It’s still football season, but basketball season is quickly creeping up on us. We’re just three weeks away from Big Blue Madness (October 11th) and four weeks from the Blue-White game (October 18th). As normal, BBM will take place inside Rupp Arena to officially start the season and allow fans to be formally introduced to its new team — and this time, its new coaching staff.

The annual events will look very different than what we’re used to. Kentucky men’s head basketball coach Mark Pope jumped on an interview with Kentucky Sports Radio on Thursday to promote the two and also to give some insight on how the summer’s going for the basketball program.

In past years the Blue-White Game has became really offense based and has felt a lot like the NBA All-Star game where it’s filled with highlight dunks, deep three-pointers, and no defense, but Mark Pope says it won’t be like that anymore.

“We’re going to live scrimmage.” He detailed, “We’re going to compete. It’s going to be game speed, full intensity kind of pride. Blood and sweat on the floor. A scrimmage where guys are trying to improve themselves. Guys that are trying to earn time, earn positions, learn how to play with each other.”

We’ve seen the Blue-White Game get moved all across the state over the last couple of years, making stops in Pikeville and Highland Heights, but this season it will stay in Lexington while also remaining in a new location. It will take place in the newly $80M renovated Historic Memorial Coliseum right on campus. Mark Pope says that there will be things that will happen at the Blue-White Game that fans have never seen in college basketball before.

“I’m really excited about all the things that we’re hearing that Club Blue is going to do around this... Our coaches will be mic’d up. You will be able to hear them coaching. There will probably be some commentary from us during timeouts of at halftime where you really get an inside look at exactly the mechanism of how this is, and how we operate. How we are trying to build this thing. I think it is going to be incredible… I’m super excited about it. I’ve never seen anything done like it before. It’s the way Kentucky should be. Kentucky should be doing things that have never been done before. This should totally be one of them.”

When wondering what fans will be able to take away from their first live action of the new team, Pope believes there will be a lot. He even recommended coming and taking notes while you’re there.

“Come to this deal and bring your pom poms and your signs because you’re gonna cheer like crazy, but also bring your notebooks because your’e going to be able to take notes and kind have the best inside looks at what we’re doing… This is an opportunity for BBN to roll in there and really, really get to know us and how we do things and why we do things, and how we’re trying to build this.”

“It’s going to be the greatest fan experience in terms of cheering these guys on and getting to know them but also going to be in a sense like a coaches clinic and like an insider’s dive into who we are as a program,” said Mark Pope on KSR.

If you didn’t already know, this innnersquad scrimmage will not be televised so the only way to view it for yourself is to show up in person! Big Blue Madness will remain downtown at Rupp Arena, but the Blue-White Game will be just a few miles up the road and back on campus, just feet where fans used to camp out for BBM tickets back in the day.

I can say for myself that this will be a very exciting night and I can already sense the buzz it will have around campus. We’re entering a new era that comes with new traditions and new ways of doing things. Building that foundation inside the building that encapsulates so many Kentucky Basketball memories isn’t exactly a bad idea.

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