Kentucky
Willie Cauley-Stein embracing final chapter with Kentucky’s TBT team
The Ville, La Familia players warm up for Game 2 of TBT series
Ahead of Game 2 of the TBT series between The Ville and La Familia, former Kentucky, Louisville and college basketball stars warmed up at Freedom Hall.
LEXINGTON — Earlier this month, Willie Cauley-Stein joked he’d been retired “near four years now.” One of Kentucky basketball’s best players during the John Calipari era, Cauley-Stein was the No. 6 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. But his last appearance in a regular-season NBA game was March 2, 2022.
He’s remained around the sport — albeit in a more limited capacity — the past few years via The Basketball Tournament, suiting up for La Familia, the UK alumni team. Prior to this year’s event tipping off, Cauley-Stein announced he’d officially retire from competitive basketball once La Familia’s run concluded.
He’s at peace with the decision.
“It’s just the hardest thing to stay in shape,” he said. “To take two months and just hurry up and get in shape every year, it’s just hard. I don’t want to do it. And I don’t want to get petty hurt on something.”
But on July 18, during the first game of La Familia’s best-of-three series against The Ville (a roster filled with alumni from in-state rival Louisville), Cauley-Stein had to reckon with exactly that. He went down with an injury, playing just 16 minutes; Cauley-Stein finished that game — a 72-68 win for the former Wildcats — with three points, four rebounds, two steals and a block. He played even less in Game 2, coming off the bench for eight minutes and grabbing four rebounds in an 82-62 loss to the ex-Cardinals.
Yet there he was Wednesday, July 22, in the third and final game of the series, starting and logging 34 minutes in a standout performance: a double-double (a game-high 11 rebounds and 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting) along with two assists and two steals.
Cauley-Stein wasn’t at optimum health.
Didn’t matter.
“There was a 0% chance Willie Cauley-Stein was not going to play in this game,” La Familia coach Jon Hood said after the team’s 63-57 victory. “He was 100% going to play. And he knew — we talked about it beforehand — we were going to ride him.”
The six-point win ensured Cauley-Stein’s career will continue at least a few more days, as La Familia has reached the TBT quarterfinals; it awaits Boeheim’s Army (comprised of Syracuse alumni), which completed a two-game sweep of Hall In (featuring former Seton Hall players). The single-eliminination quarterfinal contest will tip off at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 26, in Lexington.
However the TBT concludes for Cauley-Stein, he knows he’ll never be forgotten.
“I mean, it already is what it is, right? Like, there’s nothing that I could do in this tournament that’s going to change my legacy,” he said, before explaining how he wants to be remembered. “But just competing — being one of them guys. Like, when you step out there, you competed and had fun with it. I got everything that I could get out of it.”
That includes a three-year stint at Kentucky, where he earned first-team All-America laurels and was named National Defensive Player of the Year during his final season in 2014-15 as the Cats went 38-1. He enjoyed a seven-year run in the NBA, highlighted by an All-Rookie second-team selection in 2015-16.
“Honestly, pros was cool. It’s a whole different experience,” Cauley-Stein said. “But when you’re playing for your community, your school, there’s a lot of pride in it. We wasn’t getting paid then, so you’re playing to try to get to that next level to secure yourself for life. It’s just a different type of hunger before you go to the league and play professionally. You start losing the edge of, like, ‘(Dang), what made you want to play in the first place? What made you want to do this in the first place?’
“And once you get that, you’re kind of like, ‘Man, what’s next?’”
He’s already found it, devoting his energy to another sport.
Golf.
“I don’t get tired of it. I go play. I played this morning. I could go play right now. I can go play at night. It doesn’t matter,” he said. “I really love doing it, where even if I was just out there chipping for like three hours in the sun, it doesn’t matter. That connection with the club and the ball is just something that … I can’t explain what that feels like. It’s great.”
Cauley-Stein launched a YouTube channel, called “Almost Members Golf,” nearly eight years ago. Early on, the videos still focused on his basketball career. In March, he posted his first golf-centric video. Another followed in April. Golf will be the focal point moving forward.
And that’s just the beginning.
“I want to start a tournament series where we go to a few different cities, put on and use our golf brand as kind of like a catalyst,” Cauley-Stein said, adding its purpose is “to give people that don’t get chances to play country clubs” an opportunity to tee it up at exclusive tracks. “Have them experience crazy swag bags — make them feel like it’s an all-star game. … Mic people up on holes, give them a chance to go viral, get a hole-in-one or something, or get a chip-in. And I think that authentic part of the game is what comes up. Bringing people together like that is just a great concept.”
