Kentucky
The Ville vs La Familia score updates: Kentucky vs Louisville TBT game at Freedom Hall
The biggest game in the history of The Basketball Tournament is here.
Former Louisville Cardinals and Kentucky Wildcats are at Freedom Hall and will face off at 9 p.m. for an opportunity to advance to TBT’s Final Four in Philadelphia. The winner of the tournament will claim its $1 million grand prize.
With bragging rights also on the line, the teams representing the Cards (The Ville) and Cats (La Familia) will play in front of a record-breaking TBT crowd of 11,000-plus at the Fairgrounds.
Courier Journal journalists C.L. Brown, Brooks Holton, Ryan Black and Clare Grant are at Freedom Hall and will have updates — here and on X, formerly Twitter — throughout the action and complete coverage after. You can follow them at @clbrownhoops, @brooksHolton, @RyanABlack and @ClareGPhotos.
The Ville went on a 15-6 run to close out the first half and cut La Familia’s lead to three.
Eric Bledsoe and Willie Cauley-Stein have a combined 17 points.
The Ville’s Chinanu Onuaku has eight points and 13 rebounds.
The announced attendance for tonight’s game between The Ville and La Familia at Freedom Hall was 13,506.
The previous TBT attendance record was 7,202.
Twelve-time NBA All-Star Chris Paul will be in the crowd for The Ville vs. La Familia tonight.
Paul is a co-owner of TBE Enterprises; which puts on TBT and The Soccer Tournament.
Paul, 39, is heading into his 20th season in the NBA. He recently signed to play for the San Antonio Spurs.
As of 7:45 p.m. Monday, La Familia was a five-point favorite (-115) over The Ville on DraftKings, which set an over-under line of 149.5 points (-115).
The money-line odds were La Familia (-215), The Ville (+165).
C.L. Brown: Louisville-Kentucky rivalry is unmatched. The Ville vs. La Familia latest example
Cards vs. Cats: Our mock draft using Louisville and Kentucky’s TBT rosters
‘Hungry to win’: Former U of L star Reece Gaines embracing opportunity to lead The Ville
Rivalry showdown set: The Ville wins Louisville regional championship
Column: The Ville is preview of energy Pat Kelsey will bring back to Louisville basketball
Wildcats win: La Familia claims Lexington regional title at Rupp Arena
La Familia vs. The Ville will air on FS1.
The La Familia/The Ville game will be livestreamed on the official TBT website, which can be accessed here.
You also can stream FS1 on Fubo, which offers a free trial here.
- Dillon Avare, a Lexington native who played at Louisville from 2014-16, then transferred to Eastern Kentucky for his final two seasons of eligibility. Avare logged five minutes during last year’s TBT.
- Chane Behanan, a physical forward from Cincinnati whose time with the Cards (2011-13) came to an abrupt end when he was dismissed from the program due to a failed drug test. Behanan finished second on The Ville in points (13.3) and rebounds (seven) per game last summer.
- Chris Dowe, a Louisville native who starred at Eastern High School before playing at Bellarmine from 2009-13. The 6-foot-2 guard played for The Ville last summer and averaged 7.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.
- Montrezl Harrell, an eight-year NBA vet who was a freshman during U of L’s national championship run in 2013. Harrell missed the 2023-24 season while recovering from surgery to repair a torn ACL and a meniscus tear in his right knee.
- David Johnson, a Louisville native whom the Toronto Raptors selected 47th overall in the 2021 NBA Draft after his sophomore year with the Cards. The Trinity High School grad spent the 2023-24 season playing for the Memphis Hustle, the Grizzlies’ G League affiliate.
- Chris Jones, who played for the Cards from 2013-15 and torched The Ville for 25 points last summer as a member of the Jackson TN Underdawgs. In May, Jones helped the London Lightning of Ontario win a third consecutive Basketball Super League title and received its Most Valuable Player award.
