Willie Cauley-Stein will be back playing for La Familia and is eager for a matchup against Louisville. (TBT Photo)
By JAKE PAVORSKY, TBT ENTERPRISES
BOSTON – The Basketball Tournament (TBT) today unveiled a new 16-team format and winner-take-all $2 million prize, headlined by a first-round best-of-three series between Kentucky alumni (La Familia) and Louisville alumni (The Ville).
TBT 2026 will feature 16 teams, with eight alumni teams and eight non-alumni teams, competing on two separate sides of the bracket. TBT’s first round will now be a best-of-three series before returning to the single-elimination format for future rounds. Just five wins are needed to capture TBT’s $2 million prize.
La Familia, led by Willie Cauley-Stein, Archie Goodwin, and Reid Travis, will play The Ville, led by Russ Smith, Edgar Sosa, and Malik Williams. Former Kentucky guard Jon Hood will take over as La Familia’s head coach, and former Louisville guard Michael Baffour will lead The Ville’s staff. The two teams faced off once before in TBT 2024, resulting in TBT’s highest most attended game in its 12-year history, with 13,506 people in Freedom Hall. La Familia won that matchup 70-61.
“We’ve faced The Ville before and came out on top, and we plan to do it again,” said Cauley-Stein. “La Familia has what it takes to win this series. We’re prepared and motivated to show that we’re the better team. Louisville should know that we won’t let them get in the way of us winning $2 million.”
“It is an honor to be in a position to lead from the front office and add some new faces as we rebuild The Ville,” said Smith. “The reception has been great and we can’t wait to be on the court and highlight the pro talent that was developed at the University of Louisville! We love that we get to play against our brothers—or rather, our arch-nemeses from Kentucky! Those matchups are always heated and always. We are out for retribution. Bring it on”
“These two fan bases are incredible,” said TBT CEO Jon Mugar. “Based on the 13,506 that came out for this matchup in 2024, we expect this to be one of the most raucous sporting events of the summer. Especially now that there’s two million dollars at stake.”
As part of the best-of-three series, both teams will have a chance to host at least one home game. The first game of the series will take place at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington July 18 at noon ET, and will be televised live on FOX. Game two will be played at Freedom Hall in Louisville on July 20 at 7 pm ET, and will be televised live on FS1.
The host location for game three will be determined by which host site sells the most tickets in 24 hours. Game three (if necessary) will be played July 22 at 6 pm ET on FS1. Tickets are available now at TBTHoops.com.
The winner of the Kentucky-Louisville series will face the winner of the Syracuse-Seton Hall series in a single-game second round July 26 at 2 pm ET on FOX.
The other Alumni Bracket matchups include Kansas-Kansas State and Wichita State-New Mexico. The Alumni Bracket championship will be played July 29 at 7 pm ET on FS1.
TBT’s eight non-alumni teams will compete in the Las Vegas Bracket, a single-location event to be played entirely at the M Resort Spa Casino in Las Vegas from July 22-30. Team slots in the Las Vegas Bracket are available to the public at a variable entry fee ranging from $125,000-250,000. The winner of the Las Vegas Bracket will play the winner of the Alumni Bracket on Aug. 2 on FOX at the Alumni Bracket champion’s home court.
TBT’s new format for 2026 comes after a record-setting tournament in 2025. Over 500,000 viewers tuned into FOX as the AfterShocks (Wichita State) defeated Eberlein Drive, in a raucous championship held on Wichita State’s campus. TBT 2025 also set a championship game attendance record, as 9,029 fans packed Koch Arena. Despite students not being in session, it was Wichita State’s biggest crowd for a basketball game in over three years. TBT drew 85,395 fans in attendance last summer, surpassing its own record in 2024.
Since 2022 TBT has grown its annual attendance by over 136 percent.
For more information on the Kentucky-Louisville series or TBT’s new format, visit TBTHoops.com.
