Kentucky fans put #FreeBigZ billboard outside NCAA Eligibility Center for Zvonimir Ivisic
There are college sports fans, and then there’s the Big Blue Nation, who just came together to erect a billboard next to the NCAA Eligibility Center in Indianapolis begging the organization to grant a Kentucky men’s basketball player his eligibility.
That player is Zvonimir Ivisic, known to fans by his nickname, Big Z. Ivisic was a late addition to Kentucky’s 2023-24 roster and myriad eligibility snags with the NCAA have prevented him from stepping onto the court for the Wildcats so far this season. Amid such struggles to get him eligible, and even a public plea from Calipari for the NCAA to get Ivisic’s eligibility resolved, Kentucky fans took action.
Led by a fan account on Twitter, @BigBlueBud (or just “Buddy”), with help from other members of his podcast, Rupp To No Good, Kentucky fans raised enough money to plaster a billboard reading “FREE BIG Z” right across from the NCAA Eligibility Center in Indianapolis.
On Wednesday Jan. 17, the billboard was put up. You can see it here in all its glory:
As Buddy notes in his tweet, fans mobilized to raise the $3,600 needed for the billboard in just a few hours on a Friday afternoon in January — and all for a player that has never played in a game for Kentucky.
Ivisic himself even acknowledged the effort as his Twitter account liked a number of tweets associated with the billboard fundraising.
Buddy has also spoken about the effort on the record with Kentucky beat reporter Kyle Tucker of The Athletic. “The funny thing is we don’t really think it’s going to change anybody’s mind,” he told Tucker of the effort. However, Buddy notes “there were three reasons we wanted to do it.”
Those being: “The first is just that we really want to see Zvonimir play, and we want him to know we appreciate that he’s stuck it out with Kentucky.”
The second: “It’s just fun to troll the NCAA.”
And lastly: “Kentucky is back. Not just Cal with his No. 1 class and a team that’s got four or five or six first-rounders and is playing great, but Big Blue Nation is back, too.”
John Calipari often repeats a certain phrase about the BBN, that “you people are crazy.” Well, here’s some more evidence. Crazy, but also, remarkably supportive.
As Buddy said to lead things off, the billboard is really about showing a Kentucky basketball player that fans have his back and will do something as crazy as funding a billboard for a guy that’s never played in a game.
Let’s close it out with one more quote from Buddy: “Man, there is nobody like BBN.”