Rick Pitino returns to Rupp Arena for Big Blue Madness. ‘I am so happy to be back.’

The past four days were filled with speculation that it might actually happen.

Even with that advance warning, when it actually did happen, the scene was surreal.

Toward the end of Big Blue Madness on Friday night — the first of the Mark Pope era — famous figures from UK basketball’s past poured onto the Rupp Arena court.

Rick Pitino was one of them.

Wearing a blue quarter-zip adorned with a white UK logo, the former Kentucky coach was greeted with raucous applause from a crowd that spent years booing him after his turn to rival Louisville more than two decades ago.

Pitino smiled widely, soaking up the crowd. The man who coached Pope and the Wildcats to the 1996 national championship was handed the trophy commemorating that achievement. He placed it on the Rupp Arena court to more applause and embraced his former player.

Pope reintroduced Pitino to the UK fans in the place the Hall of Fame coach referred to as his “Camelot” and then passed him the microphone.

“I am so happy to be back,” Pitino said. “I said before I pack it in, in coaching, I want to go back to Camelot for one more time. And there’s no way I can return better. This is one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time, because I visit all my players. I visit the fans that made me happy for every single day for eight years.

“And now we get to root for a gentleman that — there have been a lot of great coaches here, a lot of great ones — but we get to root for someone that that name Kentucky is what he’s all about. It’s not about Pope. You’ll never hear him say. The most selfless, humble young man I’ve ever coached in my lifetime. One of the great, great examples of what Kentucky basketball is all about. Mark Pope is going to lead you to greatness, in every sense of the word.”

Pitino then thanked the Rupp Arena crowd, which, by this point, was standing at attention as Pope rushed over to embrace him again.

Speculation about a possible Pitino appearance at Madness was rampant this week after the St. John’s coach posted on social media Tuesday morning that he planned to attend the Kentucky-Vanderbilt football game at Kroger Field on Saturday night.

That afternoon, Pope acknowledged that Pitino would be in town this weekend and said he’d also be present for one of the UK men’s basketball team’s practice sessions.

“So I’m really excited,” Pope said. “So Coach hit me a week ago and he kind of asked me, but he really told me that he was coming to practice. And so I sat down with the staff, and I’m like, ‘You guys got to carry the day, man, because this is my guy coming in here. Coach P.’ And, listen, anytime I get to spend some time with Coach is time incredibly well spent for me. I love him.”

Pitino, who coached the Wildcats from 1989 to 1997 — advancing to three Final Fours and winning the 1996 national title — was one of the first college basketball figures to publicly support Pope’s hiring. He released a video the day Pope was officially announced as UK’s head coach in April predicting his former player would have success leading the Wildcats’ program.

The Herald-Leader also spoke to Pitino later that day, and the former UK coach lauded Pope’s leadership ability .

“He’s a very gifted coach,” Pitino said. “Unfortunately, people don’t know that about him.”

Pope was on UK’s roster from 1993 to 1996 and was one of the senior captains on the ’96 national championship team. He dropped out of medical school in 2009 to pursue a coaching career, landed his first head coaching job at Utah Valley six years later and spent the past five seasons as the head coach at BYU.

Throughout his career — and especially since taking the UK job six months ago — Pope has spoken highly of Pitino, crediting the Hall of Fame coach for his own basketball success. He’s also repeatedly referenced Pitino’s demanding style while talking about his playing days and his approach to taking over the Wildcats’ program.

“I think it is going to be certainly the most challenging thing I’ve done in my career as a player or a coach,” Pope said this week. “Even more challenging than surviving Coach Pitino, which is saying something.”

Pope and Pitino have also publicly talked about a series between Kentucky and St. John’s in the near future. While it’s not yet official, the two teams are expected to play in Rupp Arena next season.

If that game does indeed happen, it will be Pitino’s first time back on the sidelines in Lexington since Dec. 26, 2015, when UK defeated his Louisville Cardinals 75-73.

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