PREVIEW: La Familia battles Carmen's Crew (Ohio State alums) in TBT semifinals

By the end of the weekend, one team will walk away with $1 million while the other three will leave Philadelphia empty-handed. Will it be the group of former Kentucky Wildcats? The Basketball Tournament semifinals tip off on Friday with the championship taking place on Sunday.

La Familia, Kentucky’s alumni team, made it out of the Lexington Regional before taking down The Ville (Louisville’s alumni team) at Freedom Hall in the quarterfinals in what was labeled the biggest game in TBT history. It sure did live up to the hype too (a new attendance record of 13,000+ was set), especially with the extracurricular nonsense that took place afterward.

Up next? Carmen’s Crew, a team (sort of) made up of Ohio State alums, including Josh Harrellson‘s best friend, Jared Sullinger. Tipoff is scheduled for Friday night at 9:00 p.m. EST on FS1 at the Daskalakis Athletic Center (Drexel University). The winner advances to Sunday’s championship, which will begin at 2:00 p.m. EST on FS1. Let’s preview what’s in store for Friday night.

Remember that TBT utilizes the Elam Ending. For more information on what the Elam Ending is and how it’s incorporated, click here. Below is the entire La Familia roster along with the UK alumni coaching staff. Only Kerem Kanter, the younger brother of former Wildcat Enes Kanter, did not play at UK.

PLAYERS

• Eric Bledsoe (2009-10)
• Daniel Orton (2009-10)
• Willie Cauley-Stein (2012-15)
• James Young (2013-14)
• Aaron Harrison (2013-15)
• Andrew Harrison (2013-15)
• Nate Sestina (2019-20)
• Brennan Canada (2019-24)
• Kellan Grady (2021-22)
• Kerem Kanter (Green Bay/Xavier, 2014-18)

STAFF

• Tyler Ulis (2014-16, head coach)
• Jon Hood (2009-14, assistant coach)
• Sean Woods (1988-92, assistant coach)
• Twany Beckham (2008-13, general manager)
• Sam Malone (2011-15, general manager)

There’s a very good reason why La Familia is the betting favorite, according to FanDuel, to both beat Carmen’s Crew (-2.5) and win the entire tournament (+150). The group of former Wildcats have looked better with every passing game.

La Familia beat the 7-seeded 305 Ballers in the opener (82-56), 6-seeded The Nawf (81-64) in round two, and then top-seeded Herd That in the Sweet 16 (95-66) to make it out of the Lexington Regional. Against The Ville up in Louisville earlier this week, the former ‘Cats once again put together another quality performance, coming away with a convincing 70-61 win. La Familia has won its four games by a combined average of 20.3 points.

Head coach Tyler Ulis has settled into a rotation at this point. Eric Bledsoe, Nate Sestina, and Kerem Kanter have been La Familia’s most reliable players through four games. Bledsoe is top 10 in scoring with 62 total points (15.5 PPG) and fourth in assists (19) while Sestina’s 15 made three-pointers rank third in all of TBT. Kanter ranks among the top five in both total points (75; 4th) and rebounds (38; 1st) while also making more free throws (25) than anyone else.

Unfortunately, Sestina was ruled out for this matchup on Thursday afternoon, TBT announced — a significant blow to La Familia’s hopes of winning it all.

Andrew Harrison and Willie Cauley-Stein round out La Familia’s starting five, which will get tweaked with the Sestina news. Harrison has 16 assists to eight turnovers and shares primary ball-handling responsibilities alongside Bledsoe. He also hit the Elam Ending three-pointer to beat The Ville. Cauley-Stein is the X-Factor on defense with a TBT-leading 14 blocks. The seven-footer is also 4-6 from deep through four games.

