KSR Today: La Familia in the TBT Sweet 16, Rev-Share Drama Fallout

There are Tuesdays in July, and then there are Kentucky Basketball gamedays in July. Well, technically, it’s a La Familia TBT gameday, but the excitement is all the same.

Tonight at 6 p.m. ET, La Familia hosts Eberlein Drive for a spot in the TBT quarterfinals. That’s just one of many items on today’s agenda. We’re also reacting to differing reports on how much money Kentucky will allocate to men’s basketball from its revenue-sharing budget, and a nearly half-hour press conference from Mark Pope. That’s a lot for a Tuesday in July! Let’s get to it.

La Familia defends Lexington Regional crown in TBT

It’ll be No. 1 vs. No. 2 for the Lexington Regional crown tonight in Lexington. After a thrilling win over War Ready, La Familia hosts perennial TBT power Eberlein Drive at 6 p.m. ET in Memorial Coliseum. Eberlein Drive, named after the street in Fraser, Michigan, where the team’s co-general manager Jacob Hirschmann grew up, is one of two teams that have played in every TBT since its founding in 2014. Archie Goodwin played for the squad for the last four years before making the move to La Familia. Eberlein Drive has made it as far as the TBT Championship game, losing to Overseas Elite in 2018. Last year, they lost in the semifinals to Forever Coogs, the Houston alumni team, on the opposite side of the bracket as La Familia.

Elberlein Drive is led by former Arizona guard Gabe York (20.0 points and 3.0 assists per game); former Iowa guard Anthony Clemmons (15.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG), and former UC-Irvine star Tommy Rutherford (12.0 PPG, 7.0 RPG). They have a pair of Kentucky natives in AJ Slaughter and Dayvion McKnight, who both played for Western Kentucky. McKnight hails from Shelbyville and won 2020 Mr. Basketball with Collins. He started his college career with the Hilltoppers but finished it at Xavier this past year.

Tonight’s game is shaping up to be a tight one. Eberlein Drive won both of its TBT games so far by 18 points, knocking out Tampa Florida Pickup Basketball 86-68 on Sunday. La Familia is just a 3.5-point favorite. We’ll have an army of folks at Memorial to cover it all, so make sure you’re following us on all the channels.

(1) La Familia vs. (2) Eberlein Drive

• Location: Memorial Coliseum (Tickets)
• Time: 6 p.m. ET
• TV: FS2
• Odds: La Familia -3.5; Total: 154.5

The winner of tonight’s game will face the winner of (3) Sideline Cancer and (7) LA Ignite, the two remaining teams in the Louisville Regional, next Monday night at 6 p.m. ET. If La Familia wins, that game will take place at Memorial Coliseum, as will all of their games — including the $1 million winner-takes-all championship — if they keep winning.

TBT Sweet 16 Schedule

La Familia vs. Eberlein Drive is the first of eight regional finals. Plenty of basketball to keep you entertained.

DATE & TIME	MATCHUP	REGION	TV/STREAMING
Tuesday, 07/22 6:00 PM ET	(1) La Familia (Kentucky) vs (2) Eberlein Drive	Lexington	FS2
Tuesday, 07/22 7:00 PM ET	(2) Shell Shock (Maryland) vs (5) NXT ERA ELITE	James Madison	YouTube
Tuesday, 07/22 7:00 PM ET	(1) Elite Nation vs (3) Best Virginia	West Virginia	YouTube
Tuesday, 07/22 8:00 PM ET	(1) Carmen’s Crew vs (7) Fail Harder	Indianapolis	FS2
Tuesday, 07/22 9:00 PM ET	(1) Forever Coogs (Houston) vs (2) Aftershocks (Wichita State)	Wichita	YouTube
Wednesday, 07/23 7:00 PM ET	(2) Stars of Storrs (UCONN) vs (4) We Are D3	Syracuse	FS1
Wednesday, 07/23 7:00 PM ET	(1) Heartfire vs (2) JHX Hoops (Kansas)	Kansas City	YouTube
Wednesday, 07/23 9:00 PM ET	(4) Sideline Cancer vs (7) LA Ignite	Louisville	FS1

Take advantage of our KSR+ Introductory Offer to get bonus coverage of the Cats, including game threads, in-depth scouting reports, and the latest recruiting and roster intel. $1 for a week.

