Atlanta featured the Kentucky fan base at its finest

Walking around the streets of downtown Atlanta around 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, it looked like a gathering for the largest Kentucky quarter-zip convention in the world. If Nashville brought out all the flannels, Atlanta provided a more Southern sophistication vibe. But no matter what they were wearing, Big Blue Nation was at its finest.

In Nashville against Gonzaga, fans booed when Kentucky didn’t play well. Many debates on how appropriate that was have taken place since, but the booing wasn’t a few inebriated jerks in the corner starting trouble with others joining in out of a mob mentality. The booing in Nashville was organic and flowed from all nooks of the arena. It was the manifestation of frustration from watching Kentucky players fumble around on the court in their souls and let it be known.

When Kentucky’s offense looked once again anemic against St. John’s, fans in Atlanta hung in there. The only booing was directed at the officials for perceived bad calls, not at the players’ inability to score. Kentucky’s effort helped play a part in that, as fans could tell guys were at least trying hard (unlike against Gonzaga). But you could tell the arena accepted this group’s limitations, especially without Jaland Lowe.

So when Lowe made his unbelievable return to the game after what everyone assumed was a season-ending reinjury of his shoulder, there was a palpable shift from fans willing their offensively challenged try-hards to scrape together some points, to maybe just maybe, thinking their team might actually be kind of good.

The stagnancy that plagued Kentucky in the first half evaporated into motion with drives and cuts that made Kentucky look crisp. When Jayden Quaintence made his debut and looked every bit of the future NBA lottery pick we hoped he would, fans cheered his every move. At its heart, Big Blue Nation is a group of ball-knowers, and the collective appreciation the fans had when Quaintence would make even a routine defensive post play showed just how much fans are still into this team.

The full-throated cheers in the second half made everyone forget the woes of the first half, and most of this season, honestly. It was the first time since the Purdue exhibition that Kentucky fans cheered not just because the ‘Cats were playing well, but because they started to believe in this team again.