The word of the week around the hillside campus of Pikeville College is buzz, and thankfully it has nothing to do with the effects of unprescribed medication. The talk around campus is the same one that is quickly swelling about the town that sits 99 steps below it.

Pikeville College, with an undergraduate enrollment of fewer than 800 students, is five days from playing the University of Kentucky.

It's happened before. Remember the autumn of 2000 when the Pikeville College football teams was in its infancy? Not only did the Bears play UK's junior varsity that year, but they also wore it flat out on a rainy night at Shelby Valley. And to boot, then-UK Coach Hal Mumme sent along a generous donation to help get the program off the ground.

There've been others. When Bill Baird was coaching the softball team, he led his team against the Cats.

But in all honesty, when it comes to UK athletics, you really haven't played them until it's been in men's basketball. We're all getting a taste of that right now. You have no idea how much work does into a preseason game until it's one against the school with the most wins in college basketball history.

There are a couple of ties between the institutions when it comes to men's basketball, a couple of guys whose careers I've been fortunate enough to follow, to live through, and, by the grace of God, two gentlemen I'm fortunate enough to call friends.

In 1982, the biggest name coming into the UK program was Todd May. Kentucky's Mr. Basketball was already a legend before he first laced up his blue and white Cons and donned the white jersey with “KENTUCKY” spelled across the chest. He was the main attraction on a Sweet 16 night that set a world record for attendance at a high school basketball game and was recruited by everybody who was anybody at Virgie High School.

Less than a decade later, a fierce basketball player with a silky-smooth shot and what the kids now call mad skills introduced the planet to two words they'd never known: Feds Creek. It was there in the tiniest of corners of Pike County that a 6-foot-5 kid was making a name for himself to the point that the school hosted an awards day speaker who was the biggest name in college athletics at the time.

How in the world did Feds Creek get Rick Pitino to fly in for a speech? Two words and two words alone answer that: Jody Thompson.

Both spent time playing for the blue and white, and both are now in the Top 5 alltime in scoring at Pikeville College. So what was their reaction when they learned their two former schools would meet in an actual game?

“I remember thinking that this is awesome,” said Thompson, now an assistant vice-president of Community Trust Bank. “I thought about the opportunity these kids are going to have, because I'm quite sure it's an experience they'll never forget.”

“I thought it was great, just for the exposure the college will get as well as the players,” said May, an employee of the family business Leon's Auto Parts and an assistant coach at Pikeville High School. “This is such a good thing for all the (small) colleges now. Georgetown and then Lindsey Wilson last year and now Pikeville this year. It's real good to get that exposure.”

Both guys have fond memories of their first games in Rupp Arena with the Cats and both know full well what the players are in for on Wednesday.

“It's an experience; the first few minutes are an eye opener for sure,” said May, who finished his career with 2,225 points in only two-plus years for the Bears, a figure that is still second alltime. “Going through warmups is more intimidating, I think. Once they start playing, that part goes away. But when they first come out and are warming up, looking around the arena, it's an intimidating site.”

Thompson was in full agreement.

“It was everything and more than I expected it to be,” said Thompson, who scored 2,061 points and is still fifth on the scoring list at Pikeville. “I did it in the reverse order of these kids, playing at Kentucky first. Being able to play in front of that kind of crowd, when the adrenalin gets going and the juices start flowing, you feel like you could do anything.

“But at the same time, it's just like any other game. For a lot of people it's intimidating, but it's still a game.”

Both May and Thompson have had other unique experiences that will be very similar to what the Bears have in store for them next week. Thompson's time at Kentucky included a game at North Carolina in the 21,444-seat Dean Dome. May spent several years after his college days playing for the travelling Marathon Oil team, affording him the opportunity to play in front of many hostile crowds on some of college basketball's biggest stages.

“It can be intimidating. I remember that day (at Carolina) very well,” Thompson said. “I remember the size of the crowd. I'd never been in an environment like that, with the whole crowd against you. Eventually your competitive nature will take over.

“Kentucky fans are not going to boo Pikeville College, but at the same time they're going to want Kentucky to prevail. But they'll survive. It's that you-against-the-world attitude, and helps no matter where you are.”

“With Marathon Oil, we were always the bad guys,” May said. “You know you're not the one they're pulling for. Sometimes you can get a little fired up knowing you're the underdog. I'm sure the fans won't be booing, but they'll want to see Kentucky, the new coach, and it'll be a whole new atmosphere with it being their first chance to see them.

“I remember going on the road with Marathon, maybe to UConn, you're like lambs being thrown to the lions, fresh meat. The first five or eight minutes will be a real experience. I'm sure Kentucky players will come out really fired up, really getting after it.”

Wednesday night will be here before you know it, and many people are making plans for that evening. Yet while many people are planning around the UK/Pikeville titanic struggle, that's not necessarily the case for these two stars of yesteryear.

“Well, I have church, and I sing in the choir,” said Thompson. “We start at 6:30 and it won't be over until 8, but I'll have the DVR going (Writer's note: If you haven't experienced a DVR, you need to. It's a better idea than making the wheel round.) so I'll be able to check it out.

“When I thought about what it's going to be like sit and watch it, I got giddy. I got goose bumps. This is so exciting for the players, something they'll never forget. I commend UK and the athletics department giving them this opportunity.”

“I'll be watching on TV, because I won't be able go down,” says May. “I have to work the next day and that's a rough trip for an old man. A few years ago I might have headed down there, came home and went straight to work, but I can't take that anymore.

“You never know what'll happen, but I hope the college plays them well and is competitive. You never want to go in and get blown out. And from what I've seen, Kelly's got a pretty good team.

“It could be a pretty good game.”