will complement each other perfectly. I definitely think Carr plays his way into the NBA draft next year. If you watch even just his highlights from his freshman to his senior year he gets noticeably better every year. He has a great year last year and it seemed like he played better against the better teams. At Wake Forest he seen some double teams and still averaged 14ppg. He won’t see that with good players all around him. That’s what I really like about this team. You pretty much know what your getting. The one player I really want to see is Collin Chandler. I’ve seen a lot of YouTube videos on him and he looks completely dominant out there but that was high school. He has a spark to him that makes him a great player. Hes a great shooter but if you play to close he will run around you and throw down a dunk. He looks much more athletic than the other freshman.