Willie Cauley-Stein added to Kentucky's TBT alumni team, La Familia
A fourth Wildcat has been added to Kentucky’s The Basketball Tournament alumni team, La Familia.
On Thursday morning, TBT announced that 2015 First Team All-American Willie Cauley-Stein has joined the roster for this summer’s annual event. Cauley-Stein spent three seasons at Kentucky (2012-15), developing into the National Defensive Player of the Year and a First Team All-SEC selection as a junior before heading off to the NBA.
WCS, who recently wrapped up his season over in Italy, will team up with former ‘Cats Doron Lamb (2010-12), Eric Bledsoe (2009-10), and Reid Travis (2018-19) on La Familia this summer. The rest of the roster will be announced over the coming months. Twany Beckham, who played for UK from 2011-13, will serve as the team’s general manager.
“It’s actually cool how it came together. D-Lamb had actually hit me up when I was still in Italy and he was playing in Africa,” Cauley-Stein said. “It’s cool. I was even talking to Twany about the whole gig and his whole plans for alumni weekend, funneling into the TBT. Sounds like a fun time of just getting back to the roots and putting in some work and also having a chance to play in front of all those fans again, it’s gonna be amazing.“
Cauley-Stein, who is now married with three kids, was a four-star recruit out of high school in Kansas (did you know he played wide receiver too?) before committing to Kentucky. As a freshman at UK in 2012-13, the seven-footer averaged 8.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks in 23.6 minutes per game. His numbers remained mostly the same as a sophomore in 2013-14: 6.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.9 blocks, and 1.2 steals in 23.8 minutes per outing.
As a junior in 2014-15, Cauley-Stein established himself as one of the best college players in the country alongside a stacked roster of future pros. WCS averaged 8.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.7 blocks, 1.2 steals, and one assist in 25.9 minutes per game. He started 38 of 39 games played that season, which saw Kentucky make it to the Final Four. As a result, Cauley-Stein was tabbed a consensus First Team All-American.
From there, WCS entered his name into the NBA Draft and landed with the Sacramento Kings at No. 6 overall in 2015. He spent seven seasons in the NBA, including additional stops with the Warriors, Mavericks, and 76ers. His final NBA game came in March 2022.
More information on The Basketball Tournament
Looking ahead to TBT this summer, eight regional sites will host the 64 teams in this year’s bracket. For the fifth straight summer, a winner-takes-all grand prize of $1 million will go to the championship team. Lexington hosted a regional site back in 2019 at Frederick Douglass High School, but this will be the first time it’s held at Rupp Arena (July 19-24).
Since TBT began in 2014, it has awarded more than $13M in prize money and has been viewed in more than 180 countries around the world. Alumni teams have won TBT’s championship in four of the past five summers, with teams representing Ohio State, Marquette, Syracuse, and the University of Buffalo taking home the $1M prize between 2019-2022.
TBT is also the home of the Elam Ending, the alternate ending to games where teams play to a target score. ESPN will broadcast every game across its family of networks.
Tickets for the 2024 Lexington Regional will go on sale at a later date. To be the first to secure tickets for the event, fans can sign up for TBT’s waitlist at thetournament.com/tbt/tickets/.
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