The Basketball Tournament — or TBT, as it’s more popularly known — is coming to Lexington this summer. And Mark Pope is excited. The new University of Kentucky men’s basketball coach has publicly embraced the winner-take-all, $1 million tournament that will feature one team — called “La Familia” — consisting entirely of former Wildcats
Pope has expressed hope that UK fans will rally around the squad of ex-Cats, who will play their first game in the single-elimination event July 19 in Rupp Arena. In his first press conference of the summer Tuesday, the Kentucky coach revealed another wrinkle related to the tournament.
“One of the great things for us is that former players are allowed to come be on the court with our current players,” Pope said. “It’s an NCAA rule that that’s legal, and so these guys are preparing for a tournament where they have a chance to represent Kentucky and themselves in a brilliant way this summer. And we’re trying to prepare for a huge season, and so we’re going to try and do that together a little bit.
The La Familia roster, as it stands now, includes Eric Bledsoe, Willie Cauley-Stein, Kellan Grady, Andrew Harrison, Doron Lamb, Daniel Orton, Nate Sestina, Marquis Teague, Reid Travis and James Young, with Tyler Ulis as the head coach and fellow ex-Cats Jon Hood, Darius Miller and Sean Woods as assistants.
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