RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesThis is the one. La Familia, the Kentucky Basketball alumni team, has won four straight to reach the summit of The Basketball Tournament, and now only one game stands between the Cats and a $2 million check.
They host Davis Steel on Sunday afternoon inside a Historic Memorial Coliseum that should be rocking with the whole thing on the line.
Here’s everything you need for Sunday’s winner-take-all championship.
How to watch La Familia vs. Davis Steel
Game : La Familia (Kentucky alumni) vs. Davis Steel (Las Vegas bracket champion)
Event : TBT 2026 Championship, single elimination, $2 million winner-take-all.
Date : Sunday, August 2, 1:00 p.m. ET
Location : Historic Memorial Coliseum, Lexington, Ky.
TV Channel : FOX
Tickets : Available through Ticketmaster via tbthoops.com .
Back on the big FOX broadcast network for the title game, so if you have an antenna, you have the game. And La Familia gets to do it at home.
By design, the Vegas bracket champion travels into the alumni champion’s building for the final, so Davis Steel walks into a hostile Memorial Coliseum with Big Blue Nation waiting.
The revenge angle
This is the team that ended La Familia’s season last year. Davis Steel is the same organization that used to compete as Eberlein Drive, and Eberlein Drive is the team that knocked La Familia out of last year’s tournament, winning 71-70 right here at Memorial Coliseum.
The Cats have a full year of that loss sitting with them, and now they get the rematch on their home floor with $2 million on the table.
The name changed this offseason
After 12 years as Eberlein Drive, TBT’s longest-standing team partnered with Davis Sports Corp. and rebranded as Davis Steel. And in a fun twist, Davis Steel is a Kentucky company, run out of Russell Springs by brothers Ashley and Adam Davis.
So, in a roundabout way, this is a Kentucky vs. Kentucky title game.
There’s one more layer, and it’s a good one. Archie Goodwin, the man carrying La Familia’s entire run, used to play for Eberlein Drive. He switched over to the Kentucky alumni last year, and now he gets to try to beat his old team for a championship.
Goodwin has been the best player in the tournament, averaging 26.7 points a game, the highest mark in TBT this summer, including a 30-point night against Boeheim’s Army and 28 more against JHX Hoops. If he stays hot, La Familia is very hard to beat.
How both teams got here
La Familia has earned every inch of this. The Cats outlasted The Ville 2-1 in the opening round, edged Boeheim’s Army 70-66 in the alumni semifinal, then handled JHX Hoops 78-65 in the alumni championship to claim the bracket crown. That win was a statement, with La Familia’s defense holding the Kansas alumni to 30 percent shooting and just 5-of-29 from three.
Davis Steel took the long road through the Vegas bracket, played entirely at the M Resort. The group topped its pool to earn a bye into the semifinals, routed Red Rose War Ready 83-67, then survived The Mecca 71-69 in Thursday’s Vegas bracket final. Terrell Brown iced that one with a three that capped a 7-0 closing run. This is a battle-tested, veteran group that reached back-to-back Final Fours and finished runner-up a year ago, and it is still chasing its first title.
Who La Familia needs to watch?
Davis Steel is loaded with pro experience. Gabe York, a former Arizona guard, has been the team’s leading scorer and is one of the most seasoned players in the entire event.
Terrell Brown is a shot-maker who already proved he’ll take the big one.
The frontcourt runs through Nate Watson and Terry Taylor, and the wing rotation includes DJ Rodman (son of Dennis Rodman), Cameron McGriff and Hassani Gravett. This is not a Cinderella. It’s arguably the most accomplished non-alumni program in TBT history, finally chasing the trophy that has eluded it.
The stakes
Everything. TBT is winner-take-all: $2 million to the champion, nothing to the runner-up. There is no consolation here. And it ends the way every TBT game ends, with the Elam Ending. The clock shuts off late in the fourth quarter, a target score goes up, and a made basket wins it.
La Familia has thrived in that format all tournament, closing out Boeheim’s Army and JHX Hoops in the untimed finish.
One more time, in front of a home crowd, for all of it.
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