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Mike Miller

Mike Miller has been NBCSports.com's college basketball editor since 2003. It's a position he relishes; no wonder considering he transferred to Kansas to watch Paul Pierce play. Most of his favorite sports memories involve college hoops, usually during March, when every waking moment is spent thinking about March Madness.



Kentucky faithful taking it to another level

Posted: Thursday, October 01, 2009 2:00 PM
Filed Under: ,

Plenty of fan bases – Kansas, Duke, Indiana, UNC – go nuts for their schools. But I’m with The Dagger on this one: Kentucky fans just go above and beyond.  

Big Blue Madness, the school’s annual midnight scrimmage, is set for Oct. 16. Tickets go on sale Oct. 3 at 6 a.m. ET. Fans are camping out en masse for those tickets – and have been for days.

Wow. That’s equal parts devotion, excitement and a little bit crazy. Even new coach John Calipari is blown away by the number of tents filled with fans. (Here’s a photo gallery of it all.)

Serious support for Kentucky’s Midnight Madness is nothing new. Rupp Arena is regularly filled to the brim with the Big Blue faithful (usually more than 23,000). But this is taking it to another level. School officials say more than 300 tents are set up.

Check out the quotes from this story in the Kentucky Kernel. These folks can’t wait for hoops season.

“This beats even when [Rick] Pitino first came,” said Todd Courtney, a factory worker from Versailles, Ky. “Back when Pitino first came, things got rowdy. But this is special here. This is the way UK basketball is supposed to be.”

“The last few years Kentucky hasn’t been Kentucky,” said Brian Noe, an electrician from Versailles. “Now (being the favorites again) is starting to be what we’re expecting.”

To say Kentucky fans have high hopes for Calipari’s debut season is putting it mildly. This could be quite the show.

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What, no mention of Wally, the super-fan?  Back in the mid-90's, he famously camped out for typically around 45 days before Big Blue Madness.  That's before they had a ticket distribution and it was first come-first in the door.  He was a mainstay every October AND September in front of Memorial (before they moved the practice to Rupp).  This is nothing new, but it's definitely been revitalized, and I LOVE IT!!

T, Brownsburg, IN (Sent Friday, October 02, 2009 8:05 AM)

Thanks for the attention on our annual pre-big blue madness rituals.  However, to suggest that the camping for days [indeed weeks in prior years but UK asked that no one set up this year until Wednesday] is new is misinformed.  This is a ritual that has been repeated for years at UK.  

What is new this year is Coach Calipari's participation, and his expressions of amazement at the ritual's scope and intensity.  Calipari is perhaps extending the press coverage of this event.

But, the event is not new, or unprecedented.

Richard Cheeks, Nicholasville, KY (Sent Friday, October 02, 2009 9:11 AM)

John Wall baby, John Wall!! I hope he has worked on his jump shot. If he has, it's a done deal. No one can stop him from getting to the basket!!!!

TFE Raleigh, NC (Sent Friday, October 02, 2009 10:11 AM)

Didn't mean to imply this was a new phenomenon. It was the sheer *number* of tents that blew me away.

Mike Miller (Sent Friday, October 02, 2009 12:17 PM)

Guys, make sure you post at Dynasty Defenders

Cheech Santangelo (Sent Friday, October 02, 2009 5:01 PM)



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