The Big Blue Nation is the fan base of

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

(UK) athletics programs, particularly the men's basketball team, the women's basketball team and the

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

. The Big Blue Nation is a reference to both the signature color of UK athletics (blue) and the fact that when the Wildcats play at a neutral site and occasionally at an away game, the school's fans frequently make up a disproportionate majority of the crowd. For example,

Pat Forde Pat Forde is a sports journalist who is a national columnist for ''Sports Illustrated''. He previously worked for ESPN, ''The Courier-Journal'' in Louisville, Kentucky, and '' Yahoo Sports''. Personal life and education Forde is a native of C ...

, a resident of Kentucky's largest city of

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

and then a columnist with

Yahoo Sports Yahoo! Sports is a sports news website launched by Yahoo! on December 8, 1997. It receives a majority of its information from Stats Perform. It employs numerous writers, and has team pages for teams in almost every North American major sport. ...

, remarked after the 2014–15 men's basketball team finished its regular season undefeated,

The Southeastern Conference tournament is in nearby
Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, and you can expect the seats to be 90 percent blue when the Cats play. Then they'll start the NCAA tournament in Louisville's home area, the Yum Center (''sic''), in a city where about 40 percent of the population roots for UK. The following weekend assuredly will be spent in
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
, a manageable drive from the Bluegrass State, and the Final Four is in
Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
, which is 114 miles up
I-65 Interstate 65 (I-65) is a major north–south interstate highway in the central United States. As with most primary interstates ending in 5, it is a major crosscountry, north–south route, connecting between the Great Lakes and the Gulf ...
from the Ohio River that separates Kentucky and Indiana. You could put NCAA tourney sites in
Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...
,
Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...
and
Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...
, and Kentucky would have the most fans in the gym. But when you make the commute this easy, the Big Blue occupation will be overwhelming.

Fans sometimes range beyond the borders of their nation, with anecdotal evidence suggesting the Wildcats men's basketball team once even drew a sizable horde of blue-clad supporters at an exhibition game in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. In ''The Winning Tradition: A History of Kentucky Wildcat Basketball'', Bert Nelli wrote that many rival coaches consider Wildcat fans to be among the most knowledgeable in the country. Former Wildcat Jack "Goose" Givens, who later played for the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

, has said that UK fans are generally more interested and informed than the typical NBA fan. 'Citizens' of the Big Blue Nation often go to extremes in showing their support. It is not uncommon to see fans with everything from blue wigs to bodies covered in blue paint. While known for being fiercely loyal, these fans are at times impatient and highly critical of their teams. Former coach

Tubby Smith Orlando Henry "Tubby" Smith (born June 30, 1951) is an American college basketball coach who last coached the men's basketball team at High Point University, his alma mater. Smith previously served in the same role at the University of Tulsa, t ...

drew the ire of his fan base because of a perceived decline in the quality of both recruiting and on-court play. On July 2, 2015, Sports Dating Inc., a company based in UK's home city of Lexington, launched ''BBNMeetup.com'', an

online dating Online dating, also known as internet dating, virtual dating, or mobile app dating, is a method used by people with a goal of searching for and interacting with potential romantic or sexual partners, via the internet. An online dating service ...

site devoted to UK fans, with users allowed to create profiles before the site went fully live on July 15. The site will offer most features of mainstream dating sites, with an additional metric of "fandom" (i.e., level of enthusiasm for the Wildcats). The site's

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

feed alleged that the user demand for the site was high enough to cause a server crash, although ''ESPN.com'' writer Eamonn Brennan dismissed that claim as "clever marketing".

Records

The UK men's basketball team was first in the nation in home court attendance from 1978 to 1984 and again from 1996 to 2004. In the intervening period from 1985 to 1995, they were led only by

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

. After again finishing number 2 to Syracuse in 2005, the Wildcats reclaimed the top spot in 2006 and have led every year since (up to 2011). When the Wildcats also played

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

in 'The

Basketbowl The Basketbowl was a college basketball game between Michigan State University and the University of Kentucky held on December 13, 2003, at Ford Field, a domed American football stadium in Detroit, Michigan. Kentucky won the game 79–74, never t ...

' at

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Ford Field Ford Field is a domed American football stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It primarily serves as the home of the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), the Michigan Panthers of the United Football League (UFL), the Mid-Americ ...

on December 13, 2003, the game set the all-time attendance record for a men's college basketball game at 78,129. The game was also a 79–74 victory for the Wildcats.

References

* {{Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball navbox Kentucky Wildcats University of Kentucky