'The Ville' Announces Three More Participants for 2026 TBT Run

The Louisville men's basketball alumni team now has half a dozen players for their fourth year in the TBT.

The Ville guard Russ Smith | Jared Anderson - Louisville Report

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The playing roster for "The Ville" in their latest run in The Basketball Tournament (TBT) is starting to come together.

TBT announced Tuesday that three more players will join the Louisville men's basketball alumni team that is participating in the 2026 iteration of the event: Jaylen Johnson, Angel Nunez and Jae'Lyn Withers.

The Ville now has a starting five's (plus one) worth of players for their fourth year in the TBT. Russ Smith, Edgar Sosa, and Malik Williams are the other UofL alum that will participate, with more planning to be announced in the coming weeks.

Johnson spent three years at Louisville from 2014-17, averaging 8.0 points and 5.8 rebounds per game as a junior in 2016-17 before declaring for the NBA Draft. Nune played only the 2011-12 season before transferring to Gonzaga and later South Florida, putting up 9.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game with the Bulls in 2015-16. Withers spent three year with the Cards (2020-23), posting 10.1 points and 7.7 per game as a freshman, before playing a pair of seasons at North Carolina (2023-25).

The Ville will get this year's TBT started against the Kentucky alumni team "La Familia." With the first round of the now 16-team tournament shifting to a best-of-three series, game one will be played on Saturday, July 18 at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Ky., while game two will be on Monday, July 20 at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Ky. The "if necessary" game three will be on Wednesday, July 22 back at Memorial Coliseum.

The eight remaining teams following the firwst round will then play a standard single-elimination format, with the grand prize upped to $2 million. The bracket will have two separate sides: eight alumni teams (such as The Ville) and eight non-alumni teams (such as Sideline Cancer, Eberlein Drive, etc.).

First established in 2014, TBT is an exhibition tournament that has seen its popularity rise over the last few years. While anyone over 18 years old and not currently on an NBA roster can play, teams typically have consisted of former collegiate and professional basketball players.

TBT is also home to the Elam Ending, which is an alternate way to conclude basketball games without them turning into an intentional foul fest. At the first dead ball under four minutes in the fourth quarter, a target score for both teams is then established by adding eight points to the leading team’s score.

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(Photo of Russ Smith: Jared Anderson - Louisville Cardinals On SI)