Mark Pope pledges to go 'next level' with Big Blue Madness

We know all about Club Blue’s Blue/White Preseason Event at Memorial Coliseum and how its proceeds will directly benefit the basketball program’s NIL efforts — “the greatest fan experience” for Big Blue Nation, “the way Kentucky should be,” as Mark Pope put it. Tickets go live tomorrow at 10 AM ET for the event scheduled for Friday, October 18.

But what about Big Blue Madness? We have a date and location, UK Athletics previously announcing the unofficial tipoff to basketball season for Friday, Oct. 11 at Rupp Arena. Beyond that, though, details have been scarce, to put it lightly.

And considering the event is just a hair over three weeks from today — 22 days, to be exact — it’s safe to assume we’ll be hearing more on ticket distribution and whether that includes a campout, plus specifics on what to expect both inside Rupp Arena and on television once that second Friday in October rolls around sooner rather than later.

In fact, Pope revealed a few big-picture details about the program’s plans for his very first Big Blue Madness as a coach this morning on KSR. And as we saw with his introductory press conference in April, it’s fair to expect quite the event.

If you believe the first-year leader of the Cats (and you should), it’s going to be a Madness unlike anything we’ve ever seen in Lexington — or anywhere in college basketball.

“Listen, this is all I can say. On Friday, October 11 with Big Blue Madness, we have some things in the works that have never been seen in college basketball before. I kid you not,” he said.

What does that look like, exactly? Pope wasn’t ready to reveal his secrets — although you may not have to wait long considering he made it clear “I’m not a secret guy, I’m not smart enough to have secrets” when talking about the Blue/White Preseason Event.

What he is ready to reveal, though, is that BBM will be ‘next level’ for BBN.

“Like, it’s going to be awesome,” Pope said. “Big Blue Madness is always awesome, but we’re trying to go next level.”

We’ll see what that looks like exactly on October 11 inside Rupp Arena.