La Familia team returns to Kentucky to face some unfinished business

LEXINGTON, Ken. — The $1 million prize would be nice, but they’ve come back for closure. Nearly everyone involved with Kentucky’s alumni team, “La Familia,” which begins play Friday night at Rupp Arena in The Basketball Tournament, a made-for-TV summer showcase, has this nagging feeling of unfinished business in Lexington.

Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton were part of John Calipari’s first Kentucky team, which rocketed the program back to national relevance, climbed to No. 1 in the rankings and then suffered a devastating upset against West Virginia in the Elite Eight. Bledsoe is still haunted by the 3-point-shooting meltdown — he missed all five of his attempts and the Wildcats went 4 of 32 in that loss — and what might’ve been. He played 12 seasons in the NBA, “so you might expect him to have kind of a ‘whatever’ attitude about this tournament,” fellow alum Nate Sestina said, “but he’s like, ‘No, I want to win this thing.’”

Sestina played on the 2020 team that won the SEC, Kentucky’s last league title, before the postseason was canceled because of COVID-19. That team played one more game of pickup together and then cried together in the locker room. Kellan Grady, one of the best shooters in program history, knows a different sort of sudden, bitter disappointment. His tears came after the 2022 Wildcats spent two months looking like the best team in America — led by the best player in America — only to suffer a first-round NCAA Tournament upset against 15th-seeded Saint Peter’s.

“So many guys want to play and win this because they know what it means not only for the fans but for themselves,” Sestina said. “These guys have all been pros and had great careers, but nobody playing for us won the national championship. Everybody wants to win because they didn’t get a chance to complete what they came here to do.”

James Young, Willie Cauley-Stein, Andrew and Aaron Harrison were part of the heavily hyped 2014 team, which overcame a disappointing regular season, pulled off one of the most dramatic NCAA Tournament runs in history, then stumbled at the finish line and lost to seventh-seeded Connecticut in the national championship game. Cauley-Stein and the Harrison twins came back to chase a perfect season in 2015 and had one all the way to the Final Four, only to see Wisconsin dash that dream. Tyler Ulis, who became the SEC Player of the Year the next season, sat on the bench as time ticked away on that crushing defeat.

Now Ulis is coaching Young, Cauley-Stein, the Harrisons and the rest of La Familia’s loaded roster in the TBT. After serving as a student assistant on Calipari’s staff last year — and before graduating from UK and following the Hall of Fame head coach to Arkansas — Ulis is making his head-coaching debut in this event.

Current Kentucky coach Mark Pope’s Wildcats practiced with and scrimmaged against James Young, right, and the La Familia team of former players. (Courtesy of UK Athletics)

“We’ve told some old stories and guys are excited to be back, but we’ve been pretty locked in and focused on the task,” Ulis said, “because we don’t want to come into Rupp and lose. Kentucky obviously wants banners, so hopefully, we can bring something to them before heading out to our next chapters.”

This TBT team, with its name being an homage to Calipari’s oft-used Italian expression, represents a fitting farewell to the coach’s 15-year tenure in Lexington. Like every one of his rosters at Kentucky, La Familia is stacked with former five-star recruits (five) and players who’ve played in the NBA (six), not counting Ulis on the sideline. Assistant coaches Darius Miller and Jon Hood connect the team to Calipari’s 2012 national championship squad.

Even the one player who isn’t a UK alum is Kerem Kanter, brother of Enes Kanter, who the NCAA ruled ineligible in 2011. A Kanter will finally get to play at Rupp. More closure.

“Every time I’m out in Lexington, somebody says, ‘Wish you could’ve played in the NCAA Tournament.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, dude, me too.’ That’s the biggest what-if of my basketball career,” Sestina said. “Unless you’ve experienced it, you can’t understand the magnitude of not getting to play for your goal, for the reason you came here. So this opportunity to be in Rupp again, to have Kentucky across my chest again, it’s taking me back. And we’re all telling the same stories, about our experiences with (former assistant) Kenny Payne and his freaking treadmill, about the funny things Cal has said to us. We’re all tied together, and that’s what makes this place so special.”

The last week has been a chance to tie Kentucky’s last chapter to its next one. La Familia has spent time around, practiced with and even scrimmaged the current UK team, led by new coach Mark Pope. The new squad beat the alumni team in that simulated game at Rupp, a blistering pace and barrage of 3-pointers burying the old-timers. Ulis is impressed by point guard Kerr Kriisa, who transferred from West Virginia: “He’s a playmaker, and I like his swag out there, how he carries himself.”

Sestina said wing Jaxson Robinson, a transfer from BYU, is athletic and smooth — and lit up La Familia.

“I had no idea really who he was, but his hands are active as hell, he’s long, and he can shoot it,” Sestina said. “He’s going to be really good.”

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Ulis called Pope “amazing” and raved about the Wildcats’ 3-point shooting ability and a system set up to get them great looks. Sestina called Kentucky’s new coach “the best.”

“He’s been fantastic from the jump, came in and told all of us, ‘Take my number. If you need anything, let me know,’” Sestina said. “He’s an awesome guy, and he wants us to push his guys. He said, ‘Come in and beat us up, show us our weaknesses.’ They’ve got a bunch of guys who are super talented and hungry. It’s just a matter of getting that team chemistry down, figuring out the rotations and all that, but they’re going to be fine.”

As for the abrupt end of the Calipari era at Kentucky, La Familia offers a chance to put the last decade and a half in proper context. There were so many memories and so much talent that there’s enough to pack a TBT roster with both despite an army of former Wildcats still enjoying active NBA careers.

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“People can say what they want about Cal — they can have their own opinions — but as a father figure, as a mentor, as a star in the state of Kentucky, you can’t take away what he’s done,” Sestina said. “I know he only has one national championship, but look how many wins, how many SEC championships, how many guys drafted, how many billions of dollars in contracts, how many guys here this week still love that man and this program. This team is a nice closing chapter for that era.”

(Top photo of Andrew Harrison: Courtesy of UK Athletics)