- Nick Mayo, a four-year starter at EKU from 2015-19 and a four-time member of the All-Ohio Valley Conference first team. The 6-9 forward played for The Ville last summer and won fans over with a thunderous, one-handed dunk worthy of a poster in the team’s first-round victory.
- Chinanu Onuaku, a 6-10 center who left U of L for the NBA after the 2015-16 season; during which he was named to the ACC’s All-Defensive team as a sophomore. Onuaku spent two years with the Houston Rockets and returns to The Ville after another stint with Santeros de Aguada in Puerto Rico.
- Omar Prewitt, a Mount Sterling native who played at William & Mary from 2013-17 and left as a top-five scorer in program history. The 6-7 wing had 13 points in 16 minutes during The Ville’s second-round win last summer.
- Peyton Siva, the point guard who led the Cards to a national title in 2013. This spring, Siva was named to new Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey’s staff as director of player development and alumni relations. A year ago, he amassed 19 points, 12 assists and six steals during TBT.
- Russ Smith, a star of the 2013 national championship team whose No. 2 is hanging in the KFC Yum! Center rafters. The former All-American has been playing in Italy and created limited-edition bottles of his Mr. & Mrs. Bourbon for TBT. He was The Ville’s top scorer in two of its three games last summer.
- Derrick Walker, a 6-9 forward who played for Tennessee (2017-19) and Nebraska (2019-23) and as a senior was a second-team All-Big Ten selection. For his collegiate career, Walker averaged 6.2 points and 4.1 rebounds across 139 appearances. He has been playing professionally in Spain.
Reece Gaines, a U of L Athletics Hall of Famer who ranks fourth among the top scorers in program history, has replaced Mark Lieberman as The Ville’s head coach. Gaines returned to his alma mater in 2021 as Chris Mack’s director of player development and alumni relations, then shifted into a video operations role under Kenny Payne.
Members of Gaines’ staff include Luke Hancock, the Most Outstanding Player of the 2013 Final Four; Keith Oddo, who played for the Cards as a walk-on graduate transfer during the 2019-20 season; Mike Stone, an assistant at Transylvania University; and Terrence Commodore, whose coaching resume includes stints at EKU and Evansville.
Former Kentucky star Tyler Ulis is La Familia’s head coach.
Two more former Wildcats, Jon Hood and Sean Woods, are assistant coaches. Jazz Ferguson, a Louisville native who starred at Moore High, also serves as an assistant.
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The Kentucky Wildcats are getting ready to start a new era of their football program. In his 13 seasons as head coach, we have all become accustomed to seeing Mark Stoops teams at Kentucky play a certain way. This has been both on defense and on offense, the Wildcats have had a similar blueprint of winning games and finding success. Now, both sides of the ball will look a lot different in terms of scheme, so we will start on the defensive side and what differences you will see in 2026 under new coach Will Stein.
Old: Conservative 3-4
Mark Stoops and defensive coordinator Brad White had a lot of success in their 3-4 defense with a conservative play style, but it had plenty of weaknesses as well. With a nose tackle head up on the center and two defensive lineman playing on the inside shoulder of each offensive tackle, the defense would create pressure but couldn’t consistently finish to make them sacks. This defense required a guy like Joshua Hines-Allen to win one-on-one blocks on the edge in a dominant fashion to thrive as a defense. Since 2020, Kentucky finished top five in total sacks in the SEC just once, in 2023; every other team finished ninth or less in the conference in team sacks.
This conservative 3-4 defense allowed Kentucky to stay in similar personnel throughout the game. The conservative nature had a bend-don’t-break philosophy of keeping everything in front and making tackles. Kentucky rarely switched things up and rolled the dice with blitzes or had pre and post snap coverage rotations on the back end. It was cover 3 and cover 4 heavy, while not disguising coverages and typically sending four pass rushers at the quarterback.
