Where are Kentucky basketball fans ranked among all college basketball fan bases?

There is no fan base quite like Big Blue Nation.

A fan dressed up as the pope during the announcement for new Kentucky head coach Mark Pope at Rupp Arena in Lexington Ky. on April 14, 2024. / Sam Upshaw Jr./Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

There is no better fan base than Kentucky basketball fans. No one does it quite like Big Blue Nation when it comes to supporting their team. Knowing the state of Kentucky doesn't have any NBA, MLB, or NFL teams, pretty much everyone grows up cheering for Kentucky basketball. This is why college basketball analyst Andy Katz ranked Kentucky as the top fan base in college basketball ahead of all the other Blue Bloods like Kansas, North Carolina, and Duke.

Katz had this to say about why he ranked Big Blue Nation as the top fan base, "Even with long-time coach John Calipari leaving to steer the ship at Arkansas in April, the Wildcats’ fan base showed out at coach Mark Pope’s introductory press conference — nearly selling out Rupp Arena.
If the Kentucky faithful can fill Rupp to a brim on a random off-season Sunday with no basketball in sight, imagine what it’s like throughout the season."

Everyone who was in the building for Coach Pope's introductory press conference knows how special Big Blue Nation is. Rupp Arena was filled for an event where there was short notice. No other fan base could have done what Kentucky did on that Saturday.

This special fan base is what makes Kentucky such a historic program and why elite players coming out of high school, or the transfer portal want to play for the Wildcats.

Basketball in Kentucky is special, and Big Blue Nation shows why every time the Wildcats play in Lexington or on the road, these fans travel in bunches.