Nate Sestina has unfinished business in Rupp Arena

Nate Sestina‘s short stint playing for the Kentucky Wildcats was made even shorter by the COVID-19 pandemic. After four years at Bucknell, Sestina transferred to UK for his final college season in 2019-20 where he averaged 5.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per outing for John Calipari’s squad, which consisted of multiple future pros and was peaking at the right time before the world shut down.

Just before the 2020 SEC Tournament, Sestina’s college career came to an unexpected end. Over four years later, the 6-foot-9 forward still thinks of what could have been with what appeared to be a very talented group heading into March Madness. He’s since enjoyed a fruitful overseas career that saw him with the Turkish Cup earlier this year, but he often reflects on what could have been during his final days at Kentucky.

“That’s still the biggest ‘What if?’ of my basketball life,” Sestina said last month.

But Sestina will have a chance to take care of some of that unfinished business when he returns to Rupp Arena later this month. He’s one of several alums suiting up for Kentucky’s alumni team, La Familia, at this summer’s The Basketball Tournament. La Familia is hosting one of eight regional sites at the historic arena in Lexington, where Sestina will once again have an opportunity to step on the familiar hardwood.

“For me, this is one of the biggest reasons why I wanted to do this,” Sestina said of signing up to play for La Familia. “I remember getting recruited here and the first call I had with Coach Cal, we talked about Rupp Arena and I was just like — it seemed like a distant, never-going-to-happen kind of thing. When I got here on my visit, I walked around, and I think there was a farm expedition — which kind of makes sense for Kentucky — going on at Rupp, so there was no floor down, but just being there and seeing everything and going through the locker room and all that. It was surreal.

“I’m 27 now and every time I go in there it still smells new, it’s still beautiful. But the opportunity to play in Rupp Arena again in front of Kentucky people — there’s no professional sports here, and I think that’s what makes Kentucky basketball so special and the fanbase so special. They treat it like that.”

Sestina has only been out of college for a few years, but he’s experienced plenty along the way thanks to basketball. He’s spent time in Turkey, Serbia, and Spain — areas known for having die-hard hoops fans with intense crowd atmospheres — among others, and even played in the EuroLeague Final Four. But something about the building in downtown Lexington still stands out.

“I think Rupp Arena still trumps it.”

Sestina and La Familia begin their TBT run for the $1 million winner-takes-all grand prize on Friday, July 18 at 8:00 p.m. EST against the 305 Ballers. Tickets for the Lexington Regional are on sale at thetournament.com/tbt/tickets. The former ‘Cat is eager to stack some more wins in front of the Big Blue Nation.