It was a big day at the Joe Craft Center — a homecoming for a number of former Wildcats, many experiencing Lexington and the Kentucky facilities for the first time since they left the program.
Willie Cauley-Stein said he remembered the smell of the rubber coming down the stairs across from the Wildcat Lodge to the practice gym, Eric Bledsoe adding that campus is unrecognizable from when he last saw it. Elsewhere, James Young struggled to come up with words to explain what his experience in blue and white meant to him a decade ago.
The consensus among alumni? They were all back home, almost like they never left. But it wasn’t just a family reunion, guys reminiscing about their glory days. La Familia is there for business, planning to win The Basketball Tournament and the $1 million prize money that comes with it. And Monday marked practice No. 1 for the group, throwing on their reversible uniforms and getting after it, led by head coach Tyler Ulis.
How did things go? KSR was able to attend a portion of the practice at the conclusion of La Familia’s Media Day. We also got to check out the Champions Charity Game on Saturday, an event that featured a few of the players set to participate in The Basketball Tournament starting later this week. It’s a small sample size, but still enough to get a solid feel for what Big Blue Nation should expect at Rupp Arena and (hopefully) beyond.
Nate Sestina and Kellan Grady are players
It was easier to get a feel for the current live abilities of the former Cats at the Champions Charity Game, specifically with Sestina and Grady. Cauley-Stein was there, but mostly scored on open dunks and layups with limited defensive effort in the frontcourt.
The other two, though, traded threes all night while Sestina threw down some powerful slams in transition en route to 38 points and MVP honors. It’s pretty clear that both are in game shape as current high-level pros, Grady in the top German league and Sestina in the top Spanish league.
Grady has always been a sniper, but Sestina talked about how his future as a pro was not as a big man, but as a three-point specialist at 6-9. They will be La Familia’s top shot-makers with fresh legs while Aaron Harrison and James Young will probably have something to say about the team’s production in that area — we just didn’t get to see a ton of those two.
Eric Bledsoe and Andrew Harrison share lead guard duties
Not everyone in the gym is in the best of shape, but that can’t be said for your top point guards from the early Coach Cal days. Bledsoe is coming off back-to-back years with the Shanghai Sharks while Harrison was most recently in Greece and Turkey, both double-figure scorers who also facilitate, rebound and defend as two-way threats. They both looked physically ready to compete, moving well throughout the open period while finishing on some crafty shots around the basket and efficiently running the show.
One potential issue that may pop up, however, is the lack of depth La Familia has among primary ball handlers. Kellan Grady did it in spot minutes at Kentucky and Aaron Harrison can mix it up, but are better as off-ball shooting threats. That’s where the absence of Marquis Teague will be felt most, forcing Bledsoe and Harrison to carry most of the load themselves.
What kind of production can you get at center?
While sticking with the theme of player absences, Reid Travis was a pretty substantial hit in the frontcourt. Cauley-Stein is the name-brand piece who says he’ll be using this opportunity as a stepping stone back to the NBA, but Daniel Orton and Kerem Kanter are his backups. The former admits he hasn’t done much hooping lately — he’s more of a pickleball guy now — while the latter is a wildcard and fans don’t know much about him besides the fact he’s Enes Kanter’s brother.
To their credit, they both had their moments in practice. Orton swatted a Grady floater attempt back in his face while Kanter created space on hand-offs with solid touch as a passer — and he’s got a track record of knocking down the occasional three. They’re just not the guarantee we know Travis would have been.
Again, if the core rotation sticks to seven or eight with Bledsoe, the Harrisons, Cauley-Stein, Grady, Sestina and Young being the go-tos — assuming their bodies can keep up with that workload — then you only need one of those two to give you something. Consistent production out of both is icing on the cake.
Nostalgia is real
Big picture, I think La Familia will compete in this event. Too much talent across the board to think they can’t make a run. It’s a really, really solid roster that could have been excellent with Teague, Travis and Doron Lamb in the rotation. Sucks to miss on that trio, but it is what it is.
That being said, it was hard to walk in that gym and not feel those same butterflies we had watching them play back in their prime Kentucky days. Your eyes would go to Cauley-Stein and the Harrisons and think about that magical March Madness run in 2014, followed by the 38-0 start a year later in 2014-15. Or Bledsoe, the guy who helped start it all under John Calipari back in 2009-10. Same with Grady and Sestina.
And then you have Tyler Ulis leading it all as the team’s head coach, a guy on the Mount Rushmore of Kentucky basketball point guards across the program’s rich history. An all-time fan favorite who was considered an extension of the coaching staff during his playing days is now the one blowing the whistle to start and stop drills.
There are years of incredible memories with this group, and more to come when they return to Rupp Arena this weekend. After being there and seeing them in action for the first time, I can’t recommend attending TBT in Lexington enough. It’s going to be a blast seeing these guys in blue and white again.
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