How Kentucky basketball fans can give La Familia a bigger home-court advantage
The Basketball Tournament — more widely known as “TBT” — is making its return to Lexington this summer, and tickets for the event featuring former University of Kentucky players will go on sale starting Friday.
This time around, there’s a twist.
Instead of the 64-team, $1 million, winner-take-all tournament ending at a neutral location, host teams for this year’s showcase will have the opportunity to keep a home-court advantage into the quarterfinals, semifinals, and championship game.
The UK-connected team — La Familia — will be one of the eight hosts for the early rounds of the tournament, and the initial rush of ticket sales will go a long way in dictating whether or not the former Wildcats get to keep playing in Lexington beyond those first few games.
The new initiative has been dubbed “Home Court Advantage,” and each of the eight host teams will be ranked 1-8 based on which region gets to 4,000 ticket sales the quickest.
Tickets will be up for presale in Lexington on Friday and open to the general public Tuesday.
Fans can sign up to be alerted for the presale tickets via email at tbthoops.com/tickets/updates, and general ticket sales will begin at 10 a.m. EDT Tuesday at tbthoops.com/tickets/lexington.
If multiple regions sell 4,000 tickets via presale, then the tiebreaker will be whichever region sells the most total tickets by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.
The Lexington region last year was well-attended but played in the cavernous Rupp Arena. This summer, the early-round games will be played July 18-23 in Memorial Coliseum.
The other seven regions are Indianapolis, Kansas City, Louisville, Syracuse, Virginia, West Virginia and Wichita, with each of those sites linked to a local group of players.
Last year, La Familia won its first three games in Rupp before being sent to Louisville to face a team of former Cardinals in the TBT quarterfinals. The U of L-connected squad (The Ville) beat UK in a similar system based on ticket sales for the rights to host, but the former Wildcats won the actual game in Freedom Hall. A TBT-record 13,506 fans attended that one.
So far, the confirmed ex-Cats for La Familia’s 2025 run are Willie Cauley-Stein, Doron Lamb and DeAndre Liggins, with more high-profile additions to the roster expected in the near future. Former UK player Twany Beckham will once again be the general manager for the team.
The winner of the Lexington region will advance to TBT’s quarterfinals on July 28. The semifinals will be held on July 31, and the $1 million championship game will be played on Aug. 3.
This story was originally published May 1, 2025 at 11:08 AM.
