KSR Today: Summer basketball with the Peach Jam, La Familia, Team USA, and NBA Summer League

Good morning, KSR readers. Today, we are talking summer basketball after a busy weekend in Kentucky‘s basketball recruiting efforts, NBA Summer League, and The Basketball Tournament in Lexington. Looking ahead, you can watch Team USA’s final exhibition before the Olympics later today, plus La Familia’s return to Rupp Arena for another game tomorrow night.

If football is more your thing, you’ll be happy to know that the college football season begins in 33 days. Kentucky‘s preseason camp starts next week.

But today is all about basketball.

La Familia advanced in The Basketball Tournament

Kentucky’s TBT team of alums, La Familia, played its second game of The Basketball Tournament on Sunday, defeating a team out of Atlanta, 81-64, in Rupp Arena. Kerem Kanter was La Familia’s top contributor, scoring 26 points on 10-for-12 shooting from the field. Enes’ younger brother further proved his importance to the team.

Another high scorer was Eric Bledsoe, who scored 16 points plus nine rebounds and five assists. Nate Sestina and Andrew Harrison also reached double-figure scoring; Sestina with 15 points and Harrison with 11. Willie Cauley-Stein did his work on the other side of the floor, blocking eight shots in the game, including one dunk very dumb dunk attempt. I thought everyone knew not to try to dunk on Willie? I guess not.

KSR’s Daniel Hager put together a great photo album from the afternoon.

Kerem Kanter crashed KSR’s Rapid Reaction

KSR’s Rapid Reaction welcomed Kerem Kanter onto the live broadcast after Kanter’s second straight MVP performance. Watch as he talks about the victory and how long he has been a part of the Big Blue Nation, plus more postgame thoughts from the KSR crew on the scene.

KSR also has highlights from Sunday’s game:

You can see the postgame press conference here.

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Buy tickets to Tuesday’s TBT game

Big Blue Nation needs to pack Rupp Arena for La Familia’s Tuesday night game against Herd That, one of TBT’s fan-favorite teams each year, featuring Marshall alums. Tip-off is set for 9 p.m. in downtown Lexington, with a spot in the quarterfinals up for grabs.

Get your tickets here. Get in there.

Nike EYBL Peach Jam, Jasper Johnson updates

While Rupp Arena took fans down memory lane, Mark Pope and his staff were busy scouting for the future during the biggest evaluation weekend of the summer. Pope was in North Augusta for Sunday’s Peach Jam final, featuring some of the country’s top high school basketball prospects, guys like Cameron and Cayden Boozer, Caleb Wilson, AJ Dybantsa, and Tyran Stokes. KSR’s Jack Pilgrim and Jacob Polacheck were there, too. Jack recapped the final game between the Nightrydas Elite and the Oakland Soldiers here.

For even more Peach Jam news and views, check out KSR’s Peach Jam rundown. The weekend’s most significant news was Jasper Johnson signing with Overtime Elite for his final year. Johnson is nearing his college commitment. Kentucky has some work to do to keep Johnson, a UK legacy recruit, from leaving Bluegrass for North Carolina or Alabama. More on his recruitment here.

Rob Dillingham shined in Las Vegas

Rob Dillingham closed out NBA Summer League play with his best game in Vegas, scoring 25 points for the Minnesota Timberwolves against the Orlando Magic. He added 12 assists for a double-double in the finale.

Dillingham’s old UK teammate, Reed Sheppard, did not need to play in Houston’s final summer league game. The Rockets had already seen enough from him.

USA Basketball to play Germany in final London showcase

South Sudan nearly upset Team USA over the weekend until LeBron James scored the game-winner with eight seconds to go. The Americans avoided a catastrophic upset with a 101-100 victory in the pre-Olympics exhibition. Today, the Americans will play their last exhibition game in London, this time against Germany. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

It gets real next week in Paris, beginning with Team USA’s first game of the Olympics on Sunday against Serbia. South Sudan and Puerto Rico are the other two teams in Group C.

The Opening Ceremony is Friday. LeBron was selected as the flag bearer.

This week’s KSR summer schedule

I’m looking forward to today’s show because Myron Medcalf is with us at KSBar and Grille in Lexington for the first time this summer. He’ll have plenty to say on a new Monday with Myron after attending the Peach Jam AND the TBT game in Lexington.

The rest of the week looks like this:

Monday, July 22 – Myron Medcalf at KSBar and Grille

Tuesday, July 23 – Summer Business Spotlight Tour

Wednesday, July 24 – Tom Hart guest hosts with the KSR crew

Thursday, July 25 – Kyle Mann guest hosts the show with Drew Franklin

Friday, July 26 – The Field of 68 takeover

See the remaining summer schedule here.