Off the bench, Aaron Harrison, Kellan Grady, and James Young all bring shooting to the table. Harrison and Grady soak up most of the bench minutes with Young filling in when necessary. Although they’ve struggled to actually hit shots (the trio is a combined 13-43 — 30.2 percent — from deep), they require attention from defenders and that’s freed up space inside for Bledsoe and Kanter to go to work. Without Sestina, at least one of these three will have to knock down some shots.

Overall, La Familia averages 82 points per game while shooting 45.9 percent from the field, 36.3 percent from long range, and 74.5 percent from the free throw line. Ulis has emphasized threes and attacking the rim — his team ranks first in free throws attempted (98) and second in three-pointers attempted (124). Modern basketball, baby.

Below is this weekend’s schedule:

Friday, August 2 (semifinals)

• 7:00 PM | (6) Eberlin Drive vs. (2) Forever Coogs
• 9:00 PM | (3) Carmen’s Crew vs. (2) La Familia

Sunday, August 4 (championship)

• 2:00 PM | Winner 1 vs. Winner 2

Now let’s dive into what we expect to see out of Carmen’s Crew…

PLAYERS

• Andre Wesson (6-6 wing | Ohio State)
• Claudio Penha Jr. (6-7 wing | Boston College)
• Destona Bradford (6-4 point guard | East Tennessee State)
• Erick Neal (5-10 point guard | UT-Arlington)
• Jamel Morris (6-4 guard | Glenville State & Farimont State)
• Jared Sullinger (6-9 forward | Ohio State)
• Jeff Gibbs (6-2 forward | Otterbein)
• Kaleb Wesson (6-10 center | Ohio State)
• Keyshawn Woods (6-3 guard | Charlotte, Wake Forest, & Ohio State)
• Kyle Young (6-7 wing | Ohio State)
• Scott Thomas (6-6 wing | Bowling Green State)
• Tevin Glass (6-9 wing | Wichita State & East Tennessee State)

STAFF

• Leon Rodgers (head coach)
• Terence Dials (assistant coach)

Despite being labeled as an “Ohio State alumni team”, only five of the 12 players on the roster played for the Buckeyes. Regardless, this group is talented and has plenty of TBT experience (21-5 overall in this event). Carmen’s Crew made it out of the Dayton Regional by beating six-seed Purple Hearts (93-58), two-seed Red Scare (71-60), and one-seed Heartfire (74-70). In the quarterfinals in Louisville, they beat seven-seed Takeover BC (90-74) to reach the semifinals.

Head coach Leon Rodgers has used an 8-9 man rotation through four games with spread-out scoring from everyone who sees the floor. Eight Carmen’s Crew players have scored at least 20 points in TBT with no one having scored more than 44. Brothers Kaleb (2017-20) and Andre Wesson (2016-20) are among Carmen’s Crew’s best players. Both average 10 points per game with the 6-foot-10 Kaleb preferring to attack the rim and boards, and the 6-foot-6 Andre looking to shoot 3s.

Desonta Bradford (2014-18; ETSU), Jamel Morris (2011-16; Divison II), and Erick Neal (2014-18; UT-Arlington) make up Carmen’s Crew’s backcourt. Bradford and Morris average double-digits in scoring. Bradford has 16 assists to just three turnovers while Morris is shooting 44 percent from deep on a team-high 25 attempts. Neal starts over Morris, but Morris is the one to watch if you’re La Familia.

Then there’s Jared Sullinger (2011-12), who has typically been a coach on this team but elected to suit up this year. The big man is averaging nine points and 8.3 rebounds per outing but on just 38.7 percent overall shooting.

Rounding out the rotation are Keyshawn Woods (2014-19; three schools), Scott Thomas (2009-12; Bowling Green State), and Tevin Glass (2014-17; two schools). Woods averages five points per game, Thomas is 5-11 from distance, and Glass has 17 points and 15 rebounds. Kyle Young and Jeff Gibbs could also see minutes, but the nine names mentioned above are the ones to know.

All that stands between La Familia and $1 million is two more wins. They’ll look to cut that number in half by the end of Friday.