Big Blue Madness is almost here, the first of the Mark Pope era. Pope will soon make his Big Blue Madness coaching debut in front of the Big Blue Nation. However, it is not Pope’s first Madness. Pope experienced three as a player in the 1990s when it was Midnight Madness at Memorial Coliseum. He recalled those experiences and the significance of the event earlier this week.
“The best thing about it is that we’re all in the same building together,” Pope said at Kentucky Basketball Media Day. “That’s it. It’s this. We all get to connect with each other, and that’s the brilliant part of it. It’s the first time in the season where 23,000 of us get to be in the same room together and just feel each other, right? It’s the best thing about sport.”
As we await the revamping of Madness under Pope and the introduction to his new team, a look back at Pope’s three as a player. (Unfortunately, footage is hard to find because the event was not televised.)
1993: Pope’s first Midnight Madness, the first campout
After transferring to Lexington from the University of Washington, Pope experienced his first Madness in the fall of 1993. The event began at 12:01 a.m. with a “Rockin’ after Midnight” theme in Memorial Coliseum. Pope recently told Keith Taylor, “It felt like there were people in the gym attached to the ceiling. There was pandemonium in there. I was just like, ‘Wow’, this is something. I’ve never seen anything like this. This is different.”
Midnight Madness ’93 is unique because it was considered the first Madness campout. Fans arrived three days early on Wednesday to wait for the introduction to the 1993-94 team. Pope has said it felt like longer.
1994: Pitino on a Harley
Rick Pitino’s entrance is the lasting memory of Midnight Madness 1994. Pitino entered Memorial Coliseum on a Harley Davidson motorcycle, part of the “Born To Be Wild” theme that fall.
1995: Catman and Robin
“Cat Fan Forever” was the theme of Midnight Madness 1995, Pope’s senior season. Fellow seniors Walter McCarty and Tony Delk swung onto the court on rope ladders, dressed as superheroes “Catman” and Robin, in the spirit of the recent “Batman Forever” movie release.
The preseason No. 1 team, Kentucky went on to win the national championship.
Watch Pope’s first Madness in Rupp Arena and his first as Kentucky’s head coach at 7 p.m. on SEC Network.
Go Cats.