Rev-Share Drama fallout

The biggest news on Monday was the report from Matt Norlander that Kentucky is dedicating 45% of its $20.5 million revenue-sharing budget to men’s basketball, triple the amount of most schools. If true, that would come at the expense of football, which most schools are giving 75% of their rev-share budgets. Matt Jones tweeted last night that he’s hearing that Norlander’s numbers are false and that the football staff believes that their rev-share amount is “very competitive” with the rest of the SEC. That lines up with Mark Stoops’ comments from SEC Media Days, when he said he’s cautiously optimistic about the rev-sharing era because it will help level the playing field. It’s hard to imagine him saying that if his program was getting a considerably smaller chunk of the $20.5 million than his SEC counterparts.

Of course, some transparency from the administration would help with this matter, but Mitch Barnhart has repeatedly declined to disclose Kentucky’s specific revenue-sharing figures, instead saying the department will be flexible with its budget to address each team’s specific needs year by year. We’ll probably never know the specific amount each sport gets, which only means the speculation will continue. We’ll hear from Mitch Barnhart a week from Friday at Kentucky Football Media Day. I’m sure this topic will come up.

---

Change the game with Rhoback, a proud partner of KSR. Get the best fit and the best feel with their incredibly comfortable activewear. From polos and q-zips to shorts and delta performance pants, you will look good and feel good with Rhoback. Use promo code KSR for 20% off your first purchase at Rhoback.com.

---

More from Mark Pope’s Summer Press Conference

We’re two-thirds of the way through the rundown and just getting to Mark Pope’s summer press conference! Pope spoke to reporters for nearly half an hour on Monday, giving us lots of beautiful and special updates on his new squad. The biggest piece of news was an update on Andreja Jelavic, who has yet to make the trip over from Croatia; Pope said he’s optimistic the 6’11” stretch forward will join the team soon.

“The status right now is that we got transcripts, he just finished classes, which is awesome, so we have transcripts, and that part of this process is complete,” Pope said. “And now it’s going through the rest of it. I’m hoping he can be on campus here — I don’t know if it’s optimistic, in the next… You know, I’d love for him to be here tomorrow.”

Other takeaways from Pope’s press conference: his comparison of Braydon Hawthorne to former UK great Tayshaun Prince, more Rick Pitino stories, and plenty of talk about defense. We’ll be rolling out more content from it today, but you can see the whole thing below.

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.

Kentucky’s sticking with Nike

I hope you like your Nike Kentucky gear because the Cats and the Swoosh are sticking together. Last night, Cats Illustrated’s Jeff Drummond reported that Kentucky is expected to sign another long-term deal with Nike; Matt Jones confirmed that the new deal will be signed this week. Kentucky has been a Nike school since switching from Converse back in 1997. The most recent contract was worth $47 million through the 2025 school year; I’m sure this one will be much, much more.

That money could help Kentucky when it comes to revenue-sharing, but it also keeps our dreams alive for denim basketball jerseys. The originals were created by Converse, which Nike acquired in 2003. What better time to bring them back than the 30th anniversary of the 1995-96 team’s championship run?

More content on the KSR YouTube Channel

You can also catch up on all of yesterday’s stories with a new episode of KSR Happy Hour. Zack Geoghegan and Jacob Polacheck joined me to talk Pope’s presser, TBT, the rev-share report, and Peach Jam. After spending four days in North Augusta, Jacob is feeling good about Kentucky’s chances with Tyran Stokes, the No. 1 player in the 2026. He’ll tell you why below and on his recruiting show “Here Comes the Boom,” which also dropped a new episode on Monday.