Cauley-Stein never has recorded a hole-in-one himself. But he’s played numerous courses around the country, citing Dallas National Golf Club in Texas and a pair of California courses in the Newport Beach area (Pelican Hill and Monarch Beach) as three favorites.
He called Valhalla Golf Club, another course he’s played, “amazing.” And he’s had his fair share of rounds at other courses around the state, from Greenbrier (in Lexington) and Keene Trace (in Nicholasville) to Frankfort Country Club and three more in or near Louisville (Hurstbourne, Persimmon Ridge and the University of Louisville Golf Club).
There should be plenty more tee times for Cauley-Stein at Kentucky courses in the years to come: He plans to live in Lexington permanently, hoping to finalize the move by November.
“Whatever it is that you’re trying to do, and (when you’re) a player here and you showed love, they’re gonna show love back to you,” he said. “And part of my whole brand is more than golf. Love is golf, but it’s really like love of life. So this was one of these spots that really gave me that. Any time I come here, I just feel like I’m getting better. Every every time I come here, there’s something good happening.”
A fitting way for him to end his time as a UK basketball player would be with a TBT title. And the $2 million that goes to the winner. While his teammates know this is his final go-round, Cauley-Stein laughed off the assertion they were motivated to “win for him” as he sets sail for retirement.
They’re all chasing the same thing.
“We all need money, bro. We’re all in this because we all need some money. … So whether it’s (winning) for me or not? I mean, it can be for me,” he said, “as long as we win it.”
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
The 2026 high school football regular season in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky has already reached Week 5, putting the postseason race into better view with half the season nearly gone.
Week 5 is full of marquee rivalry games, including Moeller at St. Xavier, Lakota West at Princeton, Beechwood at Covington Catholic, Highlands at Ryle and Kings at Anderson.
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Here is the Week 5 schedule in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana.
All games are scheduled for 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted.
Southwest Ohio high school football schedule in Week 5
Thursday, Sept. 17
East Clinton at Gamble Montessori (6:30 p.m.)
Friday, Sept. 18
Louisville St. Xavier at Elder
Moeller at St. Xavier
Middletown at Colerain
Lakota East at Hamilton
Oak Hills at Mason
Lakota West vs. Princeton (at Lockland)
Fairfield at Sycamore
Deer Park at Finneytown
Reading at Madeira
Indian Hill at Mariemont
Wyoming at Taylor
Kings at Anderson
Little Miami at Lebanon
Turpin at Loveland
Milford at West Clermont
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Walnut Hills at Winton Woods
Woodward at Northwest
Carroll at Talawanda
Trotwood Madison at Taft
La Salle at Badin
Mount Healthy at Fenwick
Withrow at McNicholas
Hughes at Clark Montessori (6:30 p.m. at Withrow)
Roger Bacon at Bishop Ready
Clermont Northeastern at Cincinnati Country Day
New Miami at Dayton Christian
Summit Country Day at Miami Valley Christian
Western Hills at North College Hill
St. Bernard-Elmwood Place at Norwood
Bethel-Tate at Batavia
Williamsburg at Hillsboro
Western Brown at Miami Trace
Purcell Marian at New Richmond
Chillicothe at Wilmington
Goshen at Blanchester
Middletown Madison at Brookville
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Edgewood at Chaminade Julienne
Clinton-Massie at Monroe
Waynesville at Oakwood
Harrison at Ross
Northmont at Springboro
Saturday, Sept. 19
CHCA at Aiken (noon)
Northern Kentucky high school football schedule in Week 5
Friday, Sept. 18
Scott at Bourbon County (7:30 p.m.)
Beechwood at Covington Catholic
Cooper at duPont Manual (7:30 p.m.)
Ludlow at Gallatin County (7:30 p.m.)
Pendleton County at Grant County (7:30 p.m.)
Walton-Verona at Harrison County (7:30 p.m.)
Dixie Heights at Henry Clay (7:30 p.m.)
Bellevue at Iroquois (7:30 p.m.)
Campbell County at Lloyd Memorial
Boone County at Mason County (7:30 p.m.)
Paris at Newport (7:30 p.m.)
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Raceland at Newport Central Catholic (7:30 p.m.)
Bishop Brossart at Nicholas County (7:30 p.m.)
Highlands at Ryle
Conner at Simon Kenton
Dayton at Western Hills (7:30 p.m.)
Southeastern Indiana football schedule in Week 5
Friday, Sept. 18
Batesville at East Central (7:30 p.m.)
Lawrenceburg at Franklin County
Greensburg at South Dearborn
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky high school football Week 5 schedule
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