Listen to KSR's mega-show with the Harrison twins, Tyler Ulis, Willie Cauley-Stein, Eric Bledsoe, James Young, Daniel Orton, Kellan Grady, Nate Sestina and more

DrewFranklinKSR

willie-cauley-ksr — (Photo by Mario Maitland/KSR)

Kentucky Sports Radio hopped into a time machine on Wednesday’s show for one of the best KSR episodes of the summer and one of my favorites of all time. Ryan Lemond and I were thrilled to be joined by La Familia, the team of Kentucky alums in The Basketball Tournament, and several basketball fans eager to meet the former Wildcats in Lexington.

La Familia will debut in the TBT with an 8 p.m. game in Rupp Arena on Friday. Get your tickets here. To preview the tournament, every member of the team guest starred on Wednesday’s KSR show, beginning with head coach Tyler Ulis in the lead-off spot. We’ll start there with a recap of a morning down memory lane.

Tyler Ulis

Tyler Ulis is off to Arkansas soon to continue his coaching career, but not until he leads La Familia into TBT. Ulis has really embraced the role. We asked him about his team, the system they will run, and how excited he is to link back up with some of his old teammates on UK’s campus. Of course, we also had to ask Ulis about his playing career at Kentucky. He remembered moments like the bloody eye against Louisville, playing with his best friend Devin Booker, and his favorite accomplishment as a Wildcat. Vince Marrow even texted in to say the kid from Lima, Ohio, is a “dog.”

Andrew and Aaron Harrison

The rapid-fire interviews continued as KSR tried to fit 13 guests into a two-hour show. Following Ulis, Andrew and Aaron Harrison sat together for a joint conversation about their return to Lexington, where they’ve teamed up for the first time since their 38-1 season as Wildcats. The twins’ reunion is a big part of why they’re on La Familia, to play together again and with old teammates. They also recounted their two magical NCAA Tournaments in Lexington, sharing favorite moments and memories from a golden era of Kentucky Basketball.

Willie Cauley-Stein and James Young

Willie Cauley-Stein and James Young took over for the third segment when we learned that they teamed up in Italy to play for Pallacanestro Varese, a move set up by Cauley-Stein’s agent once a spot opened up on the wing on Willie’s team. Young was already playing on another team in the same LBA league, and two days later, the Wildcats were teammates again in Varese, per their wishes.

Talking to KSR, we asked them about some of their best UK highlights, like Young’s dunk against UConn, his behind-the-back 3-pointer, and Cauley-Stein’s long list of players he posterized in college. They both said they miss the Kentucky fans and the Kentucky experience because it’s unlike anything else since they turned pro.

With Willie on the air, I had hoped to share some of the infamous stories from the year Kentucky went to the Bahamas, but a hard break interrupted the Bahamas talk before we got into the best stuff. We could’ve done the entire two-hour show with him. We hope to have him back again soon.

Nate Sestina and Kellan Grady

My two players to watch in The Basketball Tournament are Nate Sestina and Kellan Grady, two of the more recent Wildcats on La Familia’s roster. Sestina and Grady were the high scorers in a recent team scrimmage, in which Sestina was named MVP, but Grady wasn’t but a few points behind Sestina’s game-high 38. They’re eager to return to Rupp Arena, especially Sestina, who lost his Senior Day game to Tennessee and saw his UK career end before playing in the SEC and NCAA Tournament in 2020. Bummed, Sestina said that playing in the NCAA Tournament is why he transferred to Kentucky, but COVID cut his time in a Wildcat uniform short.

Grady’s one season in Lexington was good until it wasn’t. The sharpshooter known as Grandad shared memories of going undefeated in Rupp Arena before Saint Peter’s spoiled the fun of the NCAA Tournament with a shocking first-round upset.

These two are hungry.

Eric Bledsoe and Brennan Canada

KSR was joined by a member of John Calipari’s first Kentucky team and one from his last when Eric Bledsoe and Brennan Canada sat down together for a segment. Canada is fresh off his UK career, so we asked him what he thought about the show Reed Sheppard is putting on in Las Vegas and some more recent topics. He isn’t surprised at all by Sheppard.

Bledsoe is back in Lexington for the first time in a very long time, so he caught up with the show about dad life and how he is still best friends with John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins. Like Willie Cauley-Stein, we needed more time with Bledsoe, who had so much to share from his time at UK and life since that first Calipari season. The heated Louisville game in 2009 was discussed.

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Daniel Orton and Kerem Kanter

Daniel Orton may win the fan vote for best interview of the morning. Like Bledsoe, he was part of Calipari’s first team, and he made it clear to KSR that they came in with the highest expectations, even as a team heavily reliant on freshmen. Orton said he wanted to go 40-0 and win the national championship “because those are the expectations at Kentucky.” He understands the assignment, as Pope says.

Orton also shared what he is doing for youth sports in Lexington these days, telling KSR that his life is all about helping the next generation and giving them opportunities he didn’t have as a child. It may not be the last you hear of Daniel Orton on KSR.

Sitting with Orton was Kerem Kanter, the younger brother of Enes Kanter. Kerem is the only La Familia player who didn’t play at Kentucky, but he grew up a Kentucky fan, hoping the NCAA would allow his brother to play.

Kerem revealed to KSR that if La Familia wins Friday night, Enes plans to fly into town for Sunday’s game.

Jon Hood and Sam Malone

We wrapped up the show with Jon Hood, an assistant coach for La Familia, and Sam Malone, the team’s general manager. Together, those two played with more NBA players than any college basketball player in history.

Nowadays, Hood is an assistant coach under Will Martin, a former UK manager, at Missouri Western State. Hood reminded KSR listeners that they came into Rupp Arena and held Calipari’s Wildcats to 56 points in a 2022 exhibition game. Before the KSR interview, he was watching La Familia’s practice film at the table. He’s focused.

Malone is a father of two and a businessman, and he is eager to be around some of his old teammates again. He told us a story of pranking James Young when Young landed back in Lexington earlier this week, so things haven’t changed between old friends.