Old timer here

[ORCAT10]

Love this team.
I’ve been blessed to see some great ones but this one is special and will always be one of my favorites.
Thanks guys and thanks Coach Mark Pope.

 

[Oldbluefart]

Love this team.
I’ve been blessed to see some great ones but this one is special and will always be one of my favorites.
Thanks guys and thanks Coach Mark Pope.

Amen brother.

 

[jf121264]

It's been a good year.

 

[jpuk974]

Love this team.
I’ve been blessed to see some great ones but this one is special and will always be one of my favorites.
Thanks guys and thanks Coach Mark Pope.

Right with you. I’ve been a fan for 60 years and this team has brought excitement back to BBN.

 

[UK67KU59]

Love this team.
I’ve been blessed to see some great ones but this one is special and will always be one of my favorites.
Thanks guys and thanks Coach Mark Pope.

Love hearing from long-lived UK fans! Glad to hear this team is one of your favorites all time! These guys have fought through some adversity and to get to the sweet sixteen is a sweet payoff!

 

[Fantom8888]

I’ve been going to UK games since the 50’s. Lot of special teams over that time, but this one is special. Pitino’s first team was special for different reasons, but you can almost see what Pope’s vision going forward is going to be

 

[runt#69]

Year #50 here.

Might be the "sweetest" of sweet sixteen's I've ever seen here.

My positive faith in the Coach and team feels vindicated now. What a season. Very proud and happy for them.

 

[electricat2]

love this team

 

[cordmaker]

70 years here, start when I was 4 with my Dad!

 

[clevenger32]

Right with you. I’ve been a fan for 60 years and this team has brought excitement back to BBN.

Since 1962…I am with ya brother

 

[Fox2monk]

Love this team.
I’ve been blessed to see some great ones but this one is special and will always be one of my favorites.
Thanks guys and thanks Coach Mark Pope.

Damn straight. Mark Pope has brought Kentucky back. This is the school we remember. Only 1992 was sweeter than this year for me. Cal’s first year was badass too.

 

[Jazzycat]

Been a fan since watching the Texas Western/UK game on tv. We used to go out to Bluegrass Airport and greet the team when they came back from the NCAA tournament….i was a very young child back then😉

 

[berniecarbo]

The Fiddling Five was the first team I followed closely. My cousin was Vernon Hatton and I was Johnny Cox in our driveway games. Love Mark Pope.

 

[kyrx]

Good Lord, I feel young on this thread. Only 49 years for me as a fan!

 

[Emarc]

i am amazed.

 

[wkycatfan]

Been a fan for 50 years, ever since we beat Indiana in 1975. I have some favorite teams; this is one of them.

 

[catzcan]

Been a fan for 50 years, ever since we beat Indiana in 1975. I have some favorite teams; this is one of them.

Same for me!

 

[stenchymouse]

I've been a huge fan since 1974!!

 

[KFuqua]

61 years old here. I've been a fan for as long as I can remember. I used to sit with my Dad with I was little listening to Cawood on the radio and watching games whenever they were on.

This team is one of my favorites! Pope is the right coach for the job and am thrilled to have him.

 

[Myotis]

I’m a bit of a rarity on here, a fan of both UK and UL, the Cards since the 80s and the Cats since the 90s. Seen a lot of great teams both ways, especially the Championship teams of 1980 and 1996. But some of my most beloved teams were not necessarily the most successful. The Unforgettables, and the 2003 and 2011 Cats, the 2005 Cards. I loved Crum, Pitino and Smith, but was never a fan of Calipari. Not that I didn’t enjoy the early success, but I tired very quickly of the OADs. I enjoy watching the players progress from year to year. I’m hoping the Portal doesn’t completely result in just a different form of total replacement every year. Most of all, I love that the focus of the team is once again success on the court instead of success on Draft Day. I’ve enjoyed this season more than any since 2011 because of that and the repeated response to adversity in the form of all the injuries. Thank You Mark Pope, regardless of the final outcome from this point forward, this team will join the list of my most beloved.

 

[sambowieshin]

What Pope has done this year is nothing short of amazing.
One month to patch together a team that is capable of taking down Duke, Gonzaga, UofL, and Tennessee (3 times😀)... then landing us in the Sweet 16.
Remember his hiring and then sweating out each individual player he landed?
What a year!
Every coach given the nod over him is at home watching the games on tv.
Cheers to Pope! 🍺

 

[Myotis]

… and Tennessee (3 times😀)...

Love your optimism and I’m right there with you!

 

[UKBB4Ever]

Long time here too. My all time favorite is ‘78 and probably always will be.

