You couldn't write a better script. You bring out the denim uniforms for a rivalry game. You honor one of the best teams in college basketball history, and Kentucky beats Tennessee in another comeback. That is magic. After the game, Mark Pope brings the 1996 National Championship team onto the post-game radio show with Tom Leach.
Pope started it off with a joke that only real friends can make. He told the crowd that his old teammates are usually "brutally honest" in their group chat, roasting him about anything and everything. He told them to keep that same energy on the air.
And they did.
Kentucky made some believers out of legends Saturday
These guys know what championship effort looks like, and they saw flashes of it tonight. Derek Anderson kept it simple and perfect: "You saw a team that actually played with effort." That is the highest compliment you can get from DA.
Jared Prickett was impressed by the competition, specifically Nate Ament, calling him a "top 5 NBA draft pick." But he loved how Kentucky responded to that talent: "There was a lot of fight by our team."
Wayne Turner loved the poise down the stretch. "Very exciting, definitely like the run we went on at the end of the game… Just great atmosphere tonight… Really proud of Mark, he held it together."
There were times down 14 at home when your rival is making almost everything that you can quit. Not this team.
The BBN love
For Allen Edwards, the night was about perspective. He admitted that as a player, you sometimes get tunnel vision. Sitting in the stands tonight, it hit him different.
"I want to talk about BBN. I was sitting next to (Anthony) Epps, I was looking around, this is crazy… I am sitting there and looking around… and I'm seeing people up way at the top. I don’t know if I truly appreciated that when I was here… I just enjoyed being here."
He talked about how they were so focused on winning when he was on the court that now, being back as a spectator, he appreciated it even more. Nothing like BBN.
The Brotherhood
Then there was Jeff Sheppard. Shep and Pope have a special bond, and Shep wanted to make one thing clear to the fans: This isn't an act.
"I am really proud of Mark; he is embracing everything about Kentucky basketball, and he is doing it in a real way. When he first got here, a lot of people were asking me is this really Mark… He hasn’t changed since he arrived on campus years ago."
Pope got emotional talking about Shepp, too, sharing a story about their early days. He talked about how hard Sheppard worked in the weight room as a freshman, pushing himself until he physically threw up, only to go right back and finish the set. He said it became almost a daily thing.
That is the standard. That is tough to live up to, but if you want to be a special team, that is what you need.
The blueprint
Listening to these guys, you are reminded of why they hung a banner. They didn't care about stats. They didn't care who was the "man" that night. They just fought together. Each player went out and did exactly what they were supposed to and when they were supposed to.
If this current team wants to be special, they have to look at the guys sitting in the stands tonight. That is the blueprint.
Buy in, play your role, and fight until the clock hits zero.
If they do that? Who knows. Maybe 30 years from now, they will be the ones telling stories on the radio.