BBN, We’re Together Again: A Thank You Letter to Mark Pope Pope’s first season accomplished what was arguably the most important goal: Bring the fanbase back together.
BBN, we are together again!
A year ago, when Mark Pope was announced as the next head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, I was shocked. And to be completely honest — I was disappointed.
I wasn’t old enough to remember him in ‘96 — heck, I wasn’t even born yet. But I’ve grown up hearing the stories. Stories from my family about how special that team was, how they dominated college basketball, and how Captain Mark Pope helped lead them to a national championship.
Yet when his name was announced as the man to take over this program, I wasn’t sure what to think. I wasn’t alone in that. The BBN was in an uproar. The frustration of the past five seasons had divided the fanbase, and for many, this hire felt underwhelming — maybe even like settling.
Then something changed. Just 24 hours later, Mitch Barnhart went on Kentucky Sports Radio and told us, “We’ve got our guy. Just trust him.” He said Pope understood what the name on the front of the jersey meant.
At the time, that might have sounded like just another statement. But as the months went by, we realized it was the absolute truth.
Without diving too much into the past regime — one that I respect deeply for the memories it gave me as a child — I have to say this: Somewhere along the way, we lost what it truly meant to wear that Kentucky jersey. The fanbase was divided. The energy had changed. We were no longer one BBN.
Then, on the day of Mark Pope’s introductory press conference, something remarkable happened. UK’s athletic department expected 5,000 to 6,000 fans to show up. Instead, Rupp Arena filled with 24,000 fans — plus another 5,000 to 10,000 standing outside.
In less than a day, the BBN was all in.
Pope inherited an impossible situation — a job that, frankly, only someone like him could have pulled off. He arrived a month after the transfer portal opened and had zero minutes returning from the previous roster. Yet, in a matter of weeks, he built a team.
And that team made history — becoming the first team in NCAA history to make a Sweet 16 with zero returning minutes from the previous season.
It wasn’t a roster filled with five-star recruits. It wasn’t a group of NBA-bound one-and-does. It was a collection of guys who had been overlooked, guys who had played multiple places, guys who had never played together before but had something to prove. They came from mid-majors, blue-collar programs, and schools where they played small roles. Some had NCAA Tournament experience, but none had ever been part of this.
The only player Pope brought with him from BYU was Jaxson Robinson. Everyone else was new.
And yet, from day one, Pope did everything he could to embrace what this program is all about. We saw it when Rick Pitino returned for Big Blue Madness. We saw it when Pope, instead of making a traditional entrance, emerged from the fans — showing us that he truly was one of us.
Then came the season, and with it, a mix of unforgettable highs and painful lows.
We saw huge wins — Duke, Louisville, Tennessee (twice), and Florida. Kentucky tied the record for the most top-15 wins in a single season.
We saw adversity — injuries piling up, inconsistency, frustrating losses, and tough moments where it felt like things might unravel.
But through it all, something changed.
Because another thing that makes the BBN special isn’t just the championships — it’s the moments. It’s the memories that bring us together, generation after generation.
And for the first time in a long time, we had those moments again.
For me, personally, this season was different. I love covering this team. I love taking pictures. But before this year, I had never covered a team past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. That changed this year.
And it wasn’t just me.
I had family members who had stopped watching the last few years. But this year, I found those same family members showing up to 7, 8, 9, or even 10 games. I had family members join me on road trips to watch Kentucky play — something I had been doing alone in recent years because people didn’t want to go.
I took family members to the SEC Tournament who hadn’t made the trip in years. And I know I’m not alone in that. I know there were countless members of the BBN who felt that same spark come back this season.
And then there were the moments Coach Pope himself created — staying hours after games to sign every last autograph, taking pictures with babies, making sure every fan felt appreciated.
And I’ll never forget finding myself in my living room at 2 a.m. on a Saturday night, screaming with my brother, as Kentucky completed a 19-point comeback against Gonzaga— without Lamont Butler.
That’s a brother who hadn’t been paying attention to Kentucky basketball for the last few years.
Or when we went together with my cousin to the Champions Classic and saw Kentucky win— something they hadn’t done in years.
And they didn’t just win — they beat Duke in Mark Pope’s first big game as head coach after the program had just one win vs. the Blue Devils since 1999 and just two since 1979.
These are the moments we’ll never forget. I know I’m not the only one who had these moments with loved ones.
This team — a group of transfers, underdogs, and overlooked players — earned the respect of the fanbase in a way few teams have.
They fought their way to a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
They did something that hadn’t been done in six years — they took Kentucky back to the Sweet 16.
And while the season ended in a painful way — losing in Indianapolis to a team they had already beaten twice — it doesn’t take away from what this season meant.
This season wasn’t about wins or losses. It was about something bigger.
It was about bringing this program back together.
For years, the fanbase had been fractured. Pope — whether people believed in him at first or not — has brought us back as one.
And now, Kentucky basketball is being led by someone who cares about it just as much as we do.
The future is bright.
