LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The Basketball Tournament is changing its bracket. Louisville and Kentucky are getting the first shot at making it matter.
TBT announced a revamped 2026 format Monday, doubling its winner-take-all prize to $2 million and splitting the event into two separate eight-team brackets — one for alumni teams and one for non-alumni teams.
The first matchup announced in the new alumni bracket is a familiar one: Louisville against Kentucky.
The Ville, Louisville's alumni-based team recently acquired by former Cardinal guard Russ Smith, will face La Familia, Kentucky's alumni team, in a best-of-three series beginning Saturday, July 18, at noon in Memorial Coliseum in Lexington.
Louisville | Kentucky | Indiana | Eric Crawford
Game 2 will be played Monday, July 20, at Freedom Hall in Louisville. If a third game is necessary, it will be played at 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 22, at the site that drew the larger crowd in the first two games.
That detail alone gives the series a little extra juice. In addition to advancing, the teams will be competing for home-court advantage if the series goes the distance.
Kentucky's La Familia will be led by Willie Cauley-Stein. Louisville's The Ville will be led by Smith, one of the most popular players in recent Louisville history and a key member of the Cardinals' 2013 national championship team.
The two alumni teams met in TBT's 2024 quarterfinals at Freedom Hall before a record crowd of 13,506.
Now TBT is building part of its new format around that rivalry.
The 2026 tournament will include 16 teams — eight alumni teams and eight non-alumni teams. The alumni bracket will be played on college campuses and in home markets across the country, with first-round matchups played as best-of-three series. The quarterfinals, semifinals and championship will return to single-elimination play.
The non-alumni bracket will be played in Las Vegas at the M Resort Spa Casino from July 23-30. Four spots in that bracket have already been claimed, including teams led by former NBA All-Star Baron Davis and former Major League Baseball All-Star Dee Strange-Gordon.
Four additional non-alumni slots remain open for purchase, with entry fees starting at $125,000 per team.
TBT CEO Jon Mugar said in a release that the tournament is "doubling down" on high-stakes basketball and believes separating alumni and non-alumni teams will create a better experience for both fans and players.
The new format comes after a record-setting 2025 tournament. TBT said more than 500,000 viewers watched on Fox as the AfterShocks, Wichita State's alumni team, defeated Eberlein Drive for the championship at Koch Arena.
That game also set a TBT championship attendance record, with 9,029 fans. Overall, TBT drew 85,395 fans last summer, surpassing its 2024 record. Since 2022, the tournament says its annual attendance has grown by more than 136%.
The 2026 event will begin July 18 with Kentucky and Louisville and conclude Aug. 2, when the winner of the non-alumni bracket travels to the home court of the alumni bracket champion for the $2 million championship game.
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