Mark Pope wants BBN to come up with a nickname for Nashville ahead of SEC Tournament

City nicknames are not new for Kentucky basketball in terms of Big Blue Nation taking over those cities — ‘Catlanta’ maybe the most famous, with ‘LexVegas’ a common one for outsiders facing the Wildcats in Lexington. As the team prepares to head down to the Music City for the SEC Tournament, Mark Pope realized there isn’t necessarily a go-to nickname for Nashville — a city that absolutely deserves one considering the blue mist that takes over to open postseason play for UK.

“I know Catlanta, but what is our nickname for Nashville?” Pope asked Tom Leach during his call-in radio show Monday evening.

“I don’t know that we really have one,” Leach responded.

That’s where BBN comes in, Pope calling on the most passionate fanbase in college basketball to come up with something good before Kentucky’s run in the SEC Tournament begins on Thursday.

“BBNashville? Catville? BBN, I’m calling out to you, man. Can anybody come up with something?” Pope said. “Those are good — I like BBNashville. NashVegas, I like that. But can we — like, ‘Catlanta’ is perfect. That’s like playing at Rupp Arena, the ‘Cat-thedral.’ It’s just beautiful, I love everything about it. Maybe if we come up with exactly the right name for Nashville, we can go get a win. We’ve got three days. I’m calling on BBN, I need the exact right, beautiful, heaven-sent, Kentucky ownership name for Nashville.”

BBNashville feels like the layup, but like Pope said, there’s gotta be something better, right? While the fanbase comes together to think through some ideas, I plugged in the prompt on ChatGPT to see what AI could come up with. The results are all over the place — some good, some horrific:

• Catsville
• Big Blue Broadway
• NashCat
• Honky Tonk Cats
• Nashketball
• Bluegrassville
• SmashCats
• BBNash
• NashVegas

How about some Mark Pope-themed Nashville nicknames — maybe those are better?

• Popeville
• Big Blue Pontiff
• Broadway Pope Show
• PopeTown
• Pope & Boots
• The Grand Ole Pope-ry
• SEC Sunday Service
• Big Blue Vatican
• The Pope-a-Dome
• Pope’s Honky Tonk Revival
• PopeTown Hoedown
• Hoops Holiness

I don’t know about you, but the PopeTown Hoedown is calling my name.