But this one is right there with ‘75, ‘84, ‘86, ‘92, ‘96, ‘98, ‘12, ‘15 and ‘17.

Might be forgetting one or two but those come to mind right away

 

[StaticKat]

Been a fan since watching the Texas Western/UK game on tv. We used to go out to Bluegrass Airport and greet the team when they came back from the NCAA tournament….i was a very young child back then😉

I also remember that UK/Western game.. and Big Jim Mcdaniel. I think Westerns entire team was recruited within a 50 mile radius of Bowling Green.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

I also remember that UK/Western game.. and Big Jim Mcdaniel. I think Westerns entire team was recruited within a 50 mile radius of Bowling Green.

2 different games. Texas Western and Western Ky. McDaniel was on the Western Ky team.

 

[MegaBlue05]

I’m 44 and came home from the hospital in blue clothes the day I was born. I was in my mother’s womb watching us lose a football game the day before I was born.

My first complete sentences were “Go Big Blue” and “U of L go to hell” (thanks dad!!)

Pitino’s Bombinos captivated me when I was 9. The 1993 team is my favorite of all time and Jamal Mashburn is my favorite Cat of all time.

This season has been as enjoyable as those early Pitino years for me. We got our culture back. We have guys playing hurt for the love of the game and their school.

I couldn’t be happier with the start of the Mark Pope era.

 

[StaticKat]

2 different games. Texas Western and Western Ky. McDaniel was on the Western Ky team.

You're right.. my bad!

 

[davekersey]

50 years here and I love this version of the cats as much or maybe more than some of the other teams we've had. My nickname would have been Popes underdogs going into this year but now they're the Victorious cats. To be honest I didn't expect it but I'm thrilled with the results

 

[BlueSince92]

There’s nothing like a pack of mostly unwanted underdogs overachieving on a national-contender scale.

 

[CELTICAT]

This team is Pope's Hope

 

[Myotis]

Western Kentucky may be the winningest team in Division I without an NCAA title. Ed Diddle ran up an incredible number of wins there.

 

[electricat2]

77/78 i was 8 years old
robey was my favorite player

 

[TNCatfanforever]

Love this team.
I’ve been blessed to see some great ones but this one is special and will always be one of my favorites.
Thanks guys and thanks Coach Mark Pope.

70 years old been a life long fan been on the first board and then a name change here since the beginning. I had started to lose interest with the Cal doings but Pope has rejuvenated us all.

 

[CastleRubric]

Ve

What Pope has done this year is nothing short of amazing.
One month to patch together a team that is capable of taking down Duke, Gonzaga, UofL, and Tennessee (3 times😀)... then landing us in the Sweet 16.
Remember his hiring and then sweating out each individual player he landed?
What a year!
Every coach given the nod over him is at home watching the games on tv.
Cheers to Pope! 🍺

Very well done, sir

And to the other deeply experienced fans!

 

[JimBR]

Pope has made the name on the front of the jersey the MOST important aspect of the program and the team has embraced it. I, too am a long time fan. This season has brought some frustrations (injuries) and a lot of joy. Thank you team, staff and Coach Pope.

 

[Ripcord65]

Love this team.
I’ve been blessed to see some great ones but this one is special and will always be one of my favorites.
Thanks guys and thanks Coach Mark Pope.

Here's another old-timer who's right there with you, Orcat ! I attended my first U.K. basketball game in person on January 30, 1954. I was 7. My goal is to live 'til July 1, 2042 ... and I hope Mark Pope is still coaching the 'Cats on the day that I celebrate reaching that goal ! Thanks to the 2024-25 'Cats team, and to Coach Pope, for restoring the joy of being a U.K. basketball fan !
Go 'Cats ! ! !

 

[UKBB4Ever]

77/78 i was 8 years old
robey was my favorite player

That was my favorite team too.

But it’s Macy for favorite player.

But always a warm heart for James Lee!

 

[77blueuk]

Love this team.
I’ve been blessed to see some great ones but this one is special and will always be one of my favorites.
Thanks guys and thanks Coach Mark Pope.

How old do I have to be to be considered an "old timer"? Asking for a friend!

 

[ukfan1622]

I'm 68 and can't remember when I became a Kentucky fan, seems like something that just always was, but this team is special to me. This team reminds me of the Unforgettables because the sum looks greater than the parts.

 

[KyCatFan]

Mark Pope has created a renaissance of Kentucky basketball. Helping to revive the passion that was lost from a coach who stopped caring about our legacy. He definitely understands the assignment and so do the players.