New: Aggressive 4-2-5
The new scheme under defensive coordinator Jay Bateman will be the entire opposite of the old regime. This scheme will be primarily out of an even front, and we have highlighted current players on the team that will benefit from a change in technique. Mi’Quise Humphrey-Grace will switch to a traditional edge rusher lining up outside of the offensive tackle, whereas Tavion Gadson will move to a true three technique on the outside shoulder of the offensive guard and both of these players played in the same technique in the previous scheme. Both Humphrey-Grace and Gadson should have more production moving to techniques they more accurately fit.
Kentucky’s defense will utilize five defensive backs for a majority of snaps, which is beneficial with most offenses living in 11 personnel with three wide receivers on the field. This scheme’s success in year one will heavily rely upon the experienced safety duo of Ty Bryant and Jordan Castell. Coach Bateman will have a lot more safety rotations in this scheme and switch up coverages a lot, disguising a particular coverage pre-snap before switching it post-snap. This defense will have a ton of eye candy to try and keep offenses off balance.
This aggressive scheme will not only roll the dice more on passing downs, playing more man coverage. However, it will also be more aggressive in terms of blitzing the quarterback or sending simulated pressures. Simulated pressures are shown as four defensive lineman rushing, but one will drop into coverage with a back seven player blitzing, still sending four at the quarterback while finding creative ways to do so. This amount of disguise and blitzing can create more havoc in the passing game, but it can also allow players to get out of position in the run game.
This schematic change will greatly benefit Kentucky against pass heavy teams, but it remains to be seen how that will be a benefit or a detriment to the run defense. In theory, this scheme should be able to create more havoc plays like sacks and tackles for loss, which can also provide more turnovers. Will Stein mentioned in a press conference, as an offensive minded coach, he wants to steal possessions on defense to get the ball back for his offense. This aggressive style is built towards a common theme of the new regime, which is they will try to win football games on offense rather than on defense.
WILSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Wilson County leaders are looking to introduce guardrails on data centers during a meeting Monday night.
The commissioner that introduced the idea said they are looking to mirror an ordinance that passed about an hour north in Warren County, Kentucky.
“We have thought about it significantly, and that’s why today is about protection,” said Warren County Judge/Executive Doug Gorman during a Warren Fiscal Court meeting on June 11.
Where to put data centers has become a global conservation, including here in Middle Tennessee.
“Over the past several weeks, I’ve watched Metro Council deal with the potential of a large data center next to the Nashville Zoo. I want to avoid being in that situation in Wilson County,” District 18 Commissioner Lauren Breeze said during a commissioner meeting last week.
Breeze said there are currently no requirements when and if a data center wants to move to town. So, she is working on a zoning amendment for data centers that mirror regulations that were crafted just an hour north.
“Bowling Green and Warren County, Kentucky, will have the gold standard of ordinances for data centers in America,” Gorman said.
Planning leaders in Warren County and Bowling Green spent eight months drafting an ordinance that they hope will protect their community from potential data center developments.
“Everyone and their brother are calling and asking what this ordinance says,” Gorman added.
The ordinance has strict standards on location, design, utility protections and even decommissioning.
For example, the data centers would need to be set back 1,500 feet from homes, schools, and hospitals, as well as look discrete—like an office building. It’s language Wilson County is looking to mirror.
“In my neck of the woods, we have a lot of warehouse and really big warehouses that honestly could be turned into one,” District 11 Commissioner John Gentry said.
⏩ Read today’s top stories on wkrn.com
While some communities, like Cedar Hill, passed moratoriums, which put a pause on data centers, the Wilson County attorney said a moratorium might not hold up in court. However, in Warren County, Kentucky, leaders said their regulations will legally protect them.
“What we are doing is making sure to tighten the rules up enough so when they want to look at us and have to jump through seventeen thousand hoops to get done what they want done, chances are they will move on to somebody else,” another leaders expressed during the Warren County meeting.
The Warren County zoning ordinance will go through a second reading.
Meanwhile, the Wilson County Planning and Zoning Committee will meet at 5 p.m. on Monday, June 22. Data center regulations, as well as a moratorium, will be discussed during the meeting.
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