I think UK has only participated once before and the roster wasn't great.
The key is, now these guys are out of the NBA after a cup of coffee or two (or longer, in WCS and Bledsoe's case), so the roster is LOADED relative to other alum rosters. I mean, look at it - Harrison twins, Teague, Lamb, Cauley-Stein, Orton, Travis Reid, Sestina, Darius Miller, Bledsoe .... what's not to love here?
UK has always been disadvantaged in this tourney due to so many guys being in the NBA. Rosters were limited to guys like Perry Stevenson (ahem, no disrespect, thanks for the historic dunk against UNLV at Memorial ....) and Ramon Harris.