Where are they now? What La Familia’s players do when they’re not in TBT

For the second straight year, former UK basketball alumni are banding together in a quest for $1 million.

The Basketball Tournament, a 64-team tournament with a $1 million grand prize, is making its way back to Lexington for the second straight year through La Familia, a UK-affiliated squad. In its TBT campaign last season, La Familia made it to the semifinals of the single-elimination tournament.

This season’s La Familia team is coached by Sean Woods, who played for UK from 1988-92, and includes eight former Wildcats spanning three eras of UK basketball. La Familia will tip off its tournament campaign Friday at 9 p.m. in Memorial Coliseum against Stroh’s Squad, the Bowling Green State-affiliated team.

Here’s a look at this year’s TBT squad.

Ansley Almonor

Seasons at UK: 2024-25

Age: 23

The only Mark Pope-era Wildcat on the team, Almonor joins La Familia fresh off his first and only season at UK. Almonor averaged 5.3 points per game and shot 42% from 3-point range, helping the Wildcats reach their first Sweet 16 since 2019. He is the first in program history to shoot 50% from the field (minimum 100 attempts), 40% from 3 (minimum 50 attempts) and 90% from the free-throw line (minimum 25 attempts).

Willie Cauley-Stein

Seasons at UK: 2012-15

Age: 31

Cauley-Stein is returning to La Familia for the second straight season. He was a member of two Final Four teams in his three years at UK, earning a First Team All-America selection and national defensive player of the year honors in his senior season. He was the No. 6 pick in the 2015 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings and spent seven seasons in the league. He’s spent two seasons overseas, playing in Italy and, most recently, in China with the Nanjing Monkey Kings of the Chinese Basketball Association.

DJ Burns

Seasons at UK: None

Age: 24

Burns is one of three La Familia members who didn’t play college ball at UK, but he made an impact at another Kentucky school. He spent 2021-2023 with Murray State, averaging 8.8 points and 6.6 rebounds a game in his final year with the Racers. Burns spent his final year of college at Youngstown State, averaging 13 points and 11 rebounds a contest. He spent the 2024-25 season with Maccabi Rishon of the Israeli National League, averaging 17.9 points and 9.1 rebounds a game.

Archie Goodwin

Seasons at UK: 2012-13

Age: 30

Goodwin led the 2012-13 Cats in scoring, averaging 14.1 points, and earned SEC All-Freshman honors in his first and only season at UK. He spent three years with the Phoenix Suns before short stints with the Brooklyn Nets and New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA. In 2015-16 with the Suns, Goodwin’s best year in the league, he averaged 8.9 points in 57 games. He bounced around the NBA G League until 2019, and spent time in France and Israel before finding his current home with the Jiangsu Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association. He averaged 20.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.7 steals with the Dragons in 2024-25.

Aaron Harrison

Seasons at UK: 2013-15

Age: 30

Responsible for some of the most notable shots of the John Calipari era, Harrison was a starter on back-to-back Final Four teams in 2013-14 and 2014-15. His daggers against Louisville, Michigan and Wisconsin in the 2013-14 tournament were the driving force for the 8-seeded Wildcats’ run to the national championship game. Harrison averaged 12.4 points and 2.8 rebounds in his two seasons as a Cat. He spent time with the Charlotte Hornets and Dallas Mavericks in the NBA and, most recently, played with Halcones De Ciudad Obregon of the CIBACOPA league in Mexico.

Andrew Harrison

Seasons at UK: 2013-15

Age: 30

Andrew Harrison will join his twin brother for their second stint with La Familia. Harrison started at UK for two seasons and was the starting point guard on back-to-back Final Four teams, including the Wildcats’ 38-1 season. He averaged 10.1 points and nearly four assists a game as a Wildcat, and is 19th all-time in the program for career assists. He spent three seasons in the NBA before transitioning to international basketball.

Kerem Kanter

Seasons at UK: None.

Age: 30

Kerem Kanter, another non-Wildcat on the roster, is playing in his second tournament with La Familia. Brother of Enes Kanter Freedom, a former UK commit who never saw the court with the Wildcats due to NCAA eligibility rules, Kanter averaged 18.4 rebounds and nine rebounds with La Familia last season. Kanter played three seasons at Green Bay before ending his college career with Xavier, where he averaged 10.9 points per game. He’s played in multiple international leagues in France, Lithuania, Spain, Greece, Poland and Japan, playing the 2024-25 season with BC Avtodor Saratov in Russia.

Doron Lamb

Seasons at UK: 2010-12

Age: 33

Doron Lamb is the only national champion on the La Familia roster, starting 35 games on UK’s 2012 championship team as a sophomore. He averaged 13.1 points per game in his Wildcats career, shooting 47% from 3-point land over his two seasons, which is second all-time in program history according to bigbluehistory.net. Lamb was drafted 42nd overall and spent two seasons in the NBA before going international. He last played with Scafati in Italy in 2022-23, averaging 11.6 points.

DeAndre Liggins

Seasons at UK: 2008-11

Age: 37

DeAndre Liggins spent three years as a Wildcat and started in 28 games for Calipari’s first Final Four squad in 2010-11. Liggins averaged 5.8 points and three rebounds over his UK career, posting career bests in his final year with 8.6 points and four rebounds a game as a junior. He was drafted 53rd by the Orlando Magic in 2011 and spent time with seven teams over five years in the league. He spent the 2024-25 season with Dijlah University, a professional basketball team in Iraq.

Khalil Whitney

Seasons at UK: 2019-20

Age: 24

Whitney had an unusual UK career. The former five-star recruit was a Wildcat for half of the 2019-20 season before leaving the team to pursue pro ball. He was not selected in the 2020 NBA draft and spent time in the NBA G League with the Greensboro Swarm, Rio Grande Valley Vipers and most recently with the Windy City Bulls in 2023-24. He has played internationally in Canada, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Croatia and New Zealand, playing with the South Metro Pirates of Australia this past season.

Marques Warrick

Seasons at UK: None.

Age: 23

Warrick didn’t play college basketball at UK, but he still has strong basketball ties to Lexington and Kentucky. He was a superstar at Henry Clay High School and is the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,909 career points. He became the all-time leading scorer for Northern Kentucky University, with 2,246 points over his four-year career, before transferring to Missouri for his final season of college eligibility. Like Almonor, Warrick joins La Familia fresh off his college season.

Friday

La Familia vs. Stroh’s Squad

What: Round-of-64 game in The Basketball Tournament

When: 9 p.m. Friday

Where: Memorial Coliseum

TV: FS1